Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/279534381?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Sunday, January 27, 2013
Taylor Swift ends rumours of reunion with Harry Styles: 'Once a ...
Yeah, we kind of got that from We Are Never Getting Back Together.
Taylor Swift has managed to do extinguish (some of) the millions and zillions of rumours that have come about after she and Harry Styles called it a day on their short and oh so sweet/mental romance.
Chatting on Spanish TV show El Hormiguero, TayTay spoke about the crazy amount of attention that her relationships seem to accumulate in the media, and alluded to the bunny boiler girlfriend image thats been slapped on her recently.
?People say that I?m buying houses all the time that I?m not buying. It?s like every time the press thinks I like a guy, they say I am buying a house next to them.?
Oh. Well, yep, that was definitely a rumour about her and Harry. So we can cross that one off at least. *pulls out official Haylor notepad*
She went on to say that, ?I think once a relationship is done, it?s done. You can?t do that back and forth thing. It?s the most exhausting process?.
It?s not nearly as exhausting as trying to follow who you?re going out with Swifty. We?re wondering whether this is her genuinely calling quits on the relationship, or if it?s BITTER RETALIATION, after Harry apparently refused to meet up with her whilst she was in London recently.
?Taylor was desperate to meet up with Harry in London, but he totally ignored her,? a source told RadarOnline. ?He told her he had too much going on, even though she purposely arranged to stay at a hotel that wasn?t too far away from his home.?
Oooh-err, sounds like a major awkward sitch. The pair are both in Cannes at the moment for the NRJ Awards, so we are not moving from our computer screens until we find out what in LIAM PAYNE?S NAME is ACTUALLY going on with these two.
Hrumph.
What do you make of Taylor?s comments on her lovelife?
Harry Styles tells Liam Payne to 'be more romantic' with Danielle Peazer
Taylor Swift writes 5 songs about Harry Styles break up?
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Saturday, January 26, 2013
Venezuela's Chavez overcomes infection, still having treatment
SANTIAGO/CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has overcome a respiratory infection, but is still being treated for breathing problems after cancer surgery in Cuba last month, a government minister said on Saturday.
Official statements have sounded upbeat about the socialist president's condition in recent weeks, following rumors he was gravely ill in a hospital in Havana and might be unable to keep governing after being re-elected in October to a third term.
"(Chavez) has overcome the respiratory infection, although he still has a certain degree of respiratory insufficiency," Information Minister Ernesto Villegas told reporters in Chile, where Latin American and European leaders are meeting.
"Vice President (Nicolas) Maduro has estimated that Chavez could come back in weeks, but we haven't wanted to put a time frame on the president's recovery," Villegas added.
Earlier on Saturday, Maduro said Chavez, 58, was in his "best moment" since his operation 45 days ago.
"What we can share with you is that the commander is in his best moment that we have seen in all of these days of struggle," Maduro said in televised comments before dawn on Saturday, after returning from Cuba to meet with the president.
Chavez has not been seen in public since undergoing his fourth and most complex surgery to treat an illness that might jeopardize the future of his self-styled revolution.
He has never said exactly what type of cancer he has, only that the initial tumor found in mid-2011 was in his pelvic area and was the size of a baseball.
In contrast to Chavez's previous visits to Havana for treatment, officials have not published any evidence of his condition. In 2011, with great fanfare, they broadcast videos of him reading a newspaper, walking in a garden and chatting with his daughter.
In the absence of such proof this time, many Venezuelans are questioning the terse official bulletins that provide few details about his condition or treatment.
ECONOMIC POLICY
Maduro said earlier on Saturday that Chavez had ordered a series of economic decisions that would help boost Venezuelan exports, comments that came amid speculation the government was preparing a devaluation of the bolivar currency.
"He gave a series of orders that the economic team will share in the coming hours with the people of Venezuela, which are focused on building Venezuela's export capacity," he said.
He did not elaborate.
A Finance Ministry source who asked not to be identified said on Saturday the ministry was not planning on making any announcements right now.
Devaluation would make exports more competitive by lowering local production costs and spur domestic industries by making imports less competitive with locally produced goods.
