Fantasy Baseball 2013: Chicago Cubs Season Preview

Jerry Lai- USA TODAY Sports

Not much went right for the Chicago Cubs?in 2012. They didn?t finish last in the NL Central but don?t let that fool you because they had the second worst record in baseball. They have gotten slightly worse each of the last three seasons to the point that they lost 101 games last year. Chicago is the only team to finish with a sub-.500 record and keep a payroll over $100 million (aside from the Toronto Blue Jays?who are obviously on the rise). Without any signs of optimism, the Cubs appear destined to suffer through at least one more season of mediocrity. Their fantasy baseball prospects reflect the poor product that they intend to field in 2013.

After finishing 26^th in team batting average 28^th in runs, Chicago is prepared to enter the 2013 season with no indication of improvement. The only change to their lineup is the transition between a Reed Johnson/Bryan LaHair platoon to a Scott Hairston/Nate Schierholtz platoon in right field.

Aside from that minor change, the fate of the Cubs offense rests on the shoulders of Anthony Rizzo, Alfonso Soriano and Starlin Castro. Rizzo and Castro are the lone bright spots going forward for this organization. General Manager?Theo Epstein will try to work his magic to build a winning team?around them in the near future.

Unfortunately, Epstein seems to have things moving in the opposite direction. The only major transaction was the signing of Edwin Jackson who is the owner of a 4.40 career ERA. Without much organizational depth at pitching, Chicago was forced to spend on a long-term solution in free agency.

Jackson should make the Cubs rotation marginally better but regardless, there may not be any worthwhile fantasy options from this staff.

Chicago?s top five fantasy hitters: 1.Starlin Castro, 2. Anthony Rizzo, 3. Alfonso Soriano, 4. Darwin Barney, 5. Scott Hairston

Chicago?s top three fantasy pitchers: 1. Matt Garza, 2. Edwin Jackson, 3. Kyuji Fujikawa

Chicago projected record: 65-97

Stay tuned over the next month while I preview one team each day in preparation for the 2013 baseball season.

Source: http://www.rantsports.com/fantasy/2013/02/20/fantasy-baseball-2013-chicago-cubs-season-preview/

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Police offer confused testimony in Pistorius case

Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius stands inside the court as a police officer looks on during his bail hearing at the magistrate court in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. A South African judge says defense lawyers will need to offer "exceptional" reasons to convince him to grant bail for Oscar Pistorius, when a hearing resumes Wednesday. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius stands inside the court as a police officer looks on during his bail hearing at the magistrate court in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. A South African judge says defense lawyers will need to offer "exceptional" reasons to convince him to grant bail for Oscar Pistorius, when a hearing resumes Wednesday. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

The family of Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius, front row from left to right, sister Aimee, brother Carl and father Henke Pistorius, at the magistrate court in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. Oscar Pistorius arrived at the court building in a police car with a blue blanket covering his head Wednesday as prosecutors prepared to detail why they are charging him with premeditated murder in the shooting death of his girlfriend. Prosecutors want to show why he should be denied bail. Pistorius denies the charge, and said it was an accidental shooting. Pistorius is charged with premeditated murder for the Feb. 14 shooting death of model Reeva Steenkamp at his upscale home in the eastern suburbs of the South African capital, Pretoria. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

A woman holds a photo of Reeva Steenkamp, as she leaves her funeral in Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius is charged with the premeditated murder of Steenkamp on Valentine's Day. The defense lawyer says it was an accidental shooting. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)

Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius stands inside the court as a police officer looks on during his bail hearing at the magistrate court in Pretoria, South Africa, Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013. A South African judge says defense lawyers will need to offer "exceptional" reasons to convince him to grant bail for Oscar Pistorius, when a hearing resumes Wednesday. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) ? The detective leading the police investigation into Oscar Pistorius' fatal shooting of his girlfriend offered confusing testimony Wednesday, at one point agreeing with the athlete's defense that officers had no evidence challenging the runner's claim he accidentally killed her.

Testimony by Detective Warrant Officer Hilton Botha of the South African Police Service left prosecutors rubbing their temples, only able to look down at their notes as he misjudged distances and acknowledged a forensics team left in the toilet bowl one of the bullet slugs fired at Reeva Steenkamp. However, Botha still poked holes in Pistorius' own account that he feared for his life and opened fire on Valentine's Day after mistaking Steenkamp for an intruder.

The second day of the bail hearing in a case that has riveted South Africa and much of the world appeared at first to go against the double-amputee runner, with prosecutors saying a witness can testify to hearing "non-stop talking, like shouting" between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. before the predawn shooting on Feb. 14. However, Botha later said under cross examination that the person who overheard the argument was in a house 600 meters (yards) away in Pistorius' gated community in the suburbs of South Africa's capital, Pretoria.

Later, prosecutor Gerrie Nel questioned Botha again and the detective acknowledged the distance was much closer. But confusion reigned for much of his testimony, when at one point Botha said officers found syringes and steroids in Pistorius' bedroom. Nel quickly cut the officer off and said the drugs were actually testosterone.

Pistorius' lead defense lawyer, Barry Roux, asserted when questioning the detective ? who has 16 years' experience as a detective and 24 years with the police ? that it was not a banned substance and that police were trying to give the discovery a "negative connotation."

"It is an herbal remedy," Roux said. "It is not a steroid and it is not a banned substance."

The name of the drug, offered later in court by Roux, could not be immediately found in reference materials by The Associated Press. A spokesman for prosecutors later said it's too early to know what the substance is, as they don't yet have results of forensic testing on the material.

Pistorius, 26, said in an affidavit read in court Tuesday that he and his 29-year-old girlfriend had gone to bed and that when he awoke during the night he detected what he thought was an intruder in the bathroom. He testified that he grabbed his 9 mm pistol and fired into the door of a toilet enclosed in the bathroom, only to discover later to his horror that Steenkamp was there, mortally wounded.

