Surprise box office tie for "Cowboys", "Smurfs"

Costumed ''Smurfs'' characters stand on the main trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, after ringing the opening bell for the Exchange's session July 29, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Mike Segar

Costumed ''Smurfs'' characters stand on the main trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange, after ringing the opening bell for the Exchange's session July 29, 2011.

Credit: Reuters/Mike Segar

The tiny blue "Smurfs" battled big-name, big-budget "Cowboys & Aliens" to a surprising tie at the domestic weekend box office with each film ringing up an estimated $36.2 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates on Sunday. "The Smurfs" live-action and animated 3D film drew families to the latest adventure of the classic Belgian cartoon characters and grossed higher-than-expected sales. "Cowboys & Aliens" fell short of pre-release estimates from box-office watchers.

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The totals are estimates of ticket sales from United States and Canadian theatres for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The leader will not be known until actual sales are tallied on Monday.
Going into the weekend, "Cowboys & Aliens" was seen easily topping box-office charts with starpower from James Bond actor Daniel Craig and "Indiana Jones" star Harrison Ford, plus director Jon Favreau from the hit "Iron Man" series and Steven Spielberg among the producers. The film is set in the Wild West in 1873, when a spaceship arrives in Arizona and runs into a posse of cowboys.
The movie offered "a fresh and unique concept," said Nikki Rocco, president of distribution for Universal Pictures, a division of Comcast Corp that released the film. "It was a bet worth taking with these filmmakers."
A lower-than-expected total for "Cowboys & Aliens" collided with a bigger draw from "The Smurfs," a movie that revived characters that debuted more than 50 years ago.
"In the summer, family films are a hot commodity," Paul Dergarabedian, box office analyst with Hollywood.com, said of the "Smurfs" success.
Rory Bruer, president of worldwide distribution for Columbia Pictures, said the "Smurfs" film "performed beyond our expectations." Columbia Pictures is the unit of Sony Corp that released the movie.
Third place for the weekend went to superhero flick "Captain America: The First Avenger" with $24.9 million in domestic ticket sales during its second weekend in theatres.
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2," hitting its third weekend, finished fourth with $21.9 million. The final installment of the popular boy wizard series topped $1 billion in worldwide sales to date, the ninth film in history to hit that mark, distributor Warner Bros. said.
"Crazy, Stupid, Love," a new romantic comedy starring Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling and Julianne Moore, took the No. 5 spot in the U.S. and Canada with a solid $19.3 million.
"Captain America" was released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom. Time Warner Inc unit Warner Bros released "Crazy, Stupid, Love" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows -- Part 2."

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Peter Bromhead: Anthropogenic global warming issues

On yet another dreary commuting foray to North America, I had the opportunity to converse at length with an eminent climate scientist over anthropogenic global warming issues.
My flight companion was part of an international climate change panel, and was homeward bound to New York after consultations with the Australian Government.
Obviously, it was pointless for a bewildered old cartoonist to try to verbally outrun somebody professionally clued up on his subject - even when my companion's viewpoint appeared disturbingly contaminated with doctrine that leaned heavily on ideology rather than absolute fact.
Climate alarmists appear to be re-emerging in strength, after licking their wounds following the debacle of the Copenhagen Climate Summit.
This is most noticeable in the resurgence of doomsday news releases, with carefully managed media darkly recording that wobbles in the world's temperature are solely due to man's folly.
Much of this propaganda has been directed across the Tasman, no doubt to help Julia Gillard's struggle to seduce Australians into swallowing a carbon tax.

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Unlike New Zealanders - who appear more malleable when it comes to accepting vaporous concepts - Australians appear sceptical about their Government's proposals to hijack what many believe is an expensive fiction.
Possibly the reason Aussies don't buy into carbon tax is because they have all read their fellow countryman's admirably comprehensive book, Heaven and Earth: Global Warming, the Missing Science, by Professor Ian Plimer.
This volume, with thousands of scientific references on every aspect of climate change - through the history of the planet - is a must-read for those bewildered by climate contradictions.
Global warming is factual, but is more about our solar system's normal progression than man's infinitesimal contribution, according to Plimer's rationale. His evidence is buried in the planet's geology, which clearly demonstrates that climate change is an ongoing natural phenomenon. One of the startling facts is how few times Earth has had ice caps.
Grapes grew as far north as Scotland during the "Roman warming period", followed by the "Little Ice Age" lasting from 1300 until the early 19th century. Now we're warming up again, it's as simple as that.
Yes, the climate will change and affect the environment. But don't be fooled by irrational guilt-fed ideology that appears to be closer to wacky religious beliefs than scientific reality

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Strong quake jolts northeast Japan, no tsunami

A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 jolted northeast Japan on Sunday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.
The quake, at 3:54am local time Saturday, was also felt in Tokyo.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, and no tsunami warning was issued.
The focus of the quake was off the coast of Fukushima prefecture. There were no abnormalities at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the operator Tokyo Electric Power Co said.
A 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami on March 11 knocked out the Fukushima plant's reactor cooling systems, triggering a radiation crisis.
Police in Fukushima and neighbouring Miyagi prefecture said they had received no reports of damage or injuries
Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.
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The March 11 earthquake, the strongest in Japan on record, and a massive tsunami triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years, since Chernobyl. The disaster left up to 23,000 dead or missing.

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Plane Crash in Guyana: Jet Splits in Two on Landing

 

 

The broken fuselage of a Caribbean Airlines' Boeing 737-800 is seen after it crashed at the end of the runway at Cheddi Jagan International Airport in Timehri, Guyana, Saturday July 30, 2011.

 

 

 

Caribbean Airlines flight 523 traveling from New York split in two as it crash-landed in Guyana on Saturday.

The Boeing 737 overshot the rainy runway and slid into a chain-link fence, which caused the plane to break in half just short of a deep ravine.

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A few dozen people were injured, but miraculously all 163 people on board survived.
The Caribbean Airlines flight flying from New York landed at Cheddi Jagan International Airport early Saturday morning and according to passenger Geeta Ramsingh, the cheers of fellow riders quickly “turned to screams.”
"The plane sped up as if attempting to take off again. It is then that I smelled gas in the cabin and people started to shout and holler.”
According to Ramsingh, she suffered some bruising as she jumped onto the airplane’s wing and then the road.

Guyana’s Stabroek Newspaper reports that 41 of the 163 passengers were taken to hospitals but only three were admitted for minor injuries.
"We must be the luckiest country and luckiest set of people in the world to escape so lightly," said Health Minister Leslie Ramsammy.
Cheddi Jagan International Airport was closed temporarily by authorities, delaying dozens of flights and leaving countless stranded.
This is one of the worst airplane crashes in recent Guyanese history. A full investigation has been launched and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is scheduled to arrive Saturday to head the inspection.
President Bharrat Jagdeo who came to the crash site said, "We are very, very grateful that more people were not injured.”

