Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/296211412?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Official: Attack on western Iraq gas field kills 1
BAGHDAD (AP) ? A provincial official says gunmen attacked workers at a remote gas field near the Syria border, killing two men and kidnapping one.
Farhan Farhan, the mayor of the western city of Qaim, said on Tuesday that the gunmen also set fire to workers' trailers at a camp near the gas field. The kidnapped man is the brother of the Iraqi company building the camp site.
Farhan says the attack took place on Monday. He says the Iraqi company was contracted by South Korea's KOGAS to build the trailer camp before developing the gas field.
Qaim is about 320 kilometers (200 miles) west of Baghdad.
Iraqi officials are concerned that al-Qaida militants are strengthening around the porous Iraq-Syria border, taking advantage of Syria's turmoil.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/official-attack-western-iraq-gas-field-kills-1-122316717.html
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Monday, April 1, 2013
Jessica Lynch is ?happy to put Iraq in the past?
Ten years, ago, 19-year-old Army Pvt. Jessica Lynch was rescued with multiple injuries after her supply unit had come under fire and she was taken captive in Iraq. Lynch was the only POW in her unit to come out alive, and the first woman POW to be rescued in war.
Lynch, on the 10th anniversary of her rescue, went on the "Today" show on Monday to talk about the intervening years and the difficulty she had had with being in the spotlight. Thanks to the story of the capture having been inaccurate, the Iraq war veteran had gone from being a media darling to the poster child for an ill-prepared war effort.
She recalled, ?I set the record straight as much as I can. I did Congress and testified to let everyone know ? the real story.? For example, her many broken bones, attributed to enemy fire, came from her Humvee crash. And while it was reported that she used her M16 rifle, she said it actually had jammed.
The West Virginia native is now a motivational speaker, teacher and mother?the latter is the role for which "she feels the most pride," she said.
Lynch told "Today," "I?m happy we?re at this 10-year mark, but I?m happy to put Iraq in the past. It?s always going to be part of my life."
She added, "I'm blessed and happy to be here."
Her injuries, however, always serve as a reminder of the war: She has had 21 surgeries, including for a broken back and two broken legs. She wears a brace on the left leg and her right leg still hurts. She said, ?I do the best that I can and am just thankful that I'm here.?
Lynch also told "Today" that as the only one in her unit to survive, she has had to deal with survivor?s guilt. "My best friend [Lori Paestewa] didn?t get to come back, and I did. She had two beautiful kids," Lynch said. "It?s hard to know they?re going to have to grow up without their mom.?
She added, ?I have that never-give-up attitude. As long as you keep it in your mind, you can do anything. That?s what it?s all about, it?s persevering.?
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/jessica-lynch-speaks-10-years-her-rescue-happy-150800995.html
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Terry Kix remains ?The Glue? for Purdue while fighting cancer | Fox ...
WEST LAFAYETTE ? It?s not an expression that?s used a lot in basketball, yet it makes lots of sense.
On any given basketball team there is a coach who has to be the enforcer. This is the person who has motivate with force, criticize at will, be the enemy and not the friend.
The ?Bad Cop? is how one might describe it. Even with its negative connotations, its a necessary evil when is comes to the makeup of a basketball team.
?As a head coach you?re always the tough guy. You have expectations, you have responsibilities. Your job is to become the bad cop and get the most out of your players,? said Terry Kix inside Mackey Arena in March-and she knows something about that.
She was a field hockey coach at Maine for 15 years, taking over the program after a decorated playing career at Connecticut where she two-time All-American and won a national championship in 1981. With the Black Bears she knew about getting her team ready as Kix won a school-record 174 games and four American East Conference Coach of the Year Awards.
But that changed when Sharon Versyp took over the head women?s basketball coaching job at Purdue in 2007. While organizing her staff, she reached out to Kix for her expertise behind the scenes for the job of Director of Basketball Operations.
?She said ?Listen, I know you want to get more into administration, you?d be perfect for this job,?? said Kix, who accepted the job and a new role that she wasn?t used to.