Pistorius, the first Paralympian runner to compete at the Olympics, is charged with premeditated murder in the case.

The prosecution attempted to cement its argument that the couple had a shouting match, that Steenkamp fled and locked herself into the toilet stall of the bathroom and that Pistorius fired four shots through the door, hitting her with three bullets.

Botha said: "I believe that he knew that Reeva was in the bathroom and he shot four shots through the door."

But asked if the police found anything inconsistent with the version of events presented by Pistorius, Botha responded that they had not. He later said nothing contradicted the police's version either.

Nel projected a plan of the bedroom and bathroom in the courtroom and argued that Pistorius had to walk past his bed to get to the bathroom and could not have done so without realizing that Steenkamp was not in the bed.

"There's no other way of getting there," Nel said.

Botha said the trajectory of the bullets showed the gun was fired pointed down and from a height. This seems to conflict with Pistorius' statement Tuesday, because the athlete said that he did not have on his prosthetics and on his stumps and feeling vulnerable because he was in a low position when he opened fired.

Officers also found .38-caliber pistol rounds in a safe, which Botha said Pistorius owned illegally and for which he said the athlete would be charged with a crime. However, Botha also acknowledged investigators didn't take photographs of the ammunition and let Pistorius' supporters at the crime scene take them away.

Botha said the holster for the 9 mm pistol was found under the left side of the bed, the side on which Steenkamp slept. He also implied it would have been impossible for Pistorius to get the gun without checking to see if Steenkamp was there. Roux later argued that Pistorius had suffered an injury to his right shoulder and wore a "medical patch" the night of the killing which forced him to sleep on the left side of the bed.

Steenkamp was shot in the head over her right ear and in her right elbow and hip, breaking her arm and hip, Botha said. However, Roux later asked Botha if Steenkamp's body showed "any pattern of defensive wounds." The detective said no.

Botha also said the shots were fired from 1.5 meters (five feet), and that police found three spent cartridges in the bathroom and one in the hallway connecting the bathroom to the bedroom. However, later on cross-examination by the defense, Botha said he wasn't a forensics expert and couldn't answer some questions.

Police also found two iPhones in the bathroom and two BlackBerrys in the bedroom, Botha said, adding that none had been used to phone for help. Roux later suggested that a fifth phone, not collected by the police, was used by Pistorius to make calls for a hospital and help. After the hearing, Roux told journalists that Pistorius' defense team had the phone, but did not elaborate.

Guards at the gated community where Pistorius lives did call the athlete, Botha said. The detective said that all the athlete said was: "I'm all right."

He didn't hang up, Botha said, and the guards heard him uncontrollably weep.

"Was it part of his premeditated plan, not to switch off the phone and cry?" Roux asked sarcastically.

___

Gerald Imray reported from Johannesburg. Associated Press writer Michelle Faul in Johannesburg contributed to this report.

___

Jon Gambrell can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP. Gerald Imray can be reached at www.twitter.com/geraldimrayAP.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-20-Pistorius-Shooting/id-77ed4041a4ec4b14bc2de502fa31630e

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FBI investigating prostitution claims against Sen. Menendez (cbsnews)

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PFT: Momentum building for a Gonzalez return?

Getty Images

The NFLPA just held a conference call with the national media, and while they lacked concrete news on issues such as HGH testing or what the salary cap will be for the coming year, the one thing that?s abundantly clear is the two sides still don?t trust each other any farther than they can throw each other.

NFLPA president Domonique Foxworth said on the topic of HGH testing that players were willing to ?expose themselves to an imperfect test,? but balked at the lack of an appeal in the current NFL proposal.

In response, league spokesman Greg Aiello just tweeted ?Not true+he knows it.?

The lack of trust was mentioned several times during nearly an hour-long call, specifically on the topic of HGH testing (which both sides agree to in theory, but can?t figure out how to implement).

Much of that lack of trust seems to stem directly from Commissioner Roger Goodell?s handling of the bounty case.

?If (players) don?t trust anyone on Park Avenue, it?s hard to get anything done,? Foxworth said. ?If I wanted to get them to trust Roger, I couldn?t.?

Much of this is simply the saber-rattling that happens when labor unions and employers discuss things. NFLPA assistant executive director of external affairs?George Atallah mentioned issues concerning equipment and training for youth football programs as examples of agreement between the sides.

But until the two sides can agree on something important at the adult level, it?s unclear if anything will ever be resolved.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/19/momentum-builds-for-a-gonzalez-return/related/

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EU experts plan horsemeat response

14 February 2013 Last updated at 23:12 ET

Food safety experts from across Europe are due meet in Brussels to address the scandal over mislabelled horsemeat.

The EU Standing Committee on the Food Chain will draw up plans for large-scale testing of beef products to check if they contain horse DNA.

On Thursday the French government suspended the licence of processing firm Spanghero, saying it had "knowingly" sold horsemeat as beef.

In the UK three people were arrested for suspected fraud in meat sales.

The widening scandal has affected at least 12 countries and raised questions about the complexity of the food industry's supply chains across Europe.

The previously little-known committee is suddenly the focus of attention, and the plans it comes up with could eventually have a huge impact on consumer confidence in the food being eaten in Europe, the BBC's Matthew Price in Brussels says.

The experts from all 27 EU countries will try to devise accurate random tests to determine how the scale of the mislabelling of horsemeat.

The will also draw up plans for separate tests to assess the scale of contamination with phenylbutazone or "bute"- a veterinary medicine considered potentially harmful to humans.

Their proposals will still have to be approved by EU ministers.

