Obama telephones thanks to service members abroad (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama has telephoned 10 U.S. service members stationed abroad to wish them a happy Thanksgiving and praise their military service.

Obama made the calls Thursday morning from the Oval Office to two members each from the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marines and Navy who are deployed in support of U.S. operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Obama has made the Thanksgiving calls each year since becoming president.

In a radio address to the nation, the president also asked Americans to remember the men and women in the military who are spending the holiday serving their country overseas.

The first family later Thursday was sitting down for a holiday feast including turkey, ham, cornbread stuffing, oyster stuffing, greens, macaroni and cheese, sweet potatoes, green bean casserole and dinner rolls. Dessert selections included banana cream pie, pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, huckleberry pie and cherry pie.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111124/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_thanksgiving_calls

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Earlier deals, longer hours woo Friday shoppers

Early bird shoppers watch a Harry Potter movie being shown on a giant screen outside the Best Buy store in Mayfield Hts., Ohio while waiting for the doors to open at midnight on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. This weekend, many stores will for the first time use midnight openings along with the usual bevy of deals as they try to lure consumers, whose appetite for good-buys has been increasing since the Great Recession. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

Early bird shoppers watch a Harry Potter movie being shown on a giant screen outside the Best Buy store in Mayfield Hts., Ohio while waiting for the doors to open at midnight on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. This weekend, many stores will for the first time use midnight openings along with the usual bevy of deals as they try to lure consumers, whose appetite for good-buys has been increasing since the Great Recession. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

A customer rides an escalator while shopping in the Toys R Us in Times Square in New York on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. This weekend, many stores will for the first time use midnight openings along with the usual bevy of deals as they try to lure consumers, whose appetite for good-buys has been increasing since the Great Recession. (AP Photo/Andrew Burton)

A customer pays for his purchases inside the Toys R Us in Times Square in New York on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. The Toys R Us opened at 9PM offering special deals for holiday shoppers. (AP Photo/Andrew Burton)

A shopper walks to his car after purchasing a bike at Walmart in Butler Plaza on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011, in Gainesville, Fla. Walmart opened stores on Thursday. (AP Photo/Matt Stamey, The Gainesville Sun)

Early bird shoppers wait in a long line to get into the midnight opening of an Old Navy store in Mayfield Hts., Ohio on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2011. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

Big crowds on Black Friday can be both a blessing and a curse.

Early signs point to bigger crowds at the nation's malls and stores as retailers like Target and Macy's opened their doors at midnight on the most anticipated shopping day of the year and a few others opened on Thanksgiving Day. Shoppers were mostly peaceful across the country, but a few violent incidents broke out as millions of shoppers rushed into stores and tensions flared.

It started on Thanksgiving, when Los Angeles authorities say 20 people at a local Walmart store suffered minor injuries when a woman used pepper spray to gain a "competitive" shopping advantage shortly after the store opened.

Then, early Friday in Fayetteville, N.C., gunfire erupted at Cross Creek Mall and police say they're looking for the two suspects involved. Separately, police say two women have been injured and a man charged after a fight broke out at an upstate New York Walmart. And a central Florida man is behind bars after a fight broke out at a jewelry counter in Walmart in Kissimmee, Fla.

Later Friday morning, a Phoenix television station KSAZ reported that witnesses say police slammed a grandfather in a Walmart in Buckeye, Ariz., to the ground after he allegedly put a game in his waistband so that he could lift his grandson out of the crowd.

The incidents are the result of two converging trends on Black Friday. The crowds continue to get bigger as retailers offer more incentives and longer hours. At the same time, shoppers are competing for a small group of products, instead of years past when there were several hot items from which they could choose.

"The more the people, the more the occurrences," says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst with market research firm The NPD Group.

Indeed, a record number of shoppers are expected to head out to stores across the country this weekend to take advantage of discounts of up to 70 percent. For three days starting on Black Friday, 152 million people are expected shop, up about 10 percent from last year, according to the National Retail Federation.

