Yes Bank eyes acquisitions for business expansion | Firstpost

Davos: Looking to expand its business and grow its financial metrics going forward, new-generation private sector banking major Yes Bank has said it is open to possible acquisitions in banking, broking and asset management businesses, even as its organic growth plans are sufficient to meet its near-term targets.

Yes Bank?s planning continues to be organic in terms of its ?Version 2.0? target, but it is open to possible acquisitions in banking, broking and asset management businesses, its founder and CEO Rana Kapoor told PTI in an interview.

The bank currently has more than 400 branches and well above 650 ATMs. Reuters

Kapoor, who was here to attend the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, said that Yes Bank has received RBI?s approval to set up a retail broking business.

?We are in the process of establishing the subsidiary and building an organic business, primarily to complement our savings account offering to our retail customers. We will largely depend on the powerful ongoing retail customer acquisition of the Bank to leverage our broking business,? Kapoor said.

?However, we will be open to looking at attractive opportunities in the retail broking space which will cut down the time to market our offerings and will attract high quality management talent,? he added. ?We are also open to acquisition across banking, broking and asset management business. We now have a very strong top and senior management to execute organic and inorganic opportunities,? he said.

Kapoor, however, added that the bank?s planning continues to be organic in terms of execution of Version 2.0 goals of 12,750 employees, 2,000 ATMs, 900 branches, deposit base of Rs 1,25,000 crore, advances of Rs 1,00,000 crore and balance sheet size of Rs 1,50,000 crore.

Yes Bank had first announced its ?Version 2.0? goal in April 2010, wherein it set a target of 2015 to achieve 750 branches, 3,000 ATMs, 12,000 employees, Rs 1,25,000 crore deposit base, Rs 1,00,000 crore of loan book and Rs 1,50,000 crore of balance sheet.

However, it revised the numbers in April 2012 to 900 branches, 2,000 ATMs and 12,750 employees. At the close of last fiscal ended March 31, 2012, the bank had over 5,600 employees, loan book of about Rs 38,000 crore and deposits of close to Rs 49,000 crore.

The bank currently has more than 400 branches and well above 650 ATMs, as per the information available on its website. Asked about the bank?s expansion plans, Kapoor said: ?As our branch network expands, retail lending products are being offered from the branches which include a complete suite of products (auto loans, gold loans, home loans and credit cards).

PTI

Source: http://www.firstpost.com/business/yes-bank-eyes-acquisitions-for-business-expansion-607348.html

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BUSINESSES FOR SALE | Caribbean Islands Forum | Fodor's ...

My husband and I have recently sold our business in the states and are interested in business opportunities in the Caribbean. If anyone knows of anything for sale, please contact me with details. Also, if anyone knows any details on how to start a business outside the US, we would love the advice and info. Most interested in a dive shop or small boutique hotel. We are not sure where to even start...
HELP ME PLEASE.

Source: http://www.fodors.com/community/caribbean-islands/businesses-for-sale.cfm

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Algeria crisis strangling Sahara tourism

ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) ? The awe-inspiring dunes and wild mountains of Algeria's Sahara have lured adventure travelers for decades, but their latest incarnation ? as a crossroad for the al-Qaida militants who attacked a natural gas complex ? is likely to make them even more inaccessible.

At least 37 hostages died in the four-day siege deep in the desert. Algeria's government, ambivalent about tourism in the best of time, is expected to impose new restrictions on the vast south, whose residents eke out a living on the few intrepid tourists who arrive.

"The Sahara is an iconic wilderness much like the Himalaya or Antarctica and most agree that Algeria, the ninth biggest country in the world, is the best place to experience the full range of desert landscapes, authentic Tuareg culture, pre-historic rock art, adventure and so on," said Chris Scott, a Sahara guide and author. "It's all there and the people of the south have decades of experience in delivering what tourists want."

Scott just returned from leading a two-week New Year's camel trek through Tassili N'Ajjer National Park, 400 kilometers (250 miles) south of the Ain Amenas gas facility that was attacked.

But he is an exception. The numbers of tourists visiting the deep south dropped from 1,807 in 2011 to 643 last year, according to authorities in Tamanrasset, the main Saharan city. Already, 70 of the 76 tourist companies in the city have closed, and most Europeans planning on coming canceled their reservations after the attack, said Azzi Addi Ahmed, head of the local tourism association.

This is a far cry from 20,000 tourists a year in the 1980s, when restrictions were few and you could travel without the local tourist agencies that are now mandatory.

The region has long been loved by Europeans. The towering dunes and palm-fringed oases that epitomize the desert can be found in Algeria's Grand Ergs. Even farther the south, the rugged wind-carved mountains are dotted with 10,000-year-old cave paintings.

In 1911, a French soldier turned monk made his home among the Tuareg tribesmen and built a hermitage atop the nearly 10,000 foot (2,800 meter) Mount Assekrem in the Hoggar range near Tamanrasset, describing the surrounding peaks as more magnificent than any cathedral.

"My hermitage here is on a summit that overlooks practically the whole of the Hoggar and stands amid wild-looking mountains beyond which the seemingly limitless horizon makes one think of the infinitude of God," wrote Charles Foucauld.

Even then, the southern deserts were perilous: He was killed by marauding Senoussi tribesmen in 1916, and beatified by the Roman Catholic church in 2005.

The Sahara was largely closed to tourists during Algeria's years of civil war and wasn't reopened until the late 1990s when business rapidly picked up as Europeans rushed back to do desert safaris.

But, the government's victories against the militant Islamists in the north forced them to find refuge in the deserts to the south, mainly in northern Mali and Niger, where they engaged in smuggling and then the occasional lucrative kidnapping of foreigners.

Algeria's desert tourism received a major blow in 2003 when a precursor to al-Qaida snatched 32 foreign tourists, though all but one were eventually rescued and business recovered.

All that changed, however, when the overthrow of the Libyan regime flooded the desert with weapons, and a rebellion broke out in neighboring Mali, massively boosting al-Qaida's strength in the region.

"Already a large number of agencies have closed, leaving just those who do it for the love of the business to barely scratch by," said Iyad Gholami of the Assouf desert travel company in Tamanrasset. "We're collateral damage from the security crisis."

