Mansion featured on 'Real Housewives' burns

By Samantha Tata, NBCLosAngeles.com

The Beverly Hills mansion that caught fire Friday evening, injuring a responding firefighter, was under major renovation after having been sold recently?by "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" star Laura Vanderpump, sources told NBC4 News.

Vanderpump and Ken Todd sold the home for nearly $20 million last year, sources told NBC4 News. It is the location where her daughter was married, and the home can be seen in the opening credits and titles of the Bravo! show.

"I feel sorry for the new owners. I mean, they paid a lot of money for it, let?s be honest, and now I don?t know. What is it, three years under construction? I mean, it?s a nightmare," Vanderpump said.

See the original report at NBCLosAngeles.com

About 120 firefighters put out the blaze that ripped through the mansion, fire officials said.

One of the firefighters was injured when?part of the ceiling collapsed on his head, officials said. He was transported to the hospital with minor injuries, officials said.

"Possessions, houses, they can be replaced, you know, my heart goes out to the firefighter that was injured," Vanderpump said, adding that she chose not to watch the footage of the fire.

Click here to see photos of the blaze

The blaze in the 100 block of Beverly Park Way (map)?was reported at about 6:30 p.m. and was reported knocked down shortly before 8 p.m., said Erik Scott with the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Within minutes of issuing a media alert, fire officials?reported they had?requested additional units to respond to the blaze, which had fire and smoke billowing from at least three sections in the home?s roof.

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Source: http://entertainment.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/06/30/12500848-mansion-featured-on-real-housewives-burns-in-beverly-hills?lite

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Journey To The Hait

The year is 1972. A returning soldier and four of his friends travel the U.S. searching for his one true love.

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

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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "Journey To The Hait"

You may edit this first post as you see fit.

This body holding me
Reminds me of my own mortality
Embrace this moment; remember:
We are eternal...all this pain is an illusion.
~Tool - Parabola

Pomgran

Member for 0 years

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May I reserve the girlfriend Sarah, I can have a character up withing the next hour!

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"She snubbed me!" Charlotte Church met Britney and it didn't go well

Step aside, The Wanted: Char Church has her own Britney story and it's not nice. Also, she once got so drunk she annoyed Michael Douglas. We've missed you, Charlotte ...

Charlotte on Graham Norton: black tights, white skirt ... no comment.

PA

Charlotte Church is on the Graham Norton show tonight, and she's just spilling over with celebrity stories.

Tonight, she reveals that she met Britney Spears, when she (Charlotte, not Britney) was just 15 and in LA - and she was gutted that the meeting was er, brief to say the least.

?I was at a party and Britney was there. Her PA came up to me and said, ?Britney is a massive fan and would really like to meet you,? and I was, ?OK, not a problem,?" Charlotte says.

"And I went over and Britney just kind of turned and said, ?Hi? then turned away and carried on.? The woman ushered me away and said, ?That was so amazing for Britney, she just loved you.??

It looks like a really serious discussion is going on here. It's not.

PA

Maybe she's shy? Or er, not. Maybe The Wanted were right when they said she needed "more personality" .???????????

Char, who's on the show to promote her new music, also told Graham, and guest Danny DeVito (obviously) she once got really tipsy with fellow Welshie Catherine Zeta Jones at a golf tournament, she annoyed Catherine's husband Michael Douglas.

??I met both of them at a celebrity golf tournament and me and Catherine started drinking and got reasonably merry and she was awesome," Charlotte says.

"We were singing and having a great time and Michael was really pissed off because he took his golf really seriously and the American team lost.?

"He was fuming and went to bed early and he wasn?t having any of it. He may have been a little bit angry at me I might imagine.?

Oh Charlotte, we've all been there. Only instead of Catherine Zeta Jones, it's our mate Sarah. And instead of Michael Douglas being annoyed, it's our neighbours.

This is probably the face Char did at Britney, all those years ago ...

PA

Finally, in Charlotte's waterfall of revelations, she told Graham that she really wants to get an Egyptian tattoo.

"I?ve wanted one forever," she says. "I?m really obsessed with ancient Egypt so wanted a Ankh symbol, but it?s really popular and a lot of people have it so perhaps it will be something else."

Are we the only ones who are a bit surprised that she doesn't already have one? Surely all celebs have tattoos?

