Nissan Introduces Sunny Sedan in India

MUMBAI -- The India unit of Nissan Motor Co. Tuesday said it is aiming to sell more than 40,000 vehicles in the current financial year through March, helped by the introduction of the new Sunny sedan.

Nissan Motor Company's Gilles Normand posed with the Nissan Sunny car during its launch in Mumbai, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2011.The company will sell the 1.5-liter gasoline engine Sunny at 578,000 rupees ($12,272) for the base model at showrooms in New Delhi. The top-end model will cost 768,000 rupees.

Kiminobu Tokuyama, managing director and chief executive for Nissan Motor India Pvt. Ltd., declined to give any sales target for the Sunny.

The Sunny is the second car to be manufactured at the factory of Nissan Motor India near the southern port city of Chennai. The factory is owned jointly with Renault S.A.

Nissan already makes the Micra small car at the same factory for the local and overseas markets. Micra is the first of five models the auto maker plans to manufacture in India.

The auto maker said it will source more than 85% of the parts for the Sunny from vendors in India, including 40% from suppliers based in Chennai.

Tokuyama said Nissan Motor India plans to export the Sunny to countries in the Middle East and Africa. He didn't give a timeframe for starting exports.

“Courageous,” a film about four police officers attempting to be good fathers and maintain their Christian faith

A scene from the film “Courageous,” opening this weekend. (Todd Stone) “Courageous,” a film about four police officers attempting to be good fathers and maintain their Christian faith, may be the most popular new movie release of the weekend. Yet odds are that you’ve never even heard of it.

The new movie — which opens on 1,161 screens nationwide and was co-written and directed by Alex Kendrick, the filmmaker behind past faith-based films such as “Fireproof” and “Facing the Giants” — is leading advance sales on Fandango and has been throughout the week, according to data provided by the online ticket retailer.

As of this morning, purchases for “Courageous” accounted for 26% of the transactions on the site; the only other new release that comes close is “50/50,” which was in fourth place with 7%. The film has also been trending throughout much of the day on Google.

But “Courageous” was not screened in advance for most critics (only four reviews can currently be found on Rotten Tomatoes) and the marketing push behind it does not even approach the media blitzes behind competitors like “50/50” and Anna Faris’s “What’s Your Number?”

Why? Because “Courageous,” while distributed by Tristar, which falls under the Sony umbrella, was made with backing from faith-based production companies and marketed primarily to members of the Christian community. And that economical, niche approach has proven, again and again, that it works.

“Fireproof,” the aforementioned 2008 Kendrick release that starred Kirk Cameron, cost about $500,000 to make, according to Box Office Mojo. It earned $33.4 million. “Facing the Giants,” released in 2006, brought in $10.1 million on a production budget of $100,000. And last year’s “To Save a Life,” grossed $3.7 million while running up a price tag of just $500,000.

These films make a profit because they are made modestly, and speak (as well as market) to an audience that craves what they provide: movies about spiritual subjects that, for the most part, can be seen by audience members of numerous ages. (All of the aforementioned releases were rated PG or PG-13.)

“Courageous” doesn’t need endorsements from film critics at major media outlets, nor does it need to spend millions of dollars on press tours and ad campaigns. It knows who its audience is and targets those people directly. Which — much as it may pain the movie-critic side of me to say this — is pretty smart.

“Courageous” probably won’t be the No. 1 movie at the weekend box office; it isn’t playing on enough screens to overtake the higher-profile releases that currently dominate the multiplex. But don’t be surprised to see it in the top 10. Clearly the interest is there, even if many people outside of the film’s target audience didn’t even know it existed until now.

Delonte West

( Delonte West via Twitter) West, who is a free agent in the basketball world, tweeted relentlessly about his first day on his new job and shared pictures (which you can see when his Twitter account calms down). He even shared a photo of his job application, complete with the explanation that he’d been convicted of a crime because of a “misunderstanding.”

West, a graduate of Greenbelt’s Eleanor Roosevelt High School, is a familiar face around the store. “Sometimes he just stops by to say hi,” King said. “He can make some extra money, and it would make money for us.”

There was confusion initially about where West would be working. Selling furniture seems like a better thing for him than lifting it, but when Reliable Source checked in with Regency, he was in the warehouse.

Sure enough, West tweeted a photo of himself wearing a Regency shirt and chillin’, er, getting to know his new coworkers in the warehouse and “having fun at my new job.” Overall, he seemed pleased with a workday in the real world, saying Regency is a “cool place to be.”

“I actually might have work with Sam's [Club], BJ's, selling knives,” West told True Hoop’s Adam Reisinger. “That's pretty cool too. I get a microphone and everything.”

'50/50': The Reviews

By Eric Ditzian (@ericditzian) When Will Reiser first found out he had cancer, he and his comedy-writer buddies (including Seth Rogen and "Pineapple Express" scribe Evan Goldberg) would jokingly wonder if Reiser's disease would bring them all a Make-a-Wish opportunity to hang with Led Zeppelin.

That rock-and-roll dream never came true, but Reiser's battle with, and eventual remission from, cancer did gift them all with one thing: "50/50," a comedy (out now) that is drawing rave reviews from critics and is being discussed as a possible contender come awards season. Though not all reviewers have found it easy to find yuks in a deadly serious topic, far more point to the film as an example that nothing is out of bounds when it comes to art and comedy; handled deftly, anything can lead to laughter and learning.

"Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a nice guy with a great job at a Seattle NPR station, a promising relationship with up-and-coming artist Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard), a best-friend-since-high-school named Kyle (Seth Rogen) to hang with -- and, as he learns to his horror in a doctor's office, cancer. ... Also woven deftly into the mixture is Anna Kendrick as a young (very young) therapist assigned to work with Adam; [Anjelica] Huston as the kind of mother who explains 'I want you to know that I smothered him because I love him' to anyone who will listen. ... It's not a perfect movie, but it doesn't matter. '50/50' takes on a bold subject and makes us laugh and cry. I thought I didn't want to see a cancer comedy; I was wrong."

"Scenes where the pals trash a piece of once-important memorabilia in a backyard rampage and the after-effects of pot-laden cookies scored at the chemotherapy clinic show loopily grinning Gordon-Levitt at his best. Kudos to [director Jonathan] Levine for not letting Rogen's very funny comedic bits overshadow the proceedings. The actor dials it down ever so slightly and isn't afraid to be the butt of jokes -- watch for Gordon-Levitt's spot-on Rogen impersonation. The suggestion a bald head and a cancer diagnosis could be the ultimate pickup leverage leads Adam and Kyle into funny territory. But the hilarity turns with the exploration of deeper relationships as Adam finds new friends among the genial stoners of all ages at the chemo clinic."

"[Reiser] draws on his personal battle with a rare form of that disease. His success rate in the delicate balance between comedy and the profound devastation of such an illness is much greater than 50/50, but the film is not without its tonal lapses. ... Reiser has written his characters with an indelible sweetness and vulnerability, which allows the cast to deliver performances with some depth. So a situation such as Kyle insisting that Adam and he should cruise girls at a bar looking for sympathy lays -- Cruisin' with the Big C as it were -- comes off as quite funny as does Adam's first chemo session where he ingests weed-laced sweets created by a fellow patient's wife and floats out of the hospital afterwards."

"In the pantheon of tastelessness designed to make you laugh at diarrhea, menstruation, masturbation, yeast infections, fellatio and worse, you can now add a stupid horror called '50/50.' Artificial, irresponsible, filthy and forgettable, it knocks itself cross-eyed trying to make you roar with laughter at chemotherapy, with the nauseating Seth Rogen milking most of the yuks. But a stoner comedy about cancer? I don't think so."