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Ex-astronaut Lisa Nowak forced out of U.S. Navy

In this Aug. 24, 2007 file photo, Lisa Nowak makes a brief statement to the media outside the courtroom after a hearing at the Orange County courthouse in Orlando, Fla. Nowak, banished from NASA after she attacked a romantic rival, will retire from the Navy with an "other than honorable" discharge and her pay grade will be knocked down one rank, Assistant Secretary of Navy Juan Garcia said in a statement

A former astronaut banished from NASA after she confronted a romantic rival in a bizarre episode is being kicked out of the Navy, officials said Thursday.
Capt. Lisa Nowak will retire with an "other than honorable" discharge and her pay grade will be knocked down one rank, Assistant Secretary of Navy Juan Garcia said in a statement.
Nowak's conduct "fell well short" of what is expected of Navy officers and she "demonstrated a complete disregard for the well-being of a fellow service member," Garcia said.
Nowak was accused of confronting Colleen Shipman in the parking lot of the Orlando International Airport in February 2007 after driving from Houston.
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Nowak had diapers in the car, but Nowak disputed she wore the diapers. Shipman, an Air Force captain, had begun dating Nowak's love interest, former space shuttle pilot Bill Oefelein.
Police say Nowak sprayed pepper spray into Shipman's car. Nowak's attorney says the pepper spray never reached Shipman.
Nowak was sentenced in 2009 to a year of probation in the altercation after pleading guilty to burglary charges.
Since her dismissal from the astronaut corps, Nowak has been working at the Chief of Naval Air Training station in Corpus Christi, Texas. She will be demoted to commander when her retirement takes effect Sept. 1.
The "other than honorable" discharge may affect veterans' benefits for Nowak, who has been in the Navy for 20 years. A call to her cell phone was not returned.
The decision by the Navy came after a board of inquiry heard testimony last year.
"Our goal is to make the right decision," said Lt. Alana Garas, a Navy spokeswoman. "There was a lot of material associated with this case ... and the material was fully reviewed ... and that takes time."

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Emma Stone: I'm an enormous 'Spider-Man' fan

Emma Stone poses for a portrait at Comic Con in San Diego, Calif. on Friday, July 22, 2011.

Emma Stone poses for a portrait at Comic Con in San Diego, Calif. on Friday, July 22, 2011.

 - Emma Stone has gone from layperson to expert on the two publishing sensations she's helping to bring to Hollywood this summer and next.

Stone had not read Kathryn Stockett's "The Help" before auditioning for the lead role in the drama about a white woman who rocks the Deep South establishment by chronicling the hard lives of black maids in the early 1960s.

And before earning the female lead in "The Amazing Spider-Man," Stone knew the Marvel Comics superhero mainly from Sam Raimi's three past big-screen "Spidey" adventures and glimpses of the web-slinger on memorabilia.

"I knew Spidey from Halloween costumes and Band-Aids and erasers and pencils and notebooks," Stone, 22, said in an interview at last week's Comic-Con fan convention, where she and star Andrew Garfield joined the filmmakers to reveal footage of the 2012 summer blockbuster-in-waiting.

"I knew that every little boy at school was obsessed with Spidey. I saw all the Sam Raimi movies, but I had not read the comics until I got involved. And now I'm a ridiculously enormous 'Spider-Man' fan. That's what happens. That character is one of the most incredible characters, I think, ever written, comic-book world or literary world. It's just such an inspirational character. I think that's probably the reason he's the president's favorite superhero."

Stone has been on a steady rise in Hollywood, co-starring in 2007's teen romp "Superbad" and 2009's horror comedy "Zombieland," then charming audiences with her first big-screen lead in last year's "The Scarlet Letter" twist "Easy A."

After supporting roles in back-to-back romantic comedies with last week's "Friends With Benefits" and this week's "Crazy Stupid Love," Stone's profile shoots higher with the Aug. 10 debut of "The Help," co-starring Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard and Octavia Spencer.

Stone recalled being as much a novice on "The Help" as she had been on "Spider-Man." She was about to meet with the filmmakers for the first time and happened to give her mom a call.

"I've got a meeting tonight for 'The Help,'" Stone told her mother. "And she screamed so loud my eardrums burst. She said, 'You've got to read this book! You have to go and read this book right now!' My mother is, like, she fainted, she was so beside herself."

"The Help" is expected to be a summer hit driven by the best-seller's female fans, a rarity in a season dominated by action tales and comedies aimed largely at young males.

As Gwen Stacy, the romantic interest for Garfield's Peter Parker in next July's "Spider-Man" reboot, Stone will be in the thick of a fan-boy frenzy. Yet the fact that Peter's a skinny, bullied kid who leaps to hero status through the bite of a mutant spider makes him an idol for everyone, not just comic-book and action fans, Stone said.

"Batman's great, but this isn't a rich guy building a suit. And Superman's great, but this isn't an untouchable guy like we've never seen before on this planet," Stone said. "This is someone you could go to school with and work with, that all of sudden, one day is able to fight off superhuman villains. It's pretty incredible. I get it now. I really do."

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Archaeopteryx may not have been a bird, but just a feathery dinosaur

Archaeopteryx: The creature long believed to be the earliest known bird may not have been a bird at all, suggests a new Chinese fossil find.

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This artist's rendition released by Nature shows what scientists at Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing are dubbing 'Xiaotingia zhengi.' The discovery of its fossilized remains helped scientists propose an evolutionary tree that suggests archaeopteryx is not a bird.

The legendary winged creature long known as the earliest bird, Archaeopteryx, might have just been dethroned, scientists reveal.
Instead, a newfound fossil from China suggests Archaeopteryx was not a bird after all, but one of many birdlike dinosaurs, a finding that could force scientists to rethink much of what they thought they knew about the origin and evolution of birds.
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Archaeopteryx lived about 150 million years ago in what is now Bavaria in Germany, back when EuropeDarwin's theory of evolution published just two years before the fossil discovery. Its place as the earliest and most primitive known bird made it central to the scientific understanding of the evolution of birds and flight.  First discovered 150 years ago, the carnivorous fossil, with its blend of avian and reptilian features, seemed an iconic evolutionary link between dinosaurs and birds, bolstering
Still, for decades, there have been doubts as to whether Archaeopteryx was really a bird.

