Ban Ki-moon withdraws Iran's invite to Syria peace talks (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6XJqzWhSaq-V71AhDXACTv8HRY8_ihIqMbiJt2VUJsln9w7SEQ8B2Fs4SzyyPlmTR3xn93qcZrd_kgRxkideR0A5Fdxi0mwGsGc10KHbznMJ4-5RqgMr37wckA9xYKLEyyM3D5wsqd34/s1600/2014-01-19T235840Z_70317677_GM1E99R07BO01_RTRMADP_3_UN-IRAN.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6XJqzWhSaq-V71AhDXACTv8HRY8_ihIqMbiJt2VUJsln9w7SEQ8B2Fs4SzyyPlmTR3xn93qcZrd_kgRxkideR0A5Fdxi0mwGsGc10KHbznMJ4-5RqgMr37wckA9xYKLEyyM3D5wsqd34/s1600/2014-01-19T235840Z_70317677_GM1E99R07BO01_RTRMADP_3_UN-IRAN.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390254896825_1075" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday withdrew an offer for Iran to attend Syria peace negotiations after Tehran declared it does not support the June 2012 political transition deal that is the basis for the talks.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390254896825_1091" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"He (Ban) continues to urge Iran to join the global consensus behind the Geneva communiqué," Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky said. "Given that it has chosen to remain outside that basic understanding, (Ban) has decided that the one-day Montreux gathering will proceed without Iran's participation."</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390254896825_1097" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Ban said earlier that Iran's public statement that it did not support the 2012 Geneva deal calling for a transitional government for Syria was "not consistent" with assurances he had been given by Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390254896825_1103" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">(Reporting by Michelle Nichols and Louis Charbonneau)</div></div>

Ban Ki-moon withdraws Iran's invite to Syria peace talks (BLOG)

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday withdrew an offer for Iran to attend Syria peace negotiations after ...

