[OOC] League of Villainous Rejects

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This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "League of Villainous Rejects"

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"A lie told often enough becomes the truth."
"Can a nation be free if it oppresses other nations? It cannot."
"Crime is a product of social excess."
"It is true that liberty is precious; so precious that it must be carefully rationed."
"Sometimes - history needs a push."
"The most important thing when ill is to never lose heart."
- Vladimir Lenin

Barel

Member for 1 years

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may I reserve one villain? I'm gotta go to school now so when I come back, I'll submit my char ^^

blackwolf

Member for 1 years

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Of course... Character reserved!

Barel

Member for 1 years

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Can I resurve a villain? I have to do some stuff, but I will most likely get it in by tomorrow.

Tonks

Member for 0 years

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Alright... Character Reserved!

Barel

Member for 1 years

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Post a reply

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Strike grips Belgium as EU leaders meet (Reuters)

BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? Belgium's first general strike in almost two decades brought the country to a partial halt on Monday in an anti-austerity protest aimed at the government and EU leaders meeting in Brussels.

The entire rail network closed, buses and trams were idled, many schools and shops shut and production at the Audi and Volvo car plants stopped.

Charleroi Airport, a hub for Ryanair and other low-cost carriers, was forced to cancel all flights due to union plans to block the access road.

However, at Brussels airport most flights were running. India's Jet Airways, which uses Brussels as its European hub, rerouted flights via Amsterdam. United Continental cancelled its services to and from the United States.

"Some airlines cancelled services ahead of time ... but overall I think only about 10 percent of flights will be hit," an airport spokesman said.

High-speed international trains, such as the Eurostar from London and Thalys from Paris, were not running into or out of the country as of late on Sunday.

"We are a bit put out, but we recognize the right of people to strike," said Luiz Lopez, a university professor from Brazil seeking to travel to London.

At the port of Antwerp, Europe's second busiest, all container and some bulk cargo terminals were shut, with shipping traffic suffering delays due to suspended harbor services.

The walkout coincides with the 17th EU summit in two years as the bloc battles to resolve its sovereign debt problems. The EU leaders will sign off on a permanent rescue fund for the euro zone and are expected to agree on a balanced budget rule in national legislation.

Unions have called the general strike, Belgium's first since 1993, over government plans to raise the effective retirement age along with other measures designed to save 11.3 billion euros ($14.8 billion).

"We are angry because they want to attack our pensions," said Philippe Dubois, a railway union member outside Brussels' Midi station. "We want to make some noise."

Belgium has pledged to bring its public sector deficit below the EU limit of 3 percent of gross domestic product this year to avoid an EU fine and to reassure investors it has its finances under control.

BATTLE AHEAD

The government knows growth this year will be below the 0.8 percent assumed for the budget drawn in December. A likely stagnation or contraction will force it to seek further savings when it revises the budget next month.

Economists estimate it will need to find an extra 1.5 billion to 2 billion euros.

The battle lines are being drawn for that debate, with the French-speaking Socialist Party of Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo insisting the rich should bear a greater burden with higher rates of tax on capital.

Pro-business Liberals and centre-right Christian Democrats, also in Di Rupo's six-party coalition, say higher taxes would push the country into recession and government spending should be cut more.

Union leaders say they fear the government might be tempted to suspend its system of wage indexation, the linking of pay to inflation criticized by the European Commission and international economic organizations as driving up prices and undermining Belgium's competitive position.

Economists say a single skipping of an automatic pay hike could save the government at least 1 billion euros.

For now, many Belgians appear to have accepted the need for austerity measures. According to an opinion poll in top-selling newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws last week, only 21 percent of Belgians supported the strike.

($1 = 0.762 Euros)

(Additional reporting by Ben Deighton; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/wl_nm/us_belgium_strike

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Officers checking robbery find 5 dead in Ala. home (AP)

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. ? Police investigating a possible robbery at a Birmingham home early Sunday instead found five people dead inside, authorities said.

Birmingham Police Sgt. Johnny Williams said officers arrived at the house around 3:30 a.m. Sunday after getting a call that a robbery was in progress and soon discovered the five victims. He told reporters that investigators are interviewing potential witnesses but so far have made no arrests.

"Someone out there knows more information," said Williams. "We know someone is going to do the right thing."

The victims' identities and the causes of death were not immediately released. Birmingham authorities launched a homicide investigation and police believe more than one person was involved.

"It obviously appears to us this horrific crime was not a random act of violence," said Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper.

The two-bedroom house, which is made partly of cinderblocks, was built along a busy street in west Birmingham. Vacant homes sit beside houses where some residents have lived for years. One is Beatrice Houston, who lives across the street from the home where the bodies were found.

Houston, who is 64, said she believes a woman, her son and her brother had lived in the house for the last year or so. She said she didn't know the neighbors' names, but started worrying when she saw groups of young men hanging around the house at odd hours.

