Chris Kluwe: When They Come for You

"Why do you speak out in support of the gay community?"

I've been asked this question multiple times, at multiple events, and every time I give the same answer: "Because it's the right thing to do. Treat others the way you?d like to be treated."

A simple lesson, one we all learn in kindergarten, yet one that so many people seem to forget as they go through life; as they become more preoccupied with greed, narcissism, hate, and selfishness.

Such an easy equation, and yet so difficult for those lacking empathy to solve, unable to put themselves in another person?s shoes, failing to comprehend the complete dickishness of their actions (actions they would not want perpetrated upon themselves), convinced of their own smug superiority as they try to control someone else?s life.

Why do I speak out in support of the gay community?

Because the words, "We should round them all up and send them to an island to die," are absolutely abhorrent to any rational-minded person and should never be uttered by one member of the human race about another.

Why do I speak out in support of the gay community?

Because the actions of bullying, intolerance, and bigotry, actions that have driven (and will continue to drive) young children and adults to suicide, are actions any creature with an ounce of empathy within their soul ought condemn as the twisted depravity they truly are.

Why do I speak out in support of the gay community?

Because I wish to live in freedom, and every time I contemplate that freedom, I am reminded of a poem by Martin Niemoller:

First they came for the communists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the socialists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me,

and there was no one left to speak for me.

I speak for freedom, even though it is a freedom I currently have. I speak for equality, even though I am currently equal. I speak for justice, even though it is a justice I currently do not need. I speak for gay rights and the rights of every person, no matter their religion, ethnicity, gender, sexual predisposition, or social or economic status, to live free of the chains of oppression and hate, the barbs of ignorance and small minded fear, because that is the life I want to live - a life where I can make my own choices. A life where I can be who I am, not what someone else decides I should be.

TREAT OTHERS THE WAY YOU WANT TO BE TREATED. If we do not make this the cornerstone of our society, if we do not understand that infringing on the freedom of consenting adults to live their lives (in whatever fashion that happens to be) is infringing on the freedom of us all, then we will eventually join other society, culture, and civilization that has ever existed, on the trash heap of history marked "Failure" -- brought there by conflicts those civilizations bred into being, conflicts between those lacking empathy and those desirous of freedom.

Why do I speak out in support of gay rights, of all rights to equality?

Because if I don?t, then who will be left to speak for me?

This post is part of a series produced by The Huffington Post as part of our continuing commitment to recognize fearlessness. To share your story of Becoming Fearless -- either your own or that of someone you know -- send a post (500-850 words), with your headshot and brief bio, to fearless@huffingtonpost.com.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kluwe/when-they-come-for-you_b_3177689.html

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Sleeveless

Mika Brzezinski attends the opening of the Milly Madison Avenue boutique in May 2011.

Photo by Thomas Concordia/Getty Images

The female newscaster of today does sexy in a very specific way. It is sleeveless sexy, an age-defying, loose-skin-defying means of telling the world that she worked out this morning and every morning, long before she went to hair and makeup and started broadcasting the nation?s news, long before viewers even considered waking up.

The sleeveless sheath dress, now ubiquitous on cable and local news, and especially beloved by morning news programs, is as much a uniform for TV newswomen as androgyny was in the mid-?90s, when boxy blazers and short hair reigned. Only seven years ago, when Katie Couric took over the CBS Evening News, critics worried whether she might be scandalizing the nation by showing too much leg. Now, legs are the least of it. They?ve been joined by bare arms and dresses so form-fitting that Couric has said many of her colleagues look like they?re going ?clubbing.? The seriousness of the news (OK, seriousness sometimes) has been completely decoupled from the seriousness of the attire of the women presenting it. Only in this precise sartorial moment could Melissa Harris-Perry, the eggheady Tulane professor who has her own show on MSNBC, tackle the angsty politics of black hair in a fitted, halter-neck dress suited to a night out in the meatpacking district.

The sleeveless look is especially jarring this time of year. On Fox News, which has long pushed the sex appeal of its female talent further than other networks, it is typical to see a suited man next to a woman outfitted for lunch on some sunny Roman piazza, as if the colleagues are dressed not only for widely disparate occasions but for different climates as well. On Today, Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb are typically sleeveless, sitting before windows that showcase people bundled up against the Manhattan cold. They also love to get loaded, on-air, well before the lunch hour. They are TV women, after all, observing rules neither of time nor of space.

There?s a reason why the women of TV news have embraced sleevelessness while treading carefully in matters like cleavage (sexy weather reporters aside). Bare arms read as a kind of smart-sexy, a look that women in positions of authority can pull off. Michelle Obama is responsible for this, as are socialites of the Manhattan cocktail circuit, for whom bare arms long ago became a currency of wealth and fitness. MSNBC?s Mika Brzezinski and Chris Jansing are fans of the look, as is CBS?s Gayle King, and CNN?s Brooke Baldwin. Fit arms are about control, a state of poised strength you work at?so much so that supermarket magazines have accused Madonna and Angelina Jolie of pushing their exercise regimes too far, featuring their ropy, veiny biceps right next to close-ups of some other unfortunate?s cellulite. But if cellulite and cleavage can read as sloppy, toned arms are the very opposite; they?re all about intention and control. Which is why newswomen get to show them off. They are appropriate for early risers and Ivy League overachievers?the sexiness of success rather than vulnerability.

And yet. It?s telling that we now expect sexy at all from our TV newswomen. We haven?t always. Beauty, sure. When Diane Sawyer appeared in the ?80s in an off-the-shoulder evening dress on the cover of Vanity Fair, the decision caused such a stir that she was moved to remind a reporter that ?there were no tassels involved.? But if you look back at images of newswomen from the ?80s and ?90s, they were notable for what they didn?t show. When MSNBC launched in 1996, Couric covered everything but her face, wearing a turtleneck under her beige blazer for the virgin broadcast. And women who?ve been on the air for decades tend not to go bare, either because they think it inappropriate to do so at their age or because they were schooled at a time when TV reporters didn?t do such things. In either case, clothing confers dignity. You can?t imagine Christiane Amanpour leveraging her erotic capital on the air.

It does, after all, matter when female voices of authority disrobe. Baring one?s skin, whether it?s d?colletage or arms, remains an indicator of seriousness?are you going to look at me, or are you going to listen to what I?m saying? Because, as the Washington Post pointed out last year in a story about the blazer disappearing from newswomen?s wardrobes, male viewers appear unable to do both. A 2010 study found that the sexier the female anchor, the less men retain of what she says. They literally see instead of hear her. Rachel Maddow has said this is why she maintains a ?conveyor belt of gray blazers,? in order to look the same for every broadcast.

?Don?t focus on what I?m wearing,? Maddow says. ?Focus on what?s coming out of my face.?

