How much crazier can Black Friday get?

A Black Friday shopper takes a rest with purchases at Northpark Mall in Ridgeland, Miss., on Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/The Clarion-Ledger, Vickie D. King) NO SALES

A Black Friday shopper takes a rest with purchases at Northpark Mall in Ridgeland, Miss., on Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/The Clarion-Ledger, Vickie D. King) NO SALES

A consumer rests herself and her bags in Herald Square during the busiest shopping day of the year, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011, in New York. Some of the nation's major chain stores opened late Thursday, competing for holiday shoppers on the notoriously busy Black Friday to kick off a period that is crucial for the retail industry. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Black Friday shoppers line up outside of a Kmart store in Salem, Ore., early Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Statesman-Journal, Timothy J. Gonzalez)

This photo provided by the Maricopa County Sheriff?s Office, shows Jerald Allen Newman, 54, after his arrest Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, at a Walmart store in Buckeye, Ariz. Buckeye police are coming under fire for a video posted online Friday that shows Newman on the floor of the store with a bloody face after police took him to the ground. Police say he was resisting arrest but his wife and witnesses say he was just trying to protect his grandson during a chaotic rush for discounted video games. (AP Photo/Maricopa County Sheriff's Office)

Black Friday shoppers take a rest at Westfield Galleria at Roseville in Sacramento, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/The Sacramento Bee, Hector Amezcua) MAGS OUT; TV OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT

NEW YORK (AP) ? Pepper-sprayed customers, smash-and-grab looters and bloody scenes in the shopping aisles. How did Black Friday devolve into this?

As reports of shopping-related violence rolled in this week from Los Angeles to New York, experts say a volatile mix of desperate retailers and cutthroat marketing has hyped the traditional post-Thanksgiving sales to increasingly frenzied levels. With stores opening earlier, bargain-obsessed shoppers often are sleep-deprived and short-tempered. Arriving in darkness, they also find themselves vulnerable to savvy parking-lot muggers.

Add in the online-coupon phenomenon, which feeds the psychological hunger for finding impossible bargains, and you've got a recipe for trouble, said Theresa Williams, a marketing professor at Indiana University.

"These are people who should know better and have enough stuff already," Williams said. "What's going to be next year, everybody getting Tasered?"

Across the country on Thursday and Friday, there were signs that tensions had ratcheted up a notch or two, with violence resulting in several instances.

A woman turned herself in to police after allegedly pepper-spraying 20 other customers at a Los Angeles-area Walmart on Thursday in what investigators said was an attempt to get at a crate of Xbox video game consoles. In Kinston, N.C., a security guard also pepper-sprayed customers seeking electronics before the start of a midnight sale.

In New York, crowds reportedly looted a clothing store in Soho. At a Walmart near Phoenix, a man was bloodied while being subdued by police officer on suspicion of shoplifting a video game. There was a shooting outside a store in San Leandro, Calif., shots fired at a mall in Fayetteville, N.C. and a stabbing outside a store in Sacramento, N.Y.

"The difference this year is that instead of a nice sweater you need a bullet proof vest and goggles," said Betty Thomas, 52, who was shopping Saturday with her sisters and a niece at Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, N.C.

The wave of violence revived memories of the 2008 Black Friday stampede that killed an employee and put a pregnant woman in the hospital at a Walmart on New York's Long Island. Walmart spokesman Greg Rossiter said Black Friday 2011 was safe at most of its nearly 4,000 U.S. stores despite "a few unfortunate incidents."

Black Friday ? named that because it puts retailers "in the black" ? has become more intense as companies compete for customers in a weak economy, said Jacob Jacoby, an expert on consumer behavior at New York University.

The idea of luring in customers with a few "doorbuster" deals has long been a staple of the post-Thanksgiving sales. But now stores are opening earlier, and those deals are getting more extreme, he said.

"There's an awful lot of psychology going on here," Jacoby said. "There's the notion of scarcity ? when something's scarce it's more valued. And a resource that can be very scarce is time: If you don't get there in time, it's going to be gone."

There's also a new factor, Williams said: the rise of coupon websites like Groupon and LivingSocial, the online equivalents of doorbusters that usually deliver a single, one-day offer with savings of up to 80 percent on museum tickets, photo portraits, yoga classes and the like.

The services encourage impulse buying and an obsession with bargains, Williams said, while also getting businesses hooked on quick infusions of customers.

"The whole notion of getting a deal, that's all we've seen for the last two years," Williams said. "It's about stimulating consumers' quick reactions. How do we get their attention quickly? How do we create cash flow for today?"

To grab customers first, some stores are opening late on Thanksgiving Day, turning bargain-hunting from an early-morning activity into an all-night slog, said Ed Fox, a marketing professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Midnight shopping puts everyone on edge and also makes shoppers targets for muggers, he said.

In fact, robbery appeared to be the motive behind the shooting in San Leandro, about 15 miles east of San Francisco. Police said robbers shot a victim as he was walking to a car with his purchases around 1:45 a.m. on Friday.

"There are so many hours now where people are shopping in the darkness that it provides cover for people who are going to try to steal or rob those who are out in numbers," Fox said.

The violence has prompted some analysts to wonder if the sales are worth it, and what solutions might work.

In a New York Times column this week, economist Robert Frank proposed slapping a 6 percent sales tax on purchases between 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving and 6 a.m. on Friday in an attempt to stop the "arms race" of earlier and earlier sales.

Small retailers, meanwhile, are pushing so-called Small Business Saturday to woo customers who are turned off by the Black Friday crush. President Barack Obama even joined in, going book shopping on Saturday at a small bookstore a few blocks from the White House.

"A lot of retailers, independent retailers, are making the conscious decision to not work those crazy hours," said Patricia Norins, a retail consultant for American Express.

Next up is Cyber Monday, when online retailers put their wares on sale. But on Saturday many shoppers said they still prefer buying at the big stores, despite the frenzy.

Thomas said she likes the time with her sisters and the hustle of the mall too much to stay home and just shop online.

To her, the more pressing problem was that the Thanksgiving weekend sales didn't seem very good.

"If I'm going to get shot, at least let me get a good deal," Thomas said.

___

Associated Press Writers Julie Walker in New York, Christina Rexrode in Raleigh, N.C., John C. Rogers in Los Angeles and Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report

Associated Press

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Police ban Congo election rallies, at least 2 dead (Reuters)

KINSHASA (Reuters) ? Police in Congo blocked President Joseph Kabila's main rival at an airport in Kinshasa on Saturday to stop him staging an election rally after at least two died in violence across the central African state's capital city.

Two days before presidential and parliamentary elections, rival factions hurled rocks at each other and gunfire was heard across town.

A Reuters reporter saw one lifeless body on the road to the airport while a U.N. source reported another death elsewhere in town.