Trading places

Now scientists have uncovered a new fossil in China whose combination of features unexpectedly suggests Archaeopteryx was actually just a relative of the lineage that ultimately gave rise to birds.
The novel chicken-size fossil in question, Xiaotingia zhengi, dates back about 155 million years. The carnivore was found in Liaoning in China, where many other extraordinary specimens of feathered dinosaurs and early birds have been unearthed. (The species is named after Zheng Xiaoting, who helped establish the Shandong Tianyu Museum of Nature as a repository for vertebrate fossils from China.) 
To see where X. zhengi belonged evolutionarily, paleontologist Xing Xu at the Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing and his colleagues tallied up all of its birdlike and dinosaurlike features, such as long robust forearms, and compared them with other species. These species included avialans, a group containing ancestors of modern birds, and deinonychosaurs, close relatives of avialans, which together are known as paravians. Avialans include dinosaurlike birds, while deinonychosaurs include birdlike dinosaurs — a blurry distinction that has led scientists to often bounce species around between the group.
When the researchers analyzed features of Xiaotingia and Archaeopteryx, the resulting family tree clustered them together. Unexpectedly, it also yanked them out of the avialan category and placed the duo with the deinonychosaurs.

New bird on the block

Now their analysis suggests the earliest known avialan is currently a pigeon-size feathered creature known as Epidexipteryx hui recently discovered in Inner Mongolia, China.
"This has a huge impact about how we view the early evolution of birds," said Witmer, who did not take part in this study. "For 150 years, scientists have tended to view their early evolution through the lens of Archaeopteryx, and how much of what they thought now needs to be re-examined?"
Still, these findings remain tentative.
"As we try to tease apart what's going on, we're left with slight differences between species, and each new find reshuffles the deck — Xiaotingia might have moved Archaeopteryx out of the birds, but the next find could move it back into birds or somewhere else," Witmer said. "That's how it should be, how science works — new evidence changes our conclusions."
Xing and his colleagues detailed their findings in the July 28 issue of the journal Nature, and Witmer wrote an accompanying commentary.

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Obama’s approval numbers hit all-time low

 President Barack Obama gestures while speaking about his plan for America's energy security, Wednesday, March 30, 2011, at Georgetown University in Washington.  



President Barack Obama’s approval rating sank to a new low Friday, according to Gallup’s daily presidential tracking poll.

Just 40 percent of Americans say they approve of Obama’s performance as president. That is down three percentage points from Thursday. 50 percent say they do not approve of the job he is doing.

The poor rating comes amidst an increasingly chaotic debate over raising the debt ceiling, as the deadline to raise it or risk the government defaulting on its debts looms.

Just 41 percent of the public said they approved of the way Obama was handling the debt-ceiling negotiations, while 52 percent disapproved, according to another Gallup poll released Thursday. Nonetheless, Obama still polls better than congressional leadership. Speaker of the House John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid both received even lower approval rates.

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The president’s 40 percent approval rating follows a Pew Research Center for the People and the Press poll released Thursday that found Obama’s support among independents has eroded a great deal. 54 percent of independents disapprove of Obama’s performance as president, according to the Pew poll, the most during his time in office. Just 36 percent approve of the job he is doing.

Obama has also lost ground against a generic Republican challenger — getting 41 percent of the vote when matched with an unnamed Republican who polled 40 percent.

Obama’s approval rating is below that of former President Bill Clinton’s lowest approval rating during the government shutdowns of 1995. At the very end of the shutdown, Clinton’s approval rating was down at 42 percent, but quickly rebounded back to over 50 percent. His lowest approval rating ever was 37 percent in mid June of 1993.

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Dark winters 'led to bigger human brains'

Humans living at high latitude have bigger eyes and bigger brains to cope with poor light during long winters and cloudy days, UK scientists have said.
The Oxford University team said bigger brains did not make people smarter. Larger vision processing areas fill the extra capacity, they write in the Royal Society's Biology Letters journal.
The scientists measured the eye sockets and brain volumes of 55 skulls from 12 populations across the world, and plotted the results against latitude. Lead author Eiluned Pearce told "We found a positive relationship between absolute latitude and both eye socket size and cranial capacity."
Eiluned Pearce said: "Both the amount of light hitting the Earth's surface and winter day-lengths get shorter as you go further north or south from the equator.
"We found that as light levels decrease, humans are getting bigger eye sockets, which suggests that their eyeballs are getting bigger.
"They are also getting bigger brains, because we found this increase in cranial capacity as well.
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"In the paper, we argue that having bigger brains doesn't mean that high-latitude humans are necessarily smarter. It's just they need bigger eyes and brains to be able to see well where they live."
The work indicates that humans are subject to the same evolutionary trends that give relatively large eyes to birds that sing first during the dawn chorus, or species such as owls that forage at night.
The team, from the Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology, used skulls dating from the 1800s kept at museums in Oxford and Cambridge.
The skulls were from indigenous populations ranging from Scandinavia to Australia, Micronesia and North America.
The largest brain cavities came from Scandinavia, while the smallest were from Micronesia.
Co author Prof Robin Durbar said: "Humans have only lived at high latitudes in Europe and Asia for a few tens of thousands of years, yet they seem to have adapted their visual systems surprisingly rapidly to the cloudy skies, dull weather and long winters we experience at these latitudes."

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Peace talks pick up pace as India, Pak skirt blocks

: India and Pakistan on Wednesday pressed ahead with their peace engagement, steering 

around contentious issues -- particularly Jammu and Kashmir and terrorism -- that bedevil their ties.


Erasing the scars of last July, when their foreign ministers clashed in full public view in Islamabad, India and Pakistan on Wednesday managed the rare feat of speaking in one voice. They agreed to invest in a relationship of "trust and mutually beneficial cooperation".


It wasn`t easy given differences over the usual stumbling blocks that cropped up during the meeting between foreign minister S M Krishna (78), and his young counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar (34), but the two sides worked around them successfully enough for foreign secretary Nirupama Rao to later declare that the "fog has now lifted'' over the relationship.


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Khar too raised hopes when she described the relationship as entering a new era and stated that the mindset of people in both the countries had changed, allowing ties to move in the right direction. In terms of deliverables, a number of CBMs to enhance cross-LoC trade and travel were announced.


"It is our desire to make the dialogue process uninterrupted and uninterruptible," Khar said after the meeting, summing up the determination to stay engaged. The restraint was evident at the press conference of the two foreign secretaries where neither rose to the bait of provocative questions.


Talks did not start on a very promising note though. The meeting started with Krishna strongly expressing displeasure to the Pakistani delegation over Khar`s meeting with separatist Hurriyat leaders on Tuesday evening ahead of the official talks.