The more you think about sleevelessness, the more it reads as a fault line in a stressed and fragmented news industry. TV reporters have always straddled the line between news and entertainment?the path from model or actress or pageant queen (Sawyer was one) to TV reporter is a well-trodden one. But for shows desperate not to lose eyeballs, skin becomes a competitive edge. Thus, the form-fitting sleeveless sheath has become a kind of uniform of Fox News women, favored by Megyn Kelly, Gretchen Carlson, Martha MacCallum, Michelle Malkin, and others. And thus, when Kelly, a high-profile Fox News anchor, was asked by GQ in 2010 what she thought of the network?s shots of her behind a glass table, showing off her legs, Kelly replied casually, ?Well, it?s a visual business. People want to see the anchor.? Her logic seemed to echo the wisdom of chairman Roger Ailes, who, as Liza Mundy has written, presides over a network that pushes a heavily made-up look sometimes dubbed ?Fox glam.? Quoting journalist Gabriel Sherman, Mundy suggested that Ailes, a one-time Broadway producer, is especially attuned to the entertainment aspect of television news. ?The colors are brighter, the camera angles faster,? Sherman told her. ?Everything pops on the screen more, every?thing is eye candy.?

I should mention that, for that same GQ story, Kelly posed wearing only a black slip and 4-inch red Louboutins, her bosom erupting from her bra. (Headline: ?She Reports, We Decided She?s Hot.?) No tassels involved, but just barely.

Sleevelessness has become so commonplace, you barely notice it anymore. It?s been adopted even by newswomen who are acutely aware of the symbolism of their clothing, as well as the collapsing distinction between news and entertainment. As co-host of MSNBC?s Morning Joe, Brzezinski has on several occasions struck a blow against the trivialization of the news, most famously refusing to read a news item about Paris Hilton by shredding the script on air. She?s also told the Post how, during her first years on Morning Joe, network execs dressed her in clothing that was ?short, skimpy, tight,? and she had to rebel and find her own look. It is clean, chic, and often sleeveless, generally more country club than nightclub.

Still, just a few months ago, Brzezinski posed for a Vanity Fair image that threw her self-awareness into doubt. In the photo, naughtily reminiscent of Michelle Pfeiffer?s piano-crawling scene from The Fabulous Baker Boys, the journalist wears a black sheath dress and poses provocatively on top of a table with one bare leg extended in the air. She gazes adoringly at Scarborough, who sits in a chair, fully suited, grinning at the camera. The message of her arms, not to mention those legs, is this: First and foremost, I am here to entertain you. Would you like me to sing or to dance?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=ab60d43b586b6c8a7a1618e51b0edafd

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Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley: All Our Numbers Are Up 10-30% Each Month

Today at Disrupt NY 2013, Foursquare founder and CEO Dennis Crowley denied rumors that growth was stagnant for Foursquare. “I think there?s a little bit of perception that we?re not growing,”?Crowley said.?”This is false.” In reality, March 2013 was the best month to date. When it comes to growth numbers, Crowley started by saying that “[they] don?t talk about growth numbers so much.” But Foursquare tracks the number of active users, monthly sign-ups, check-ins, web visitors, etc. “All of these numbers are up 10-30 percent,” Crowley said. Yet, Crowley was very candid about the situation the company is in right now. “We?re not the shiny new thing anymore,” he said. The company is currently trying to become the main location tech company and turn into a recommendation app for restaurants, bars, etc. “A lot of people understand what we?re trying to do, being the location layer on the Internet, but there are a lot of people that don?t,” Crowley said. “People are still skeptical,” he continued. “We are like that company that quietly pushes out big enhancements,” Crowley said. The company just wants to focus on improving the product and generating revenue, even if Foursquare receives negative thoughts from time to time. A good part of Crowley’s fireside chat was about busting rumors and stating that Foursquare is a focused company that is on a good path: “We’ve set ourselves up with nice ambitious targets, and we’re set to hit our goals.”

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/kBQacS84dCg/

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Facebook CEO reaped $2.3B gain on stock options

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg reaped a gain of nearly $2.3 billion last year when he exercised 60 million stock options just before the online social networking leader's initial public offering.

The windfall detailed in regulatory documents filed Friday saddled Zuckerberg, 28, with a massive tax bill. He raised the money to pay it by selling 30.2 million Facebook Inc. shares for $38 apiece, or $1.1 billion, in the IPO.

Facebook's stock hasn't closed above $38 since the IPO was completed last May. The shares gained 71 cents Friday to close at $26.85.

The 29 percent decline from Facebook's IPO price has cost Zuckerberg nearly $7 billion on paper, based on the 609.5 million shares of company stock that he owned as of March 31, according to the regulatory filing. His current stake is still worth $16.4 billion.

Zuckerberg, who started Facebook in his Harvard University dorm room in 2004, has indicated he has no immediate plans to sell more stock.

The exercise of Zuckerberg's stock options and his subsequent sale of shares in the IPO had been previously disclosed. The proxy statement filed to announce Facebook's June 11 shareholder meeting is the first time that the magnitude of Zuckerberg's stock option gain had been quantified.

The proxy also revealed that Zuckerberg's pay package last year rose 16 percent because of increased personal usage of jets chartered by the company as part of his security program.

Zuckerberg's compensation last year totaled nearly $2 million, up from $1.7 million last year. Of those amounts, $1.2 million covered the costs of Zuckerberg's personal air travel last year, up from $692,679 in 2011.

If not for the spike in travel costs, Zuckerberg's pay would have declined by 17 percent. His salary and bonus totaled $769,306 last year versus $928,833 in 2011.

Zuckerberg will take a big pay cut this year. His annual salary has been reduced to $1 and he will no longer receive a bonus, according to Facebook's filing. That puts Zuckerberg's current cash compensation on the same level as Google CEO and co-founder Larry Page, whose stake in his company is worth about $20 billion.

The Associated Press formula for determining an executive's total compensation calculates salary, bonuses, perquisites, above-market interest that the company pays on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. The AP formula does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits or stock option gains such as those recognized by Zuckerberg did last year.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-04-26-Facebook-Executive%20Compensation/id-23de47cd6de5470db02b6a33e635a8e2

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First-quarter growth quickens, but misses forecasts

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Economic growth regained speed in the first quarter, but not as much as expected, which could heighten fears the already weakening economy could struggle to handle deep government spending cuts and higher taxes.

Gross domestic product expanded at 2.5 percent annual rate, the Commerce Department said on Friday, after growth nearly stalled at 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter. The increase, however, missed economists' expectations for a 3.0 percent growth pace.

Part of the acceleration in activity reflected farmers' filling up silos after a drought last summer decimated crop output. Removing inventories, the growth rate was a tepid 1.5 percent.

Given the smaller-than-expected increase and signs the economy has weakened in recent weeks, the GDP data will probably weigh on U.S. stocks. It could also give ammunition for the Federal Reserve to maintain its monetary stimulus.

The U.S. central bank, which meets next week, is widely expected to keep purchasing bonds at a pace of $85 billion a month.

Data ranging from employment to retail sales and manufacturing weakened substantially in March after robust gains in the first two months of the year. There are indications the weakness persisted into April.

BROAD-BASED GAINS

The GDP showed contributions to growth from all areas of the economy, with the exception of government, trade and investment by businesses in offices and other commercial buildings.

Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, increased at 3.2 percent pace - the fastest since the fourth quarter of 2010. It grew at a 1.8 percent rate in the fourth quarter of last year.