"The reason '50/50' works is it's not trying to force us into any particular emotion. It fits in the emerging category of sad-man comedies such as 'Up in the Air' and 'Crazy, Stupid Love,' telling its downbeat tale with tenderness, sincerity and warmth. '50/50' isn't a cancer buddy comedy or a male weepie but a message movie. The message is that you can tackle pretty much any subject matter and tell a story any way you want to onscreen as long as it's absorbing."

Adam Savage

In a revelation sure to disquiet Vespa-riding urbanites and independent streamliner engineers, a study conducted in conjunction with a recent episode of “Mythbusters,” the Discovery Channel program, found that cars were greener than motorcycles.

The episode aired on Wednesday and featured the segment “Bike vs. Car,” in which three cars and three motorcycles, each built in either the 1980s, ’90s or ’00s, were fitted with tailpipe probes that measured the carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide emissions of each vehicle over a closed course in Alameda County, Calif.

Though the show’s hosts, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, did not disclose the makes and models of the vehicles, the 1980s car bore a strong resemblance to an Olds Cutlass Ciera (but we wouldn’t rule out a Buick Century), the ’90s car clearly was a Honda Accord and the ’00s car a Ford Taurus or Mercury Sable.

Data retrieved from the tailpipe probes and monitors mounted to the vehicles’ engine control units was interpreted by Prof. Kent Johnson, an assistant research engineer at the University of California at Riverside, who also analyzed the vehicles’ emissions of hydrocarbons and nitric oxide.

In the end, Mr. Johnson observed that while the motorcycles burned fuel more efficiently and produced lower levels of carbon dioxide than the cars, the noxious pollutants generated by the bikes exceeded the levels generated by the cars. Insofar as the hosts sought to determine the greenest mode of transport, the car won by virtue of its lower pollution profile.

Anwar Al-Awlaki Dead

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Maryland Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, described the killing of American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki on Friday as “probably the second biggest blow to al-Qaida since the killing of Osama bin Laden.”

Ruppersberger, who spoke to reporters at the statehouse in Annapolis, said he received a briefing on the lethal strike in Yemen from the CIA Friday morning. Ruppersberger, who said he has long been concerned about al-Awlaki, said the cleric was a dangerously charismatic leader who inspired people to kill Americans.

Weigh In Corrections? “He was the biggest threat, in my opinion, from a terrorism point of view to the United States of America and our citizens, and we have brought him to justice,” Ruppersberger said.

Ruppersberger described the killing of a second American, Samir Khan, in a joint CIA-U.S. military air strike on their convoy in Yemen early Friday as “collateral damage.” Khan edited a Jihadi Internet magazine, and Ruppersberger described his death as “really a plus for us.”

Ruppersberger said he visited Yemen about two months ago with Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., who chairs the House Intelligence Committee, and they met with the head of Yemen’s intelligence and counterterrorism group. Ruppersberger said he was impressed with them, and the U.S. worked in a partnership with Yemen to find al-Awlaki.

Al-Awlaki was behind several high-profile terrorism efforts, including a failed attempt to destroy a Detroit-bound plane on Christmas Day in 2009 and U.S. bound cargo planes in 2010, Ruppersberger said.

“This is a great day for America,” the congressman said. “This is probably the second biggest blow to al-Qaida since the killing of Osama bin Laden,” Ruppersberger said.

Ruppersberger said al-Awlaki was on a special list of individuals that have attempted to attack the United States and are a severe threat to U.S. citizens.

“There’s a process that goes through the National Security Council, and then after that it goes to the president, and then the president then indicates that these individuals are on this list, and as a result of that process we followed it’s legal,” Ruppersberger said. “It’s legitimate, and we’re taking out someone who has attempted to attack us on numerous occasions, and he was on that list. It was pursuant to a process.”

“But Khan was a collateral damage issue here, and I don’t know because I don’t really have access to that list,” Ruppersberger said.Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.

Stacey Dash Is Officially Single

Follow @lizkellynelson on Twitter "Clueless" star Stacey Dash is officially single, TMZ reports, after a judge signed off on the actress' divorce papers from Emmanuel Xuereb.

The couple married in 2007, but Dash filed for divorce in January 2010 and petitioned for a restraining order against Xuereb, who she claimed hit her in the "face, head and body" during their two-year marriage.

Xeureb's acting credits include "The Bold and the Beautiful," "Natural Born Killers" and multiple guest-starring TV roles. Nothing is listed past 2008.

Dash can currently be seen as Valerie "Val" Stokes on VH1's "Single Ladies." She plays the owner of an Atlanta fashion boutique who is looking for a "good man."

Delonte West To Regency Furniture

As the NBA lockout drags there has been speculation that the players will cave in because so many haven't handled their money wisely, and they'll be hurting for paychecks in November.

The Washington Post reports West has taken a warehouse job with the Regency Furniture store in Brandywine, Md. During his seven-year NBA career West has been paid about $14 million, and last season he made a little more than $1 million with the Boston Celtics.

West had tweeted this week that he needed a second job "to stay afloat during the lockout." During the summer, a judge rejected West's request to be allowed to work abroad, because he's on probation stemming from a weapons case.

Columbus Day

Columbus Day will be celebrated October 10, 2011. I like to begin my lesson on that day reading sections from a letter that Columbus wrote without letting the class know who it is from or that it is Columbus Day. The letter is a primary document found at http://www.ushistory.org/documents/columbus.htm. The letter tells of the natives he encounters in Hispaniola. He talks about the beauty of the land and the gold that is there. He tells how innocent are the natives he encounters, and how he has to forbid his men trading useless items such as broken dishes for a great deal of gold. He also discusses how he hasn’t seen any monsters, but has seen people who eat human flesh. The students become actively engaged with this letter and the discussion and are pleasantly surprised to find it is a letter from Columbus. We then discuss the value and purpose of primary documents. There are many ways you can build your lesson from here. If you go into your Discovery account, everyone has one, right? Anyway, search “Columbus” and at the top of the results screen, you will see a link – “Columbus Day” with the explanation “Featuring resources selected and created by Discovery Education’s curriculum experts, this theme page offers teacher’s guides, video clips, and more.” Discovery has provided a wealth of resources right there for you to use. There are video clips, images, and lesson plans for every grade level. There are even some audio clips.

How To Be A Gentleman

by Donna Bowman and Steve Heisler September 29, 2011

This fall, we’ve got so many writers who’ve seen these pilots that we thought getting two takes on each show would be helpful to you. The first review is the “official” TV Club review, and the grade applies to it. But we’ve also found another reviewer to offer their own take on the program. Today, Donna Bowman and Steve Heisler talk about How To Be A Gentleman.

How To Be A Gentleman debuts tonight on CBS at 8:30 p.m. Eastern.

Donna: Based on the cast list, TV aficionados should have high hopes for How To Be A Gentleman. The ensemble is full of cult favorites. Lead actor and series creator David Hornsby, who plays Andrew, a refined writer for Marquis magazine who pens the titular column, is recurring character Rickety Cricket on It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, and is almost unrecognizable here all cleaned up. Dave Foley, playing Hornsby’s editor Jerry, is a comedy legend from Kids In The Hall to NewsRadio who has done steady stellar guest work in series for the last several years. Mary Lynn Rajskub (Andrew’s sister Janet) added much needed quirk to 24 while appearing in almost every Sundance audience favorite movie of the last decade and doing a one-woman show in Los Angeles. And Rhys Darby, the best feature of the pilot episode as Rajskub’s cheerfully henpecked husband Mike, is best known as Murray the manager from Flight Of The Conchords.

