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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Spotted: Jennifer Garner and Seraphina ? Tickle Monster
Jennifer Garner tickles daughter Seraphina Rose Elizabeth, 2?, while out shopping at Splendid and for balloons on Wednesday in Santa Monica, Calif.
GOP eager to scuttle defense cuts (Politico)
Congressional Republicans are still full throttle in their efforts to dismantle the automatic spending cuts that would be particularly painful to the Pentagon.
A quartet of Senate defense hawks announced on Wednesday they?ll introduce legislation to undo hundreds of billions of dollars in defense cuts by replacing it with budget savings elsewhere. Those across-the-board cuts were mandated by the supercommittee?s inability to strike a deal slashing the nation?s deficit by at least $1.2 trillion over the next decade.
Continue ReadingGOP senators on defense cuts
?We wanted to make it clear what our intention is so that there is absolutely no doubt, in anybody?s mind, that the across-the-board sequesters to defense spending will not have to happen,? said Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl, one of six Republicans who served on the supercommittee.
?It offends the hell out of me that we would even consider that,? said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) of the defense cuts. ?These men and women have really gone out of our way to protect all of us.?
Flanked by Graham and Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, Kyl said the spending cuts that would offset the sequester would be a mix of specific reductions identified during the supercommittee negotiations, the deficit talks led by Vice President Joe Biden and other not-as-well-known proposals, such as a plan drafted by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.).
The plan could also include revenue-raisers identified by Republicans during the supercommittee negotiations, such as spectrum auctions, land sales and fees for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae ? which total a little over $100 billion, Kyl said.
The automatic budget cuts, to be split evenly between defense and domestic programs, were designed to pressure the 12 members of the supercommittee to reach a $1.2 trillion deficit-reduction deal, but failed to do so and set in motion the automatic cuts ? a sequence of events that McCain derided as an ?idiotic process.?
To be sure, GOP efforts to roll back the defense cuts face an uphill struggle in the Democratic-led Senate and at the White House. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has said the automatic cuts should stay in place, and the Obama administration has vowed to veto efforts to rolling back or tweaking those cuts.
Graham on Wednesday called the veto threat ?twisted.?
?I can?t conceive a president of the United States, the commander-in-chief, threatening to veto an effort to save the Defense Department from ruin,? Graham said. ?I would expect the commander-in-chief to come to the aid of those who are going to get devastated.?
The Republican senators expect to introduce their bill when Congress reconvenes in January. The automatic cuts don?t kick in until the beginning of 2013, but the lawmakers said they need to act about a year in advance because Defense Secretary Leon Panetta would need about that much time to plan for those budget cuts.
Some Democrats want to avoid the automatic cuts, too, but haven?t been as vocal about it as the Republicans who want to do away with the defense sequester. That?s where Kyl thinks he can pick off some Democratic support.
?I think, in reality, there is as much fervor on the Democratic side to prevent the across-the-board to nondefense discretionary spending,? said Kyl, who said he?s discussed his proposal with Democrats. ?I suspect [they] would be perfectly supportive of ways to do that reduction more intelligently as well.?
Meanwhile, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) said Wednesday that he?s introduced a bill to prevent the defense cuts as well. It would shrink the federal workforce by 10 percent through attrition and use those savings to pay for one year of both defense and non-defense cuts. The committee estimated that defense cuts for fiscal 2013 equals about $55 billion.
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Friday, December 16, 2011
Peru judge grants Berenson NY holiday (AP)
LIMA, Peru ? A Peruvian court is allowing paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson and her toddler son to travel to New York for the holidays, she and her father said on Friday.
Mark Berenson told The Associated Press by phone from his Manhattan home that Berenson had obtained permission to leave Peru from Dec. 16 to Jan. 11.
"I'm very glad that Peru is respecting its laws and human rights," he said. "As Lori says, if she doesn't come home, let Interpol arrest her."
Lori Berenson was paroled last year after serving 15 years for aiding leftist rebels, but she cannot leave Peru permanently until her sentence ends in 2015.
