LONDON ? Andrew Lloyd Webber says London's Olympic Games will force most of the capital's theaters to close for the summer.
Lloyd Webber said Friday the games will make it "very tough" for shows in London's West End and predicted that three major musicals would not play over the games.
The composer told BBC radio that the biggest hits ? such as his own "The Phantom of the Opera" ? would play over the games but that others would struggle to draw crowds.
He says advance bookings for West End shows were running at only 10 percent of their normal level.
Lloyd Weber's Really Useful Group owns seven London theaters. Others in the industry have predicted a slump in demand over the summer.
The 2011 Korea Baseball Organization season began on April 2, 2011. Opening Day featured three shutouts among the four games (all sold out) - each one was started by an American, with Gary Glover of the SK Wyverns, Bryan Corey of the Lotte Giants and Dustin Nippert of the Doosan Bears all tossing gems, Corey and Nippert in their Korean debuts.
Hyun-jin Ryu became the quickest pitcher to 1,000 career strikeouts, getting there at age 24 and in 153 games. The Samsung Lions won the 2011 Korean Series for their fifth title. Seung-hwan Oh tied his own KBO and Asian records for saves in a season, with 47, then won Korean Series MVP honors. Oh then withdrew his name from consideration for the KBO MVP award, supporting teammate Hyung-woo Choi (the home run and RBI leader), but Oh still finished second in voting to Suk-min Yoon while Choi was third.
[edit]Awards
The KBO MVP was Suk-min Yoon, a pitcher for the KIA Tigers, who won the pitching Triple Crown. The KBO Rookie of the Year was Young-seop Bae, an outfielder for the Samsung Lions.
The following players won Gold Gloves, which in the KBO go to the best overall player at each position are not a defensive (only) award.
P: Suk-min Yoon, KIA Tigers
C: Min-ho Kang, Lotte Giants
1B: Dae-ho Lee, Lotte Giants
2B: Chi-hong An, KIA Tigers
3B: Jung Choi, SK Wyverns
SS: Dae-soo Lee, Hanwha Eagles
LF: Hyung-woo Choi, Samsung Lions
CF: Yong-kyu Lee, KIA Tigers
RF: Ah-seop Son, Lotte Giants
DH: Sung-heun Hong, Lotte Giants
[edit]Standings
Samsung Lions, 79-50-4
Lotte Giants, 72-56-5
SK Wyverns, 71-59-3
KIA Tigers, 70-63
Doosan Bears, 61-70-2
LG Twins, 59-72-2
Hanwha Eagles, 59-72-2
Nexen Heroes, 51-80-2
Playoffs: SK def. KIA, 3 games to 1. SK def. Lotte, 3 games to 2.
2011 Korean Series: Samsung def. SK, 4 games to 1.
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California Tattoo Law Creates Statewide Health Standards: A new California law for tattoo and body art businesse... bit.ly/v7qAW2Il y a environ 2 heuresvia twitterfeed
My most-used apps of 2011 are probably the built in iPhone and iPad Safari browser, Mail client, and anything and everything Siri can now easily and instantly...
DENVER ? Colorado has become the third state to ask the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to reclassify marijuana in way that allows doctors to prescribe it as a medical treatment.
The head of Colorado's Department of Revenue, which oversees the state's booming medical marijuana business, made the request in a letter sent Dec. 22. It wasn't released to the public until Wednesday because of the Christmas holiday.
The letter says the discrepancy between state law and federal drug law, which does not permit medicinal uses of marijuana, is problematic.
Last month, the governors of Washington and Rhode Island also asked that the government list marijuana as a Schedule 2 drug, like morphine and oxycodone.
Save the Children says its emergency appeal for the drought and famine in East Africa has been the most successful in the charity?s history.
Its appeal began in July, as the region faced its worst drought in 60 years.
The charity said more than ?7m had been raised in the UK in six months. The money went on medical supplies, food and clean water for 1.7m children. Meanwhile, the government has called on UK companies to give more to charity as household budgets come under pressure.
Save the Children said that the money raised by its appeal showed that ?even when times are tough at home? British people care deeply about the world?s most vulnerable children.?
Writing in today?s Daily Telegraph, Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd called on companies to give more of their money and time to good causes as household budgets come under pressure. Save the Children said that the money raised by its appeal showed that ?even when times are tough at home? British people care deeply about the world?s most vulnerable children.?
