2 dead, 61 hurt in 40-vehicle New Orleans pileup (AP)

NEW ORLEANS ? Two men died and 61 other people were injured Thursday in a pre-dawn pileup involving about 40 cars, vans and other vehicles on a busy interstate that crosses New Orleans, closing the route for hours both ways, police said.

Drivers said they drove into thick smoke or fog that abruptly limited visibility on westbound lanes of Interstate 10 heading across eastern New Orleans. Those who came upon the scene said they heard injured motorists pleading for assistance.

"You just hear all kinds of calls and people screaming for help," tow truck driver Wesley Ratcliff told local broadcaster WWL-TV. In 13 years responding to wrecks, he added, "this is the worst I've ever seen it."

Officer Garry Flot, a police spokesman, would not talk about possible causes, including whether those may have included smoke or fog.

All lanes were reopened late Thursday afternoon as the investigation continued, letting commuters head home at rush hour.

The highway is heavily trafficked, a major corridor for thousands of commuters who enter New Orleans each day from its eastern suburbs and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Those driving the route at the time of the wrecks said they suddenly found themselves in utter darkness, unable to see the lights of cars ahead.

"I thought it was fog; my husband thought it was smoke," Stacie Williams told WWL-TV (http://bit.ly/sLHWVx ). "Cars were driving in front of us and before you know it, it seemed as if they had dropped off the face of the Earth."

Seven people were taken to south Louisiana's top trauma center, where several were in critical condition, said Marvin McGraw, spokesman for the Interim LSU Public Hospital.

Flot said 25 people were taken to hospitals with injuries ranging from minor to critical. He said they included a 62nd injured person ? a firefighter whose face was cut while working at the scene. Flot said 37 others refused treatment for minor injuries.

The police spokesman wouldn't say whether police believe smoke or fog contributed to the wreck, noting the investigation is ongoing.

He said the dead were a pickup truck driver and a 54-year-old passenger in another pickup, both from Louisiana. He wouldn't say whether their pickup trucks were among the first vehicles to crash or part of the pileup that followed.

Cars, tractor-trailers, vans and other vehicles collided on lanes approaching the city's business district. Eastbound lanes were closed to let emergency vehicles get in, and traffic was detoured off the highway through morning rush hour and well into the afternoon.

Interstate 10 stretches from Florida to California and is a major corridor for commercial truck traffic.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111230/ap_on_re_us/us_interstate_pileup

kaye stevens super bowl 2012 rick santorum kid cudi michael jordan engaged kasey kahne notre dame football

Russian Orthodox Church Turns From Kremlin Ally to Critic

[unable to retrieve full-text content]

Source: www.nytimes.com --- Thursday, December 29, 2011
After disputed elections, the Russian Orthodox Church, including Patriarch Kirill I, has defended protests and could play a major role as the political and social crisis unfolds. ...

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/30/world/europe/russian-orthodox-church-turns-from-kremlin-ally-to-critic.html

rajon rondo its a wonderful life its a wonderful life rex ryan yule log ham recipes adrian peterson

Chesapeake Energy to Sell a Pipeline Unit for $865 Million

Industry Leaders Magazine

Chesapeake Energy, the second-largest producer of natural gas in North Texas' Barnett Shale, has plans of selling off one of its pipeline units, Appalachia Midstream Services, L.L.C., to Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP. Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP is the entirely owned Chesapeake Midstream Development, L.P. subsidiary of that holds its Marcellus Shale midstream assets.

Energy companies usually favor the corporate structures of Master Limited Partnerships are corporate structures. Now what happens is that these partnerships make their investors more capital efficient than any other structure by paying nearly no taxes and outdoing almost all profits along to investors.

Chesapeake Energy has been an aggressive buyer of land to drill in North America and faces a shortfall with its financial support next year and has been striking deals to close the gap.