Phil Hassrick, who runs the California-based Lost Frontiers adventure travel company, stopped going to Algeria a few years ago.

"We couldn't guarantee the safety of the clients," he said, though back then it was more concern with banditry.

The impact is the most severe on the local Tuareg for whom tourism was one of the few sources of income, aside from smuggling.

Over the past year, the government said it would try to encourage Algerians to travel to the south, including periodic government and company visits, but operators complain that the visits are short, rare and don't involve the weeks of driving or trekking through the mountains desired by foreigners, who paid $1,500 a week to local guides.

In December, the remaining agencies petitioned the government to save the industry.

"At the very least we ask for the erasing of the debts linked to accumulated taxes as has been done for other sectors in difficulty, such as agriculture," Ahmed suggested. Lowering fares to the south on the state-owned carrier, Air Algerie, would be a big help, he said, but fears it may be too late.

"The attack on Ain Amenas is for us the coup de grace," Ahmed said. "It is the death of tourism in south Algeria."

_______

Schemm reported from Rabat, Morocco.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/algeria-crisis-strangling-sahara-tourism-145054282.html

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Private survey shows employers added 192,000 jobs in January

New York?

Private-sector employers added 192,000 jobs in January, more than economists had expected, indicating Friday?s jobs report from the government may be a good one.

?

The numbers, from a private survey by payroll processor ADP, provided a glimmer of optimism about the economy the same morning the government reported the nation?s GDP contracted in the fourth quarter.

?

?It feels to me that the job market is improving,? said Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody?s Analytics. ?Job growth has accelerated.?

?

Job growth is now hovering at about 175,000 jobs a month, he said, which should be enough to bring the unemployment rate down every month. Zandi predicts the unemployment rate, currently at 7.8%, will fall to 7.3% by the end of the year, and will dip below 7% by this time next year.

?

Although the ADP report showed weakness in the manufacturing sector, probably related to sluggish European economies, it showed growth in construction, trade and professional and business services.

?

Small businesses, with one to 49 employees, provided the bulk of the hiring, ADP said. Small businesses added 115,000 jobs. Medium businesses, with 50 to 499 employees, added 79,000. Large businesses actually shed 2,000 jobs in January.

?

The ADP report only tracks private-sector employment, while Friday?s jobs report also includes the government sector, which has been contracting for the better part of two years. The numbers usually provide some guidance to economists about what to expect from the national job figures, although last month, ADP showed employers had added 215,000 private-sector jobs, while the government figures showed that the private sector added just 168,000.

?

Zandi was quick to emphasize the good news about the ADP report, while downplaying the surprising GDP contraction. He said that when the government revises the number, he expects it will show growth, rather than contraction, in the fourth quarter.

?

?I will be surprised if we end up with negative quarter,? he said.

?

Still, GDP growth will only grow 1.5% in the first quarter of this year, he said, which is not a very impressive number. That?s because a payroll tax was restored after two years, meaning consumers have less take-home pay, and probably will spend less as they adjust to their new finances.

?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, on the brink of passing 14,000, was down in early market trading.

?

ALSO:

Economy shrinks unexpectedly in fourth quarter

U.S. economy grows by 155,000 jobs in December

Consumers to see smaller paychecks despite fiscal cliff deal

Source: http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-adpreport-20130130,0,5146393.story?track=rss

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Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 adds live Twitch streaming for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 (update: timing)

Shooter fans who've wanted to show their skills (or endure peer judgment) in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 through a live broadcast have usually had to go the YouTube route. That's fine for many, but some gamers will want to serve their own kind above all -- so it's with some relief that Treyarch is adding built-in streaming to the more game-focused Twitch video service. The new option will send both live audio and video from Black Ops 2 as long as there's an active Twitch account, as well as share word of exploits through Facebook or Twitter. Anyone committed enough to have a Call of Duty Elite subscription can also get a peek at a player's stats. Neither Treyarch nor Twitch has said exactly how soon they'll flick the livestreaming switch, although Wii U owners are once again left high and dry when Twitch support is limited to PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 3 owners.

Update: The company tells us that Twitch should be available as of noon Eastern.

Filed under: Gaming, Internet

Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/sZC1b-ug6ao/

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CSN: Awareness makes NFL safer than ever

January 29, 2013, 8:25 am

NEW ORLEANS -- President Obama's well-stated concerns about the physical dangers of football are now chum in the water in the run-up to Super Bowl XLVII.

Opinions are being gathered. The depth of the speakers' knowledge about what Obama said or the direction of rules changes matters less than having some "sound" to pass along.

Speaking to the New Republic, Obama said "I'm a big football fan, but I have to tell you if I had a son, I'd have to think long and hard before I let him play football. And I think that those of us who love the sport are going to have to wrestle with the fact that it will probably change gradually to try to reduce some of the violence.

"In some cases, that may make it a little bit less exciting, but it will be a whole lot better for the players, and those of us who are fans maybe won't have to examine our consciences quite as much."

All manner of questions have already been posed to players from the Niners and Ravens based on these comments.

Bernard Pollard, Ravens safety and the NFL's resident Aristotle (at least for this news cycle), theorized that the NFL would cease to exist in 30 years because of safety measures that have only been broached so far when four fat guys sit on a set and spitball about NFL safety.

"Thirty years from now, I don't think it will be in existence," Pollard told CBSSports.com. "I could be wrong. It's just my opinion, but I think with the direction things are going -- where [NFL rules makers] want to lighten up, and they're throwing flags and everything else -- there's going to come a point where fans are going to get fed up with it. Guys are getting fined, and they're talking about, 'Let's take away the strike zone' and 'Take the pads off' or 'Take the helmets off.' It's going to be a thing where fans aren't going to want to watch it anymore.

"The league is trying to move in the right direction [with player safety] but, at the same time, [coaches] want bigger, stronger and faster year in and year out," Pollard added. "And that means you're going to keep getting big hits and concussions and blown-out knees. The only thing I'm waiting for ... and, Lord, I hope it doesn't happen ... is a guy dying on the field. We've had everything else happen there except for a death. We understand what we signed up for, and it sucks."

We can disagree on the lengths to which football needs to go in order to change. I think the game is already changing because of the penal system in place for head and neck shots on defenseless players and heightened awareness.