Her father told the AP on Friday he is "petrified" a negative local reaction to the New York visit could prevent the trip.
"My worry is that there's going to be screaming to stop this," he said. Some Peruvians consider her a terrorist, opposed her parole and have publicly insulted her on the street.
He said that as far as he knew, his 42-year-old daughter was still trying to buy a ticket for herself and son Salvador, who is 2 1/2.
"It's not going to be easy," he said. Flights are heavily booked and prices high at this time of year.
Reached by the AP, Lori Berenson confirmed her court permission by a text message but added: "I am not speaking to the press."
She has been repeatedly hounded and mobbed by Peruvian news news media, which has occasionally frightened young Salvador. Last month, one TV channel obtained her new address and showed video of her home on television, her father said.
"It was very dangerous," he added. "The (U.S.) Embassy complained."
His daughter is separated from Salvador's father, Anibal Apari, whom she met in prison and who serves as her lawyer.
He also confirmed the court's approval of the New York trip to Peruvian TV reporters on Friday.
Mark Berenson, 69, said his daughter is looking forward to seeing relatives she hasn't met since her 20s, including his 96-year-old aunt.
Since her initial parole in May 2010, Lori Berenson repeatedly expressed regret for aiding the rebel Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.
Arrested in 1995, the former MIT student was accused of helping the rebels plan an armed takeover of Congress, an attack that never happened.
A military court convicted her the following year and sentenced her to life in prison for sedition. But after intense U.S. government pressure, she was retried in civil courts in 2001 and sentenced to 20 years for terrorist collaboration.
Berenson was unrepentant at the time of her arrest, but softened during years of sometimes harsh prison conditions, eventually being praised as a model prisoner.
Yet she is viewed by many as a symbol of the 1980-2000 rebel conflict that claimed some 70,000 lives. The fanatical Maoist Shining Path movement did most of the killing, while Tupac Amaru was a lesser player.
Berenson has acknowledged helping the rebels rent a safe house, where authorities seized a cache of weapons. But she insists she didn't know guns were being stored there. She denies ever belonging to Tupac Amaru or engaging in violent acts.
In an interview with the AP last year, Berenson said she was deeply troubled at having become Peru's "face of terrorism."
Its most famous prisoner, she also became a politically convenient scapegoat, she said.
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Video: Defining the GOP?s path to victory
Get connected at America's techiest airports
If you?ve ever found yourself at the airport hunting for an available outlet or waiting on glacial-paced Wi-Fi, help is at hand. On Thursday, PCWorld magazine released its first-ever report on the Top Airports for Tech Travelers.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45689727#45689727
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Monday, December 5, 2011
Best MTV Live Performance Of 2011: Voting Is Open!
Jay-Z and Kanye West's VMA set, 30 Seconds to Mars' 'Unplugged' and Beyoncé's big reveal made our top 16 — now you decide on the best.
By Gil Kaufman
Kanye West and Jay-Z perform at the 2011 VMAs
Photo: WireImage
When's the last time Beyoncé came to your job and revealed that she was pregnant with her first child? Or Jay-Z and Kanye West dropped by your party to perform live on TV for the first time as the Throne?
Those are just two of the 16 awesome moments compiled as part of a list of our Best MTV Live Performances of 2011. As the year draws to a close, the music experts at MTV News, MTV.com, Buzzworthy and MTV's music and talent department have narrowed down hundreds of live musical performances from 2011 to a carefully curated 16. Now, it's up to you to vote and decide on the Best MTV Live Performance of the year.
Voting is under way now and will remain open through Monday, December 12, at noon ET.
The choices are pretty amazing and they include Grammy nominee Adele's mesmerizing "Someone Like You" from the VMAs, Odd Future's mayhem-filled performance of "Sandwitches" and "Yonkers" at the 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards and Paramore's set at the "Fueled by Ramen 15th Anniversary Concert."