And then there’s Kevin Dillon, late of HBO’s anti-hipster talisman Entourage, who gets co-top billing as Bert, the former high-school bully and current physical trainer who tries to get Hornsby in touch with the common schlub, his column’s new readership after Marquis is sold to a company that wants to dumb it down for a broader demographic. (“Women in thongs, articles about… abs,” as Jerry puts it.) He’s not just the odd man out in this stellar ensemble; he’s also the embodiment of this sitcom’s high-concept “situation:” One has a cufflink collection, the other doesn’t own any shirts with sleeves! Watch the wacky hijinks ensue!

That’s the problem with How To Be A Gentleman in a nutshell. While the jokes are often funny and the cast awfully game, the show is painfully conventional. I don’t have a problem with laugh tracks or with CBS’ embrace of the multi-camera traditional format; there’s still fine work to be done within that box, as reliable entertainments like the network’s late The New Adventures of Old Christine prove. At least in the pilot, though, Gentleman has almost no style, mannerisms, or flair—odd for a show whose lead character provides an intermittent voiceover about a gentleman’s style, mannerisms, and flair. Without something in the structure or package to signal a unique perspective on the sitcom, the setup of Bert and Andrew giving each other ethnography lessons on their respective class tribes is just Sitcom 101.

The pilot sets up the premise with a minimum of fuss. Jerry lets Andrew know that he won’t be fighting the magazine’s new boss Cody on Marquis’ altered mission statement: “I was thinking about doing that, and then I remembered: I’m 50! So I decided I’m very happy about the new direction.” At Andrew’s birthday dinner, Janet and Mike give him a gift certificate for a personal training session at Bert’s Body Shop, and as the voiceover points out, “A gentleman always uses a gift, even if he doesn’t like it.” Turns out the “Bert” of the facility’s name used to whale on Andrew in high school for offenses like agitating for a stricter dress code with tighter limitations on jeans (“I only had two pairs of pants back then—my jeans and my church jeans”). Andrew realizes that Bert represents the magazine’s “demographic holy grail: men in their mid to late 30s who act like they’re 15.” And Bert wants to make up for his former bullying ways by helping Andrew get over his fiancee, who dumped him for a man much like Bert except for his ownership of a winery, and whose sock he carries around like the mopey nerdling he is.

Where this initial episode shows some promise is in a setpiece at a restaurant with everyone but Bert contributing to the ensemble energy. Bert pushes Andrew to ask out Lydia, the next-door neighbor who professes to feel “safe” with him. “I kill many of her bugs,” Andrew explains; “You should be taking off many of her pants,” Bert retorts. On their date, Lydia’s ex-boyfriend Donny (Todd Stashwick, a.k.a. Dale Malloy on The Riches) menaces Andrew. “Why would he do anything to you? You’re not the one who cheated on him,” Lydia dismisses Andrew’s concern. And at a nearby table, sister Janet is flirting with a co-worker while Mike sits at the bar putting a veneer of respectability on the whole screwed-up scene (“She doesn’t want to come home after a hard day’s work and deal with my theatrics,” Mike excuses his wife, adding, “Her words.”) Both Janet and Mike sense Andrew’s anxiety through his less-than-impeccable blazer (“Ooh, unbuttoned—you okay?” Mike asks). And rightly so—Andrew heads back to his table to find Lydia and Donny smooching shamelessly, whereupon he pronounces via voiceover that a gentleman sometimes must bitchslap a rival.

Another attempt at a signature flourish falls flat, though. At Andrew’s place, Bert casually starts drinking straight from the milk carton. When Andrew protests, he responds that there’s only a little left, and proceeds to chug the milk, pause for breath, then chug again before tossing the carton with “See?” It’s a bit that takes about 30 seconds of precious screen time and doesn’t seem to fit with the mostly utilitarian vibe of the rest of the episode. You probably shouldn’t try gags that depend on playing with the audience’s expectations of timing until you know what the pace of your show is actually supposed to be.

With a little faster pacing and a little more imagination, How To Be A Gentleman could be eminently watchable and perhaps even live up to the promise of its excellent cast. Based solely on the pilot, though, the “odd couple” premise doesn’t inspire interest or intrigue as much as sighs of weariness. Over time, Andrew will need to become more distinct in his gentlemanly code (he’s basically Niles Crane at this point, right down to the unrequited romance) and Bert will need to become more distinct from the narcissistic lumps that populate our nation’s beer commercials and spring break videos. Around the edges, the show has plenty of attractions; at its core, it seems to have sprung from a particularly unimaginative focus group.

Stray observations:

• A birthday dinner at Mom’s is the “perfect situation to wear a vest!” as Mike enthusiastically observes, and Andrew has just the pale-salmon-y one for the occasion.
• Everybody likes listening to Mike’s New Zealand accent, and in that “everybody” I happily include myself. “Remember that time you said chimichanga?” Andrew and Janet’s mother (Nancy Lenehan) recalls. “We laughed… ” Mike reminisces.
• Janet has spent her life making Andrew’s more difficult, like the time she announced to his school homeroom: “Don’t beat up my little brother; he’s very weak and has no peripheral vision.” That prompts Mom to demonstrate where Andrew gets his visual-field affliction by moving her waving hands forward and back beside her temples. And Mike to observe, apropos of very little, “My uncle had a brass eyeball. Kept it under a patch—it was all legit. Made peek-a-boo a bit traumatic.”
• Lydia’s not much of a catch, as Andrew soon finds out when he asks what she does for a living: “I do what I always dreamed of doing—I market cigarettes for a major tobacco company.”
• Bert has trouble deciphering Andrew’s gentlemanly thank-you note (“Thanks for your fried nips”). “You’ve got the handwriting of a pirate,” he complains; “It’s calligraphy,” Andrew specifies.
• Everything you need to know about what the show hopes to be is contained in Janet’s query to Andrew about which of his many high-school bullies he just met: “Johnny? Steven? Asian Steven?” Everything you need to know about what the show is finds expression in Bert’s explanation of his black-circle tattoo to Andrew: “It’s a yin-yang without the yin. It’s a yang-yang.”
• 
  

Steve: I read Donna’s review and, as I expected, it was spot-on. I don’t have a ton to add, other than that I was harsher on How To Be A Gentleman, probably because I was much more turned-off by how calculated the pilot episode is. Rather than refining the particulars of Kevin Dillon’s character, they make him a “meathead” in the most generic sense. Same goes for the wimpy Andrew, the overbearing Janet, and the kooky Mike. The pilot is much more focused on the dynamics it’s setting up between the characters than the characters themselves, which is a dangerous thing for a comedy pilot to do. The games characters play with each other in future episodes often come out naturally once the actors are comfortable in their characters’ skin and the world of the show is built out. How To Be A Gentleman tries to get ahead of itself—as Donna puts it, “sprung from a particularly unimaginative focus group”—and instead does itself a huge disservice. There’s nowhere to go because everything is so locked in.

There is one possible force of chaos present: Andrew’s lessons—the framing device for the pilot, and presumably episodes moving forward. My hope is that the show uses his pursuit of an updated set of gentleman-ly rules (the poor man’s “bro-code,” as it were) to force Andrew into uncomfortable situations that far exceed “ask out a girl he might not ask out.” If the variables on the show are going to remain constant, at least outside variables have the ability to change. But right now, How To Be A Gentleman is content taking the path of least resistance, throwing in a misplaced joke or two to spice things up. Not quite the recipe for a lasting sitcom.

source;http://origin.avclub.com/articles/how-to-be-a-gentleman,62351/

Amanda Knox: Her Life in an Italian Prison

Amanda Knox is just days away from hearing a verdict in her first appeals trial after her 2009 conviction for the murder of her flat-mate Meredith Kercher.

