Saturday, December 31, 2011

Pew: Hispanic community upset with status quo

Even as the Democratic Party continues to enjoy the Hispanic community?s support heading into the 2012 election year, the Pew Hispanic Center finds that only 45% of Hispanic voters identified the Democratic Party as the more concerned party (for their interests), while 12% picked the Republican Party.

hispanicallyspeakingnews.com

It?s a lopsided result to be sure. However, the trend should concern Democrats.? The percentage of Latinos who say that the Democratic party displays greater concern has declined by 10 points since 2008.

During this same time, the percentage of Hispanic voters who said that the Republican Party has demonstrated more concern increased, but only by a mere 6% since 2008. Simply put, this is hardly a stat to flaunt if the GOP hopes to attract more Hispanics to the party.

Generally speaking, Hispanic sentiment toward the Democratic and Republican parties should be a cause of concern for the political establishment. These poll numbers may reflect the fact that Hispanic voters feel that both major parties are out of touch when it comes to addressing their community?s key interests.

Hispanics also seem to be growing frustrated with the two-party gridlock.? 33% said there?s no difference between Democrats and Republicans, compared to 12% who believed otherwise. In addition, 56%? said that the country is headed in the wrong direction.

Heading into the 2012 election, Pew finds that President Obama has strong Hispanic support in hypothetical match ups against both Mitt Romney and Rick Perry. However, there?s no denying that the President?s approval rating has suffered with the Latino demographic. It?s now down to 49% compared to 58% in 2010.? While the President?s aggressive immigration policy might have something to do with the drooping poll numbers,? it?s not the whole story.? Hispanics are also concerned with issues such as the economy followed by education, healthcare, taxes, and the federal deficit- all of which rank higher than the immigration issue. Perhaps not coincidentally, this priority list is quite similar to that of independent voters.

Given that the Hispanic voting bloc has become critical for electoral success at the national level, the community?s discontent would appear to pose an increasing threat to the status quo.? If the political establishment is not careful, the nation?s largest minority may jump ship and join the burgeoning Independent movement.

The Pew Hispanic Center?s survey was conducted from November 9- December 7, 2011 in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. It included a randomly selected , nationally representative sample of 1220 Latino adults, 557 of whom said they are registered to vote. It had a margin of error of +/- 3.6 percentage points for the full sample and +/- 5.2 percentage points for the registered voter sample.

Tags: Democrats, hispanics, immigration, independent voters, independents, latinos, Obama, Republicans

Source: http://ivn.us/news/2011/12/30/pew-hispanic-community-upset-with-status-quo/

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Is France's Armenian Genocide law merely a domestic ploy for votes?

The diplomatic repercussions of the vote in France to criminalize denying the Armenian Genocide have been substantial, but so are the domestic benefits.

Lawmakers in France's lower house last week voted to make it a crime to deny the Turkish Ottoman genocide of Armenians in 1915, citing human rights and the protection of memory. Violators will receive?a one-year jail sentence and a nearly $70,000 fine.?

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Diplomatic fallout has been severe, with Turkey withdrawing its ambassador to France amid an angry nationalist backlash. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said French massacres in colonial Algeria were themselves a genocide, and has since vowed ?retribution? for the French law that treats with an issue in Turkey that has never been resolved.

But France?s righteous ire about the Armenian genocide couldn?t mostly be about French politics, about currying favor with an estimated 500,000 Armenian heritage French ahead of a tight election, could it?

Consider some relevant data points: In 2001, just ahead of national elections, France officially recognized the Armenian genocide. In fall 2006, again just before the elections that brought President Nicolas Sarkozy into office, French politicians threatened to criminalize the denial of the genocide of Armenians with a five-year prison sentence. Now, just ahead of presidential elections this spring, President Sarkozy?s ruling party led the first-time law to criminalize denying the 1915 genocide. * Correction: The original text misstated when France officially recognized the Armenian genocide.

Never mind that the French foreign minister registered a dissenting opinion over the law, passed on Dec. 22, and that French historians have disagreed with legislating truth on an event less clear than the Holocaust of mid-20th century. Or that the law may well not pass the French Senate when it is debated next year. Or that the Armenian patriarch in Turkey said this week he?d rather the French let the issue be worked out in Turkey, where it remains an unresolved and contentious issue.

?The law is complicating the work of Turkish progressives who have been trying to get Turkish society to address what actually happened in their history. That?s the saddest part,? says Karim Emile Bitar, a senior fellow at the Institute for International and Strategic Relations in Paris. ?The most sensible intellectuals on the issue are being trampled in Turkey.?

Some 20 nations have passed resolutions condemning the Armenian genocide. But while individuals in some nations can be prosecuted for denying mass crimes against humanity or on anti-racial grounds, or for denying the Jewish Holocaust, France may be the first to criminalize the Armenian genocide.

The late Turkish writer and leading intellectual Hrant Dink, who did more than anyone to raise the issue of the massacre and deportations of anywhere from?700,000 to 1.5 million Armenians, said of the French proposed laws in 2006 that he?d rather dance up the Champs-?lys?es denying the genocide than see the law passed in France.

Documentation of the genocide, which took place during or under cover of World War I, is substantial. The historical consensus is that a genocide ? as defined by the United Nations as the ?intent to destroy in whole or in part? an ethnic or religious peoples ? happened. The US ambassador to the Ottoman Empire at the time, Henry Morgenthau, Sr., was distraught at the scale of the inhumanity, and wrote prolifically about the details in cables and articles. Yet the carnage was ignored for years as an inconvenient truth or lost in the overall shock of World War I ? and earned the title of ?the forgotten genocide.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/cDRD-qzSe_Y/Is-France-s-Armenian-Genocide-law-merely-a-domestic-ploy-for-votes

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Friday, December 30, 2011

Slate: How does Chinese per capita investment compare to the U.S.? CHART: http://t.co/NJmBY8f4 #chartoftheday via @slatemoneybox

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Credit Card Spending Increased Over Holidays

In a turnaround from last year, shoppers were not afraid to pull out the plastic this holiday season. Spending on credit cards jumped 7 percent in November and was up in the first half of December, according to First Data, a company that tracks consumer payment data.