"I came here for the deals," said Sidiki Traore, 59, from Roosevelt Island, N.Y. who was among about 10,000 people who were standing outside of Macy's store in New York's Herald Square for its midnight opening.

The crowds are good news for retailers, many of which depend on the busy holiday shopping season for up to 40 percent of their annual revenue. To draw in shoppers this year, they pulled out of their bag of tricks. In addition to several retailers opening much earlier than previous years, some began offering to match the prices of competitors and rolling out layaway programs.

Shoppers on Friday, though, say they mostly are being lured into stores by the deals, including discounts of 20 to 60 percent on many items at The Gap and a $400 Asus Transformer 10-inch tablet computer for $249.99 at Best Buy.

After showing up at Best Buy in New York on Wednesday at 3 p.m., Emmanuel Merced, 27, and his brother were the first in line when it opened. On their list was a Sharp 42-inch TV for $199, a PlayStation 3 console with games for $199.99 and wireless headphones for $30. Merced says he likes camping out for Black Friday and he figures he saved 50 percent.

"I like the experience of it," says Merced, who plans to spend $3,000 to $4,000 on gifts this season.

To be sure, not every store was filled to the brim with people looking for deals on Black Friday. With so many major stores opening at midnight, crowds shopped early, staying up late to snag the best deals. That meant there was an unusual lull during the typically bustling pre-dawn hours when stores used to open their doors.

At a Target on Chicago's north side, for instance, crowds were light four hours after the store opened. And door-buster deals, including the typically quick-to-sell out TVs and gaming systems, remained piled up in their boxes. Shoppers pushed carts through mostly empty aisles while thumbing through circulars and employees - some in Santa hats - roamed the store. There was no Christmas music ? or any music ? playing.

Rebecca Carter, a graduate assistant, began Black Friday shopping at 11 p.m. on Thursday night and left Target around 4 a.m. carrying a bag full of pillows. Carter, who prowls Black Friday deals every year, said crowds were noticeably lighter this year as she and a friend picked up a television set ($180 for a 32-inch TV) and a laptop for $198, along with toys and pajamas.

"It's quiet," she says. "There were all these televisions still there. It was shocking."

It was the first year that Melody Snyder, 34 of Vancouver, Wash. had ventured out for Black Friday. She had braced herself for crowds and mayhem when she got to Walmart at 6 a.m. but was pleasantly surprised when she pulled in the parking lot. She found a number of gifts for her three kids but said she did find the store was sold out of a few of the big sale items, including certain Barbies and other toys she'd considered.

"It was a little intimidating," she said. "Then I got here and thought 'Where is everyone?'"

David Bassuk, managing director of retail at AlixPartners, a consultancy, says retailers are going to have to do a lot of discounting during the holiday shopping season to keep customers coming back.

"Consumers have made it clear that they're only going to spend so much money, and the people who are going to get them to open their wallet first are going to win," he says. "This is a consumer who is smart and well informed but also cash-strapped and cautious."

_____

Retail writers Mae Anderson and Anne D'Innocenzio are in New York. Sarah Skidmore in Vancouver, Wash., Christina Rexrode in Cary, N.C., Ashley Heher in Chicago and Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg, Fla., contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-25-Black%20Friday/id-c2d76c8ca9c841e7a229e90d2d19ef34

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Petition created for Fox News host to drink pepper spray (Reuters)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) ? It may be time for Fox News' Megyn Kelly to get a taste of her own medicine.

New Yorker Nick Douglas created an online petition to get Megyn Kelly to "eat or drink a full dose of pepper spray on national television," and it has already attracted more than 15,000 signatures.

Why would anyone want Kelly to do that?

Well, it all started when the anchor made some controversial comments to Bill O'Reilly on Monday's edition of "The O'Reilly Factor." The two Fox hosts were discussing the UC Davis police that pepper-sprayed protesters affiliated with the Occupy movement.