However, households cut back on saving to fund their purchases after incomes dropped at a 5.3 percent rate in the first quarter - a bad sign for future spending growth. The drop in income was the largest since the third quarter of 2009.

The saving rate - the percentage of disposable income households are socking away - fell to 2.6 percent, the lowest since the fourth quarter of 2007, from 4.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Much of the gains in first-quarter spending came from automobile purchases and outlays for utilities, which were boosted by unusually cold temperatures. Consumers managed to step up their spending despite the return of a 2 percent payroll tax and higher gasoline prices.

Despite the spike in gasoline prices, inflation pressures were benign in the first three months of the year.

An inflation gauge in the government's GDP report rose at a 0.9 percent rate, the smallest increase since the second quarter of 2012. The personal consumption expenditure index had increased at a 1.6 percent pace the fourth quarter.

A core measure that strips out food and energy costs rose at a 1.2 percent rate, still well below the Fed's 2 percent target. Core PCE had increased at a 1.0 percent rate in the fourth quarter.

The lack of inflation should come as welcome relief for American households, but it could cause some nervousness at the U.S. central bank, which may see it as a symptom of the economy's weakness.

Another big contributor to growth in the fourth quarter was inventory accumulation, which added a full percentage point to GDP growth after chopping off 1.5 points from output in the final three months of last year.

Business spending on equipment and software slowed sharply, growing at an only 3.0 percent rate after a brisk 11.8 percent pace in the fourth quarter.

Economists caution that it is too early to blame the cooling in business investment and other more recent signs of economic softness on the $85 billion in mandatory government spending cuts, known as the sequester, that began on March 1.

Homebuilding marked an eighth straight quarter of growth, though the pace moderated from the fourth quarter. Housing added to growth last year for the first time since 2005 and its recovery should help ensure the economy does not contract.

While export growth rebounded, it was outpaced by imports, resulting in a trade deficit that cut off half a percentage point from output.

(Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/first-quarter-gdp-seen-3-percent-momentum-ebbs-051102013--sector.html

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Stormy weather: Photos, videos and commentary from Louisianians ...

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Examine social factors to explain rise in diagnoses of mental disorders

Apr. 25, 2013 ? Examining social factors is vital to better explaining and understanding the dramatic rise in the number of Americans diagnosed with mental disorders in recent years, according to an analysis by a team of medical and mental health experts.

Their conclusions, which appear in the latest issue of the journal Health Affairs, comes ahead of the May release of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), a comprehensive guide that sets the classification, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders across the United States and the world.

The study included researchers from New York University, Columbia University, the University of California, Berkeley, and Rutgers University.

In their analysis and commentary, the authors argue that the forthcoming DSM-5, which is used by all psychiatrists, psychologists, and mental health workers in the U.S., has missed crucial population-level and social determinants of mental health disorders and their diagnosis. As a result, the DSM may be mischaracterizing the rates of certain afflictions.

"If we are to believe current reports, there are 12 times more children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in the U.S. than in Europe, and within the U.S., there are almost 50 percent more children with ADHD today than a decade ago, according to DSM," observes the article's lead author, Helena Hansen, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of anthropology at NYU and an assistant professor of psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center. "My colleagues and I wanted to know if there was something else behind this."

"To explore this, we assembled a group of population health experts to identify the best way to explain the rise in these diagnoses. And what we found was that the clinical authorities in psychiatry who revise the DSM are unable to take into account other forces that drive the diagnosis of mental disorders."

To address this matter, the researchers posed three possible causes of the rise in diagnoses that are not currently accounted for in revisions of the DSM:

* Is there a change in the environment causing an actual increase in the mental health problem? For example, have the pressures of standardized testing in the U.S. caused ADHD symptoms?

* Are the diagnostic criteria applied differently depending on the institutional and social environment? For instance, do the increasing numbers of children diagnosed with ADHD reflect pharmaceutical company promotion of ADHD awareness and ADHD medications among school teachers and parents? Among low income children, do diagnoses reflect their effort to qualify for disability benefits in the wake of welfare reform?

* Are the diagnostic criteria written in a way that includes people who do not have a disorder? For example, do the criteria for ADHD of excessive running, climbing, and talkativeness describe a high level of energy that should be expected among children?

The researchers also propose an independent review of these factors.

"To sort out which these three factors causes differences in the diagnosis of a mental disorder over time and place, we need a review body that acts independently of the authors of the DSM and that is composed of experts on population health and the social factors driving mental health," says Hansen. "Using the example of ADHD, the review body might look at the number of children diagnosed under different educational and welfare policies -- and before and after pharmaceutical promotions. It might also examine how changes to the criteria for ADHD in each revision of the DSM affect the number of children given the diagnosis."

"By charging experts with independent review of the best available research on population and social variation in the diagnosis of mental disorders, we can identify unconsidered but powerful causes of diagnosis and inform future revisions of the DSM."

The analysis, which was supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Health and Society Scholars Program, will appear in the May issue of Health Affairs.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by New York University, via Newswise.

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Journal Reference:

1. H. B. Hansen, Z. Donaldson, B. G. Link, P. S. Bearman, K. Hopper, L. M. Bates, K. Cheslack-Postava, K. Harper, S. M. Holmes, G. Lovasi, K. W. Springer, J. O. Teitler. Independent Review Of Social And Population Variation In Mental Health Could Improve Diagnosis In DSM Revisions. Health Affairs, 2013; DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.2011.0596

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/mind_brain/child_development/~3/DSGJOdAw25g/130425103200.htm

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Binge eating curbed by deep brain stimulation in animal model

Apr. 23, 2013 ? Deep brain stimulation (DBS) in a precise region of the brain appears to reduce caloric intake and prompt weight loss in obese animal models, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania. The study, reported in the Journal of Neuroscience, reinforces the involvement of dopamine deficits in increasing obesity-related behaviors such as binge eating, and demonstrates that DBS can reverse this response via activation of the dopamine type-2 receptor.

"Based on this research, DBS may provide therapeutic relief to binge eating, a behavior commonly seen in obese humans, and frequently unresponsive to other approaches," said senior author Tracy L. Bale, PhD, associate professor of neuroscience in Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine's Department of Animal Biology and in the Perelman School of Medicine's Department of Psychiatry. DBS is currently used to reduce tremors in Parkinson's disease and is under investigation as a therapy for major depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Nearly 50 percent of obese people binge eat, uncontrollably consuming palatable highly calorie food within a short period of time. In this study, researchers targeted the nucleus accumbens, a small structure in the brain reward center known to be involved in addictive behaviors. Mice receiving the stimulation ate significantly less of the high fat food compared to mice not receiving DBS. Following stimulation, mice did not compensate for the loss of calories by eating more. However, on days when the device was turned off, binge eating resumed.

Researchers also tested the long-term effects of DBS on obese mice that had been given unlimited access to high-fat food. During four days of continuous stimulation, the obese mice consumed fewer calories and, importantly, their body weight dropped. These mice also showed improvement in their glucose sensitivity, suggestive of a reversal of type 2 diabetes.