Continue reading the main story

Meat scandal

• In mid-January, Irish food inspectors announced they had found horsemeat in some burgers stocked by UK supermarket chains
• Subsequently, up to 100% horsemeat found in several ranges of prepared frozen food in Britain, France and Sweden
• Concerns that a drug used to treat horses, and which may be harmful to humans, could be in food chain
• Meat traced from France through Cyprus and The Netherlands to Romanian abattoirs
• Investigation suggests adulteration was not accidental but the work of a criminal conspiracy

'Conspiracy'

The scale of the crisis was underlined on Thursday in France, where ministers said they believed the sale of horsemeat labelled as beef went on for six months and involved about 750 tonnes of meat.

The French government accused meat processing firm Spanghero of knowingly mislabelling horsemeat as beef and suspended its licence pending further investigation.

The company has strongly denied the allegation, saying it only ever dealt in meat it believed to be beef.

Spanghero imported meat from Romania and sold it on to another company, Comigel, which made frozen ready meals at its factory in Luxembourg for further distribution.

Millions of processed meat products have been withdrawn from supermarket shelves across the EU.

The UK has asked the European investigative agency Europol to co-ordinate a Continent-wide investigation into an alleged international conspiracy to pass horsemeat off as beef.

In the UK on Thursday a fresh beef product was withdrawn from sale for the first time over fears that it contained horse DNA.

Also on Thursday, Britain's Food Standard Agency - the FSA - said tests eight horses that were killed in the UK had tested positive for bute, and six may have entered the food chain in France.

But England's chief medical officer said the highest level detected posed "very little risk to human health".

CLICKABLE

French food producer makes order

Comigel HQ in Metz, north-east France, asks its subsidiary, Tavola in Luxembourg, to make food products - including beef lasagne for Findus.

Factory orders meat

The Tavola factory orders the meat from Spanghero in the south of France.

Subcontractor used

Spanghero contacts a subcontractor in Cyprus to source the meat.

Subcontractor enlists trader

The Cypriot subcontractor in turn contacts a trader in the Netherlands.

Trader orders from Romania

The trader in the Netherlands places an order for meat with abattoirs in Romania.

Abattoirs send meat to France

The meat from the abattoirs travels to Spanghero in France. However, Romania rejects claims that it was responsible for wrongly describing the horsemeat from its abattoirs as beef. Horsemeat is always labelled as such, they say. The Romanian authorities claim records show orders had been for horse carcass - easily distinguishable from beef.

Meat used to make products

Spanghero sends the meat to the Comigel subsidiary?s factory in Luxembourg before the finished products are supplied to Findus and retailers across Europe, including the UK. The president of Comigel says the company was unaware the meat was coming from abroad.

Horsemeat found in Ireland and UK

Tests by Irish authorities have found equine DNA in beefburgers made by firms in the Irish Republic and the UK. Traces of horsemeat have also been found in stored meat at another plant in Ireland and one in Northern Ireland. In mainland Britain, police and officials probing alleged horsemeat mislabelling have carried out raids at a slaughterhouse in West Yorkshire and a meat firm near Aberystwyth.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-21467989#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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Facebook for Small Business

As Community Radio for Northern Colorado, KUNC encourages the listing of all community events. Please utilize this free and easy-to-use service to promote your community activity here on the KUNC website. Please allow up to 48 hours for your event to appear on the KUNC website. Thank you!

Source: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kunc/events.eventsmain?action=showEvent&eventID=1318344

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LaserMotive powers up its first project

TODD BISHOP / GeekWire ? ? ? 8 hrs.

LaserMotive, a company known for using lasers to transmit power through the air, is expanding to a new medium: fiber-optic cables.

The system uses a laser to convert electricity into light for transmission over fiber optics. On the other end, a photovoltaic receiver converts light back into electricity.

The company, based south of Seattle in Kent, Wash., this morning announced the first in a new line of products that will use lasers to transmit power over fiber-optic cables without a traditional electrical connection. The company says its new ?MicroPoF? system can transmit power measuring a few watts, or hundreds of watts, over fiber as long as 3,000 feet.

It?s the first commercial product to be offered for sale by LaserMotive, which was founded in 2007 by a group of physicists and engineers, winning the NASA Centennial Challenges Power Beaming Challenge in 2009. LaserMotive has received NASA contracts and partnered with companies including Lockheed Martin in the process of developing and testing its power-beaming technology.

LaserMotive CEO Tom Nugent calls the new Power over Fiber product ?an important milestone in delivering power via lasers for practical use.? He says in a news release, ?Being able to provide unlimited energy without electrical wires opens up applications previously impractical or simply impossible.?

Nugent tells GeekWire via email that the company will be selling complete Power over Fiber systems, not licensing the underlying technology. LaserMotive quietly listed the product on its website over the holidays, without any marketing, and has already received strong interest from commercial companies and research labs.

The technology can be used to deliver power in situations where it might otherwise be difficult, including areas with existing high voltages or high magnetic fields. Applications may be found in labs, industrial and telecom facilities, in addition to health-care settings, including MRI machines.

Pricing will depend on specific customer needs. Nugent says the LaserMotive system offers higher power levels and a lower cost-per-watt than alternatives.

LaserMotive is privately held. The company has three employees, with plans to add a few more this year. LaserMotive brought in outside capital in 2011 and plans to raise an angel round this year, Nugent says. Here?s a LaserMotive video showing how the Power over Fiber technology works.

More from Geekwire:

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/lasermotive-powers-its-first-project-1C8346342

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The Platinum Girl Celebrity Blog | Relationship Love Gossip Rumors ...

Mila Kunis is really one heck of a secure woman!

In her interview for the March issue of Allure, excerpted by Us Weekly, Mila talks a bit about what it was like being single.?"For four years I was single and the years?I didn't have a boyfriend were an amazing time. I love?being single." Clearly, she's happy both with a man and without.

Oh, and she refused to discuss Ashton Kutcher during this interview. So mysterious - love her!

Anyway, her message about being a happy single is?highly appropriate?for women to hear around Valentine's Day -- whether they're with someone or not.?

