Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Russia to Ban Cash Transactions over $10,000

March 26, 2013
Russia may ban cash payments for purchases of more than 300,000 rubles (around $10,000) starting in 2015. The move is expected to boost banks’ cash reserves and put a damper on Russia’s shadow economy. However, the middle class will most likely end up having to pay the price for the scheme.
Moscow is looking to kill two birds with one stone: Firstly, it wants to bring some of the population’s “grey” income out of the shadow; secondly, it wants to increase the volume of cash reserves in the banks. The government’s bill will introduce the new rule to the State Duma. The document was prepared by the Ministry of Finance and approved by the government.
The restrictions on cash transactions will develop in two phases. In 2014, a ban on cash payments for purchases worth more than 600,000 rubles (about $19,500) will be introduced; the limit will then be halved to 300,000 rubles in 2015. Furthermore, the document introduces mandatory, cash-free, salary payments.
Read full article

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Israel fires into Syria after Golan attack on troops


Syria on Sunday and destroyed a machinegun position in the Golan Heights from where shots had been fired at Israeli soldiers in a further spillover of the Syrian civil war along a tense front.
It was not immediately clear whether Israel held Syrian troops or rebels responsible for what a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said had been a deliberate attack on Israeli patrols in the occupied territory.
Israeli forces "destroyed a Syrian machine gun nest that fired twice in the last 24 hours on Israeli patrols operating to safeguard the border," the spokesman, Ofir Gendelman, said on his Twitter page.
Shells have fallen several times inside Israeli-controlled territory during Syria's civil war. Some of the incidents have drawn Israeli return fire.
Syria's southern provinces bordering Jordan and Israel have become an increasingly significant battleground as the capital Damascus - in Syria's south - comes into play and President Bashar al-Assad's forces fight hard to prevent rebel advances.
 
The Israeli military said one of its vehicles was hit late on Saturday by shooting from across the Israeli-Syrian ceasefire line on the Golan Heights, but no one was hurt.
Israeli military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner, said, "Our understanding is that it wasn't stray fire."
After a second incident on Sunday, Israeli soldiers "responded with accurate fire toward the Syrian post from which they were fired on", the military said.
Defence Minister Moshe Yaalon said in a statement that Israel viewed shooting from Syria "with severity" and would not allow "the Syrian army or any other element to violate Israeli sovereignty by firing at our territory".
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed the strategic plateau in 1981 in a move that has not won international recognition.
"Any ... fire from the Syrian side will be answered immediately by silencing the sources of fire when we identify them," Yaalon said.
Amos Gilad, a senior Israeli Defence Ministry official, said battles between Syrian government forces and Syrian rebels sometimes take place just a short distance from Israeli lines.
"At times, shells or bullets are fired at Israel. Usually the shooting (from Syria) is not deliberate, but it doesn't matter," he told Army Radio.
"Israel should not be the target of any attack, whether intentional or unintentional - because after all, if you accept something that was unintentional, that could lead to something intentional in the end," Gilad said.
Israel has said for months that it expects Assad's government to fall and has voiced concern that its chemical weapons could fall into the hands of Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas and al Qaeda.
Israeli President Shimon Peres has called for Assad to step down.
 http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/24/us-syria-israel-idUSBRE92N06020130324