"These results are our best evidence yet that targeting the nucleus accumbens with DBS may be able to modify specific feeding behaviors linked to body weight changes and obesity," Bale added.

"Once replicated in human clinical trials, DBS could rapidly become a treatment for people with obesity due to the extensive groundwork already established in other disease areas," said lead author Casey Halpern, MD, resident in the Department of Neurosurgery of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health (DA022605 and HL091911). In addition to Drs. Bale and Halpern, Penn experts include Anand Tekriwal from the College of Arts and Sciences, John Wolf from Neurosurgery and Jeffrey Keating from Neurology. They were joined by colleagues in Psychology at the University of Buffalo.

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/8cGeN5hOGh0/130423211714.htm

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Wall Street flat after durable goods; Boeing supports

By Chuck Mikolajczak

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Wednesday, after a disappointing durable goods report tempered recent enthusiasm over a relatively robust earnings season.

Economic data showed orders for long-lasting U.S. manufactured goods slumped 5.7 percent in March, the biggest drop in seven months, and far below expectations calling for a decline of 2.8 percent.

"It's basically just confirming what we've seen in the economic numbers so far this month, that basically, things weren't quite as good as we thought at the end of the first quarter," said Peter Jankovskis, co-chief investment officer at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

"I don't expect there to be a massive selloff today but (the data) says the economy is having to work pretty hard to make progress."

But support for the Dow and S&P was provided Boeing Co , which jumped 4.2 percent to $91.92 as the top boost for each index after the aerospace giant reported first-quarter earnings.

Also offsetting results from Boeing were declines in Procter and Gamble Co , which lost 4.2 percent to $78.47 after reporting third-quarter results and issuing a profit outlook for the current quarter that fell short of Wall Street's expectations. The S&P consumer staples index <.splrcs> shed 0.5 percent.

Corning Inc gained 4 percent to $13.66 after the specialty glass maker's first-quarter profit beat analysts' estimates, helped by strong demand for its scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass used in smartphones and tablets.

According to Thomson Reuters data, 45 companies in the S&P 500 <.spx> are scheduled to report results Wednesday, including Dow component Aflac Inc , Qualcomm Inc and Citrix Systems Inc after the close.

Apple Inc shares lost 0.8 percent to $402.95 after the iPad maker bowed Tuesday to investors' demands to share more of its $145 billion cash pile, while posting its first quarterly profit decline in more than a decade.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> dropped 2.30 points, or 0.02 percent, to 14,717.16. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> gained 1.00 points, or 0.06 percent, to 1,579.78. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> slipped 1.57 points, or 0.05 percent, to 3,267.76.

Earnings season has been largely positive, with more than 68.9 percent of S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far beating expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data through Tuesday morning. Since 1994, 63 percent have surpassed estimates on average, while the beat rate is 67 percent for the past four quarters.

Analysts see earnings growth of 2.3 percent this quarter, up from expectations of 1.5 percent at the start of the month.

In merger news, OPKO Health Inc will buy Israel-based biopharmaceutical company Prolor Biotech Inc in an all-stock deal valued at $480 million to expand its portfolio of specialty drugs. OPKO shares dipped 1.6 percent to $6.95 while Prolor jumped 8.2 percent to $6.31.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum and Nick Zieminski)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-jumps-recovery-twitter-led-drop-012743441--sector.html

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Illinois River flood waters begin to recede

PEORIA HEIGHTS, Ill. (AP) ? Floodwaters began a slow, inch-by-inch retreat Wednesday in inundated Peoria, Ill., offering hope to residents who watched helplessly as the Illinois River reached a 70-year high and swamped their homes and businesses.

In downtown Peoria, tens of thousands of white and yellow sandbags stacked 3 feet high lined blocks of the scenic riverfront, holding back waters that already had surrounded the visitors' center and restaurants in the 114-year-old former train depot. Across the street, smaller sandbag walls blocked riverside pedestrian access to the headquarters of heavy equipment maker Caterpillar and the city's arts and culture museum.

The flood will take its toll economically on Peoria, but authorities watching the receding waters expressed relief that, so far, no lives have been lost.

Elsewhere, there were no reports of other significant Midwestern population centers in peril, but officials were urging caution because of predictions that waterways will remain high through early May and sustain pressure on earthen levees.

Concerns persist along the Mississippi River in southeast Missouri, where smaller levees had been overtopped or breached, especially in Lincoln and Pike counties. But sandbag levees in the unprotected towns of Clarksville, Mo., and Dutchtown, Mo., were holding ahead of expected crests later in the week.

Officials in Peoria said the Illinois River finally crested Tuesday at 29.35 feet, eclipsing a 70-year record.

Because the water made numerous roads around the city impassable, firefighters had been especially concerned about being able to battle blazes since the water made numerous roads around the area impassable.

Their closest call came late Tuesday when an above-ground gasoline storage tank at a former boat repair business broke loose, raising concerns of potential disaster if it got swept south into downtown Peoria.

Peoria Heights Fire Chief Greg Walters and others managed to lasso it and wrangle it to shore.

"That's the only real issue we've had at this point," Walters said. "We're fortunate in that respect. I'm feeling blessed. Fingers crossed."

Blair Pumphrey also hoped for good luck, but he wasn't so fortunate. On Wednesday, he was moving out of his small, brick rental home ? its basement flooded to the rafters and the garage swamped. His backyard resembled a lake, with an occasional goose swimming by.

A small wall of sandbags he put up with friends days earlier held off the river for a time, but it proved futile.

"Once the basement started leaking, there was no stopping it," said Pumphrey, 29, an electrician and member of the Illinois Air National Guard. "Then when the river came around the front, there was nothing I could do."

Among those still in their homes was Mark Reatherford. The 52-year-old unemployed baker has lived for decades in his split-level, which has a view of a small park and the Illinois River. By Tuesday afternoon, as a chilly rain fell, the river had rolled over the park and reached Reatherford's home, creating a 3-foot-deep mess in the basement.

He cleared out the basement furniture and was hoping the main floor would stay dry. But he hadn't dismissed the idea of abandoning his home in Peoria Heights, about 150 miles southwest of Chicago.

"You can't get a better view than what we've got here," he said, acknowledging "I'm getting too old to deal with this."

Nearby, retired Caterpillar crane operator Roland Gudat spent much of Tuesday afternoon on his porch swing, marveling at the river, which had swamped houses down the street but largely spared his home of 46 years. The 73-year-old said he had pumped from his basement hundreds of gallons of water that had seeped up from the saturated ground.

Gudat remarked that he'd never seen the river so high, but nonetheless could not tolerate the gawkers that were using neighborhood driveways to turn around.

"I told them this isn't a damn cul-de-sac," he said. Gudat and his neighbors placed saw horses in their driveways, forcing sightseers to reverse back down the road.

"If they knock those saw horses over, I'm gonna turn their keys off and call the cops. Don't come here and bug people in misery," he said.

In southwestern Indiana, floodgates have been installed to keep the Wabash River from overrunning Vincennes, which was founded in 1732. Some strategic spots in the state's oldest town have been reinforced with sandbags. The weather service projected a crest on Saturday about 12 feet above flood stage, the highest in nearly 70 years.