If you want to hear all that, and more, in her lovely Welsh accent, The Graham Norton Show is on BBC One and BBC One HD tonight at 10.35pm.

As well as Danny DeVito, comedian Rhod Gilbert is there, and the band Fun. will be singing. How er, fun.

Look at her, snubbing that bald man on the left. Rude.

WIREIMAGE

Britney might be rude, but she's been looking really hot recently.

But weirdly, it's Simon Cowell who's getting the most attention right now on the US X Factor panel.

?

Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/charlotte-chruch-says-britney-spears-945656

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Yahoo! Has Partnered With Spotify?Here's Today's Ad Brief ...

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Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/yahoo-has-partnered-with-spotifyheres-todays-ad-brief-2012-6

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Taste amazing cocktails at Mai Tai Lounge, Orion Mall, Bangalore ...

Posted in Uncategorized at 2:13 pm by dhempe

Being a foodie and some one who loves Cocktails, I was really pleased when I got an invitation to check out the Mai Tai Lounge in Orion Mall, Bangalore. My idea of a Cocktail was just a Long Island Ice Tea or a Cosmopolitan?at the most! I was surprised to know that Mai Tai lounge specializes itself in Cocktails and was raring to try them so I went with my wife and friends to try it out!

At Mai Tai Lounge, we were greeted by General Manager Gautam Yadav and Bar Manager Shibu Joseph. Both of them explained to us the 75 year old history of Trader Vic?s and the concept of Polinesian?food along with signature cocktails which they serve there. The location of the Mai Tai Lounge was very nice as it looked over the artificial lake at the spanking new Orion Mall in Yeshwantpur, Bangalore. We sat at the following inviting table which was one of the most comfortable lounge spaces that I have ever seen!

We started our journey with the original cocktail known as the Trader Vic?s Mai Tai Original Cocktail made from the recipe invented way back in 1944! Legend has it that Trader Vic pulled down a bottle of seventeen-year old J.Wray Nephew Rum from Jamaica, squeezed a lime, added a dash of sugar syrup along with a splash of orange curaco and French orgeat and poured it over ice ? thus was born the Trader Vic?s Mai Tai Original Cocktail! We tried it out in the signature glassware which is imported all the way from the USA! It gave a perfect look to the cocktail which we enjoyed with long straws which didn?t require us to bend too low to taste our drinks!

The next cocktail which my wife and I tried was the Tiki Puka Puka which had 3 styles of rums, orange juice, grenadine & spices. It was a drink to take us back to the?Hawaiian?islands! It was wonderfully served in a festival communal bowl the way most ancient Polinesian ceremonial Lau drinks were served since centuries! The delightful flavors in the drink left us wanting for more as we slowly slipped into a state of feeling ?happy high?!

Another ceremonial Lau drink served in a festive communal bowl was the king of the cocktails as I would call it ? Trader Vic?s Rum Cup ? which was a frosty froth of fine rums, orange, lemon, lime and liquors. This was the highlight of our evening as all of us took our straws and started sipping one of the best cocktails I had ever tasted! We didn?t want to get wasted but this drink made us pretty high and we were famished tasting all these drinks so we dug into some of the tastiest?Polinesian food available at the Mai Tai Lounge!

One of the best chicken wings that I have ever had anywhere in the world (and I have had the original Buffalo wings in Buffalo, USA too!) was the Kung Pao Chicken Wings at Mai Tai Lounge ? spicy chilli glaze on top of the juicy and flash fried Chicken Wings sprinkled with crushed peanuts for a yummy taste! Served with a tangy sauce, we were licking our fingers not just with anticipation but with?stupendous?taste which I never tasted anywhere!

Another one of my personal favorites (though the wifey couldn?t have it!) was the Maui Waui Shrimp which was Prawns with Maui Dressing and served with a sprinkling of crushed coconuts and cilantro. I added a dash of lemon juice on top of the prawns to make the taste more appealing to my Palate. My taste buds thanked me for this as they were exuberant after having tasted the Shrimps!

Generally a place where you have wonderful cocktails and amazing finger food, you will not find good main course items to finish your meal. Mai Tai lounge is an exception though as it offers a complete dining experience not just with drinks and starters but also with an elaborate veg and non-veg main course menus. I went for a Mai Tai Island Burger which had a chicken patty, Cho Cho Glaze and was served with Island Slaw and Spiced French Fries. This was actually a meal meant for two so I shared it with my wife and we were blown away by the wonderful flavors in the burger.