The violence was the latest sign of tension in the run-up to Congo's second election since a 1998-2003 war, a poll which has been marked by opposition allegations of irregularities and concerns about inadequate preparations.

Police stopped opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi and his entourage from leaving Kinshasa's N'djili airport after his party said it would defy a ban on political rallies imposed earlier on Saturday.

"I'll call the population of Kinshasa to come here," Tshisekedi, 78, sitting in a red Hummer surrounded by police at the exit gate of the airport, told reporters.

"We are already dying in our thousands, we are not going to let a few injuries stop us fighting now," he said, a reference to his accusations that Kabila's government has saddled Congo's population with insecurity and poverty.

After hours of failed negotiations by the United Nations peacekeeping mission, police moved in on Tshisekedi's entourage, dragging several people from their cars, according to a Reuters witness. Tshisekedi was later escorted to his home by the police, according to a U.N. source.

Earlier, tens of thousands of Congolese turned out on the airport road, most of them identifiable as Tshisekedi supporters. Some chanted his name while many billboards for Kabila and his allies had been torn down.

Kabila, Tshisekedi and the other main challenger, Vital Kamerhe, had been due to hold rallies within several hundred metres of each other in central Kinshasa on Saturday.

Kamerhe told Reuters that four people had been killed, including one of his supporters, but it was not immediately possible to confirm that toll.

POLL DELAY?

Under constitutional amendments signed off by Kabila this year, the presidential vote will be decided in a single round, meaning the winner can claim victory with a simple majority. Analysts say that favours Kabila against the split opposition.

Despite a logistics operation supported by helicopters from South Africa and Angola, some observers doubt whether all the ballot slips will reach the 60,000 voting stations by Monday in a country two-thirds the size of the European Union.

However national election commission president Daniel Ngoy Mulunda said he did not expect any delay to the polls, saying that materials were 90 percent deployed in the provinces.

"No, I am not expecting any change. We have today, the whole night, tomorrow day and night to finalize (preparations)," Mulunda told a news conference in Kinshasa.

"We had some delays with weather but we know it will work - on Monday it won't rain."

Earlier, Tshisekedi said he could accept a delay but only if Mulunda, whom he accused of having political ties to Kabila and turning a blind eye to alleged irregularities, was sacked.

"I would agree (to a delay) if that meant a more credible, democratic and transparent process," he told French RFI radio.

"But one thing is clear: if we say there will be a delay, it is clear that the election commission cannot be led by Daniel Ngoy Mulunda," he said, accusing him of having been a founding member of Kabila's PPRD political party.

Mulunda, who will have the deciding vote if his commission is split on any election dispute, said this week he did not deny having been a member of the delegation that accompanies Kabila on foreign trips, but said he was not a founding PPRD member.

Kabila's rivals say fake polling stations have been set up to allow vote-rigging, an allegation denied by the authorities. They also accuse Kabila of using state media and transport assets for his campaign.

Kamerhe said the Congolese would not accept a rigged poll.

"They want free and fair elections that allow them to take their destiny in their own hands. People will refuse cheating wherever it takes place," he told Reuters, surrounded by chanting and dancing supporters at his party headquarters.

For many Congolese, there was a last-minute scramble to find out where they should be voting. Gervis Ilunga, a 44-year-old security guard, said he registered in one Kinshasa district but ultimately found his name elsewhere.

"In 2006, things were at least organised," he said of the first post-war poll largely organised under the auspices of the United Nations. "It is not like that this time ... There will be too many challenges this time."

(Additional reporting by Finbarr O'Reilly; Writing by Mark John; Editing by Sophie Hares and David Cowell)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111127/wl_nm/us_congo_democratic_election

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Moroccans vote in modest numbers for elections

A Moroccan woman leaves a polling booth before casting her vote in a polling station in Rabat, Morocco, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. Moroccans began voting for a new parliament Friday in Arab Spring-inspired elections that are facing a boycott by democracy campaigners who say the ruling monarchy isn't committed to real change. Small sign reads: voting booth. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)

A Moroccan woman leaves a polling booth before casting her vote in a polling station in Rabat, Morocco, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. Moroccans began voting for a new parliament Friday in Arab Spring-inspired elections that are facing a boycott by democracy campaigners who say the ruling monarchy isn't committed to real change. Small sign reads: voting booth. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)

Abdelilah Benkirane, the secretary general of Morocco's Islamist Justice and Development Party, leaves the voting booth in Rabat, Morocco, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. Moroccans began voting for a new parliament Friday in Arab Spring-inspired elections that are facing a boycott by democracy campaigners who say the ruling monarchy isn't committed to real change. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)

Moroccan Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar, tipped as possibly the next prime minister, casts his ballot in the affluent neighborhood of Souissi, Rabat. Moroccans voted on Friday Nov. 25, 2011 in parliamentary elections brought forward as part of the king's package of reforms to respond to the Arab Spring. (AP Photo/Paul Schemm)

A man clutching his car keys and smartphone votes in the affluent Rabat neighborhood of Agdal early in the morning Friday Nov. 25 2011. Moroccans voted Friday in parliamentary elections brought forward as part of the king's package of reforms to respond to the Arab Spring. (AP Photo/Paul Schemm)

A woman deposits her ballot paper after voting in Rabat, Morocco, Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. Moroccans voted for a new parliament Friday in Arab Spring-inspired elections that are facing a boycott by democracy campaigners who say the ruling monarchy isn't committed to real change. (AP Photo/Abdeljalil Bounhar)

RABAT, Morocco (AP) ? Morocco's Arab Spring-inspired parliamentary elections saw a 45 percent turnout rate on Friday in the face of a boycott called by democracy activists who say the ruling monarchy isn't committed to real change.

A moderate Islamist party and a pro-palace coalition led by the finance minister are competing for the top spot, but the key test for authorities' legitimacy was how many voters cast ballots.

While the turnout, announced by the Interior Ministry is an improvement over 2007's 37 percent, it is still less than the rates predicted by officials who maintained the population has been galvanized by the king's reform efforts.

Since the last election, however, the number of registered voters has shrunk from 15 million to 13.5 million ? despite the increase in population ? which may also have brought up the participation rate.

Interior Minister Taieb Cherqaoui said the vote took place in an atmosphere of "calm and a spirit of responsibility," though opposition members alleged there were irregularities.

"We have spoken with our offices in every region and there was a lot of vote buying and the Interior Ministry mobilized transportation to bring voters to polling stations like animals," Lahcen Daoudi, a top official with the Islamist Justice and Development Party, told The Associated Press

In response to pro-democracy protests, the king amended the constitution over the summer giving the prime minister new powers, including the ability to dissolve parliament and make certain appointments. But the ultimate authority remains with the monarch.