Krishna wanted to know what was the locus standi of the Hurriyat as they were not representative of the people of India. He also took exception to the press statement Pakistan High Commission issued after the meeting with separatists.


Khar promptly assured Krishna that she did not intend to give offence to India.


The two sides did not let the issue overshadow talks even in public. Rao confirmed that India had expressed concern over the meeting and that it reflected divergences. "We have a different point of view from Pakistan on the meeting and we have expressed our concern frankly and candidly," she said. But she also emphasized that the neighbours had the political will to work together.


Rao`s counterpart Salman Bashir also spoke in a conciliatory vein. He said the meeting with Hurriyat should not be construed as an attempt to cast shadow over the talks, adding that Pakistan`s intention was to reach out in the interest of democratic polity.


Sources said the Pakistanis chose not to be prickly also when Krishna forcefully raised the lack of credible effort to punish the 26/11 masterminds, and continuing hate propaganda against India by the sorts of Lashkar chief Hafiz Saeed.


"We have made attempts to infuse the dialogue with the Thimphu spirit," Rao said referring to the meeting between PM Manmohan Singh and Yousuf Raza Gilani in Bhutan last year when they paved the way for re-engagement.


Krishna also raised the confessions made by Pakistani-American Lashkar operative David Headley during the trial of another accused Tahawwur Rana in Chicago about the role of ISI but the Pakistanis quickly assured that they would investigate the matter.


Terror and J&K were discussed at length and this manifested itself in the joint statement which called for eliminating terror in all its forms and, on J&K, spoke of finding a "peaceful solution by narrowing divergences and building convergences". They also agreed for a continued discussion on J&K in a purposeful and forward-looking manner.


Rao said there was "cautious optimism" in India-Pak relations. Krishna stated that things were "on the right track". The two foreign ministers decided to meet again in the first half of 2012. "This is indeed a new era of bilateral cooperation between the two countries, and it is our desire... to make it an uninterrupted and an uninterruptible process," Khar said.


"There has been a mindset change in the people of the two countries that we must acknowledge," she added. Khar showed remarkable maturity for her age when during the joint press briefing after the talks, she resisted all temptations to play to the gallery by mentioning the K-word even though it figured prominently in the joint statement.


Bashir too said after the talks that the two countries needed to make a conscious effort to be respectful to each other to maintain the momentum and ensure deeper level of engagement. "Either of us should not seek advantage over the other as we go for a deeper level of engagement. It is also not appropriate to read into what is said and what is not. We have to understand that this is a work in progress," said Bashir.


After the talks, when asked if the Hurriyat meeting was an attempt to establish "parallel" structures in the bilateral relationship, Rao said as far as India was concerned, there was only a "bilateral structure" between the two governments to address all issues. Hurriyat leaders had insisted before Khar in the meeting on Tuesday that Kashmiris too be made a part of the dialogue between India and Pakistan.

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Emma Stone in talks for gangster film?

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You’d think Emma Stone would be preoccupied, what with appearing in and promoting three summer blockbusters, but the bottle ginger is looking ahead.

Stone is in talks to play the female lead in the 1940s crime drama “Gangster Squad,” 
The Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow film is set to star Sean Penn and Ryan Gosling, who she appeared alongside in “Crazy, Stupid, Love” – out Friday.
The “Easy A” actress visited “Conan” on Monday to promote the film, which is fitting considering her character Hannah proclaims her love for the talk show host in the flick.
“Given the opportunity, yes, I would have his babies,” Hannah tells her friend, who nicknames the host “Conan Ginger Junk O’Brien.”
The actress also told Conan what happened when she and her mother sat near Brangelina at the Golden Globes. Her mom, who Stone said never drinks, filled up on champagne and asked the couple about their kids, adding, “They grow up so fast.”
Stone’s “The Help” hits theaters on August 10. She also appears in the Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis starrer “Friends With Benefits,” in theaters now.

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Alexander McQueen Leaves $82,000 Each to His Dogs

Alexander McQueen, the high-fashion designer who died last year at the age of 40, has made an unusual provision in his will.
McQueen hanged himself a day before the funeral of his mother, and his body was found by one of his two housekeepers. The designer had taken a cocktail of sedatives and cocaine. One of his two housekeepers found his body, and each was bequeathed £50,000 by McQueen in his will.
But the designer also loved his three dogs- Minter, Juice and Callum- and and left £50,000 per pup from his £16,036,500 to be set aside in a fund for their lifelong care. ($82,000 in US Dollars.) The remaining bulk of McQueen’s fortune went to several charities:
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Four charities – The Terrence Higgins Trust, Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, the London Buddhist Centre and the Blue Cross sick animal centre in Burford, Oxfordshire – have received £100,000 each.
The designer left the remainder of his estate in a trust for his Sarabande charity, which shares a name with his spring/summer 2007 collection famous for including a dress adorned with fresh flowers.

It’s believed that the hugely successful fashion maven (known as “Lee” to family and friends) was experiencing tremendous work pressure and buckled under the stress of his mother’s passing. An inquest noted a single message from McQueen inscribed on a book found near his body: ”Look after my dogs, sorry, I love you, Lee.”

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India maharaja's tiger hunting Rolls may fetch $1 million

Auction house Bonhams will put under the hammer a rare Rolls Royce Phantom modified for tiger hunting by an Indian maharaja during the days of the British Raj, featuring a mounted machine gun and a cannon, that may fetch up to $1 million.

The custom-made 1925 Rolls Royce was originally commissioned by Umed Singh II, the maharaja of Kotah in the 1920s at a time when tiger hunting was hugely popular in India.

The flaming red vehicle, with a convertible canvas roof and bespoke hunting features including a double-barreled shotgun, spotlights for night hunting and a mountable Lantaka cannon, is expected to fetch up to $1 million when it goes on the block in mid-August in Carmel, California.

"It was quite common, most of the maharajahs had specialized customized cars manufactured in the US and they even had gilted frames and all sorts of things," said Pran Nevile, a writer and expert on India's colonial era known as the British Raj.

The car's 8.0-liter, 6-cylinder engine with a low gearing ratio allowed "it to creep powerfully through the roughshod jungles of Rajasthan," wrote Bonhams.

For centuries, big game hunting of tigers, leopards and Asiatic lions in India's forests was a favored pastime of India's rulers from the Mughal emperors to the British elite.

While much tiger hunting was carried out on elephant-back, some Indian maharajahs, or "great kings" of princely states across India including arid Rajasthan, took things to the extreme.

"It was more for a show but everything would be ready and then they would then go and take this Rolls Royce up to a point or the hills and from there shoot the tiger that was already captured by their servants," Nevile told Reuters.