The Acquisition

Like us on Facebook

The $864 million acquisition is expected to close by 30th of this month. Chesapeake Energy will be financed by $600 million of cash drawn from Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP's rotating credit facility and equity consideration of $265 million (9.8 million Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP. common units), which would further increase Chesapeake's limited partnership ownership of Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP. from 42.3% to 46.1%. On December 20, 2011, Chesapeake Midstream Partners LP. ?completed an amendment of its credit facility for increasing the total borrowing capacity to $1.0 billion.

J. Mike Stice, Chief Executive Officer of Chesapeake Midstream said, "The partnership expects to pursue a substantial number of asset dropdowns from Chesapeake in the years ahead."

Chesapeake Energy and private investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners collectively formed the Chesapeake Midstream in order to operate gas gathering systems and other midstream energy assets.

Neither Chesapeake Energy nor Chesapeake Midstream stock was moving hours after Chesapeake Energy closed down 86 cents at $22.66 while Chesapeake Midstream closed up 29 cents at $27.12. The latest deal comes a little more than a year after Chesapeake Midstream Partners acquired Louisiana pipelines for $500 million from a Chesapeake Energy subsidiary.

Prospective Future of Chesapeake Energy

It is expected that the new expansion project will add 70 miles of new pipelines to the Texas Eastern pipeline system and raise its capacity by 18 percent. The extra capacity of 1 billion cubic feet per day will enable Chesapeake to efficiently transport the natural gas from the shale deposits in Utica to consumers in the region.

November 20114 will see the operation of new pipelines and American Electric will make use of it to fuel its power plants. The companies expect other plants to eventually begin using the pipeline too.

The cost effectiveness and environment friendliness of natural gas is posing potential demand in consumers and industrial makers. But, it is facing a tough time due to the limited availability of infrastructure.

Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/274414/20111229/chesapeake-energy-sell-pipeline-unit-865-million.htm

enews mona simpson mona simpson grady sizemore grady sizemore samhain great pumpkin charlie brown

Avastin disappoints against ovarian cancer

(AP)? Avastin, the blockbuster drug that just lost approval for treating breast cancer, now looks disappointing against ovarian cancer, too. Two studies found it did not improve survival for most of these patients and kept their disease from worsening for only a few months, with more side effects.

The Genentech drug won approval in Europe last week for advanced ovarian cancer. But its maker has no immediate plans to seek the same approval in the United States. After talking with the Food and Drug Administration, "we do not believe the data will support approval" although no final decision has been made, said Charlotte Arnold, a spokeswoman for Genentech, part of the Swiss company Roche.

Results of the studies are in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

In November, the FDA revoked Avastin's approval for breast cancer because it did not meaningfully extend life and can have serious side effects. Without approval, doctors can prescribe the drug but insurers may not pay. Treatment with it can cost $100,000 a year.

Avastin can still be sold for some colon, lung, kidney and brain cancers. The new research was aimed at adding ovarian cancer to the list.

One study, led by Dr. Robert Burger of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, involved nearly 1,900 women with advanced ovarian cancer given one of three treatment combinations. The time until the disease got worse was a median of 10 months in those given just chemotherapy; adding Avastin improved that by just one to four months for the other two groups.

Survival was similar among the groups, and side effects were higher among those on Avastin ? mostly high blood pressure but also some stomach and gut problems that needed treatment.

In the other study, led by researchers from England, more than 1,500 ovarian cancer patients were given chemo with or without Avastin. The drug kept cancer at bay just one to two months longer than chemo alone did, with more cases of high blood pressure. There was a trend toward improved survival for those on Avastin, but the difference was too small to say the drug was responsible.

Genentech helped pay for the studies and some of the researchers consult for the company.

Dr. Gary Lyman, a Duke University researcher who was on the FDA advisory panel that recommended revoking Avastin's approval for breast cancer, wrote in an email that he agreed with the company's decision not to seek approval for ovarian cancer.

"The situation is very similar" to the results in breast cancer, and approval is unlikely unless a biological marker or test can show which patients might benefit, he wrote.