If you're single, it's nice knowing?you can make this one of the best time's of your life. Some who are in relationships or married now might unfortunately find themselves single down the road. Mila's point is that it?can still be an amazing time.

I'm willing to bet that she was sometimes lonely. Mila's probably like most women who when single wondered if they'd ever meet "The One." Remember, though, that it's only?temporary.?You won't be?alone forever (unless you really want to).?Think positively and enjoy the time alone.

Someday you might look back on your single days and wish you had them again. Make the best of it!

Until next time...

Shine like Platinum!
Vanessa
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Source: http://www.platinumgirlcelebrityblog.com/2013/02/mila-kunis-is-happy-when-shes-single.html

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Champions League: PSG coach Ancelotti mystified by Ibrahimovic red card

VALENCIA - Paris St Germain coach Carlo Ancelotti said he was surprised at the decision to send off Zlatan Ibrahimovic late in Tuesday's (Wednesday, PHL time) 2-1 Champions League last 16, first leg victory at Valencia.

[Related: PSG win 2-1 at Valencia as Ibrahimovic sees red]

The Sweden striker got a straight red card after lunging at fullback Andres Guardado with his studs up but Ancelotti said he felt it was harsh on the volatile Ibrahimovic who suffered his third sending off in Europe's elite club competition.

"I did not understand it," Ancelotti told a news conference.

"He was out on the wing, he made a tackle and he did not deserve to be sent off," the Italian added. "That's football."

Ancelotti said he was satisfied with the result despite Valencia's 90th-minute goal giving the La Liga club a sliver of hope for the return leg in Paris in three weeks' time, when the talismanic Ibrahimovic will be suspended.

He dismissed suggestions his players had eased off towards the end of the game.

"I don't think we relaxed and we could even have scored a third on a couple of occasions. The team played a good match, we controlled the ball well and I'm pleased with our performance.

"Valencia showed their quality, we defended and worked well. We won the ball back well and made some swift counter attacks."

PSG defender Mamadou Sakho said the Ligue 1 leaders were upset at conceding late on after establishing a 2-0 halftime lead and squandering several chances to score a third goal in the second period at the Mestalla.

"We're disappointed to concede a goal, especially at the end of the game," he said on UEFA's website. "But overall, it's a good result. To come here and win is very good after all." - Reuters

Source: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/294782/sports/football/champions-league-psg-coach-ancelotti-mystified-by-ibrahimovic-red-card

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Nokia announces Asha 310, offers dual SIM and WiFi for a Benjamin

After being deemed smartphone worthy back in September last year, the S40 platform has just gained another member with the $102 Nokia Asha 310. The follow-up to the Asha 308 and 309, the latest handset rocks a 3-inch 400 x 240 capacitive touchscreen and touts support for a pair of SIMs along with WiFi -- the very first such device to come out of Espoo. Other specs include easy swap functionality, 128MB internal storage expandable up to 32GB, Nokia's Xpress Browser, a 2-megapixel camera and Nokia Maps navigation. Alas there's no 3G, but WiFi should at least come in handy to download the 40 free EA games on offer. No word on stateside availability just yet, but expect it to land in emerging markets in the Q1 of this year.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Nokia

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Top 5 Small Business Forums | Ismoip

Designed to function as valuable online resource pools, small business forums are value packed and highly charged platforms for entrepreneurs and business owners looking for reliable information and networking opportunities ??and are completely free!

Activities on these forums provide access to productive resources, knowledge banks and business information, catering to a particular industry or subject ? which can help go a long way in generating better bottom line figures. Apart from providing readymade solutions, online small business forums help participants use search engine marketing techniques and provide the most innovative ecommerce solutions.

Top 5 Small Business Forums

1.????? On Startups (Ref: http://answers.onstartups.com?)

Extremely easy and intuitive to use, On Startups is one of the strongest online communities with an active forum designed to answer most questions within two hours.

2.????? Business.com (Ref: http://answers.business.com)

One of the most sought after small business forums of contemporary times, Business.com is a favorite amongst young entrepreneurs, leaders, marketers and business owners alike.

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Reputed as one of the strongest forums with over 250,000 posts till date, Young Entrepreneur Forums has an overly active message board and global participants.

4.????? Econnect by Entrepreneur.com (Ref: http://econnect.entrepreneur.com/?)

This popular business forum contains some of the most informative self promotional posts along with a mix of good solutions to queries posted by enthusiastic users.

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With over 120,000 entrepreneurs accessing its resources, StartupNation.com serves as one of the best hubs for networking, advice and building business contacts.

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Vancouver business Network Forum is one of the largest multicultural business groups with smart global connections. With sophisticated tools and options to make business networking and marketing more effective, participants on this forum look forward to surging ahead in their entreprenual ventures in more ways than one.

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Created to provide innovative solutions and resourcing of programs and services tailored for small businesses and entrepreneurs of Toronto, ?Enterprise Toronto? helps in developing management capabilities and helping decision making in the start up phase.

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Serving as collaborative resource hubs, online communities help in showcasing the skills and competencies of business owners along with their products and services. Small business forums offer vocal and vibrant communities with extensive scope for exchanging ideas, seeking advice, making friends or simply leaving behind digital footprints to augment the success of business ventures.

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Source: http://www.ismoip.com/blog/top-5-small-business-forums

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UT Psychologists Offer Five Tips for Healthy Relationships ...

As Valentine?s Day is just around the corner, romantic relationships are on many of our minds. Experts at UT are offering tips to ensure relationships stay healthy and strong.

?Couples find over time the romance can fade and even the best relationships can struggle a bit,? said Kristina Gordon, professor of psychology and director of RelationshipRx, a project seeking to make it easier for couples to take good care of their relationship health.

According to those at RelationshipRx, there are some easy steps people can take to build more intimacy and strengthen their relationships on a daily basis.

1. Take a Trip Down Memory Lane: Reminisce on how you first got together.

?With all the different stressors and issues couples face, it is easy to forget what brought you together in the first place,? said Gordon. ?What attracted you to your partner? What were your first impressions of each other??