Writing in today?s Daily Telegraph, Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd called on companies to give more of their money and time to good causes as household budgets come under pressure.
He said that corporate donations in the UK made up 3% of all cash payments to charities, whereas in the United States it was 5%.
The East Africa drought has affected the countries of Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya and Djibouti, with conflict-torn Somalia being the hardest-hit. Tens of thousands of Somalis have fled rural areas in search of food. Britain is funding 9,000 tonnes of food and medical supplies for the Horn of Africa. Mr Mitchell said it would also help prevent terrorism and disorder in Somalia which was a ?direct threat? to the UK.
Mr Mitchell said the latest estimate was that up to 100,000 people may have died in the Horn of Africa between April and August.
He said there were some signs that the situation was improving, but that the situation was still desperate for people who remained malnourished and stuck in camps.
Mr Mitchell said Somalia in particular needed more assistance than aid.
He said the prime minister would be hosting a conference in London in February to examine what the international community could do to help the country.
NOAA scientists: spilled oil unexpectedly lethal to fish embryos in shallow, sunlit watersPublic release date: 26-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Vicky Krikelas Vicky.Krikelas@noaa.gov 206-554-1724 NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service
Study examines impact of 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay
In a study published today in the scientific journal PNAS, NOAA scientists and their collaborators reported Pacific herring embryos in shallow waters died in unexpectedly high numbers following an oil spill in San Francisco Bay, and suggest an interaction between sunlight and the chemicals in oil might be responsible.
In November 2007, the container ship Cosco Busan released 54,000 gallons of bunker fuel, a combination of diesel and residual fuel oil, into the San Francisco Bay. The accident contaminated the shoreline near the spawning habitats of the largest population of Pacific herring on the West Coast.
In this study, scientists found that herring embryos placed in cages in relatively deep water at oiled sites developed subtle but important heart defects consistent with findings in previous studies. In contrast, almost all the embryos that naturally spawned in nearby shallower waters in the same time period died. When scientists sampled naturally-spawned embryos from the same sites two years later, mortality rates in both shallower and deeper waters had returned to pre-spill levels.
"Based on what we know about the effects of crude oil on early life stages in fish, we expected to find live embryos with abnormal heart function, so it was a surprise to find so many embryos in the shallow waters literally falling apart," said Dr. John Incardona, a toxicologist with NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the study. "The study has given us a new perspective on oil threats in sunlit habitats, particularly for translucent animals such as herring embryos. The chemical composition of residual oils can vary widely, so the question remains whether we would see the same thing with other bunker fuels from around the world."
Two decades of toxicity research since the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill has shown that fish embryos and larvae are particularly vulnerable to spilled oil. Most catastrophic spills, such as the Exxon Valdez, involve large volumes of crude oil. However, residual oils used in bunker fuels are the leftovers of crude oil refining, and are not as well studied as crude oils. Bunker fuel is used in maritime shipping worldwide, and accidental bunker spills are more and more common and widespread than large crude oil spills.
###
The study, "Unexpectedly high mortality in Pacific herring embryos exposed to the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay," was jointly undertaken by scientists with NOAA, the Bodega Marine Lab (University of California at Davis) and Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife. The study will be available online at http://www.pnas.org/.
NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Visit us at http://www.noaa.gov or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/usnoaagov.
For more information about Dr. John Incardona, see http://www.noaaworld.noaa.gov/people/sep2008_people_2.html.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NOAA scientists: spilled oil unexpectedly lethal to fish embryos in shallow, sunlit watersPublic release date: 26-Dec-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Vicky Krikelas Vicky.Krikelas@noaa.gov 206-554-1724 NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service
Study examines impact of 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay
In a study published today in the scientific journal PNAS, NOAA scientists and their collaborators reported Pacific herring embryos in shallow waters died in unexpectedly high numbers following an oil spill in San Francisco Bay, and suggest an interaction between sunlight and the chemicals in oil might be responsible.
In November 2007, the container ship Cosco Busan released 54,000 gallons of bunker fuel, a combination of diesel and residual fuel oil, into the San Francisco Bay. The accident contaminated the shoreline near the spawning habitats of the largest population of Pacific herring on the West Coast.
In this study, scientists found that herring embryos placed in cages in relatively deep water at oiled sites developed subtle but important heart defects consistent with findings in previous studies. In contrast, almost all the embryos that naturally spawned in nearby shallower waters in the same time period died. When scientists sampled naturally-spawned embryos from the same sites two years later, mortality rates in both shallower and deeper waters had returned to pre-spill levels.