The Grand River at Grand Rapids, Mich., which reached record levels recently has receded about 2 feet. Weather officials said it was expected to fall below flood stage Thursday, but it was unclear when the hundreds of people evacuated could return to their homes.

___

Salter reported from St. Louis. Associated Press writer Don Babwin in Chicago contributed to this story.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cautious-relief-peoria-water-levels-fall-163335218.html

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Streisand feted by Clinton, Minnelli and friends

NEW YORK (AP) ? "Ever since I can remember," Barbra Streisand told a crowd at Lincoln Center Monday night, "people have been calling me bossy and opinionated."

She continued: "Maybe that's because I am. Three cheers for bossy women!" The crowd roared.

Of course, the crowd ? which included the singer's friends, Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton, was roaring at pretty much anything connected to her all evening, as the legend of song and screen was honored for her film career with the 40th annual Chaplin Award from the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

The Streisand fans especially loved the film highlights, which covered everything from "Funny Girl" and "The Way We Were" to "The Owl and the Pussycat," "What's Up, Doc?" and "Meet the Fockers."

And then there was "Yentl" ? the first Hollywood movie to be directed, produced, written and starred in by a woman, as the crowd was reminded.

Streisand spoke of how hard it was to get funding to make the film. Producers, it seemed, weren't as passionate as she was about the tale of a Jewish girl in Eastern Europe who so longed to study the Talmud that she disguised herself as a boy. It was only when Streisand agreed to turn the movie into a musical ? and most importantly, sing in it herself ? that she was able to go ahead with the project.

"It's funny how things always come back to music," she said. "How it saves me."

Streisand, who turns 71 this week, is one of the few entertainers to have won Oscar, Emmy, Grammy and Tony awards. Although she is perhaps most loved for her beautiful singing voice, she told the audience that as a young child, what she wanted most was to be an actress. But nobody really wanted "a 15-year-old Medea," she noted. "Thank God I was given a good voice," she said, explaining how her singing opened the doors to acting.

Not that acting was so easy in the early going. At age 16, she recalled, she had to show in a scene that she was in love with a man. But she was not attracted to the actor, she said, so she placed a piece of chocolate cake nearby ? so she could stare at that longingly, instead.

For the awards gala, which raised $2 million for the film society ? twice the previous high amount for the annual event ? Streisand was serenaded by Wynton Marsalis on trumpet, by Liza Minnelli, and by Tony Bennett, who closed the show with the song, "Smile," fittingly a Charlie Chaplin song. Also appearing onstage to praise their friend and colleague were Michael Douglas, Catherine Deneuve (last year's honoree), Amy Irving, Blythe Danner, George Segal, Ben Stiller, Pierce Brosnan and Kris Kristofferson.

In video clips, Robert Redford ? her "The Way We Were" co-star ? spoke of how he'd been warned before making the movie that Streisand was "a pain," but discovered that she was "totally engaging to act with, beautiful, thorough and skilled." And Omar Sharif, who played Nick Arnstein in "Funny Girl," gave perhaps the most moving video tribute, talking about how incredible it was that he, an Egyptian actor, played a New York Jew in the 1968 film, and how she had become such a good friend. "We used to go to the cinema together," Sharif said. "We paid for our tickets and sat there and watched."

It was Bill Clinton, though, who got the last word ? before Streisand, that is ? praising the singer as driven, in the best way.

"Every great person is driven," the former president said. "But if that person has massive talent, big brains and a bigger heart, you want to go along for the ride."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/streisand-feted-clinton-minnelli-friends-045250728.html

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Syria says two bishops kidnapped by rebels

By Dominic Evans

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Two prominent Syrian bishops, who had warned of the threat to religious tolerance and diversity from the two-year conflict in their country, were kidnapped on Monday by armed rebels in the northern province of Aleppo, state media said.

SANA news agency said the Syriac Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Archbishops of Aleppo, Yohanna Ibrahim and Paul Yazigi, were seized by "a terrorist group" in the village of Kfar Dael as they were "carrying out humanitarian work".

A Syriac member of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, Abdulahad Steifo, said the men had been kidnapped on the road to Aleppo from the rebel-held Bab al Hawa crossing with Turkey.

Several prominent Muslim clerics have been killed in Syria's uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, but the two bishops are the most senior church leaders caught up in the conflict which has killed more than 70,000 people across Syria.

Christians make up less than 10 percent of the country's 23 million people and, like other religious minorities, many have been wary of the mainly Sunni Muslim uprising against Assad, whose Alawite sect is an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.

Fears for their future if the rebels were to end 40 years of Assad dynastic rule, which ensured religious freedom without political rights, have increased with the growing strength of Islamist rebels and a pledge of allegiance to al Qaeda by the hardline Nusra Front rebels two weeks ago.

Steifo said Ibrahim had gone to collect Yazigi from the rebel-held Bab al-Hawa crossing because he had crossed there several times before and was familiar with the route.

The two men were driving to Aleppo when they were kidnapped, he added. Asked who was behind their abduction, Steifo said: "All probabilities are open."

"CHRISTIANS SUFFERING"

Last September Ibrahim said that hundreds of Christian families had fled Aleppo as rebels and soldiers battled for control of the country's biggest city.

"In its modern history Aleppo has not seen such critical and painful times...Christians have been attacked and kidnapped in monstrous ways and their relatives have paid big sums for their release," he told Reuters.

In the central city of Homs, which saw the heaviest bloodshed earlier this year, he said several churches and Christian centers had been damaged in the fighting.

"Until a few months ago the idea of escaping had not crossed the minds of the Christians, but after the danger worsened it has become the main topic of conversation."

Neighboring Iraq, where sectarian violence after the 2003 overthrow of Saddam Hussein forced half the Christians to flee, offers frightening parallels for Syrian Christians, while the revival of Islamists in the 2011 Arab uprisings in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt also fills Syria's Christians with foreboding.

Writing in January, Yazigi said was important that the uprisings known as the "Arab Spring" should not jeopardize centuries of religious diversity in the Middle East.

"What is the spring without the diversity and richness of colors in comparison with the haze...of winter? Diversity is richness while monochromatic uniformity is a ticking bomb that kills its owner," he said.

(Additional reporting by Khaled Yacoub Oweis; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-bishops-kidnapped-rebels-state-news-agency-192356296.html

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PFT: WR tops Pats' needs heading into draft

AP

C Eric Wood has moved into a leadership role with the Bills.

Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald wonders if Dolphins G.M. Jeff Ireland will panic when it comes to making a trade for Chiefs T Branden Albert.

Adding some beef to the interior of the defensive line in the draft is a possibility for the Patriots.

What?s the fallout from the Revis trade for Jets coach Rex Ryan?

Ravens coach John Harbaugh took part in a Tough Mudder race.

Could Michigan State RB Le?Veon Bell wind up with the Bengals?

An argument that the Browns?will be unaffected?by the investigation into owner Jimmy Haslam?s family business.

The Steelers website compares Georgia LB Jarvis Jones with former Steeler Chad Brown.