Gordon says remembering these times can easily rekindle those initial loving feelings.

2. Learn to Listen: According Gordon, it is important to listen to your partner completely and non-judgmentally.

?Many people get caught up in trying to think of their response rather than listening,? she said. ?Make sure to avoid that trap. Couples who are skilled at providing each other with social support have been shown to be healthier and happier than less skilled couples.?

3. Draw Love Maps: Couples research shows partners can feel closer and more intimate by taking as little as five extra minutes a day to create something called ?love maps,? said Gordon.

?At the beginning of the day, share what your day will be like,? said Gordon. ?This way, during the day, you can think about your partner and appreciate what his or her day must be like.?

At the end of the day, partners should share and listen closely to how each other?s day went.

4. Show Support: Identify two small things that each of you can do to provide support when the other is having a difficult day, such as doing the dishes or allowing your partner to vent.

?Research has shown that partners who can support each other around shared challenges can actually experience increased intimacy in their relationship,? said Audrey Kasting,?Relationship Rx facilitator and counseling graduate student.

5. Play to Your Strengths. The experts say every couple is good at something.

?Find your strengths and use them to your advantage to help you deal with stress and other issues easier,? said Gordon.

Common strengths include:

• Friendships: Couples research has found that the quality of a couple?s friendship is one of the strongest predictors of relationship well-being.
• Acceptance: The healthiest couples have found ways to cope well with each other?s quirks and to accept each other for the ?natural flaws in the fabric.?
• Commitment: Couples research has consistently found a strong association between shared commitment and relationship health and stability.

For more information on RelationshipRx, visit the website.

?

C O N T A C T :

Kristina Gordon (865-974-3347, kgordon1@utk.edu)

Whitney Heins (865-974-5460, wheins@utk.edu)

Source: http://www.utk.edu/tntoday/2013/02/11/psychologists-offer-tips-healthy-relationships/

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Family Displaced After House Fire in Swoope

AUGUSTA COUNTY, Va. -- A fire Friday morning has displaced two people in Swoope.

The Deputy Chief of the Churchville Fire Department said the fire started around 12:30 a.m. on Ruger Lane.

One of the homeowners managed to get out safely. His granddaughter said he saw smoke rising from the basement and left the home. His wife was not at home at the time.

Firefighters say the fire probably started from an electrical issue in the basement.

About 30 fire fighters responded to this house fire. Hannah Bosserman, who is the granddaughter of the homeowners, said she could see the fire flaring up from outside of her bedroom window.

The kitchen, living room and dining room are ruined and there are holes in the roof.

Bosserman said that relatives will be helping out.

"We're a close knit family, very close, as close as a family can get. If anything my aunt has extra room over at her house and we have extra room. It's no problem, it's family and you do anything you can for your family," Bosserman said.

The Churchville Deputy Fire Chief said there won't be an official cause until the fire investigator looks at the scene.

He doesn't expect that to happen until tomorrow.

The Red Cross will also be getting in contact with the family later today.

? Copyright 2012 WHSV / Gray Television Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Source: http://www.whsv.com/home/headlines/Family-Displaced-After-Fire-in-Swoope-190342441.html

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South Africans called to arms over raped teenager

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? The chime sounds every four minutes on the radio station, reminding listeners that statistically yet another child or woman in South Africa is being raped.

It's also a call to arms for citizens outraged over the gang-rape of a teenager who was mutilated ? her body carved open from her stomach to her genitals ? and left for dead on a construction site. While India agonizes with its high prevalence of rape because of a fatal attack on a young woman on a bus, South Africans are now becoming galvanized by the attack on the teenager in a small town. Civil society and governments in both countries are saying this must stop.

The injuries to the 17-year-old were so horrific that nurses in the operating theater, where doctors tried in vain to save her life, are undergoing trauma counseling.

The chimes on Talk Radio 702 are part of a campaign urging South Africans to identify perpetrators of rape that has become endemic. One in four females is raped here according to several studies, from months-old babies to 94-year-old grandmothers.

The Citizen newspaper published an editorial calling for citizens to take collective responsibility in the fight against sexual crimes.

"Somehow, somewhere there must be a tipping point where society is so convulsed by a collective anger over rape that we begin to turn the tide against this terrible scourge," the newspaper said. "Each of us needs to ask what we can do to stop this awful trend. And then we must act accordingly. You can help."

The Star newspaper's editor Makhudu Sefara ran a front-page editorial saying "Stand up. Speak out. Help us turn this evil around once and for all."

And at a busy intersection near Johannesburg's Sandton City, dozens of young men and women wearing black and red waved placards saying "Stop rape."

South Africans appear to be inspired by the mass demonstrations in India that protest a culture of sexual violence and revulsion over the gang-rape of a 23-year-old woman on a New Delhi bus who died of internal injuries from a metal bar. India, with a population of 1.2 billion people, had 24,206 rapes reported in 2011. South Africa, population 50 million, reported 2.5 times that number of rapes last year.

Opposition politician Lindiwe Mazibuko described "a silent war against the children and women of this country ... We live in a deeply patriarchal and injured society where the rights of women are not respected."

She said she would request a national dialogue on the crisis.

President Jacob Zuma, who was acquitted on charges of raping the daughter of a family friend in 2005, said Thursday "that government would never rest until the perpetrators and all those who rape and abuse women and children, are meted with the maximum justice that the law allows."

For Professor Rachel Jewkes, , a doctor heading the Women's Research Unit of South Africa's Medical Research Council who has studied sexual violence here for 20 years, much more is needed.

"I'm jolly pleased to hear that even Jacob Zuma has belatedly come in, but we need to remember that actually women are raped and actually die from their injuries from rape almost every day in South Africa, and we need to make sure that the very, very profound sense of horror and outrage that people feel now is translated into something concrete."