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Seahawks rally, beat 49ers 23-17 for NFC title (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuTZPDpwo2MbN-oIB6Jrnu9o7jN2IlJSvz0R-EPuV6PexBhdssnnwfLNz0F-ReTPS9glqcD8jEnXtcOj77KtNjXa7fEEPko1jF3QbNe0p38ta6eaCA_4ZkyC6UwvQzGHL2hCgpklTjpQI/s1600/201401192127772461106.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuTZPDpwo2MbN-oIB6Jrnu9o7jN2IlJSvz0R-EPuV6PexBhdssnnwfLNz0F-ReTPS9glqcD8jEnXtcOj77KtNjXa7fEEPko1jF3QbNe0p38ta6eaCA_4ZkyC6UwvQzGHL2hCgpklTjpQI/s1600/201401192127772461106.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390241037285_3929" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">SEATTLE (AP) -- Pete Carroll knows all about successfully chasing championships. Yet this pursuit is particularly sweet.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390241037285_3879" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Yep. The Seahawks and their 12th Man are headed for the Big Apple and the Super Bowl.''It's quite a magical moment,'' Carroll said Sunday after his<a class="yom-entity-link yom-entity-sports_team" data-rapid_p="8" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/sea" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Seattle Seahawks</a> won the NFC title. ''You can't really grasp the moment. Did we really do this?''</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390241037285_3949" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">''Every ounce of your energy, every moment spent watching film has been worth it, because we made it,'' said All-Pro cornerback <a class="yom-entity-link yom-entity-sports_player" data-rapid_p="9" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/24941" id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390241037285_3958" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Richard Sherman</a>. His game-saving deflection in the end zone with 22 seconds left was caught by teammate<a class="yom-entity-link yom-entity-sports_player" data-rapid_p="10" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/25029" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Malcolm Smith</a> to clinch the 23-17 win over division rival San Francisco on Sunday night. ''It's fantastic.''</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">A fantastic matchup, too.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390241037285_3970" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Seattle will meet Denver (15-3) for the NFL title in two weeks in the New Jersey Meadowlands. It's the first trip to the big game for the Seahawks (15-3) since they lost to Pittsburgh after the 2005 season.</div><div class="body-slot-mod" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.307695388793945px; margin: 0px 0px 1.1em 10px; max-width: 300px;"><div class="yom-remote"><div class="" id="mediasportsmatcharticlescore_container"><div class="yom-mod yom-app yom-scores yom-sports-match-score yom-sports-scorething js" id="mediasportsmatcharticlescore" style="border: 1px solid rgb(229, 229, 229); color: #f0f0f0; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; padding: 10px; zoom: 1;"><div class="hd" style="color: black; font-size: 15px; margin-bottom: 0px; position: relative; text-transform: capitalize; zoom: 1;"><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: 17px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 5px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Sun, Jan 19, 2014</h3></div><div class="bd" style="color: black; line-height: 13px; margin: 0px; min-width: 280px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;"><div class="yom-sports-scorething-day"><table class="nfl boxes" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px !important; margin: 0px auto; width: 280px;"><tbody class=" final game link" data-index="0" data-url="/nfl/san-francisco-49ers-seattle-seahawks-20140119026/" style="background-color: inherit; border: none;"><tr class="team away " style="background-color: inherit; border: none;"><th class="" style="background-color: inherit; border: none; font-weight: normal; padding: 3px 8px 1px; width: 140px;"><span class="logo yom-logo-nfl large sf" style="background-color: #6e001f; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sports/images/team-logos/sprites/nfl-40-1663570.png); background-position: -1200px 0px; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 40px; margin-right: 3px; vertical-align: middle; width: 40px;"></span><span style="color: #3f3f3f; display: inline-block; float: left; line-height: 20px; margin: 13px 0px 0px 5px; max-width: 92px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis;">San Francisco</span></th><td class="score" style="background-color: inherit; border: none; padding: 3px 0px 0px; text-align: right; width: 1px;"><span style="border-top-left-radius: 3px; border-top-right-radius: 3px; color: #3f3f3f; font-size: 22px; padding: 15px 10px 11px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle;">17</span></td><td class="links" colspan="1" rowspan="2" style="background-color: inherit; border: none; padding: 5px;"><span class="meta" style="color: #888888; display: block; font-size: 11px; line-height: 17.600000381469727px; text-align: center;"><a class="no-pjax" data-rapid_p="1" data-ylk="lt:s;sec:mod-sch;slk:game;itc:0;ltxt:;tar:sports.yahoo.com;" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/san-francisco-49ers-seattle-seahawks-20140119026/" style="color: #888888; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Final</a></span></td></tr><tr class="team home winner" style="background-color: inherit; border: none;"><th class="" style="background-color: inherit; border: none; font-weight: normal; padding: 0px 8px 3px; width: 140px;"><span class="logo yom-logo-nfl large sea" style="background-color: #293963; background-image: url(http://l.yimg.com/os/mit/media/m/sports/images/team-logos/sprites/nfl-40-1663570.png); background-position: -1160px 0px; display: inline-block; float: left; height: 40px; margin-right: 3px; vertical-align: middle; width: 40px;"></span><span style="color: #3f3f3f; display: inline-block; float: left; font-weight: bold; line-height: 20px; margin: 13px 0px 0px 5px; max-width: 92px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis;">Seattle</span></th><td class="score" style="background-color: inherit; border: none; padding: 0px 0px 3px; text-align: right; width: 1px;"><span style="border-bottom-left-radius: 3px; border-bottom-right-radius: 3px; color: #3f3f3f; font-size: 22px; font-weight: bold; padding: 15px 10px 11px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle;">23</span></td></tr></tbody></table></div></div></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The conference champs had the best records in the league this year, the second time the top seeds have gotten to the Super Bowl in 20 seasons. It also is a classic confrontation of Denver's record-setting offense led by Peyton Manning against the NFL's stingiest defense. Denver opened as a 1-point favorite over Seattle on the Glantz-Culver Line.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">''We wouldn't have it any other way,'' said Sherman, who went on a rant about how 49ers wideout <a class="yom-entity-link yom-entity-sports_player" data-rapid_p="11" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/9274" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Michael Crabtree</a> is a 'sorry receiver.' ''They're an unbelievable, record-setting offense with a Hall of Fame quarterback. That's as tough a game as you can get in the Super Bowl. The No. 1 defense against the No. 1 offense. It doesn't happen like this too often.''</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">That top-ranked defense forced three fourth-quarter turnovers, and <a class="yom-entity-link yom-entity-sports_player" data-rapid_p="12" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/25785" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Russell Wilson</a> threw a 35-yard touchdown pass to <a class="yom-entity-link yom-entity-sports_player" data-rapid_p="13" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/25991" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Jermaine Kearse</a> on fourth down for the winning points.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Moments after Sherman tipped <a class="yom-entity-link yom-entity-sports_player" data-rapid_p="14" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/24823" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Colin Kaepernick</a>'s pass to Smith for the interception, the NFL leader in picks did a CenturyLink Leap into the stands behind the end zone, saluting the Seahawks' raucous fans. With 12th Man flags waving everywhere - receiver Golden Tate paraded around the field with one - and ''New York, New York'' blaring over the loudspeakers, CenturyLink Field rocked like never before.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">''This is really special,'' said Carroll, who won two national championships at Southern California and has turned around the Seahawks in four seasons in charge. ''It would really be a mistake to not remember the connection and the relationship between this football team and the 12th Man and these fans. It's unbelievable.''</div><div class="body-slot-mod" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.307695388793945px; margin: 0px 0px 1.1em 10px; max-width: 300px;"><div class="yom-remote"><div class="" id="mediasportsgameleaders_container"><div class="yom-mod yom-app yom-game-leaders" data-gid="nfl.g.20140119026" id="mediasportsgameleaders" style="border: 1px solid rgb(229, 229, 229); color: #f0f0f0; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 1px; padding: 10px; zoom: 1;"><div class="hd" style="color: black; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 5px 0px 5px 5px; position: relative; text-transform: capitalize; zoom: 1;"><h3 style="-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; font-size: 15px; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px 0px 5px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">Game Leaders</h3></div><div class="bd league-nfl" style="color: black; margin: 0px; min-width: 280px; padding: 0px; zoom: 1;"><ul class="players" style="list-style-type: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><li style="clear: both; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top; width: 280px;"><a data-rapid_p="1" data-ylk="lt:s;" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/24823/" style="color: #949494; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" title="Colin Kaepernick"><img alt="Colin Kaepernick" class="photo" height="66" src="http://l.yimg.com/iu/api/res/1.2/UWeOxILBN2c7z.67BC2Hmg--/YXBwaWQ9eXZpZGVvO2NoPTg2MDtjcj0xO2N3PTY2MDtkeD0xO2R5PTE7Zmk9dWxjcm9wO2g9MjE1O3E9MTAwO3c9MTY1/http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/i/us/sp/v/nfl/players_l/20120913/24823.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 1px solid rgb(127, 127, 127); float: left; height: 66px; margin: 0px 8px 8px 0px; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important; width: 50px;" title="" width="50" /></a><div class="name" style="line-height: 16.899999618530273px; margin: 0px 0px 2px;"><a data-rapid_p="2" data-ylk="lt:s;" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/24823/" style="color: #949494; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" title="Colin Kaepernick">Colin Kaepernick</a></div><div class="number team" style="line-height: 16.899999618530273px; margin: 0px 0px 2px;">#7, <a class="team" data-rapid_p="3" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/sfo/" style="color: #949494; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">San Francisco</a></div><div class="stats" style="line-height: 16.899999618530273px; margin: 0px 0px 2px;"><abbr style="border: 0px; cursor: help;" title="Completions: 14">14</abbr><abbr style="border: 0px; cursor: help;" title="Attempts: 24">-24</abbr><abbr style="border: 0px; cursor: help;" title="Yards: 153">, 153 yds</abbr><abbr style="border: 0px; cursor: help;" title="Touchdowns: 1">, 1 TDs</abbr><abbr style="border: 0px; cursor: help;" title="Interceptions: 2">, 2 Int</abbr><br /><br /></div></li><li style="clear: both; display: block; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: top; width: 280px;"><a data-rapid_p="4" data-ylk="lt:s;" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/8266/" style="color: #949494; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" title="Marshawn Lynch"><img alt="Marshawn Lynch" class="photo" height="66" src="http://l.yimg.com/iu/api/res/1.2/jgFRsgg.VGkj19E.0IXvxg--/YXBwaWQ9eXZpZGVvO2NoPTg2MDtjcj0xO2N3PTY2MDtkeD0xO2R5PTE7Zmk9dWxjcm9wO2g9MjE1O3E9MTAwO3c9MTY1/http://l.yimg.com/j/assets/i/us/sp/v/nfl/players_l/20120913/8266.