Indiscriminate hunting, however, decimated India's Bengal tiger population from an estimated 40,000 a century ago to about 1,700 today. Tigers are now a protected keystone species throughout Asia from Indonesia's Sumatra to Indochina and India.

Indian maharajas were known for their high living and extravagant spending on all manner of trappings including ornate palaces, vintage cars and Louis Vuitton bags.

The nawab, or ruler, of southern Hyderabad state used the famed Koh-i-Noor diamond, once the largest known gemstone in the world, as a paperweight, while the nawab of tiny western Junagadh state was renowned for spending lavishly on his dog's wedding.

"They wanted to live in ostentatious style. Being a princely lot they had their own grand style and it was even copied by the British," said Nevile.

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Dollar falls, gold rises with no US debt progress

Asian stocks and the US dollar fell on Wednesday while gold hit a record high at more than $1,623 an ounce, as a drip feed of news out of Washington indicated politicians were making little progress on a plan to lift the US debt ceiling.

The Australian dollar jumped to a post-float high above $1.1050 after second quarter inflation figures were higher than forecast, squeezing investors who had recently increased bets that the Australian central bank would cut rates this year.

The Australian dollar and other Asia-Pacific currencies have been rising as traders anticipate more action by policymakers to keep quickening inflation at bay as well as the possibility of more capital inflows heading to the region as investors take refuge from debt crises in the US and Europe.

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The threat of a US default and a credit rating downgrade loomed over equity markets and the dollar, which was sold across the board on Tuesday, though a one-notch cut may not have a lasting impact on markets.

"The impact of a credit downgrade on the financial markets would be negative for growth. The induced shocks to the economy could lower next quarter's real GDP growth to close to zero. However, a likely rebound in Q4 growth, following a resolution of the budget debacle, could leave growth in the second half lower by 0.6 percent," said Michael Carey, North American chief economist with Credit Agricole, in a note.

The crisis over Washington's borrowing limit has not triggered a broad and lasting selloff in risky assets, especially since many investors see few alternatives to the depth of the US Treasury market and contrast the political nature of the US crisis with the structural problems in the euro zone.

Most market watchers expect some sort of last-minute deal in Washington. But the intense standoff has made investors increasingly hedge against an adverse outcome, particularly with seven days to go before an Aug. 2 deadline when the US Treasury said it would not be able to borrow anymore.

Japan's Nikkei share average was down 0.7 percent, led by Honda Motor Co shares, which were down 1.7 percent in early trade.

The MSCI index of Asia Pacific stocks outside Japan was steady, while benchmark indexes in South Korea and Australia were down slightly.

The US dollar index, which gauges its value against a basket of six other major currencies, edged down 0.1 percent to a fresh 2-1/2-month low at 73.42.

The dollar hit a four-month low against the yen, just below 77.80, though the march lower has been sluggish because of fears that Japan may step in unilaterrally into markets to slow their currency's gains.

Japanese policymakers are becoming alarmed at persistent yen rises and considering solo currency intervention as an increasingly viable option for the near term, sources with knowledge of the matter
In commodity markets, gold climbed to an all-time high of $1,623.31 an ounce, having risen 14.3 percent so far this year, more than double the S&P 500 index's 6 percent gain so far.

US crude oil futures fell 44 cents to $99.16 a barrel, while Brent crude futures were little changed at $118.22.

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SSI & Social Security Disability

Our office has submitted and won thousands of disability applications for SSI and SSDI through Social Security. Applying for Social Security Disability or SSI can be a long, stressful, and confusing process. We can take care of it for you, and submit it to Social Security on your behalf. Apply through our office and:

• Increase your chances of winning
• Maximize benefits due
• We'll deal with Social Security
• We'll file your appeals
• Get your paperwork filed quickly and accurately
• Don't get denied on an unexpected technicality
• Pay no fee if you don't win

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Social Security Disability Advocates

We currently have clients in every State in the nation and attorneys all over the nation that perform hearings. Make sure your disability application is done right the first time. Social Security Disability and SSI claims can take years. Don't risk losing and have to start over your claim for disability benefits. Let our office portray your disabilities or diseases accurately to the Social Security Administration.

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2,000-year-old Bell Rings Again In Jerusalem

A 2,000-year-old bell, which was lost in Jerusalem during the Second Temple period, has been discovered near the Old City, according to reports from Israel's Antiquities Authority.
The tiny golden bell is thought to have been part of a senior official’s outfit. It was found among ruins during excavation work on a drainage channel in the City of David, an area in the Arab neighborhood of Silwan. It was inside the main drainage channel, which transports rainwater from different parts of the city to the pool of Siloam.
"It seems the bell was sewn on the garment worn by a high official in Jerusalem at the end of the Second Temple period," said an IAA statement, according to AFP. "Apparently, the high official was walking in the Jerusalem street in the vicinity of Robinson’s Arch and lost the gold bell that fell from his garment into the drainage channel beneath the road.”
The statement noted, "It is impossible to know for certain if the bell did indeed belong to one of the high priests; however, the possibility should not be entirely discounted."
According to archeologist Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the bell probably fell off and rolled into the sewer as its owner walked by. Shukron points out that the bell is a “very rare” find, AP quoted.

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At least 100,000 join Oslo march in grief and unity

  At least 100,000 people rallied in Oslo and tens of thousands more marched in cities across Norway on Monday in a nationwide expression of grief and unity over the massacre of 76 people by Anders Behring Breivik.

Breivik told a judge in a closed hearing on Monday his bombing and shooting rampage aimed to save Europe from a Muslim takeover, and said that "two more cells" existed in his group.

Police said they could not rule out the possibility that others were involved in Friday's attacks and they revised down the death toll to 76 from 93: eight dead in a bomb blast in Oslo and 68 at a Labour Party youth camp on Utoeya island.

Stoltenberg addressed the evening crowd, many of them holding up red and white roses for remembrance, his voice trembling with emotion: "By taking part you are saying a resounding 'yes' to democracy." He called the Rose March a "march for democracy, a march for tolerance, a march for unity".

"Evil can kill a person but never conquer a people."

In a country of 4.8 million, where a single murder makes front-page news, the solidarity rally was probably the biggest since World War Two.

"We are a small society and I think that makes everyone feel affected whether directly involved or not," said Jonas Waerstad, 26, who was one of the marchers.

Earlier in the day, a handful of enraged protesters awaited Breivik at Oslo District Court.

"Get out, get out!" shouted one, banging on a police car he wrongly believed contained the self-confessed mass killer. In fact police drove Breivik to the court in another vehicle.

"Everyone here wants him dead," he said, adding that he knew one of the dead and three survivors of the attacks.