"Based on what we know about the effects of crude oil on early life stages in fish, we expected to find live embryos with abnormal heart function, so it was a surprise to find so many embryos in the shallow waters literally falling apart," said Dr. John Incardona, a toxicologist with NOAA's Northwest Fisheries Science Center and lead author of the study. "The study has given us a new perspective on oil threats in sunlit habitats, particularly for translucent animals such as herring embryos. The chemical composition of residual oils can vary widely, so the question remains whether we would see the same thing with other bunker fuels from around the world."
Two decades of toxicity research since the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill has shown that fish embryos and larvae are particularly vulnerable to spilled oil. Most catastrophic spills, such as the Exxon Valdez, involve large volumes of crude oil. However, residual oils used in bunker fuels are the leftovers of crude oil refining, and are not as well studied as crude oils. Bunker fuel is used in maritime shipping worldwide, and accidental bunker spills are more and more common and widespread than large crude oil spills.
###
The study, "Unexpectedly high mortality in Pacific herring embryos exposed to the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay," was jointly undertaken by scientists with NOAA, the Bodega Marine Lab (University of California at Davis) and Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife. The study will be available online at http://www.pnas.org/.
NOAA's mission is to understand and predict changes in the Earth's environment, from the depths of the ocean to the surface of the sun, and to conserve and manage our coastal and marine resources. Visit us at http://www.noaa.gov or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/usnoaagov.
For more information about Dr. John Incardona, see http://www.noaaworld.noaa.gov/people/sep2008_people_2.html.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
'I'm pretty intuitive,' actor tells MTV News about why he wanted to work with the pop star on an upcoming basketball-themed drama. By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Josh Horowitz
Mark Wahlberg Photo: MTV News
Mark Wahlberg surprised movie fans everywhere when he announced plans to hook up with Justin Bieber on the big screen. But when MTV News caught up with the "Contraband" star recently, he explained why he wanted to work with the teen phenom on the basketball-themed drama.
"Intuition. I'm pretty intuitive," he said of why he thinks shooting a film with the pop star is the right choice. "I see the guy and spent time with him, and you see what he does and how he does it, and then you actually have a conversation with him, and it's there." Of course, if it doesn't come easily to the rookie actor, Wahlberg has a backup plan: "It's there — and if not, I will extract it." When MTV News caught up with Wahlberg and Bieber earlier this year at the MTV Movie Awards, they opened up a bit more about the in-the-works flick. "Wait till you see me and Bieber in the flick. Think of, like, 'The Color of Money,' " Wahlberg said of his "old guy" role. "So I get this call from Paramount [with a story about] an old guy and a young guy. I'm like, 'Cool, let's get Jack [Nicholson]. Let's get Robert De Niro. Let's get Robert Duvall.' And they go, 'What about Garrett Hedlund?' I'm like, 'For what?' " he further recalled. "They're like, 'For the young guy.' "
Bieber, who previously appeared on the big screen in his 3-D concert flick "Never Say Never," said he hopes to be on a film set by sometime next summer. And while he kept his plans hush-hush, he added that his team is "working on the script." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) ? A light dusting of snow in north Texas delivered a rare white Christmas to this drought-stricken state, but the majority of the nation was seeing mild weather on Sunday.
Snow showers glazed parts of the Northeast as well, with snowy road conditions cited as a factor in a two-vehicle traffic collision that left four men dead in the town of Palermo, Maine, on Sunday.
But weather forecasters said 99 percent of Americans would see more green and brown for their Yuletide celebrations -- along with plenty of rain, according to Accuweather.com.
Other fair-weather exceptions included freeze warnings posted in the farm-rich Central Valley of California, gale warnings near the Great Lakes, and high winds that left thousands of homes without power in and around Seattle.
The wet Christmas in the Texas panhandle and Permian Basin brought some cheer for drought-weary Texans, who were seeing snow in Lubbock and Amarillo on Christmas morning and rain in the eastern part of the state.
The worst drought on record in Texas this year stoked devastating wildfires, killed as many as half a billion trees, and prompted the most serious urban water-use restrictions ever in the state.
By mid-afternoon on Sunday, at least 4 inches of snow had fallen in Amarillo, making it the second snowiest Christmas in that city's history, National Weather Service forecaster Stephen Bilodeau said.