It would also improve state finances by providing more bolivars per dollar of oil exports, following heavy spending in 2012 on homes for the poor and pensions for the elderly that helped Chavez win re-election.
But it would also push up consumer prices in a country that already has one of the highest inflation rates in the region.
A lack of dollars in recent weeks has left many businesses struggling to import the products they need. Some goods such as wheat flour and sugar have disappeared from supermarket shelves, partly because of import bottlenecks.
Business leaders insist a devaluation would help address the problem.
(Additional reporting by Antonio De La Jara and Alexandra Ulmer in Santiago, and Eyanir Chinea in Caracas; Editing by Helen Popper and Peter Cooney)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelas-chavez-overcomes-infection-still-having-treatment-000252021.html
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Friday, January 25, 2013
North Korea will target 'sworn enemy' U.S. with nuke test
In a bellicose statement singling out the United States as the "sworn enemy" of the Korean people, North Korea today announced plans for a third nuclear test and continued rocket launches.
The move is seen as a disappointment to those who hoped the country's new leader, Kim Jong-Un, might take a less aggressive path than his predecessor and father, Kim Jong-il.
It is also seen as a direct challenge to President Obama and South Korea's newly elected president, Park Geun-hye, who takes office next month.
The statement from North Korea's National Defense Commission read:
"Settling accounts with the U.S. needs to be done with force, not with words as it regards jungle law as the rule of its survival."
The renewed threats come in response to the U.S. backed resolution tightening sanctions against North Korea after its December rocket launch.
At that time, North Korea repeatedly insisted that the launch was simply part of its peaceful space program. The recent statement made no mention of that.
It read: "We are not disguising the fact that the various satellites and long-range rockets that we will fire and the high-level nuclear test we will carry out are targeted at the United States."
South Korean officials analyzed debris from the December launch that, they say, indicates North Korea built and tested crucial components for a missile that can fly further than 6,200 miles.
Analysts say that preparations at the Pungyee test site in northeastern North Korea are underway and that a new underground test could take place on short notice.
Within the international monitoring community it is not believed that North Korea currently has the capability to launch a long-range rocket with the capacity to reach the United States or the technology to mount a nuclear warhead on a long-range missile. But the U.S. is not pleased with North Korea's plans. Glyn Davies, the top U.S. envoy to the region, said in Seoul, "We hope they don't do it. We call on them not to do it."
China, North Korea's main ally in the region, is also urging restraint. China backed the U.S. resolution at the United Nations and today the Foreign Ministry cautioned North Korea not to take further steps to increase tension.
Also ReadSource: http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-says-nuke-tests-target-us-113344932--abc-news-topstories.html
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Pentagon lifts ban on women in combat
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon on Thursday lifted a longtime ban on women serving in front-line combat positions, taking a historic step toward gender equality in the U.S. military after 11 years of war in which women were increasingly present on the battlefield.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, signed an order at a Pentagon news conference rescinding the rule that prevented women from serving in direct combat jobs.
"They serve, they're wounded, and they die right next to each other. The time has come to recognize that reality," Panetta said, noting that 152 women in uniform had been killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Over more than a decade of war, they have demonstrated courage and skill and patriotism," he said.
The move topples another social barrier in the U.S. armed forces, two years after the Pentagon scrapped its "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military.
The decision to open up the additional jobs to women came as Panetta prepares to leave the Pentagon after about 18 months in office. Senate confirmation hearings for former Senator Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama's nominee to succeed Panetta, are scheduled for next week.
Obama expressed strong support for the new policy, as did civilian and military leaders from the different services.
"Today every American can be proud that our military will grow even stronger with our mothers, wives, sisters and daughters playing a greater role in protecting this country we love," Obama said, calling the decision a "historic step."
Major Mary Hegar, a helicopter pilot with the California Air National Guard who joined an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit to open combat jobs to women, said the decision was "a huge leap forward." But with each of the services deciding how to implement the changes, "there are going to be roadblocks in the future," she said.
Some officials and organizations voiced caution. Senator Jim Inhofe, incoming top Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was "concerned about the potential impacts" of the new policy and suspected in some cases Congress might have to intervene to "stop any changes we believe to be detrimental to our fighting forces and their capabilities."