My friends tried Chilli Basa Ciabatta which had the grilled basa fish which was marinated with chill-lime, asian tartar sauce and served along with French fries. They said it was delightful and the taste was endearing!

It was a perfect night of tasting good cocktails, amazing food and lots of fun with friends at The Mai Tai Lounge in Orion Mall, Bangalore!

Permalink

Source: http://www.dhempe.com/2012/06/29/mai-tai-lounge/

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Business ethics and practice: Generations to carry forward ...

Generations to Carry Forward....................What? Please Read...................

?

?

What will? you define greatness for your generation? I believe it is to use the knowledge that you have learned here to find ways, not only to connect to computers and lap tops, but to connect to people;? not only to connect just people but to connect relationships,not only to connect? just relationships but to?bridge gaps in? human realtions,not only to brdge gap in human relations but, to bridge gaps between cultures,ethics and heritage?not only to bridge the gap between cultures,ethics and heritage, but to ?bridge gap between?? friendly and family relations,?not only to bridge the gap between friendly and family relations but to create? and use nice?words and deeds?to lead in life, and in the process, to close that canyon between ignorance and understanding. and open gates of? understanding and good will.What you leave behind will be carried forward by your succeeding Generations................So decide for your self? what? good many things to leave behind you?, to relish, cherish and carry forward by your succeeding generations.............................................................and may GOD BLESS all with his BLISS..........

Source: http://jaykayram.blogspot.com/2012/06/generations-to-carry-forward.html

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Transformers Prime Japan Arms Micron AM-12 Breakdown Image Gallery

Thanks to theWeibo user Lost-Zz we have some good clear looks at the Transformers Prime Japan AM-12 Breakdown action figure. There's been a lot of so so figures in the Prime line, Breakdown is the exception with more Transformers good packed in this deluxe class figure than meets the eye. His Arms Micron is pretty awesome too. Check out all the details on these figures in the gallery after the jump.

click the image below to view the entire gallery

Stay tuned to Tformers.com for more details as they are made available. Your best resource for all the Transformers news and community every day.

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The Characteristics Of The Broadview Phone System - Liquipel ...

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012 at 11:19 am ?

When setting up your business, you need to make sure you properly set up the various systems needed in order to have a functional operation. One of these is the communication systems, which should be able to accommodate your business needs. You need to install a system that will be able to accommodate the volume of incoming and outgoing calls made to and from your business?s customers, clients or investors. The communication system should also be able to handle the volume of inter-facility calls within the various departments in the office. There are reliable telephone or communication specialty companies that offer office wide systems for you to utilize. The Broadview phone should be able to provide you with the communication solutions that you require for your business. You can find effective solutions offered by the Broadview Networks to set up your communication system.

One of the successful features of the systems offered by Broadview is that it utilizes a VoIP system. The internet-based communications system provide various business office phone features. This type of setup ensures that you can create a cohesive communication system for your business, even if you?re operating from different office locations. The VoIP system makes it possible to be on the road or working offsite, while still connected to the communication system. Whether you?re on or off-site, you can receive any call by setting up the system to accept calls on both your office and mobile phone units. The system can also be set up so you can answer calls from your computer.

With a VoIP system, you can also expect your office?s communication lines will continue to function even if there?s a disaster. This way, you can provide real time business decisions in reaction to emergency situations. There are also different Broadview systems phone units that you can choose from. There are phone units with LCD displays featuring 24 or 48 keys to accommodate the different extensions in your office. The company can also provide you with a conferencing unit model that you can install in your office?s meeting rooms or board rooms. If you want to be able to use your computer to accept or make calls using the communication system, then you can have the softphone software installed to get the connection. The company also features plans that doesn?t require a capital investment and monthly contract.