Kelly said that peppery spray is "a food product essentially," sparking a great deal of ire from those who know one thing -- pepper spray is nothing like food.

The incident sent several people to the hospital and caused the school to place Lt. John Pike, another officer and UC Davis police chief Annette Spicuzza on administrative leave.

On the petition's page, Douglas wrote:

Ms. Kelly, on November 21, you told Bill O'Reilly that pepper spray (as used by Lt. John Pike to assault the UC Davis protestors) is "a food product, essentially." That was, of course, ridiculous.

While you allowed that the spray was "abrasive and intrusive", you wondered if it had been diluted (reportedly, it hadn't).

To back up your claim that pepper spray is a food product, please consume as much of it as was sprayed on each protestor's face, in one sitting, on camera at Fox News. You may mix the spray with one serving of food or drink, as I am not a sadist. Then, please relate the effects to your audience.

Think she'll do it?

We're waiting to hear from Fox.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111123/tv_nm/us_foxnews

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Astronomers take a photograph of the youngest supernova right after its explosion

ScienceDaily (Nov. 24, 2011) ? Astronomers have obtained a never-before achieved radio astronomical photograph of the youngest supernova. Fourteen days after the explosion of a star in the galaxy Gal?xia del Remol? (M51) last June, coordinated telescopes around Europe have taken a photograph of the cosmic explosion in great detail -- equivalent to seeing a golf ball on the surface of the moon.

The University of Valencia and the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia took part in this research. The results will be published this week in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics. The telescopes participating in the research were NASA's telescopes at Robledo de Chavela (Madrid) and those of the National Geographic Institute in Yebes (Guadalajara).

Barely at 23 million light years from Earth, in the constellation of Llebrers, Gal?xia El Remol? can be the scene of one of the most violent phenomena in the universe, despite its beautiful appearance: the death of a star in the shape of a supernova explosion. Several combined telescopes spread over Spain, Sweden, Germay and Finland, and the data processing by means of a supercomputer in The Netherlands, enable to have the capacity of a telescope measuring thousands of kilometres. Thus, a really clear image has been obtained, with a detail a hundred times greater than that of the space telescope Hubble. This technique, known as radio interferometry, has allowed Iv?n Mart? and his team to take a photograph of the supernovova SN2011dh just some days after its explosion.

This experiment is beating a record: 'this is the earliest high resolution image of a supernova explosion. From this photograph, we can define the expansion velocity of the shock wave created in the explosion', states Iv?n Mart? from the Institut Max Planck of Radio Astronomy in Bonn (Germany). The full professor in Astronomy and Astrophysics from the University of Valencia, Jon Marcaid, argues that 'with this precision, we can look for the previous star on the earlier galaxy photographs, as well as weigh up better our future observations.'

Supernovas are one of the most spectacular phenomena in the universe. Antxon Alberdi, from the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia states that 'if we are lucky, like we were this time, we can obtain really clear and high resolution images of the supernovas, thanks to the VLBI technique (Very Long Baseline Interferometry).'

The international team that achieved this photograph is already working on new observations. The European VLBI network is a collaboration of radio astronomy institutes around Europe, China and South Africa, and sponsored by the respective national research bodies.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Asociaci?n RUVID, via AlphaGalileo.

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


Journal Reference:

  1. I. Mart?-Vidal, V. Tudose, Z. Paragi, J. Yang, J. M. Marcaide, J. C. Guirado, E. Ros, A. Alberdi, M. A. P?rez-Torres, M. K. Argo, A. J. van der Horst, M. A. Garrett, C. J. Stockdale, K. W. Weiler. VLBI observations of SN?2011dh: imaging of the youngest radio supernova. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 2011; 535: L10 DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/201118195

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111124150353.htm

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Lady Gaga?s Marry The Night (VIDEO): Thanksgiving Special