Knox has spent the past two years at a prison outside the university town of Perugia in a facility where she could potentially spend the rest of her life. During the closing arguments of the trial this week, prosecutors demanded that Knox's sentence be increased from 26 years to life, while her defense attorneys argued that the American girl needs to be set free immediately.

But what is life like for Knox inside an Italian prison?

In his 1914 book "Some Impressions of Italian Prisons," Gino Speranza detailed an incarceration system that was at the same time modern and antiquated.

"With notable exceptions, Italian prisons are still housed in more or less ancient buildings; not infrequently they were formerly convents, which, however remodeled and modernized, are structurally unsuited to the best forms of penitentiary construction...

"[At] the 'Stabilimento of San Gimignano'... punishment consists in reduction to bread-and-water-diet and to specially rigorous confinement... The prison has a fair hospital and school."

Knox is being held in the medieval city of Perugia in Umbria, which is not unlike the medieval town of San Gimignano, although Perugia is notably larger. Since the start of her first trial in 2008, Knox has been held in Capanne prison, which is as far from an ancient convent as they come.

The large, block-like facility was opened in 2005. A journalist visiting Knox at Capanne reported that "the other prisoners were good to her" and said that on Knox's first night, the guards stayed with the girl all night in her cell to comfort her.

Knox's cell is small, but "extremely clean," and had an en suite bathroom with a shower, a door and a sink. At one point, she shared the room with a 53-year-old American woman who had been convicted on drug charges.

Capanne also reportedly has a library and a lounge with a pool table and a ping-pong table. Some of the female inmates -- the prison is co-ed, but men and women are separated -- have children that play on playground in the facility.

"It's cold here," Knox stated shortly after her arrest and incarceration at Capanne, as winter settled in two years ago. "I try to cover myself but I am always shivering. I miss music above all and I really let go when they let me out in the courtyard, singing loudly and trying to stay in the sun as long as possible before heading back under the artificial light."

The other two people convicted in the case are housed in harsher institutions. Knox's former boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito was moved from Capanne to Terni prison near Rome, which is for violent offenders.

Rudy Guede, the Ivory Coast-born born man who was sentenced to 16 years for his involvement in the murder, is in Viterbo jail, which is also for serious criminals. Guede has been reportedly beaten up and attacked by other prisoners during recreation periods.

There are roughly 66,000 people in prison in Italy, a mere 4.3 percent of them women. Per capita, it means that 110 in 100,000 people in Italy are incarcerated, according to the International Centre for Prison Studies.

Additionally, occupancy level for prisons in Italy is at 146 percent, making them the most crowded in Western Europe and the 52nd most in the world.

Knox could know her fate as soon as Monday, and the Italian prison population could be reduced by one. In the four years since Kercher's 2007 murder, the case has proved to be one of the most confounding events in recent memory. There is no predicting the Perugia court's verdict.

But, "if there is a full acquittal, Knox would go from court to Capanne penitentiary and after two hours of signing papers, walk out of prison a free woman," writes Seattle PI.
sourcehttp://www.ibtimes.com/articles/222199/20110929/amanda-knox-latest-news.htm

Pawpaws may look like mangos

Pawpaws may look like mangos, but unlike other tropical fruits, they are native to North America.

So what the heck is a pawpaw?

Recently, I heard about a secret snack. Kayakers who paddle the waters near Washington, D.C., told me about a mango-like fruit that grows along the banks of the Potomac — a speckled and homely skin that hides a tasty treat.

A tropical-like fruit here, really? Yep. It's the only temperate member of a tropical family of trees. You can't buy the pawpaw in stores, so for years, the only way to eat them was straight from the tree.

I was intrigued. So I decided to hunt for a pawpaw myself.

D.C. nature guide Matt Cohen showed me how to find them.

We took the Billy Goat Trail on the Maryland side of the Potomac River. "Wow," was the first word out of my mouth when I tasted one we found on our hike. It's sort of mango-meets-the-banana ... with a little hint of melon.

Although you may not have heard of it, the pawpaw has quite a history. Thomas Jefferson had pawpaws at Monticello. And when he was minister to France in 1786, he had pawpaw seeds shipped over to friends there. He probably wanted to impress his friends with something exotic from America.

Lewis and Clark wrote in their journals that they were quite fond of the pawpaw. At one point during their expedition in 1806, they relied on pawpaws when other provisions ran low. And from Michigan to West Virginia, people have even named towns and lakes after the pawpaw.

But the pawpaw has only recently been commercialized. That's one reason you don't see it in the grocery store. So far, there are just a few orchards selling to farmers markets. This progress is largely thanks to the work of plant scientist Neal Peterson.

He has spent the past 35 years breeding the pawpaw to make it look and taste more like a fruit we'd buy. He has selected and grown varieties that are bigger, with more flesh.

After tasting his first wild pawpaw 35 years ago, he had a eureka moment.

"It was just a revelation," he says. Peterson thought that the pawpaw was every bit the rival of a perfect peach or apple — fruits that have had thousands of years of breeding.

Why hadn't someone done this with the pawpaw? "I could just instantly make that leap of imagination," he says.

And some three decades later, he has a lot to show for it. His pawpaws are being grown in a few orchards and sold at farmers markets.

And now it's moving beyond novelty. A food scientist at Ohio University, Rob Brannan, is interested in studying the nutrients in the pawpaw. So far, he has published one study that found the antioxidant count in the fruit to be pretty high.

"It's about the same as a cranberry" or a cherry, Brannan says.

If scientists could put a "health halo" over the pawpaw, Brannan says, it would give the fruit a commercial boost. It's happened before. Pomegranate juice, anyone?

"Yum — wonderful flavor," Joan Foster said after tasting her first pawpaw at the Olney Farm Market recently. She has been waiting a long time to try one. They're only available a few weeks out of the year — and this year's pawpaw season is just about over.

So if you're intrigued, come back again tomorrow for a few tips on where you can find pawpaw beer, pawpaw sorbet ... and pawpaw recipes.

National Coffee Day

(Via Facebook) Caribou Coffee, 7-11, Thornton's, and Krispy Kreme are all making it easier to feed your addiction by handing out free cups of joe at nationwide locations. (Note the fine print: 7/11’s freebies end at 11 a.m., and at Caribou, it’s buy one, get one for a friend free.)

Though rumored to be participating, Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks say they will not be handing out free coffee, prompting one fan to write, “I still love your coffee, and I'd still pay for it on National Coffee Day while other people moan and complain, and go to 7-11 for a [expletive] cup of free coffee.”

According to the National Coffee Association, an Ethio­pian goat herder named Kaldi was the first to realize coffee’s wonders: “It is said that he discovered coffee after noticing that his goats, upon eating berries from a certain tree, became so spirited that they did not want to sleep at night.”

Today, those berries are then harvested and processed, the beans dried, milled and exported, the coffee tasted, roasted, ground and brewed — all to get to that steaming mug in front of you.

Dimples of Venus

Back dimples are great full putting your thumbs in when holder a girl in a certain position. Their scientific name is Dimples of Venus which references the term that girls are commonly called by.

Also called butt dimples, back dimples are a visible indentation in the lower back of a female. They are symetrical and evenly placed apart on the back.

An open letter to London Weight Management | The Online Citizen

You have insulted all women, everywhere.

Never in my life, have I had such a deep, almost physical response to anything as I did last night, watching your latest commercial on television. The TVC sought to portray the story of an overweight woman’s journey – based on a client’s true story – who’s world apparently changed with her decision to undertake a London Weight Management weight loss programme.