The decision to lift the ban came with important caveats, and sweeping change will not happen overnight for women, nearly 300,000 of whom have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001.
The move could open some 237,000 positions to women and expand opportunities for career advancement. But acceptance into the newly opened jobs is not assured and will be based on gender-neutral performance standards.
"Let me be clear. We are not talking about reducing the qualifications for the job," Panetta said. "If they can meet the qualifications for the job, then they should have the right to serve regardless of creed or color or gender or sexual orientation."
"There are no guarantees of success," he added. "Not everyone is going to be able to be a combat soldier. But everyone is entitled to a chance."
'OPEN EVERYTHING'
A senior defense official said Panetta's goal "is to open everything" to women. Service chiefs will have to ask for exceptions if they want to keep some positions closed, and any exception would have to be approved by the defense secretary.
Most service jobs are already open to women. The Army, for example, has 497 occupational specialties and all but 20, about 96 percent, are currently open to women, Army officials said.
The Army specialties currently closed to women represent a large number of jobs - about 120,000 - so only about 75 percent of Army jobs are open to women, they said.
The Pentagon last year opened 14,000 jobs to women by enabling them to take positions as medics, intelligence officers and military police at the battalion level, which previously was considered too close to combat. But they continued to be barred from infantry, armored and special operations units whose main function was to engage in front-line combat.
Based on the experience of opening up new positions to women over the past year, the officials said they did not expect a large number of women would seek front-line combat jobs.
"But there are women that want to do this, and I think they should have the chance," said General Robert Cone, the head of Army training and doctrine.
Panetta made the decision to lift the ban after the Joint Chiefs of Staff concluded it was time to integrate women "to the maximum extent possible," according to a statement.
Gender-neutral performance standards will be developed for all the new jobs opening to women, officials said. But whether that means the physical requirements become more or less rigorous remains to be seen, they added, cautioning that they would depend on the actual demands of the position.
An example of a physically demanding job that may be out of reach of women without significant upper body strength could be in front-line tanks, where soldiers need to lift and load heavy ammunition in confined spaces using mainly their arms.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the new policy would take effect gradually. The service chiefs have until May 15 to offer plans to implement the new policy by January 1, 2016.
"The secretary understands with a change of this magnitude it does take some time," the official said.
For many women service members, the move is belated acknowledgement of the realities of the past decade of war, in which there were often no clearly defined front lines. Of those who served, 152 have been killed, including 84 in hostile action, and nearly 1,000 have been wounded.
The 36-year-old Hegar, who was awarded the Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross for action in Afghanistan, said she viewed the debate over women in combat as being out of sync with reality. The issue is job equality, she said.
"Women are in combat. Thousands of women are in combat," Hegar said. "It's about giving them the correct job title. (If)you have a woman shoulder to shoulder with someone, doing the same exact job, and her job title is different because legally she can't be engaging in ground combat, who do you think is going to get promoted faster?"
Women serve in combat roles for the armed forces of a few developed nations, including Canada and Israel, but officials say demand from women for such jobs in NATO nations is very low. In 2010, Britain decided after a review that it would not change rules excluding women from infantry or combat teams.
The United States is drawing down its some 66,000 remaining forces from Afghanistan through the end of 2014, when only a small residual force is expected to remain. It is possible that some women may see themselves in new combat roles before that withdrawal is complete.
"I don't think we can exclude that possibility," one senior defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
(Additional reporting by Eric Johnson; Editing by Peter Cooney)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pentagon-lifts-ban-women-combat-004114477.html
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Pet-Crazy Vermont Is Going To The Cats | The Vermont Standard
Local Barnard cats Tilly and BB. (Pattie Webster Photo)
By Virginia Dean,?Special To The Standard
Gato (Sp.), katze (Ger.), chat (Fr.), miu (Egyptian), chatool (Heb.), puccha (Sanskrit), kots (Russian), cath (Welsh) ? no matter what they?re called in what part of the world, cats have had a long, symbiotic relationship with humans ? 8,000 years, in fact, according to some historians.
Today, in the 21st century, Vermont leads this country in cat ownership with almost 50 percent of households owning at least one, according to recent research by the American Veterinary Medical Association.