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Senior Business Analyst

Job Description

OPPORTUNITY
Working with the Chief Financial Officer, the Senior Business Analyst ensures the provision of sound strategic economic and financial analysis through the modeling and simulation of municipal and utility operations.? The Senior Business Analyst develops and maintains revenue and expense applications, models, templates, tools, databases and related business processes used to forecast capital and operating requirements.
The incumbent develops multi-year capital and operating revenue and expense forecasts using techniques such as life-cycle analysis. Other responsibilities include development, delivery, and continual enhancement of the Financial Services department?s information management systems. This position also plans, designs and supervises economic research and operational analysis.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Graduate degree in economics, business, accounting, or science related field
• Postgraduate degree in related discipline (M.Sc. Economics or MBA) or a professional accounting or finance designation (CA, CMA, CGA, CFA) is an asset
• Significant experience in economic and operational modeling, simulation and analysis.
• Experience in the review and interpretation of financial statements that have a high degree of complexity
• A solid understanding of municipal or business operations with large information systems
• Must possess very strong computer skills including expert knowledge of Excel, Access and other software Visual Basic programming (VBA)

HOURS OF WORK
Compressed work schedule of 72 hours bi-weekly (Monday ? Friday, 8:00 ? 5:00 with a regular day off every two weeks).

SALARY
$75,037 ? $91,293 per annum. In addition, the City also offers a comprehensive benefit package including a defined benefit pension plan.

?

How to Apply

All successful applicants will be required to obtain a criminal record check.

Qualified candidates are invited to forward their cover letter and resume, in confidence, quoting Comp. #12/118S by July 19, 2012 to:

Human Resource Services
The City of St. Albert
216, 7 St. Anne Street
St. Albert, Alberta T8N 2X4

Fax: (780) 459-1729

Online applications:
www.stalbert.ca/employment

We wish to express our appreciation to all applicants for their interest and effort in applying for this position. However, only candidates selected for interviews will be contacted.

Job Categories: Accounting. Job Types: Full-Time. Salary: 60,000 - 80,000. Job expires in 30 days.

15?total views, 1?today

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Polish right-wing party seeks jail terms for IVF

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The Brainpower Initiative: The Push to Fund Early Childhood ...

By Robert Rivard

Four-year-old children do not vote, and none were present Wednesday in City Council chambers to hear their futures debated, sometimes contentiously, by elected officials so clearly divided by class, ethnicity, and the disparate educational opportunities that come with where you happen to live.

None of the city?s 20,000, four-year-old preschoolers were there, but you could feel their presence as one of Mayor Juli?n Castro?s most ambitious undertakings reached the debate floor.

Joe Robles Jr.

A blue ribbon Brainpower Task Force headed by USAA CEO and (ret.) Major General Joe Robles (task force co-chair and H-E-B Chairman and CEO Charles Butt was not present) made the case for an unprecedented new level of investment in the city?s at-risk children before they enter kindergarten. Robles was joined at the podium by the task force?s education consultant, Gillian Williams, the president of School Turnaround?and co-author of the early childhood learning book, ?Teaching Young Children.?

The task force, which includes a broad array of business and education leaders, is proposing a?five-year, $146.5 million investment in two new early childhood learning centers and programs. That proposal would give 4,000 of the most at-risk children access to all-day learning and development opportunities they do not now enjoy.

Gillian Williams

Assistant City Manager Peter Zanoni outlined the numbers, noting the median household will pay less than $8 in annual sales taxes to fund the program, in part because 15-20% of the city?s sales tax revenues are collected from visitors, tourists and conventioneers. San Antonio has an uncommitted 1/8 cent of revenue before it reaches the state-mandated maximum 8.25% sales tax, a level already reached by every other major Texas city. City staff project the 1/8 cent tax will yield about $30 million a year.

Castro opened Wednesday?s meeting in the crowded chambers by saying, ?Changing the trajectory of education achievement is, perhaps, the most important factor? in lifting children out of poverty. Juli?n and his twin brother, Joaqu?n, a state representative now running unopposed for a seat in the U.S. Congress, were the beneficiaries of strong support from their mother, Rosie Castro, a single parent and well-known civil rights advocate. The Castro twins emerged from this city?s Westside barrio to earn undergraduate degrees from Stanford and law degrees from Harvard.

Mayor Juli?n Castro addresses a gathering of SA2020 supporters. Photo courtesy of Mayor Castro.

Robles offered his own story: ?I?ve been a passionate advocate for the value of a good education ever since I was a young man because a good education changed my life.?

Robles, who once told me he had been an indifferent student, came from a Midwest family of blue-collar workers. He seemed destined for the same life, but his enrollment in a military program for minorities that propelled him into officer?s training school and higher education opportunities led to highly successful leadership careers in the military and business.