The fact that the team who supported you in writing this story, making this TVC, and allowing it to air, got away with denigrating all women but especially any woman battling weight issues, is shocking.

That London Weight Management strongly views women in this light, and finds it acceptable to send this message out to the world is extremely troubling. It should serve as a warning sign to all women to avoid your services entirely, if this is the psychological backbone of your weight loss business.

In this TVC, you, and all who supported you to produce it, have colluded to portray women as pathetic, unworthy individuals. Losers on every level if they are overweight; winners at every level if they are slim.

This is irresponsible, vile, atrocious advertising, and in every scene you have gone ahead to make many claims. Sticking statistics in small print at the bottom of the screen does not reverse the damage.

Let me break it down for you, because no doubt as you read this, with your lawyers looking over your shoulder, it can be easily assumed you will go on to claim no responsibility.

But you wrote the story, it’s based on an apparent real life client, and your company logo is all over the ad, which means you own the rights to this advertisement.

So let’s discuss:

Scene 1: a woman with a crying baby, looking over the edge of a building.

Impression: The trivialisation of post partum depression and suicide.

Scene 2: woman being thrown out of her firm, because she doesn’t portray the right image.

Impression: That workplace bullying is acceptable, as is the objectification of women in the workplace.

Scene 3: Woman on the scales, then proceeds to have a meltdown.

Impression: The immortalisation of women as screaming, helpless, unhappy out of control banshees – because they cannot manage their weight.

Scene 4: Woman’s husband comes home, ignores his wife, they argue, he then proceeds to violently shout at her.

Impression: That verbal abuse, violence in the home and spousal control is acceptable – if you are overweight.

Scene 5: Woman faints. Lies alone in hospital.

Impression: Your entire life will decline, you will bear the brunt of no income, no love, no family support, and illness – if you are overweight.

Scene 6: Woman has an a-ha moment. The answer to your problems? A weight loss company called London Weight Management.

Impression: London Weight Management has the ability to change your life. If you lose weight that is.

Scene 7: 20 kgs or so less, the woman is happier, dresses sexier, can’t stop looking at herself in the mirror. And, she has a better relationship with her husband. Look, even her baby is happier.

Impression: As a slim woman, you can have it all. As an overweight woman you having nothing. All overweight women should aspire to this fantasy world, for the sake of their sanity, their marriage, their children. As a slim woman, you too can be loved.

It is companies like yourself that constantly prey on the insecurities of women – and men – and have done so, unchecked, for years. Coupled with the clear lack of advertising standards in this country – how else would this advertisement have aired – you continue to be allowed to send out psychologically dangerous and inappropriate messages about self esteem, weight management and femininity.

You should be thoroughly ashamed at this atrocious, shallow television commercial. It is not only the worst reflection of your business ethos and morals, whether you intended this or not, but it serves to reflect how you view women and overweight women: unworthy, unloved, unsupported, and deserving of any and all abuse as a result.

source;http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/09/an-open-letter-to-london-weight-management/

Amanda Palmer Images

Michael Jackson trial

FROM CNN WIRE STAFF: Editor’s note: Conrad Murray is charged with involuntary manslaughter in the 2009 death of pop icon Michael Jackson. Prosecutors contend that Murray’s reckless conduct in using the surgical anesthetic propofol as a sleep aid led to Jackson’s death. If convicted of involuntary manslaughter, Murray could spend four years in a California prison and lose his medical license.

[Updated at 1:29 p.m. ET] Prosecutor David Walgren said that during the course of trial jurors will hear not only that Conrad Murray “acted with gross negligence” but also that he was the “cause of Michael Jackson’s death.”

“Conrad Murray’s actions, Conrad Murray’s ommissions to act directly caused the death of Michael Jackson,” he said.

Walgren asked the jury to listen to all of the evidence during the case and return a guilty verdict.

[Updated at 1:27 p.m. ET] Prosecutor David Walgren said that after emergency personnel were called on the day Jackson died, Murray told neither medics nor emergency room doctors caring for Jackson that Murray had administered propofol.

[Updated at 1:24 p.m. ET] After giving Michael Jackson several substances including propofol in an effort to help him sleep, Dr. Conrad Murray told investigators he left him alone for about two minutes, prosecutor David Walgren told jurors in Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial. That action constitutes “medical abandonment,” Walgren alleged.

[Updated at 1:18 p.m. ET] Prosecutors are now focusing on the uses and settings for which propofol should be used.

Prosecutor David Walgren noted that propofol is an “improper treatment of insomnia.”

Walgren is now talking about the setup of the equipment – and the lack of proper equipment that are required when propofol is being used.

[Updated at 1:15 p.m. ET] CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin offered a summary of the prosecution’s theory, and how he believes the defense will counter it:

“The prosecution’s theory is pretty straightforward: He was fine when Conrad Murray started treating him; Conrad Murray only got involved in treating Michael Jackson out of enormous greed; and (Murray) was incompetent and he gave him this drug, Propofol, which under no circumstances should be given outside of a hospital setting; and thus he killed Michael Jackson,” Toobin said.

The prosecution is making a case that although Murray is a medical doctor, he wasn’t an expert on Propofol, Toobin said. He said the defense can ask a lot of questions about the prosecution’s theory:

“Who told (Murray) to use Propofol? What was the background? What drugs had Michael Jackson been using previously?” Toobin said. “It think for starters, (the defense is) going to give background on Michael Jackson’s history of drug use, including, perhaps – again, we don’t know the facts here – his use of this drug.

“What the prosecution is trying to do is narrow this case down to one single exchange of drugs between Dr. Murray and Michael Jackson in the hours that (Jackson) died. That’s all the prosecution wants this case to be about. The defense is going to want to bring in the whole story of Michael Jackson’s health, his history of drug use, what might have killed him, how he had interacted with physicians in the past.”

[Updated at 1:10 p.m. ET] Dr. Conrad Murray did not mention the drug propofol to emergency room doctors at UCLA Medical Center when asked what pop star Michael Jackson had been given, prosecutor David Walgren told jurors in Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial on Tuesday.

[Updated at 12:58 p.m. ET] Prosecutors are now talking about the phone calls Conrad Murray made on the morning that Michael Jackson was found dead.

Prosecutors say that Murray made a slew of phone calls between 10:20 and 11:51 a.m. that morning. Dr. Conrad Murray is believed to have discovered pop star Michael Jackson unconscious at about 11:56 a.m. on June 25, 2009, but he did not tell anyone to call 911 until 12:20 p.m., prosecutor David Walgren told jurors in Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial Tuesday.

During a phone call at 11:51 a.m. with a cocktail waitress that Murray regarding as his girlfriend, Murray became silent and the phone went dead, Walgren said.

“This is likely the time Conrad Murray first noticed Michael Jackson’s lifeless body,” prosecutor David Walgren said.

Walgren said that the cocktail waitress on the phone noticed that Murray stopped responding to her on the phone and then five minutes later the call went dead.

At 12:12 p.m. prosecutors said Murray called Michael Jackson’s personal assistant Michael Williams and left a message saying ““Call me right away, please. Please call me right away. Thank you.” Williams promptly called Murray back and he was told “Get here right away Mr. Jackson had a bad reaction, he had a bad reaction,” according to prosecutors.

Prosectuors noted that when Murray said Jackson had a bad reaction he had yet to call authorities. Williams, who was not close to Jackson’s home, summoned security guard Albert Alvarez to go inside the house.

When he gets inside Jackson’s room, Murray is giving CPR while Jackson lies on the bed, Walgren said.