And with winter weather advisories in effect until 6 a.m. on Monday, there was a chance that Amarillo's record for snow accumulation might be broken before midnight.
Bilodeau said he would have preferred that the snow quit early and left the afternoon safer for Christmas Day travel.
"It's a little bit too much," he said. "The white Christmas through the beginning of the day was good, but now these poor people are getting out into this stuff. There have been a few accidents, and it's ruining a few people's day today."
Not so for native Texan and conservationist Don Alexander, 55, who was spending the holiday with his wife's family in Midland, and enjoying his very first white Christmas.
"The snow is a nifty bonus," Alexander said, as his college-aged daughter posted snow pictures on her Facebook page. "The snow will certainly make this particular Christmas memorable. Winter isn't very scenic in West Texas, so the layer of snow is a nice effect. The bad part is having to wipe down the dog's paws every time he goes outside and then back in."
Far to the north, public safety officials in Maine said four men were killed in a head-on crash between an SUV and another vehicle on a road made slippery by light snowfall in Palermo, about 60 miles northeast of Portland. Police said the collision ranks as Maine's deadliest traffic wreck this year.
In the Midwest, a lack of snow was especially welcome news in Minneapolis, where a pre-Christmas storm last year dumped 17 inches of snow, causing the roof of the Metrodome, the Minnesota Viking's football stadium, to collapse.
This year, Minneapolis was without snow and basking in temperatures that climbed into the relatively balmy high-30s over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.
Very little fresh snow was expected to fall elsewhere throughout the day on Sunday, according to Accuweather.com. But a storm in southern Ontario was forecast to move into Quebec on Sunday night and drop snow near the Great Lakes, with some accumulation expected overnight.
Residents from Watertown, New York, to Bangor, Maine -- many of whom are off work on Monday in observance of the Christmas holiday -- could wake up to an inch of snow on the ground Monday as that storm moves East.
The Weather Service posted a wind advisory for western Washington state on Sunday, warning of gusts reaching 50 miles per hour through mid-afternoon.
Utility companies reported at least 24,000 homes and businesses without electricity in Seattle and the greater Puget Sound region during the day, mostly from tree limbs blown into power lines.
Most of the Pacific Northwest was experiencing mild weather on Christmas Day, while states like Colorado and New Mexico had lingering snow leftover from a pre-Christmas storm.
Calhoun's new website sports new look, faster information access The Huntsville Times - al.com By Mike Kelley, 42 staff DECATUR, Alabama ? If you haven't opened the Calhoun Community College website recently, you're in for a surprise. Alabama's largest community college is sporting a totally new look on its website that should make it easier for ...
North Korean media on Saturday hailed the youngest son of late leader Kim Jong-il as "supreme commander" of the powerful military, in the latest sign that the untested successor is cementing his hold on power.
"We will uphold Comrade Kim Jong-un as our supreme commander and general and we will bring the Songun (military-first) revolution to a completion," the ruling communist party's Rodong Sinmun said in an editorial.
It is the first time that one of the North's mouthpieces has used the title supreme commander - a post previously held by his father - for the new leader, already a four-star general though still in his late 20s.
"This shows that Jong-un now has a firm grip on the military and the North is heralding this to the outside world," said professor Kim Yong-Hyun of Dongguk University in Seoul.
"It also suggests that the North will continue with its Songun policy at least in the foreseeable future."
North Korea on Monday described the untested Jong-un as the "great successor" after announcing the death of his father at age 69.
The latest acclamation is particularly significant because it came on the 20th anniversary of the declaration of Kim Jong-Il as supreme commander, said professor Yang Moo-Jin at Seoul's University of North Korean Studies.
"The editorial is aimed at preparing the people for Jong-un becoming the supreme commander of the military and also announcing it to the outside world," he said.
"Legal and official steps will follow sooner or later for his takeover from his deceased father as the supreme commander."
The latest dynastic ruler remains a figure of mystery to the outside world, which is seeking clues to future policy in the nuclear-armed nation.
Analysts expect little political upheaval following the death - at least for now - since regime members have an interest in preserving the status quo.
The son was appointed to senior military and party posts in September 2010, paving the way for a third-generation hereditary succession after the late Kim succeeded his own father Kim Il-Sung in the 1990s.
The country's regular armed forces total 1.19 million and the regime has a policy prioritising the military's needs over those of civilians.
Kim Jong-un issued his first military order just before his father's death was announced Monday in what was seen as an indication that he already controls the armed forces, South Korean media reported on Wednesday.