Still, she said, her neighbors didn't cause many disturbances.

"I never had any problem with them," she said. "They were cordial. I just kept to myself."

Doreatha Moss lived in the house, a white building with green trim now surrounded by police tape, until late 2010. She doesn't know who moved in to take her place.

"I don't know anything about it now other than that there's all the time a bunch of young guys hanging around there," said Moss, who still returns to visit friends. "That's not good."

Houston said most of her neighbors are still in a "state of shock"

"They never had any trouble over there," Houston said. "I never seen the police over there. This was really strange that this happened. It wasn't like they were real rowdy."

___

Associated Press writer Greg Bluestein in Atlanta contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_us/us_five_dead_alabama

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300 arrested in daylong Occupy Oakland protests (AP)

OAKLAND, Calif. ? Dozens of police maintained a late-night guard around City Hall following daylong protests that resulted in 300 arrests. Occupy Oakland demonstrators broke into the historic building and burned a U.S. flag, as officers earlier fired tear gas to disperse people throwing rocks and tearing down fencing at a convention center.

Saturday's protests ? the most turbulent since Oakland police forcefully dismantled an Occupy encampment in November ? came just days after the group said it planned to use a vacant building as a social center and political hub and threatened to try to shut down the port, occupy the airport and take over City Hall.

An exasperated Mayor Jean Quan, who faced heavy criticism for the police action last fall, called on the Occupy movement to "stop using Oakland as its playground."

"People in the community and people in the Occupy movement have to stop making excuses for this behavior," Quan said.

Protesters clashed with police throughout the day, at times throwing rocks, bottles and other objects at officers. And police responded by deploying smoke, tear gas and bean bag rounds, City Administrator Deanna Santanta said.

Interim Police Chief Howard Jordan said about 300 arrests were made.

"These demonstrators stated their intention was to provoke officers and engage in illegal activity and that's exactly what has occurred today," Santana said.

The group assembled outside City Hall late Saturday morning and marched through the streets, disrupting traffic as they threatened to take over the vacant Henry Kaiser Convention Center.

The protesters walked to the vacant convention center, where some started tearing down perimeter fencing and "destroying construction equipment" shortly before 3 p.m., police said.

Police said they issued a dispersal order and used smoke and tear gas after some protesters pelted them with bottles, rocks, burning flares and other objects.

The number of demonstrators swelled as the day wore on, with afternoon estimates ranging from about 1,000 to 2,000 people.

A majority of the arrests came after police took scores of protesters into custody as they marched through the city's downtown, with some entering a YMCA building, said Sgt. Jeff Thomason, a police spokesman.

Quan said that at one point, many protesters forced their way into City Hall, where they burned flags, broke an electrical box and damaged several art structures, including a recycled art exhibit created by children.

She blamed the destruction on a small "very radical, violent" splinter group within Occupy Oakland.

"This is not a situation where we had a 1,000 peaceful people and a few violent people. If you look at what's happening today in terms of destructing property, throwing at and charging the police, it's almost like they are begging for attention and hoping that the police will make an error."

Dozens of officers surrounded City Hall, while others swept the inside of the building looking for protesters who had broken into the building, then ran out of the building with American flags before officers arrived.

The protest group issued an email criticizing police, saying "Occupy Oakland's building occupation, an act of constitutionally protected civil disobedience was disrupted by a brutal police response today."

Michael Davis, 32, who is originally from Ohio and was in the Occupy movement in Cincinnati, said Saturday was a very hectic day that originally started off calm but escalated when police began using "flash bangs, tear gas, smoke grenades and bean bags."

"What could've been handled differently is the way the Oakland police came at us," Davis said. "We were peaceful."

City leaders joined Quan in criticizing the protesters.

"City Hall is closed for the weekend. There is no excuse for behavior we've witnessed this evening," City Council President Larry Reid said during a news briefing Saturday.

Oakland Councilman Ignacio De La Fuente, echoed Reid's sentiments and said that what was going on amounts to "domestic terrorism."

The national Occupy Wall Street movement, which denounces corporate excess and economic inequality, began in New York City in the fall but has been largely dormant lately.

Oakland, New York and Los Angeles were among the cities with the largest and most vocal Occupy protests early on. The demonstrations ebbed after those cities used force to move out hundreds of demonstrators who had set up tent cities.

In Oakland, the police department received heavy criticism for using force to break up earlier protests. Quan was among the critics, but on Saturday, she seemed to have changed her tune.

"Our officers have been very measured," Quan said. "Were there some mistakes made? There may be. I would say the Oakland police and our allies, so far a small percentage of mistakes. "But quite frankly, a majority of protesters who were charging the police were clearly not being peaceful.

