Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/bAe_zpOMF30/
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
?Tis the Season! Weelicious Recipes for the Holidays
Weelicious creator Catherine McCord shares her top kid-friendly and low calorie holiday treat recipes.
Drugmakers extend cut-price pneumonia vaccine deal (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters) ? Pfizer and GlaxoSmithKline are increasing sales of cut-price pneumonia vaccine to developing countries by more than 50 percent, marking the scale-up of an international program to protect millions of children.
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) is buying an additional 180 million doses of Pfizer's pneumococcal vaccine Prevenar 13 and a similar quantity of GSK's Synflorix at a deeply discounted price of $3.50 a shot.
The two companies said on Friday they would supply the extra vaccine through 2023, building on an original commitment last year to supply 300 million doses apiece.
The GAVI Alliance, a public-private partnership set up in 2000 to speed the introduction of vaccines into the world's poorest countries, hopes to avert up to 7 million deaths by 2030 by giving the vaccines to infants and young children.
Pneumococcal disease, which can cause pneumonia, meningitis and sepsis, kills more than half a million children every year, the vast majority of them in poorer countries.
GSK's Synflorix protects against 10 strains of the streptococcus pneumoniae bacterium, while Pfizer's Prevenar 13 shot protects against 13 strains.
In exchange for large orders, GAVI has negotiated a low price with the two drug companies, which get $7 per dose for the first 20 percent and $3.50 for the remainder of their orders under a so-called Advance Market Commitment (AMC) scheme.
A Pfizer spokeswoman said $3.50 was more than a 90 percent reduction from prices charged in some industrialized countries.
The pneumococcal vaccination program was initially started a year ago in Nicaragua and has now been rolled out to 15 other countries in Africa and Latin America.
The latest agreement shows how momentum is building behind the GAVI program, even as experts worry about funding cutbacks in other areas of global health due to austerity measures in donor countries hit by the economic crisis.
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, the world's largest financial backer of HIV treatment and prevention programs, said last month it was cancelling new grants for countries battling these diseases and would make no new funding available until 2014.
By contrast, GAVI secured a bigger-than-expected $4.3 billion in pledges from its donors last June, reflecting widespread acknowledgement of the value of its immunization work.
Overall, development assistance for health in all forms has continued to grow in 2011, although the rate of growth has slowed, the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle said in a report this week.
It estimated that spending increased by 4 percent each year between 2009 and 2011, reaching a total of $27.7 billion, down from 17 percent between 2007 and 2008.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
House GOP unveils $1 trillion spending bill
WASHINGTON (AP) ? House Republicans have unveiled a massive $1 trillion-plus yearend spending package despite a plea from the White House for additional talks over a handful of provisions opposed by President Barack Obama.
The measure unveiled late Wednesday curbs agency budgets but drops many policy provisions sought by GOP conservatives.
But it contains language to roll back Obama administration policies that had loosened restrictions on the rights of Cuban immigrants to send money to relatives in Cuba or travel back to the island to visit them. Earlier this year, the White House promised a veto over the restrictions on travel and gifts, which are supported by many in the GOP-leaning Cuban-American community, a powerful political force in the swing state of Florida.
The spending measure had been held up by Senate Democrats seeking leverage in talks on extending payroll tax cuts and unemployment insurance ? two pillars of Obama's jobs agenda.
But Democratic leverage to stall the massive spending measure seems limited, since it raises the threat of a government shutdown.
Release of the legislation ? to meet GOP transparency rules if a vote is to be held Friday ? came just a couple of hours after the White House issued a statement saying that Obama "continues to have significant concerns about a number of provisions" in the legislation.
White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer called for another stopgap funding bill to buy time for talks on both the spending bill and the payroll tax measure.
Stopgap funding runs out Friday at midnight.
The underlying bill has bipartisan backing but could encounter turbulence with tea party lawmakers seeking far more significant cuts to government agencies. The measure funds the day-to-day operating budgets of 10 Cabinet departments and programs ranging from border security to flood control to combating AIDS and famine in Africa.
Democrats have yet to officially sign onto the measure, though top lawmakers in the party ? including Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii ? are on board.