The move back to credit is part of a strategy this year by credit card companies to get people spending on high-interest plastic, and also reflects buoyed consumer confidence. While the increased spending boosts a hurting economy, it also poses risks for shoppers.

And it's not just plastic that got a seasonal boost. Self-reported spending overall was up 4.1 percent for the period between Nov. 21 and Dec. 25 over last year, according to a recent data from Gallup.com. Americans spent an average of $78 per day over the five-week period. The data is based on weekly surveys of more than 3,000 adults in the United States.

Robust spending in the weeks before Christmas led the National Retail Federation to revise its original holiday forecast for November and December. The organization said it expected sales to rise 3.8 percent over the last year's expenditures for a record $469.1 billion.

Even without the holiday bump in credit card spending, aggressive credit card promotions over the past year have nudged consumer credit card balances higher. At the end of November, American Express, Capital One and Discover Financial Services all reported higher balances by their card holders. U.S. card loans from all three issuers were up over 3 percent compared to November 2010, Dow Jones reported.

The boost in spending helps the American economy overall, as consumption makes up nearly three-quarters of GDP. Credit card companies also get a boost, as they make money both in swipe fees from cards -- typically 2 percent to 4 percent of the purchase -- along with interest on carried balances.

For consumers, however, spending on credit cards is a slippery slope. Even while balances may be relatively low, compared to their pre-recession heights, the high interest rate can make it difficult to completely pay down cards quickly. For example, it takes 10 months to eliminate an $1,800 balance with an APR of 15.19 percent, the current average rate, with a $200 monthly payment.

Already, one credit counseling organization says it is getting post-holiday interest from consumers concerned about debt. Consolidated Credit Counseling Services, a national nonprofit credit counseling organization, reported a healthy spike in incoming phone calls seeking debt advice on the Monday after Christmas.

"Traditionally we have seen bumps [in business] in mid-January until about March," said Howard Dvorkin, founder of the Florida-based counseling agency. "Last year there was no bump because spending was so far off."

However, just because card spending is up, one credit card expert cautions it's too early to say whether consumers will go into additional debt from holiday purchases. Bill Hardekopf, who runs the card comparison site LowCards.com, says many of the offers this year were targeted at customers who have a track record of responsible credit usage.

"They are great if you are using them right and paying off entire balance on time and they can make money for you," Hardekopf said. "But if you are not disciplined and don't pay it off -- or you charge more than you can afford -- then credit cards are horrible way to pay for things."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/28/holiday-spending-credit-card_n_1173045.html

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

GOP presidential race: Ask not for whom the poll tells

Mitt Romney and Ron Paul

Mitt Romney (left) and Ron Paul calculating their odds to win the 2012 Republican nomination. Photograph: Getty Images

The GOP presidential race is entering its home stretch. With the Iowa caucuses on 3 January and the New Hampshire primary on 10 January, little time remains once Christmas and new year are out of the way.

With the first real voting just days away, you might think that opinion polls would be starting to show firm guidance on the likely winner. But you'd be wrong.

Republican voters are no closer to anointing a favourite, either in Iowa or nationally. The opinion polls agree only on one thing: it's an unusually unsettled race.

In Iowa, Mitt Romney, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich have all come and gone as opinion-poll leaders ? not to mention Herman Cain, another Hawkeye State frontrunner before he crashed and burned. But none of them currently sit in first place. That seat now narrowly belongs to Ron Paul.

The latest poll of likely caucus-goers in Iowa, from the American Research Group, has Paul leading by a nose with 21%, followed by Romney with 20% and Gingrich with 19%, in effect a three-way tie, given the poll's 4% margin of error.

That wasn't the case at the same point in the 2008 election cycle, when the average of polls in Iowa showed Mike Huckabee as the most likely winner. ARG's poll at a similar point in December 2007 had Huckabee leading with 28%, compared with John McCain's 20% and Mitt Romney's 17%. The actual Iowa outcome in 2008 was Huckabee winning with 34%, Romney second with 25% and McCain third with 13%

Of course it's easy to validate the 2007-08 opinion polls in hindsight, because we know the result. The national polls in 2007 reveal the dangers of placing any weight on pre-primary polling results: at this point in the electoral cycle, RealClearPolitics's rolling average of national polls had Rudy Giuliani leading Huckabee, Romney and McCain, in that order.

Other than as a finger in the wind, national polls are useless, because presidential primaries revolve around states and, most importantly, the order they vote in. That's why a poll of Iowa or South Carolina is worth far more right now than a nationwide sample. If the national polls had been any guide, the 2008 presidential election was locked up between Giuliani and Hillary Clinton ? right up until the night of the Iowa caucuses.

But even state-level primary polling is unreliable, being vulnerable to sudden, undetected shifts in voters' mood. At this point in 2004, pollsters were almost unanimous in showing that the Democratic Iowa caucus was a showdown between Howard Dean and Dick Gephart. But late surges cost both candidates: the final winner was John Kerry, followed by John Edwards, with Dean and Gephart well back in third and fourth place.

Then again, polling primaries faces special challenges. Primaries attract a far smaller fraction of voters than presidential elections. Fewer than 120,000 Republicans in total attended the 2008 Iowa caucuses, while John McCain got 677,000 votes in Iowa's presidential election that year.

Caucuses are notoriously hard to poll because of the problem of finding "likely voters". Unlike conventional elections, with polling stations open all day, caucuses take place at a specific time and place. If you are working the late shift or can't find a babysitter that night, tough luck. Similarly, a well-organised campaign can cajole lukewarm or new voters to the caucus venues ? as the Obama campaign did in 2008 ? and so upset the pollster's likely-voter samples.