Additionally, once the NFLPA and the league approve HGH testing, we'll see how much "bigger, stronger, faster" players get.

Because of heightened concussion awareness and the cultural shift away from marginalizing head injuries, the game is probably safer now than its ever been.

Junior Seau, whose family filed suit against the NFL last week, never missed a game with a concussion in his 20-year NFL career. He undoubtedly had them. Why did he never tap out? Why did he continue on playing despite his family's concerns that his behavior was becoming more erratic?

The culture of ignoring head trauma or dismissing its existence as the cost of doing business. A culture the players have been complicit in. A culture that is fading fast.

There will be no more Junior Seaus, one hopes, because the players will have the balls to stand up and say, "I'm screwed up," and their coaches -- cowed by the lessons of players like Seau -- will not look down on them as they may have just five years ago.

Obama articulated that too in his interview. That NFL players are men making adult decisions about how to earn their money, the same way the guy working on an oil derrick in the Gulf of Mexico does.

"I tend to be more worried about college players than NFL players in the sense that the NFL players have a union, they're grown men, they can make some of these decisions on their own, and most of them are well-compensated for the violence they do to their bodies," he said. "You read some of these stories about college players who undergo some of these same problems with concussions and so forth and then have nothing to fall back on. That's something that I'd like to see the NCAA think about."

The real truth? The NFL's probably safer now than it's ever been.

Tags: San Francisco 49ers, New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, President Barack Obama

Source: http://www.csnne.com/football-new-england-patriots/patriots-talk/Curran-Awareness-means-football-is-safer?blockID=827731&feedID=3352

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Cross-racial teaching studied

Kelly Sassi, assistant professor in the School of Education and English department, and Amy Carpenter Ford, an assistant professor from Central Michigan University, co-wrote the article, "Authority in Cross-Racial Teaching and Learning: (Re)considering the Transferability of Warm Demander Approaches."?

The article compares a white teacher's approach to authority with that of an African American "warm demander," a style of teaching that includes assertive discipline, caring relationships and congruent interactional styles.?

Ethnographic methods and discourse analysis illuminated how an African American teacher grounded her authority with African American students in shared culture, history and frame of reference. A comparative analysis makes visible what white teachers need to do differently to establish cross-racial authority with African American students, such as prioritize interpersonal relationships, communicate in culturally congruent ways, link care with justice, develop a critical race consciousness, ally with students and critique curriculum.?

The article offers a reconceptualization of the warm demander relevant for white teachers. It was published in Urban Education in December.?

Sassi also published a book review of "Beloved Child: A Dakota Way of Life," which was published in the winter 2012 issue of Tribal College Journal.?

The author of the book, Diane Wilson, explores the meaning of the Dakota "hunka," or beloved child ceremony, as a counterpoint to historical trauma. One of the stories in the book is that of Clifford Canku, NDSU professor of practice. The book was published in 2011 by Borealis Books.?

Journal reference: Urban Education

Provided by North Dakota State University

Source: http://phys.org/news/2013-01-cross-racial.html

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Reader recommendation: A Sand County Almanac

Earlier this month was the birthday of Aldo Leopold, author of A Sand County Almanac. He was a conservationist and the book is a classic. Radio personality Arthur Godfrey mentioned the book to me in the early 1970s. I read it and it is a very lovely work.

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Americans now love 15-year fixed mortgages

Rates on a 15-year fixed mortgage are so low that many homeowners can afford the higher payment, which allows them to pay off their mortgage in 15 years instead of the standard 30.

By G. Jeffrey MacDonald,?Correspondent / January 28, 2013

By refinancing their 30-year home loan into a 15-year fixed mortgage, one couple from Washington State expect to save $70,000 in interest charges.

Michael Sloan

Enlarge

Move over, 30-year fixed-rate mortgage. A shorter-term loan is enticing scores of home-owners to switch, now that they can finally afford to do so.

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Record-low rates are helping transform the 15-year mortgage from a rarely used instrument into a popular option, especially for refinancers. In November, 23 percent of refinance applications were for 15-year loans, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. That's up 51 percent from a year earlier.

The trend has gained steam since the economic slowdown led consumers to start slashing their debts. Fifteen-year mortgages made up just 8.5 percent of all refinance loans in 2007, but they made up 35 percent of the total last year, according to CoreLogic, a consumer research firm based in Irvine, Calif. One reason: Paying off the note in half the time means huge long-term savings in interest payments.

"Consumers are financially savvy, and they recognize 30-year fixed mortgages are a bargain," says Frank Nothaft, chief economist at Freddie Mac, a major provider of mortgage capital based in McLean, Va. "But then they say, 'Gosh, a 15-year fixed is three-quarters of a percentage point even lower'.... You can lock that in and never have to worry about refinancing again."

While 15-year loans have always been an interest-saving option, they usually come with a trade-off: higher monthly payments. That's because 15-year loans are structured to pay down principal more aggressively each month.

But today's extraordinary rates are changing the calculus. Interest on a 15-year loan hasn't been this low since at least the 1940s. Seldom have 15-year loans been so much cheaper than 30-year loans, according to Mr. Nothaft.

Until mid-December, Jeffrey and Amber DeGraaf of Kennewick, Wash., were paying 5.75 percent on a 30-year adjustable-rate mortgage that they took out in 2005 for $149,000. Their monthly payment was $1,097.

When they refinanced in December into a 15-year fixed at 3 percent, their monthly payment rose by only $123. The benefits far outweighed the $3,600 in refinance charges, Mr. DeGraaf says. The family expects to save around $70,000 in long-term interest. Plus they'll own their three-bedroom home free and clear eight years sooner.

"A lot of people would say, 'Another $120 a month? I don't know if I've got that'," says DeGraaf, a government contractor. "But to me, if you can afford it, it's worth it. You have your house paid off sooner. And you think about all the interest that you now won't be paying."

The DeGraafs have plenty of company, especially in regions where home prices aren't so high that a larger monthly payment would be out of the question. In five Midwestern states with relatively strong economies and low home prices, 30 to 40 percent of all refinanced loans are for 15-year terms.

The trend has followers on the coasts, too. Gesa Credit Union, based in Richland, Wash., which refinanced the DeGraafs, authorized 330 new 15-year refinance loans in 2012, up from 200 in 2010.