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 1px solid rgb(127, 127, 127); float: left; height: 66px; margin: 0px 8px 8px 0px; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important; width: 50px;" title="" width="50" /></a><div class="name" style="line-height: 16.899999618530273px; margin: 0px 0px 2px;"><a data-rapid_p="5" data-ylk="lt:s;" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/8266/" style="color: #949494; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" title="Marshawn Lynch">Marshawn Lynch</a></div><div class="number team" style="line-height: 16.899999618530273px; margin: 0px 0px 2px;">#24, <a class="team" data-rapid_p="6" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/teams/sea/" style="color: #949494; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Seattle</a></div><div class="stats" style="line-height: 16.899999618530273px; margin: 0px 0px 2px;"><br /><br /><abbr style="border: 0px; cursor: help;" title="Rushes: 22">22 Rush</abbr><abbr style="border: 0px; cursor: help;" title="Yards: 109">, 109 yds</abbr><abbr style="border: 0px; cursor: help;" title="Touchdowns: 1">, 1 TD</abbr></div></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">San Francisco (14-5) led 17-13 when Wilson, given a free play as <a class="yom-entity-link yom-entity-sports_player" data-rapid_p="15" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/24794" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Aldon Smith</a> jumped offside, hurled the ball to Kearse, who made a leaping catch in the end zone.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">''He's tremendous catching the football,'' Wilson said. ''He's got great hands, and he's got that desire, you know? So that showed up tonight.''</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"><a class="yom-entity-link yom-entity-sports_player" data-rapid_p="16" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/9066" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Steven Hauschka</a> then kicked his third field goal following Kam Chancellor's pick, and Smith intercepted in the end zone on the 49ers' final possession.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">''This feels even sweeter, with the amazing support we have had from the 12th Man,'' team owner Paul Allen said, comparing this Super Bowl trip to the previous one.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Until Seattle's top-ranked defense forced a fumble and had two interceptions in the final period, the game was marked by big offensive plays in the second half. That was somewhat shocking considering the strength of both teams' defenses.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp portrait onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="17" data-uuid="b47e12ae-919c-3cf8-99c5-961878510480" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/seahawks-rally-beat-49ers-23-photo-090348929--nfl.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="Seahawks rally, beat 49ers 23-17 for NFC title"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 413px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="Seahawks rally, beat 49ers 23-17 for NFC title" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="413" src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/WA2u0kzjuTQwaXSx3HLrqw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTQxMztxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/Sports/ap/201401192129773851123" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">Seattle Seahawks' Richard Sherman tips a pass intended for San Francisco 49ers' Michael Crab …</div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">And those plays came rapidly.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Marshawn Lynch, in full ''Beast Mode,'' ran over a teammate and then outsped the 49ers to the corner of the end zone for a 40-yard TD, making it 10-10.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Kaepernick then was responsible for consecutive 22-yard gains, hitting Crabtree, then rushing to the Seattle 28. His fumble on the next play was recovered by center Jonathan Goodwin, who even lumbered for 2 yards.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Anquan Boldin outleapt All-Pro safety <a class="yom-entity-link yom-entity-sports_player" data-rapid_p="18" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/23989" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Earl Thomas</a> on the next play for a 26-yard touchdown.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Then, <a class="yom-entity-link yom-entity-sports_player" data-rapid_p="19" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/players/25105" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Doug Baldwin</a>, who played for 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh at Stanford, stepped up - and through San Francisco's coverage - on a scintillating 69-yard kickoff return that made the stadium shake for the first time all day.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="20" data-uuid="432ff8b2-947c-3f8b-a9a0-18926cc5e3d2" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/39-another-season-finishing-close-photo-044428013--nfl.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="Seahawks rally, beat 49ers 23-17 for NFC title"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 204px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="Seahawks rally, beat 49ers 23-17 for NFC title" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="204" src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/.ujio0XA.pmpqCn8XjfDIw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIwNDtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/Sports/ap/201401192209797451258" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">Jim Harbaugh 49ers head coach looks at the scoreboard as the Seahawks go to a 23-17 victory during t …</div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">That set up Hauschka's 40-yard field goal. And a frantic finish.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Seattle took its first lead on Wilson's throw to Kearse with 13:44 left, and CenturyLink rocked again.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The place went silent soon after when Niners All-Pro linebacker NaVorro Bowman sustained an ugly left knee injury midway and was carted off. Bowman, who was having a huge game, had forced a fumble at the San Francisco 1, but Lynch recovered.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">''I never heard him yell like that, or even stay down for a moment,'' teammate Patrick Willis said of Bowman.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The Seahawks had gotten their first turnover moments earlier when Cliff Avril stripped Kaepernick and <a class="yom-entity-link yom-entity-sports_player" data-rapid_p="21" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/search?p=Michael+Bennett" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;">Michael Bennett</a> recovered. But Lynch and Wilson botched a handoff on fourth down on the play after Bowman's injury.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp portrait onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="22" data-uuid="6c940796-f89b-37ae-b27e-96c6e52e393e" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/seahawks-rally-beat-49ers-23-photo-090348176--nfl.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="Seahawks rally, beat 49ers 23-17 for NFC title"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 421px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="Seahawks rally, beat 49ers 23-17 for NFC title" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="421" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/DO84uI.KDUiln.p60nrIZA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTQyMTtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/Sports/ap/201401192140780561169" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">Seattle Seahawks' Russell Wilson holds up the George Halas Trophy after the NFL football NFC Cha …</div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">It took only two plays for Chancellor to haul in Kaepernick's underthrow to Boldin, and Hauschka's 47-yarder ended the scoring.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">But not the excitement.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Kaepernick, who rushed for 130 yards, got San Francisco to the Seattle 18 with his arm. But his pass for Crabtree was brilliantly tipped by Sherman to Smith.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">''We knew it would come down to us in the back end to win this thing,'' Sherman said.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The final play was similar to last year's Super Bowl ending, when Kaepernick missed Crabtree in the end zone from the 5 and Baltimore survived.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="23" data-uuid="40b54194-e085-3e2b-a38f-dbb2e70af279" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/seahawks-rally-beat-49ers-23-photo-090348047--nfl.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="Seahawks rally, beat 49ers 23-17 for NFC title"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 218px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="Seahawks rally, beat 49ers 23-17 for NFC title" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="218" src="http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/qcf.E5cufmlX__8Pxqkd8Q--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIxODtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/Sports/ap/201401192140780561173" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">Seattle Seahawks' Richard Sherman holds up the George Halas Trophy after the NFL football NFC Ch …</div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">''I had a 1-on-1 matchup with Crab,'' Kaepernick said. ''I'll take that every time, against anyone.''</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Kaepernick rushed for 98 yards in the first half and 130 overall. His 58-yard run set up Anthony Dixon's 1-yard leap for a TD.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">San Francisco also got an early 25-yard field goal by Phil Dawson after Wilson fumbled on Seattle's first snap.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Wilson came up with a huge improvisation of his own moments after Kaepernick's long jaunt. Wilson avoided the rush with some nifty scrambling before spotting Baldwin behind the defense for a 51-yard pickup.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">It resulted in Hauschka's 32-yard field goal, making it 10-3. Baldwin finished with six receptions for 106 yards.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="24" data-uuid="1fc2ce38-f14e-3770-b75b-55c0bd21eec5" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/photos/seahawks-rally-beat-49ers-23-photo-090348101--nfl.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="Seahawks rally, beat 49ers 23-17 for NFC title"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 239px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="Seahawks rally, beat 49ers 23-17 for NFC title" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="239" src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/09B7wSrE_EuFJRSmvIhSxg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIzOTtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/Sports/ap/201401192136777861161" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">Seattle Seahawks' Robert Turbin celebrates after the NFL football NFC Championship game against  …</div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The fourth quarter was all Seattle against the more-experienced 49ers, who were in their third straight conference championship.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">But Seattle heads to the first outdoor Super Bowl in a cold weather city.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Brrr?</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Not quite:</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">''We are ready,'' Bennett said. ''Whatever happens, we just want to be there and we don't care about the weather. We just want to go out there and win.''</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390241037285_4062" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">--</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390241037285_4052" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org</div></div>