Such compelling narratives are abundant on the current Council and give Castro a solid majority that was evident on Wednesday.

Councilman Diego Bernal

?We have to do something to right the wrong? done by state lawmakers, said District One Councilman Diego Bernal, referring to the $5.6 billion in cuts to education spending that were made in the last legislative session. ?And it was a wrong. There is an element of social justice here.?

Bernal also was raised by a single mother and went on to earn undergraduate, graduate and law degrees at the University of Michigan.

District Four Councilman Rey Salda?a, a South San High School graduate, also attended Stanford, where he earned two undergraduate degrees and a master?s degree in the School of Education. He was the first to speak in support of the task force?s recommendation: ?We are going to pay for these kids one way or the other,? he said, noting that some officeholders oppose an annual $6,500 education investment now, but support the cost of incarcerating failed students turned felons in state prisons at a cost to taxpayers of $30,000 ?a year.

Councilman Rey Salda?a

Given Castro?s own strong mandate from voters and widespread support from community and business leaders, he seems all but certain to win approval of the Brainpower Initiative when it goes before voters on the Nov. 6 ballot. But the mayor probably will not win unanimous Council support for the program. Most of the four-year-old children who will benefit from the program will be found in seven of the city?s 10 council districts.

Council members in the three Northside districts, 8, 9 and 10, ?showed a distinct lack of support for the task force?s recommendations.

Councilman Carlton Soules

District 10 Councilman Carlton Soules led the opposition Wednesday with a now-familiar display of ?mind-numbing cross-examination that spared no insignificant minutia. At one point, Robles sprang from his seat to help Gillian Williams respond to a question, saying he felt like he ?was sitting on a tack.?

There was an almost surreal quality to District Nine Councilwoman Elisa Chan?s persistent demands of Robles and Gillian Williams that they provide a likely outcome to the program. It?s almost impossible to predict such outcomes, they responded, but Chan insisted on at least an estimate, which was not forthcoming. At one point, Chan?s line of questioning prompted a chorus of simultaneous replies from Castro, Robles, and task force member Ana ?Cha? Guzman, the outgoing president of Palo Alto College.

Councilwoman Elisa Chan

The accountability demanded by Chan is understandable, but her own experience and that of her husband, both successful small business owners, also is instructive. Both were born and raised in China and then pursued advanced educational opportunities in the United States thanks to government programs.

?From K-3 you learn to read, and from 4-12 you read to learn,? Guzman told Chan. ?If you don?t learn to read by K-3, you?ll never read to learn.?

District 8 Councilman Reed Williams, who is leaving office after he completes his current term, remained unconvinced: ?It could probably pass in this room. I doubt it could pass in our city.?

That assessment may prove wrong, even in District 8. USAA is in Williams? district, where Northside ISD Superintendent John Folks, who recently retired, is a strong advocate of the proposal and a task force member. The city?s other highly recognized former superintendent, Richard Middleton, of the Northeast ISD, also served on the task force.

Councilman Reed Williams

Castro?s initiative isn?t without its critics among his many supporters. Proponents of other successful, underfunded school programs are displeased they were excluded from the program because they do not serve pre-K children. Many question what will happen to the four-year-olds when they enter the first grade and lose the intensive pre-K support.

Other critics question vaguely defined plans to recruit an executive director for the Brainpower Initiative and how such an entity will be constructed. Two new early learning centers, one on the Northside and the other on the Southside, will be staffed by teachers who could be city employees operating outside the control of school boards. Reformists might welcome such an experiment, but others will question whether educators should be on the city?s payroll. The location of the two centers, still undetermined, also will generate disagreement.

An acting executive director will be appointed before the Nov. 6 election, and while no candidates have been publicly identified, Castro would be smart to consider his own on-staff education expert, Jeanne Russell. The former Express-News education reporter and editor also worked as a public school teacher. She has a master?s degree in education from the University of California-Davis along with?a master?s in journalism and Latin American studies from New York University. She served as the mayor?s point person leading the task force as it studied best practices across the country and debated the best use of the 1/8 cent sales tax. ?I have a firsthand appreciation of her professional skills and passion for education reform, and it wouldn?t surprise me if a national search for a permanent director concluded with her appointment.