Given White House concerns, changes are still possible before a vote.
On spending, the measure implements this summer's hard-fought budget pact between President Barack Obama and Republican leaders. That deal essentially freezes agency budgets, on average, at levels that were approved back in April for the recently completed budget year.
The bill chips away at the Pentagon budget, foreign aid and environmental spending but boosts funding for veterans programs. The Securities and Exchange Commission, responsible for enforcing new regulations under last year's financial overhaul, won a 10 percent budget increase, even as the tax-collecting IRS absorbs a more than 3 percent cut to its budget.
Popular education initiatives for special-needs children and disadvantaged schools were basically frozen and Obama's cherished "Race to the Top" initiative, which provides grants to better-performing schools, would absorb a more than 20 percent cut.
Environmentalists scored clear wins in stopping virtually every significant GOP initiative to roll back Environmental Protection Agency rules. Most importantly, industry forces seeking to block new greenhouse gas and clean air rules, as well as a new clean water regulation opposed by mountaintop removal mining interests, were denied. But Republicans succeeded in blocking new energy efficiency standards for light bulbs and won delays to a new Labor Department rule requiring a reduction of coal dust responsible for black lung disease.
Drafted behind closed doors, the proposed bill would provide $115 billion for overseas security operations in Afghanistan and Iraq but give the Pentagon just a 1 percent boost in annual spending not directly related to the wars. The Environmental Protection Agency's budget would be cut by 3.5 percent. Foreign aid spending would drop and House lawmakers would absorb a 6 percent cut to their office budgets.
On spending, the measure generally consists of relatively small adjustments to thousands of individual programs. Agencies like the Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement will get a boost within the Homeland Security Department, while GOP defense hawks won additional funding to modernize the U.S. nuclear weapons arsenal. The troubled, over-budget, next-generation F-35 fighter plane program would be largely protected.
Social conservatives won a ban on government-funded abortions in Washington, D.C., and restored a longstanding ban on U.S. funding for needle exchange programs used to prevent the spread of HIV. But efforts to take away federal funding for Planned Parenthood failed, as expected.
To placate conservatives, $8 billion for disaster aid will be addressed in a separate bill, though on a parallel track to the omnibus measure.
It's a sticky issue for conservatives because approving the disaster aid would bring the total amount of money allotted for agency budgets above last year's budgets. By putting the aid in a separate bill, the GOP can lean heavily on Democrats to pass it.
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Barry Bonds gets 30-day home sentence ? at worst (AP)
SAN FRANCISCO ? Eight years of being investigated for steroid allegations ended for home run king Barry Bonds on Friday with a 30-day sentence to be served at home. No more ? and maybe less.
U.S. District Judge Susan Illston immediately delayed imposing the sentence while Bonds appeals his obstruction of justice conviction. The former baseball star was found guilty in April not of using steroids, but of misleading grand jurors.
Even without prison time, the case has left its mark on the seven-time National League MVP. His 762 career home runs, and 73 homers in 2001, may forever be seen as tainted records, and his ticket to baseball's Hall of Fame is in doubt.
Bonds declined to speak in court. Well-wishers hugged the 47-year-old in the hallway courtroom after the hearing was over, and a smattering of fans cheered him as he left the courthouse. It was a marked departure from his initial court appearance four years ago, when guards had to clear a path for Bonds to get through dozens of onlookers to his SUV.
"Whatever he did or didn't do, we all lie," said Esther Picazo, a fan outside the courthouse. "We all make mistakes. But I don't think he should've gotten any kind of punishment at all."
Bonds was sentenced to two years of probation, 250 hours of community service, a $4,000 fine and 30 days of home confinement. It will take time to determine whether he serves any of it; his appellate specialist, Dennis Riordan, estimated it would take nearly a year and a half for the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to rule.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Parrella called the sentence a "slap on the wrist" and the fine "almost laughable" for a superstar athlete who made more than $192 million for playing baseball.
Parrella had sought 15 months in prison and argued that home confinement wasn't punishment enough "for a man with a 15,000-square-foot house with all the advantages." Bonds lives in a six-bedroom, 10-bath house with a gym and swimming pool.