Seahawks rally, beat 49ers 23-17 for NFC title (BLOG)

SEATTLE (AP) -- Pete Carroll knows all about successfully chasing championships. Yet this pursuit is particularly sweet. Yep. The Seahawks a...

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What cops should do more of...

<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>We need more cops like this</b></span></div><br />There are those of us who pay taxes that could care less if cops wouldn't have to write one ticket or make any arrest in their entire career.  And they should stop and visit us, play catch, or whatever else is worthwhile.  Actually there are still a few good cops left.<br /><br />Notice the kid acted like he was in trouble.  Sadly that's the first reaction today when approached by police.  Then everything was good and a game of catch began.   <br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Ceqq3mJnAGc?feature=player_detailpage" width="640"></iframe> <br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Meanwhile watch the NYPD's finest POLICE STATE:</b></span><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/LPTg8fMHA-Q?feature=player_detailpage" width="640"></iframe> <br />...developing...

What cops should do more of...

We need more cops like this There are those of us who pay taxes that could care less if cops wouldn't have to write one ticket or make a...

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Did Snowden have help from the Russians? (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9tkIcDYm0EbncnUgG4wKJrpM8Vo7HJqrKsNcEitIhKeNCuipnLD9sTkfixtk-9iJ79nFpVT8B9sD4UWtJu8p73oAyNPFF5b9nofKA8ER2UgZmnHHurs1mpFM9UrYwwTXH92-0DG_nJvE/s1600/028dac13b0679113340f6a706700393b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="188" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9tkIcDYm0EbncnUgG4wKJrpM8Vo7HJqrKsNcEitIhKeNCuipnLD9sTkfixtk-9iJ79nFpVT8B9sD4UWtJu8p73oAyNPFF5b9nofKA8ER2UgZmnHHurs1mpFM9UrYwwTXH92-0DG_nJvE/s1600/028dac13b0679113340f6a706700393b.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390232626529_19728" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., says National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden may have had help from Russia.</div><div class="body-slot-mod" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 17.307695388793945px; margin: 0px 0px 1.1em 10px; max-width: 300px;"><div class="yom-remote"><div class="" id="mediacontentrelatedstory_container"></div></div></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390232626529_19746" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"I believe there's a reason he ended up in the hands, the loving arms, of [a Russian Federal Security Service] agent in Moscow," Rogers <a data-mce-href="http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/18/22352480-house-intelligence-chairman-hints-at-russian-help-in-snowden-leaks" data-rapid_p="9" href="http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/18/22352480-house-intelligence-chairman-hints-at-russian-help-in-snowden-leaks" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">said on "Meet the Press" Sunday</a>. "I don't think that's a coincidence, number one. ... I don't think it was a gee-whiz luck event that he ended up in Moscow under the handling of the FSB."</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390232626529_19755" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Snowden, who fled the United States following his leak of classified documents to the Guardian newspaper, was granted asylum by the Russian government last year.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390232626529_19764" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">“I can guarantee you, he's in the loving arms of an FSB agent right today, and that's not good for the United States,” Rogers <a data-mce-href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-intel-chair-snowden-possibly-aided-by-russian-intelligence/" data-rapid_p="10" href="http://www.cbsnews.com/news/house-intel-chair-snowden-possibly-aided-by-russian-intelligence/" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday</a>. “It's not good for the information to be shared with nation states.”</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390232626529_19774" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">“There's some clear evidence there that something else was going on," Rogers continued. "This wasn't a random smash and grab, run down the road, end up in China, the bastion of Internet freedom, and then Russia, of course, the bastion of Internet freedom. And because of the nature of the information that was stolen [had] nothing to do with Americans' privacy [and] a lot to do with our operations overseas."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Rogers implied Snowden was not skilled enough to pull off the leak alone. "Some of the things he did were beyond his technical capabilities," Rogers said. "[That] raises more questions. How he arranged travel before he left.  How he was ready to go — he had a go bag, if you will."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., Chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence, was also asked on "Meet the Press" if she felt Snowden had help from the Russians.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"He may well have," she said. "We don't know at this stage."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">On CBS, Mike Morell, a former deputy CIA director, agreed with Rogers' assessment.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">“I don't have any particular evidence," Morell said, "but one of the things that I point to when I talk about this is that the disclosures that have been coming recently are very sophisticated in their content and sophisticated in their timing, almost too sophisticated for Mr. Snowden to be deciding on his own. And seems to me, he might be getting some help."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;"><a data-mce-href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/world/snowden-says-he-took-no-secret-files-to-russia.html?_r=1&" data-rapid_p="11" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/world/snowden-says-he-took-no-secret-files-to-russia.html?_r=1&" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">In an interview with the New York Times last year</a>, Snowden said he did not take any classified documents with him to Russia, saying he had given all of the files to journalists in Hong Kong.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390232626529_19812" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"I'm not going to dwell on Mr. Snowden's actions or motivations," President Barack Obama said Friday <a data-mce-href="http://news.yahoo.com/nine-questions-about-obama-s-nsa-spying-overhaul-184312594.html" data-rapid_p="12" href="http://news.yahoo.com/nine-questions-about-obama-s-nsa-spying-overhaul-184312594.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">while announcing an overhaul of the NSA spying program</a>. "I will say that our nation's defense depends in part on the fidelity of those entrusted with our nation's secrets. If any individual who objects to government policy can take it in their own hands to publicly disclose classified information, then we will never be able to keep our people safe, or conduct foreign policy."</div></div>

Did Snowden have help from the Russians? (BLOG)

U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Mich., says National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden may have had help from ...

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Some People Must Actively Work At It To Be So Stupid.