An attempt to simulate the Texans? draft board.

Colts G.M. Ryan Grigson admits to taking a look at mock drafts in the weeks leading up to the real draft.

Jaguars G.M. David Caldwell will be trying to avoid making the draft mistakes his predecessors made.

Will Bernard Pollard or George Wilson start at safety for the Titans?

With four offensive linemen coming off surgeries, the Broncos could be in the market for some help at the position in the draft.

The Chiefs may be targeting skill position players at the end of the draft.

Raiders T Jared Veldheer has bulked up this offseason.

QB Phillip Rivers is learning the Chargers? new offense as quickly as he can.

Cowboys DE DeMarcus Ware has started lifting weights after shoulder surgery.

Bart Hubbuch of the New York Post thinks the Giants could take Notre Dame LB Manti Te?o.

Are the Eagles better off keeping or trading the fourth overall pick?

Redskins QB Kirk Cousins tried out broadcasting during the Michigan State spring game.

Former Navy LB Keegan Wetzel visited with the Bears.

The Lions wouldn?t mind a wide receiver to take some pressure off Calvin Johnson.

A pre-draft look at Vanderbilt QB Jordan Rodgers, younger brother of Packers QB Aaron Rodgers.

The Vikings have made a place for analytics in their personnel evaluations.

Character traits are an important part of the profile when the Falcons look at potential draftees.

The Panthers aren?t hurt by a lack of strong quarterback and running back prospects in the draft.

Mike Triplett of the New Orleans Times-Picayune thinks the Saints will wind up trading RB Chris Ivory to the Jets.

Even with Darrelle Revis in the fold, Stephen Holder of the Tampa Bay Times thinks the Buccaneers need help at cornerback.

The Cardinals own the seventh overall pick, a spot which has landed teams some star players in recent years.

The Rams probably aren?t looking for a kicker or punter in this year?s draft.

Bills big and small are adding up as the 49ers building their new stadium.

Is linebacker on the Seahawks? list of draft priorities?

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/04/21/team-needs-new-england-patriots-3/related/

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Moon May Outshine Meteor Shower This Weekend

One of the "Old Faithful" meteor showers of the year will be at its best this weekend, but the moon may interfere with the celestial display.

The annual Lyrid meteor shower will peak in the eastern night sky on late Sunday and in the wee hours of Monday (April 21 and 22). The bright moon, which is in its gibbous phase, may wash out all but the brightest of the "shooting stars."

This year, the Lyrid meteor shower runs from April 16 to 25 but will be the most plentiful during the two days of their peak weekend. Weather permitting, stargazers with clear dark skies, well away from city lights, could see between 15 and 20 meteors per hour. ?[Amazing Lyrid meteor shower photos of 2012]

The Lyrid meteors appear to radiate out from in the small constellation Lyra (hence their name), which can be found about 7 degrees southwest (to the lower right) of the brilliant blue-white star Vega. For reference, your clenched fist held at arm's length covers roughly 10 degrees of the night sky. For the more precise stargazers, the actual radiant point of the Lyrid meteor shower is on the border between the Lyra star patter and the dimmer Hercules constellation.

Moon Muscles In

The Lyrid meteor shower is hardly a rich celestial display like those created by the August Perseid shower or December's Geminids display. But April's Lyrids have been described at times as "occasionally spectacularly bright and swift." About 20 to 25 percent of the shower's meteors tend to leave shining trails in their wake that persist for a few moments.?

The orbit of the Lyrid meteors strongly resembles that of Thatcher's Comet, which swung by Earth during the spring of 1861 and has an orbital period of approximately 415 years. In 1867, astronomer Johann Gottfried Galle confirmed the link between this comet and the Lyrids. That means the meteors that you may see from this display are actually tiny particles shed by Comet Thatcher during its previous visits through the inner solar system.

Unfortunately, this year the moon is going to be a problem for prospective Lyrid meteor hunters.

On Sunday night, the moon will be in its waxing gibbous phase. Its disk will be 85 percent illuminated and already high in the southern sky as darkness falls and thus will spoil much of the overnight hours. It will likely to squelch all but the brightest Lyrid streaks.?

Your best chance of seeing any will come in the half-hour between the times that bright moon sets and dawn breaks: 4 to 4:30 a.m. local daylight time on Monday morning. That's when the sky will finally provide a dark backdrop to watch for meteors, and it ?will also be about the time that the Lyrid radiant ? where the meteors will appear to diverge ? will be almost directly overhead from the southern United States, and not far off it for observers in the mid-Northern Hemisphere.

Lyrid meteor surprises

The Lyrid meteor shower is thought to be responsible for events witnessed in a number of accounts throughout ancient history. Perhaps most notable are accounts from 687 B.C. and 15 B.C. in China, and A.D. 1136 in Korea "when many stars flew from the northeast," according to descriptions. ?

On April 20, 1803, many townspeople in Richmond, Va., were apparently awoken by a reported fire, and were able to observe a very rich display between 1 and 3 o'clock in the morning. Those meteors "seemed to fall from every point in the heavens, in such numbers as to resemble a shower of skyrockets," according to accounts.

In 1922, an unexpected Lyrid rate of 96 meteors an hour was recorded, and on April 22, 1982, some observers in Florida and Colorado recorded rates of between 90 to 100 meteors. As British meteor expert Alastair McBeath writes in the 2013 Astronomical Calendar: "Lyrids give no clues as to when another such outburst might happen, hence the shower is always one to watch."

So if the skies are clear early Monday before sunrise, and if you're in a sporting mood, why not head outside and try to catch a few "falling stars?" Good luck!

Editor's note: If you snap an amazing photo or shoot some incredible video of the Lyrids or any other celestial object or event, and you'd like to share it for a possible story or image?galleryplease send images and comments, including location information, to Managing Editor Tariq Malik at spacephotos@space.com.

Follow us?@Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/moon-may-outshine-meteor-shower-weekend-130202037.html

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95% Gimme The Loot

All Critics (40) | Top Critics (22) | Fresh (38) | Rotten (2)

A thousand-watt jolt of mischief, a spunky, funky, ebullient indie that packs its 81 minutes with cinematic exhilaration.

It may be a slight movie, but it has its sunny charms.

A movie about teenage taggers in the Bronx should be fast and raw, scruffy and loose, and Adam Leon's Gimme the Loot is just that.

As it lopes along, the movie offers a warm but very sharp portrait of New York's have-nots and their uneasy relationship with the haves.

"Gimme the Loot" shouldn't be as appealing and exuberant as it is, it really shouldn't.

Tashiana Washington and Ty Hickson are terrific in the main roles. So is Zo? Lescaze as Ginnie, a spoiled white kid who teaches the taggers a thing or two about drift and being dissolute.

Simultaneously real and hopeful, "Loot" has almost no plot, but when the setting is so fresh and the characters feel so raw and alive, who needs one?

Ghetto laughs with a sophisticated point of view.

...a magical, summery treat.

Promotes robbery and can't be serious in expecting us to care whether Malcolm and Sofia become more than friends.