Friday, March 22, 2013

Another 55 percent of surveyed doctors believe others will scale back hours

Most physicians have a pessimistic outlook on the future of medicine, citing eroding autonomy and falling income, a survey of more than 600 doctors found.
Six in 10 physicians (62 percent) said it is likely many of their colleagues will retire earlier than planned in the next 1 to 3 years, a survey from Deloitte Center for Health Solutions found. That perception is uniform across age, gender, and specialty, it said.
Another 55 percent of surveyed doctors believe others will scale back hours because of the way medicine is changing, but the survey didn't elaborate greatly on how it was changing. Three-quarters think the best and brightest may not consider a career in medicine, although that is an increase from the 2011 survey result of 69 percent.
"Physicians recognize 'the new normal' will necessitate major changes in the profession that require them to practice in different settings as part of a larger organization that uses technologies and team-based models for consumer (patient) care," the survey's findings stated.
About two-thirds of the survey responders said they believe physicians and hospitals will become more integrated in coming years. In the last 2 years, 31 percent moved into a larger practice, results found. Nearly eight in 10 believe midlevel providers will play a larger role in directing primary care.
Four in 10 doctors reported their take-home pay decreased from 2011 to 2012, and more than half said the pay cut was 10 percent or less, according to Deloitte. Among physicians reporting a pay cut, four in 10 blame the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and 48 percent of all doctors believed their income would drop again in 2012 as a result of the health reform law.
Other findings:
  • 26 percent believe Medicare's sustainable growth rate formula will be repealed in the next 1 to 3 years
  • One in 10 believe medical liability reform will pass Congress in the next 1 to 3 years
  • A quarter of physicians would place new or additional limits on accepting Medicare patients if there were payment changes
  • 55 percent of physicians believe the hospital-doctor relationship will suffer as admitting privileges are put at risk to comply with hospital standards of meaningful use
  • 31 percent gave the U.S. healthcare system a favorable grade of "A or B" compared with 35 percent in 2011
Despite those pessimistic views, seven of 10 said they were satisfied about practicing medicine, although that number was lower for primary care providers and higher for younger age groups, the survey found. Dissatisfaction was attributed toward less time with patients, long hours, and dealing with Medicare, Medicaid, and government regulations.
Speaking of the ACA, fewer physicians (38 percent in 2012) believe the ACA is a step in the wrong direction compared with 44 percent in 2011. The number who think the law is a good place to start remained the same.
Two-thirds of physicians in the Deloitte survey say they use an electronic health record (EHR) that meets meaningful use stage 1 requirements, but that number has been lower in other surveys. Three in 5 respondents were satisfied with their EHR.
Deloitte mailed the survey to more than 20,000 physicians selected from the American Medical Association's master file. Just 613 returned completed surveys, giving a margin of error of 3.9 percent at the 0.95 confidence level.

Police Departments Beg And Barter For Ammo While DHS Buys Up 1.6 Billion Rounds In Past Year

The nationwide shortage of ammunition has left many police departments scrambling to get their hands on the necessary rounds - with some even bartering among each other.
Meanwhile, Rep. Timothy Huelskamp (R-Kansas) says the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has failed to respond to multiple members of Congress asking why DHS bought more than 1.6 billion rounds in the past year.
Police Chief Cameron Arthur of Jenks, Oklahoma says, "Ammunition and assault weapons in general have skyrocketed...In addition to the fact, not only is it a lot more expensive, but the time to get it could be six months to a year, or in some cases even longer."
Arthur says he is waiting on an order placed last October and that many departments have begun to trade and barter with each other because of the high demand.
"Most police departments are having a very difficult time even getting the necessary ammunition for handguns, shotguns and especially rifles," Arthur said.
"With the delay in ammunition, some departments are limiting the number of rounds they carry in their handgun because of the shortage of ammunition. We get to the point where it is difficult to have enough ammo to train and also equip the officers."
Chief Pryor of Rollingwood, Texas says of the shortage:
"We started making phone calls and realized there is a waiting list up to a year.  We have to limit the amount of times we go and train because we want to keep an adequate stock."
"Nobody can get us ammunition at this point," says Sgt. Jason LaCross of the Bozeman, Montana police department.
LaCross says that manufacturers are so far behind that they won't even give him a quote for an order.
"We have no estimated time on when it will even be available," LaCross says.
He worries that when ammunition is finally available the high price will squeeze the department's budget.
"The other options are to reduce the amount of training and things like that," he said.
The Hamilton County Sheriff's Department has also cut down on firearm training due to the high cost and low supply of ammunition.
"The concern over firearms availability and ammunition availability and potentials of gun control certainly has impacted the availability of ammunition purchased locally," Sgt. Jody Mays says.
He says the department has cut a third of their normal in service firearm training:
"It's forced us...to use ammunition more economically."
Police Chief John Mabry in Marinette, Wisconsin says, "Ammo is expensive and lot tougher to get. People don't have it in stock and it's back-ordered."
His colleague, Menominee Chief, Brett Botbyl agrees: "We're looking at a four to nine-month wait."
Some departments have even applied for grants to pay for the high-priced ammunition.
"The Florence Police Department is looking for some help filling its clips," reports Cincinnati.com
Chief Tom Szurlinski says the grant would go a long way given the price and limited supply of ammunition.