During a practice before the NCAA Tournament at Mackey Arena, she wasn?t barking out orders or setting up drills. She was clapping, smiling, encouraging the Boilermakers as they would take shots or run sprints.
?That?s it Taylor! That?s it Taylor! Nice move Taylor!? comes out during a lay-up drill.
?Nice, Dee Dee. That?s it KK? comes out a few minutes later, and so on during the two-hour practice session.
?I try to provide a lot of enthusiasm, energy and support, very, very positive all the time,? said Kix. ?Kinda the good cop.?
Versyp, however, would describe here another way.
?She?s the Director of Basketball Operations but she?s the glue to our staff, the glue to our? team, the community, academics, people in the department,? said Versyp-and one that would stick no matter what.
?
Unfortunately for KK Houser, a meeting like this has happened before.
In 2010, Versyp held a team meeting before an international trip in the middle of November to tell the players that forward Drey Mingo was diagnosed with bacterial meningitis. It was a frightening time considering that the severity of the illness was such that Mingo?s life was endanger for a time let alone her basketball career.
Houser was injured that season but was at full health on November 16th, not long before the team was to depart for a trip to the Virgin Islands. But yet again, Versyp walked into a team meeting with bad news.
?We were in the film room and she said that Terry had been going to appointments, and she?s had stomach problems,? said Houser. ?We knew she hadn?t been feeling well and it came back that she had stomach cancer.?
Kix was told that not long before the team found out, answering a four-month question about why the coach was suffering with stomach pain. Underneath a bleeding ulcer in her stomach was a five-inch cancerous tumor.
?I had just come back from Italy in May so I thought it was the different foods and the different wines and through maybe that?s why my stomach was bothering me,? said Kix. ?But over time it kept persisting and didn?t die down so I had it checked.
?It was so shocking for me because I had just completed a half marathon three weeks prior to the diagnosis so even though I was having some pains in my stomach I didn?t feel all that bad. But everything happened so fast and the doctors were all so wonderful, they moved me so quickly.?
The news didn?t digest so fast with the Boilermakers, especially Houser. The guard would often sit on the bench next Kix when she would come out of the games for breathers sharing encouragement along with information to use when Houser would get back in.
?I?m pretty sure I probably started crying right away,? said Houser when she heard of the diagnosis. ?I?m very close to Terry, she?s my little side buddy on the bench when I come out so I was very upset and worried for her at the time.?
?
As she reflected in her office on the 2012-2013 season, Versyp referred to it as ?journey.?
Indeed it was.
Between the diagnosis on November 16th and the Boilermakers first round tournament games in Louisville, Kix had six chemotherapy treatments to treat the stomach cancer. Each time she would take about five days to recover than make her way back to the office and the floor to continue her work.
?Part days, half days, be at home games. Couldn?t travel,? said Versyp of Kix?s chemotherapy treatments. ?So that?s kinda been the journey the whole time.?
A change of pace it was for the Boilermakers? ?Good Cop?, but there could be no change of enthusiasm in her mind. With Purdue a Top 25 team in the rankings, Kix paid close attention to how she conducted herself around the
?They?ve all gone through adversity, this is another level of adversity but no matter what your challenge is you have to be positive and put your best foot forward,? said Kix of her attitude during treatments. ?I tried really hard not to let my personal illness affect the team, affect the young ladies but obviously the care about me and I care about them.
?I just tried to inspire them and they inspire me.?
Her ability to do that as, in Versyp?s words ?The Glue?, would depend on her being able to conduct her business as she had before the diagnosis and chemotherapy treatments. That was difficult considering that she would have to be in-and-out of the office during the treatment, causing concern for players so used to having her around.
?I think the hardest part is when we?d seen her a couple of days prior when she had hair and then she came back and she?d had shaved her head because her hair started to fall out so probably the hardest part,? said Houser. ?It?s hard not seeing her because we?re used to seeing her everyday.?