Also on the list is Mac Miller slaying the crowd during "Knock Knock" at "Mac Miller: Live in Chicago," MTV exclusives like 30 Seconds to Mars' MTV "Unplugged" show, Jack's Mannequin's rooftop take on "Release Me" and other memorable moments from Chris Brown, Pitbull, Wiz Khalifa, Lupe Fiasco, Lil Wayne, Foster the People, Robyn and Two Door Cinema Club.
Check out the nominees, watch show highlights and vote for the Best MTV Live Performance of 2011. Stay tuned for the results on Monday, December 12, at noon ET!
Related Videos Related Photos Related Artists
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1675391/best-performance-2011-jay-z-kanye-west-beyonce-adele.jhtml
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Art-theft suspect pleads not guilty in NYC
FILE - This file booking photo originally released by the San Francisco District Attorney on Oct. 27, 2011 shows Mark Lugo, who has just finished a 138-day sentence for snatching a $275,000 Picasso sketch off a San Francisco art gallery wall. Lugo is headed back to New York for arraignment on Friday, Dec. 2, 2011 for grand larceny and other charges stemming from art heists at two Manhattan hotels. (AP Photo/San Francisco District Attorney, File)
FILE - This file booking photo originally released by the San Francisco District Attorney on Oct. 27, 2011 shows Mark Lugo, who has just finished a 138-day sentence for snatching a $275,000 Picasso sketch off a San Francisco art gallery wall. Lugo is headed back to New York for arraignment on Friday, Dec. 2, 2011 for grand larceny and other charges stemming from art heists at two Manhattan hotels. (AP Photo/San Francisco District Attorney, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? A wine steward suspected in a bicoastal art-theft spree lifted pricey art from New York hotels simply by walking out with the works in a canvas tote bag and then used them to line his own walls, prosecutors said Friday.
Mark Lugo, who just spent more than four months in jail for grabbing a $275,000 Picasso off a San Francisco art gallery wall, was being held without bail after pleading not guilty Friday to grand larceny and other charges in a Manhattan court.
"In an effort to display stolen art in his apartment, this repeat art thief boldly walked out of two Manhattan hotels in broad daylight" with valuable works, District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said in a statement.
Lugo's New York lawyer, James Montgomery, said the 31-year-old was a "pleasant, engaging" man "who's been struggling with particular difficulties," which he wouldn't detail.
"When the dust settles, and the DA's office calms down a little bit, we'll find that Mr. Lugo is a man who had no commercial motive at all" in the alleged thefts, Montgomery said.
The charges relate to two thefts of a total of six artworks, including what prosecutors called a $350,000 sketch by the French Cubist painter Fernand Leger. But prosecutors said a search of Lugo's former apartment in Hoboken, N.J., turned up four other pieces ? including a Picasso work ? that may have been stolen from Manhattan venues, and they said the investigation was continuing.
Lugo was publicly identified as a suspect in several New York heists since shortly after his July arrest in San Francisco, where police identified him as the man who walked into the Weinstein Gallery, lifted the 1965 Picasso drawing "Tete de Femme" ("Head of a Woman") off the wall, strolled down the street with the sketch under his arm and hopped into a taxi. Police tracked Lugo to a friend's Napa County apartment, where the Picasso was found unframed and prepared for shipping.
At his Hoboken apartment, investigators then found a $430,000 trove of stolen art, carefully and prominently displayed, as well as high-priced wine, authorities said.
Among some 19 artworks at the apartment was Leger's 1917 "Composition with Mechanical Elements," Assistant District Attorney Meghan Hast told a judge. The drawing disappeared June 28 from an employee entrance area at a gallery in the Carlyle Hotel; prosecutors pegged its value at $350,000, though Montgomery said that figure warranted investigating.
Lugo also is charged with stealing a group of five works by the South Korea-born artist Mie Yim, known for her disconcerting images of toy bears and other toy-like creatures, from the Chambers Hotel on June 14. The hotel had bought the Yim works, together called "Pastel on Board," for $1,800 apiece, prosecutors said.
Representatives for the hotels didn't immediately return calls Friday.