Shaheda Omar, clinical director of Johannesburg's Teddy Bear Clinic for child victims of abuse, said: "We've had huge outcries in the past then things just fall through the cracks again, but I think there's a stronger sense of solidarity now."

Omar has worked with child victims for 28 years and suffers trauma spasms and headaches as a result. She said the government needs to enact "stringent measures, actions having consequences and perpetrators being brought to book to deter others."

Organizations that have been working with rape survivors plan a mass outdoor meeting next week in Johannesburg, she said.

Some South Africans, imbued with a chauvinism that believes men have a right to sex, do not even understand what constitutes rape, according to some who called in to radio stations.

Jewkes said a study she conducted in 2009 showed 62 percent of surveyed boys over age 11 believed that forcing someone to have sex was not an act of violence. One-third said girls enjoy being raped. Jewkes' study had 37 percent of surveyed men saying they had raped a women or child, and 75 percent admitting they first raped a teenager. All the men came from Gauteng, South Africa's most populated province.

The 17-year-old raped last Saturday in Bredasdorp, a Western Cape town known for its giant protea flowers, lived long enough to identify a former 22-year-old boyfriend as one of her attackers. Police took him into custody. On Thursday they arrested a 21-year-old suspect and on Friday a 23-year-old. All are to appear in court Monday. According to media reports, the teen was attacked by five men.

The maximum sentence for rape in South Africa is life in prison. But official statistics show less than 10 percent of reported sexual crimes result in a successful prosecution, making many reluctant to report rape.

---

On the Net:

Talk Radio 702, www.702.co.za

Teddy Bear Clinic, http://www.ttbc.org.za/whoweare.html

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/south-africans-called-arms-over-raped-teenager-134228125.html

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Virtual Superpower Experience Increases Helpful Attitude

Click here to listen to this podcast

You're a bird! You're a plane! You're a superhero! Sort of. Because a study finds that experiencing superpowers in a virtual environment can turn you into a do-gooder in real life. The work is in the journal PloS ONE. [Robin S. Rosenberg, Shawnee L. Baughman and Jeremy N. Bailenson, Virtual Superheroes: Using Superpowers in Virtual Reality to Encourage Prosocial Behavior] Sixty men and women flew over a virtual city, either holding their arms out and controlling their movement like Superman, or as passengers in a virtual helicopter. Afterwards, back in the real world, the experimenter knocked over a cup of pens as if by accident, and waited five seconds so the subject had a chance to help with the mess. When people had spent the simulation as superheroes, they helped clean up more quickly and picked up more pens. Coming to the virtual rescue was not necessary for the follow-up behavior. In the simulation, some subjects merely explored the city while others saved a lost child?but both groups performed basically the same on the pen test. So, feeling like a superhero may inspire the impulse to helpfully leap in. Just don't expect to leap any buildings in a single bound. ?Sophie Bushwick [The above text is a transcript of this podcast.] Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
? 2013 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/virtual-superpower-experience-increases-helpful-attitude-040908711.html

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In the new Egypt, the police still hew to their old torturing ways

When Hosni Mubarak ruled Egypt, torture of suspects and citizens was commonplace among Egypt's police. Under President Mohamed Morsi, not much has changed.

By Dan Murphy,?Staff writer / February 5, 2013

Egyptian protesters run from tear gas fired by riot police during clashes next to the presidential palace in Cairo, Friday. When Hosni Mubarak ruled Egypt, torture of suspects and citizens was commonplace among Egypt's police. Under President Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's institutions are pretty much identical to what they were in the Mubarak years.

Khalil Hamra/AP

Enlarge

Over the weekend, the Egyptian state posed a question to the nation about a vicious beating that cops delivered to a man, captured on camera: "Who are you going to believe ? us, or your own lying eyes?"

Skip to next paragraph Dan Murphy

Staff writer

Dan Murphy is a staff writer for the Monitor's international desk, focused on the Middle East.?Murphy, who has reported from Iraq, Afghanistan, Egypt, and more than a dozen other countries, writes and edits Backchannels. The focus? War and international relations, leaning toward things Middle East.

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The police beating of Hamada Saber on Friday was carried live on Egyptian television and has since been rebroadcast dozens of times on the country's lively talk shows. But the sustained attack by a group of about eight cops on Mr. Saber, a middle-aged construction worker, was only unusual for Egypt in one respect: That it was captured on film.

This is a crucial point to keep in mind about Egypt. While the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Morsi is now the president, Egypt's institutions are pretty much identical to what they were in the Mubarak years. Egypt's elites seem comfortable with a police force that often treats average people as cattle, rather than citizens they're sworn to protect. While there is tut-tutting when the occasionally spectacular case like Saber's hits the press, no one in power is fighting for an overhaul of the rotten police service.

The Saber case has followed the standard playbook. The first response of Egypt's Interior Ministry and the government of President Morsi was to suggest that the police had in fact been helping Saber escape from protesters, who the police alleged had attacked him, in front of the presidential palace. Astonishingly cynical? Yes. And completely typical.

The unresisting Saber was stripped of his pants (likely an attempt at sexual humiliation), beaten with fists and batons, dragged roughly off the pavement, and eventually thrown into an armored vehicle, under arrest. Nothing unusual there. That was standard operating procedure for Egyptian cops before the 2011 uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak and has remained so since.

Light punishments for police

Sexual torture is not uncommonly used in police stations, and punishments are light. In 2007, cops in Cairo filmed themselves beating and sodomizing a bus driver with a stick, to use as leverage to humiliate the driver, who they also had sentenced to three months in jail for "resisting arrest." When the footage leaked onto the Internet, public outrage forced a trial of the police. The two assailants received just three years in jail.

In January 2011, just as the Mubarak regime was entering it's final days, Human Rights Watch detailed Egypt's police torture program in a 100-page report titled "Work on Him Until He Confesses': Impunity for Torture in Egypt".