"In the second year of [a 15-year] loan, more than half of your payment is going towards principal," Randy Wacker, Gesa's vice president of mortgage lending, says via e-mail. "On a 30-year loan, that doesn't happen until year 11!"

The 15-year loan isn't for everyone. More than 80 percent of loans for new home purchases still utilize the 30-year fixed. For first-time buyers, the 30-year's low payments can be critical to home-ownership's success, Nothaft says.

Yet for those who can afford a higher payment, there's no reason to wait to refinance, he says. "We're not anticipating further substantial declines in mortgage rates from these very, very low levels. So since they're at pretty much the low right now, why delay?"

It doesn't help the economy in the short run to have consumers steering disposable income into larger monthly loan payments, according to Mike Fratantoni, vice president of research and economics for the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington, D.C. But long term, "households have been saving more and accumulating less debt. That's going to build a more sustainable framework for [economic] growth going forward because people are living a little farther from the edge" of insolvency.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/_pV83DzhJS0/Americans-now-love-15-year-fixed-mortgages

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Doctor-patient relationship: Physicians' brain scans indicate doctors can feel their patients' pain -- and their relief

Jan. 29, 2013 ? A patient's relationship with his or her doctor has long been considered an important component of healing. Now, in a novel investigation in which physicians underwent brain scans while they believed they were actually treating patients, researchers have provided the first scientific evidence indicating that doctors truly can feel their patients' pain -- and can also experience their relief following treatment.

Led by researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Program in Placebo Studies and Therapeutic Encounter (PiPS) at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center/Harvard Medical School, the new findings, which appear online? January 29 in Molecular Psychiatry, help to illuminate one of the more intangible aspects of health care -- the doctor/patient relationship.

"Our findings showed that the same brain regions that have previously been shown to be activated when patients receive placebo therapies are similarly activated in the brains of doctors when they administer what they think are effective treatments," explains first author Karin Jensen, PhD, an investigator in the Department of Psychiatry and Martinos Center for Biological Imaging at MGH and member of the PiPS. Notably, she adds, the findings also showed that the physicians who reported greater ability to take things from the patients' perspective, that is, to empathize with patients' feelings, experienced higher satisfaction during patients' treatments, as reflected in the brain scans.

"By demonstrating that caring for patients involves a complex set of brain events, including deep understanding of the patient's facial and body expressions, possibly in combination with the physician's own expectations of relief and feelings of reward, we have been able to elucidate the neurobiology underlying caregiving," adds senior author Ted Kaptchuk, director of the PiPS and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. "Our findings provide early evidence of the importance of interacting brain networks between patients and caregivers and acknowledge the doctor/patient relationship as a valued component of health care, alongside medications and procedures."

Previous investigations have demonstrated that a brain region associated with pain relief (right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, VLPFC) and a region associated with reward (rostral anterior cingulate cortex, rACC) are activated when patients experience the placebo effect, which occurs when patients show improvement from treatments that contain no active ingredients. The placebo effect accounts for significant portions of clinical outcomes in many illnesses -- including pain, depression and anxiety.

Although behavioral research has suggested that physicians' expectations influence patients' clinical outcomes and help determine patients' placebo responses, until now little effort has been directed to understanding the biology underlying the physician component of the clinical relationship. Jensen and her colleagues hypothesized that the same brain regions that are activated during patients' placebo responses -- the VLPFC and rACC -- would similarly be activated in the brains of physicians as they treated patients. They also hypothesized that a physician's perspective-taking skills would influence the outcomes.

To test these hypotheses, the scientists developed a unique equipment arrangement that would enable them to conduct functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the physicians' brains while the doctors had face-to-face interactions with patients, including observing patients as they underwent pain treatments.

The experiment included 18 physicians (all of whom had received their medical degree within the last 10 years and represented nine separate medical specialties). Two 25-year-old females played the role of "patients" and followed a rehearsed script. The experiment called for the participating physicians to administer pain relief with what they thought was a pain-relieving electronic device, but which was actually a non-active "sham" device.

To ensure that the physicians believed that the sham device really worked, the investigators first administered a dose of "heat pain" to the physicians' forearms to gauge pain threshold and then "treated" them with the fake machine. During the treatments, the investigators reduced the heat stimulation, to demonstrate to the participants that the therapy worked. The physicians underwent fMRI scans while they experienced the painful heat stimulation so that investigators could see exactly which brain regions were activated during first-person perception of pain.

In the second portion of the experiment,each physician was introduced to a patient and asked to perform a standardized clinical examination, which was conducted in a typical exam room for approximately 20 minutes. (The clinical exam was performed in order to establish a realistic rapport between the physician and patient before fMRI scanning took place, and was comparable to a standard U.S. doctor's appointment.) At this point the physician also answered a questionnaire, the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, used to measure the participant's self-reported perspective-taking skills.

During the third step, says Jensen, the physician and patient were led into the scanner room. "The physician went inside the scanner and was equipped with a remote control that could activate the 'analgesic device' when prompted," she explains. Mirrors inside the scanner enabled physicians to maintain eye contact with the patient, who was seated on a chair next to the scanner's bed and hooked up to both the thermal pain stimulator and the pain-relieving device.

Then, in a randomized order, physicians were instructed to either treat a patient's pain or to press a control button that provided no relief. When physicians were told not to activate pain relief, the "patient" exhibited a painful facial expression while the physicians watched. When the physicians were instructed to treat the patients' pain, they could see that the subjects' faces were neutral and relaxed, the result of pain relief. During these doctor-patient interactions, fMRI scans measured the doctors' brain activations.

Following the scanning session, the physicians were removed from the scanner and told exactly how the experiment had been performed, says Jensen. "If the physician did not agree with the deceptive component of the study, they were given the opportunity to withdraw their data. No one did this."

As predicted, the authors found that while treating patients, the physicians activated the right VLPFC region of the brain, a region previously implicated in the placebo response. Furthermore, Jensen adds, the physicians' ability to take the patients' viewpoints correlated to brain activations and subjective ratings; physicians who reported high perspective-taking skills were more likely to show activation in the rACC brain region, which is associated with reward.