Earlier this month, a court-appointed monitor submitted a report to a federal judge that included "serious concerns" about the department's handling of the Occupy protests.

Jordan said late Saturday that he was in "close contact" with the federal monitor during the protests.

Quan added, "If the demonstrators think that because we are working more closely with the monitor now that we won't do what we have to do to uphold the law and try keep people safe in this city, they're wrong."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_us/us_occupy_oakland

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Hazanavicius wins at Directors Guild for 'Artist'

Director Michel Hazanavicius arrives at the 64th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)

Director Michel Hazanavicius arrives at the 64th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)

Director Michel Hazanavicius, right, and Berenice Bejo arrive at the 64th Annual Directors Guild of America Awards in Los Angeles on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. (AP Photo/Dan Steinberg)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The Directors Guild of America Awards are the latest Hollywood film honors to go silent.

Hollywood's top filmmakers group presented its feature-film honor Saturday to Michel Hazanavicius for his silent film "The Artist," giving him the inside track for the best-director prize at the Academy Awards.

"I really love directors. I really have respect for directors. So this is really very moving and touching for me," said Hazanavicius, whose black-and-white silent charmer has cleaned up at earlier Hollywood honors and could emerge as the best-picture favorite at the Feb. 26 Oscars.

The Directors Guild honors are one of the most-accurate forecasts for who might go on to take home an Oscar. Only six times in the 63-year history of the guild awards has the winner failed to win the Oscar for best director. And more often than not, whichever film earns the directing Oscar also wins best picture.

French filmmaker Hazanavicius, whose credits include the spy spoofs "OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies" and "OSS 117: Lost in Rio," had been a virtual unknown in Hollywood until "The Artist." His throwback to early cinema centers on a silent-era star whose career crumbles when talking pictures take over in the late 1920s.

First-time nominee Hazanavicius won over a field of guild heavyweights that included past winners Martin Scorsese for "Hugo" and Woody Allen for "Midnight in Paris." Past nominees David Fincher for "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and Alexander Payne for "The Descendants" also were in the running.

Accepting his nomination plaque earlier in the ceremony from his stars in "The Artist," Jean Dujardin and Berenice Bejo, Hazanavicius recalled his childhood education in great cinema, including Hollywood classics such as "Red River" and "Rio Bravo."

Hazanavicius said he felt he was being welcomed by the Directors Guild for a language they had in common: cinema.

"Maybe you noticed, but I'm French. I have an accent. I have a name that is very difficult to pronounce," Hazanavicius said. "I'm not American, and I'm not French, actually. I'm a filmmaker. ... I feel like I'm being accepted by you not as Americans but as filmmakers."

James Marsh won the film documentary prize for "Project Nim," his chronicle of the triumphs and trials of a chimpanzee that was raised like a human child. It was the latest major Hollywood prize for Marsh, who earned the documentary Academy Award for 2008's "Man on Wire."

Scorsese went zero-for-two at the guild awards. He also had been nominated for the documentary award for "George Harrison: Living in the Material World."

Robert B. Weide won the TV comedy directing award for an episode of "Curb Your Enthusiasm," while Patty Jenkins earned the TV drama prize for the pilot of "The Killing."

The award for TV movie or miniseries went to Jon Cassar for "The Kennedys."

Other television winners were:

? Reality programming: Neil P. DeGroot, "The Biggest Loser."

? Musical variety: Glenn Weiss, "The 65th Annual Tony Awards."

? Daytime serials: William Ludel, "General Hospital."

? Children's programs: Amy Schatz, "A Child's Garden of Poetry."

? Commercials: Noam Murro.

At the start of the ceremony, Guild President Taylor Hackford led the crowd in a toast to one of his predecessors, Gil Cates, the veteran producer of the Oscar broadcast who died last year.

The Directors Guild awards were the first of two major Hollywood honors this weekend. The Screen Actors Guild hands out its prizes Sunday.

___

Online:

http://www.dga.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-29-Directors%20Awards/id-07aa80af981745cfa6c80645e30ff8ff

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SPI to construct 400kW PV solar energy facility in US

Rose Summers
Published 24 January 2012

SPI Solar, a vertically integrated photovoltaic (PV) solar developer, has secured a contract from BLT Enterprises to design and build a 400kW DC distributed generation photovoltaic (PV) solar energy facility (SEF) in the US.

The SEF will help power operations at Volkswagen's US Test Center California which encompasses a Technical Center and an Emissions Laboratory located in Oxnard, California.

BLT Enterprises affiliate is currently developing the 63,500 square-foot emissions testing and power train development facility.

The SEF being designed by SPI will utilize a mix of rooftop and carport structures to host the onsite solar array.

The center will be used by various brands within the Volkswagen Group which includes Volkswagen, Audi, Lamborghini, Bentley and Bugatti.