 http://cnsnews.com/blog/gregory-gwyn-williams-jr/police-departments-beg-and-barter-ammo-while-dhs-buys-16-billion

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Citizen Tells Gun-grabbers: You Are “Coloring Outside the Lines of Constitutional Parameters”

On March 14, Connecticut resident Mark Steed delivered an articulate response to the state legislature’s plan to roll back the Second Amendment.


“This is the third day I’ve taken off of work to come here to, like so many of the rest of us, to plead with you for us to keep our guns because of some wing-nut in Newtown, Connecticut,” the Vernon, Connecticut, resident said. “If that isn’t inherently wrong, I don’t know what is. That these bills are even in proposed form is scary enough. That any of you could possibly be undecided is scary enough. What are you looking at?”
He then proceeded to inform state officials what they are looking at – the dismantlement of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights under the irrational rubric of “common sense” and “gun safety,” two highly misleading catchwords currently used by government and its corporate media to cover the attack on the cornerstone of the Bill of Rights, the Second Amendment.
“Adam Lanza commits a crime and I’m here to grovel and plead for my rights?” an outraged Steed said.
Connecticut officialdom went on to ignore Mr. Steed’s argument. On March 18 an advisory panel convened to make proposals that if implemented will destroy Second Amendment rights in the state. The recommendations include required registration of all guns and mandatory background checks for all buyers. The Sandy Hook Advisory Commission has forwarded the recommendations to Connecticut’s governor, Dannel Malloy. The state currently has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the country.
“The reason that your jobs are becoming so difficult is because you’re coloring outside the lines of constitutional parameters,” Steed told the officials. “That’s the bottom line. You are trying to marriage up public safety with constitutional rights. The Constitution did not guarantee public safety, it guaranteed liberty. And sometimes what comes with liberty is tragedy, unfortunately.”

Why Is The World Economy Doomed? The Global Financial Pyramid Scheme By The Numbers