But all is not lost for fans of primary psephology. The Des Moines Register's final Iowa poll, conducted by Selzer & Company, was uncannily accurate in 2008 in predicting the Democratic and Republican finishes, as well as forecasting Kerry's late surge in 2004. So if you want to know where to look, watch the Des Moines Register at the end of the month.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/richard-adams-blog/2011/dec/27/iowa-gop-presidential-race-polls

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A Lazy New years Eve Washington DC Holiday and No School

backgroundblue line Monday 26th December, 2011

A Lazy New years Eve Washington DC Holiday and No School ??



?????Monday 26th December, 2011??Source: brunei fm ??
This New Years Eve Washington DC was a fun day. I was lazy for the first half of the day. I woke up around thirty five minutes after nine of the clock in the morning.
That is considered sleeping in for me, for my children usually awake me around early seven or eight of the clock each day.
Once I woke up, I lounged around the couch for almost an hou...

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Monday 26th December, 2011


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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Afghanistan would accept Taliban office in Qatar (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan ? President Hamid Karzai said Tuesday that his government would accept Taliban insurgents' opening a representative office in the Gulf state of Qatar for the purpose of holding peace talks, although Saudi Arabia or Turkey would be preferable venues.

If the United States insists that the insurgents establish a liaison office in Qatar, "we are agreed," Karzai said in a presidential statement.

Earlier this month, Kabul recalled its ambassador to Qatar for consultations over reports that the Taliban was planning to open an office in the tiny, gas-rich Arab state.

The Islamist group has so far not publicly responded to peace offers. The insurgents, who perceive themselves as winning the war, have repeatedly said they would not engage in talks with the government while foreign troops remain on Afghan soil.

The U.S. and its NATO allies have been pursuing a war against the Taliban for a decade. NATO plans to wrap up its combat activities in Afghanistan in 2014.

The government in Kabul repeatedly emphasized it would accept no foreign intervention in its plans to seek a negotiated peace with the Taliban. Afghan media reports in recent weeks have speculated that the U.S. and other foreign governments with a stake in the war were trying to strike a separate deal with the Taliban.

The prospect of peace talks suffered a serious setback in September when Burhanuddin Rabbani, a former president and the head of a body set up to seek contacts with the Taliban, was assassinated. The attacker was posing as a Taliban peace emissary.

After Rabbani's death, Karzai said peace efforts could only take place if the Taliban established a political office that would be authorized to conduct talks on a peaceful end to the 10-year war. He proposed that it be set up in Saudi Arabia or in Turkey if the insurgent movement did not want to establish it in Afghanistan.

"Having an exact address for the opposition (is a condition) for practical steps toward starting negotiations," Tuesday's statement said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111227/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan_peace_talks

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Get the fire burning: Watch latest ?The Reem? video

No one does it better than Camp Overeem when it comes to video blogs. The latest "The Reem" takes us all over the world as Alistair Overeem fulfills his press duties, meets American fans, goes face-to-face with Brock Lesnar and returns to Holland to take care of his mother, who is dealing with another cancer scare.

Overeem meets Lesnar this Friday at UFC 141 in Las Vegas. The sheer enormity of the fighters is a ridiculous site. It's the first time ever Lesnar appears a little bit smaller than his opponent. If this video doesn't get you fired up for the heavyweight clash, nothing will.

The end of the video is must watch material as Overeem deals with the emotional situation his mother is experiencing. You also get to meet his father, who's been living in England and recently relocated to Holland.

Watch UFC 141 right here on Yahoo! Sports

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Get-the-fire-burning-Watch-latest-The-Reem-vi?urn=mma-wp11138

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Monday, December 26, 2011

2012 MMA crystal ball: Who?s a UFC champ 12 months from now?

2012 MMA crystal ball: Who?s a UFC champ 12 months from now?

We keep hearing about mixed martial being in a period of dominant champions. Is that really true? Try to project the champions in each UFC weight class for the end of 2012 and see what you come up with.

Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole, Frank Trigg and myself debated four of the UFC's title belts during our "The MMA Insiders" show on ESPN1100/98.9 FM in Las Vegas.

My choices are:

125 pounds - Joe Benavidez

135 pounds - Urijah Faber

145 pounds - Jose Aldo Jr.

155 pounds - Gray Maynard

170 pounds - Georges St-Pierre

185 pounds - Anderson Silva

205 pounds - Jon Jones

Heavyweight - Junior dos Santos

Trigg and Iole disagreed with me on 155 and heavyweight. They also came up with a few deep sleepers at lightweight and welterweight.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/2012-MMA-crystal-ball-Who-s-a-UFC-champ-12-mont?urn=mma-wp11094

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Raiders stay alive with 16-13 OT win over Chiefs

Sebastian Janikowski,  Jared Veldheer,  Cooper Carlisle

By DAVE SKRETTA

updated 1:30 a.m. ET Dec. 25, 2011

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Carson Palmer knew that Darrius Heyward-Bey, perhaps the Oakland Raiders' fastest wide receiver, could beat the Kansas City Chiefs defense if he went deep down the field.

The Raiders just had to wait for the right moment.

It came on the first play of overtime.

Heyward-Bey beat safety Kendrick Lewis down the left side and Palmer hit him for a 53-yard gain, setting up Sebastian Janikowski's 36-yard field goal 2:13 into overtime Saturday for a 16-13 win that kept the Raiders' playoff hopes alive and eliminated Kansas City from contention.

"It was the right time to call it," Palmer said. "I wanted it earlier, but we saved it for the right time. The protection was flawless and the route was great."

It was just about the only thing that was flawless.

The Raiders committed 15 penalties for 92 yards, one of them ? a delay of game ? wiping out an audacious fake field goal that would have gone for a 36-yard touchdown pass. Palmer also threw a pair of interceptions and the Raiders converted only 3 of 11 third-down opportunities.

"An ugly win is better than a pretty loss," Palmer said.

Especially given the stakes.

Oakland (8-7) can win the AFC West by beating San Diego next week and getting some help from ? of all teams ? the Chiefs, who travel to Denver for a game that's become meaningless to them.