"We want to see him really hurt for what he did," said Zezo Hasab, 32, among the jeering protesters outside the court.

Breivik had wanted to explain in public why he perpetrated modern-day Norway's worst peacetime massacre. He was denied a public platform, but judge Kim Heger in his news conference, gave an account of what the accused 32-year-old had said.

After the hearing, a police jeep drove away carrying an unshaven Breivik, with close-cropped blond hair and wearing a red jumper with a lighter red shirt underneath.

QUESTIONS FOR POLICE

Police handling of the crisis may come under more scrutiny after the revision to the death toll, which a police spokesman attributed to difficulties in gathering information at Utoeya.

Daily Dagsavisen asked "Why didn't you come earlier?" citing screams by youths as police arrived on the island -- an hour after they were notified of the shooting.

Police efforts to reach the island stalled after one boat, overloaded with officers and equipment, was forced to stop when it began to take on water.

Breivik's name had appeared, via Interpol, on a list of 50-60 Norwegians after he paid 120 Norwegian crowns ($22.16) to a Polish company that was under surveillance because of its sale of chemicals, Norway's NRK television said.

Breivik leased a farm and bought fertilisers.

"We get masses of information about very many people," PST security police chief Janne Kristiansen told NRK. She said PST checked names on the list against PST watch lists but that "we had absolutely nothing on Behring Breivik" and it was dropped.

She said his Internet and Facebook profiles looked moderate although he took part in some extremist chat rooms.

It was not clear whether Breivik is in fact part of an organisation, although he has written about a revival of the Knights Templar, a medieval order of crusading monks.

"MASS IMPORTS OF MUSLIMS"

Judge Heger said Breivik had accused the ruling Labour Party of betraying Norway with "mass imports of Muslims".

He said his bombing of government buildings in Oslo and massacre at a summer camp for Labour's youth wing was aimed at deterring future recruitment to the party.

"The goal of the attack was to give a strong signal to the people," the judge quoted Breivik as saying.

Breivik's custody can be extended before a trial on terrorism charges. Police say the trial could be a year away.

Heger said he had ordered Breivik detained in solitary confinement for eight weeks, with no letters, newspapers or visits, except from a lawyer.

The detention, in line with a request from prosecutors, will allow them to investigate the case against Breivik.

In a rambling 1,500-page tract posted online just before the massacre, Breivik explained how violence was needed to rescue Europe from Islam, immigration and multi-culturalism.

If he survived his assault and was arrested, this would "mark the initiation of the propaganda phase", he wrote.

The judge's decision to close the hearing to the public followed an outcry from Norwegians incensed at the possibility that Breivik would be allowed a public platform for his views.

A Facebook group called "Boycott Anders Behring Breivik" carried the message: "He has planned this stage, to get propaganda. Do NOT let him get that freedom ... Boycott all media describing the Norwegian terrorist and his beliefs."

The maximum jail term in Norway is 21 years, though that can be extended indefinitely if there is a risk of repeat offences.

The attack was likely to tone down the immigration debate ahead of September local elections, analysts said, as parties try to distance themselves from Breivik's beliefs and reinforce Norwegians' self-image as an open, peaceful people.

Party leaders have agreed to delay the start of campaigning for the polls until mid-August, Norwegian news agency NTB said.

Norway's immigrant numbers nearly tripled between 1995 and 2010 to almost half a million. Arguments that many were drawn by generous welfare handouts spurred the growth of the Progress Party which became Norway's second biggest in parliament after the 2009 election on a largely anti-immigration platform.

Breivik once belonged to the party, but left saying it was too politically correct. He then began scheming to "resist", burying ammunition, weight-lifting, storing credit cards and researching bomb-making while playing online war games.

After three months of making explosives on a remote farm, Breivik drove a hire car packed with the device to Oslo, detonating it outside government offices. He then drove to Utoeya, 45 km (28 miles) away.

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Gay Marriage Opponents Rally In New York

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  Thousands marched in the 'Let the People Vote' rally in Manhattan on July 24, 2011 to protest of New York's gay marriage law and demand that state lawmakers put the issue before voters through a statewide referendum.

Thousands of opponents of gay marriage took to the streets in loud and sometimes tense protests Sunday, the first day that legal same-sex weddings were performed.
The National Organization for Marriage held rallies in New York City, Albany, Rochester and Buffalo, saying Gov. Andrew Cuomo and lawmakers redefined marriage without giving voters a chance to weigh-in, as they have in other states. Protesters chanted "Let the People Vote!" at rallies across the state.
A rally in New York City that started with several hundred people crowding the street across from Cuomo's Manhattan office quickly swelled to thousands of people out in loud opposition to the new law.
They waved signs saying "Excommunicate Cuomo" and "God cannot be mocked."
Cuomo campaigned in support of gay marriage, which he called a basic human right, then lobbied the Legislature hard ahead of its historic June 24 vote to legalize it.
The first gay marriages in New York were performed just after midnight and continued through the day at municipal offices that opened for special weekend hours, making New York the sixth and largest state to recognize same-sex weddings and becoming a pivotal moment in the national drive for recognition.
Outside the capitol in Albany, about 400 people gathered in a park in the shadow of the state Capitol for a protest they said was political, but had a strong religious thread and featured signs that included a banner with the familiar "Marriage(equals)Man and Woman" message topped with a fluttering "Don't Tread on Me" flag.


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A mix of congregants and clergy from local black churches, a tea party contingent from Norwich and other small groups including families, they lined up and sang "Our God is an Awesome God" as they started a march that circled the massive seat of state government in the largely empty downtown.
Tre' Staton, pastor at the Empire Christian Center in suburban Colonie and an organizer of the protest, said he lobbied lawmakers in the run-up to the New York Senate vote and was frustrated they passed a law he doesn't believe many people support, particularly in the black community.
"We're not against anybody, but we don't want his imposed on us," he said, stressing the National Organization for Marriage's theme for the rally. "We're looking for a referendum, an opportunity to have our fair say."
New York City protesters and others across upstate chanted "Let the people vote!" referring to referendums that have succeeded in stalling or repealing gay marriage in other states. New York does not have an easy way for voters to bring a measure directly to the ballot box, meaning such a maneuver to repeal gay marriage here will be difficult.
"I'm here for God's sake," said Steve Rosner, 65, of the Lower East Side. "To sanctify same-sex marriage is an abomination. It's beyond belief."
Around 3:30 p.m., the protesters started marching uptown toward the United Nations. By the time they reached the UN, the crowd numbered in the many thousands, filling up 47th Street. They were joined by a brass band.
"I'm worried that the younger generations will think this is normal, and it's not," said Gloria Sanchez, 35, of Brooklyn. "It's wrong. It's a sin."
Jewish protester Heshy Friedman carried a pig mask "because the law's not Kosher." He said he worried that Muslim groups might push to legalize polygamy next.
In Buffalo, a few hundred people gathered on the steps of City Hall. Church leaders did most of the speaking while protesters chanted "Let the people vote." Some held Bibles and others prayed on rosaries with their heads bowed.
"If it had been put to the people it wouldn't have passed," said JoAnn Tomasello, who was also in the crowd. "It's not what the people want."
Police led one counterprotester away in handcuffs after he apparently refused to stop videotaping police, although it wasn't clear that's why he was taken into custody.
Another counterprotester, Dan McKowan of Lancaster, got into a shouting match with demonstrators as he held a sign mocking the National Organization for Marriage, which organized the rally.