In January 2011, SPI completed a 398kW system at BLT's Fremont, California waste-recovery operation facility.

BLT chief development and legal officer Rob Solomon said the solar energy facility helps to fulfill a major part of that mission.

SPI expects to commence construction of the SEF in the first quarter of this year.

Source: http://airandenvironmentmanagement.cleantechnology-business-review.com/news/spi-to-construct-400kw-pv-solar-energy-facility-in-us-240112

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South Korea allows flour aid to North Korea (AP)

PAJU, South Korea ? South Korea has sent the first shipment of flour aid to North Korea since Kim Jong Il died last month.

The aid comes as North Korea unites around Kim Jong Un after his father died of a heart attack. Pyongyang has since vowed that it would never deal with Seoul's current government.

Footage from the Associated Press Television News in the border city of Paju showed a column of trucks carrying 180 tons of flour aid across the border Friday.

Seoul's Unification Ministry said a group of civic officials is traveling with the assistance intended for children. Seoul allowed a shipment of aid earlier this month but no civilians accompanied it.

South Korea says it won't resume large-scale food aid unless Pyongyang moves clearly toward nuclear disarmament.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/nkorea/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_aid

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NFL's Ochocinco, US House speaker trade tweets

CINCINNATI?? Chad Ochocinco, meet the speaker of the U.S. House. On Twitter, of course.

The New England Patriots wide receiver known for prolific social media interactions tuned in to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday night, and he soon was wondering about the unsmiling man sitting behind the Democratic president. Informed by a friend it was Republican Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, the former Cincinnati Bengal decided to reach out to him on Twitter, asking Tuesday night if he was "OK."

Apparently still concerned Wednesday, Ochocinco asked Boehner in another message if he was in better spirits, and told him: "If all else seems bad in life, just remember I love you kind sir."

Boehner thanked Ochocinco in a tweet and wished him good luck in the Super Bowl. The Patriots play the New York Giants for the National Football League championship on Feb. 5.

"We'll see you in the playoffs next year," Boehner added, using "Bengals" and their fans' cheer "WhoDey" to tag his response on Twitter.

Boehner's Twitter feed later included a photo of him at his desk with a Bengals helmet in the foreground.

Contact this reporter at http://www.twitter.com/dansewell

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46151254/ns/technology_and_science-tech_and_gadgets/

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Newt Gingrich's Fantasy Moon Base Is Illegal [Moon]

Not only is Newt's plan for lunar statehood completely insane—it's also against the law! Not just any law, but space law, the most powerful of all laws, because it comes from the sky. Sorry, Newt. More »

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SEC charges trader with hijacking accounts (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Securities regulators charged a Latvian trader with reaping more than $850,000 in illegal profits by hacking into online brokerage accounts and manipulating more than 100 securities.

In a complaint filed in federal court in San Francisco on Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission said Igors Nagaicevs broke into accounts at large U.S. brokerages and drove up stock prices by making unauthorized purchases and sales.

The SEC complaint gave Nagaicevs' address in Jurmala, Latvia, and said he was 34 years old but gave no further information on his current whereabouts. The SEC wants him to pay an unspecified amount in disgorgement and penalties.

The SEC also took administrative enforcement action on Thursday against four electronic trading firms and eight executives, saying they all enabled Nagaicevs's scheme by giving him "anonymous and unfiltered access" to the U.S. market.

The SEC said the trading firms also failed to properly register as brokers.

Two individuals and one firm have agreed to settle the matter, the agency said.

As part of its broader review of market structure issues, the SEC has flagged a practice known as "sponsored access" - in which brokerages with approval to trade on exchanges rent their access to traders - as a problem area.

Last year, new SEC rules took effect that target sponsored access by requiring brokerages to implement risk controls and increase their supervision over unlicensed high-speed traders who gain unfettered access to the markets.

The rules also effectively banned what is known as "naked access" in which brokers do not screen the orders en route to the markets.

The alleged conduct in the complaint occurred before those rules took effect.

The SEC's complaint said trading firms Alchemy Ventures Inc, KM Capital Management, Zanshin Enterprises and Mercury Capital all received "sponsored market access" from brokerages registered in the United States and then "passed the sponsored access on to the Latvian trader" who used it to manipulate the markets.

"These firms provided unfettered access to trade in the U.S. securities markets on an essentially anonymous basis," said Daniel Hawke, head of the SEC's Market Abuse Unit, in a statement.

"By failing to register as brokers, the firms and principals in this case exposed U.S. markets to real harm by evading crucial safeguards of the federal securities laws. We will not allow firms like these to fly under the radar and become safe havens for market abuse."

Mercury Capital and its president Lisa Hyatt agreed to settle the matter, as did Richard Rizzo, an associate of Zanshin Enterprises, the SEC said. Hyatt and Rizzo will each pay a $35,000 penalty.