In its editorial, the Rodong Sinmun urged Jong-un to "heed the call from the people to you as the supreme commander and lead Kim Il-Sung's Korea to an eternal victory."
[unable to retrieve full-text content]An anonymous reader writes "The Large Hadron Collider has many fans, and one of its biggest is Sasha Mehlhase, a physicist from the Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen. Mehlhase has decided to help promote the LHC to students by taking the time to recreate a 1:50 scale model of it using Lego bricks. In total he spent 81 hours creating it, which was split between 48 hours of designing the model on his laptop, and a further 33 hours putting it together."
KABUL, Afghanistan ? A NATO official says an investigation has concluded that a combination of mistrust and bad maps led to a Nov. 26 coalition attack near the Afghan border that killed 24 Pakistani troops.
The official said Thursday that mistakes were made both by NATO and Pakistani forces.
The official said a company-sized U.S.-Afghan commando unit operating on the Afghan side of the border in eastern Kunar province came under fire from the direction of Pakistan.
The official said mistakes were made when they attempted to determine whether there were any Pakistani positions in the vicinity in order to safely return fire.
Different mapping systems then led to mistakes and airstrikes on two Pakistani outposts.
The official could not be named because the report has not yet been made public.
Microsoft on Wednesday said that it will step out of the spotlight at the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, connecting with industry players in the wings and shunning the stage.
The CES gadget extravaganza in January will be the last time the Redmond, Washington-based software colossus stakes out space on the show floor and has its chief present a keynote speech, according to Microsoft.
"We won't have a keynote or booth after this year because our product news milestones generally don't align with the show's January timing," Microsoft vice president of corporate communications Frank Shaw said in a blog post.
"We'll continue to participate in CES as a great place to connect with partners and customers across the PC (personal computer), phone and entertainment industries," he added.
Microsoft's longstanding role on the CES stage was giving way to getting messages out at new platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and the company's own retail shops, according to Shaw.
"Our industry moves fast and changes faster," he said.
"And so the way we communicate with our customers must change in equally speedy ways."
FILE - In a Sunday, Jan. 23, 2011 file photo, Chaz Bono, left, subject of the Oprah Winfrey Network documentary film "Becoming Chaz," poses with his girlfriend Jennifer Elia at the premiere of the film at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Howard Bragman, a publicist for Bono, says the relationship between Bono and and his longtime partner Jennifer Elia has ended. Bono, who recently appeared on ?Dancing with the Stars,? and Elia have been dating and engaged for years. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
FILE - In a Sunday, Jan. 23, 2011 file photo, Chaz Bono, left, subject of the Oprah Winfrey Network documentary film "Becoming Chaz," poses with his girlfriend Jennifer Elia at the premiere of the film at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Howard Bragman, a publicist for Bono, says the relationship between Bono and and his longtime partner Jennifer Elia has ended. Bono, who recently appeared on ?Dancing with the Stars,? and Elia have been dating and engaged for years. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A publicist for Chaz Bono says the relationship between the author and activist and his longtime partner has ended.
Howard Bragman says in a statement that Bono and Jennifer Elia "leave this relationship with great love, respect and affection towards one another." He adds that the two are seeking privacy in the matter.
Bono, who recently appeared on "Dancing with the Stars," and Elia have been dating and engaged for years. The pair dated as Bono, who was born Chastity Bono to musicians Cher and Sonny Bono, changed his gender through surgery and the court system.
Bragman says no further details will be released about the couple.
Bono has written two books and has discussed his transition in a documentary project that aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
Voters get nervous when candidates talk about sacrifice, says Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg. But at the same time, he says, voters tend to support changes that would shore up Social Security.
It makes voters nervous when candidates talk about sacrifice, says Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg.
Skip to next paragraph
?Sacrifice is an elite term,? Mr. Greenberg said at a Monitor-hosted breakfast for reporters on Friday. He conducts a variety of polls and focus groups for political and corporate clients as well as for Democracy Corps, a liberal polling and strategy organization he cofounded with James Carville. Greenberg served as Bill Clinton's pollster. ?
When asked at the breakfast whether voters would be willing to sacrifice to solve America?s budget problems, Greenberg noted that they had seen ?CEOs who drove down their companies at the trough, getting their bank bonus.? Meanwhile, he said, the average worker?s inflation-adjusted wages have declined.?