?I?m not surprised at all,? said Dr. Lynn Martin, veterinarian at the Country Animal Hospital in Bethel. ?When I?m at veterinary conferences, cats are taking over dogs as being the most numerous pets because people are more mobile, live in apartments and find that cats are easier to take care of.? You can travel with them or leave them behind with someone like a neighbor coming in to take care of them.?
The 2012 statistics are based on the U.S. Pet Ownership and Demographics Sourcebook which recently revealed that Vermont also ranks first for pet ownership with 71 percent of households owning a pet.? Seven years ago, the last time the AVMA published the Sourcebook, Vermont also ranked first with 75 percent of households owning a pet. (Click here to see photos of local cats.)
?America has discovered the cat,? said Martin who has two marmalade cats of her own.? ?They?re captivating Americans. Everybody at our vet conferences is remarking on this phenomenon.?
At Gillingham?s, for example, local patrons should not surprised to see a tiger feline sitting on the counter or wandering through the aisles as they are making their selections or checking out.
?We have two female tigers that were rescued from Hurricane Katrina,? said Cindy Sands, mail order manager and store buyer. ?They were feral, brought to Vermont and fostered, and then we adopted them. They were small kittens when they came to us.?
?Ava is our brown tiger and entertains people,? Sands said.
Prior to the store?s current cats were siblings Henry and Frannie, Sands said. Henry was 16 when he died in October 1997.? Frannie died in 2001. Their ashes are in a box and are still contained in the store, Sands said.
?The cats are here because we wanted to replace Henry and Frannie,? Sands said.? ?We had so many people coming in looking for them that we decided to get more.?
The current rate of cat adoption at the Lucy MacKenzie Human Society in Windsor leads Animal Care Technician Danielle Buffa to be unruffled with the recent statistics reflecting feline popularity in this state.
?It doesn?t surprise me,? said Buffa.? ?We?ve had a lot of adoptions here lately, especially older cats.? Dogs are high maintenance and have a lot of energy whereas cats are quieter and more mellow.? Their personalities are already set which is great particularly for elderly individuals.? The current trend is awesome.? I?m so happy to see them going to good homes.?
At the Upper Valley Humane Society in Enfield, N.H., Executive Director Deborah Turcott related that, with what she calls ?the conscientious nature of Vermont residents.?
?Compared to dogs, cats are more independent both from a care and personality perspective,? Turcott said.
Turcott said that, similar to Lucy MacKenzie, the UVHS has scheduled more adoptions within the last couple of years.
?We see more and more people who, because of lifestyle and circumstances, will look for a cat,? Turcott said. ?In fact, overall, we have seen an increase in 2011 from 397 to in 2012, 581 adoptions, with cats representing 65-75 percent in a given month.?
Aside from the ease with which cats can be cared for and their adaptability to small or even commercial living spaces, local Vermonters simply enjoy their independence and mystique.
?They?re personable yet aloof at the same time,? said Barnard resident Jean Robert Ashley who owns two Maine coon cats. ?They talk to you, they have quick responses.? Having them is easy and convenient, and they require low maintenance.? They?re so loveable and precious.?
Meg Carlton, owner of Tiger Tail Lodge LLC in Enfield, N.H., agreed.
?They have their own sense of self,? said Carlton who has a clientele of more than 200 individuals who use her facility for boarding.?? ?Dogs often are in constant need of attention and when people are gone all day, they feel guilty.? You don?t experience that with cats.? They can take care of themselves.?
Perhaps the quintessential example of this self-sufficiency is reflected in the barn cat, a hearty breed that by its very nature feeds off the structure?s inherent vermin and remains liberated from the conventional domestic and often indoor member of its own species.
?We have four of them,? said stable hand and veterinary technician Anne Marie at the Kedron Valley Stables in South Woodstock. ?We have a huge hayloft that they climb up and down and sleep in.? They definitely keep the rodent population down, maybe not 100 percent, but we don?t see the numbers of mice and rats that we would if they weren?t there.?
Cody Palmer of the Doton Farm in Barnard said their barn cats follow a daily routine as a result of her introducing her two female domestic short hairs to the barn when they were only a few weeks old.