Michael Bachner, an attorney for Rizzo, said the SEC has acknowledged in the settlement that his client had no knowledge of the illegal activities and that he never "intentionally furthered them."

Frank Razzano, an attorney for Mercury Capital and Hyatt, said his clients are happy to put this matter behind them.

Attorneys for the other firms and executives charged could not be immediately reached for comment, and Nagaicevs has no known defense counsel.

(Reporting By Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by John Wallace, Gary Hill)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/us_nm/us_sec_hacking

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Witchcraft in London? Tragically, it happens

By Annabel Roberts, NBC News

LONDON ? At London's Old Bailey, the highest criminal court in Britain, a desperate family tragedy is unfolding in courtroom number five.

It involves torture, death ? and witchcraft.

Harrowing sobs have echoed round the old courtroom as different members of one family have given evidence in the case of Magalie Bamu and her boyfriend Eric Bikubi, both accused of torturing Magalie's 15-year-old brother, Kristy Bamu, to death because they believed he was a witch.

Tale of torture
A horrifying picture has emerged of the last days of the boy?s life.

Kristy came to Britain with four brothers and sisters from his home in Paris to spend Christmas 2010 with his older sister Magalie. They stayed with her at the flat she shared with Bikubi, 28, in a section of eastern London.

That, prosecutors allege, is when things went bad.? The court heard that Bikubi accused three of the young visitors of witchcraft, and started taunting and beating them. Then he found some urine soaked underwear hidden in the flat's kitchen, which Kristy admitted was his. At that point, prosecutors said, Bikubi allegedly started to focus his accusations on Kristy and began to torture and beat the teenager in an attempt to oust out the evil in him.

Details of the torture have been spelled out to the jury by the children. They say Bikubi pulled Kristy's ears with pliers, rammed a metal tube into his mouth to dislodge his teeth, hit him with a hammer, and dropped tiles on to his head while forcing some of his siblings to hold him down and take part in the attacks.

Prosecutor Brian Altman described the pitting of sibling against sibling as "a staggering act of depravity and cruelty.?

One child, who has not been named, told the court the attacks wore Bikubi out to the point where he said he needed a rest and asked his girlfriend Magalie, Kristy's 28-year old sister, to take over.

"He said 'I've had enough, I need to have a rest. And Magalie hit him hard and quickly.'"

Eventually Bikubi filled a bathtub and instructed Kristy to get into it. According to the same sibling, as the water level rose Kristy tried to lift his body out, but was too weak. Eventually he slipped under the surface of the water, and drowned. It was Christmas Day.

One sister, Kelly Bamu, 21, told the court that Magalie could have stopped the abuse, but did nothing.

"Kristy asked for forgiveness. He asked again and again. Magalie did absolutely nothing. She didn't lift a finger," she said. "Magalie deserves to die for what they have done. I have no pity for her. She had no pity for us."

According to police, Kristy's body was covered in cuts and bruises; they say he had 101 injuries.

Bikubi denies murder, but has admitted manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility. Magalie denies murder.

Belief in witchcraft
Kristy's family is originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo. The jury has been told that witchcraft, or "kindoki," is widespread there and that it is condoned by some Christian churches across Africa and by their affiliated congregations worldwide.

Quite often if a family is experiencing setbacks, adults turn on a child in the belief that he or she is a vehicle for witchcraft and is responsible for their misfortunes. If the breadwinner loses a job, for example, and the family is struggling financially, or a family member has a car accident ? this may be attributed to the bad spirits that have taken hold of the child.

The response can be to abuse the child physically and emotionally, or to inflict suffering through starvation and neglect. There is a belief that the child will benefit from punishment, that they may be cured, without considering the harm this may cause.

Experts say cases often occur in situations of informal fostering ? where a child has been sent to live with an aunt, uncle or distant relative. But the extent is hard to quantify, according to Stephanie Yorath of the Victoria Climbie Foundation, an organization that promotes child protection, because of under-reporting.?

Yorath says very often the information detailing abuse is not recorded by investigating authorities, or the symptoms go unrecognized, or even more commonly, unreported by the child victims.

Autistic children are particularly vulnerable, said Thomas Bikebi of London's Congolese Family Center, who added that they are frequently picked out as witches and, along with others, can be sent back to Congo for exorcism. They often do not return.

The sanctioning of this abuse by some Christian churches is particularly alarming, according to Debbie Ariyo of AFRUCA (Africans Unite Against Child Abuse). She says some pastors are known to encourage adults to slap children or to make them fast, to rid them of evil spirits.

Bikebi believes the "problem is huge ... and fueled by poverty.? These rogue pastors are "exploiting the belief system to make money. Many people go to church to seek help with the economic situation they are facing. The pastor finds a scapegoat: the child. Parents have to pay for the pastor to perform the exorcism,? said Bikebi.