But it was her attitude when she was there that helped to bridge the gap. The vocal Kix kept her trademark enthusiasm even as her treatments took away her weight an hair. With a collection of hats to wear during practice and games, the coach was there as the Boilermakers finished 25-9 and finished in a tie for third in the Big Ten.
?She?s such a fireball. Even going through all her chemo and all of that cancer has not put her back one step at all,? said Houser of Kix. ?Still yells at the refs, still is our biggest fan and is still up yelling and cheering.
?You wouldn?t know she has cancer unless you see her cute bald head. She still on her good days is still running miles on her treadmill, she?s peppy, she?s always talking. She is the cutest little cancer patient ever, she always has the cutest little head scarves and hats so Terry?s a great person, she?s a big part of our family and our team and she is going to beat this cancer.?
?
Finding inspiration during the last four months has come from all sorts of places for Kix. So far, most of it has found the basement of her Lafayette-area home.
?I?ve been keeping an inspirational wall in my basement and I?ve received over 500 letters from people from around the country and former players,? said Kix-including from a fellow cancer patient who captured the attention of the nation a few months earlier.
Colts head coach Chuck Pagano was diagnosed with Leukemia back in October and heard about Kix?s story. He like others sent a letter to the coach expressing well wishes and, of course, ended up on the wall.
?It warmed my heart, a very classy man and he just shared his heartfelt emotion of what he went through and his experience and tried to provide me a lot of courage and motivation to get through my situation,? said Kix of Pagano?s letter. ?His letter was inspiring. Very sensitive and compassionate and it meant a lot to me because it has been someone whose been through it and understands it.?
The Purdue women?s basketball team reached out more on a daily basis. They offered support vocally many times during the season and even knitted a quilt with inspirational sayings which was given to Kix as her treatments continued.
?The basketball season really has made it easy for me because it?s kept me busy and there?s been an army of support between the community and the team and my family and it?s been amazing,? said Kix of the support. ?So a lot of positive has come out of it and now I just want this cancer out of my stomach.?
Perhaps that will be April 11th. That is the day that Kix is scheduled to have the tumor removed at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York if an April 8th test shows the cancer has not spread. Those who will treat her, says Kix, are a group of people whom she has gained great admiration for over the time of her treatments.
?I?ve met a lot of amazing people along my journey and so many people are so brave and have so much courage and this will change me forever and I will never sweat the small stuff,? said Kix.
?
In a year where things were not on her schedule, timing worked to her favor early in March.
Following a fifth chemotherapy treatment, the chance came for Kix to finally travel on the road for the team?s Big Ten Tournament in Hoffman Estates, Ill.-a suburb of Chicago.
?I was very blessed and fortunate because Coach Versyp gave me the opportunity to give the pre-game speech for that which really was very special to me and very emotional,? said Kix. ?I shared with the young ladies what it would be like to be a champion and ?The ring was the thing.??
Words that would end up proving to be significant. Purdue won their first game at the Sears Centre by eight points over Wisconsin, then followed that up with a 13-victory over Nebraska. On Sunday the Boilermakers dominated Michigan State, this time by 15 points, to bring home their second conference tournament championship in as many seasons.
?We were fighting and Terry was still fighting a battle so we fought hard for her,? said Houser of the Big Ten Tournament victories. ?We were glad that she was right there with us?
She was right there cutting down the nets and taking pictures with the team in a moment that was four months in the making.
?All the 6 AM practices, all the hard work. They put in so much time and effort and commitment into this and to see their smiling faces and to see them in ecstasy will be something that I will remember forever,? said Kix.
It was her presence-just like all season-that produced the greatest memories for those around her.
?It was amazing. It?s difficult when she?s not around,? said Versyp. ?The kids are always wondering ?Is she ok? Is she not OK? when she?s not on the bench, when she?s not at practice. So to be able to have her at the end being part of the family that we have here, being on the sidelines.
?She?s just that glue.?