As the polls closed Friday night and the counting of ballots began, Morocco's U.S. and other Western allies were closely watching for the results to see how the North African kingdom is navigating its own Arab Spring.

"I've always voted, but this time it is more important," said Dr. Mohammed Ennabli, as he cast his ballot early in the morning in the affluent Agdal neighborhood. "Before it was the king who chose, now it is the people who choose."

Results in one voting booth in the area after polls closed had the Islamist Party, known by its French initials PJD, taking nearly 40 percent of the votes.

Many people, however, scorned a process they say has been going on for decades without any tangible effect on their lives.

"I won't vote, the promises are never kept ? with or without the new constitution, it is the same," said Abdallah Cherachaoui, an unemployed 45 year old in the lower income district of Akkari. "They are laughing at us."

In the working class city of Sale, across the river from the capital Rabat, there was a steady trickle of voters to the school acting as a polling station, but some stayed outside.

"I voted in 2007 because the candidate was a member of my family, but he also disappointed me and as soon as the elections were over, I never saw him again, so I'm not making that mistake again," said Brahim Errami, 25, from his seat in a nearby cafe. "I pity the people going in and out of that school."

Morocco's reputation as a stable kingdom in North Africa has taken a hit with this year's protests over government corruption and heavy handed security forces. And its once-steady economy is creaking from the amount of money the government has pumped into raising salaries and subsidies to keep people calm amid the Arab world turmoil.

The election campaign has been strangely subdued, unlike the lively politicking in nearby Tunisia when it held the first elections prompted by the Arab uprisings last month.

Morocco with its many political parties and regular elections under the tight control of an all-powerful monarch was once the bright star in a region of dictatorships.

But all that has changed with the Arab uprisings that toppled dictators in Tunisia, Libya and Egypt. Now a political system that holds elections but leaves all powers in the hands of a hereditary king does not look so liberal.

Around 30 political parties are fielding more than 5,000 candidates to compete for 395 seats in parliament, including 60 set aside for women and 30 for "youth," under 40. A complex proportional system of representation means no party is likely to take more than 20 percent of the seats.

Under the new constitution, the king asks the party with the most seats to form the government, which could well be the PJD ? if it can find parties willing to ally with it in a coalition.

The Islamists' biggest rival for the top spot is Finance Minister Salaheddine Mezouar's Rally of Independents, which leads an alliance of seven other pro-palace parties.

"This is a very important election for the Moroccan people and it confirms the choice made for an open process of democratization that is being consolidated by this election," he told the AP after voting. "This is really a moment of great emotion."

Like elsewhere in the Arab world, Moroccans hit the streets in the first half of 2011 calling for more democracy, and King Mohammed VI responded by amending the constitution and bringing forward elections.

But since then, the sense of change has dissipated, and while the king remains a respected figure, few have much confidence in parliament or the politicians in it.

"I voted because we need to elect a new parliament, but I voted blank for the simple reason that there is no one I can trust from the people that are being elected," said Chamseddin Baba, the manager of an IT company who voted in the wealthy suburb of Souissi. "I would like to vote for the best, but the best are not there."

Associated Press

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Plane carrying 6 crashes in remote Ariz. mountains

Associated Press

A small plane carrying three adults and three children crashed in flames in the Superstition Mountains east of Phoenix on Wednesday night, leaving one child confirmed dead and no signs of survivors, authorities said.

Preliminary reports indicate the twin-engine plane flew from Safford to Mesa's Falcon Field to pick up three children for the Thanksgiving holiday and was headed back to Safford in southeastern Arizona, said Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu.

A pilot, a mechanic and another adult were also on board, Babeu said.

The children reportedly were between the ages of 5 and 9.

Calls to Falcon Field, which mostly serves small, private planes, weren't immediately returned Wednesday night.

Sheriff's spokesman Elias Johnson said the body of one child was recovered late Wednesday night from the crash scene.

Rescue personnel were using infrared devices to search for bodies, but had not been able to detect any sign of movement, according to Johnson.

PhotoBlog: Helicopter searchlight scours Superstition Mountains

"It does not look promising," Babeu said at a news conference. "We will search throughout the night."

Authorities started getting calls reporting a mushroom-like explosion near the peak of a mountain, 40 miles east of downtown Phoenix, at about 6:30 p.m. MST.

Flames could still be seen hours after the crash.

Burning mountain
Rescue crews flown in by helicopter to reach the crash site in rugged terrain reported finding two debris field on fire, suggesting that the plane broke apart on impact.

"The fuselage is stuck down into some of the crevices of this rough terrain, and we're doing our best at this point in the darkness," Babeu said. "This is not a flat area, this is jagged peaks, almost like a cliff-type rugged terrain."

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Allen Kenitzer said the Rockwell AC-69 was registered to Ponderosa Aviation Inc. in Safford. A man who answered the phone Wednesday night at Ponderosa Aviation declined comment.

Some witnesses told Phoenix-area television stations they heard a plane trying to rev its engines to climb higher before apparently hitting the mountains. The elevation is about 5,000 feet at the Superstition Mountains' highest point.

Kenitzer said the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board would be investigating the cause of the crash.

Video showed several fires burning on the mountainside, where heavy brush is common.

The region near Lost Dutchman State Park and the Superstition Wilderness is filled with steep canyons, soaring rocky outcroppings and cactus. Treasure hunters who frequent the area have been looking for the legendary Lost Dutchman mine for more than a century.

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/24/8990570-plane-carrying-6-crashes-in-remote-ariz-mountains

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Why Are Thinner People More Likely To Die After Surgery?

TIME:

Thin and normal-weight people may have a higher risk of dying soon after surgery than patients who are overweight, a new study finds. The reason for the link isn't clear, but the findings suggest that BMI, or body mass index, could help identify patients who might be at greater risk after some procedures.

Read the whole story: TIME

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/22/thinner-people-surgery-risk-death_n_1108094.html

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Reggie Love Reveals Obama's Annoying Habit

President Obama's body man and basketball buddy Reggie Love announced earlier this month that he is leaving his job to go to business school, and now he is talking about his time inside the White House. In an interview with ABC News to air Tuesday night at 6:30 ET, Love says he spent so much time by the president's side that he witnessed many personal moments.

"If he had it his way, I think he'd floss in private," he says. "I think the fact that he was comfortable with me is probably a product of, you know, he's beaten down. I've been around for so long."

Love says Obama is "like a big brother" to him, and he sought his advice about the emotional decision to go back to school. ("He was very supportive.") When pressed to describe the president's annoying habits, Love tells ABC that Obama's aversion to air conditioning made some of their long car rides together uncomfortable.