Lady Gaga?s Marry The Night aired this evening on ABC, giving the pop star a chance to show her softer side. You can see a few clips from the show here, and get the background story as well. When I think of the holidays, Lady Gaga doesn?t exactly pop into my mind. I love her, she is amazing, and her first record was one of the best pop albums in history. But with all of her meat wearing, outrageous fashion, and huge political statements, she doesn?t really fit into my version of a holiday television special. Somehow she was able to pull it off tonight after all. The special included a performance of her new single, and an in depth interview with Katie Couric. Get the full story over at Celebuzz. The girl who supposedly hooked-up with Ashton Kutcher while he was still married is calling her self a ?bump in the road? ? Have U Heard. Hilary Duff?s baby bump is growing by the minute! See some pictures over at ? Celebrity Baby Laundry. The divorce settlement for the Hulkster is unreal. Linda REALLY made out ? Celebrity Dirty Laundry. Want to know what it is like to be [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RightCelebrity/~3/yJox8VFMCHc/

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Rihanna's Talk That Talk: The Reviews Are In!

Critics call RiRi's sixth album 'often great' and 'relentlessly catchy.'
By John Mitchell


Rihanna
Photo: David Becker/Getty Images

Rihanna's much-anticipated Talk That Talk hit stores Monday on a wave of near-universal praise from critics. The album, which can already claim the #1 song in the country, "We Found Love" featuring Calvin Harris, is earning the Barbadian pop superstar the best reviews of her commercially massive career.

MTV News' James Montgomery already declared Talk That Talk "not only the best effort of her career, but arguably the best pop album of 2011," an assessment echoed by the New York Times, People, Rolling Stone and SPIN.

"The best songs on this lively and often great album sound synth-perfect for that time [the early 1990s]. 'We Found Love' almost criminally recalls the swinging Crystal Waters singles, with triumphant percussion somewhere between church and seventh-inning stretch," the Times writes. " 'Where Have You Been' is even better, with hard, chilly synths, snares from the poppier side of house music, and Rihanna moving in and out of a curled Siouxsie Sioux tone."

In a three-and-a-half -star review (out of four), People calls Talk That Talk "one of 2011's best pop-diva statements," while Spin awards the set an 8 out of 10, complimenting the "occasionally perfect pop" songs on the record and noting the set is easily Rihanna's most cohesive to date.

Rolling Stone also notes that Talk is far more than a collection of singles. "Rihanna's sixth album is her tightest, most assured yet — a relentlessly catchy and danceable pop album, with first-rate contributions from top songwriter-producers," the magazine writes.

Many critics also seem pleased that the pop star is moving away from the darker, brooding material that marked her last two records, Rated R and Loud. Those albums appeared to be heavily influenced by her troubled relationship with Chris Brown, and, as noted in Entertainment Weekly's B-plus review, often "equated falling for someone with feeling tortured."

On Talk, RiRi instead approaches the topics of love and sex — the album's principal themes — with a less-heavy hand, even admitting on "Roc Me Out": "I'll let you in on a dirty secret/ I just want to be loved."

While the album is mostly earning raves, Pitchfork had a few complaints — mostly that the brief set (the 11-track album clocks in at a mere 38 minutes) never fully realizes its potential.

In its summation of the album, Billboard calls Talk "a fleshed-out statement that captures Rihanna's relentless drive and will likely keep her on top. This album's not a victory lap; it's a whole new race."

Whether the mostly stellar reviews will translate into strong sales for Rihanna, who set a Billboard chart record by racking up 20 Top-10 singles faster than any solo artist, with "We Found Love," remains to be seen.

Share your review of Talk That Talk in the comments below!

Related Artists

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1674902/rihanna-talk-that-talk-reviews.jhtml

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Illinois water plant not hacked by foreigners: US

Federal investigators have concluded that a burned out pump at an Illinois water treatment facility was not caused by foreign hacking, the Department of Homeland Security said Tuesday.