"We already know that the physician-patient relationship provides solace and can even relieve many symptoms," adds Kaptchuk. "Now, for the first time, we've shown that caring for patients encompasses a unique neurobiology in physicians. Our ultimate goal is to transform the 'art of medicine' into the 'science of care,' and this research is an important first step in this process as we continue investigations to find out how patient-clinician interactions can lead to measurable clinical outcomes in patients."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. K B Jensen, P Petrovic, C E Kerr, I Kirsch, J Raicek, A Cheetham, R Spaeth, A Cook, R L Gollub, J Kong, T J Kaptchuk. Sharing pain and relief: neural correlates of physicians during treatment of patients. Molecular Psychiatry, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/mp.2012.195

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/living_well/~3/w165jz3M4c4/130129080622.htm

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Guatemala ex-dictator to stand trial on genocide

Guatemala's former dictator Efrain Rios Montt (1982-1983) leaves the courtroom after his pre-trial hearing in Guatemala City, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. A judge in Guatemala has begun pre-trial hearings in a genocide case against former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who is accused of overseeing hundreds of killings when he ruled Guatemala from 1982 to 1983, at the height of the country's 36-year civil war. The war ended in peace accords in 1996, after 200,000 deaths. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Guatemala's former dictator Efrain Rios Montt (1982-1983) leaves the courtroom after his pre-trial hearing in Guatemala City, Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013. A judge in Guatemala has begun pre-trial hearings in a genocide case against former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who is accused of overseeing hundreds of killings when he ruled Guatemala from 1982 to 1983, at the height of the country's 36-year civil war. The war ended in peace accords in 1996, after 200,000 deaths. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Guatemala's former dictator Efrain Rios Montt (1982-1983) attends a pre-trial hearing at court in Guatemala City, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. A judge in Guatemala has begun pre-trial hearings in a genocide case against former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who is accused of overseeing hundreds of killings when he ruled Guatemala from 1982 to 1983, at the height of the country's 36-year civil war. The war ended in peace accords in 1996, after 200,000 deaths. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Elena de Paz, an Ixil Indian woman, center, attends the pre-trial hearing for Guatemala's former dictator Efrain Rios Montt (1982-1983) in a courtroom in Guatemala City, Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2013. A judge in Guatemala has begun pre-trial hearings in a genocide case against former dictator Efrain Rios Montt, who is accused of overseeing hundreds of killings when he ruled Guatemala from 1982 to 1983, at the height of the country's 36-year civil war. The war ended in peace accords in 1996, after 200,000 deaths. Elena de Paz is from the area where the alleged genocide took place. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) ? A former U.S.-backed dictator who presided over one of the bloodiest periods of Guatemala's civil war will stand trial on charges he ordered the murder, torture and displacement of thousands of Mayan Indians, a judge ruled Monday.

Human rights advocates have said that the prosecution of Jose Efrain Rios Montt would be an important symbolic victory for the victims of one of the most horrific of the conflicts that devastated Central America during the last decades of the Cold War.

He is the first former president to be charged with genocide by a Latin American court.

"It's the beginning of a new phase of this struggle," said Paul Seils, vice president of the New York-based International Center for Transitional Justice, which has worked extensively on war-crimes cases in Guatemala. He said the decision was "a good step forward" but he expected the prosecution of Rios Mont to encounter stiff resistance from forces in Guatemala opposed to the punishment of government-allied forces for their actions during the civil war.

Others hailed the judge's ruling as a less-qualified victory for justice in Guatemala.

"The fact that a judge has ordered the trial of a former head of state is a remarkable development in a country where impunity for past atrocities has long been the norm," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at Human Rights Watch.

Guatemala's leaders have been criticized for years for their inability or unwillingness to prosecute government forces and allied paramilitaries accused of marching into Mayan villages, carrying out rapes and torture, and slaughtering women, children and unarmed men in a "scorched earth" campaign aimed at eliminating the support for a left-wing guerrilla movement.

Despite a series of international inquiries finding him responsible for war crimes, Rios Montt served as a Guatemalan congressman for 15 years until he lost a re-election race late last year. He had held immunity from prosecution while a member of Congress and was put under house arrest after losing his post.

One of the highest priorities of the president who won last year's election, Otto Perez Molina, has been campaigning for the elimination of a U.S. ban on military aid to Guatemala, which is locked in a fight against heavily armed drug cartels that have taken over swathes of the country.

Among the conditions set by the U.S. Congress for restoring the aid is reforming Guatemala's justice system and putting an end to impunity.

The decision to try Rios Montt could stand as a precedent in the cases of dozens of other lower-ranking military men accused of participating in atrocities, victims' advocates have said.

Judge Miguel Angel Galvez ruled that Rios Montt could be tried on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for the killing of 1,771 indigenous Ixiles in 1982 and 1983, when he was president.

The decision clears the way for a three-judge panel to hear the evidence against Rios Montt and decide to either judge him guilty and sentence him, exonerate him of the charge or start a public trial.

Prosecutors allege that after leading a March 1982 coup and seizing control of the government, Rios Montt oversaw torture, rape, forced disappearances and forced relocations and killings of thousands of Ixil people by soldiers, paramilitaries and other government officials.

His lawyers have sought to block the trial, arguing that he is protected by an amnesty law.

The attorney-general's office said that it found evidence of 5,271 killings of Ixil residents of the towns of San Juan Cotzal, Santa Maria Nebai and San Gaspar Chajul in the department of Quiche. Prosecutors said 1,771 died in some 15 massacres between 1982 and 1983, and 370 bodies have been identified.

Prosecutor Orlando Lopez said during hearings before Monday's decision that Rios Montt wanted to wipe out the Ixil people, considered a bastion of support for guerrilla fighters waging a civil war against the Guatemalan state.

"During the period in which you held office, it is believed that the actions carried by members of the Guatemalan Army, military official and civil defense patrolmen resulted in the deaths of 1,771 people," the complaint against Rios Montt reads.

The prosecution case includes forensic reports documenting hundreds of deaths.

Among the testimony presented to the judge was that of Ana Lopez, an Ixil woman taken from her home by soldiers in May, 1982 to a government outpost where she was tortured and raped for 10 days.