What wasn?t addressed by opponents Wednesday?s meeting was this: the status quo in San Antonio is unacceptable, and no credible alternative proposals have been put on the table. There is abundant data that shows current early childhood education investment is inadequate. There are growing demands across the city for improved schools that graduate more ?college ready? students and reverse unacceptably high dropout rates.

Castro ran for office promising to address the city?s most pressing education challenges. His mandate from voters gives him the opportunity and authority ? some would say moral imperative ? to act. By all signs, the children who will turn four years old over the next five years will be the beneficiaries of Castro?s initiative. It won?t be difficult to measure outcomes a decade out, but for now, there are no guarantees, only opportunities.

For an earlier story on The Rivard Report looking at The Brainpower Initiative, click here.

Follow Robert Rivard on Twitter?@rivardreport?or on?Facebook.

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High Ozone Level Triggers Hot-Weather ?Code Orange? Alert For Region

By Robin Culverwell

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) ? Again today, Philadelphia and its surrounding counties are under a ?code orange,? meaning the air contains unhealthy levels of ozone.

Kevin Sunday, a spokesman for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, says high temperatures trap ground level ozone, allowing it to ?bake? in the hot sun.? And that, in turn, makes it difficult for those with sensitive respiratory systems to breathe.

His best advice is to avoid the outdoors when the ozone and heat are at their worst: during the midday hours and rush hours.? As an alternative, he says, going out in the evening or early morning is best.
Other ways people all help?

?Fueling their cars at night, carpooling or using public transportation, cutting down on electric usage.?

Overall, Sunday says, the air around us is getting cleaner, due in large part to more efficient cars, which are the biggest contributor to ozone pollution.
?

?

?

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Most Black Holes Are Cosmic Snackers Instead of Binge Eaters

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Authorities reportedly attack Mount Everest climber for not having permit

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Daredevil Nik Wallenda crosses Niagara Falls

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Some cry 'coup' as Egypt's highest court annuls parliament, military extends power

CAIRO (CNN) -

Egypt's highest court declared the parliament invalid Thursday, and the country's interim military rulers promptly declared full legislative authority, triggering fresh chaos and confusion about the country's leadership.

The Supreme Constitutional Court found that all articles making up the law that regulated parliamentary elections are invalid, said Showee Elsayed, a constitutional lawyer.

The ruling means that parliament must be dissolved, state TV reported.

Parliament has been in session for just over four months. It is dominated by Islamists, a group long viewed with suspicion by the military.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in control of the country since Mubarak's ouster, said that it now has full legislative power and that by Friday it will announce a 100-person assembly that will write the country's new constitution.

The Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest Islamist party, said SCAF leaders were taking matters into their own hands "against any true democracy they spoke of."

The court also ruled that former Prime Minister Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister to serve under ousted President Hosni Mubarak, may run in a presidential election runoff this weekend.

The court rejected a law barring former members of Mubarak's regime from running in the election.

The runoff Saturday and Sunday pits Shafik against Mohamed Morsi, head of the Freedom and Justice Party, which is the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm.

Shafik, at a news conference in Cairo, praised the high court for rejecting the rule preventing former regime members from running. "The age of settling accounts is over and gone. The age of using the law and the country's institutions against any individual is over," he said.

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How To Repair Your iPad Touchscreen Without Hiring A Technician

We'll show you how to repair your iPad Touchscreen without hiring a technician to do it for you. You will need to buy an iPad toolkit and replacement part. Go online and search for reputable retailer with the best prices and also guarantees their parts with a warranty. Unfortunately, Apple doesn't provide a warranty for accidental damages, if the glass panel on your iPad Touchscreen is severely damaged or broken.

Things You'll Need:

Small phillips screwdriver
Small flathead prying tools
Rubber mat or soft cloth

Instructions

Step 1:

Place your Apple iPad on a flat surface. Use a rubber mat or soft cloth to lay the device on. Insert the flathead prying tool that came with your iPad toolkit, and place it between the top-left edge of the front and back panel.?? ?

Step 2:

Rotate the prying tool away from you to release the tabs near the edge of the display. Then insert another flathead prying tool between the top-left edge and rear panel. This will prevent the front panel from snapping back into place.?????????? ?