"The defendant basically lived a double life for decades before this," Parrella said. He ripped Bonds not only over performance-enhancing drugs but over his personal life: "He had mistresses throughout his marriages."
Parrella said Bonds made lots of money due in part to his use of performance enhancers and that he has been "unrepentant" and "unapologetic" about it.
Illston said none of that had any bearing on Bonds' sentencing.
She said she agreed with a probation department report that called Bonds' conviction an "aberration" in his life. She said she received dozens of letters in support of Bonds, some discussing how he has given money and time "for decades" to charitable causes.
Bonds is the last ? and highest-profile ? defendant in the government's investigation of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, or BALCO, a steroids distribution ring. The ex-slugger has long denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.
Illston said she was compelled to give Bonds a sentence similar to the two she meted out to other figures convicted after trial of lying to the grand jury and federal investigators about their connection to steroids.
The case against Bonds after he testified before the grand jury Dec. 3, 2003. Prosecutors revised his original 2007 indictment several times and spent a year unsuccessfully appealing a key evidentiary ruling before jurors deadlocked in April on three of the four remaining charges related to his grand jury testimony.
On the final charge, the trial jury convicted Bonds of purposely answering questions about steroids with rambling non sequiturs in an attempt to mislead the grand jury.
"I think he probably got off a little easy," said Jessica Wolfram, one of the jurors who convicted Bonds of obstruction. "He was just so clearly guilty, so I actually am happy he got sentenced to something."
Wolfram said she researched the case after the trial and viewed evidence not presented then. After that, she felt even more comfortable that Bonds was guilty.
Besides Bonds, 10 people were convicted of various charges in BALCO cases. Six of them, including track star Marion Jones, were ensnared for lying to grand jurors, federal investigators or the court. Others, including Bonds' personal trainer Greg Anderson, pleaded guilty to steroid distribution charges.
The government's top BALCO investigator, Jeff Novitzky, declined to comment outside the courtroom after attending the hearing.
Bonds was one of two former baseball superstars to stand trial in doping-related cases this year. The trial of pitcher Roger Clemens was halted after just two days in July because prosecutors used inadmissible evidence. U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton has set a new trial for April 17.
Both men will face a different judgment day in 2013, when they'll be eligible for the Hall of Fame.
__
Associated Press writers Jason Dearen in San Francisco and Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.
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Friday, December 16, 2011
Masked mayhem: Kane's most menacing moments
The WWE Universe was brought to its feet when Kane returned with a new mask and the same cold, ruthless attitude of his debut, chokeslamming John Cena as the show went off the air. The Big Red Monster's motives, and targets, remain unclear, but to coincide with his return, WWE.com presents a look at the sort of developments the WWE Universe (and locker room) might expect to see from the last time he wore the trademark mask.
Big ?Bad? Machine
For years, it looked like there was nobody who could stop The Undertaker's reign of dominance over the WWE roster, until Paul Bearer warned The Phenom that his brother - long believed dead thanks to a fire Undertaker had started as a child - was not only alive, but hell-bent on vengeance against The Deadman. At Badd Blood 1997, Bearer's warnings came true when Kane, a hulking brute in a red mask, interfered in the first-ever Hell in a Cell Match between Undertaker and Shawn Michaels. Kane's distraction cost his sibling the victory over HBK, but the night kicked off a rivalry between The Deadman and The Big Red Machine that would span the length of both men?s careers.
Masked Men
The Big Red Machine finally took to the ring the next month at Survivor Series, facing off against Mankind. Despite a valiant effort by his twisted challenger (and Mankind's notable threshold for pain), Kane made quick work of his foe, tossing Mankind through the Spanish announce table and slamming him onto the unforgiving concrete before administering his brother's Tombstone Piledriver for the victory.
Brother Against Brother
The Deadman initially refused to step into the ring against his own flesh and blood, but after Kane betrayed his brother by locking him in a casket and setting it ablaze, The Undertaker relented. The brothers faced off in WrestleMania XIV in a match where The Phenom ultimately prevailed, although it took three Tombstone Piledrivers to finally keep The Big Red Monster down long enough for a three-count. And even that wasn't enough in the long run; Kane recovered quickly from the pin and returned the favor, giving Taker a Tombstone of his own onto a steel chair.