"The thing that used to kill me is that the guy loves to ride around with the AC off in the summertime," Love says. "And I get hot. I start sweating. And I'm like, it's 80 degrees in this car. I'm going to pass out."

Love, 30, graduated from Duke University, where he played basketball and football. In 2006, he joined Obama's Senate office as an assistant and has stayed by the president's side ever since. He will leave his position by year's end and will soon enroll in the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/22/reggie-love-leaving-obama-personal-aide-abc-_n_1107455.html

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Video: Price of Thanksgiving dinner highest in 20 years

>>> back now with news about the cost of tradition. this is the holiday, of course, for giving thanks but only the sentiment is free. e price of a thanksgiving dinner has climbed by the highest amount in 20 years. why now? nbc janet shamlian explains.

>> reporter: shopping for her family's thanksgiving dinner has given christie stone a case of sticker shock.

>> can't live without that.

>> reporter: it's a small father gathering with a bigger than ever price tag.

>> i buy just what i ne. i had my list with me, so i buy what i need, no more, no less.

>> reporter: a traditional thanksgiving meal with all the trimmings costs 13% more this year. that's the largest jump in more than two decades. across the board everything is more expensive from frozen peas to a package of rolls. nothing has climbed more than the traditional bird. turkey is up more than 20% in just one year. the rest of the feast, too. pumpkin pie mix, if you can find it, will cost 41 cents more. stuffing is up 24 cents, kran ber i didn't say and sweet potatoes up 7 cents each.

>> some of the major factors are higher energy prices overall, which really do influence prices on all of the items that we surv, a also strong demand globally for food products.

>> reporter: take pecans, 30% of the u.s. supply is exported at a time when the harvest has taken a severe hit from the drought.

>> overall it's down quite a bit in texas.

>> reporter: this pea con groer says production fell from 70 million to 40 million pounds in texas and prices are skyrocketing.

>> some get 11 and $12 a pound for shelled pecans. next year they'll be more.

>> reporte shoppers like lynn say the long-held tradition of the bountiful meal is not one to scrimp on.

>> i'm sure it will cost at least $200, but it's just once a year so we do it.

>> reporter: higher prices taking a bite out of the holiday, as giving thanks gets more expensive. janet shamlian , nbc news, houston.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45422659/

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Flying in first class just got even better

NEW YORK?? Flying has never been so good ? for those able to splurge.

While most Thanksgiving travelers will fight for overhead bins and go hours without a snack or room to stretch their legs, life in first class is stress free. It's always been a special place on the other side of the curtain. Now, it's getting even cushier.

U.S. airlines, profitable again after a disastrous decade, are spending almost $2 billion to upgrade amenities for their highest-paying customers. On the most profitable international routes, high fliers are being treated with preflight champagne, flat-screen TVs and seats that turn into beds. Flight attendants greet them by name, hang up jackets and serve meals on china.

The lavish treatment is meant to keep people like Tim Carlson happy. Carlson, the chief financial officer of a semiconductor materials company, has taken 189 flights in the past two years, traveling 353,176 miles on United and its partners.

After the pilots, Carlson might just be the most important person on the plane. United will do anything to make sure another airline doesn't steal his business. Agents call him about delays and reroute him so he doesn't miss meetings.

"I go to the top of the list for the next flight," Carlson says.

On a recent trip from Newark, N.J., to Brussels, he was met at the curb with a boarding pass and escorted to the front of the security line. Four minutes after being dropped off, he was past the checkpoint.

Most of the 3.4 million Americans expected to fly this holiday week won't get anything close to that treatment. They've paid a little under $400 for their round-trip tickets. And it's a cutthroat business. To save $5, passengers are likely to choose another airline.

So, it's no surprise that the most loyal customers, and those willing to pay more for better services, are the ones airlines want to reward.

First-class and business-class passengers make up only 8 percent of international travelers but account for 27 percent of revenue, according to the International Air Transport Association. While a round-trip coach ticket between Chicago and Beijing might run $1,000, business class costs $4,000 and first class $12,000.

"There is a war going on for the profitable passenger," says Henry H. Harteveldt, co-founder of the travel firm Atmosphere Research Group.

Airlines are focusing on three areas:

• Giving passengers a full night's sleep. Delta, United and US Airways are installing seats in premium international cabins that recline into flat beds. American isn't making that investment but is adding turndown service on some routes; at bedtime, passengers are given pajamas and slippers while flight attendants lay down a quilted seat cover, duvet and pillow.
• Stimulating taste buds. Come mealtime, passengers can forget TV dinners. US Airways serves citrus mahi-mahi with lemon herb sauce, jasmine rice, baby carrots and grilled asparagus in international business class. American serves Ben & Jerry's ice cream sundaes. Hot fudge, butterscotch, berries, pecans and whipped cream are added at each seat.
• Providing escapes from the chaos of airport terminals. Delta's new Seattle lounge features floor-to-ceiling windows with views of Mount Rainier. American's new San Francisco club lets members cozy up next to a fireplace.

"They're now realizing that they need to offer a competitive product to attract the highest-dollar passengers," says Gary Leff, co-founder of frequent flier site MilePoint.

On foreign airlines, the good life is even better.

Emirates Airlines first-class passengers can shower on its Airbus A380s, and walled-off suites come with minibars. Lufthansa has a separate terminal in Frankfurt for its first-class passengers, but it's hardly an inconvenience: Passengers get dedicated immigration officers and are driven to their plane in a Mercedes-Benz S-Class or Porsche Cayenne.

Singapore Airlines trains flight attendants how to walk without waking passengers. And at Virgin Atlantic's London lounge, passengers can play pool, get a massage or relax in the sauna.

For a brief moment in the 1960s and '70s, flying was glamorous for all. Passengers dressed up for the occasion. Planes had piano bars, and flight attendants ? hired for their looks ? wore tight miniskirts. But tickets cost significantly more.

By the end of the 1970s, the royal treatment was gone. Planes started to resemble crowded buses. In the decade following 9/11, any perks that were left vanished. Airlines faced new security-related costs, higher fuel prices and two recessions. They weren't looking to impress. They just wanted to stay in business.

That's why most travelers have seen free meals, leg room and blankets stripped away. Even the front of the plane became stale. Foreign airlines took advantage and courted U.S. travelers with new, fancy first-class and business-class cabins.

Now, U.S. airlines are catching up. They finally have some spare cash, and as they buy new planes, they have a reason to upgrade the interior design. Engineers have also found ways to let seats go flat without requiring more space.

"If you want to attract business travelers, you need a lie-flat seat," says Joel Wartgow, a senior director at Carlson Wagonlit Travel, one of the largest corporate travel agencies.