Step 3:

Move one of the flathead prying tools along the right edge of your iPad Touchscreen, until you have released all the tabs. Lift the front panel away from the back panel,?? and do not remove it. The ribbon cables underneath it are still attached to the rear panel.?

Step 4:

Disconnect the cables that are attached to the logic board. You will need to unplug the digitizer, ambient light sensor, and display data cables. Use the iPad prying tool to flip up the retaining flaps for the digitizer. Carefully pull the cables out of the sockets. Use the prying tool again, and remove the ambient light sensor from its socket. Detach the display data cable from the logic board. Pull on the black plastic tab to disconnect the cable from the socket.??? ?

Step 5:

Lift the front panel of the iPad from the back panel. Now, pry the ambient light sensor board off the adhesive that is holding it to the display frame. Peel back the tape that is holding the digitizer to the display frame.? read more >>

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Scott Walker Endorses ObamaCare-style Insurance Regulations ...

Asked what sort of health reforms he supported, Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker said he thought guaranteed issue, a rule which requires health insurers to sell to all comers and is a key part of ObamaCare, was a good thing at the state level. He also said that states could consider the possibility of imposing a health insurance mandate. Via TPM:

?Whether it?s done through the Affordable Care Act or done separate from that with Congress and the states ? I think that things that allow you to go over state lines, certain things in terms of guaranteed issue and things of that nature,? Walker said at a breakfast in Washington, D.C. hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. ?I think there are good elements. I just don?t think you need the federal government to do most of those things.?

Walker said that it was possible to keep ?guaranteed issue,? in which patients are guaranteed the ability to purchase coverage, but without a national requirement that Americans maintain health insurance.

?Certainly not a federal mandate,? Walker. ?I think those are debates people can have at the state level.?

Is it a problem that Walker is endorsing state-driven versions of the president?s health law? Yes. But the bigger problem is that the debates Walker imagines people having are debates that Republicans haven?t really had ? at the state level, at the federal level, or anywhere outside of a few think tank panels. And awkward comments like Walker?s are the result.

Let?s get a couple things out of the way: Regardless of whether or not a state-level insurance mandate is an objectionable policy or a bad idea, unlike ObamaCare?s federal mandate it is not an obvious constitutional problem. That?s why the Massachusetts mandate that GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney fought for and signed into law is not threatened by any Supreme Court ruling against ObamaCare. And state-level mandates have the distinct advantage of federalism: A world in which some states choose to mandate health insurance coverage, and in which the details of the mandate vary by state, is more flexible and diverse than one in which the federal government forces the same policy on residents of every state.

But Walker?s comments yet another reminder that the basic shape of ObamaCare ? controls on the insurance market, mandatory purchase of insurance, and subsidies for private insurance delivered through government-run exchanges ? was developed by Republicans and passed as RomneyCare by the party?s presidential nominee. And they show that GOP officials, a number of whom have spent the last month or so trying to reassure people that of course they don't want to throw out the good parts of ObamaCare, haven?t moved beyond those ideas except to oppose President Obama?s federal version of them.

It remains a serious problem for the Republican party that a national figure like Walker, who has opposed the implementation of ObamaCare in his own state, doesn?t have much in the way of answers about how to handle health policy except to endorse state-level versions of the plan that the GOP bitterly opposes at the national level.?

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'Battle is in Damascus' as Syrian tanks fire

Undeterred by international condemnation, the Syrian military continued its unrelenting shelling of the city of Homs. NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin reports.

?

By msnbc.com news services

DAMASCUS, Syria -- Residents of Syria's capital spoke about a night of shooting and explosions in the worst violence during the uprising against President Bashar Assad.?

The nearly 12 hours of fighting in Damascus suggested a new boldness among armed rebels, who previously kept a low profile in the capital. It also showed a willingness by the regime to unleash in the capital the sort of elevated force against restive neighborhoods it has used to crush opponents elsewhere.

For the first time in the uprising, witnesses said, regime tanks opened fire in the city's streets, with shells slamming into residential buildings.

"Yesterday was a turning point in the conflict," said Maath al-Shami, an opposition activist in the capital. "There were clashes in Damascus that lasted hours. The battle is in Damascus now."?

---

Blasts shook the neighborhoods of Qaboun and Barzeh until about 1:30 a.m. on Saturday.