"Bloodbath
"
At King of the Ring 1998, Kane secured a title opportunity against then-WWE Champion "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in a First Blood Match, where the title would go to whoever could draw blood from his opponent the quickest. On the Raw before King of the Ring, Kane gave The Rattlesnake a gruesome warning of things to come, dousing him in a shower of fake blood and warning the shaken champion that, on the pay-per-view, "the blood on you will be for real."
The Champion From Hell
Following the ?bloodbath? on Raw, Austin and Kane met at King of the Ring for The Rattlesnake's WWE Championship. Their contest took them all over the arena and finally ended with the two Superstars encased in the Hell in a Cell structure, which mysteriously lowered itself onto the ring towards the end of the match. Despite ?Stone Cold's? best efforts, Kane withstood the champion's attacks, including a ?Stone Cold? Stunner and a steel chair to the head. Interference by The Undertaker ultimately ensured the title would pass to Kane. The monster?s reign was short-lived, though ? Austin reclaimed the championship the next night on Raw, and Kane would not hold a world title again until he captured the World Heavyweight Championship 12 years later.
The Monster is Loose
On a 1998 episode of Raw, Kane lost the guidance of Paul Bearer and, as such, had no one and nowhere to turn to. Angry and alone, the monster took out his frustrations on the entire WWE locker room, interfering in several matches throughout the night and laying waste to any Superstar who stood in his way. At the end of the evening, his's rampage came to a close when he ambushed Austin and The Undertaker, who were battling inside a steel cage. The Big Red Machine set the structure ablaze, broke his way in, and joined his brother and longtime opponent in a furious brawl as Raw faded to black.
11 Men Down
Throughout his WWE career, Kane's dominance has been his calling card, and yet he has made himself a particular name in the Royal Rumble Match. The Big Red Monster holds several records, including the most consecutive (11) and total (13) appearances in the match, as well as the quickest elimination of a Superstar (Santino Marella in less than two seconds). In 2011, he also became the first Superstar to join the Rumble at No. 40. His most famous Rumble appearance, however, remains the 2001 contest, where he ousted?11 Superstars - The Rock, Steve Blackman, Al Snow, Perry Saturn, Raven, The Honky Tonk Man,?Grand Master Sexay, Scotty 2 Hotty, Tazz, Albert, Crash Holly ? and celebrity entrant Drew Carey, setting a record for most eliminations in a single Royal Rumble. Kane ultimately came in second place behind ?Stone Cold? Steve Austin, but he did not make victory easy for The Texas Rattlesnake. It took Austin three chair strikes and a Stunner before he could successfully throw his opponent over the ropes.
All-American Homecoming
In August of 2002, Kane made his fury-filled return from injury in August of 2002, interrupting the Canadian team The Un-Americans as they attempted to desecrate the American flag in the middle of the ring. Booker T and Goldust had first attempted to stop the heinous display, but when their efforts failed, Kane ? clad in a new mask and ring attire ? stormed to the ring and took matters into his own hands: He singlehandedly dismantled the stable, shaking off a chair attack from Christian and chokeslamming Test to the mat. This drove The Un-Americans back to the locker room and, in addition, kicked off The Big Red Monster?s brief alliance with Booker T and Goldust.
Eliminator
In 2002, The Big Red Machine was selected to compete in the first-ever Elimination Chamber Match in Madison Square Garden at Survivor Series against Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Booker T, Chris Jericho and Rob Van Dam. While the carnage raged inside the steel structure, The Devil's Favorite Demon was left to bide his time in his pod. When his number was called, Kane did not disappoint ? he blasted into the ring and immediately laid waste to his opponents, felling Jericho with quick strikes and flattening Booker with a body press against the ring post. For the finishing touch, however, the monster hurled Jericho through one of the empty Plexiglass pods, leaving Y2J a crumpled mess in the corner while the 7-footer continued to bring the heat to his opponents.