"Criminal Investigations officers and State Security Investigations (SSI) officers, under the authority of the minister of the interior, are most often responsible for such abuse. This includes beatings, electric shocks, suspension in painful positions, forced standing for long periods, water-boarding, as well as rape and threatening rape to victims and their families," the group wrote.

That Saber was held in a military hospital, and while there appears to have been successfully leaned on to insist it was protesters, not the police, who attacked him, is also pretty standard. A horror of police stations and crossing the police is inculcated in most working class Egyptians, since the intersection of the police and their lives frequently involves paying a bribe or getting abused. He must have been terrified. There is generally impunity for police abuses, and sentences are light when there are convictions.

For instance just two of the police involved in the brutal murder of Khaled Said in 2010 were sentenced for his death. Their prison terms? Seven years. Mr. Said's murder was a key rallying point for the protesters who launched the uprising against Hosni Mubarak in Jan. 2011, with a powerful new set of activists drawn into politics through the "We Are All Khaled Said" Facebook page, which used Said as a symbol for the systematic abuses of the state.

His family believes he was murdered because he was involved in leaking a video taken inside Sidi Gaber that showed policemen dividing up marijuana they'd seized from drug dealers for resale. The beating, on the street in full view of witnesses, left Said's features unrecognizable and his head looking like a caved in melon. Yet just as with the beating of Saber last Friday, the cops tried to claim something else had happened. They said Said had choked to death on drugs he'd tried to swallow to hide from the police.

Saber, has since reversed course, and said that it was in fact the police who attacked and beat him. His fear was perfectly understandable.

In 2007,?I wrote about Nasser Seddit Gadallah, an Egyptian plumber who made the mistake of complaining when he was beaten and robbed by a group of cops on the western outskirts of Cairo. Warned at the police station not to complain again, he persisted. A few days later, a group of about 10 cops showed up at his family's third-story apartment, and threw him headfirst to his death off the balcony, while his wife and 9-year-old son watched in horror. There were never any convictions.

Morsi quiet

President Morsi's relative silence on a crime that has infuriated millions of Egyptians is also right out of the past, as have been suggestions from the presidential office that the attack was an isolated incident. Predatory and brutal police behavior is one constant in Egypt, whether at protests, in police stations, or out on the beat.

Dealing with abuses in a piecemeal fashion, and only when they erupt into the headlines, is the old way of doing things. So far, the Muslim Brotherhood seems just fine with that.

One case to follow will be the apparent murder of Mohamed al-Gendy, a young member of the left-leaning Popular Current, who was abducted from Tahrir Square on Jan. 25. He turned up, unconscious and suffering from heavy internal bleeding, at a hospital in Cairo on Jan. 28 after being hurt in what the Health Ministry claimed was a car accident. Egyptian human rights activists and members of his party say his body showed signs of a serious beating and electric shock torture.

Mr. Gendy passed away on Feb. 4. Unfortunately, his case is far more typical than Saber's: no film.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/ut928QaE4iA/In-the-new-Egypt-the-police-still-hew-to-their-old-torturing-ways

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Watch This Video To Remember Everything the Internet Loved Last Year

It's already February of 2013 but who the hell cares. This video is the best summary of 2012 that you can ever find. It splices, chops and combines all the videos we fell in love with on the Internet into an epic tale of ridiculously awesomeness. If someone went to sleep on December 31st, 2011 and woke up a year later on January 1st, 2013, this is the video you would show them. This is like if Picasso, Rembrandt and Monet teamed up to paint one picture. Or if The Beatles and The Stones formed one band. It's the video version of Watch the Throne. It's everything the Internet loved in 2012. How many videos can you recognize? How many videos did you watch? [MiamiViceStyle via The Awesomer] More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/fiGkianK-BA/watch-this-video-to-remember-everything-the-internet-loved-last-year

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Boy Scouts board meets amid talk of policy on gays

IRVING, Texas (AP) ? The Boy Scouts of America's policy excluding gay members and leaders could be up for a vote as soon as Wednesday, when the organization's national executive board meets behind closed doors under intense pressure from several sides.

BSA announced last week it was considering allowing troops to decide whether to allow gay membership. That news has placed a spotlight on executive board meetings that began Monday in Irving, Texas, where scouting headquarters is located.

BSA spokesman Deron Smith said last week that the board could take a vote Wednesday or decide to discuss the policy, but the organization would issue a statement either way. Otherwise, the board has remained silent, with reporters barred from the hotel where its meetings are taking place.

At nearby BSA headquarters, a handful of Scouts and leaders delivered petitions Monday in support of letting gay members join. The conservative group Texas Values, meanwhile, says it has organized a Wednesday morning prayer vigil urging the Scouts to keep their policy the same.

President Barack Obama, an opponent of the policy, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, an Eagle Scout who supports it, both have weighed in.

"My attitude is that gays and lesbians should have access and opportunity the same way everybody else does in every institution and walk of life," said Obama, who as U.S. president is the honorary president of BSA, in a Sunday interview with CBS.

Perry, the author of the book "On My Honor: Why the American Values of the Boy Scouts Are Worth Fighting For," said in a speech Saturday that "to have popular culture impact 100 years of their standards is inappropriate."

The board faces several choices, none of which is likely to quell controversy. Standing pat would go against the public wishes of two high-profile board members ? Ernst & Young CEO James Turley and AT&T Inc. CEO Randall Stephenson ? who run companies with nondiscrimination policies and have said they would work from within to change the Scouts' policy.

Conservatives have warned of mass defections if Scouting allows gay membership to be determined by troops. Local and regional leaders, as well as the leadership of churches that sponsor troops, would be forced to consider their own policies. And policy opponents who delivered four boxes of signatures to BSA headquarters Monday said they wouldn't be satisfied by only a partial acceptance of gay scouts and leaders.