?When they hear it is time for sacrifice, they are cautious about, Is there really going to be shared sacrifice; can we trust them?? he said. ?
At the same time, sacrifice by the wealthy is a popular concept. ?There is one bipartisan issue in the country ? that rich people ought to pay more for addressing our problems,? Greenberg said. ?Eighty percent of the country favors increased taxes? for the rich. ?
Still, he said, ?people want to address the [budget] deficit because they think the deficit is endangering Social Security.? So, despite being nervous when politicians talk about sacrifice, voters ?are very much for ... a bipartisan deal on Social Security ... making changes that will make it secure.? ?
In that context, he said, voters "will support changes that could include retirement age, could include a range of things."
MANILA, Philippines ? Pounding rain from a tropical storm swelled rivers and sent walls of water crushing into two southern Philippine cities in the thick of night, killing at least 436 people, many caught in their beds, officials said Saturday.
Philippine Red Cross Secretary General Gwen Pang told The Associated Press that the latest toll was based on a body count in funeral parlors. She said that 215 died in Cagayan de Oro and 144 in nearby Iligan, and the rest in several other southern and central provinces.
Most of the dead were asleep Friday night when raging floodwaters tore through their homes from swollen rivers and cascaded from mountain slopes following 12 hours of pounding rain in the southern Mindanao region. The region is unaccustomed to the typhoons that are common elsewhere in the archipelago nation.
Many of the bodies in parlors were unclaimed, indicating that entire families had perished, Pang said.
The number of missing was unclear Saturday night. Before the latest Red Cross figures, military spokesman Lt. Col. Randolph Cabangbang said about 250 people were still unaccounted for in Iligan.
Thousands of soldiers backed up by hundreds of local police, reservists, coast guard officers and civilian volunteers were mobilized for rescue efforts and to clean up after the massive deluge that left the two coastal cities strewn with debris, trash, overturned vehicles and toppled trees.
Many roads were cut off and there was no electricity, hampering relief efforts.
Some of the dead were swept out to sea from Cagayan de Oro and Iligan, which are intersected by rivers and flanked by mountains.
Chief of the government's Civil Defense Office Benito Ramos attributed the high casualties in Mindanao "partly to the complacency of people because they are not in the usual path of storms" despite four days of warnings by officials that one was approaching.
Ayi Hernandez, a former congressman, said he and his family were resting in their home late Friday when they heard a loud "swooshing sound" and water quickly rose ankle deep inside his home. He decided to evacuate to a neighbor's two-story house.
"It was a good thing because in less than an hour the water rose to about 11 feet (3.3 meters)," the height of the ceiling of his house, he said.
A man in Cagayan de Oro said he heard a cry for help around 10 p.m. while the floodwaters were still low.
"Suddenly, there was a very strong rush of water," the man, who was not identified, told a local TV station.
The floodwaters were waist-high in some neighborhoods that do not usually experience flooding. Scores of residents escaped the floods by climbing onto the roofs of their homes, Iligan Mayor Lawrence Cruz said.
Those missing included prominent radio broadcaster Enie Alsonado, who was swept away while trying to save his neighbors, Cruz said.
Rep. Rufus Rodriguez of Cagayan de Oro said that about 20,000 residents of the city had been affected and that evacuees were packed in temporary shelters.
Television footage showed muddy water rushing in the streets, sweeping away all sorts of debris. Thick layers of mud coated streets where the waters had subsided. One car was shown to have been carried over a concrete fence.
Authorities recovered bodies from the mud after the water subsided. Parts of concrete walls and roofs, toppled vehicles and other debris littered the streets.
Rescuers in boats rushed offshore to save people swept out to sea. In Misamis Oriental province, 60 people were plucked from the ocean off El Salvador city, about 6 miles (10 kilometers) northwest of Cagayan de Oro, said disaster official Teddy Sabuga-a.
About 120 more were rescued off Opol township, closer to the city, he added.
Cruz said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off Iligan for survivors or bodies that may have been swept away.
Tropical Storm Washi dumped on Mindanao more than a month of average rains in just 12 hours.
It quickly cut across the region overnight and headed for Palawan province southwest of Manila on Saturday night.
Forecaster Leny Ruiz said that the records show that storms that follow Washi's track come only once in about 12 years.
Lucilo Bayron, vice mayor of Puerto Princesa in Palawan, said he already mobilized emergency crews but local officials have not ordered an evacuation yet because the weather was still fine.