During the 1960-96 civil war, more than 200,000 people, mostly Mayan Indians, were killed or went missing and entire villages were exterminated, according to the United Nations.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-28-LT-Guatemala-Rios-Montt/id-56344d4052f445d6862053a4bce71bd9

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Police chiefs, sheriffs divided over gun control measures - U.S. News

President Barack Obama says he's looking forward to a "robust conversation" on reducing gun violence.

By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News

In urging law enforcement leaders to back new gun control efforts, President Barack Obama is asking police chiefs and county sheriffs to unite behind a cause they don't even agree about among themselves.

Obama said Monday that he was seeking a "basic consensus" among law enforcement executives to pressure Congress for legislation to ban assault-style weapons and restrict high-capacity ammunition magazines, among a score of other measures.

But it turns out the two national groups representing police and sheriffs at a?meeting of law enforcement officials?Monday at the White House ??the Major Cities Chiefs Association and the Major County Sheriffs Association ??disagree on the initiative. The chiefs back it, while the sheriffs oppose it.

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Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, president of the police chiefs group, said the deaths of 20 students and six teachers and staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., last month had settled the issue.

"If the slaughter of 20 babies does not capture and hold your attention, then I give up, because I don't know what else will," Ramsey said last week. "We have to pass legislation."

But?in a letter to Vice President Joe Biden (.pdf), who is leading the White House lobbying effort, the sheriffs group argued that "a ban on assault weapons alone will not address the issues of gun violence we are facing in our country today."

Nor would limiting magazine capacity, it said: "The problem is not the law-abiding citizen that will follow the restrictions; the problem again is one of access. ... (E)ven if you can?t buy in bulk, you can still buy multiple boxes of smaller quantities."

Similarly, the International Association of Chiefs of Police said?in a position paper (.pdf)?that it was "a strong supporter of the assault weapons ban" and measures to limit ammunition capacity. But the?Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association?applauded what it called efforts to "uphold and defend the Constitution against Obama's unlawful gun control measures."

Chiefs vs. sheriffs
The divide reflects a cultural and political gulf between police chiefs and sheriffs in a number of areas, criminal justice experts told NBC News.

Police chiefs run departments in cities where most gun crimes take place, according to FBI crime statistics over the past decade. Sheriffs run departments in counties, some or all of their jurisdictions covering rural areas where hunting and sport shooting are cherished rights. As a result, "you have these wildly different views of guns," said Gary Kleck, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Florida State University in Tallahassee.

In counties, particularly heavily rural ones, "guns equal hunting, fishing, father-and-son-bonding-type things," he said, while in cities, "guns equal crime."

Those community views have real political effects, according to Kleck and another expert, Scott H. Decker, a professor of criminology at Arizona State University in Tempe.

"The big difference is a sheriff is elected and has to face the voters every four years," Decker said, but police chiefs are almost always appointed.

"If you're a police chief, you're not responsible to an electorate," Kleck said, and are therefore more free to advocate for politically unpopular policies like bans on certain kinds of weapons.

Sheriffs vs. sheriffs
Decker suggested that there was likely to be a broad range of opinion among sheriffs, because it's not just elections that keep them in touch with community sentiment. Because they have more varied duties ? running jails and patrolling areas that can include rural, suburban and urban communities, all in the same county ??their jurisdictions range across populations with widely?different political views on guns.

So while?many sheriffs say they wouldn't enforce new federal gun control laws, there are other sheriffs who call those sheriffs misguided.

Last week, Milwaukee County (Wis.) Sheriff David Clarke issued a public service announcement urging residents to learn how to handle a firearm "so you can defend yourself until we get there."

"With officers laid off and furloughed, simply calling 911 and waiting is no longer your best option," Clarke says in the spot,?which you can listen to here.

Just a few counties over, Ron Cramer, sheriff of Eau Claire County, objected that Clarke was sending the wrong message.

Clarke could have gotten across his point that residents could take more responsibility for their own safety "without having to say it's time to join our team and pick up a gun," Cramer told?NBC station WEAU of Eau Claire.

Related links:

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/28/16740488-police-chiefs-sheriffs-divided-over-gun-control-measures

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Egyptian youths, police clash in fourth day of street violence

CAIRO (Reuters) - Police fired tear gas at dozens of stone-throwing protesters in Cairo on Sunday in a fourth day of street violence that has killed at least 41 people and compounded the political challenges facing President Mohamed Mursi.

The most deadly clashes flared up in Port Said where 32 people were killed on Saturday alone. That violence was provoked by a court verdict sentencing 21 people, mostly from the city, to death for their role in a deadly stadium disaster last year.

But protests have been going in cities across Egypt since Thursday led by opponents of Mursi and his Islamist allies. Demonstrations were initially timed to mark Friday's second anniversary of the uprising that overthrew Hosni Mubarak.

Opponents say Mursi has betrayed the goals of the revolt.

The army, Egypt's interim rulers until Mursi's election June, were sent back onto the streets to restore order in Port Said and Suez, another port city on the Suez Canal where at least eight people have been killed in clashes with police.

Although scuffles continued on Sunday morning in Cairo, there was no immediate sign of the kind of deadly escalation of previous days in the capital or elsewhere.

The spasm of violence adds to the daunting task facing Mursi as he tries to fix a beleaguered economy and cool tempers before a parliamentary election expected in the next few months which is supposed to cement Egypt's transition to democracy.

It has also exposed a deep rift in the nation. Liberals and other opponents accuse Mursi of failing to deliver on economic promises and say he has not lived up to pledges to represent all Egyptians. His backers say the opposition is seeking to topple Egypt's first freely elected leader by undemocratic means.

"Till now, none of the revolution's goals have been realized," said Mohamed Sami, a protester in Tahrir Square. "Prices are going up. The blood of Egyptians is being spilt in the streets because of neglect and corruption and because the Muslim Brotherhood is ruling Egypt for their own interests."

On a bridge close to Tahrir Square, youths were hurling stones at police in riot gear who fired tear gas to push them back towards the square which was the cauldron of the uprising that erupted on January 25, 2011 and toppled Mubarak 18 days later.

The U.S. embassy in Cairo, which is near Tahrir Square, said it was suspending public services on Sunday "due to the security situation in the vicinity" of the mission.

Many Egyptians are frustrated by the regular escalations that have hurt the economy and their livelihoods.