"We spent a night of fear," one resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. The resident said the shooting and explosions in the capital "were the worst so far."?

As tanks fired shells, troops clashed with rebels in the two neighborhoods, al-Shami said via Skype. He said at least four people were killed.?

The battles began when troops opened fire on anti-Assad protest marches and rebels responded, witnesses said. In one brazen attack, the rebels struck a power plant in Qaboun with rocket-propelled grenades, setting fire to a generator and causing blackouts. The attack left buses charred and smashed a car. A video of the aftermath taken by U.N. observers said a soldier was killed in the RPG attack.?

One resident said a large sports venue, the Abbasid stadium, had been transformed into an army barracks as the military tried to reinforce the capital, and that increasing numbers of checkpoints had been set up.

Earlier, a car bomb aimed at a bus carrying security men exploded in a Damascus suburb, killing at least two, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.?

Troops also clashed with rebels from the Free Syrian Army in Damascus' Kfar Souseh district when rebels attacked a military checkpoint. The FSA, which groups defectors from the Syrian military with protesters who have taken up weapons, had made an unusually public appearance Thursday night in Kfar Souseh, overtly joining a large opposition rally. The bolder moves were a strong sign the ragtag group is pushing to take its fight to the regime's base of power.?

At least 17 killed in Daraa, activists say
To the south, regime forces heavily shelled a district of the city of Daraa until the early hours Saturday, smashing homes, according to activists. Daraa is the city where the uprising against Assad's regime first erupted in March 2011.?

"People were taken by surprise while in their homes," Adel al-Omari, a local activist, said of the shelling, including mortar fire that hit the Mahata district.?

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 17 people were killed in the shelling. The Local Coordination Committees said 19 civilians lost their lives, include a father and two children from one family and five members of another family.?

The LCC and the Observatory also reported shelling and clashes in the central city of Homs, one of the main battlegrounds of the uprising. Both groups said troops stormed Homs' posh neighborhood of Ghouta and the Observatory said security forces are conducting raids and searching for wanted people in the area.?

U.N. releases massacre video
Also Saturday, U.N. observers in the country ostensibly to monitor the cease-fire issued the first independent video images from the scene of a reported massacre last week in a remote farming village. Activists say up to 78 people, including women and children, were shot, hacked and burned to death in Mazraat al-Qubair on Wednesday.

The video, taken in the U.N. visit a day earlier, showed blood splashed on a wall pockmarked with bullet holes and soaking a nearby mattress. A shell punched through one wall of a house. Another home was burnt on the inside with dried blood was splashed on floors.

One man wearing a red-and-white checked scarf to cover his face, pointed at a 2008 calendar adorning a wall, bearing the photo of a lightly-bearded, handsome man. "This is the martyr," the resident, sobbing. He sat on the floor, amid strewn colorful blankets, heaving with tears. It was not immediately clear if he was a resident of the village or related to the man in the photograph.

"They killed children," said another unidentified resident. "My brother, his wife and their seven children, the oldest was in the sixth grade. They burnt down his house."

After the observers' visit, U.N. spokeswoman Sausan Ghosheh said the scene held evidence of a "horrific crime" and that the team could smell the stench of burned corpses and saw body parts strewn around the now deserted village, once home to about 160 people.

She said residents' accounts of the mass killing were "conflicting," and that the team was still cross checking the names of the missing and dead with those supplied by nearby villagers.

Opposition activists and Syrian government officials blamed each other for the killings. Activists accused pro-government militiamen known as "shabiha." A government statement on the state-run news agency SANA said "an armed terrorist group" killed nine women and children before Hama authorities were called and killed the attackers.

Report: Journalist says rebels tried to get him killed

Thousands have been killed since the crisis began in March last year. The U.N.'s latest estimate is 9,000 dead, but that is from April and it has been unable to update it. Syrian activists put the toll at more than 13,000.

The latest escalations are another blow to international envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan, which aims to end the country's bloodletting. Annan brokered a cease-fire that went into effect on April 12 but has since been violated nearly every day since and never properly took hold.?

Russia on Saturday indicated it would not oppose the departure of Assad if such a move is a result of a dialogue between Syrians themselves and is not enforced through external pressure.

"If the Syrians agree between each other, we will only be happy to support such a solution," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov?told reporters.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

ryan leaf luke kuechly