DHS and the FBI were working with the Curran-Gardner Public Water District in Springfield, Illinois, to try to determine why the pump burned out earlier this month.

"DHS and FBI have concluded that there was no malicious traffic from Russia or any foreign entities, as previously reported," DHS spokesman Chris Ortman said in an emailed statement.

"My understanding is that the company had some pretty good logs (of traffic in its system) and our people got access to those logs," said a DHS cybersecurity official who spoke privately because he was not authorized to give interviews on the matter. "There are many reasons for a motor or pump to burn out."

Ortman said that there was no evidence that any credentials had been stolen.

The Illinois Statewide Terrorism and Intelligence Center, in a report that had been leaked to reporters last week, had said that hackers entered the network using credentials stolen from a company that makes software used to control industrial systems.

The Terrorism and Intelligence Center was not immediately available for comment on the Department's finding.

Cybersecurity experts have warned for years that portions of the U.S. critical infrastructure ? particularly water and electrical plants ? have only rudimentary defenses against hackers, in particular the all-important Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems which operate the plants.

U.S. investigators are also looking into claims that a hacker broke into computers that run a Texas water system.

Shauna Dunlap, a special agent with the FBI's Houston Division, said on Tuesday that her agency was investigating the matter with assistance the Department of Homeland Security and the utility run by the city, which has a population of 17,000.

A hacker who goes by the handle "pr0f" had published schematic diagrams that appeared to be of facilities from the South Houston water system on a website known as Pastebin.com sometime on Friday.

Stewart Baker, a cyber expert and DHS veteran, said that one serious and obvious security problem was that water companies tended to leave default user names and passwords in place when they bought software just because it was easier.

"Their nightmare is 'We're locked out by our own security,"' said Baker, now with the law firm Steptoe and Johnson LLP. "Operational demands trump security."

Additional reporting by Jim Finkle in Boston.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45409799/ns/technology_and_science-security/

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Regeneration after a stroke requires intact communication channels between brain hemispheres

Regeneration after a stroke requires intact communication channels between brain hemispheres

Monday, November 21, 2011

The structure of the corpus callosum, a thick band of nerve fibres that connects the two halves of the brain with each other and in this way enables the rapid exchange of information between the left and right hemispheres, plays an important role in the regaining of motor skills following a stroke. A study currently published in the journal Human Brain Mapping has shown that in stroke patients with particularly severely impaired hand movement, this communication channel between the two brain hemispheres in particular was badly damaged.

In order to relate brain function and anatomical structure with each other, in this study the scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research and the Department of Neurology at the University Hospital of Cologne combined two imaging methods. They asked stroke patients to make a simple tapping movement using the hand affected by the stroke and recorded their brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging. The data obtained in this way were then compared with data from healthy subjects. As expected from previous test results, compared with the control group, the stroke patients recorded a lower tapping speed and increased brain activity on both sides of the brain. "The increased activity in the healthy brain hemisphere, in particular, points to the impaired processing of motor programs between the two brain hemispheres," explains Christian Grefkes, head of the research study.

In order to demonstrate the structural connection between brain areas, the Cologne researchers used diffusion-based magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI), which can be used to reconstruct longer stretches of nerve fibres. dMRI is based on the principle that cell elements, such as the membrane or extensions, inhibit the spread of water molecules thereby preventing them from diffusing randomly in all directions. Consequently, parallel nerve fibres can be clearly identified using dMRI. Compared to the healthy control group, the stroke patients had lower diffusion values in the corpus callosum region. This would indicate that this interhemispheric communications connection was damaged by the stroke. The most significant deviations from the values of the control group were observed in patients with more severe motor defects and increased activity in the healthy brain hemisphere.

Therefore, in addition to cell death in the actual stroke area, damage to a very distant connection structure plays a crucial role in the inability of stroke patients to fully regain their original motor capacities. "This is why, we are currently examining whether we can regenerate the communication between the brain hemispheres through early and regular stimulation treatment. Our long-term aim is to improve motor deficits in stroke patients," says Grefkes.