"They are not revolutionaries protesting," said taxi driver Kamal Hassan, 30. "They are thugs destroying the country."

CALL FOR DIALOGUE

The National Defense Council, headed by Mursi and including top army and other officials, has called for a national dialogue to discuss political differences.

That offer has been cautiously welcomed by the opposition National Salvation Front. But the organization has demanded a clear agenda and guarantees that any agreements will be implemented.

The Front, formed late last year when Mursi provoked protests and violence by expanding his powers and driving through an Islamist-tinged constitution, has threatened to boycott the parliamentary poll and to call for more protests if a list of demands is not met, including having an early presidential vote.

Egypt's transition has been blighted from the outset by political rows and street violence that have driven investors out and kept many tourists away, starving the economy of vital sources of hard currency.

Clashes in Port Said erupted after a judge sentenced 21 men to die for involvement in the deaths at a soccer match on February 1, 2012 between Cairo's Al Ahly club and the local al-Masri team. Many of the victims were fans of the visiting team.

There were 73 defendants in the case. Those not sentenced on Saturday will face a verdict on March 9, the judge said.

Al Ahly fans cheered the verdict after threatening action if the death penalty was not meted out. But Port Said residents were furious that people from their city were held responsible, triggering wild rampages through the streets.

A security source in Port Said said 32 people were killed, many from gunshot wounds. More than 300 were injured in one of the most deadly eruptions of violence during the past two years.

Clashes have also flared in Cairo, Alexandria and Port Said. Eight people died in Suez on Friday and police clashed with protesters again on Saturday.

Officers fired teargas when protesters angry at Friday's deaths hurled petrol bombs and stormed a police post and other government buildings. Around 18 prisoners escaped from police stations and stole some weapons, a security source said.

Reflecting international concern, British Foreign Office Minister for the Middle East Alistair Burt said: "This cannot help the process of dialogue which we encourage as vital for Egypt today, and we must condemn the violence in the strongest terms."

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged the Egyptian authorities to restore calm and order and called on all sides to show restraint, her spokesperson said.

(Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/riots-over-egyptian-death-sentences-kill-least-32-005245042.html

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Desktop Alert Announces Department of Navy/Marines Mass Notification System Type Accreditation Initiative

The U.S. Department of Navy/Marines formally requests Desktop Alert to participate in Mass Notification Study and Certification Process. Desktop Alert forwards patent pending ?one minute or less notification? mass notification platform technology for review.

Chatham, New Jersey (PRWEB) January 28, 2013

Desktop Alert Inc., the nation?s leading and de-facto provider of ?less than one minute? IP-Based mass notification systems to Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Northern Command, NORAD, the U.S. Army worldwide, the U.S. National Guard and U.S. Air National Guard today announced the U.S. Department of Navy/Marines has formally invited the company to participate in furthering U.S. Navy and Marine enterprise-level mass notification initiatives and capabilities.

Additionally, the company is now competing for the upcoming 2013 U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force enterprise-level (worldwide) mass notification award initiatives. Desktop Alert is the de-facto mass notification system selected by the United States Military Academy at West Point, Fort Hood, Fort Gordon, U.S. Air Force Space Command, Air Force Global Strike Command Base Malmstrom, U.S. Air Force Academy, Maxwell Air Force Base, Buckley Air Force Base, the National Guard (Air and Army) nationwide and many more key Department of Defense locations. The privately owned company is perched for substantial growth within the Department of Defense in 2013.

?We are very excited by the Navy invitation to participate in government assistance programs designed to enhance crucial existing mass notification systems and initiatives. The Navy has made it abundantly clear it wishes to ?reduce costs? and more so, eliminate stovepipe information sharing between DoD agencies often externally imposed by proprietary vendor systems with that of newly adopted platforms such as the common alerting protocol (CAP). Ultimately, we believe Desktop Alert will provide the government with significantly reduced cost propositions while simultaneously expanding system capability across existing computational infrastructures using less hardware, less bandwidth and much more alerting horsepower. Get more, pay less. It is a win-win proposition for the warfighter, the government and the taxpayer,? said Howard Ryan, Founder Desktop Alert Inc.

During an emergency, events change rapidly. Situational awareness is crucial to help mitigate and diffuse an unfolding crisis. An alert that is received after several minutes (and possibly without knowledge of an updated communication) could become dangerous. A key factor for recent technological advancements in the alerting industry has been the participation through interoperability across IP-Based computer networks. Desktop Alert is a sponsor-level member at OASIS.

OASIS (Advancing Open Standards For The Information Society) has recently been adopted by the U.S. Department of Defense as well as numerous Government agencies worldwide as a mandatory interoperability standard. In order for industry vendors to be considered for mass notification contracts to Government, they must now provide information sharing via the ratified OASIS protocol: Common Alerting Protocol.

?Historically, it is this lack of interoperability between agencies and vendors that has prevented critical messages from being delivered and consumed in a timely manner during emergencies. Communicating to key stakeholders in critical situations, whether they are corporate threats or life threatening crises, requires speed and proper execution. Make sure you have evaluated the newest technological developments in the alert industry to guarantee that your emergency communications get out to the intended audience in a timely manner and, believe it, the latest standard is in a minute or less. To that end, the Navy and Marines have taken a very keen interest in bolstering their emergency response capabilities,? added Ryan.

About Desktop Alert: http://www.desktopalert.net

Worldwide U.S. Military organizations such as U.S. Northern Command, The United States National Guard, The United States Air Force Academy, The United States Military Academy at West Point, Multi-National Forces in IRAQ and Afghanistan, The U.S. Air Force, The U.S. Army now utilize the Desktop Alert mass notification platform daily for their organizations emergency communication requirements. Desktop Alert can contact thousands of users with desktop alerts and require receipt confirmation of the message. Those not verified can then be listed on a report and/or sent as a "Target Package" to be automatically contacted by other means such as email, SMS, phone calls and other devices.

Howard Ryan
Desktop Alert System
9737270066
Email Information

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/desktop-alert-announces-department-navy-marines-mass-notification-082029925.html

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Iran and world powers need to stop bickering: Russia

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Global powers and Iran should "stop behaving like little children" and agree a date and place for new talks on Tehran's nuclear program, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.