Why is the global economy in so much trouble?  How can so many people be so absolutely certain that the world financial system is going to crash?  Well, the truth is that when you take a look at the cold, hard numbers it is not difficult to see why the global financial pyramid scheme is destined to fail.  In the United States today, there is approximately 56 trillion dollars of total debt in our financial system, but there is only about 9 trillion dollars in our bank accounts.  So you could take every single penny out of the banks, multiply it by six, and you still would not have enough money to pay off all of our debts.  Overall, there is about 190 trillion dollars of total debt on the planet.  But global GDP is only about 70 trillion dollars.  And the total notional value of all derivatives around the globe is somewhere between 600 trillion and 1500 trillion dollars.  So we have a gigantic problem on our hands.  The global financial system is a very shaky house of cards that has been constructed on a foundation of debt, leverage and incredibly risky derivatives.  We are living in the greatest financial bubble in world history, and it isn’t going to take much to topple the entire thing.  And when it falls, it is going to be the largest financial disaster in the history of the planet.
The global financial system is more interconnected today than ever before, and a crisis at one major bank or in one area of the world can spread at lightning speed.  As I wrote about yesterday, the entire European banking system is leveraged 26 to 1 at this point.  A decline in asset values of just 4 percent would totally wipe out the equity of many of those banks, and once a financial panic begins we could potentially see major financial institutions start to go down like dominoes.
We got a small taste of what that is like back in 2008, and it is inevitable that it will happen again.
Anyone that would tell you that the current global financial system is sustainable does not know what they are talking about.  Just look at the numbers that I have posted below.
The following is the global financial pyramid scheme by the numbers…
-$9,283,000,000,000 – The total amount of all bank deposits in the United States.  The FDIC has just 25 billion dollars in the deposit insurance fund that is supposed to “guarantee” those deposits.  In other words, the ratio of total bank deposits to insurance fund money is more than 371 to 1.
-$10,012,800,000,000 – The total amount of mortgage debt in the United States.  As you can see, you could take every penny out of every bank account in America and it still would not cover it.
-$10,409,500,000,000 – The M2 money supply in the United States.  This is probably the most commonly used measure of the total amount of money in the U.S. economy.
-$15,094,000,000,000 – U.S. GDP.  It is a measure of all economic activity in the United States for a single year.
-$16,749,269,587,407.53 – The size of the U.S. national debt.  It has grown by more than 10 trillion dollars over the past ten years.
-$32,000,000,000,000 – The total amount of money that the global elite have stashed in offshore banks (that we know about).
-$50,230,844,000,000 – The total amount of government debt in the world.
-$56,280,790,000,000 – The total amount of debt (government, corporate, consumer, etc.) in the U.S. financial system.
-$61,000,000,000,000 – The combined total assets of the 50 largest banks in the world.
-$70,000,000,000,000 – The approximate size of total world GDP.
-$190,000,000,000,000 – The approximate size of the total amount of debt in the entire world.  It has nearly doubled in size over the past decade.
-$212,525,587,000,000 – According to the U.S. government, this is the notional value of the derivatives that are being held by the top 25 banks in the United States.  But those banks only have total assets of about 8.9 trillion dollars combined.  In other words, the exposure of our largest banks to derivatives outweighs their total assets by a ratio of about 24 to 1.
-$600,000,000,000,000 to $1,500,000,000,000,000 – The estimates of the total notional value of all global derivatives generally fall within this range.  At the high end of the range, the ratio of derivatives to global GDP is more than 21 to 1.
Are you starting to get the picture?
Every single day, the total amount of debt will continue to grow faster than the total amount of money until the day that this bubble bursts.
What we witnessed back in 2008 was just a little “hiccup” in the system.  It caused the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, but global financial authorities were able to get things stabilized.
Next time it won’t be so easy.
The next wave of the economic collapse is quickly approaching.  A full-blown economic depression has already started in southern Europe.  Unemployment is at record highs and economic activity is contracting rapidly.
The major offshore banking centers in Cyprus are on the verge of collapsing.  It was just announced that they will now be closed until Tuesday, but nobody really knows for sure when they will be allowed to reopen.  And there is already talk that when they do reopen that there will be strict limits on how much money people can take out.
And now the IMF is warning that the three biggest banks in Slovenia are failing and that a billion euros will be needed to bail them out.
The dominoes are starting to tumble, and the United States won’t be immune.  In fact, the greatest financial problems that the United States has ever seen are on the horizon.
But you can just have faith that Ben Bernanke, Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress know exactly what they are doing and will be able to save us from the coming financial collapse if you want.
The mainstream media will provide you with all of the positive economic news that you could possibly want.  They are giddy about the fact that the Dow keeps hitting all-time highs and they would have us all believe that we are in the midst of a robust economic recovery.  You can listen to them if you want to.
But when you are tempted to believe that everything is going to be “okay” somehow, just go back and look at the numbers there were posted above one more time.
There is no way that the global financial pyramid scheme is going to be able to hold up for too much longer.  At some point it is going to totally collapse.  When that happens, will you be ready?
This article was posted: Thursday, March 21, 2013 at 6:53 am