###

Max-Planck-Gesellschaft: http://www.mpg.de

Thanks to Max-Planck-Gesellschaft for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115362/Regeneration_after_a_stroke_requires_intact_communication_channels_between_brain_hemispheres

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Majority of ex-rebels in Nepal seek to join army (AP)

SHAKTIKHOR, Nepal ? For a decade, Maoist rebel fighters waged brutal warfare against Nepal's army. Five years after the end of the war, thousands of former insurgents are now joining that very army.

Government monitors have been interviewing 19,000 ex-fighters in camps to ascertain who wants to join the military and who prefers to take a rehabilitation package of up to 900,000 rupees ($11,500) in cash.

That's enough to buy a small farm or shop, or sustain a family for a few years in rural Nepal.

Still, two-thirds of the former members of the "People's Liberation Army" interviewed by government-assigned monitors in recent days said they favored taking a secure job and joining up with their former enemies in the national army.

"We have forgotten the bitterness we had against the army and now are ready to work together," said Santu Darai, the head of the 7th Division of the Maoist force. "But they should respect us and treat us as equals."

Darai said the integration should not be too problematic because both the former rebel force and the Nepal Army consider their main goal to be defending the country and its people.

Under the agreement reached earlier this month between Nepal's major political parties, the ex-fighters would be part of a new division under the command of the Nepal Army commander and used mainly for noncombat duties like construction and emergency response.

Integrating former insurgents into national armies is seen as an important tool for ensuring trained ex-combatants have stable jobs and a stake in keeping the peace of the nation. South Africa staved off further conflict when it integrated former anti-apartheid fighters into the military in the 1990s.

Nepal's former rebels would still have to go through the normal recruitment tests and health checks before they can join. The army says it is working to accommodate the new additions.

"We can't and won't hold any prejudice against them. We have to move forward and instead of having any negative attitude we have to be optimistic," said army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ramindra Chhetri.

"The main thing is peace. The rest are minor things that we can overcome," he said.

Dil Bahadur Magar, 28, who fought for the Maoists, said he sees his future only in the army.

"Being part of the security force is what I know how to do and what I plan to do in the future," said Magar, who was interviewed at the Shaktikhor camp in the southern Nepal district of Chitwan.

Once enlisted, they would receive an annual salary of about $2,400, plus food, housing and other benefits.

A few who were not opting for the army said they would take a lump sum, return home and open up small business or work on ancestral farms.

Anita Chaudhury, who was with her 1-year-old child, said she planned to resume working on a village farm.

"I have already fought several wars and now they want us to go through recruitment tests. It is like a high school student having to go through kindergarten," Chaudhury said.

The Maoists fought government troops in a bloody, 10-year revolt to demand political reforms and end Nepal's centuries-old monarchy. More than 13,000 people were killed in the fighting.

The Maoists joined a peace process in 2006 under an agreement stipulating that the insurgents be integrated into the army, and that in the interim they would be confined in U.N. monitored camps, with their weapons locked up.

Maoists won the most seats ? though not an outright majority ? in 2008 elections. But political disputes stymied efforts to integrate the insurgents into the military. The Maoists wanted all 19,000 fighters to be inducted into the army, while military leaders and other political parties resisted.

Tensions have eased in the five years since the end of the fighting, and earlier this month, the sides finally reached agreement to induct 6,500 ex-fighters into the 93,000-strong army and to give cash and retraining to the others.

It was still not clear what would happen if more than 6,500 opt for the army and pass the recruitment tests.

Balananda Sharma, chief of the monitors conducting the interviews, said the process was expected to be completed next week.

Former insurgent Bikash Shahi, 28, said he was confident he would pass the tests for recruitment.

"My future is with the army. I plan to move forward in life with the army," he said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111124/ap_on_re_as/as_nepal_former_rebels

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