How else do they find idiots like these everywhere?<br /><br />This headline sounds about what I would expect to hear these days, it is the percentiles in the categories below that are jaw dropping.<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-01-20/trust-in-governments-slides-to-record-low-amid-u-dot-s-dot-spy-programs"><b>Trust in Governments Slides to Record Low Amid U.S. Spy Programs</b></a></blockquote><br /><br /><blockquote>Trust in governments fell, making them the world’s least-trusted institutions for a third year, according to a survey published before policy makers and executives gather for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.<br /><br />Faith in governments fell to 44 percent from 48 percent in 2013, according to the 2014 Trust Barometer survey published by Edelman, a public-relations firm. Trust in business held steady at about 58 percent, bringing its lead over government to the widest in the 14 years the poll has been taken. </blockquote><br />That is still just under half of those surveyed who trust their government.<br /><br />This is getting closer;<br /><br /><blockquote>Governments are struggling to maintain public trust amid the disclosure of U.S. spy programs by former contractor Edward Snowden and record unemployment in Europe. Confidence in government in the U.S. plummeted 16 points to 37 percent, Edelman said. </blockquote><br />That is still over one third of those surveyed who hear a giant sucking sound wherever they go.<br /><br />One third of these people still trust this government after all the spying, lying and theft that has gone on over the last five years.<br /><br />It is amazing to me that there are that many idiots in this country.<br />It's no wonder those Nigerien Princes keep trying.<br />They must have some successes.<br /><br />These next figures are where my reality clashes head on with those surveyed.<br /><br /><blockquote>Trust in CEOs is at 43 percent, above the 36 percent score for government officials, according to the survey. Confidence in the media slipped 5 percentage points to 52 percent.<br /><br />Banks and financial services were the least-trusted industries for the fourth year, scoring 51 percent, up 1 point from 2013, the survey shows. Technology companies topped the ranking again at 79 percent, up two percentage points from the previous year.<br /><br />Edelman polled 6,000 individuals in 27 countries with a college education and with household income in the top quartile for their age and country. The ages of those surveyed ranged from 24 to 65. </blockquote><br /><i><b>52% trust the media?!</b></i><br /><br />BAAAAAA, BAAAAA!<br /><br /><b>51% trust the banking and financial sector?!!</b><br /><br />Who are these people and do they not pay attention to the crooked media that they just said they trusted?<br /><br />You have to be a special kind of stupid to fall into all three categories who basically trust everything and everyone.<br /><br />In the first place, the media is the official propaganda service of a lying government and <i>BOTH</i> of those are covering for the banking and financial services industry who are and have been, absolutely pillaging this country.<br /><br />If you can't see that with your own eyes then you need to just put your head back down and go back to grazing contentedly.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAOWKdRSnaym9F1KVoDKaGvVSmLtOJxvS9xVXLBwEUGf5W0N4ssE7maYsIyFg1NqzcO2QPtv2XkZd1Qj4QnWdCl0_r5NMbWvdQ6gdpUvaTil1We0c7__Gsl4o-BijfGHFDTGg0Odi_nAVy/s1600/sheep.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAOWKdRSnaym9F1KVoDKaGvVSmLtOJxvS9xVXLBwEUGf5W0N4ssE7maYsIyFg1NqzcO2QPtv2XkZd1Qj4QnWdCl0_r5NMbWvdQ6gdpUvaTil1We0c7__Gsl4o-BijfGHFDTGg0Odi_nAVy/s640/sheep.jpg" /></a></div>

Some People Must Actively Work At It To Be So Stupid.

How else do they find idiots like these everywhere? This headline sounds about what I would expect to hear these days, it is the percentiles...

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Nintendo shares dive on loss warning (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgav2_Skzh8prBO9oUvAa4e0jO0vQWMc8b1tXByUnAn6II5XvJSxiEl5dXst8Obu40Jamm4zgiOb6hUM7eKd-m4znQLU-uqXrhoaHtQcVhgRGmoKvC1e3ijXvMgyO1v9NwRPGkLmeWj9sk/s1600/37a98c03e25acac9bce98be723fc36cf345092b6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgav2_Skzh8prBO9oUvAa4e0jO0vQWMc8b1tXByUnAn6II5XvJSxiEl5dXst8Obu40Jamm4zgiOb6hUM7eKd-m4znQLU-uqXrhoaHtQcVhgRGmoKvC1e3ijXvMgyO1v9NwRPGkLmeWj9sk/s1600/37a98c03e25acac9bce98be723fc36cf345092b6.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390232626529_15077" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Tokyo (AFP) - Nintendo shares plunged nearly 19 percent Monday before recouping most of those losses after the Japanese gaming giant warned it would slip back into the red on poor sales of its Wii U game console.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390232626529_15100" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Shareholders unloaded the stock at the opening bell Monday after Kyoto-based Nintendo said it would lose 25 billion yen ($240 million) in the fiscal year to March, reversing an earlier 55 billion yen net profit forecast.The warning, released after the Tokyo market closed Friday, highlighted a growing chasm between Nintendo and global rivals Sony and Microsoft, as well as the trio's battle against cheap -- or sometimes free -- downloadable games for smartphones and tablets.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390232626529_15110" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">But the shares recovered from their morning losses to close 6.14 percent lower at 13,745 yen.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390232626529_15120" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Nintendo, maker of the Donkey Kong and Super Mario brands, blamed the downgrade on expectations it would now sell just 2.8 million units of the Wii U worldwide in the current fiscal year.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">That is less than a third of its earlier prediction for 9.0 million consoles, and deals a blow to high hopes it would match the blockbuster success of the original Wii.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp portrait onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="8" data-uuid="bda1a34a-1dd8-3536-8296-46f71041b893" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/family-plays-nintendo-39-portable-video-game-console-photo-024151375.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="A family plays Nintendo&#39;s portable video game console&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 415px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="A family plays Nintendo&#39;s portable video game console&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="415" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/cs9SmFRqFNyqSFnPIoxu9Q--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTQxNTtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/15f99de42a78ffd04348b20e3a6b90d28f3db7be.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">A family plays Nintendo's portable video game console at an electronics shop in Tokyo on January …</div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">In contrast, Sony's PlayStation 4 and Microsoft's Xbox One have seen huge demand for their new consoles as the firms battle for control of a global sector worth about $44 billion annually.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">On Friday, Nintendo said that holiday season demand failed to boost flagging sales, forcing the company to slash forecasts as sales of the console's high-margin software slumped.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">For Nintendo, the grim forecast is especially disappointing after it scratched its way back to profitability last year thanks to a sharply weaker yen, which inflates Japanese firms' repatriated profits.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"Investors had been praying for a strong recovery but what's obvious now is that the company is lagging behind," said Hirokazu Kabeya, senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"Both the hardware and software businesses were bad. It was as if the company got a 'no' verdict on all aspects.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="9" data-uuid="f5e65889-4868-3f72-8b7c-13e193f308a1" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/man-walks-past-poster-nintendo-video-game-character-photo-102008807.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="A man walks past an advertisement for Nintendo at an&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 195px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="A man walks past an advertisement for Nintendo at an&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="195" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/XVK.VcNbwf7YN2ZbduGqmA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTE5NTtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/1841f62a10d4f07db4da875a4b196cce3cdce151.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">A man walks past an advertisement for Nintendo at an electrical shop in Tokyo, on April 24, 2013 (AF …</div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"We should closely watch how the company will rehabilitate itself from here," he added.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Nintendo has previously blamed weak earnings partly on high development and marketing costs for the Wii U, launched in late 2012, although sales of its 3DS handheld console and related game titles fared better. It cut prices on both consoles to boost sales.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Nintendo President Satoru Iwata apologised to shareholders at a press briefing on Friday, saying that "my duty, more than anything else, is to revive our business momentum".</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The company is to hold a briefing about its new strategy on January 30.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Nintendo's grim downgrade came as key domestic rival Sony saw record demand for its new PlayStation 4 console, which had already sold more than 4.2 million units by the start of the year.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The console was launched on November 15.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">US rival Microsoft has also seen robust demand for its Xbox One console, which sold more than one million units in the 24 hours after its November release.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The firms are giants in the global videogames industry, but they have faced tough economic conditions in the US and Europe, while also battling a move to smartphone games.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"One smartphone does everything for many people and so they don't feel the need to have game consoles," Daiwa's Kabeya said.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">He added that Nintendo had plenty of cash on hand so its balance sheet was safe for now, but "its finances will become severer and severer if thing carry on like this".</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Shinkin Asset Management fund manager Naoki Fujiwara saw little hope for Nintendo after the Wii U failed to live up to expectations.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"Growth is nowhere to be seen," he said.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390232626529_15146" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">-- Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this article --</div></div>