"The man told me, 'Hue, we'll win it in the end.' I believe that," said Raiders coach Hue Jackson, reflecting on a conversation he had with Al Davis before the Raiders owner died in October. "I don't know how it's going to happen. I don't care how it's going to happen."

Oakland led 13-6 late in the fourth quarter when Kyle Orton connected with Dexter McCluster for a 49-yard gain, setting up a short TD toss to Dwayne Bowe with 1:02 remaining in regulation.

The Raiders went three-and-out in short order, giving Kansas City the ball back with only enough time to get into field-goal range. Orton hit Bowe for 25 yards and Terrance Copper for 11 more to set up Ryan Succop, whose 49-yard try was blocked as time ran out.

It was the second field goal that Succop had blocked.

"We had an opportunity to win the game. Those guys came up big," Chiefs linebacker Tamba Hali said. "I mean, blocking two field goals ? what's the odds of blocking two field goals in a big game like this? More credit to those guys."

The Raiders, who blew a 13-point lead in the final five minutes to Detroit last week, have won five straight games at Kansas City. Perhaps none was important as this one, with all four teams in the division beginning the day with a chance of squeaking into the playoffs.

The Chiefs (6-9) struggled to take advantage of drives one week after piling up a season-best 438 yards of offense in a 19-14 victory over previously unbeaten Green Bay. That was their first game with Orton under center and interim coach Romeo Crennel calling the shots from the sideline.

Orton threw a pair of interceptions against Oakland, one of them in the end zone in the second quarter and the other as the Chiefs were driving in the fourth quarter.

"I commend everybody for fighting hard and giving us a chance at the end," Orton said.

The first half amounted to a cacophony of errors that ended in a 3-3 tie.

The Raiders, the most penalized team in the NFL and on pace to set a single-season record, were flagged 10 times for 57 yards, while the Chiefs were flagged eight times for 53 yards.

It wasn't just the quantity of penalties, either. It was the quality.

Javier Arenas had an interception of Palmer wiped out by defensive holding in the first quarter, a turnover that would have given Kansas City prime field position.

The Raiders returned the favor on their next possession. Facing fourth-and-2 at the Chiefs 36, they pulled off fake field goal in which punter Shane Lechler, the holder on the play, threw a shovel pass to tight end Brandon Myers, and he ran untouched around end for the touchdown.

It was called back by a delay of game penalty, and Janikowski's 58-yard try hit the crossbar.

Bowe dropped an easy touchdown catch on the Chiefs' ensuing possession, and Orton was picked off by Matt Giordano in the end zone. Palmer gave it right back when Arenas intercepted him.

The Chiefs promptly wasted another scoring opportunity with a staggering string of penalties: intentional grounding, a delay of game and a false start, all in succession. Succop ultimately had his long field attempt blocked by Richard Seymour, his first miss since Sept. 25 at Buffalo.

It wound up being all the more important by the end of regulation.

"Our guys fought and they hung in there, went into overtime, and it took some guts to do that," Crennel said. "We had a couple of field goals blocked, we got a couple balls thrown over our head, we turned the ball over a couple times. In the NFL, it's hard to win when you do those kinds of things."

Notes: The Raiders have been penalized 155 times for 1,293 yards this season. Kansas City has the NFL record with 158 for 1,304, set in 1998. ... Oakland played without RB Darren McFadden (mid-foot sprain) for the eighth straight game. Michael Bush ran 23 times for 70 yards in his place. ... Chiefs S Jon McGraw (ankle) did not play. ... Kansas City C Casey Wiegmann started his 174th consecutive game despite a minor calf injury. ... Succop's first field goal was his 22nd straight, matching Pete Stoyanovich's franchise record.

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


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For four teams, it's win and get in

PFT: After all the Christmas Eve fun, the Bengals, Broncos, Giants and Cowboys control their own playof destinies heading into the final week of the regular season.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45784574/ns/sports-nfl/

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

German Court Rules Muslim Student Disturbed the Peace by Praying (Time.com)

This post is in partnership with Worldcrunch, a new global-news site that translates stories of note in foreign languages into English. The article below was originally published in S?ddeutsche Zeitung.

(MUNICH) -- Yunus M., an 18-year-old Muslim high school student at Diesterweg Gymnasium in Berlin, Germany, has failed in his fight for the right to pray in the public corridors at school. The latest decision concerns this individual case only, judges at the Federal Administrative Court emphasized. But should the plaintiff, who is near graduation, opt to pursue the matter, the only further legal recourse open to him is the Federal Constitutional Court.

The question that the case raises, however, remains: should Muslim students be able to pray openly at school?

Four years ago, Yunus M. and seven friends gathered in the school corridor to bow in the direction of Mecca. The school's director forbid them to do it again, and the case went through a local court, then a court of appeal, before being heard at the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig. (See photos of Ramadan in the year of the Arab Spring.)

According to chief justice Werner Neumann, students have a fundamental right to pray at school. He said, however, that religious freedom has its limits if it threatens to cause social friction within the school, as was the case here. The court agreed with the position of the school, whose director stated that there had been repeated religious conflicts at the school, and that at an establishment where 90% of the students were not German it was impossible for them all to claim a right to pray there publically. In addition, the director stated, Yunus M. had been offered a space where he could pray privately.

A case-by-case issue?

The case had previously resulted in contradictory court decisions. In September 2009, the Berlin Administrative Court decided in favor of Yunus M., a ruling which the Administrative Appeals Tribunal overturned six months later.

The Berlin Administrative court called in jurist Matthias Rohe, an expert on Islam, who said that the Muslim boy's stance was a "plausible opinion in the spectrum of religious freedom" and that Yunus M. was not an extremist. The Appeals Tribunal called in a colleague of Rohe's, Tilman Nagel, who stated that even the prophet Mohammed had put off praying to make community life simpler.

Yunus M.'s case underscores a basic tension: Do state institutions have to accept strict, conservative, even fundamentalist practices when other interpretations are possible? (See the top 10 world stories of 2011.)