Walgren said Murray instructed the security guard to grab a bag and Murray begins grabbing vials and a saline bag hanging from the IV stand to put inside the bag.

That bag was later found inside Jackson’s home.

[Updated at 12:54 p.m. ET] Near the start of the prosecution’s opening statements, prosecutors displayed what appeared to be image of Jackson dead, lying on a gurney, several times during a slide presentation highlighting the prosecution’s points.

At one point, a slide showed the image of Jackson’s body next to a picture of Jackson alive. Prosecutor David Walgren indicated that the second photo showed Jackson rehearsing at Los Angeles’ Staples Center on June 24, 2009 – the day before Jackson died. The photo of the body was dated June 25, 2009.

“The question became what occurred between June 24, 2009, when Michael Jackson, shown in this picture, performing at the Staples Center, singing “Earth Song,” – what happened between that time and approximately 12 hours later when Michael Jackson is dead?” Walgren said.

[Updated at 12:52 p.m. ET] Prosecutors are now talking about the days leading up to Michael Jackson’s death.

On June 19 “Michael showed up for his rehearsal and he was not in good shape, he was not in good shape at all,” prosecutor David Walgren said.

“He had chills, he was trembling … he was rambling,” Walgren added.

He went home early that evening and didn’t rehearse because of his physical condition. The next day, prosecutors said, there was a meeting called about Jackson’s health. A few days later he was able to practice in much better condition, Walgren said.

[Updated at 12:50p.m. ET] Between April 6, 2009, and the time of Michael Jackson’s death on June 25, Dr. Conrad Murray ordered enough propofol to give Jackson 1,937 milligrams a day, prosecutor David Walgren told jurors in his opening statement in Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial Tuesday.

[Updated at 12:48 p.m. ET] Prosecutors in the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad Murray, doctor to the late pop star Michael Jackson, played part of a recording of Jackson made on Murray’s iPhone on May 10, 2009. The recording appears to feature a drugged Jackson, slurring his words as he says he wants people to leave his show saying, “He’s the greatest entertainer in the world.”

The recording said:

“We have to be phenomenal. When people leave this show, when people leave my show, I want them to say, “I’ve never seen anything like this in my life.

“Go. Go. I’ve never seen nothing like this. Go. It’s amazing. He’s the greatest entertainer in the world. I’m taking that money, a million children, children’s hospital, the biggest in the world, Michael Jackson’s Children’s Hospital.”

The point of playing the recording, prosecutor David Walgren said, was to demonstrate Murray’s “knowledge of what he is doing to Michael Jackson on May 10, 2009, over a month and a half before Michael Jackson dies as a result of this very treatment.”

[Updated at 12:41 p.m. ET] Propofol, the drug that caused pop star Michael Jackson’s death, “is a wonderful drug, if used by someone who knows what they’re doing,” prosecutor David Walgren told jurors Tuesday at the start of the involuntary manslaughter trial of Dr. Conrad.

[Updated at 12:38 p.m. ET] At the time Michael Jackson died, Dr. Conrad Murray was not board-certified in any medical specialty, prosecutor David Walgren told jurors Tuesday in his opening statement in Murray’s involuntary manslaughter trial.

[Updated at 12:28 p.m. ET] Dr. Conrad Murray “repeatedly acted with gross negligence, repeatedly denied care, appropriate care, to his patient, Michael Jackson, and it was Dr. Murray’s repeated incompetent and unskilled acts that led to Michael Jackson’s death,” prosecutor David Walgren told jurors during his opening statement in Murray’s trial Tuesday.

NEWS SOURCE: ARTICLE BY CNN SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 launches

The 2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 launches next summer complete with a supercharged 6.2-liter V-8 engine developing no less than 580 horsepower and 556 pound-feet of torque.
Helping to make the most off all that power will be a myriad of electronic and mechanical aids, one of which will be an advanced launch control system.
We all know about the Nissan GT-R and its impressive launch control system, which in the latest 2012 model enables the car to accelerate from 0-60 mph in just 2.9 seconds.
However, just like the GT-R, the new ZL1 has its own extraordinary drivetrain and accompanying rapid acceleration figures.
We’ll have to wait several more months at the earliest to find out just how rapid, but for now, enjoy this video showcasing the ZL1’s launch control system in action.

Other performance specs include a liquid-to-liquid oil cooler borrowed from the Corvette ZR1, a deep-sump oil pan, rear-differential cooler, third-generation Magnetic Ride Control able to adjust the suspension settings up to 1,000 times per second, and a new Performance Traction Management setup with five different settings ranging from “Wet” to “Race”.

Demi Moore And Ashton Kutcher split!

Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher are on the verge of a split after another woman accused Kutcher of cheating on their wedding anniversary, according to reports.

6:00AM BST 29 Sep 2011Ashton Kutcher, 33, who is 15 years her junior, allegedly had a liaison with another woman after an alcohol-fuelled on Friday, according to US showbusiness website Radar Online.

Kutcher, who recently took over Charlie Sheen’s role in hit US TV series Two And A Half Men, was seen partying at a club with Miss Leal, 23, on his wedding anniversary this week.

According to US website thedirty.com Miss Leal has asked for £160,000 to tell her side of the story, adding that "Kutcher told Sara Leal that him [sic] and Demi Moore are separated and the public doesn’t know yet."

The latest alleged encounter happened on the 12th floor of the Hard Rock Hotel in San Diego, California, in the early hours of Saturday – the Hollywood couple’s sixth wedding anniversary.

She shared a quote from Greek philosopher Epictetus on September 23, writing: "When we are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger."

Kutcher brushed off the accusations, posting on Twitter: "I think Star magazine calling me a “cheater” qualifies as defamation of character. I hope my lawyer agrees."

He added: "Star magazine – you don’t get to stand behind “freedom of the press” when you are writing fiction." Kutcher’s spokesman also denied the allegation while Miss Moore tweeted ‘Excellent point my love!"

Chipper Jones had an MRI

ATLANTA -- Atlanta Braves third baseman Chipper Jones had an MRI on his ailing right knee Tuesday but was in the lineup for a potential postseason-clinching game against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Jones had the knee checked out before arriving at Turner Field. The MRI showed a buildup of fluid and bone rubbing against bone, which is what's causing all the pain.

Jones asked trainer Jeff Porter how long it would take to get over the pain and was told, "It will start feeling better around Thanksgiving."

The struggling Braves had a one-game lead in the NL wild card with two games left in the regular season. Despite a September slide that has wiped out nearly all of their once-comfortable advantage, they could clinch a second straight trip to the playoffs with a win over the Phillies and a loss by the St. Louis Cardinals, who were playing Tuesday night at Houston.

Jones has been one of the Braves' top hitters over the past month, hitting .307 (37 of 118) with eight homers and 15 RBIs in his past 33 games. He staked Atlanta to an early lead in Monday night's game with his 18th homer and later reached on a ground-rule double. But he hit into an inning-ending double play in the eighth with the potential tying runs on base.

The Braves took their third straight loss, 4-2, but remained in the wild-card lead when the Cardinals lost to Houston 5-4 in 10 innings.

But at least going against Philadelphia Roy Oswalt should ease some of the pain. The switch-hitting Jones will hit left against the right-hander, which takes some of the pressure off his knee.

"It's bruised, but he's in there," Gonzalez said. "He wants in. He doesn't want to come out of that lineup and I didn't expect him to. We'll adjust as the game goes on."

AMZN announcement today of new Kindle e-readers, and a new, 7-inch tablet

Following Amazon.com’s (AMZN) announcement today of new Kindle e-readers, and a new, 7-inch tablet, the “Kindle Fire,” a couple of analysts predict a 10-inch version will come next year, and that it might sport chips from Nvidia (NVDA), which has parts in other tablets, such as Motorola Mobility’s (MMI) “Xoom” tablet.