The San Francisco district attorney's office has said Lugo also was suspected of several other New York art heists, including the theft of a $30,000 Picasso etching from the William Bennett Gallery on June 27.
The sometime sommelier and kitchen server at upscale Manhattan restaurants also is charged in New Jersey with taking $6,000 worth of wine - in the form of three bottles of Chateau Petrus Pomerol - in April from Gary's Wine and Marketplace in Wayne. He hasn't appeared in a New Jersey court yet to answer those charges.
Lugo pleaded guilty in October to grand theft for the San Francisco heist. He finished his 138-day sentence Nov. 21 but was being held until he could be transferred to New York.
Lugo's San Francisco attorney, Douglas Horngrad, has called him "more like someone who was in the midst of a psychiatric episode" than a calculating art thief.
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Thursday, December 1, 2011
Up to 2 million strike over UK austerity cuts
LONDON?? Paramedics, emergency crews, teachers and even some employees from the prime minister's office took to the streets of Britain Wednesday for the country's largest strike in decades ? drawing attention to government cuts but failing to bring the nation to a standstill.
Up to 2 million public sector employees staged the one-day walkout over government demands that they work longer before receiving a pension and pay more in monthly contributions, part of austerity measures to tackle Britain's 967 billion-pound ($1.5 trillion) debt.
The strike came a day after the government announced that public sector pay raises will be limited to 1 percent through 2014 ? even as inflation now runs about 5 percent.
London's Heathrow Airport and airlines had warned international travelers that they could be delayed for up to 12 hours at immigration halls because of the strike, but flights arriving Wednesday from the United States, Asia and Europe were largely unaffected ? in part because of contingency plans to staff immigration desks. Those extra staff included members of Cameron's policy unit and his press secretary.
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At London's Hammersmith Hospital, the corridors were quieter than usual as fewer patients were being treated. Some medical technicians were on strike and in some departments only emergency operations were being performed. There were similar staff shortages at many other hospitals.
"The government wants us to work longer, pay more and at the end get less. How fair is that?" said Eleanor Smith, president of the UNISON trade union which represents about 1 million health, education and law enforcement staff. Smith joined a picket outside Birmingham Women's Hospital in central England, where she works as a nurse.
About two-thirds of England's 21,700 state-run schools were closed as teachers joined the strike. Health officials said 60,000 non-urgent operations and appointments had been postponed in advance in England, while in Scotland at least 3,000 operations and thousands more appointments were canceled.
London's ambulance service said it was responding to life-threatening injuries only. Some police forces warned those calling a non-emergency number that they may need to leave a message and wait for a response.
Prime Minister David Cameron defended the government's stance in Parliament, insisting that "as people live longer it's only right and only fair that you should make greater contributions."
"I don't want to see any strikes, I don't want to see schools closed, I don't want see problems at our borders, but this government must make responsible decisions," Cameron told the House of Commons.
Story: US, Europe risk another recession, report warnsLen McCluskey, general secretary of the large Unite union, told The Guardian newspaper that "working people are being asked to pay for the economic mess caused by the greedy City [financial sector center] elite whose behavior this spineless government has repeatedly failed to tackle."
"This is a government that will snatch at least 16 per cent of income from public sector workers by holding down their pay for four years ? but leaves the banking tax at a paltry 0.08 per cent," he added. "The action today has been a brilliant display of courage and concern by public servants who are being demonized by a government that has lost its moral compass."
A government report found U.K. taxpayers contribute about 32 billion pounds ($50 billion) each year to public sector pensions, and warned the gap between contributions and payments could rise to 9 billion pounds ($14 billion) by 2015.
A small number of separate protesters, meanwhile, stormed an office in London's West End as night fell. Police said 21 arrests had been made there and the incident was unrelated to the strike.
Police said late Wednesday that a march and demonstration in central London was "a peaceful affair," though a small number of groups unconnected to the main march came to commit crime.
London police said altogether 75 people had been arrested in the protests, including 37 people detained after clashes at a rally in Hackney, east London.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45489209/ns/world_news-europe/
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