The Leipzig court avoided this debate by stressing the individual nature of its decision. For this the court earned praise from some Christian churches. Spokespersons for the Berlin-Brandenburg Evangelical Church and the Archdiocese of Berlin said the court's decision aligned with the freedom of religion guaranteed by the Basic Law of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Yunus M.'s lawyer said they were waiting for the written decision before deciding whether or not to go to the Supreme Court, a move he described, nevertheless, as unlikely.

Also from Worldcrunch:

As Cuba Opens Slowly, a Spanish University Aims to Train Its Future Business Leaders
-- Am?rica Economia

What the World Owes Greece: A Different Look at the Financial Crisis
-- Die Welt

EU to Restrict Sale of Lethal Injection Drug to U.S.
-- S?ddeutsche Zeitung

See TIME's special report "The Middle East in Revolt."

See TIME's 140 Best Twitter Feeds.

View this article on Time.com

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/time/20111224/wl_time/08599210227700

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Another Soyuz rocket launch fails

Russia's recent poor launch record has continued with yet another Soyuz rocket failure.

This time, a Soyuz-2 vehicle failed to put a communications satellite into orbit after lifting away from the country's Plesetsk spaceport.

Debris is said to have re-entered the Earth's atmosphere near the western Siberian town of Tobolsk.

In August, a Soyuz failure on a mission to resupply the space station led to a six-week suspension of flights.

Friday's rocket was carrying a Meridian-5 satellite, designed to provide communication between ships, planes and coastal stations on the ground, according to RIA Novosti.

It was a Soyuz-2.1b, the most modern version of the rocket that has been in service in various forms since the 1960s.

The failure is said to have occurred seven minutes into the flight. Sources being quoted by the Russian media talk of an anomaly in the rocket's third stage.

"The satellite failed to go into its orbit. A state commission will investigate the causes of the accident," the spokesman of Russia's space forces, Alexei Zolotukhin, was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

August's botched launch involved a Soyuz-U. An inquiry into that incident eventually traced the problem to a blocked fuel line, again in the third stage of the vehicle. But the U and 2.1b Soyuz variants use different engines in this segment of the rocket, so no immediate parallels between the two incidents can be drawn.

Friday's failure now puts a major question mark against the next Soyuz launch, scheduled for 26 December from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. This flight is intended to put in orbit six satellites for the Globalstar satellite phone company.

And it will raise concern again among the partners on the International Space Station (ISS) that there may be systematic problems in the Russian launch sector.

Following the retirement of the American space shuttle in July, the Soyuz rocket is the only means of getting astronauts and cosmonauts to the ISS. August's failure saw manned flights stand down even longer than the six weeks for unmanned Soyuz rockets, and the hiatus put a severe strain on the operation of the space station.

Russia has experienced a number of launch mishaps in the past 13 months.

On 18 August, the week before the loss of the space station mission, a Proton vehicle failed to put a communications satellite in its proper orbit.

Back on 1 February, a Rokot launch also underperformed with a similar outcome.

And on 5 December last year, a Proton carrying three navigation spacecraft fell into the Pacific Ocean. This particular failure is widely believed to have contributed to the decision of the Russian government to replace the then space agency chief, Anatoly Perminov.

Vladimir Popovkin took over as the head of Roscosmos in April.

The rocket failures come on top of the loss of Phobos-Grunt, Russia's most ambitious planetary mission in decades. It became stuck in Earth orbit after its launch in November and will probably fall back to Earth next month.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-16317099

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Saturday, December 24, 2011

Video: Protesters hit streets of Moscow

Image: Alexander Zemlianichenko?/?AP

Russia's opposition forces are mounting a new wave of protests Saturday against election fraud. NBC's Jim Maceda reports from Moscow.

Related Links:

TODAY.com home page

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/45783233/

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Can Paul Allen launch rockets into space from a plane?

The company aims to build a massive aircraft that will act as an airborne launch system, releasing a booster mid-flight that ignites to send cargo, satellites and, eventually, people into orbit. When complete, it would be the biggest aircraft in history.

After conquering the technology world, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen is setting his sights on the next frontier: space.

Skip to next paragraph

The billionaire entrepreneur announced a new private spaceflight venture on Tuesday (Dec. 13), called Stratolaunch Systems. The company aims to build a massive aircraft that will act as an?airborne launch system, releasing a booster mid-flight that ignites to send cargo, satellites and, eventually, people into orbit. When complete, it would be the biggest aircraft in history.

Sounds pretty cool, right? But can it really be built?

Absolutely, company officials say.

The giant twin-bodied aircraft will be constructed by Scaled Composites, a Mojave, Calif.-based aerospace design company founded by industry pioneer Burt Rutan. The carrier craft will incorporate new aircraft components as well as existing parts from two 747 jetliners.

"This is not a sketch," Rutan said. "It exists in hundreds of detailed drawings, and it's relatively close to [being built] as soon as we can get a building big enough." [Images: Paul Allen's Giant Plane for Private Launches]

The?Stratolaunch Systems aircraft?is expected to be the largest ever built. The craft's wings will span a staggering 385 feet (117 meters), which will make it longer than a football field.

Tipping the scales at 1.2 million pounds (more than 544,000 kilograms), the mammoth aircraft will need to take off and land on a runway that is at least 12,000 feet (3,600 meters) long, company officials said. But, launching rockets from in the air comes with advantages.

"It's an approach that has a long history," said former NASA administrator Mike Griffin. "We've been air-dropping manned rockets since Chuck Yeager. It's an approach that offers some very substantial operational flexibility, much reduced range requirements ? ability to deal with weather scenarios."

Griffin is a member of the Stratolaunch Systems board, and he joined Allen and Rutan in a news conference Tuesday in Seattle to announce the project.

Commercial and government payloads will ride into orbit on a booster that will be made by the California-based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX).