Source: http://fox59.com/2013/04/01/purdues-terry-kix-keeps-things-together-even-with-cancer/
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Thicke's video with nude models gets YouTube ban
FILE - This Sept. 15, 2012 file photo originally released by Point Foundation shows singer Robin Thicke performing at the "Voices On Point" Concert & Gala in Los Angeles. Thicke's, "Blurred Lines," was the most viral track on Spotify from Monday, March 25, to Sunday, March 31. (AP Photo/Point Foundation, Colin Young-Wolff, file)
FILE - This Sept. 15, 2012 file photo originally released by Point Foundation shows singer Robin Thicke performing at the "Voices On Point" Concert & Gala in Los Angeles. Thicke's, "Blurred Lines," was the most viral track on Spotify from Monday, March 25, to Sunday, March 31. (AP Photo/Point Foundation, Colin Young-Wolff, file)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Robin Thicke's new music video is too hot for YouTube.
A representative for the R&B crooner said Monday that his unrated video for "Blurred Lines" was banned from the website. The clip features nude models prowling around Thicke and rappers T.I. and Pharrell.
A rep for YouTube didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The video is still playing on the music video website Vevo.
Thicke's unrated clip was released last week and garnered more than 1 million views in days. It became a water cooler topic on the blogs and entertainment websites. The original video was released a week before and has 1.3 million views.
Thicke said in an interview last week that he had sought the approval of his wife, actress Paula Patton, to shoot with nude models.
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Study upholds breast cancer mortality for hormone replacement
In the nearly 11 years since researchers first rang alarm bells that women on hormone replacement therapy faced an increased risk of breast cancer, some have suggested that taking estrogen and progestin to treat symptoms of menopause might not be so dangerous after all.
Though it was generally agreed that woman who took the two hormones to curb their hot flashes and night sweats upped their chances of developing the disease, many studies suggested that the cancers the women developed were less likely to be deadly.
A new analysis of data from the Women's Health Initiative now casts doubt on those findings. The study, published Friday by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, concludes that the prognosis for cancers related to hormone replacement therapy is just as dire as for other breast cancers. As a result, women who turn to the treatment are more likely to die of breast cancer than their peers who don't take hormones.
"You could fill a basketball arena with the women who get the disease," said Dr. Rowan Chlebowski, the principal investigator for the Women's Health Initiative and lead author of the new study. "It seems like you'd want to reach a higher threshold before you take it."
Nearly 70,000 postmenopausal women participated in randomized clinical trials as part of the Women's Health Initiative project. The study participants who took estrogen plus progestin had higher rates of breast cancer diagnoses and of breast cancer deaths.
At the same time, more than 90,000 additional women took part in a related observational study that tracked details about their health and hormone use over an average of 11 years. Along with many other observational studies, this one found that women who took hormones to treat menopause symptoms and got breast cancer were less likely to die from the illness than women who got breast cancer without taking hormones.
Chlebowski, an oncologist based at the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute in Torrance, suspected that the discrepancy could have resulted from key differences between the women in the randomized trial and the women in the observational study.
So he and his team identified a subset of more than 41,000 women from the observational study who more closely matched the women who took part in the randomized trial. In doing so, the researchers set aside data on women who were not using hormones when they participated in a study but had taken them in the past ? a factor that had the potential to complicate the findings.
The new results fell more closely in line with the findings from the original randomized trial: Survival after breast cancer was similar for both hormone users and non-users. Tumors that arose in women who took hormones were no less deadly.
They had appeared to be, however, because women who had taken hormones years before might have already developed aggressive cancers and would not have been able to participate in the study in the first place. Because of the study design, they had been selected out, Chlebowski said.
Dr. Patricia Ganz, director of cancer prevention and control research at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, applauded the new study's rigor.
"If you're going to take these therapies, you need to know there's an increased risk," said Ganz, who was not involved in the study. "Make sure there's a good indication. And don't take them for a long period of time."
The new findings apply only to women who take estrogen and progestin, a synthesized form of the natural hormone progesterone. Women who have had hysterectomies can take estrogen alone, a regimen that doesn't seem to increase breast cancer risk. But those who still have a uterus must take both estrogen and progestin to avoid developing endometrial cancer.