To be sure, coach passengers are seeing some improvements these days, such as live TV and Wi-Fi service on select airlines. And they can enjoy other small luxuries for a fee. Seats with a few extra inches of leg room start at $9. Daily lounge passes cost $50. American even offers a celebrity treatment, with an agent escorting passengers from the curb to the gate for $125.

But for the vast majority of passengers, the gap is growing between the front of the plane and the back. That's because the airlines know what matters to the average traveler. And it's not caviar.

"They want their luggage. They want to arrive on time. They want the airplane to be clean," says Andrew Nocella, US Airways senior vice president of marketing. "Most importantly, they want a low fare."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45377197/ns/travel-news/

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Faster-than-light claims face new challenge

GENEVA?? Scientists studying the same neutrino particles that colleagues say appear to have traveled faster than light rejected the startling finding this weekend, saying their tests had shown it must be wrong.

The September announcement of the faster-than-light finding, backed up last week after new studies, caused a furor in the scientific world, as it seemed to suggest that Albert Einstein's ideas on relativity, and much of modern physics, were based on a mistaken premise.

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The first team, collaborating on the OPERA experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory south of Rome, said they recorded neutrinos beamed to them from the CERN research center in Switzerland as arriving 60 nanoseconds before light would have done.

But colleagues involved in ICARUS, another experiment at Gran Sasso, now argues that their measurements of the neutrinos energy on arrival contradict that reading.

In a paper posted Saturday on the same ArXiv preprint website as the OPERA results, the ICARUS team says their findings "refute a superluminal [faster than light] interpretation of the OPERA result."

They argue, on the basis of recently published studies by two top U.S. physicists, that the neutrinos pumped down from CERN should have lost most of their energy if they had traveled at even a tiny fraction faster than light.

But in fact, the ICARUS scientists say, the neutrino beam as tested in their equipment registered an energy spectrum fully corresponding with what it should be for particles traveling at the speed of light and no more.

Physicist Tomasso Dorigo, who works at CERN as well as Fermilab near Chicago, said in a post on the website Scientific Blogging that the ICARUS paper was "very simple and definitive."

He said the paper asserted "that the difference between the speed of neutrinos and the speed of light cannot be as large as that seen by OPERA, and is certainly smaller than that by three orders of magnitude, and compatible with zero."

Under Einstein's 1905 theory of special relativity, nothing can be accelerated to a speed faster than light. That idea lies at the heart of all current science of the cosmos and of how the vast variety of particles that make it up behave.

There was widespread skepticism when the OPERA findings were first revealed, and even the leaders of the experiment insisted that they were not announcing a discovery but simply recording measurements they had made and carefully checked.

Last week, the OPERA researchers said a new experiment with shorter neutrino beams from CERN and much larger gaps between them had produced the same result. Independent scientists said, however, this was not conclusive.

Other experiments are being prepared ? at Fermilab and at the KEK laboratory in Japan ? to try to replicate OPERA's findings. Only confirmation from one of these would open the way for a full scientific discovery to be declared.

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45381655/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Video: Regeneron's New Blindness Fighter

Insight on Regeneron's FDA approval for their drug to treat a common cause of blindness, with Leonard Schleifer, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals president/CEO

Related Links:

Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45386265/

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Bag Week Review: Timbuk2 Swig Backpack

I chose this bag because it's a bit smaller than the other ones I tested this week and it could be good for a younger person or a svelte, slim lady/man about town. It is a fairly standard backpack but is nicely outfitted with a number of useful features including, but not limited to, a bottle opener, a side zipper to access your laptop, a bottle opener, and a bottle opener. I'm starting to love bags with bottle openers.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ZVDS5RdJihA/

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Fierce Heat Waves & Stronger Storms Coming, Climate Report Warns (LiveScience.com)

Humans' activities appear to have brought on more extreme weather ? including more hot days, heat waves and heavy precipitation ? and we can expect this to worsen in decades to come, according to a report being prepared by the leading international climate change organization.

A summary report, released today (Nov. 18), states that since 1950, cold days and nights have decreased, while warm ones have become more frequent globally, as has heavy precipitation. There is also evidence droughts have increased in some places, but decreased in others, the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says.

The rest of the century will bring more extremes, according to this scientific assessment, which predicts:

• At least a 99 percent likelihood of more frequent and intense daily temperature highs, as well as declines in daily lows.
• Heat waves that will become more frequent, longer as well as more intense.
• An increase in heavy precipitation, particularly in the high latitudes, the tropics and during winters in the northern mid-latitudes.
• More intense droughts in some places. [Photos Reveal Devastating Texas Drought]
• The wind speed of tropical cyclones, which include hurricanes, is expected to increase, at least in some places, but there may be fewer or no change in the number of cyclones.
• Extremely high coastal waters thanks to sea level rise
• More landslides and other events associated with high mountains

Predictions like these bring to mind disastrous events like the European heat wave of 2003, droughts that crippled Russian agriculture in 2010 and hit the U.S. hard this summer, as well as the heavy rains that flooded Pakistan in September.

However, climate change did not create these events. Rather, it sets up a situation that enables naturally occurring weather extremes to become more severe. So, the effect of climate change is visible only over the long term.

The situation is like a baseball player on steroids, according to Gerald Meehl, a senior scientist at National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. If that player hits one home run, it's not clear if that home run is due to the steroids. To see how the steroids affected the player, it's necessary to compare his performance during the steroid-enhanced season with that from a previous one when he was not using steroids, Meehl said.

"Greenhouse gases are the steroids of the climate system," said Meehl, who served as a reviewer for part of the climate change report. "Greenhouse gases have changed the background state of climate such that the changes of setting heat records are much greater than (those of setting cold records)."

Some changes are more easily observed and predicted than others.

By looking back 50 years at temperature records from across the continental U.S., Meehl and colleagues found that the ratio of days when temperatures exceeded their record high for that date to days when temperatures dropped below their record low for that date shifted in favor of record warmth. Between 2000 and 2010, the ratio of record highs to lows grew to 2 to 1.?

That shift continued into the future, in their computer models, with warm days outnumbering cold ones as much as 50 to 1 by the end of the century. It is significant, Meehl points out, that the extreme cold days did not go away.

While it's intuitive that global warming would cause more extreme heat, the report suggests there's also a 66 percent or greater likelihood it will lead to more heavy rain and snowfall in many areas. That's because global warming means warmer air in some places, and the warmer the air, the more moisture it can hold, providing more water for a storm to dump, he explained.

Some changes are more difficult to predict than others. ?

While the summary report offers some predictions about tropical cyclones, which include hurricanes, looking ahead at these types of events can be tricky. Hurricanes are problematic because ideally they require? global ocean-atmosphere models run for a century or more with higher spatial resolution than what current computers make feasible. Also, the observational record of hurricanes is spotty prior to the 1970s, when satellites began tracking them, so the historical record before then is more uncertain. [Images: Hurricane Hunters in Action]

The full IPCC report, "Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change
Adaptation," also addresses the human dimension, discussing the impacts of natural disasters caused by extreme weather events and how risk and losses can be mitigated. The full report is expected to be released in February 2012.