The two-stage rocket will be based on?SpaceX's existing fleet of rockets, and it will be designed to first carry cargo and satellites, and then humans, SpaceX officials said. The booster will be released at an altitude of approximately 30,000 feet (9,100 m) before igniting and journeying into space.

This type of airborne launch system will help make commercial launches safer, more flexible, efficient and affordable, Allen said.

"By the end of this decade, Stratolaunch will be putting spacecraft into orbit," Allen said.

Allen partnered with Rutan on the design and construction of?SpaceShipOne, the first privately funded vehicle to reach the edge of space. Allen bankrolled the project, which reportedly cost more than $20 million.

Allen declined to share the cost of this newly announced airborne launch system, but did say that it was a considerable amount. The importance of fostering the future of commercial spaceflight, however, is a worthwhile investment, he said.

The mammoth aircraft will be built in a special hangar that will be constructed at the Mojave Air and Space Port, company officials said. Other than early specifications, Rutan is tight-lipped about details of the project.

"Because we are announcing it very early, I don't think it's wise to give the competitors our technical numbers," Rutan said. "We have to share it after it's flying, but we don't have to now."

You can follow SPACE.com staff writer Denise Chow on Twitter?@denisechow. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/gK_wr4kYu8Q/Can-Paul-Allen-launch-rockets-into-space-from-a-plane

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Engadget HD Podcast 279 - 12.20.2011

The future of TV has become a theme as of late, and this week Ben's editorial puts the topic front and center. We'll paw through what's wrong and possible solutions on the horizon including the latest Apple rumors, a new deal for the NFL and Channel Master's OTA DVR / streaming video combo box. Other hardware is also encroaching on the living room, so we'll also take a peek at the latest Xbox Live updates and a new iPhone remote for Roku. Press play for all that and more, including the (sad) state of our fantasy football efforts and what's on TV over the holiday break.

Get the podcast
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Hosts: Ben Drawbaugh (@bjdraw), Richard Lawler (@rjcc)

Producer: Trent Wolbe

00:04:35 - What's wrong with TV, and what it might take to change it
00:27:43 - Apple reportedly discussing its 'vision for the future of TV' with media execs
00:35:50 - NFL renews TV deals with CBS, Fox, NBC for nine more years, money reportedly involved
00:43:40 - Avatar special edition takes another dip on iTunes Tuesday, brings exclusive extras
00:46:58 - Time Warner finally cuts a deal for HBO Go streaming, launches 'in the next month'
00:49:40 - YouTube, Verizon FiOS TV and more video services roll out to Xbox Live
00:57:30 - Gamers spending more time streaming video to their consoles, Nielsen finds
01:00:47 - Roku's official iPhone remote app is available, has gesture control and channel selection for all
01:04:20 - Netflix updates iOS app with new iPad-optimized interface
01:09:49 - Channel Master TV review
01:13:09 - FCC tells advertisers to CALM down, lowers the volume on commercial breaks
01:14:00 - Roku 2, LT update adds support for both MKVs and an upcoming official iOS remote app
01:14:55 - Must See HDTV (December 19th - 25th)

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Engadget HD Podcast 279 - 12.20.2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 22:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/HUX-kJYI_fU/

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Lenovo ThinkPad X130e delayed until February, early-adopting school districts to blame

We'll be honest: when Lenovo said it would ship the new student-friendly ThinkPad X130e starting on December 20th, we didn't actually program an alert in our calendars, reminding us to place our orders on the very first day it became available. But it looks like at least a few you did just that, and were quite taken with this durable 11.6-inch laptop. As it turns out, though, you'll have to wait a little longer to get yours -- Lenovo's product page is now saying it won't be available for individual purchase until February. Apparently, it's because the X130e's rubber bumper, recessed ports, reinforced hinge and Core i3 / Fusion innards were just too irresistible to educators: a Lenovo rep told us all the early units have been scooped up by hungry school districts, meaning individual students and other fans of inexpensive, ruggedized laptops will have to wait for a later batch.

[Thanks, Markus]

Lenovo ThinkPad X130e delayed until February, early-adopting school districts to blame originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/lenovo-thinkpad-x130e-delayed-until-february-early-adopting-sch/

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

UFC NEWS ? Junior Dos Santos to Host Special Q&A at UFC 141

On Thursday Dec. 29th, ?UFC 141: Lesnar vs. Overeem? will host a special Q&A session with UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos prior to weigh-ins at Las Vegas? MGM Grand Garden Arena. UFC Fight Club members will have access to the UFC?s fan club activities starting at 4 p.m. EST. The Q&A session is available to UFC Fight Club members an hour later, starting at 5 p.m.

Not to be outdone by the latest ?UFC Undisputed 3? video game battle between Chuck Liddell and Rampage Jackson at the UFC 137 weigh-ins, Junior Dos Santos will also take part in a friendly match against former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir.

Although the special Q&A session with the Brazilian champion is limited to members only, doors to the weigh-ins will open at 6 p.m. EST, with the start of the first weigh in beginning at 7 p.m.

BJPenn.com will also be streaming the weigh-ins live via link on the homepage.

The following fighters will be seen at the UFC 141 weigh ins:
Main Card
? Brock Lesnar vs. Alistair Overeem
? Donald Cerrone vs. Nate Diaz
? Jon Fitch vs. Johny Hendricks
? Alexander Gustafsson vs. Vladimir Matyushenko
? Jim Hettes vs. Nam Phan

Prelims
? Junior Assuncao vs. Ross Pearson
? Danny Castillo vs. Anthony Njokuani
? Dong Hyun Kim vs. Sean Pierson
? Efrain Escudero vs. Jacob Volkmann
? Luis Ramos vs. Matt Riddle
? Manny Gamburyan vs. Diego Nunes

Click here for the latest UFC 141 coverage provided by BJPENN.COM

Source: http://bjpenn.com/news/2011/12/21/ufc-news-junior-dos-santos-to-host-special-qa-at-ufc-141-10166.html

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Sherrod Brown: Ryan-Wyden Medicare Plan Is Just 'Lipstick On The Pig'

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) may have reached across the aisle to come up with a new bipartisan plan for Medicare reform, but that isn't allaying fears from some Democrats that the overhaul will actually end up dismantling the program.