The winner of the Indie Spirit 'One to Watch' award could never work again and will always have a memorable New York City film to his credit.

An impressive debut feature, Gimme the Loot is also an unusual take on characters who want to leave their stamp on "the city that never sleeps."

Much more grownup than it looks, Gimme the Loot is that rare teen-centric film whose brisk pace is unburdened by sentimentality.

Writer-director Adam Leon has crafted a classic New York story, a film imbued with the fast rhythms and muggy sensations of city life during the summer.

No quotes approved yet for Gimme The Loot. Logged in users can submit quotes.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gimme_the_loot_2012/

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U.S. Boy Scouts set to end ban on gay members: spokesperson

By Atossa Araxia Abrahamian

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Boy Scouts of America called to end a long-standing ban on openly gay members, a spokesman said on Friday, but the organization's board must still vote in May on whether to ratify the resolution.

If the vote is approved, "no youth may be denied membership in the Boy Scouts of America on the basis of sexual orientation or preference alone," Deron Smith, the organization's spokesman, told Reuters.

Smith noted that the decision drew from three months of research, surveys and discussions and was "among the most complex and challenging issues facing the BSA and society today."

The deliberations over whether to admit openly gay and lesbian members to the Boy Scouts has divided organizers, polarized its corporate and religious sponsors, and placed the group at the center of a nationwide debate over gay rights over the past two years.

"This is a historic change for the Boy Scouts," said Patrick Boyle, whose 1994 book "Scout's Honor" examined sexual abuse in the Boy Scouts of America.

"You have a more than hundred-year-old organization changing what it considered a fundamental belief just a decade ago. That says a lot about the Scouts and a lot about how far the gay rights movement has come in the United States."

(Reporting By Atossa Araxia Abrahamian; Additional reporting by Chris Francescani; Editing by Vicki Allen)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-boy-scouts-set-end-ban-gay-members-150711650.html

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Hutu refugees fear forced return to Rwanda

NAKIVALE, Uganda (AP) ? Leodegard Kagaba lifted his shirt to reveal an ugly scar on his belly left by a bullet that nearly killed him. Tutsi neighbors in Rwanda, he said, attacked him after accusing him of participating in the 1994 genocide.

"I have many scars, even in my heart," he said. "The people who put those scars on me still live freely in Rwanda."

Now nearly two decades later, Kagaba and many of the other 9,000 Rwandans in this camp of 68,000 African refugees say they are troubled by the looming prospect of forced repatriation back to Rwanda. Hutu refugees say they fear reprisal attacks by Tutsis inside Rwanda. During the 1994 genocide, at least 500,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in a campaign of mass murder orchestrated by Hutu extremists.

After the genocide, hundreds of thousands of Hutus ? some charged with participating in the genocide, others simply afraid of reprisal killings ? fled Rwanda and sought refuge across East and Central Africa.

Many ended up in a sprawling settlement in western Uganda that some now regard as their home for life. Here, in a place called Nakivale, amid green hills reminiscent of their ancestral land, the Rwandans have access to pasture for their cattle and many have set up successful businesses selling groceries or farm animals.

Rwandans who spoke to The Associated Press said the political climate in Rwanda discourages them from leaving Nakivale. At least 92 percent of all Rwandan refugees in Uganda are Hutus, according to U.N. refugee agency.

Kagaba, an ethnic Hutu whose father and siblings were killed in 1994, said he would be harassed or worse in Rwanda because he witnessed atrocities committed by the Tutsi soldiers who came to his village looking for genocide suspects.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame ? an ethnic Tutsi ? dismisses allegations that his country unfairly targets Hutus, saying those who played a role in the genocide should face the law. Kagame encourages a gospel of unity that disregards ethnicity.

But groups such as Human Rights Watch ? which the government openly spars with ? have long accused Rwanda's government of using a genocide ideology law to target the regime's critics. Independent journalists who have written critically about the history of the genocide have been threatened with jail terms. Many have fled.

Rwanda's government said in a statement Friday that "Rwandan refugees who hesitate to return home either lack enough information on the current situation in Rwanda or have developed significant ties with host countries."

The 8,000 Rwandans who arrived in Uganda before 1998 have until the end of June to return home voluntarily. Uganda, which hosts the highest number of officially recognized Rwandan refugees, has published lists of those who are expected to return home soon.

In Nakivale, the Hutus who fled Rwanda at the end of the genocide spoke of a persistent witch-hunt, saying sons can be harassed for their father's crimes. Their grim opinion of life in Rwanda is reinforced by the accounts of refugees who returned to Rwanda and fled back to Uganda, saying they had been jailed on trumped-up charges and even tortured.

Some of the refugees freshly arriving from Rwanda claim persecution and want political asylum, said Lucy Beck, a spokeswoman for UNHCR in Uganda.

"It's still a country producing refugees," Beck said of Rwanda. "There is a large amount of fear (in Nakivale), and it's not helped that refugees have gone and come back again."

Belonging to a family seen in the community as having participated in the genocide carries a lifetime stigma, some refugees said, equating a Hutu's return to Rwanda to committing suicide. Some Tutsi families are still eager to exact revenge on neighbors they believe killed their relatives, said Rajab Simpamanuka, a Hutu refugee who has lived in Nakivale since 2001.

In January, after his mother died, he briefly considered sneaking into Rwanda for the funeral but was advised against it. Instead he gathered some relatives and friends and performed a parallel ceremony in Nakivale.

"The family you come from is still a problem to this day," he said. "If you return home, they will say the son of so-and-so is back. And the police will come for you. You can pay for your father's sins. I still like my country, but I will go back only if there's a change of government."

Hamida Kabagwira, a Hutu refugee, said she won't be forced to return to Rwanda.

"If they want it, they will have to come here and kill us. I will never find peace in Rwanda," said Kabagwira, who was recently reunited with her husband, Shaban Mutabazi.

Mutabazi, who said he spent 16 years in a Rwandan jail for alleged genocide, fled to Uganda in January after serving his sentence because "after that everyone in my village saw me like an animal."

UNHCR opposes forcible repatriations but is powerless to stop them. The agency favors solutions such as integration and naturalization for those who have lived in Uganda long enough, said Beck. A decision to forcibly evict refugees would be the responsibility of Ugandan officials, she said. About 90 percent of refugees don't want to return, she said.

Moses Watasa, a spokesman for the Ugandan department that manages refugees, said his office can't be expected to rely on the refugees' opinion of safety in Rwanda and that input from Rwanda's government and the international community would be crucial. "They would go back if their home areas are deemed safe," he said.

Some refugees are taking precautionary measures such as avoiding their beds at night.

"I don't really go to sleep these days," said Ephraim Rutabingwa, a Hutu refugee who bears a deep scar on his forehead, the mark of a machete that he says was wielded by a Tutsi neighbor in 1996. He wants the U.N. to help refugees find safe haven in another country.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hutu-refugees-fear-forced-return-rwanda-112904510.html

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Poll: Public pessimism on economy is increasing

Graphic shows AP-GfK poll opinions on the U.S. economy.

Graphic shows AP-GfK poll opinions on the U.S. economy.