___
Associated Press writer Hrvoje Hranjski contributed to this report.
SHANGHAI (Reuters) ? Chinese online video companies Tudou Holdings and Youku.com said they will sue each other for alleged copyright infringements of their videos.
Tudou said late on Monday that it would take legal action against Youku, China's top online video site, for allegedly reposting episodes of a popular variety program on Youku's platform.
Cti TV, the legal copyright holder of "Kangxi is Coming," signed an exclusive agreement with Tudou in November to distribute the episodes of the program on its platform, Tudou said in an emailed statement.
Tudou and Cti TV allege that the episodes were then copied by Youku and uploaded onto Youku's platform.
Youku subsequently countered on Friday that it would take legal action against Tudou, accusing Tudou of allegedly pirating more than 60 television serials from Youku.
Youku said in a statement that legal mediation between the two sides had failed.
The battle for content in China's online video space has heated up this year with costs for programs rising significantly as online video players scramble for eyeballs to lure advertisers.
Advertising revenue in the domestic online video market, which was virtually non-existent five years ago, is now estimated to be worth 1 billion yuan ($156.90 million). This is expected to grow at a double-digit rate.
Many online video players have also signed deals with Hollywood studios to boost viewership.
Shares of Tudou closed 2.51 percent lower on the Nasdaq on Thursday, while Youku fell 3.75 percent on the New York Stock Exchange.
($1 = 6.3735 Chinese yuan)
(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Jacqueline Wong and Matt Driskill)
GETTYSBURG, Pa. (AP) ? Someone has dropped a rare coin worth about $1,700 into a Salvation Army kettle in central Pennsylvania. Again.
The Evening Sun newspaper of Hanover reports (http://bit.ly/s2eFxm ) a gold South African Krugerrand was discovered Wednesday in a kettle outside a Walmart near Gettysburg.
The valuable currency has appeared in Gettysburg-area kettles for several years. But no one knows who should be thanked for the generosity.
Local Salvation Army unit organizer C.K. Roulette says he's content with the mystery remaining unsolved. He says it sparks people's imaginations and adds excitement during long, cold hours of bell-ringing.
Krugerrands also have turned up in recent years in Salvation Army kettles in Florida, Indiana, Colorado and Washington.
___
Information from: The Evening Sun, http://www.eveningsun.com
(Reuters) ? Avon Products Inc (AVP.N) is looking for a new chief executive to replace Andrea Jung, who has lost the confidence of Wall Street after a myriad of problems, including a federal bribery probe and weak sales in key international markets.
Jung will remain as executive chairman of the company, and work with a committee of board directors to find an external CEO candidate, Avon said in a statement on Tuesday.
Avon shares rose 5.4 percent on the news in after-hours trading after falling by almost half this year.
"The stock has been cut in half this year," Ali Dibadj, analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said. "The trust between investors and management has been severed. There have been a few times where expectations have been laid out there and have not been met."
Avon in October said that the Securities and Exchange Commission was investigating the company's contact during 2010 and 2011 with certain analysts and other representatives of the financial community.
The company also reported third-quarter profit that fell below analyst expectations, with Brazil weighing on earnings as the result of implementation of a new computer system, while tough economic conditions also hurt sales in other markets.
Jung has been Avon's CEO since 1999 and is credited with helping to grow the company late 1990s and early 2000s, as it continued to expand, bringing the prospect of a career or even just some extra pocket money to women from South Africa to South Korea.
But in the past several years, Avon has turned in poor performances in key markets such as Brazil and Russia, poured tens of millions of dollars into its international bribery investigation and struggled to stem declines in a sluggish U.S. market.
Aside from saying in October that the SEC was conducting its own bribery probe, the company also said the commission was looking into whether the company violated disclosure laws in contacts with analysts and others.
Avon shares have fallen 44 percent this year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) is down only 2.5 percent.
Though the stock rallied on the announcement of a CEO change on Tuesday, analysts were skeptical about the impact of the move.
"What you can say is the company is going to look for a CEO who hopefully will be able to right-size the fundamentals. But it's too soon to say anything about the turnaround itself," BMO Capital Markets analyst Connie Maneaty said.
Jung is popular with the representatives who sell the company's products, and at one time were known as "Avon Ladies."
That popularity might be one reason Jung is staying on as chairman, Dibadj said.
"Andrea is extraordinarily good at working with the representatives, and letting them down in some sense, very hard, might not be the best business decision," he said.