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Europol plans task force for Norway

In the wake of Norway's terrorist attack, the European police agency is setting up a task force of more than 50 experts to help northern European countries investigate non-Islamic terror threats, its spokesman told The Associated Press yesterday.
Soeren Pedersen said the group, which is based in The Hague, hopes to help Norway and nearby countries in their investigations in the coming weeks. He said Norway has not requested forensic experts but that Europol could provide them if needed.
"There is no doubt that the threat from Islamist terrorism is still valid," he said. "But there have actually been warnings that (right-wing groups) are getting more professional, more aggressive in the way they attract others to their cause."
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, European countries have viewed Islamic terrorism as the primary threat.
But the fact the suspect in Friday's twin attacks turned out to be a Norwegian with right-wing views is raising questions about whether homegrown, non-Islamic terror threats have been neglected.
The alleged assailant was identified by Norway's national broadcaster as Anders Behring Breivik, 32.
In leaked diplomatic cables dating back to 2008, US diplomats warned that Norway seemed complacent about terror threats and criticised gaps in intelligence. The cables released by Wikileaks also give a snapshot of simmering anti-immigrant and anti-Semitic tensions in Norway.

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New dispute threatens US debt limit negotiations

  New disagreement erupted late on Saturday between congressional Democrats and Republicans over the timetable for increasing US borrowing authority, possibly jeopardising efforts to avert a default.

Democratic and Republican leaders escalated their fight despite instructions from President Barack Obama earlier to produce a budget plan by Monday that would clear the way for Congress to raise the $14.3 trillion (8.76 trillion pound) debt ceiling by August 2.

Saying he was "deeply disappointed" by the lack of progress towards a deal to raise the credit limit built around deficit cuts, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said Republican "intransigence" was "pushing us to the brink of a default on the full faith and credit of the United States."

The latest flare-up centred around a Republican plan being proposed behind closed doors calling for two instalments of debt limit increases and deficit reduction.

Democrats said they only wanted to extend the debt limit once through the 2012 election year, a Democratic aide said.

Democrats insist upon tax increases as part of deficit reduction and fear that under the Republican plan they would be put off until next year in the midst of presidential and congressional re-election campaigns, or may be never happen.

Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, said that "a two-step process is inevitable." He also reiterated that a default "is not an option."

Lawmakers nevertheless scrambled despite the new wrinkle to show by around 4 p.m. EDT Sunday -- just before Asian markets kick off their trading week -- that substantial progress was being made to avoid a US default on its debt.

A Republican leadership aide said lawmakers are working on a plan for $3 trillion to $4 trillion in savings over 10 years, but another high-ranking Republican official said no numbers had been set.

Talks between Obama and Boehner collapsed in acrimony on Friday. In hopes of patching things up, Obama called Boehner, Reid, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to the White House early on Saturday to discuss a path forward.
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The four congressional leaders met in the Capitol later in the day as work got hung up on the question of whether to go for a long-term or shorter-term debt limit hike.

The lawmakers' overall goal: Seal a deficit-reduction package of spending cuts and perhaps tax increases that will allow a vote by the August deadline to raise the US debt ceiling beyond $14.3 trillion and avoid potential economic calamity.

Financial markets are growing more edgy and US banks and businesses are making contingency plans for the possibility of a debt default that would drive up interest rates, sink the dollar and ripple through economies around the world.

Credit rating agencies want spending restraints for the United States to keep its prized Triple-A rating, which makes US Treasuries the solid foundation for global investors and lowers borrowing costs for state governments, businesses, homeowners and consumers.

Investors followed developments throughout the day.

"We continue this weekend to monitor very closely the negotiations in Washington, with frequent updates and assessments. We are also evaluating reactions outside the United States," Mohamed El-Erian, co-chief investment officer at Pacific Investment Management Co.
A breakdown in Washington, he feared, "will be highly detrimental to the already fragile health of both the US and global economies."

Lawmakers also were mindful of what could happen in financial markets if a deal is not quickly reached.

"I am concerned that there might be an adverse reaction in the markets," Republican Representative Charles Dent said in a telephone interview with Reuters.

Dent said Boehner told members a default was not an option and lawmakers have to come to agreement.

"We need to have something posted online by Monday," a Republican congressional aide said.

In the White House meeting, Obama warned lawmakers not to pursue a short-term extension of the debt limit.

"Congress should refrain from playing reckless political games with our economy. Instead, it should be responsible and do its job, avoiding default and cutting the deficit," White House spokesman Jay Carney said after the talks.

A short-term extension of mere months could cause Wall Street credit agencies to strip America of its gold-plated triple-A rating and increase interest rates for American consumers, Obama told them.

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Amy Winehouse Lost Her Battle with Drug and Alcohol Addiction

Amy Winehouse was found dead in her apartment today. The death is listed as unexplained. In the end, Winehouse was better known for her brushes with the law and drug addiction than she was for her talent, and she was talented. She had a wonderful voice and a great musical style.

Winehouse had the ability to bring soul music back to the mainstream, and for awhile, she did. "Back to Black" was a massive hit. The album won the singer five Grammies and propelled her into stardom. Her success as a singer was short lived.

Within a matter of a few months, her drug addled tabloid lifestyle would take center stage. Her fans watched as she was arrested for assault, warned and featured doing drugs in a home video.

Her spiral continued until 2008, when she was hospitalized with lung disease and covered in nicotine patches in order to break her from the worst of her addictions. We hoped she'd recover. We hoped to see another album just as good as "Back to Black," but more importantly, we wanted to see her beat her addiction and survive. We wanted Winehouse to divorce Blake Feder-Civil and become a success story.

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Shortly after her hospitalization, Winehouse did divorce Blake Feder-Civil and the news stopped. There were no more tabloids pictures of a disoriented, bloody or beaten Winehouse. Was she getting better? Creating another album? We hoped.