You can follow LiveScience senior writer Wynne Parry on Twitter @Wynne_Parry.?Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience?and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20111118/sc_livescience/fierceheatwavesstrongerstormscomingclimatereportwarns

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Roku planning to bring set-top boxes to Canada, UK in early 2012

It's been a big year for Roku. The streaming content box manufacturer launched its Roku 2 HD, XD and XS this summer, with a $50 LT model coming just last month. Now, the Netflix / HBO Go / Angry Birds player will cross the border into Canada and the U.K., with the expansion set to begin in early 2012. The company is looking to build its 350 channels with region-specific content, which can be provided free, supported by ads or with a subscription -- and if you choose to add your own content to the service, you'd certainly be in good company.

Continue reading Roku planning to bring set-top boxes to Canada, UK in early 2012

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Jason Schmitt: Rock Music's Political Thump Turns to Thud

Maybe Van Halen killed it. Axl Rose's diva personality disorder certainly didn't help. Or, to get 99 percent of the readers on my side, maybe it was Nickelback that threw in the towel. The culprit is hard to pinpoint but the damage is done. Rock music as a genre is significantly less poignant in 2011 than it was decades prior -- and the real catalyst of the demise might relate more to capitalism and the digital revolution than the outrage any spandex outfit could instill.

Rocker Tom Morello and his acoustic guitar have done as much to spur this Fall's social critique as anyone. Morello's folksy twang, urging on the Occupy movement, is reminiscent of Dylan, and is eons away from his Marshall JCM 800 guitar tones of Rage Against the Machine. But he is tearing it up. His voice seems to ring louder without the amps -- and maybe that is the point. As Morello says "mic check" to a group of around 1,000 Occupy protesters in NYC, they engage in a collective recitation of his sentences that takes on a Pledge of Allegiance sort of tenor. Regardless of the lack of amplification and the cold conditions, the NYC corridor rumbles with the united human voice; that message doesn't run on 87 octane -- it burns rocket fuel.

The vibrancy of social critique was nearly synonymous with the 1960s counter-culture music. That was what frightened the parents -- the prominence of pot and LSD in a birth-controlled world didn't help -- but the main attention was on the rebellious musical messages toward the status quo. From venues like The Fillmore in San Francisco and The Grande Ballroom in Detroit, the rebel rousing statements often came sandwiched between distorted guitars. And people listened. And demonstrated.

John Sinclair, the well known manager of Detroit's MC5 and recipient of John Lennon's active demonstration to free him from a "10 years for two joints" sentencing, knows more about rock music and its inherent ability to incite activism than anyone on the planet. He also knows where the train line ends. Sinclair told me,

My interest in rock music kind of ends in the 1970s. I liked it when it was part of the fabric of life in the 1960s, something that came out of the way people lived. But then it just became a product. Woodstock was the signal that something else was going to happen that hadn't happened before. Over the next couple years the record companies just bought everything up and changed the concept of alternative expression, and [rock music] became commercialism.

Wayne Kramer, guitarist for the MC5, implied that perhaps modern rock is not as poignant because it has to compete, directly, with all the great bands of the past decades. Kramer told me, "All the music that ever existed exists right now. The Beatles to a 15-year-old on the Internet are a band right now; The Who is a band right now; The Sex Pistols is a band right now; The Clash is a band right now. It is an unforeseen side effect of the digital age."

Kramer continues to unpack the reasons that the MC5 have been such an enduring icon from rock music's golden era by saying,

The MC5 was caught in a moment in time. What you are always trying to capture in art is the instance of original joy -- when the muse visits, where the effort is caught. It is not that you achieved [artistic success], but you are trying for it. The Kick Out the Jams era of the MC5 was young, passionate and committed, and wholehearted about everything. We were convinced, we were certain and it was captured and caught and it remains frozen in amber so that anyone can tap into it at anytime. A reason that the MC5 is enduring may be that we never went on to be rich and famous. Kind of like we will never know James Dean as an old overweight balding fat man. He is always going to be that beautiful young man. Marilyn Monroe will always be that luscious, slightly damaged blond. And in a way the MC5 is kind of locked into that.

The MC5 undoubtedly were relevant and at the apex of rock music, addressing social problems such as racial inequalities or the war in Vietnam, and in a way that is an unfair playing field for a current band to have to compete against. But it doesn't have to be a direct competition; more up-and-coming rock bands need to draw inspiration from the era when the critique rang true. Tom Morello, with his Harvard degree and collection of Grammys is on point: he knows where good inspiration is. Morello speaks of his admiration toward the MC5 by telling Tony D'Annunzio, producer of Louder Than Love: The Grande Ballroom Story, "The MC5's music has been a huge influence on me. They were the original political punk band with an awesome stage show and a tremendous amount of energy." Morello continues and says, "It was in part [Wayne Kramer's] influence to make Nightwatchmen music and play and write and sing my own songs."

Stephan Jenkins, frontman of Third Eye Blind, also became one of a small handful of rock-based acts assessing the political climate. Two days ago Jenkins released "If There Ever Was A Time," a song spurring on the Occupy movement. Jenkins, the UC Berkeley valedictorian, over the two last days has had 21,000 plays and 3,000 downloads of the song off his Facebook page. Do you need prestigious accolades to realize the relevance of directing rock music to the people in 2011?

Hamada Ben Amor didn't have much to show for his 20 years on the planet in 2010. A shared bedroom with his brother, a few hundred dollars computer and a condenser microphone. But in a modern view, Amor may have had the biggest impact of any musician in the 21st century. Amor was a typical college student steeped in a Tupac and Biggie Smalls regime of honesty and 808 bass drums. Amor took the name El General and recorded tracks in his bedroom, drawing upon his idols. He uploaded tracks to Facebook with minimal pomp and circumstance. But on November 7, 2010, it changed. He hit on a nerve. He recorded, "Rais Lebled" which translates to "President of the Country." Tunisia had banned music with nearly any questionable critique of the status quo. A song critiquing the president was a guarantee for safety concerns. Regardless, El General hit "upload" and "Rais Lebled" went viral. Within weeks El General had risen as a leader in the Jasmine Revolution and the Tahrir Square protests in Cairo. His song and message was at the nexus for changing Tunisia and Egypt towards more democratic states. No million dollar tour busses, adorning fans or career trajectory visions: Just music becoming the soundtrack to revolutions.