Jung's successor will need to be somebody who can also inspire the representatives, but at the same time improve operations and set out a vision beyond the "boom and bust" cycle Avon has endured, he said.
(Reporting by Brad Dorfman in Chicago. Additional reporting by Abhishek Takle in Bangalore. Editing by Gunna Dickson)
Wall Street rallied Thursday, as stronger labor market and manufacturing data lifted sentiment after three days of losses, while higher quarterly profit from FedEx also boosted equities.
The Dow Jones industrial average rallied over 100 points at the start of trading, but was lately?down from its early high.
In economic news, a report showed new applications for unemployment insurance fell to a 3-1/2 year low, suggesting a job market recovery was gaining speed, while a gauge of New York state manufacturing activity rose to its highest level since May.
"It all speaks to further stabilization and a very positive trend in the U.S. economy," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital in Jersey City, New Jersey. "It will give a bid to U.S. equity markets and make EU markets look relatively less attractive."
FedEx Corp shares were up 4 percent after the package delivery group, seen as a bellwether of economic activity, reported higher-than-expected quarterly profit.
Spain saw bond yields fall in a well-received auction, raising roughly twice what the government had targeted.
Equity markets have lately tracked European bond prices, using them as a gauge of risk appetite.
Novellus Systems Inc jumped 23 percent one day after larger rival Lam Research Corp agreed to buy it for $3.3 billion in stock.
Michael Kors Holdings Ltd said Wednesday it raised the size of its initial public offering and priced the stock at $20 per share, above the expected range.
A power plant just south of Lansing, Iowa.Image: Flickr/DTWpuck
Natural climate variability is extremely unlikely to have contributed more than about one-quarter of the temperature rise observed in the past 60 years, reports a pair of Swiss climate modelers in a paper published online December 4. Most of the observed warming?at least 74 percent?is almost certainly due to human activity, they write in Nature Geoscience.
Since 1950, the average global surface air temperature has increased by more than 0.5 degree Celsius. To separate human and natural causes of warming, the researchers analyzed changes in the balance of heat energy entering and leaving Earth?a new "attribution" method for understanding the physical causes of climate change.
Their findings, which are strikingly similar to results produced by other attribution methods, provide an alternative line of evidence that greenhouse gases, and in particular carbon dioxide, are by far the main culprit of recent global warming. The massive increase of atmospheric CO2 concentrations since pre-industrial times would, in fact, have caused substantially more surface warming were it not for the cooling effects of atmospheric aerosols such as black carbon, they report.
Previous attempts to disentangle anthropogenic and natural warming used a statistically complex technique called optimal fingerprinting to compare observed patterns of surface air temperature over time with the modeled climate response to greenhouse gases, solar radiation and aerosols from volcanoes and other sources.
"Optimal fingerprinting is a powerful technique, but to most people it?s a black box," says Reto Knutti, a climate scientist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich, one of the authors of the report.
A balanced view
Knutti and his co-author Markus Huber, also at ETH Zurich, took a different approach. They utilized a much simpler model of Earth?s total energy budget and ran the model many thousands of times, using different combinations of a few crucial parameters that contribute to the energy budget. These included global values for incoming shortwave radiation from the Sun, solar energy leaving Earth, heat absorbed by the oceans and climate-feedback effects (such as reduced snow cover, which amplifies warming by exposing darker surfaces that absorb more heat).
By using the combinations that best matched the observed surface warming and ocean heat uptake, the authors then ran the so-constrained model with each energy parameter individually. This enabled them to estimate the contribution of CO2 and other climate-change agents to the observed temperature change. Their study was greatly assisted by a 2009 analysis of observed changes since 1950 in Earth?s energy balance, says Knutti.
Knutti and Huber found that greenhouse gases contributed 0.6?1.1 degrees C to the warming observed since the mid-twentieth century, with the most statistically likely value being a contribution of about 0.85 degree C. Around half of that contribution from greenhouse gases?0.45 degree C?was offset by the cooling effects of aerosols. These directly influence Earth's climate by scattering light; they also have indirect climate effects through their interactions with clouds.
The authors calculated a net warming value of around 0.5 degree C since the 1950s, which is very close to the actual temperature rise of 0.55 degree C observed over that period. Changes in solar radiation?a hypothesis for global warming proffered by many climate skeptics?contributed no more than around 0.07 degree C to the recent warming, the study finds.
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Public release date: 26-Dec-2011
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