?They?re good mousers and ratters,? Palmer said.? ?As soon as they hear the milk machines go off and we stop milking, they?ll come running.?
Palmer, similar to many others, grew up with cats and so has another young feline in her own house who tends to be on the impish and comical side.
?She?s strictly a house cat,? Palmer said.? ?She snuggles with me in my bed, waits at the door and is there when I get home from work.? She follows me around and even plays with our dog.? At times, she even acts like a dog.? She?ll get up on the table ? even though she?s not supposed to ? and will even go into the shower to explore after I get out.?
Barnard Town Constable Wes Hennig also comes from a long heritage of living with the furry felines.
?I?ve always had a cat since I was a little kid,? said Hennig who has a shy, long-haired stub tail female cat.? ?They?re great creatures.? They?re smart and a lot of fun to watch.? Sometimes they do some crazy stuff.? You don?t have to take care of them as you would a dog but you do worry about them as much.?
Brenda Garsh, also of Barnard, concurred.
?If we go somewhere, we just need someone to come in,? said Garsh who owns a 9-year-old cat that one day suddenly appeared around her house and eventually was taken in by Garsh and her family.? ?They?re extremely independent.?
Aside from being easy to look after, transport and contain, cats are also inexpensive to feed, according to Cathy Peters, veterinarian technician and co-owner of Runamuck LLC in Woodstock who owns four Siamese, the youngest being a year-and-a-half and the oldest, 12 years.
?I love them because they?re like dogs,? Peters laughed.? ?They talk a lot and at times can be kind of naughty.? They stay like kittens longer, too.? When I?m downstairs cooking or doing chores, I can hear them zooming back and forth upstairs having fun.?
Another reason cats might be so popular, Peters added, is because of their longevity.
?Indoor cats usually live a nice long life which I speculate is another reason why people love having them,? said Peters.? ?They?re friendly and don?t require a lot of maintenance.?
Part of the reason for their long life, aside from living indoors instead of outside, Martin explained, is due to their upsurge in popularity over the last couple of decades.
?As cats have risen in status, so have the research dollars,? Martin said.? ?There is more money available for vaccinations, medical issues, and treating diseases as well as basic nutrition.? The whole industry that supports pet products is seeing that there is money to be made which, in turn, only benefits the cat.?
Source: http://www.thevermontstandard.com/2013/01/pet-crazy-vermont-is-going-to-the-cats/
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Thursday, January 24, 2013
Find a Publisher for Your Nonfiction Book (Part 8) | Christian Writers ...
Without the marketing director?s support, your book will likely be rejected. Here are five key areas the marketing director focuses on when your proposal goes before the publishing committee:
Concept
? fresh, clear, and compelling
? distinctive from similar books
To satisfy this need, craft your title and book description to clearly communicate:
? the need your book addresses
? how it meets that need
? the promise it makes to the reader
Biography
The marketing director wants to know who you are. Share your:
? experience
? degrees
? titles
? awards
? anything else that makes you the right person to write this book
Platform
To get your book published, you must have built a significant relationship to your audience, the people already paying attention to you.
Your platform includes where you regularly speak and where you are being published: online and in print. When you write or speak, who reads and listens?
Platforms come in all sizes. Generally, the larger the publishing house, the larger the platform the marketing director wants to see.
Marketing Strategy
Aside from the marketing opportunities the publishing house will create, the marketing director wants to know what you plan to do to market your own book.
This is not about what you are willing to do if the publishing house creates the opportunity, but what you will initiate and accomplish, things like:
? writing magazine articles
? setting up speaking engagements
? seeking specific endorsements
? using existing networks to get out the word about your book
Competition
Finally, the marketing director wants not only a list of current books that most closely compete with yours, but also a description of what sets yours apart.
Kevin Scott is acquisitions editor at Wesleyan Publishing House, where he coaches first-time and experienced authors through the acquisitions and editorial process. Kevin also writes essays about sustainable Christianity at www.kevinscottwrites.com.
Source: https://www.christianwritersguild.com/blog/find-a-publisher-for-your-nonfiction-book-part-8/
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