It would appear the 7-inch version of Fire is based on a chip from Texas Instruments (TXN), not on Nvidia’s “Tegra” mobile processor.

As expected, Kindle Fire is based on a dual-core TI OMAP processor. Assuming volume of 5-10mn units and an ASP of $10-15 for OMAP, we estimate incremental revenue opportunity of roughly $100mn or less than 1% of TI’s sales. That said, the low price point and configuration could help establish Kindle Fire as a credible device at the low end of the Android tablet market. Furthermore, given strong momentum of the Apple iPad, this introduction could be perceived as potentially squeezing other Android tablets such as the Samsung Galaxy, Motorola Xoom, and RIM Playbook. We believe this scenario would be negative for Nvidia, which has a 70% share of the Android tablets, and is forecasting tablet revenue to almost double to $400-500mn in FY13 (Jan). That said, a larger form factor by Amazon could be introduced next year and may include an Nvidia Tegra processor.

We believe there will be a significant audience for the product as Amazon can essentially upsell its existing customer base into a richly featured color model in a 7 inch form factor that is familiar, albeit with a color screen and apps/media. We do believe; however, that Amazon will follow up the Kindle Fire early next year with a 10 inch offering, which we expect to be powered by Nvidia. It’s unclear whether or not the 7 inch Kindle Fire will utilize Nvidia, but we still believe it’s possible as it makes sense to us to utilize single chip architecture across the platform. If it’s not Nvidia, Texas Instruments is thought to be the chip of choice.

Ite College East have signed

SINGAPORE : The People's Association's (PA) and the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) have signed an expanded agreement to deepen their partnership on community-focused programmes.

The pact, which was first inked in 2007 between the PA Youth Movement (PAYM) and ITE College Central, now covers the entire ITE community - ITE College Central, ITE College East and ITE College West.

This collaboration also seeks to nurture the talents of ITE students, develop their character and leadership capabilities and achieve community bonding and social cohesion.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signing ceremony was held in conjunction with Radin Mas constituency's "Lantern Festival cum Community Bonding Day" on Friday and was officiated by Yam Ah Mee, chief executive director of PA, and Bruce Poh, director and chief executive officer of ITE.

"PA values the collaboration with ITE and the signing of the new MOU brings our partnership to a higher level. Through meaningful community-focused programmes, we aim to reach out to more youths, develop their personal, leadership and lifeskills capabilities and encourage them to play an active role in bonding and connecting with the local community," said Chia Tze Yee, group director (Engagement Programmes Cluster) of PA.

"ITE is pleased that the MOU is an enhancement of the long-term and positive partnership we have had with PA. The collaboration will see both organisations work synergistically to leverage on the strengths of one another, and on initiatives that will develop our youths through real-work and authentic learning opportunities, while achieving community bonding and social cohesion," said Tan Seng Hua, principal of ITE College Central.

Hj Ridzwan Dzafir has been a dedicated community leader-Mr Lee

President Tony Tan Keng Yam, who has known Haji Ridzwan for more than 30 years, said he had "served Singapore with distinction in numerous public positions in his long career".

Dr Tan added: "As the President of the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (MUIS) from 1986 to 1990, he helped to propel MUIS into a new era."

He was instrumental in transforming MUIS into a corporate entity and leading Singaporean Muslims towards excellence in all fields, Dr Tan said.

President Tan said: "Singapore has lost a faithful and dedicated servant, and the Malay/Muslim community an illustrious son," adding he and Mrs Tan have lost a dear friend.

In his letter, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said as the first chief executive officer of Mendaki, "Haji Ridzwan's efforts to uplift the Malay community through education laid the foundation for Mendaki's important role today".

"Usually the important decisions were made late at night, and Ridzwan was always running around, keeping track of the information -- who was taking what position, and always ahead of the developments so that we could develop our own position.

As director-general of TDB (now IE Singapore), he helped expand Singapore's trade links and companies to venture into new markets overseas, said the prime minister.

Mr Lee said when he was the minister for trade and industry, he relied on Haji Ridzwan's "wide experience and sound advice on trade matters, especially during the GATT (now WTO) Uruguay Round negotiations".

"Hj Ridzwan has been a dedicated community leader, a distinguished public servant and a humble and dependable colleague and friend. His passing is a sad loss to all of us," added Mr Lee.

Meanwhile, Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said in a condolence letter he trusted Haji Ridzwan as a person and his judgement.

Mr Goh added Haji Ridzwan devoted all his adult life to serving Singapore and the Malay/Muslim community, which he did tirelessly and with distinction.

Speaking to reporters after paying his last respects at Haji Ridzwan's home, Mr Lim said Haji Ridzwan's association with the labour movement went as far back in the 1970s.

At a time when there was rife profiteering during the oil crisis in the 1970s, Haji Ridzwan helped negotiate for the supply of rice into Singapore.

MUIS president Alami Musa said under Haji Ridzwan's leadership as MUIS president, the Muslim community in Singapore became more receptive of MUIS' position as the supreme religious authority here.

"This improved greatly the level of professionalism in the administration of MUIS' haj services, zakat collection and distribution, and the development of wakaf - or endowment - assets, among others."

MUIS conferred the 30th Anniversary Award (Individual) in 1998 to Haji Ridzwan for his significant role in enhancing the image of Islam and the Malay/Muslim community.

Echoing praises of Haji Ridzwan, Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs Yaacob Ibrahim said Haji Ridzwan has never wavered from giving his opinions.

"So, he's always thinking about the community. It's very important, it means that there are people concerned and they want to do something. "

HK Typhoon-A typhoon swept past Hong Kong

HONG KONG (Reuters) - A typhoon swept past Hong Kong on Thursday, closing markets, schools and most businesses in one of Asia's most important financial centres.

Government offices and schools are expected to remain closed for the rest of the day as Typhoon Nesat makes its way past Hong Kong en route to south China, after passing through the Philippines where it left at least 35 dead and 45 missing.

The Hong Kong Observatory's No.8 typhoon warning signal will remain in effect for most of the day, it said on its website. That means the city's financial markets will continue to be closed for the afternoon session.

Hong Kong has a series of different typhoon warnings. Schools, businesses and government services stop when any No.8 or above typhoon warning is hoisted.

As of 0245 GMT, Nesat was centred about 350 kilometres (220 miles) southwest of Hong Kong, which saw winds of up to 121 kilometres per hour. The tropical cyclone on Tuesday hit the Philippines, where it also caused an estimated 100.3 million pesos ($2.3 million) in damage to agriculture.

No deaths were reported in Hong Kong, but local television showed footage of at least two people who were hospitalised after being hit by falling debris as a result of strong winds.

A ship weighing 1,677 deadweight tonnes ran aground in the early hours of Thursday morning, but there were no injuries, the Hong Kong Marine Department said.

Usually crowded streets were devoid of people as its iconic tram system stopped operations and the subway and bus systems cut trips. Trees fallen by strong winds blocked some roads, while taxis still plying the roads asked for extra fare.

Hong Kong's dominant airline Cathay Pacific said all its flights operating to and from the city were operating as normal. The Hong Kong International Airport's website showed at least 40 departing flights were delayed.

Ferry terminals that link Hong Kong to Macau, south China and outlying islands were also closed, the territory's government said in a statement.

Local television footage showed angry tourists gathered at the Hong Kong-Macau ferry terminal, with some waiting in despair while others crowded around ticket counters asking for their money back.