About 220,000 new cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed each year around the world, and it causes 140,000 deaths. In the United States, the National Cancer Institute estimates 22,000 new cases and 15,000 deaths each year.

___

Online:

Studies: http://www.nejm.org

___

Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsGamecore/~3/52XiM8-o4PU/

gamestop albert haynesworth banana republic apple store academy barnes and noble nook 12 days of christmas

China's Alibaba hires US lobbying firm as it eyes buying Yahoo!

"If they subscribe to Yahoo! and [they know] Yahoo! is owned by a Chinese company, they are going to have to make the decision themselves," Natkin added.

Alibaba, Softbank and Yahoo! have been looking to unwind their complex web of relationships. Alibaba retained Duberstein in the fall when it was discussing a proposal with private equity firms to carve up Yahoo!, a source familiar with the situation said.

While they would jointly make a bid for the whole company, the idea was for the buyout firms to take over Yahoo!'s US operations and for Alibaba and Softbank to get the Asian assets.

But a buyout of Yahoo! has now been put on the backburner as the US internet company is considering a proposal to address just the Asian assets that Alibaba and Softbank want. That plan, valued at roughly $17bn (?11bn), would reduce Yahoo!'s 40pc stake in Alibaba and get Yahoo! out of Yahoo! Japan, sources told Reuters last week.

Yahoo! is exploring proposals to revamp its business in the face of competition from internet heavyweights such as Google and Facebook.

Investors have long said Yahoo!'s investment in Alibaba, along with its 35pc slice of Yahoo! Japan, are far and away the US company's most prized assets. Yahoo! has a market value of around $20bn.

Earlier in December, Thomson Reuters publication Basis Point reported that a handful of lenders are considering committing to a $4bn loan for Alibaba that will help it buy back part of the 40pc stake that Yahoo! owns in the company.

The filing marks the first time Alibaba has registered to lobby the US government, according to a search of congressional records.

The Duberstein Group is headed by Kenneth Duberstein, a former White House chief of staff under US President Ronald Reagan. Its other clients include BP America, Goldman Sachs and Pfizer.

The lobbying registration lists the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which specializes in mergers and acquisitions, as an intermediary between Alibaba and the company's lobbying team.

The registration was received by a US Senate office on December 23 and then posted online, but the lobbying work likely began earlier.

Under US law, a lobbying firm is required to file a public disclosure within 45 days of crossing certain thresholds such as making contact with a public official. The filing for Alibaba says it is effective as of December 1.

Messages left with the Duberstein Group and Wachtell were not immediately returned on Wednesday.

Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568300/s/1b5b11d9/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cfinance0Cnewsbysector0Cmediatechnologyandtelecoms0Cdigital0Emedia0C89820A910CChinas0EAlibaba0Ehires0EUS0Elobbying0Efirm0Eas0Eit0Eeyes0Ebuying0EYahoo0Bhtml/story01.htm

packages love and hip hop camila alves albrecht durer dan marino david lee roth joe bodolai

How I Met Your Robot Mother: a Qbo 'First' (video)

Is consciousness programmable? Do robots feel? Would Kubrick have approved of Spielberg's handling of AI? While you wrap your mind around those conundrums, set aside a bit of free grey matter to soak in another Qbo milestone. When last we left the little bot, it was just coming to terms with its place in the grand scheme of things and recognizing its reflection. Since, robotic hangers-on and the geeks that love'em have been pelting The Corpora (the brains behind the operation) with questions pertaining to the self-awareness of this artificially intelligent machine. The outfit's reply? A Qbo meet-cute with a "female" member of the automated species that highlights the droid's understanding of individuality. It's a far cry from a Lady and the Tramp-style nose nuzzle, but these bots don't have to touch -- a random series of nasal flashes serve to indicate their distinctiveness and, once that's done, polite flirtation ensues. Don't believe us? You can see the sparks of android love for yourself in the video after the break.