Unmasking
In 2003, Kane held the Intercontinental Championship and squared off against World Heavyweight Champion Triple H in a match that would unify the two titles. The Cerebral Assassin went on to defeat Kane in the match, but Raw's co-GM Eric Bischoff granted a rematch on the condition that The Big Red Machine would unmask should he lose. Interference from Triple H's Evolution teammates cost Kane the match, and, despite pleas of protest from Rob Van Dam, The Devil?s Favorite Demon honored the agreement and exposed his deepest, darkest secret to the WWE Universe.
Resurrection
The Big Red Monster went on to compete without his mask for eight years, even capturing the World Heavyweight Championship at Money in the Bank 2010. And yet, by his own admission, there was something missing in his approach. Before a match with Randy Orton in July 2011, Kane vowed to the WWE Universe that he would exorcise his humanity and return to the monstrous ways of his past, but an injury at the hands of World Heavyweight Champion Mark Henry cut his efforts short. Later in the year, strange videos began to play showing Kane in isolation while his old mask burned, promising a ?Resurrection? of sorts. Finally, at the Dec. 12th episode of Raw SuperShow, after four weeks of the cryptic messages, The Big Red Monster returned with a brand-new mask, attacking John Cena and paving the way for his next reign of destruction.
Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2011-12-12/kane-most-destructive-moments
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FAMU band members plan to fight hazing charges (AP)
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. ? Two Florida A&M University students are planning to fight charges that they beat a fellow member of the famed Marching 100 band so hard during a hazing incident she was left with a broken thigh.
Twenty-three-year-old Sean Hobson and 19-year-old Aaron Golson were charged Monday with hazing and battery. Twenty-two-year-old James Harris was charged with hazing. All three remained jailed early Tuesday.
Attorneys for Harris and Golson ? who appeared at a court hearing Tuesday _say their clients would plead not guilty. A Leon County judge set a bond of $2,500 for Harris and bonds of $10,000 for Golson and Hobson.
Tallahassee police say all three men were involved in hazing Bria Shante Hunter for the "Red Dawg Order" ? a band clique for students from Georgia.
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Amazon app will pay you $15 bucks to walk out on retailers
Amazon offers a new incentive for holiday shoppers. But you'll have to download the Amazon Price Check app first.?
Amazon has long been a needle in the side of brick-and-mortar retailers. And now, the Web giant has given competitors another reason to worry:?a one-day deal which essentially offers consumers up to 15 bucks to ditch the mall, and do their shopping on Amazon instead.?
Skip to next paragraphHere's how it works: Use your iPhone or Android device to download the Amazon Price Check app. Wait until Saturday, Dec. 10. On Saturday, drive or walk or take the train to a retail store. Switch on the?geo-location feature on Price Check.?In the store, use the Price Check app to scan a product in one of the pertinent categories, including?electronics, toys, music, sporting goods or DVDs.?(Price Check also includes photo-recognition software, so you can snap a photo of the product, if you prefer.)?
Repeat, up to three times. Exit store. You'll now have 24 hours to purchase those three products at a discount of up to $5 per product.?
"The ability to check prices on your mobile phone when you?re in a physical retail store is changing the way people shop," Sam Hall, director of Amazon Mobile, said in a press release. "Price transparency means that you can save money on the products you want and that?s a great thing for customers. Price Check in-store deals are another incentive to shop smart this holiday season."?
The deal is obviously a good one for consumers, who can save some real cash on holiday shopping ? providing they don't mind trucking out to the store, heading back, and waiting for Amazon to ship the product. But as Chris Velazco writes at TechCrunch, the Price Check promotion is also a clear win for Amazon, not least because it could get a lot of people using the Price Check app.?
"[It] could help potential buyers get over one of Amazon?s biggest stumbling blocks: experiencing the product," Velazco writes. "Reading reviews and looking at pictures online is enough in certain instances, but it can be a poor substitute for actually touching and seeing a product in person. With their Price Check promotion, Amazon can actually help people to make purchasing decisions and at the same time giving them an incentive to buy from them."?
For more tech news, follow us on?Twitter @venturenaut. And don?t forget to sign up for the weekly BizTech newsletter.
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