WASHINGTON (AP) ? For the third year in a row, the nation's economic recovery has hit a springtime soft spot. Reflecting that weakness, only 1 in 4 Americans now expects his or her own financial situation to improve over the next year, a new Associated Press-GfK poll shows.

The sour mood is undermining support for President Barack Obama's economic stewardship and for government in general.

The poll shows that just 46 percent of Americans approve of Obama's handling of the economy while 52 percent disapprove. That's a negative turn from an even split last September ? ahead of Obama's November re-election victory ? when 49 percent approved and 48 percent disapproved.

Just 7 percent of Americans said they trust the government in Washington to do what is right "just about always," the AP-GfK poll found. Fourteen percent trust it "most" of the time and two-thirds trust the federal government just "some of the time"; 11 percent say they never do.

The downbeat public attitudes registered in the survey coincide with several dour economic reports showing recent slowdowns in gains in hiring, consumer retail spending, manufacturing activity and economic growth. Automatic government spending cuts, which are starting to kick in, also may be contributing to the current sluggishness and increased wariness on the part of both shoppers and employers.

Overall, 25 percent of those in the poll describe the nation's economy as good, 59 percent as poor ? similar to a January AP-GfK poll.

Respondents split on whether this was a "good time" to make major purchases such as furniture and electronic devices, with 31 percent agreeing it was, 38 percent calling it a "bad time" and 25 percent remaining neutral.

The economy's recovery from the severe 2007-2009 recession has been slow and uneven. Even so, most economic forecasts see continued economic growth ahead, even if it is sluggish and accompanied by only slowly improving levels of joblessness. Another recession in the near future is not being forecast.

In the new poll, few say they saw much improvement in the economy in the last month. Just 21 percent say things have gotten better, 17 percent say they've gotten worse and 60 percent thought the economy "stayed about the same." And the public is split on whether things will get better anytime soon, with 31 percent saying the national economy will improve in the next year, 33 percent saying it will hold steady and 33 percent saying it will get worse. Further, about 4 in 10 expect the nation's unemployment rate to climb in the next year.

And the public's outlook for its own financial future is at its worst point in three years. Just 26 percent think their household economic well-being will improve over the next year, 50 percent think it will stay the same and 22 percent expect it to worsen.

About 27 percent of those with incomes under $50,000 are the most likely to expect things for them personally to get worse in the next year compared with fewer than 2 in 10 among those with higher incomes.

Democrats, who typically rate the economy better under the present Democratic president than do Republicans, have become less optimistic about their financial prospects since January. Then, 41 percent of Democrats thought their finances would improve in the next year while only 30 percent feel that way now.

Jeremy Hammond, 33, of Queensbury, N.Y., a Web programmer, says Congress should focus on "the incredible debt and lack of spending control." For instance, he said, it's absurd for Congress to try to force the Postal Service to continue Saturday mail delivery ? an effort that has so far failed ? when the agency says, "We can't afford it.' Hammond, who considers himself a political independent, said he voted for Obama in 2008 but not in 2012.

Obama's overall job approval in the poll is at its lowest point since his re-election, at 50 percent, with 47 percent disapproving. His approval among Republicans is just 10 percent; among independents, 49 percent disapprove.

But, if it's any solace to the president and his supporters, Congress fared even worse. Thirty-seven percent approve of the performance of congressional Democrats, while 57 percent disapprove. For congressional Republicans, 27 percent approved of their performance and 67 percent disapproved.

The Associated Press-GfK Poll was conducted April 11-15 by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,004 adults nationwide. Results for the full sample have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points. It is larger for subgroups.

___

AP News Survey Specialist Dennis Junius and writer Charles Babington contributed to this report.

___

Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum

___

Online:

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Prep Baseball: North Murray&#39;s Campbell headed over the mountains ...

Jared Campbell?s plan was to wait until the end of his final high school baseball season to consider college options in both that sport and football.

Then Young Harris College officials offered him a spot on the diamond ? and the North Murray senior couldn?t pass it up.

On Thursday afternoon at North Murray, Campbell signed a partial athletic scholarship with Young Harris, a private college in Northeast Georgia. The Mountain Lions? athletic programs are currently in transition from the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) to the NCAA?s Division II.

Campbell was part of North Murray?s first freshman class and his senior class is the first one to spend all four years at the school, which began classes in 2009 with sophomores who had previously attended Murray County High School as well as incoming freshmen.

Campbell spent his falls causing havoc for opposing offenses as a starting linebacker on the football team. In the spring, he still has a mask on but is behind home plate and directs the defense as a catcher.

This past football season, Campbell made 40 tackles ? 30 solo and four for a loss ? forced one fumble and recovered two fumbles. He also had seven quarterback pressures, a sack and three pass deflections as the Mountaineers went 5-5 in coach David Gann?s inaugural season after the team went 1-19 during the program?s first two varsity campaigns.

Campbell said Berry College was interested in him for its football program, which kicks off competition this year.

?Baseball was always my passion growing up,? he said. ?Football season went really well. I was going to wait until baseball season was over to make a decision, but Young Harris gave me the opportunity.?

Campbell has a batting average of .444 this season with one home run and 12 RBIs. His on-base percentage is .536 and his slugging percentage is .689. On top of those standout offensive numbers, his leadership is valuable on defense, Mountaineers coach Steve Granger said.

?He?s like the coach on the field, to be honest,? Granger said. ?When he?s back there, he is directing people on what to do and where to be. Behind the plate, he?s going to block the ball and get in front of some stuff.?

Campbell said he has a chance to earn a starting spot ?from the get-go? at Young Harris. Additionally, Campbell liked that the school is close to home and secluded from big cities.

?It?s real quiet,? said Campbell, who visited the school in December and February. ?The coaching staff has been incredible to me. It just seems like the right fit.?

Campbell?s new home is going through something new. Young Harris started the three-year move from the NJCAA to the NCAA during the 2011-2012 school year and is about to finish the second year of that process.

Young Harris? baseball team is competing in the Peach Belt Conference, the league affiliation for all of the school?s athletics, and can compete for conference awards and titles so long as they don?t come with an automatic berth to NCAA tournaments. The Mountain Lions will have active membership status starting in Campbell?s sophomore year.

Young Harris coach Rick Robinson said Campbell has something from playing football that most players he coaches don?t have right away.

?I think the biggest thing with Jared is he?s obviously a very good athlete, a two-sport athlete his whole life, and we feel once he has the opportunity to focus just on baseball, then his level of play will increase tremendously in a short period of time,? Robinson said.

?Any time you can pick up a quality athlete who?s also a football player, they bring a type of mental toughness to the team that most baseball players have to acquire after they get to college.?

Since Robinson took over in 1999, the Mountain Lions have gone 635-230, won eight conference titles and appeared once in the NJCAA World Series. From 2003 to 2005, Young Harris won at least 50 games each season. This year, the team has a 19-19 record.

?I?m going to get great coaching there,? Campbell said.

Source: http://daltondailycitizen.com/sports/x2094916918/Prep-Baseball-North-Murray-s-Campbell-headed-over-the-mountains

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