News arrived in June. Winehouse underwent a brief stint in rehab to prepare her for an upcoming comeback tour. She even performed an impromptu concert in London at the 100 Club. She was sober. She talked to the fans, and everyone cheered. It looked like the old Amy was back.

She appeared well prepared for her concert in Belgrade. She wasn't. It was a disgrace. The singer stumbled, muttered and forgot the lyrics to her own songs. She went home. We wondered what happened between the 100 Club and Belgrade. The tour spent about a day in limbo before the remaining dates were canceled.

We, again, hoped Winehouse would recover; that this was just a brief bump on her road to becoming drug free. Unfortunately, that bump in the road turned out to be a mountain, and Winehouse was too sick to climb it. She was found dead in her apartment earlier today. The cause of death is unknown.

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Boehner pulls out of White House debt talks

ruHouse Speaker John Boehner abruptly broke off talks with President Barack Obama Friday night on a deal to make major cuts in federal spending and avert a threatened government default, sending already uncertain compromise efforts into instant crisis. 


Within minutes, an obviously peeved Obama virtually ordered congressional leaders to the White House Saturday morning for fresh negotiations on raising the nation's debt limit. "We've got to get it done. It is not an option not to do it," he declared.
For the first time since talks began, he declined to offer assurances, when asked, that default would be avoided. Moments later, however, he said he was confident of that outcome.
"This was an extraordinary fair deal," said the president. "If it was unbalanced, it was unbalanced in the direction of not enough revenue."
"We have now run out of time," said Obama. "What we're not going to do is continue to play games and string this along," said the president. "I've been left at the altar now a couple of times."
He added, "I cannot believe that Congress would be that irresponsible that they would not pass a package to avoid a self inflicted wound."
  At a rebuttal news conference of his own a short while later in the Capitol, Boehner said, "I want to be entirely clear, no one wants default on the full faith and credit of the United States government, and I'm convinced that we will not."
"It's time to get serious ... if the White House won't get serious, we will," said Boehner.
"We've put plan after plan on the table ... never once did the president come to the table with a plan," said Boehner. "We were always pushing."



Barring action by Congress by an Aug 2 deadline, the Treasury will be unable to pay all its bills. Officials say a default could destabilize the already weakened U.S. economy and send major ripple effects across the globe.
Even by the recent standards of divided government, Boehner's decision triggered an extraordinary evening as first the Democratic president and then the Republican speaker maneuvered for political position on an issue of enormous national import.
Unspoken, yet unmistakable in all the brinkmanship was the 2012 election campaign, still 18 months away, with the White House and both houses of Congress at stake. 

Analysis: 'As bad as it gets' in dysfunctional DC


In a letter circulated earlier to the House Republican rank and file, Boehner said he had withdrawn from the talks because the president wanted to raise taxes and was reluctant to agree to cuts in benefit programs.
The disconnect was "not because of different personalities but because of different visions for our country," he said, and he announced he would now seek agreement with the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Obama was having none of that, announcing instead a morning White House meeting where he said he expected to hear proposed solutions from the top leaders of both parties in both houses.
"One of the questions the Republican Party is going to have to ask itself is, 'Can they say yes to anything?'" Obama said.
The president avoided direct criticism of Boehner, although he did mention that his phone calls to the speaker had gone unreturned during the day.
A White House official told  that the president called Boehner on Thursday night, but did not hear back. Then, Friday afternoon, the speaker's office reportedly emailed the White House to say Boehner would be available to talk at 5:30 p.m. ET. The White House called the speaker's office after that email was received to ask if they just talk right then, but his aides reiterated that Boehner would be availabe at 5:30 p.m. ET. It was during that call that the speaker walked away from the talks.
Boehner said he would attend the Saturday meeting at the White House.
  Private, sometimes-secret negotiations had veered uncertainly for weeks, generating reports as late as Thursday that the two sides were possibly closing in on an agreement to cut $3 trillion in spending and add as much as $1 trillion in possible revenue while increasing the government's borrowing authority of $2.4 trillion.
That triggered a revolt among Democrats who expressed fears the president was giving away too much in terms of cuts to Medicare and Social Security while getting too little by way of additional revenues
"Failing to raise the debt ceiling would do irreparable harm to our credit standing, would undermine our ability to lead on global economic issues and would damage our economy," former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, a Republican, told reporters during the day. 

Current administration officials and Federal reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke have said much the same thing for weeks — while gridlock persisted in Congress. 

Obama said his only requirement for an agreement was legislation that provides the Treasury enough borrowing authority to tide the government over through the 2012 election.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., agreed in a written statement, saying a shorter-term extension was unacceptable.

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Teenagers swam for their lives in Norway carnage

Norwegian teenagers at a lakeside summer camp fled screaming in panic, many leaping into the water to save themselves, when an attacker dressed as a policeman began spraying them with gunfire.

Police said at least 10 of the youngsters, attending a camp run by the governing Labour Party, were killed in Friday's attack, shortly after a blast in the capital Oslo killed seven people in Western Europe's worst bombing since 2005.

"I just saw people jumping into the water, about 50 people swimming toward the shore. People were crying, shaking, they were terrified," said Anita Lien, 42, who lives by Tyrifjord lake, a few hundred meters (yards) from Utoeya island, northwest of Oslo.

"They were so young, between 14 and 19 years old," she said.

Utoeya is an island about 500 meters long, clad with pine trees. Lien said the shooting sounded like automatic gunfire.

A camp guard, Simen Braenden Mortensen, said that the gunman had tricked his way onto the island by posing as a policeman driving a silver grey car.
id,
"He gets out of the car and shows ID, says he's sent there to check security, that that is purely routine in connection with the terror attack (in Oslo)," Mortensen told the daily Verdens Gang.

"It all looks fine, and a boat is called and it carries him over to Utoeya. A few minutes passed, then we heard shots," he said.

A teenaged boy who witnessed the attack from the mainland told Britain's Sky Television: "We heard people screaming, it was horrible...Some were waving at us from the island."

Police said they had found undetonated explosives on the island. They said the gunman, whom they described as ethnic Norwegian, may also have been involved in planting the bomb in Oslo.

Early on Saturday, an ambulance left the lake area, with a body lying on a stretcher inside. Cars with distraught relatives were heading to a nearby hotel hoping to meet loved ones evacuated from the island.

Police and dogs were still searching the island and lake overnight from boats and helicopters, with ambulances on standby. Searchlights slowly swept the water in the dark.

People living by the lake got into boats to try to evacuate people from the water. "I used my boat to ferry a lot of people from the island, I saw many wounded people," said a local man who said he lived in a white house by the lake.

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