European officials have accused Tehran of stalling on arranging a meeting with the six nations, including Russia, that are trying to prevent Iran developing atomic weapons. Tehran says its nuclear program is entirely for peaceful purposes.

"Some of our partners in the six powers and the Iranian side cannot come to an agreement about where to meet," Lavrov told a news conference after talks with Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders.

"We are ready to meet at any location as soon as possible," Lavrov said. "We believe the essence of our talks is far more important (than the site), and we hope that common sense will prevail and we will stop behaving like little children."

Three rounds of talks in the first half of last year between Iran and the six powers - Russia, the United States, China, Britain, France and Germany - produced no breakthrough, increasing speculation Israel could attack Iranian nuclear installations.

Talks had been expected to resume after the U.S. presidential election, possibly as early as this month. An Iranian news agency reported this month that talks might resume on January 28 and 29, but the EU said there was no agreement.

(Reporting by Alissa de Carbonnel,; Writing by Steve Gutterman, Editing by Timothy Heritage)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-world-powers-must-stop-bickering-russia-090317971.html

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From Reagan to Obama, how we have changed as a nation (CNN)

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FDA - Don't Double Up On Acetaminophen - Smithtown Matters

Home Wanted

Smithtown Animal Shelter

BradleyMax

__________________

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St. Catherine of Siena Nursing & Rehabilitation Care Center

Rings in the New Year

?

Smithtown, NY 11787 ?On December 31, 2012, the residents of St. Catherine of Siena Nursing & Rehabilitation Care Center rang in the New Year with a celebration.? The staff arranged for the residents to enjoy musical entertainment and dancing as well as noise makers, tiara?s and hats to welcome 2013.? This was a great celebration for staff to share with the residents and families. This celebration is just one way in which St. Catherine of Siena Nursing & Rehabilitation Care Center strives to give their residents a fun filled day to keep their home a place to share with family and friends.

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Source: http://www.smithtownmatters.com/health/2013/1/24/fda-dont-double-up-on-acetaminophen.html

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Coachella Lineup 2013 - Business Insider

The highly anticipated Coachella 2013 lineup was just announced and the people are not pleased.

While it was rumored the Rolling Stones (who played ten 50th anniversary shows in recent months) or Daft Punk would be headlining, instead the Red Hot Chili Peppers and lesser-known bands Blur, Phoenix, and the Stone Roses are taking top billing during the three-day festival.

Second tier acts include Jurassic 5, Vampire Weekend, Moby and Hot Chip -- what is this, 2009?

With no big name electronic dance music DJs like last year's David Guetta or Justice, no hologram cameos, and no Rolling Stones, this year's festival feels stale and seems to fall short.

Perhaps it has something to do with AEG, the festival's promoter, currently being up for sale for at least $8 billion.

It's also still unclear why, after what Rolling Stone calls "overwhelming evidence," the Rolling Stones were replaced by the Stone Roses -- a band this music-lover has never even heard of.

"The Indio, California festival appeared on the band's [Rolling Stones] own official app in December under their tour dates section," reports Rolling Stone. "And festival organizers later used their official Facebook page to post a photo of a stone rolling on the Empire Polo Grounds, where Coachella is held."

But with or without the Stones, the show must go on, as they say.

?

Coachella kicks off on April 12th through April 14th and reprise the following weekend, April 19th through 21st.

Here's the official lineup from coachella.com, see the angry Twitter reactions below:

And here's what the Twitterverse has to say about it:

SEE ALSO: Matisyahu is so unrecognizable after shaving his beard that he couldn't get into Sundance parties >

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/coachella-lineup-2013-2013-1

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This is a Big, Big Deal (talking-points-memo)

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Abuse charge against pastor dropped after he seeks help

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Prosecutors have dropped a simple battery charge against the pastor of an Atlanta mega church who completed an anger-management program after being accused of choking and hitting his teenage daughter, an official said on Friday.

Creflo Dollar, founder of the World Changers Church International, a Christian congregation which boasts nearly 30,000 members, took the course and paid about $1,000 in court fees as part of a pretrial intervention program, said Fayette County Solicitor General James Inagawa.

Dollar, 50, was arrested last June after his 15-year-old daughter said he attacked her during an argument at their home. Police said a scratch on the girl's neck was evidence of a fight.

Dollar denied the allegations of domestic violence from the pulpit of his church last summer and said the marks on his daughter's neck were from a skin condition.

"The truth is, she was not choked, she was not punched," he told congregants.

On Friday, Inagawa said Dollar had complied with all the conditions placed on him to resolve the case.

"As a result, the case against him is over," Inagawa said. "Although this defendant may be of particular interest to the public, this case was treated like any other case that comes through my office."

The wishes of Dollar's daughter were taken into account before prosecutors allowed the pastor to participate in the pretrial intervention program, Inagawa said.

Dollar has been preaching for nearly three decades after starting his church in 1986 at an elementary school and growing it into a multimillion-dollar operation with an $18 million, 8,500-seat sanctuary known as the "World Dome" in the College Park suburb of Atlanta.

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Bernadette Baum)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/abuse-charge-against-pastor-dropped-seeks-help-191055725.html

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Hey

The universe is huge. But who started it? That is YOU. Celestials are the space gods of the universe. Each Celestial owns an entire planet!(We have a space walrus!)

Owner:

Game Masters:

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?The Celestials?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

Topic Tags:

Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.

Im sorry to bother any of you but I cant reply to any messages or send them if anyone can help me please do! And Gamer please send me a list of flaws and ill fix them ASAP.

~.

CookieRaiderEng

Member for 0 years

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Ok, So this is my list.

Do not add any faces of such it is no neccarsry.

Fix you're grammar errors.

Change that name since Number 18 does not sound so godly.

I like you're tribe civilization but there are already lions so are these people going to be humanoid animals instead?

Be the god of more things since Vengeance does not seem to be all that you're character is made of.

Alignment is if you're god is good or bad or even neutral.

And do not make you're goddess be sad about her parents leaving her since the others are not sad about that and should not even care about that since they are gods.

Also call it a goddess not a god.

And do not add a quote, but you can giver her a nickname.

I think that is all and you are set =3 hope you have fun here.

JGamer502

Member for 0 years

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