"We don't want to see Scouting gerrymandered into blue and red districts," said Brad Hankins, campaign director of Scouts for Equality.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boy-scouts-board-meets-amid-talk-policy-gays-080645170.html

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93% Amour

All Critics (148) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (137) | Rotten (11)

In many ways it's the best horror film I've ever seen. At the same time, it's hard to recommend; I believe I will be struggling to forget this film as long as I live. I doubt I'll succeed.

As remarkable as Haneke's films are, not a one has been as transcendently generous as Amour, which is nominated for five Academy Awards, including best picture, best director and best foreign-language film.

"Amour" isn't just a great movie, it's a movie that may actually do you some good.

Shot in long, static takes, Amour stares directly into the indignities of old age and the curse of a slow death.

Each actor draws on a lifetime's worth of experience, performing with grace and rare, uncompromising realism.

Beautifully acted and unflinching, Amour goes where few movies have the courage to

Riva's performance is undeniably magnificent, as she must chart every step of Anne's physical and mental deteriorating with exacting precision.

Sadly effective, with two standout performances.

Death, illness and tragedy transcend demographics, and the characters in "Amour" are all of us in the end.

Moving, touching and beautifully acted. The question: Do audiences want to spend two hours watching an old couple go from sad to sadder to saddest?

It is an inspirational film in the truest sense, and one to see with someone you love.

...this deceptively simple film makes clear that death, real death, the kind we all face and most art refuses to address honestly, is relentless and unsentimental.

This is beautiful film, and a terrible one: devastating to stick out, and yet one of the most remarkable romances ever made...

One of the ten best films of 2012.

Amour may not inspire the kind of emotional epiphany that similar illness-driven dramas tend to, the results are still riveting.

Death is part of love's bargain, and Haneke lays this fact bare.

It is hard to recommend Amour. Austrian director Michael Haneke's film cannot justly be described as entertaining, and it will likely leave you sad and weary. But it is a film you must see.

"Amour" isn't easy to watch, but its rewards are many.

"Amour" isn't a fun time out at the movies, and I kind of doubt I'll ever see it again. But it's an amazingly act, absolutely heartbreaking film.

A viewer may want to watch Amour, because it is a work of art.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/771307454/

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Somali court: Jail for rape victim, reporter

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) ? A Mogadishu court on Tuesday handed down one-year prison sentences to a woman who said she was raped by security forces and a reporter who interviewed her. The judges decided the woman falsely claimed she was raped and had insulted the government.

The judges based their decision on medical evidence that the woman was not raped, said the court's top official, Ahmed Aden Farah. Farah said the woman's prison term would be delayed so she could care for her young child.

Rights groups have decried the case as politically motivated because the woman had accused security forces of the assault. Rape is reported to be rampant in Mogadishu, where tens of thousands of people who fled last year's famine live in poorly protected camps. Government troops are often blamed.

The charges and resulting sentences may result in even fewer victims of sexual assault coming forward to report attacks in conservative Somalia, rights groups fear.

"The court's decision to convict an alleged rape victim and journalist who interviewed her is a terrible miscarriage of justice and sends a chilling signal to victims of sexual assault in Somalia," said Daniel Bekele, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "The case was built on groundless charges and serious due process violations and should have been thrown out. The government should swiftly move to exonerate and release the defendants."

The alleged rape victim was charged with insulting a government body, inducing false evidence, simulating a criminal offense and making a false accusation. Freelance journalist Abdiaziz Abdinur was charged with insulting a government body and inducing the woman to give false evidence. Three others charged in the case, including the woman's husband, were acquitted Tuesday.

All of the defendants denied the charges in court. Abdinur's lawyer said he would appeal.

Farah, the court official, noted while reading the verdict that Abdinur admitted that he had interviewed the victim. But Abdinur never published a story in relation to the interview. Farah said the court also found the reporter guilty of visiting a man's home without his permission.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep disappointment over the sentences and urged the Somali government "to ensure that all allegations of sexual violence are investigated fully and perpetrators are brought to justice," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said.

"Above all, it is essential that the rights of the alleged victim and the journalist to a fair and transparent judicial process, including the right of appeal, are fully respected," Nesirky said.

Ban said the United Nations has repeatedly expressed alarm at reports of "pervasive sexual violence" in camps for the displaced in and around Mogadishu, Nesirky said.

These crimes are underreported because of risks to victims, witnesses and family members as well as stigmatization, he said, and "it takes extraordinary courage for survivors to come forward."

The secretary-general urged the Somali government to ensure "respect for human rights, freedom of expression and fair judicial process," Nesirky said.

The United Nations special representative on sexual violence, Zainab Hawa Bangura, said this month that the Somali government's approach to the case "does not serve the interest of justice; it only serves to criminalize victims and undermine freedom of expression for the press."

Rights groups say the arrests were linked to an increase in media attention given to the high levels of rape and other sexual violence in Somalia, including attacks allegedly committed by security forces.

On Jan. 6, Universal TV, a Somali television station, reported that armed men in police uniform had raped a young woman. The same day Al Jazeera published an article which described rape by security forces in camps for internally displaced people in Mogadishu.

Bekele said the case was a politically motivated attempt to blame and silence those who report on "the pervasive problem of sexual violence by Somali security forces."

The husband, another man and another woman were charged with assisting the alleged rape victim to evade investigation and assisting her to secure a profit for the rape allegation, charges that indicated the government believed there was a conspiracy to discredit it and somehow acquire financial gain, Human Rights Watch said previously.

The Somali capital has moved past the violence that engulfed Mogadishu for much of the last two decades. In a sign of its progress, the United States this month officially recognized the country's government for the first time in two decades. The U.S. hadn't recognized a Somali government since warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

Despite the progress, Somali government institutions remain weak and corrupt, and the government relies heavily on the security provided by 17,000 African Union troops in the country.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/somali-court-jail-rape-victim-reporter-112143198.html

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