Cop handcufs kid for saying bingo in a bingo hall police state

TSA: Wheelchair Bound Veteran Chose To Attempt To “Walk” Himself

In a response to the attention focused on a wounded Marine’s account of mistreatment at the hands of the TSA, the agency has denied any wrong doing, saying that the wheelchair bound veteran made his own decision to attempt to get up and walk through a body scanner.
The story broke earlier this week, with The Washington Times, among others, reporting that the TSA “forced a wounded Marine who lost both of his legs in an IED blast and who was in a wheelchair to remove his prosthetic legs at one point, and at another point to stand painfully on his legs while his wheelchair was examined.”
The reports cited a complaint filed by fellow Marines traveling with the disabled veteran.
“It’s embarrassing to be told to take off your prosthetic leg. It’s embarrassing to be told to stand. You want to stand. You just can’t stand. I just think the TSA doesn’t get it,” fellow Marine Jim Phillips told news station 3TV.
Phillips contacted California Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter, an Iraq veteran, who wrote to the TSA in an official complaint.
“A TSA office asked the Marine to stand and walk to an alternate area, despite the fact that he physically could not stand or walk on his own. With numerous TSA officers sitting and unwilling to assist, an officer then made him remove his legs, then put them back on, only to advance to a secondary screening location where he was asked again to stand, with extraordinary difficulty, while his wheelchair was examined for explosives,” Hunter said.
In a statement on its blog, the TSA responded to the claims, saying that “there has been a lot of misreporting”.
the agency claims that after reviewing the security video and interviewing its officers, 22-year-old Cpl Toran Gaal from California, who lost both legs in Afghanistan, was “not asked and did not remove his prosthetic legs.”
“The screening was done by the book and lasted a total of 8 minutes from beginning to end,” the TSA statement reads, also claiming that the screening at Sky Harbor International Airport was conducted by two veterans.
TSA Assistant Screening Director Jeff Perez reacted strongly to the claims of mistreatment, saying that as a former veteran himself, he took the claims “personally”.
“We did our own fact finding and spoke to the officers who were there. Not one said he was asked to take his prosthetics off,” Perez told reporters with 3TV.
When asked about the cctv footage of Gaal attempting to stand, Perez said it was his own choice to do so.
“He was given the option [of remaining in his wheelchair] and he opted to stand up because he wanted to expedite the process,” Perez said.
The TSA official claimed that no footage is available showing the secondary screening off to the side of the security zone, where it is claimed that the Marine was forced to remove his prosthetic legs.
Joe Kasper, Rep Hunter’s Deputy Chief of Staff, told the Daily Mail: “Witnesses said he took off his legs. At a bare minimum, he was at least asked to take off his legs.” Kasper added that Rep. Hunter included two photographs of the Marine in his letter to TSA, saying they confirmed Cpl Gaal’s complaint.
“Here’s the thing – TSA’s going to make you think what they want you to think,” Kasper said. “The Marine never complained. It was the people who were escorting him. They felt disrespected, they felt mistreated. The problem here is the situational awareness in the tone and lack of awareness.”
“There has to be a part on TSA to acknowledge there is an issue – not the leg issue, but the bigger problem that he and other veterans and the war-wounded need extra help. That’s what it’s all about and that’s what Mr Hunter was getting at,” Kasper added.
Once again this incident comes down to a case of who you choose to believe. Is it the veterans and other witnesses cited in multiple reports, and backed by a Congressman? Or is it the government agency that has been caught consistently lying to cover its own back?
In a failed PR attempt, the TSA also took to Twitter to deny that the incident took place as it was reported. Twitter users fired back a number of scathing responses directed at the TSA.

Monday, March 18, 2013

News you can use march 18 2013

Classes resume at UCF after weapons, body found in dorm

USA TODAY
37 minutes ago

Written by
Natalie DiBlasio

Explosive devices were removed from a dorm room and classes resumed at the University of Central Florida on Monday, hours after the body of a student who apparently committed suicide was found in the room.

South Bend plane crash: Ex-Oklahoma QB among dead

Chicago Tribune - ‎1 hour ago‎
A former University of Oklahoma quarterback who led his team to two national championships in the 1970s was among two people killed when a small jet slammed into a neighborhood not far from the airport in South Bend, Ind.