Nintendo shares dive on loss warning (BLOG)

Tokyo (AFP) - Nintendo shares plunged nearly 19 percent Monday before recouping most of those losses after the Japanese gaming giant warned ...

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GOLD BUY SIGNAL appears on the CHARTS

<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>GOLD BEAR MARKET slowing down</b></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5jehbp2YxtreDeOgWRaJHpSElXY34CIYC33iux88PCJ9RbhJp44ADZHG-yNM12tl8akesaY2KFvnuvD3_D2KmFV7VNjeZH1PgttJoBDSPZkbA2xpZN0SxDHIIuECizlxoj_9fnydPiGU/s1600/GOLDEagleCOINS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="215" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5jehbp2YxtreDeOgWRaJHpSElXY34CIYC33iux88PCJ9RbhJp44ADZHG-yNM12tl8akesaY2KFvnuvD3_D2KmFV7VNjeZH1PgttJoBDSPZkbA2xpZN0SxDHIIuECizlxoj_9fnydPiGU/s1600/GOLDEagleCOINS.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1390229700.php" style="color: red;">http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1390229700.php</a> </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Da5jGwYyfrkG433yjyE7UDXKiHbivB_msSLRcT3DKTbPEERzI8ZzXREgckKKCgI7E5vVQjcFt473NVh1GznWgARxBbEH_3iRvQZdj89r5jogqCB48hvwgDBglPKtN4mcX-XP9x5lOp4/s1600/$GOLD.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="550" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8Da5jGwYyfrkG433yjyE7UDXKiHbivB_msSLRcT3DKTbPEERzI8ZzXREgckKKCgI7E5vVQjcFt473NVh1GznWgARxBbEH_3iRvQZdj89r5jogqCB48hvwgDBglPKtN4mcX-XP9x5lOp4/s1600/$GOLD.png" width="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>...developing...</div>

GOLD BUY SIGNAL appears on the CHARTS

GOLD BEAR MARKET slowing down http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1390229700.php   ...developing...