And there is concern that negative attention arising from an explosive trial like this one has the unwanted effect of driving improper practices further underground.

Such criminality occurs in many cultures and ethnic groups, including some in South America and Asia, but the majority of cases recorded in Britain occur in African communities.

Meanwhile, advocates are hoping the trial will raise awareness of the issue. Rachael Takens-Milne of the Trust for London, an organization funding solutions for vulnerable children, says there are programs to train caregivers and social workers to recognize when witchcraft is motivating child abuse.

It?s a view certainly shared by Kristy?s mother, Jacqueline, whose suffering throughout the trial has been heart-wrenchingly evident.

Toward the end of giving her evidence, she sobbed and said that she wants "to make people aware of what has happened between her children so such things don't happen to another family.???

Source: http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10235297-witchcraft-in-london-tragically-it-happens

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Deal of the Day ? 24? Viewsonic VA2431wm Full HD Widescreen LCD Monitor

Today’s LogicBUY Deal is the 24″ Viewsonic VA2431wm full HD widescreen LCD monitor for $149.99.? Features:? 1920 x 1080 full HD resolution, 100,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, DVI and VGA inputs, VESA mountable, glossy finish design. $179.99 – $30 coupon code = $149.99 with free shipping.? This is the current lowest price found by LogicBUY. This [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/01/25/deal-of-the-day-24-viewsonic-va2431wm-full-hd-widescreen-lcd-monitor-2/

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How To Turn Your Wall Into a Touchscreen Phone Using a Kinect [Video]

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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/bP8ZnZQS7w0/how-to-turn-your-wall-into-a-touchscreen-phone-using-a-kinect

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Summary Box: Serbia offers help to US Steel (AP)

STOPPING CLOSURE: Serbia's government will try to avert the closure of its single biggest exporter, U.S. Steel Serbia, despite poor financial results.

THE PLAN: The government will form a special team that will offer an "action plan" to help the Pittsburgh-based giant maintain production and keep its workforce of over 5,000 people in its factory in Smederevo, about 37 miles southeast of Belgrade.

BIG BUSINESS: U.S. Steel Serbia, which accounts for about 10 percent of the country's exports with $35 million in 2010, is mulling turning off the second of the two blast furnaces in Smederevo because of mounting losses amid the global economic slowdown. A decision is in the next week.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_serbia_us_steel_summary_box

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[OOC] Its your life

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austyn101

Member for 1 years

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This looks great will definitely be joining!

Calvazara

Member for 1 years

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That's a reason?

AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng is injured again ? on the bench for up to a month due to a thigh injury during Saturday?s 1-0 loss to Inter. And his ever-so-helpful girlfriend, Melissa Satta, thinks she knows why Boateng is on the injury list so often.

?The reason why he is always injured is because we have sex 7-10 times a week,? the 25-year-old told Vanity Fair.

Wait, in Italy, isn?t 7-10 times a week considered too little sex?

AC Milan have not commented on the matter, but they did issue a statement to validate his injury.

A statement from the Rossoneri read: ?Boateng has sustained a muscular lesion in his left thigh and the estimated time of recovery is around four weeks, unless there are complications.?

Boateng, of German and Ghanaian descent, played for Ghana in the 2010 World Cup, but retired from international soccer last year due to ?the physical demands.?

***
Sex and the Prince ? Boateng knocked out [SuperSport]
AC Milan?s Kevin-Prince Boateng is always injured because we have sex 10 times a week, claims Melissa Satta [Goal.com]

Source: http://offthebench.nbcsports.com/2012/01/23/ac-milan-players-girlfriend-claims-hes-on-injury-list-due-to-too-much-sex/related/

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INFLUENCE GAME: Online companies win piracy fight (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Outspent but hardly outgunned, online and high-tech companies triggered an avalanche of Internet clicks to force Congress to shelve legislation that would curb online piracy. They outmaneuvered the entertainment industry and other old guard business interests, leaving them bitter and befuddled.

Before Senate and House leaders set aside the legislation Friday, the movie and music lobbies and other Washington fixtures, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, had put in play their usually reliable tactics to rally support for the bills.

There were email campaigns, television and print ads in important states, a Times Square billboard, and uncounted phone calls and visits to congressional offices in Washington and around the country. That included about 20 trips to the Capitol by leaders of the National Songwriters Association International, often accompanied by songwriters who performed their hits for lawmakers and their staffs.

"We bring our guitars on our backs," said songwriter Steve Bogard, the association's president.

Such campaigns are often music to the ears of lawmakers. This time, however, it was smothered by an online outpouring against the legislation that culminated Wednesday. According to organizers, at least 75,000 websites temporarily went dark that day, including the English-language online encyclopedia Wikipedia, joined by 25,000 blogs.