Nea Singapore not detected the presence of any toxic gases

SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) said it has not detected the presence of any toxic gases on the mainland as a result of the fire at the Shell Refinery in Pulau Bukom.

And the smell in the air which many encountered on Thursday morning was due to smoke haze from the fires in South Sumatra, brought over by prevailing wind conditions.

NEA said based on the prevailing wind conditions, slight haze can be expected over the next one to two days if the fires over southern Sumatra persist.

Hongkong Typhoon-stock and derivatives markets will be shut

HONG KONG—Hong Kong's stock and derivatives markets will be shut all of Thursday as strong winds and heavy rain from Typhoon Nesat are keeping most businesses and public transport services in the city closed.

The Hong Kong Observatory said it expects to keep the Signal No. 8 Tropical Cyclone Warning in place for much today's daylight hours, even as the storm slowly moves away from the city.

With a Signal No. 8 or above, all markets, offices, schools and nonessential government departments close. Hong Kong's stock and derivatives markets were already shut for the morning session.

The observatory earlier in the morning issued the Signal No. 8 warning as Typhoon Nesat approached the city. At 0400 GMT, the typhoon was further from the city, centered about 370 kilometers southwest of Hong Kong compared with 350 kilometers an hour earlier.

Under Hong Kong stock-exchange arrangements, if a Signal No. 8 remains in place after 0400 GMT, trading will be suspended for the entire day.

With markets shut on the day September futures expire—today is the second-to-last trading day for the month—the Hong Kong exchange said final settlement prices for index futures and futures contracts will be calculated using the average of the index and relevant stock price quotations in the market's next trading day instead.

Typhoon Nesat, which earlier ravaged parts of the Philippines, has so far brought little damage to Hong Kong. Local media reported only a few cases of trees being brought down and collapsed scaffolding at several construction sites.

Hong Kong's Airport Authority said it has so far recorded 83 delayed flights and eight cancellations, while two incoming flights were diverted as a result of bad weather. Hong Kong's main airline, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.and its China-focused unit, Hong Kong Dragon Airlines Ltd., said their flight operations remain normal.

The observatory issued the storm signal 3 warning Tuesday. There are five levels in the observatory's typhoon warning scale: signal one, three, eight, nine, and ten.

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Vietnam signaled it is determined to push ahead in building a fleet of nuclear power stations, with the signing of a deal for a Japanese-run feasibility study.

Former Merkel allies are set to vote against increasing the European bailout fund, underscoring a shift among some Germans about their role in Europe.

The Obama administration asked the Supreme Court to decide the fate of its health-care overhaul, setting the stage for arguments at the high court and a probable ruling in the thick of the 2012 presidential campaign.

A tussle between Toyota and Germany's Merck over disruption to pigment supplies from Japan's earthquake shows how business relationships can remain strained even now that production is back to normal.

Government officials failed to distribute to thousands of people pills that could have minimized radiation risks from the March nuclear accident, government documents show.

Amanda Palmer says there was "a wonderful chicken-and-egg situation"

Amanda Palmer has had a multitude of gigs over the years: singer, songwriter, punk cabaret "piano-slayer," author and living statue, among them.

Dark Horse ComicsMusician Amanda Palmer dives in as a graphic novelist with the book Evelyn Evelyn, which she co-wrote with Jason Webley.

Dark Horse ComicsMusician Amanda Palmer dives in as a graphic novelist with the book Evelyn Evelyn, which she co-wrote with Jason Webley.

Palmer is co-writer with fellow musician Jason Webley on Evelyn Evelyn, a hardcover book from Dark Horse Comics out in comic shops Wednesday and available at bookstores and Amazon Oct. 4. Gorgeously illustrated by Cynthia von Buhler, the graphic novel chronicles the story of conjoined twin sisters Eva and Lynn Neville.

Their life has been a series of unfortunate events, beginning with their birth in an Airstream trailer in Kansas on Sept. 11, 1985, that is followed by the quick deaths of both parents. Together, the orphans never waver in trying to find a better life, no matter if they somehow happen upon a production house of ill repute or lose their best friends — a pair of conjoined twin elephants who succumb to death on Sept. 11, 2001.

It's a touching artistic perspective on that fateful day, and it's symbolic of how the girls "keep the faith" in a way with whatever struggles they come across.

"They have persevered in the face of so much horror, these two girls, but there's a simple beauty in how they always have each other, for what that's worth," Palmer explains. "It's deep food for thought, how these two souls work almost completely in tandem. In a way, they represent the human paradox, our biggest fear and greatest wish: to be completely known to an Other."

Later, the Neville sisters found success as the musical duo Evelyn Evelyn, based in Walla Walla, Wash. The siblings — whose musical influences include Joy Division, the Andrews Sisters and Jesus Christ Superstar— actually have released two albums and toured the world. (In concert, they also happen to look a lot like their producers, Palmer and Webley. It's almost like they're the same people.)

Palmer says there was "a wonderful chicken-and-egg situation" with the story of the twins' self-titled album last year and the book of the same name. "The music on the record is so visual and theatrical, and the book screams for a soundtrack."

At first glance, the graphic novel almost seems like a children's book, until one sees the subject matter and one bloody chainsaw. That fa?ade was intentional, though, to symbolize the twins' own wide-eyed innocence amid the tragedy around them.

"I do think children's books can still be children's books and incredibly dark and morose. I mean, look at the Grimm brothers' fairy tales or, um, Neil Gaiman's stuff," says Palmer, who married comics icon Gaiman at the beginning of this year.

"Kids love dark twisted stuff — in fact, I think you could argue that they need it. I would simply advise that parents reading this book to their children not explain some of the more adult in-jokes."

Gaiman contributes an afterword to Evelyn Evelyn, and he mentions how it was Webley who introduced him to his future wife four years ago through e-mail. Webley and Palmer met more "poetically," she says: He was playing accordion during the Adelaide Fringe festival in Australia in 2000, and she was performing as the living statue called "The Eight Foot Bride" down the street.

Aside from the fact that it needs to both entertain and hold an audience's attention, Palmer didn't find much similarity between writing a graphic novel and performing as a musician or a living statue.

"The trickiest thing — and I think Jason and Cynthia deserve the lion's share of the credit — was to keep the visual perspective on the story constantly shifting so the images didn't get flat or repetitive," she says.

A native of Massachusetts, Palmer has been a fan of comics since she was a teenager discovering Julie Doucet's Dirty Plotte series for the first time.

"I'd never seen a woman be so brutally honest and simultaneously funny about sex and life," Palmer says. "I'm also a big fan of Hans Rickheit, one of the underappreciated geniuses of the comic world.

"And that Neil Gaiman guy, his stuff's not too bad. Honestly, I'm reading Sandman slowly and enjoying it immensely." (Her favorite so far is the fifth collection, A Game of You.)

Seeing the finished graphic novel was special for her, but it still paled in comparison to opening the live record A is for Accident by the Dresden Dolls, her punk cabaret duo with Brian Viglione in 2003.

"Getting that first Dresden Dolls CD from the printer was something I'd waited for for 25 years," she says. "This one just doesn't match up in the anticipation category. But it was still incredible to sit there with Jason and look at it and be able to say: 'This exists because we made it!'"

Palmer and Webley recently took the twins to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August, but there's no plan for another Evelyn Evelyn album or tour. Palmer says Webley is about to take a hiatus from the road, and she's gearing up to record a new solo record. Plus, she and Gaiman are doing their own tour in November.

"They stayed at home in Walla Walla, actually. They don't go out much," Palmer says. "Jason and I had an ice cream cake delivered to their house with a special Twix bar crumble topping. They were very pleased."