When the Women's Health Initiative was launched in 1993, about 40% of postmenopausal women were taking hormones. Many of them ? and their doctors ? believed they'd get benefits including improved bone, cardiovascular and cognitive health, Chlebowski said.
As research revealed that was not the case, and that the treatment was associated with cancer risk, the number of users fell by half, to about where it remains today.
Dr. Joanne Mortimer, director of the Women's Cancers Program at City of Hope Cancer Center in Duarte, said that in general, she does not recommend hormone replacement therapy for patients with menopause symptoms.
But Mortimer, who was not involved with the study, said she does discuss the pros and cons of the treatment with "the ones who are up all night with hot flashes and want to kill people. There are still women on it and they will cut your arm off if you take it away."
For a certain percentage of women, she added, hormones provide the only relief.
Last year, a coalition of women's health groups led by the North American Menopause Society, the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the Endocrine Society issued a statement reiterating that hormone therapy was "still an acceptable treatment for menopausal symptoms." They called the treatment "relatively safe."
eryn.brown@latimes.com
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Central African Republic leader, facing isolation, says no reprisals
By Ange Aboa
BANGUI (Reuters) - Central African Republic's new leader Michel Djotodia, facing international isolation after seizing power, said on Saturday he would not take reprisals against rivals and called on those who fled abroad to return.
The United States said on Saturday it did not recognize Djotodia, who toppled President Francois Bozize on March 24 after leading thousands of his Seleka rebels into the mineral-rich nation's capital Bangui, triggering days of looting.
"I make a patriotic and brotherly appeal for our countrymen, who have chosen the path of exile, to return," the former civil servant turned self-declared president told several thousand cheering supporters near the presidential palace.
"There will be no witch hunt, because we must establish tolerance, dialogue and forgiveness," he said.
Though violence in the riverside capital has ebbed, Djotodia said looters would face justice and called for international help, particularly from former colonial master France.
But the takeover has been condemned internationally. The African Union suspended Central African Republic and imposed sanctions on Seleka leaders, including Djotodia, this week.
France and the United States say the rebels should adhere to a power-sharing deal signed in Gabon's capital Libreville in January that mapped out a transition to elections in 2016 in which Bozize was forbidden from running.
Djotodia has pledged to act in the spirit of the agreement and said on Friday he would step down in 2016. But Washington on Saturday said Nicolas Tiangaye, named prime minister under the Libreville agreement, was now the only legal head of government.
"We strongly condemn the illegitimate seizure of power by force by the Seleka rebel alliance, Michel Djotodia's self-appointment as president, and his suspension of the constitution and National Assembly," read a statement from State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland.
Bozize seized power in a 2003 coup but his failure to keep promises of power sharing after winning disputed 2011 polls led to the offensive by five rebel groups known as Seleka, which means "alliance" in the Sango language.
EMERGENCY SUMMIT
A grouping of eight political opposition parties, including the one headed by Prime Minister Tiangaye, said on Saturday it rejected Djotodia's proposed three-year transition period and called for new talks to revise the Libreville agreement.
"After consulting among ourselves, we think that 18 months of transition would be reasonable in order to organize new democratic elections," the coalition's spokesman Edouard Koyambounou told Reuters.
Chadian President Idriss Deby, chair of the 10-nation Economic Community of Central African States, will host a summit in N'Djamena on April 3 to discuss the crisis.
South African President Jacob Zuma has been invited and will attend the meeting, spokesman Mac Maharaj said on Saturday.
The opposition in South Africa and analysts have asked why a South African military training mission suffered 13 deaths in Central African Republic last weekend as its members fought alongside government troops against rebels.
South African media suggested the soldiers were defending mining interests in a country rich in diamonds, uranium and oil, but Pretoria officials denied this. They say 400 troops were present due to a 2007 bilateral defense accord with Bozize.
On Friday, Djotodia, responding to questions about resource licenses awarded to Chinese and South African firms by Bozize, said he would review resource deals signed by the previous government.
(Writing by Joe Bavier and Pascal Fletcher; Editing by Jason Webb and Stephen Powell)
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