Continue reading How I Met Your Robot Mother: a Qbo 'First' (video)

How I Met Your Robot Mother: a Qbo 'First' (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceThe Corpora  | Email this | Comments


Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/fIIZHfmq0ig/

bernie fine bernie fine matt leinart cyber monday 2011 cyber monday 2011 turkey pot pie turkey pot pie

Muslims upset by NYPD to boycott mayor's breakfast

NEW YORK (AP) ? Several Muslim leaders have declined invitations to the mayor's annual year-end interfaith breakfast, saying they're upset at police department efforts to infiltrate mosques and spy on Muslim neighborhoods.

The imams and activists said in a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg that they're disturbed at his response to a series of stories by The Associated Press detailing New York Police Department intelligence-gathering programs that monitored Muslim groups, businesses and houses of worship.

Bloomberg has defended the NYPD, saying last week it doesn't take religion into account in its policing.

Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser acknowledged Wednesday that about a dozen people turned down the breakfast invitation. But he said "a couple dozen" more said they plan to attend.

The letter to Bloomberg contained the names of several dozen Muslim leaders and organizations and said they believe such police measures "threaten the rights of all Americans, and deepen mistrust between our communities and law enforcement."

"Mayor Bloomberg, the extent of these civil rights violations is astonishing, yet instead of calling for accountability and the rule of law, you have thus far defended the NYPD's misconduct," the letter said.

The Muslim leaders said they appreciate the mayor's staunch support a year ago during an uproar over a planned Islamic center near the World Trade Center site. But they said they were disappointed by what he said after the AP stories since August about the police department's efforts to infiltrate Muslim neighborhoods and mosques with aggressive programs designed by a CIA officer who worked with the department after the Sept. 11 attacks.

The stories disclosed that a team of 16 police officers speaking at least five languages was assigned to use census information and government databases to map ethnic neighborhoods in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Documents reviewed by the AP revealed that undercover police officers known as rakers visited local businesses such as Islamic bookstores and cafes, chatting up store owners to determine their ethnicities and gauge their views. They played cricket and eavesdropped in ethnic cafes and clubs.

The AP stories also revealed that one of the CIA's most experienced clandestine operatives began working inside the police department in July as the special assistant to the deputy commissioner of intelligence.

The CIA is prohibited from spying domestically. Its unusual partnership with the NYPD has troubled top lawmakers and prompted an internal investigation.

Bloomberg in October defended the arrangement, saying it was necessary in a dangerous world.

"There are people trying to kill us," he said. "And if the CIA can help us I'm all for getting any information they have and then letting the police department use it as ? if it's appropriate to protect you and to protect me."

The letter noted that Muslims comprise at least 10 percent of the city's population. It said the Muslims leaders were seeking a meeting with the mayor to discuss the issues raised by the reports.

"We believe it is unequivocally wrong and fundamentally misguided to invest law enforcement resources in religious or racial profiling, rather than investigating suspicious activity," it said. "We seek your clear, unambiguous, public support for the rights and privacy of all New Yorkers, including Muslims; and a condemnation of all policies that profile and target communities and community groups solely based on their religion or the color of their skin."

It also said: "We are deeply disturbed that to date we have only heard your words of strong support for these troubling policies and violations of our rights. We are equally disturbed by (police Commissioner Raymond) Kelly's denials of what we know to be true as verified by the leaked documents."

Kelly, meanwhile, met Wednesday evening at a Bronx mosque with two imams who weren't listed on the letter and with young fans of an NYPD youth soccer league, whose winners were presented with a trophy.

KUSA-TV

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-28-NYPD%20Intelligence/id-ee6e9336107d41a588bf33ba91f51cb4

carlos beltran air jordan 11 concord unemployment extension the thin man republic wireless space ball drops on namibia prometheus

ESPN's bowl coverage swaps out the telestrator for augmented reality GameView

We dug into ESPN's use of the Xbox 360 and EA Sports games to power its Virtual Playbook segments last year, but in preparation for this round of BCS bowl games it's upgraded the system with a bit of augmented reality. The new GameView system uses a tabletop 70-inch touchscreen LCD, a copy of NCAA Football '12 and four dedicated workstations to blend everything together and create a simulation for viewers to see the analysts move virtual players around the field. It should at least be more interesting than CNN's previous election coverage implementation, although we're mostly wondering when a combo of Kinect, Surface and old school electronic football will bring the experience directly to our living rooms to play around with. Check out the gallery for a few more screens and expect to see this implemented more during the upcoming big time bowl games -- no, there's no secret code Desmond Howard can input to get a national championship game between two college football teams that haven't already played each other, we asked.