Six in court over gang rape in India

The Guardian - ‎2 hours ago‎
Six men accused of raping a Swiss tourist who was cycling with her husband in central India have appeared in court. The men appeared in a magistrates court in Madhya Pradesh state with their faces covered with black cloth, police superintendent Chandra ...

Lindsay Lohan arrives late for court appearance

USA TODAY - ‎50 minutes ago‎
Flight from New York delays her arrival to scheduled hearing. Lindsay Lohan court. Lindsay Lohan arrives to her trial for accusations she lied to police after a car crash, reckless driving and violating her probation for a 2011 jewelry theft conviction at Airport ...

Weekly challenge: parents need to get over their fear of the HPV vaccine

Boston.com - ‎30 minutes ago‎
I promised myself that I would get my teenage daughter vaccinated against the cervical-cancer causing human papillomavirus before she graduates from high school this year.

Bosco Ntaganda: Wanted Congolese 'in US mission in Rwanda'

BBC News - ‎3 minutes ago‎
Democratic Republic of Congo war crimes suspect Bosco Ntaganda is believed to have handed himself over to the US embassy in Kigali, Rwanda's foreign minister has said.

Helicopter pilot flew Quebec prison escapees with gun at his head

Globe and Mail - ‎12 minutes ago‎
The helicopter pilot expected to take two tourists for a weekend flight over the ski country north of Montreal. Instead, one of his passengers pointed a firearm at his head and ordered him to fly to a local prison.

Suicide bomber in northwest Pakistan courthouse kills four others

Los Angeles Times - ‎2 hours ago‎
PESHAWAR, Pakistan— A suicide bomber killed four other people and injured at least 33 after rushing into a crowded courtroom in the northwest Pakistan city of Peshawar on Monday and detonating his explosives, police and witnesses said.

China Cites Risk of New Tension as US Bolsters Missile Defenses

New York Times - ‎1 hour ago‎
HONG KONG - China said Monday that the United States' decision to strengthen antimissile defenses in response to threats from North Korea risked deepening regional tensions, underscoring Beijing's caution on further pressuring the North despite its third ...

David Hasselhoff Joins Protest to Save Berlin Wall

ABC News (blog) - ‎1 hour ago‎
The “Baywatch” star joined thousands of protesters in Germany Saturday to stop developers from knocking down the longest-surviving part of the wall to build apartments.

Jindal unharmed in weekend traffic accident

The Hill (blog) - ‎2 hours ago‎
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal was involved in a minor auto accident Sunday, but escaped unharmed according to a spokesman from the governor's office.

Prosecutor: Gosnell a murderer, not an abortionist

Philadelphia Inquirer - ‎1 hour ago‎
PhillyPharma: AstraZeneca cutting 1200 jobs in Wilmington, moving R&D to Gaithersburg, Md. 38 minutes ago. Stay Connected. Get the latest Philly.

Arizona voter registration case before Supreme Court

MSNBC - ‎25 minutes ago‎
The Supreme Court began hearing arguments Monday over a critical case that could influence voter ID laws across the country. Arizona lawyers are asking the high court to reinstate Proposition 200, which required all residents to show proof of U.S.

Wildfire burns cabins near Great Smoky Mountains park

USA TODAY - ‎2 hours ago‎
PIGEON FORGE, Tenn. (AP) - A wildfire burning in a resort area outside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in eastern Tennessee has destroyed more than 30 large rental cabins.

Obama Nominates Justice Aide for Labor Post

New York Times - ‎47 minutes ago‎
WASHINGTON - President Obama on Monday nominated Thomas E. Perez, who heads the Civil Rights Division at the Justice Department, to be the next secretary of labor, a choice that promises to provoke a debate with Republicans about voting rights and ...

California now tied for worst unemployment rate

MarketWatch (blog) - ‎55 minutes ago‎
California and Rhode Island have the unenviable role of sporting the nation's worst unemployment rate, according to data released Monday.