Watching 1,000 Occupy camps on the planet dig their heels into the ground, and seeing 200 Patriotic Millionaires who want the government to tax them more march through Washington; it is hard not to draw parallels between 2011 and 1968. The apathy of the last decade seems to have lifted. And truth will emerge, the way it always has, through the murky waters of social critique. We need more leaders. We need more anthems. We need more people with the gumption to Kick Out The Jams.

?

Follow Jason Schmitt on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jason_schmitt

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jason-schmitt/rock-musics-political-thump_b_1101648.html

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Russian, U.S. crew safely dock with space station (Reuters)

MOSCOW (Reuters) ? Three astronauts in Russia's Soyuz spacecraft safely docked with the International Space Station on Wednesday, to the relief of agencies who had feared they might have to leave the orbiting base empty for the first time in a decade.

Moscow hopes the smooth flight -- the first since NASA retired its space shuttles this summer -- will restore faith in its space program after the crash of a freight ship and a series of botched launches.

The NASA shutdown means Russian spaceships are the only way to ferry goods and crews to the $100-billion space station, backed by 16 nations.

Ground support teams had scrambled to draw up plans to leave the orbital station unmanned should the Soyuz flight have problems.

The Soyuz TMA-22 crew linked up minutes ahead of schedule at 12:24 a.m. EST with the space station suspended 248 miles (399km) above the Pacific Ocean after a cramped, two-day journey from Russia's Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan.

Veteran NASA astronaut Daniel Burbank, 50, is taking over command of the station, while cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov, 39, and Anatoly Ivanishin, 42, made their maiden space voyage.

"We are doing great, there were no problems whatsoever. We are now flying over Australia. The view is breathtaking," Shkaplerov said in a video link with his family at Mission Control in Moscow.

NASA TV showed station crew members Mike Fossum of NASA, Japan's Satoshi Furukawa and Russia's Sergei Volkov embracing the new arrivals as they floated, grinning through the hatch.

The mission has been delayed since September over safety fears sparked when an unmanned Russian Progress craft broke up in the atmosphere in August.

Wednesday's docking briefly returns a full, six-person crew to orbit before the current residents return to Earth later this month. The station will only regain full occupancy with the planned launch of a new crew in late December.

Shkaplerov's five-year-old daughter, Irina, asked about a small stuffed bird from the mobile app Angry Birds that she had given him for the trip. The stuffed toy now serves as the crew's mascot and zero gravity indicator.

"Your bird is with me. It made it safely to the station. I will show it to you soon," Shkaplerov reassured her.

A string of space failures have marred celebrations marking this year's 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's pioneering orbit. The problems have also pointed to deeper troubles with Russia's space industry.

Moscow hopes the by-the-book docking will begin to restore its reputation after more trouble last week when a launch touted as post-Soviet Russia's interplanetary debut went awry.

Russia is likely to have lost the $165-million Phobos-Grunt probe, which is stuck in orbit and may drop to Earth after it failed to set a course toward Mars' moon last Wednesday.

Botched launches have also lost Russia a high-tech military orbiter, a costly telecommunication satellite and set back plans for a global navigation system to rival the U.S. navigation system GPS.

While NASA suffered the tragic loss of crews on its Columbia and Challenger shuttles in 2003 and 1986, Russia's last troubles with manned flights date back to the Soyuz-11 mission in 1971, when three cosmonauts died on re-entry.

(Writing by Alissa de Carbonnel; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111116/sc_nm/us_russia_space_iss

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Canada questions Haitian gov't plans for new army

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) ? Haiti's efforts to restore its disbanded army could deplete resources from more pressing matters in the Caribbean nation, which is still recovering from the massive earthquake that killed hundreds of thousands of people almost two years ago, a Canadian diplomat said Tuesday.

John Babcock, a spokesman for Canadian Minister of State of Foreign Affairs Diane Ablonczy, said in an email to The Associated Press that Haiti's decision to create a second security force is a sovereign right but that its formation "seems premature" because of the difficult living conditions that many Haitians still face following the January 2010 earthquake.

"Canada fears that creating a second security force will significantly reduce resources available for Haiti's other important priorities," one of them being the need to strengthen Haiti's national police department, Babcock wrote.

Haitian President Michel Martelly is moving ahead with a plan to restore the national army that was disbanded in 1995, and recruiting an initial force of 500 troops would cost an estimated $25 million.

Babcock said Tuesday Canada wouldn't help pay for a second security force, echoing sentiments of foreign diplomats who told Martelly in October they wouldn't fund the force.

In practice, however, foreign governments are almost certain to help foot the bill. Between 60 to 70 percent of the government's $2 billion budget is paid for by outside sources, and government departments will be required to send 1 to 5 percent of their budgets to the new security force.

The army is expected to be officially restored on Friday, when Martelly issues a decree. Friday is also a national holiday that commemorates Haiti's armed forces. Haiti's government says the army won't take shape until June.

The government says it needs the army to patrol its borders, respond to natural disasters and protect the country's few forests. It also hopes the military will replace a United Nations peacekeeping mission of nearly 13,000 troops that's been in Haiti since 2004.

But the army's return also brings back memories of a darker time when the military was synonymous with rights abuses and involvement in coups.

Canada, like the United States, said it would focus its support on the police force instead of a second security force. The national police department has only 8,000 officers in a country of 10 million people, and Canada has long been involved in trying to reform the agency.

Haiti's Prime Minister Garry Conille told The Associated Press Tuesday that he was aware of the concerns raised by Canada but that the government was still planning to restore the army, because the force still exists in the country's constitution.

Martelly later said that efforts to restore the army wouldn't come at the expense of the police department.

"I think it is very important to reaffirm the police and work on the plan to get the armed forces off the ground, but it is not the No. 1 priority," he told reporters at Havana's international airport in Cuba during an official visit.

Martelly had traveled to Cuba Tuesday for the first time since he took office in May in an effort to strengthen ties between the two countries.

Cuba is one of Haiti's most important regional collaborators, sending teams of doctors and other specialists over the past decade. Since the earthquake, even more Cuban medical brigades have been sent to treat survivors and fight a cholera outbreak that surfaced last year. Hundreds of Haitians have trained as doctors at Havana's Latin American School of medicine.

Martelly is scheduled to be in Cuba until Thursday and is expected to meet with Raul Castro.

___

Associated Press writer Andrea Rodriguez in Havana contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-15-CB-Haiti-New-Army/id-af550987781445ffbe7352830bafcbb9

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Pulse Scores Key Spot On Kindle?s Home Shelf; Co-founder Says It May Pass 10M Users This Year

So the Kindle Fire shipped Monday, and the early reviews are out in full force. The reactions, as per usual, are varied. But, for what it's worth, The Fire is already the best-selling item on Amazon, and many are now saying that the eCommerce giant could sell 5 million of its new devices by the end of the year. No, it's not an iPad killer, but people are excited by the Kindle's touch and Android-based evolution, and at $200 there's no doubt Amazon is going to sell more than a few. But what's more interesting (at least to me) than the potential growth of Amazon's market cap should the Kindle sell like hot cakes, or Apple looking over its shoulder, is how Kindle sales could be a huge victory for one of the little guys.