Continue reading ESPN's bowl coverage swaps out the telestrator for augmented reality GameView

ESPN's bowl coverage swaps out the telestrator for augmented reality GameView originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/29/espns-bowl-coverage-swaps-out-the-telestrator-for-augmented-rea/

moammar gadhafi harry connick jr rightnow bf3 craigslist nc chronicle baked alaska

U.S. approves Monsanto drought-tolerant GM corn (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Monsanto's genetically engineered, drought resistant corn is deregulated, the U.S. Agriculture Department said Thursday, clearing the variety for sale.

USDA approved the variety after reviewing environmental and risk assessments, public comments and research data from Monsanto.

Corn is the most widely grown U.S. crop and farmers grew 91.9 million acres of the feed grain this year, the second-largest area since World War Two.

In its 2009 petition for approval of its GM variety, Monsanto said 40 percent of crop losses in North America are due to sub-optimal moisture.

In a statement, Monsanto said it planned farm trials in the western U.S. Plains in 2012 to demonstrate the variety for growers and to generate data that will help guide Monsanto's commercial decisions.

"Our drought system is designed to help farmers mitigate the risk of yield loss when experiencing drought stress, primarily in areas of annual drought stress," said Hobart Beeghly, U.S. product management leader.

The drought-tolerant trait was part of a collaboration with the German chemical company BASF.

The major U.S. area for adoption of drought-tolerant corn would be the Plains, which produce one-quarter of the U.S. crop, Monsanto estimated, as well as similar dryland regions of Africa, Europe and Latin America.

USDA announced the variety, known as MON 87460, "is no longer considered a regulated article under our regulations governing the introduction of certain genetically engineered organisms."

(Reporting By Charles Abbott)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111227/sc_nm/us_usa_biotech

carson palmer al davis edmund fitzgerald vincent brown vincent brown willow smith tom bradley

Amazing survival story: Jet crashes, flips, catches fire

Pool via AFP - Getty Images

Rescuers work near an overturned Russian-made Tupolev 134 passenger jet at the airfield outside Osh, Kyrgyzstan on Dec. 28. The packed TU-134 flipped over and caught fire on landing in the southern Kyrgyz city today injuring at least six people, officials and witnesses said.

Pool via AFP - Getty Images

Rescuers work near an overturned Russian-made Tupolev 134 passenger jet at the airfield outside Osh on Dec. 28. The packed TU-134 flipped over and caught fire on landing in the southern Kyrgyz city today injuring at least six people, officials and witnesses said.

Amazing that all the passengers survived.?

AP reports:

The Kyrgyz government says that 31 people have been injured in the crash-landing of a passenger jet.

Kyrgyzstan's Health Ministry said the Soviet-built Tu-134 jet was carrying 95 passengers and six crew when it crash-landed in deep fog Wednesday at the airport of the southern city of Osh.

Emergency Situations Minister Kubatbek Boronov said the plane flying from the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek was damaged when it made a rough landing in Osh. He didn't elaborate, but eyewitnesses said the jet rolled off the runway, broke its wing, overturned and caught fire.

Boronov said that 17 of the 31 injured were hospitalized.

The Tu-134 is a two-engine jet that has remained in service with many post-Soviet carriers.

Source: http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/28/9767266-amazing-survival-story-plane-flips-catches-fire-on-landing

gabby giffords hunger games trailer hunger games trailer gabrielle giffords austin rivers austin rivers ows