Homebuilder Confidence in U.S. Unexpectedly Fell in March

Bloomberg - ‎3 hours ago‎
Confidence among U.S. homebuilders unexpectedly fell for a second month in March, a sign the residential real-estate market will take time to strengthen.

Boston couple charged with managing Ponzi scheme

Boston.com - ‎1 hour ago‎
BOSTON (AP) - A Boston couple has been charged in connection with what prosecutors are calling a multimillion dollar Ponzi scheme in which they used investors' money to fund a lavish lifestyle.

'Hip to be square': Jack Dorsey on wanting to run for NY mayor and whether he's ...

Washington Post (blog)
33 minutes ago

Written by
Emi Kolawole

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative, Thursday, Sept. 23, 2010, in New York. (Mark Lennihan - AP).

Overheard: Emma Watson on '50 Shades' rumors

CNN (blog) - ‎37 minutes ago‎
After rumors persisted last Friday that the 22-year-old former "Harry Potter" star is attached to the project, the actress posted a tweet the following day that seemed to contradict the gossip.

Rihanna's 777 Tour Documentary Set To Premiere In May

MTV.com - ‎43 minutes ago‎
'Rihanna 777' will premiere on Fox on May 6, taking fans inside the highly publicized and often rocky jaunt. By Jocelyn Vena (@jocelyn1212).

Miley Cyrus Relaxes Poolside Amid Rumors of Split with Liam Hemsworth

People Magazine - ‎1 hour ago‎
Despite rumors of a split with her fiancé Liam Hemsworth, Cyrus, 20, seemed content to be sipping on a beverage poolside while showing off her svelte physique in a printed bikini in Palm Desert, Calif.

LISTEN: Is Beyonce's New Single "Bow Down" Empowering or Arrogant?

The Daily Blabber from iVillage - ‎20 minutes ago‎
Beyonce is the queen of pop, and don't you forget it! In a newly released track called "Bow Down/I Been On," the 17-time Grammy winner urges fans to pay their respects.

Casey Needs to Give His Rookies More Playing Time

Yahoo! Sports - ‎15 minutes ago‎
COMMENTARY | With the Toronto Raptors on the verge of being ousted from the playoffs, fans and members of the media have begun pleading for Dwane Casey to let rookies Terrence Ross, Jonas Valanciunas and Quincy Acy to get some burn over ...

Dominicans seek revenge vs. Cinderella Dutch

MLB.com - ‎7 minutes ago‎
SAN FRANCISCO -- Though members of both teams have tried to play it down, the Dominican Republic-Kingdom of the Netherlands grudge match in Monday night's semifinal at AT&T Park has become one of the most talked about clashes in this year's World ...

Gonzaga's early worry

ESPN - ‎25 minutes ago‎
My first reaction to the 2013 bracket was very likely the same as yours. Something like: "Man, the Midwest is stacked." Louisville, Duke, Saint Louis, Memphis, Creighton and (just barely) Colorado State were all the strongest teams in their respective ...

Frazier: Ponder remains Vikings' starting QB

Chicago Tribune - ‎29 minutes ago‎
Minnesota Vikings coach Leslie Frazier moved quickly to defuse any quarterback controversy, saying Christian Ponder is the team's unquestioned starter.

Ravens' opener & impact on Pats

ESPN (blog) - ‎10 minutes ago‎
PHOENIX -- Interesting development here at the NFL's annual meeting as it relates to the Ravens' season-opening game, which per NFL tradition with defending Super Bowl champions was expected to be played in Baltimore on Thursday, Sept.

Leaping lunar dust

Phys.Org - ‎4 hours ago‎
This is a view from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft across the north rim of Cabeus crater. The leaping dust behavior may be observed on the moon in places like this where sunlit areas are close to shaded regions.

Genes, Not Light, Make Roosters Crow at Dawn

Discovery News - ‎1 hour ago‎
Roosters are genetically programmed to crow with the dawn, finds a new study that could also help to explain why dogs bark and cats meow.