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

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Cain accuser's former boyfriend says they all met (AP)

SHREVEPORT, La. ? The former boyfriend of a woman who accused Republican presidential contender Herman Cain of inappropriate sexual behavior said Monday that he and this then-girlfriend met the businessman in the late 1990s.

Victor Jay Zuckerman's account of an evening he, Sharon Bialek and Cain spent together in 1997 directly contradicts the candidate's assertions that he had never met his accuser and did not recognize her name.

"During the National Restaurant Association convention in Chicago, Sharon indeed did meet and spend time with Mr. Cain," Zuckerman said at a news conference, describing an after party Cain had invited them to in a hotel suite after a National Restaurant Association event in Chicago.

Cain was chief executive of the Washington trade group at the time.

"At that party, Mr. Cain engaged both of us in conversation," Zuckerman said.

Zuckerman's spoke just as the firestorm around Cain seemed to be subsiding since the first disclosures on Oct. 30 set off a week of wall-to-wall news coverage. There hadn't been any new information disclosed in the past week about Cain or the accusations, and plans for a joint news conference by his accusers seemed increasingly unlikely.

Cain's campaign did not have an immediate response to Zuckerman.

Attorney Gloria Allred, who represents Bialek, appeared at Zuckerman's side and called on Cain to acknowledge that he had met his accuser, one of at least four who have alleged that Cain sexually harassed or made unwanted advances toward them.

"Mr. Cain's strategy of blanket denials simply won't work," Allred said. "He needs to come clean with the American people. Now is the time."

Zuckerman said Bialek told him that Cain inappropriately touched her later that year when she met him in Washington to seek employment help after being fired from the association.

Cain said last week that he doesn't remember her and had never seen Bialek until she went public.

"I saw Ms. Allred and her client yesterday in that news conference for the very first time," Cain said after that news conference. "As I sat in my hotel room with a couple of my staff members, as they got to the microphone, my first response in my mind and reaction was, I don't even know who this woman is. Secondly, I didn't recognize the name at all."

Later, Cain added: "I don't even know who this woman is. I tried to remember if I recognized her and I didn't."

Cain has been dogged since late last month by sexual harassment accusations by former association employees. The controversy was entering its third week Monday as the Louisiana pediatrician stepped forward to corroborate some of Bialek's allegations.

Zuckerman did not, however, witness the alleged sexual advances. He could only confirm that they and Cain had met.

"When she returned, she was upset," Zuckerman said. "She said that something had happened and that Mr. Cain had touched her in an inappropriate manner. She said she handled it and didn't want to talk about it any further."

There also was fresh evidence that accusations are causing Cain to lose public support. Some surveys show him dropping from the top of the polls, where he had been in the weeks before the first of the decade-old accusations surfaced.

Cain has defiantly denied any wrongdoing but he also has been unable to put the questions behind him with less than two months until Iowa's leadoff caucuses.

Cain has vowed to stay in the race for the GOP nomination and has deployed his wife of 43 years to defend him. Gloria Cain was appearing in a television interview set to air Monday night after being absent from the campaign trail for much of the year.

"I'm thinking he would have to have a split personality to do the things that were said," she said in excerpts of the Fox News Channel interview that were released Sunday.

She said she cannot believe the claims.

"To hear such graphic allegations and know that that would have been something that was totally disrespectful of her as a woman and I know that's not the person he is," Gloria Cain said. "He totally respects women."

That conflicts with the image Bialek has described.

The Chicago resident last week became the first woman to publicly accuse Cain, a Georgia businessman, of inappropriate sexual conduct in the late 1990s when he was chief executive of the National Restaurant Association.

Bialek had lost her job in the association's Chicago office and had gone to Washington to meet Cain for help finding employment. The two had dinner and afterward, as they sat in a parked car, Bialek said Cain groped her.

At least three other women have claimed that Cain sexually harassed them. Bialek is the only one of the four to go public with their accusations.

Some of Cain's die-hard supporters said they did not believe the sexual harassment charges leveled against the candidate.

"I'm sorry, but it's not in Herman Cain's character," said Stacie Curtis, a volunteer leader for Cain supporters in Alabama, shortly before Zuckerman spoke. "Nobody believes it."

___

Associated Press writer Ray Henry in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111114/ap_on_el_pr/us_cain

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desire to inspire - desiretoinspire.net - Monday's pets on furniture ...

If you'd like to send us photos to include in next week's "pets on furniture" post, please ensure your photos follow our basic rules: First, the pet must be on a piece of furniture. And?said piece of furniture must be clearly visible in the photo, so it takes center stage rather than your pet.?Think of it more of a photo of a great piece of furniture that you want to show off...and your pet happens to be sitting on it. And second, the photo must be of?decent quality.?If it's dark or fuzzy (from a camera phone) then it may not make the cut. Thanks! (Photos, your name, location and a brief description can be sent to? desiretoinspirekim@hotmail.com and?PLEASE don't send closeups of your pet!)

*** A huge thanks to all of you who answered my request for more pet entries for today. If some of you are wondering why your photos aren't included, I received so many I had to save some for next week. ?

My new handmade walnut bed from a wonderful Etsy artisan, against a chocolate wall (my first foray into bold color) and Minnie - my 19 year old geriatric kitty - in her Queen of the Hill mode. The old and the new, merging beautifully.
- Diane (San Diego)

...my dog in my rocket chair.
- Ana?

Riley on the purple chair that he is usually not allowed to be on
-?Katie (San Francisco, CA)

Here is our giant Siberian cat Lucas on his favorite chair, where you can find him most of the time. He loves to relax.
- Naomi (Seattle, WA)?

This is Billy the Kit.
- Emily?

Long time ago I send you a picture of my cat Rodolfo acting as a gargoyle.... Now here you have few pictures of his brothers, Catalino, the siamese, and Nicolas, the white deaf baby we found 8 months ago. Frequently they appear in my blog using all the furniture of our house, of course.
- Tami
??

Here are my "borrow-cats". The tired one is Tess and the other is her mother Sotis. They live with me for some weeks now and then.
- Barbro (Sweden)

These are my two beagles Sadie and Daisy sitting in the kitchen on an antique Crewel work chair.
- L?

There should be a keyboard instead of that creature. But it's his very favorite place, so...
- una x?

Source: http://www.desiretoinspire.net/blog/2011/11/14/mondays-pets-on-furniture-part-2.html

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