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Lawmakers skeptical about Obama surveillance idea (BLOG)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgypkqSoe0GJEa-Z27q0rP3rzlYrwzxbmr1UnU3t4YmiyQYmHCnChXVnUx2fy_5POcj2bGIMSD2FgkyyX5rTP7lb3gqokuZoDta_5HYIEIihdvCKdwmuWGplA_qlI_n0WFJ-iZ-JwRd4Q8/s1600/460x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgypkqSoe0GJEa-Z27q0rP3rzlYrwzxbmr1UnU3t4YmiyQYmHCnChXVnUx2fy_5POcj2bGIMSD2FgkyyX5rTP7lb3gqokuZoDta_5HYIEIihdvCKdwmuWGplA_qlI_n0WFJ-iZ-JwRd4Q8/s1600/460x.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390232626529_12202" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaders of the congressional intelligence committees are pushing back against a key part of President Barack Obama's attempt to overhaul U.S. surveillance, saying it is unworkable for the government to let someone else control how Americans' phone records are stored.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390232626529_12240" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Rep. Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that Obama had intensified a sense of uncertainty about the country's ability to root out terrorist threats. Obama didn't say who should have control of Americans' data; he directed the attorney general and director of national intelligence to find a solution within 60 days.Obama, under pressure over the controversy over government spying, said last week he wants bulk phone data stored outside the government to reduce the risk that the records will be abused.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"We really did need a decision on Friday, and what we got was lots of uncertainty," Rogers, R-Mich., said. "And just in my conversations over the weekend with intelligence officials, this new level of uncertainty is already having a bit of an impact on our ability to protect Americans by finding terrorists who are trying to reach into the United States."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The president also said he will require a special judge's advance approval before intelligence agencies can examine someone's data and will force analysts to keep their searches closer to suspected terrorists or organizations.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"And I think that's a very difficult thing," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee. "Because the whole purpose of this program is to provide instantaneous information to be able to disrupt any plot that may be taking place."</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-video go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="8" data-uuid="032028ae-30c0-3ad1-88bc-9fc7a9309b6a" href="http://news.yahoo.com/video/obama-u-not-spying-39-175413855.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="Obama: U.S. Not Spying on &#39;Ordinary People&#39&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 225px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;">Obama: U.S. Not Spying on 'Ordinary People' …</span><span class="cta-text xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">Play video</span><span class="icon-play icon-white-play-xsmall" style="background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="Obama: U.S. Not Spying on &#39;Ordinary People&#39&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="225" src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/PKZQSySR5dKoQrciQJJHeg--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIyNTtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en-US/video/video.associatedpressfree.com/0cf67b6fe72d238827f25aaa773db6ce" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Under the surveillance program, the NSA gathers phone numbers called and the length of conversations, but not the content of calls. Obama said the NSA sometimes needs to tap those records to find people linked to suspected terrorists. But he said eventually the bulk data should be stored somewhere out of the government's hands. That could mean finding a way for phone companies to store the records, though some companies have balked at the idea, or it could mean creating a third-party entity to hold the records.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Feinstein, D-Calif., said many Americans don't understand that threats persist a dozen years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"New bombs are being devised. New terrorists are emerging, new groups. Actually, a new level of viciousness. And I think we need to be prepared," Feinstein said.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The lawmakers did praise the president for his defense of the National Security Agency's surveillance programs.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"First, I thought it was very important that the president laid out no abuses, this was not an illegal program, it wasn't a rogue agency," Rogers said.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="9" data-uuid="35d514e0-e963-3305-82dd-b60ad33bbcea" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/left-fbi-director-james-comey-cia-director-john-photo-140237526--politics.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="From left, FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 189px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="From left, FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="189" src="http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/F.bPh2iZnf0f3SIBmxvcSw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTE4OTtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/2da0076a68cb3202490f6a706700e596.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">From left, FBI Director James Comey, CIA Director John Brennan, and Director of National Intelligenc …</div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The surveillance programs have been under fire since former NSA analyst Edward Snowden absconded with an estimated 1.7 million documents related to surveillance and other NSA operations, giving the documents to journalists around the world. Revelations in the documents sparked a furor over whether Americans have been giving up privacy protections in exchange for intelligence-gathering on terrorism.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Congress will have a lot of say in how and whether Obama's ideas are carried out.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has proposed to end the NSA's bulk data collection program, putting him at odds with Feinstein. Leahy said senators would have many questions for Attorney General Eric Holder when he comes before the Judiciary Committee next week.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Yet Leahy suggested Sunday he might not challenge the president on allowing the NSA's surveillance programs to continue.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"No, I think we have a way that we could do this, but it's not a question of fighting the president," Leahy said on Fox. "The question is, what is Congress going to do on this? ... I just think that there should be an oversight.</div><div class="body-related" style="background-color: white; clear: right; float: right; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; position: relative;"><a class="body-related-link body-related-image go-to-slideshow-lightbox rapid-noclick-resp landscape onesize get-lbdata-from-dom" data-rapid_p="10" data-uuid="6377ba3d-382b-3b29-b7c1-c701110d4813" href="http://news.yahoo.com/photos/president-barack-obama-talks-national-security-agency-nsa-photo-140237633--politics.html" style="color: #324fe1; cursor: pointer; display: block; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px; position: relative; text-decoration: none;" title="President Barack Obama talks about National Security&nbsp;&hellip;"><div class="img-wrap" style="position: relative;"><div class="cta-overlay" style="-webkit-transition: background-color 0.24s linear; font-size: 13px; height: 211px; left: 0px; position: absolute; top: 0px; transition: background-color 0.24s linear; width: 300px;"><span class="clearfix title cta-text medium" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; color: white; font-size: 16px; left: 5px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; top: 5px; transition: opacity 0.24s linear; white-space: pre-wrap; width: 270px; zoom: 1;"></span><span class="cta-text xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.24s linear; bottom: 5px; color: white; font-size: 16px; margin-left: 42px; opacity: 0; position: absolute; transition: opacity 0.24s linear;">View gallery</span><span class="icon-slideshow icon-white-slideshow-xsmall" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.16s linear; background-color: #324fe1; background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; background-size: cover; border-bottom-left-radius: 4px; border-bottom-right-radius: 4px; border-top-left-radius: 4px; border-top-right-radius: 4px; bottom: 5px; cursor: pointer; height: 23px; left: 5px; line-height: 0; opacity: 0; padding: 0px; position: absolute; text-indent: -1000em; transition: opacity 0.16s linear; width: 32px; z-index: 1;"></span></div><img alt="President Barack Obama talks about National Security&nbsp;&hellip;" class="body-related-thumb" data-src-2x="" height="211" src="http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/Gpr25yYMHF0Xj43fVJ8TcA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTIxMTtxPTc1O3c9MzAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/ap_webfeeds/1b797b0268b03102490f6a706700c7cc.jpg" style="-webkit-transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat; border: 0px; display: block; opacity: 1 !important; transition: opacity 0.3333s ease 0ms; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible !important;" width="300" /></div></a><div class="body-related-title photo-caption" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: grey; font-size: 11px; line-height: 16.5px; margin: 0px auto; max-width: 100%; padding: 5px 5px 0px 0px; position: relative; width: 300px;">President Barack Obama talks about National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance, Friday, Jan. 17, 201 …</div></div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"I mean, I was a prosecutor for eight years; I believe in going after the bad guys," Leahy said. "And I realize this is an entirely different level of the bad guys that I went after, but you still have to have some checks and balances, or you have a government that can run amok."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Michael McCaul, said that Obama was moving in the right direction.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">"I think what gave most Americans heartburn was that this data was being stored under the NSA and warehoused under the government," said McCaul, R-Texas.</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">But McCaul allowed, "I think it's very difficult to decide who has the capability to store and use this data."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Sen. Mark Udall, another critic of the NSA surveillance program, praised the president's ideas and said the limitations Obama proposed mean that "we won't collect every Americans' phone records almost every day."</div><div style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Udall, D-Colo. and a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Congress has a real motivation to make meaningful changes to the program because authority to conduct the spying under post-9/11 laws expires next year. "So we have real motivation to get it right and to work together," Udall said.</div><div id="yui_3_9_1_1_1390232626529_12265" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', HelveticaNeue, helvetica, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24.000001907348633px; margin-bottom: 1.1em;">Feinstein and Rogers appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press." Rogers also appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" and CBS' "Face the Nation." McCaul appeared on ABC. Leahy appeared on "Fox News Sunday." Udall appeared on CBS.</div></div>

Lawmakers skeptical about Obama surveillance idea (BLOG)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaders of the congressional intelligence committees are pushing back against a key part of President Barack Obama's a...