On Friday, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) became the latest to speak out against Ryan's blueprint, which the Chairman of the House Budget Committee drafted with the help of Brown's colleague, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)

"This is dressed up and looks a little pretty -- a little lipstick on the pig here but it really is not much different than Ryan number one," Brown said Friday on the Bill Press radio show, according to The Hill. "Ryan gets this reputation as being this thinker that's got new ideas. It's just the same recycled privatization stuff that Gingrich did in 1995 with Medicare."

Here's how the Washington Post describes the difference between the Ryan-Wyden plan and Ryan's divisive original proposal, which would have changed Medicare into a voucher system:

Seniors would still receive a set amount of money from the government to buy insurance, as they would under the Medicare proposal Ryan included in the budget blueprint that passed the House last year. But the new approach would let that subsidy, known as premium support, rise or fall along with the actual cost of the policies -- creating more protection for seniors and saving potentially far less in the budget.

Ryan-Wyden also creates an insurance exchange that would allow Medicare recipients to choose from a variety of private insurance options. Some have expressed concern over this provision's ability to prevent "waste, fraud, and abuse," while others have said it will only weaken Medicare's "bargaining power," while making it a frailer overall market for the consumer.

In a statement Thursday, the White House also announced its opposition to Ryan-Wyden proposal.

"We are concerned that Wyden-Ryan, like Congressman Ryan?s earlier proposal, would undermine, rather than strengthen, Medicare," said White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer. "The Wyden-Ryan scheme could, over time, cause the traditional Medicare program to 'wither on the vine' because it would raise premiums, forcing many seniors to leave traditional Medicare and join private plans. And it would shift costs from the government to seniors. At the end of the day, this plan would end Medicare as we know it for millions of seniors. Wyden-Ryan is the wrong way to reform Medicare."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/16/ryan-wyden-medicare-sherrod-brown_n_1153506.html

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Italian govt calls confidence vote on austerity (AP)

ROME ? Italy's government has called for a vote of confidence on an austerity package aimed at persuading markets that Italy can get its finances under control to emerge from the spiraling debt crisis.

The move is aimed at ensuring passage of the euro30 billion ($39 billion) package of tax hikes and spending cuts that have been hotly contested by lawmakers and unions.

The package ? which also calls for reinvesting euro10 billion to spur growth ? goes to a vote in the lower house of Parliament on Friday, then to the Senate at a later date.

The vote was announced in the lower house on Thursday. Earlier, the speaker of the chamber suspended the session and ejected two lawmakers from the unruly right-wing Northern League who held up banners against the resurrection of a tax on primary residences.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_financial_crisis

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Bruised "X Factor" limps toward finals (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? American viewers have chosen the three singers who will compete in the finals of "The X Factor" after a first season that underwhelmed critics and raised questions about audience fatigue ahead of returning TV contests "American Idol" and "The Voice."

Power ballad singer Melanie Amaro, 19, bluesy Josh Krajcik, 30, and troubled rapper Chris Rene, 28, will sing for a $5 million recording contract in next week's two-part finale of the Fox show.

But after major hype from creator and judge Simon Cowell -- who had initially predicted "X Factor" would replace "American Idol" as the most-watched show on U.S. television -- the program's bickering mentor-judges, big production numbers and flashing lights has left many critics scratching their heads.

"As a viewer, it is agonizing to watch and just so fake that none of it is compelling, " said Annie Barrett, who covers "X Factor" for Entertainment Weekly.

"Everything is a gimmick. It is a glossy, shiny version of a reality show that might give you a seizure because of all the lasers and lights," Barrett told Reuters.

Thursday's semi-final, in which 20-year-old hopeful Marcus Canty was eliminated, drew 9.6 million viewers -- below the audience for a repeat of CBS comedy "The Big Bang Theory" and less than half the regular audience for "American Idol" earlier this year.

Fox executives say they are happy with the viewer numbers, especially among teens, and the show has helped the network reverse its historically patchy fall ratings in the 18-49 viewer group most coveted by advertisers.

Fox has already ordered a second season for the fall of 2012, calling "X Factor" a "monumental success."

CRYING FOR CROW

Andy Dehnart, editor of realityblurred.com, said that for all the new tweaks in the singing contest formula, few were for the better.

"There is no real national buzz about it. I don't think 'X Factor' has broken through the zeitgeist in the same way as 'American Idol'," said Dehnart.

Indeed, it seems the first season's most memorable moment came a week ago when bubbly 13-year-old Rachel Crow collapsed in tears on being sent home, sparking viewer outrage against judge Nicole Scherzinger.

Whoever wins after public votes are announced next Thursday, Cowell's hopes of discovering a new global singing star -- who will be signed to his Sony Music-owned record label SyCo -- may be dashed.

None of the instantly downloadable songs from this week's semi-final were in the Top 50 iTunes singles charts on Friday.

"I don't see anyone here who is going to be the next Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood, which is what the show claimed it was going to do," said Dehnart.

Barrett said that four months of "X Factor" twice a week had made her appreciate "American Idol".

But with NBC's surprise hit "The Voice" returning in February and "Idol's" 11th season beginning in mid-January on Fox, Americans may soon lose their appetite for lengthy singing contests.

"I do think there will be some fatigue going into next season with both 'American Idol' and 'The Voice.' Two nights a week is a huge commitment," Barrett said.

But Dehnart was more optimistic. "If we are going to see any kind of fatigue with this kind of show, it is going to show up now. But I wouldn't be surprised if they all work on their own level."

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111217/tv_nm/us_xfactor

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Penn St. coach says he saw, reported molestation (AP)

HARRISBURG, Pa. ? As soon as he walked into the Penn State locker room, Mike McQueary heard running water and rhythmic, slapping sounds of "skin on skin." He looked in a mirror and saw a naked Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant coach, holding a young boy by the waist from behind, up against the wall in the campus shower.