"The U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet," said a message on Wikipedia's home page, which was shrouded in shadows and provided links to help visitors reach their members of Congress.

Thousands of other sites posted messages protesting the bills and urging people to contact lawmakers. Protest leaders say that resulted in 3 million emails.

Google, its logo hidden beneath a stark black rectangle, solicited 7 million signatures on a petition opposing the bills. Craigslist counted 30,000 phone calls to lawmakers and there were 3.9 million tweets on Twitter about the bills, according to NetCoalition, which represents leading Internet and high tech companies.

"It's still something we're trying to comprehend," said Google spokeswoman Samantha Smith. "We had such an overwhelming response to our petition that it honestly far exceeded our expectations."

As co-sponsors of the bills peeled away, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Friday postponed a vote that had been set for this Tuesday on moving to the legislation. The vote seemed doomed well beforehand. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, also put off further work. "I have heard from the critics," he said.

Just weeks ago, the bills seemed headed toward quiet approval with bipartisan backing that ranging from liberals such as Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., to conservatives such as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. The turnabout was so unexpected that some think the online world's triumph signals a pivotal moment marking its arrival as Washington's newest power broker.

"This does serve as a watershed moment," said Jennifer Stromer-Galley, a communications professor at the State University of New York at Albany who studies how political groups use high technology. "Certain channels for communication that people routinely use have the power to get their users to become political activists on their behalf."

Both bills are aimed at thwarting illegal downloads and sales of thousands of American movies, songs and books, as well as counterfeit pharmaceuticals, software and other copyrighted products. They would do so by making it easier to stop American websites and search engines from steering visitors to largely foreign websites that pirate the items.

Supporters estimate that online piracy costs the U.S. at least $100 billion annually and thousands of jobs; even the bills' critics say sales of pirated products must be stopped. But foes say the legislation goes too far, threatening to curb Internet free speech, stifle online innovation and burden online businesses with damaging regulations.

"People love their Internet. They use it every day, they don't want it to change and they don't want Washington messing with it," said Maura Corbett, spokeswoman for NetCoalition.

Claims that "big brother" would oversee the Internet infuriate bill supporters, who say their opponents employed fear-mongering and distortion to foment an online frenzy.

"They've misidentified this issue as an issue about your Internet, your Internet is being jeopardized," said Mike Nugent, executive director of Creative America, a coalition of entertainment unions, movie studios and television networks. "In fact their business model is being asked to be subjected to regulation. They're misleading their huge base."

Misleading or not, the online community had a huge impact on members of Congress, with many saying they heard little from the entertainment industry but plenty from Internet users.

"Everyone's online, and a lot of people online are very inclined to complain about" new fees and other problems, said Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va. "It's a culture of fairly quick mobilization."

The bills' champions said they purposely avoided hauling entertainment celebrities to Washington, saying they preferred to focus on how the measure would help the entire economy.

"If we brought in Hollywood stars, that would play into the other side's narrative that this is all about Hollywood," said Steven Tepp, who helped guide the campaign for the Chamber of Commerce. "We want to keep the focus on the reality that this is much, much broader."

In the end, the outcome showed the lobbying world is changing, said Kathy Garmezy, an official with the Directors Guild of America, which supports the bills.

"Of course you say to yourself, `What can you change?'" she said. "I don't think we've come to conclusions or closure."

Participants say last week's online protests were spawned last fall, as Congress was writing the bills and Internet users started chatting and emailing about them.

The blogging service Tumblr called attention to the measures on its website in November. Other efforts also garnered attention, including a drive by owners to remove their domain names from GoDaddy.com, which sells domain names and was a supporter of the anti-piracy legislation.

Among the first to publicly say they would darken their sites on Wednesday were Reddit and Wikipedia.

"Like most things on the Internet, it was very unorganized and chaotic," said Erik Martin, Reddit's general manager.

In terms of their Washington presence, online businesses are adolescents compared to the well-established industries they are battling.

According to Maplight, a nonpartisan group that analyzes money's role in politics, current senators have received $14.4 million over the past six years from entertainment interest groups supporting the online piracy bills, seven times the $2 million they got from Internet groups opposing the legislation.

The differences are also stark when it comes to lobbying.

Google, one of the Internet world's largest players in Washington, spent $5.9 million lobbying on all issues during the first nine months of 2011, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics. The Chamber of Commerce spent $46 million, the most in town.

Even so, online businesses have been beefing up their representation in Washington, the center's figures show.

Google's $5.9 million paid for 112 lobbyists last year, more than double the $2.8 million it spent for 54 lobbyists in 2008. Facebook's $910,000 for lobbying during the first three quarters of 2011 paid for 21 lobbyists, compared with two lobbyists and $351,000 it spent a year earlier.

High tech companies are also learning the value of big names. One Google lobbyist is former Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt, a House Democratic leader and presidential candidate. Last year, Facebook hired Joe Lockhart, a press secretary for President Bill Clinton, as vice president of global communications.