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Stars support Zhanna Friske

<script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-8441125172513237"; /* bleu 280 */ google_ad_slot = "8164661108"; google_ad_width = 336; google_ad_height = 280; //--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script><br /><br />Today, when confirmed information about the terrible diagnosis made by <b><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2014/01/declared-fundraiser-for-treatment.html">Zhanna Friske</a></b>, many colleagues of the singer turned to her with words of support. So, wishes health star passed Kandelaki, Oxana Fedorova, Dibrov group "Disco Crash", recorded in his time with the singer duo Julia Savicheva Tigran Keosayan and others. <br /> <script type="text/javascript"><!-- google_ad_client = "ca-pub-8441125172513237"; /* biner3 */ google_ad_slot = "7346003106"; google_ad_width = 468; google_ad_height = 60; //--></script><script type="text/javascript" src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js"></script><br /><br /> Recall that today on the official site <a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2014/01/zhanna-friske-has-cancer.html"><b>Zhanna Friske</b></a> statement was issued her common law husband, TV presenter Dmitry Shepelev. He confirmed that the singer had cancer and addressed the audience with a single request - "to support us with a kind word and a prayer".<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFDvsqaOOcxTi2S01Ebc4MkdORxdbKSpSeY3XAFOUj5KvtvWhJFoB0ZytfBJac7GSXyiXBoW1-pnLSGD1kYJ4QcfY17Xiavlm67ng6TLZrJMb76Ae61XYj6hYeifivfkRdcK848bMG/s1600/Stars+support+Jeanne+Friske.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFDvsqaOOcxTi2S01Ebc4MkdORxdbKSpSeY3XAFOUj5KvtvWhJFoB0ZytfBJac7GSXyiXBoW1-pnLSGD1kYJ4QcfY17Xiavlm67ng6TLZrJMb76Ae61XYj6hYeifivfkRdcK848bMG/s1600/Stars+support+Jeanne+Friske.jpg" /></a></div><br />It is made by the Russian celebrity. <br /> <br /><b> Kandelaki: </b><br /> <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"> I'd like to support <b>Zhanna Friske</b> and wish her a speedy recovery and strength! Dima and Jeanne, I'm sure you can do it! </blockquote><br /><b> Oxana Fedorova:</b> <br /> <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"> At such moments, the main thing - to be near loved ones were. However, patience and the belief that Joan pass this test. She is strong. I will pray for her. </blockquote><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr_YNfw5TCz-iqhFNV2o-cxXXCZv1HpsIjyzwe8Q_irmDBoagBP251MJfFl1f7o3ZWGRu1VJUxIGKy-jaI7rTWMkMvaQaqmBPodCKFgJwLR5EK0f84lngpOGZB1oePRxvPrtSZ5GFL/s1600/Oxana+Fedorova.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Oxana Fedorova" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhr_YNfw5TCz-iqhFNV2o-cxXXCZv1HpsIjyzwe8Q_irmDBoagBP251MJfFl1f7o3ZWGRu1VJUxIGKy-jaI7rTWMkMvaQaqmBPodCKFgJwLR5EK0f84lngpOGZB1oePRxvPrtSZ5GFL/s1600/Oxana+Fedorova.jpg" title="Oxana Fedorova" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: small;">Oxana Fedorova</span></i></td></tr></tbody></table><b>Soloists of the "Disco Crash": </b><br /> <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"> Please, let us all pray for the health of Zhanna Friske. Strength and patience to you and your loved ones! Everything will be fine. We believe. </blockquote><br /><b>Anfisa Chekhova: </b><br /> <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"> Hold on, please, fight against this challenging disease! I'd like to see your incredible smile, hear your voice and to warm your light!! Zhannochka, pray for you, I think constantly and really looking forward to the good news!!!! </blockquote><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqgrjWvSTYGHQuMrtGcoVAtUpStw_JKReVxyA6POwyVpoUX9R8bSYiMODrgxLLuWI3hO6KGi8VPqfq8eAR0zDrGlqsqT1s4KI3tmxQWFFgaYtBtA66y-yLQzcyMcWMlT-BCM-FMcwC/s1600/Anfisa+Chekhova.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Anfisa Chekhova" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqgrjWvSTYGHQuMrtGcoVAtUpStw_JKReVxyA6POwyVpoUX9R8bSYiMODrgxLLuWI3hO6KGi8VPqfq8eAR0zDrGlqsqT1s4KI3tmxQWFFgaYtBtA66y-yLQzcyMcWMlT-BCM-FMcwC/s1600/Anfisa+Chekhova.jpg" title="Anfisa Chekhova" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;"><i>Anfisa Chekhova</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><b>Iosif Kobzon:</b> <br /> <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"> I wish a speedy recovery to Zhanna. If you need any help - I'm ready. Fortunately, Joan has a husband - the father of her child Dmitry Shepelev - and parents. She is not alone. </blockquote><br /><b> Julia Savicheva: </b><br /> <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"> News about Joan terrible. Let's all wish her to go through this terrible ordeal and be healthy! Fasten, Zhanna, we're! </blockquote><br /><b> Tigran Keosayan: </b><br /> <br /> Janna Friske-health and ineradicable desire to live. And all of us - tact and compassion.<br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwHXUgKECLDRKPswVSdP2ZOMll36eg8cWHPDMFm0u0XmLOEvTkd5s-ExVc60K-cSqC1UG00U4o_jFNinCZO_IAOJnI8roPZqAzMQDeJS2EG-bSSBeLz3koWNoKxb39CHzBtlc-zaFn/s1600/Tigran+Keosayan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="Tigran Keosayan" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwHXUgKECLDRKPswVSdP2ZOMll36eg8cWHPDMFm0u0XmLOEvTkd5s-ExVc60K-cSqC1UG00U4o_jFNinCZO_IAOJnI8roPZqAzMQDeJS2EG-bSSBeLz3koWNoKxb39CHzBtlc-zaFn/s1600/Tigran+Keosayan.jpg" title="Tigran Keosayan" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small; text-align: start;"><i>Tigran Keosayan</i></span></td></tr></tbody></table><b>Dibrov: </b><br /> <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">  Zhanna, we are with you! If you need anything, we are always there - write, call immediately. Really loves Russia, People's Artist of you. Retweet ... </blockquote><br /><b>Natalie Podolsky: </b><br /> <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"> Zhannochka, dear! Hold on! The whole country will be praying! And who is familiar with you and who is not! Everyone knows that you're a fighter! Believe!!! </blockquote><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW_GKnyJg0Kt30U3xxS0eo1zhfjtN1iXO9fQ3JFsUjfi4rW30nWX1mdHG7ReWB43z7Vk1zRmN8mylqVSUjLTiZorqwBKsDAHlbZ8xRahuTqDMWIC67NmM6MfEwyzaAqw98F1rBdrr7/s1600/Natalie+Podolsky.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW_GKnyJg0Kt30U3xxS0eo1zhfjtN1iXO9fQ3JFsUjfi4rW30nWX1mdHG7ReWB43z7Vk1zRmN8mylqVSUjLTiZorqwBKsDAHlbZ8xRahuTqDMWIC67NmM6MfEwyzaAqw98F1rBdrr7/s1600/Natalie+Podolsky.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><br /><b>Alexander Panayotov: </b><br /> <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">  Zhanna Friske I wish a speedy recovery! Courage, strength and patience to her and her family!!! </blockquote><br /><b> Kate Gordon: </b><br /> <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"> Jeanne! Hold on! We are all with you!!! </blockquote><br /><b>Venediktov: </b><br /> <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"> Zhanna Friske has cancer ... My deepest sympathy. And support. </blockquote><br /> Became known that the singer Lolita already organized to raise funds for the treatment of  Zhanna. LifeNews cites Lolita: <br /> <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq"> I am not a close friend, I am a colleague, a man who truly appreciates Joan for many years. I want to say that it is incredibly bright, and kind person, and positive. And anyway, it's a great human uncommon to have a woman and was smart, and beautiful, kind and unenvious. My colleagues and I once learned phoned and decided to raise funds and deliver them to the family of  Zhanna.<br /> <br /> There are millions of cases, and I've seen these people, too, when in the fourth stage of inoperable cancer, people have found the strength to disease control and emerged victorious from this struggle ... I wish that all who now says about the disease  Zhanna set up its only that the internal capacity and internal forces are able to compete with any disease. </blockquote><br /> Join the words to express all the colleagues of  Zhanna Friske<br /><br /><script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script><!-- boton --><ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:90px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-8441125172513237" data-ad-slot="4392536701"></ins><script>(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script>

Stars support Zhanna Friske

Today, when confirmed information about the terrible diagnosis made by Zhanna Friske , many colleagues of the singer turned to her with wor...

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