"I just saw Coach Sandusky in the showers with a boy and what I saw was wrong and sexual," McQueary recalled telling his father that night in 2002. He repeated it the next morning to coach Joe Paterno, who slumped deep into his chair at his kitchen table.

"He said, `I'm sorry you had to see that,'" McQueary said.

McQueary's testimony Friday at a preliminary hearing for two Penn State officials accused of covering up the story was the most detailed, public account yet of the child sex abuse allegations that have upended the university's football program and the entire central Pennsylvania campus. Paterno and the university president have lost their jobs, and officials Tim Curley and Gary Schultz are accused of lying to a grand jury about what McQueary told them.

A Pennsylvania judge on Friday held Curley, the university's athletic director, and Schultz, a retired senior vice president, for trial after the daylong hearing.

Curley said that McQueary never relayed the seriousness of what he saw, and said he was only told that Sandusky was "horsing around" with a boy but that his conduct wasn't sexual.

He said he told the university president about the episode and the top official at a children's charity that Sandusky founded, but never told university police. "I didn't see any reason because I didn't think at the time it was a crime," he told the grand jury, according to testimony read into the record on Friday.

Curley, Schultz and Paterno have been criticized for never telling police about the 2002 charges. Prosecutors say Sandusky continued to abuse boys for six more years. Sandusky has denied having inappropriate sexual contact with boys.

In about two hours on the witness stand, McQueary said again and again that what he saw was a sexual act, although he stopped short of saying he was sure that Sandusky, now 67, had raped the boy.

"I believe Jerry was sexually molesting him and having some type of sexual intercourse with him," McQueary said on Friday. He said later he "can't say 100 percent" that Sandusky and the boy were having intercourse because he was seeing Sandusky from behind.

He said after talking to his father, he went over to Paterno's home the next morning and said that what he had seen "was way over the lines, it was extremely sexual in nature." He said he would not have used words like sodomy or intercourse with Paterno; he did not get into that much detail out of respect for the coach, he said.

Paterno told the grand jury that McQueary said he saw Sandusky doing something of a "sexual nature" with the youngster but that he didn't press for details.

"I didn't push Mike ... because he was very upset," Paterno said. "I knew Mike was upset, and I knew some kind of inappropriate action was being taken by Jerry Sandusky with a youngster."

Paterno told McQueary he would talk to others about what he'd reported.

McQueary said he met nine or 10 days later with Curley and Schultz and told them he'd seen Sandusky and a boy, both naked, in the shower after hearing skin-on-skin slapping sounds.

"I would have described that it was extremely sexual and I thought that some kind of intercourse was going on," said McQueary.

McQueary said he was left with the impression both men took his report seriously. When asked why he didn't go to police, he referenced Schultz's position as a vice president at the university who had overseen the campus police

"I thought I was talking to the head of the police, to be frank with you," he said. "In my mind it was like speaking to a (district attorney). It was someone who police reported to and would know what to do with it."

The square-jawed, red-haired assistant coach spoke in a steady voice in his first public account of the alleged abuse, sometimes turning his seat and leaning toward defense lawyers to answer questions. His voice rose a few times and he blushed once when describing the sexual encounter in the shower.

Defense lawyers for Curley and Schultz argued that a perjury charge should not be based solely on a person's testimony under oath contradicting someone else's testimony. The defense said uncorroborated testimony from McQueary is not enough and sought to pick apart the ways he described the shower scene differently to different people.

The defense noted that McQueary admitted changing his description of the shower encounter when speaking with Paterno ? enough so that the coach didn't believe a crime had occurred.

McQueary said he had stopped by a campus football locker room to drop off a pair of sneakers in the spring of 2002 when he saw Sandusky with the boy, who he estimated was 10 or 12 years old.

McQueary, 37, said he has never described what he saw as anal rape or anal intercourse and couldn't see Sandusky's genitals, but that "it was very clear that it looked like there was intercourse going on."

In its report last month, the grand jury summarized McQueary's testimony as saying he "saw a naked boy ... with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky."

McQueary said he peeked into the shower three times ? the first via a mirror, the other two times directly. The last time he looked in, Sandusky and the boy had separated, he said. He said he didn't say anything, but "I know they saw me. They looked directly in my eye, both of them."

McQueary said the entire encounter ? from when he first entered the locker room to when he retreated to his office ? lasted about 45 seconds.

Curley told the grand jury that he couldn't recall his specific conversation with McQueary, but McQueary never reported seeing anal intercourse or other sexual conduct. He said he spoke to Sandusky about it, who first denied having been in the shower with a boy, but later changed his story.

Schultz said he remembered McQueary and Paterno describing what the younger coach saw only in a very general way.

"I had the impression it was inappropriate," Schultz told the grand jury. "I had the feeling it was some kind of wrestling activity and maybe Jerry might have grabbed a young boy's genitals."

Under cross-examination, McQueary said he considered what he saw a crime but didn't call police because "it was delicate in nature."

"I tried to use my best judgment," he said. "I was sure the act was over." He said he never tried to find the boy.

Paterno, Schultz and Curley didn't testify, but District Judge William C. Wenner read their grand jury testimony from January at the Dauphin County hearing.

Curley's attorney, Caroline Roberto, said prosecutors "will never be able to reach their burden of proof at a trial."

Schultz's attorney, Tom Farrell, predicted his client would be acquitted.

He also took a shot at Paterno, saying, "I'm an Italian from Brooklyn, and he may not have called the police but he may have done what I would have done, which is get the boys in the car with a few baseball bats and crowbars and take it to the fellow."

Sandusky says he is innocent of 52 criminal charges stemming from what authorities say were sexual assaults over 12 years on 10 boys in his home, on Penn State property and elsewhere.

Curley, 57, was placed on leave by the university after his arrest. Schultz, 62, returned to retirement after spending about four decades at the school, most recently as senior vice president for business and finance, and treasurer.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_sp_ot/us_penn_state_abuse

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