Bill supporters lost one advantage because former Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, could not personally lobby senators. The Capitol Hill veteran retired from the Senate last year and is legally barred from lobbying his former colleagues for two years.

___

Online:

Senate's Protect Intellectual Property Act: http://tinyurl.com/7lqbgzh

House's Stop Online Piracy Act: http://tinyurl.com/75vtcxg

NetCoalition: http://www.netcoalition.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_hi_te/us_online_piracy_lobbying

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Afghan president sends condolences to France

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Afghan President Hamid Karzai offered his condolences to France's defense minister on Sunday, following the killing of four French troops by an Afghan soldier.

The shooting Friday in eastern Afghanistan provoked a sharp reaction from Paris, prompting President Nicolas Sarkozy to suspend training missions and threaten to withdraw French troops early from the country.

On Sunday, Karzai met with French Defense Minister Gerard Longuet in Kabul and discussed the killings and Afghan-French relations.

Karzai's office said Longuet still sounded prepared to sign a long-term partnership to keep French forces in Afghanistan for years. The Afghan government expects the deal to be signed next week, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai.

The shooting last week was the second in which an Afghan soldier has turned on French forces since France first sent forces here, and the latest in a rising number of assaults in which Afghan security forces or infiltrators have turned their guns on coalition troops.

Before the meeting with Karzai, Longuet said his mission in Kabul was to "evaluate the attitude our officials should take" in the future.

Karzai's office said the Afghan government is investigating the shooting.

"France is an old and sincere historic friend of the Afghan nation and has remained as such," Karzai told Longuet, according to the statement, in an apparent move to smooth out relations.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe spoke by phone Saturday night with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton about the French troops' deaths and Paris' intentions in Afghanistan.

The French Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Longuet will give Sarkozy a report on his visit to Kabul. The president will then "draw all the conclusions from the attack," the ministry said, in a reference to whether Paris will maintain its mission in the coalition.

Karzai is to visit Paris on Jan. 27, a trip scheduled before the killings.

Longuet's trip coincides with a visit by the U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, who began meeting with Karzai and Afghan officials on Saturday. The U.S. is trying to negotiate its own long-term partnership agreement, along with supporting plans to bring the Taliban insurgency into formal talks for the first time.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-22-AS-Afghanistan/id-360c094041ad4ef28bf9ba012897c6f1

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Fire at prof's NJ home yields child porn magazine (AP)

EAGLESWOOD TOWNSHIP, N.J. ? A magazine from the 1970s with pornographic images of pre-pubescent girls led police to arrest a New York architecture professor after firefighters found the publication while battling a blaze in his home at the Jersey shore.

Shortly before noon on Tuesday, firefighters received a report that the waterfront home of 76-year-old Gamal El-Zoghby was ablaze. They doused the flames, and were checking for hidden pockets of flame behind the walls by pulling down panels of sheet rock, when the magazine fell from behind one of the panels, State Police spokesman Trooper Christopher Kay said.

The home was unoccupied at the time the fire broke out. Some time afterward, El-Zoghby arrived at the house, then went to a nearby State Police barracks, where he was questioned and charged with child endangerment before being released on his own recognizance.

Reached Thursday by The Associated Press at his home in Manhattan, El-Zoghby refused to discuss the case, referring questions to a lawyer who later declined comment.

El-Zoghby is a professor at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y. The school said he is on a leave of absence while its human resources department investigates the case.

Pratt's web site lists him as an undergraduate professor teaching advanced design and a class called "Judgment and Criticism of Architectural Expressions."

He earned a master's degree in architecture from the University of Michigan in 1962 and a bachelor's in architecture from Cairo University in 1958. He has been teaching at Pratt Institute since 1969, according to a Web page from the Cypress Architects Association that includes a photo of the house that caught fire on Tuesday.

According to the website's profile, El-Zoghby taught at City College of New York from 1966 to 1969 and at Alexandria University in Egypt from 1958 to 1960.

The fire heavily damaged the upper reaches of the house, which was well-known in the neighborhood for its unusual angular design, fire-engine-red paint and a rooftop beacon. When firefighters arrived at the edge of the Little Egg Harbor, there was heavy smoke and fire enveloping the second floor.

El-Zoghby designed and built the house in the late 1990s.

In a 1999 interview with the Asbury Park Press, the Egyptian-born El-Zoghby said he incorporated principles of astronomy, mathematics, philosophy and art into the design of his dream house. Its design involved precise geographic east-west and astronomical alignments, and two windows were positioned to capture the sunrise and sunset at the spring and autumn equinoxes, the newspaper reported.

He named the house "The Parousium" from the Greek word "parousia," meaning "presence or appearance."

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_us/us_fire_child_pornography

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