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[C. Breezy]

Dad with 5 kids, no job: 'Better to end our lives'

Further details have emerged about the unemployed Los Angeles father who killed his family of six before turning the gun on himself. In a letter faxed to a local television station before his suicide, Ervin Antonio Lupoe told how he and his wife had both lost their jobs at the same medical center.
Full Story :

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[C. Breezy]

Serena to meet Safina in Australian Open final

Serena Williams is bidding for her 10th grand slam triumph in the final of the Australian Open.


Second seed Williams beat another Russian, in-form Elena Dementieva, 6-3, 6-4 in the first semi-final on the Rod Laver Arena on Thursday, with Safina seeing off compatriot Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 7-6 to reach her second grand slam final.
The stakes will be high in the final, with Safina, the sister of Marat Safin, set to emulate her brother and claim the world number one status if she can beat Williams.
But Serena has other ideas and is clearly intent on reaching double figures for grand slam triumphs.
"Like, I'm sure that people have 10-plus Grand Slams get special letters. I'll be part of a really elite club," she was quoted on the official tournament Web site

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Dementieva, who went into the semi-final off the back of two titles and unbeaten in 2009, was no match for her American opponent, who showed her best form of the tournament when it really mattered.
A single break of service was enough for Williams to take the opening set, before a topsy-turvy second.
Fourth seed Dementieva broke early but back came Williams with a break of her own to level. Helped by nervy double faults, Williams moved a break ahead herself, only for her opponent to level with determined play.






But another service game punctuated by a double fault saw Dementieva broken on her own delivery again to allow Williams to serve out for victory.
"I played a lot of matches. I won all of them. And I feel like today I was not quick enough. I was not maybe aggressive enough against her. But I have no regrets. I had just a great time here, " Dementieva said.






Later Safina did just enough in a scrappy second semi-final to beat compatriot Zvonareva in straight sets.
The world number three had put out crowd favorite Jelena Dokic in the quarter-final and drew on that experience to take an early 2-0 lead.
Zvonerava, in her first grand slam semi-final, broke back but lost her service again to love in the seventh game as Safina went on to take the opener.
The second set proved even closer with Zvonareva breaking for the first time to lead 3-2 only to throw away the advantage in the next game.
The seventh seed pulled ahead again to serve for the second set at 6-5, but was broken again by Safina who proceeded to take the tiebreak and claim her place in the final.
Williams will start as marginal favorite but is taking nothing for granted.
"This is definitely not over. I have to play a really tough opponent who wants to win, you know. It will be their first Grand Slam," said the American. "That's super exciting. Who doesn't want that? So I'm already focused," she said.

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[unartig]

Manchester City 2-1 Newcastle

by MATTHEW NASH - Thursday, January 29, 2009

Robinho impressed for City last night

Craig Bellamy scored his first goal for Manchester City as Mark Hughes' side secured a third Premier League home win on the spin to plunge Newcastle closer to the drop zone
However, all eyes were on Robinho at kick-off as he was a surprise starter after being questioned by police earlier in the day in relation to a serious s.e.x.ual assault
Boss Mark Hughes confirmed he had a brief chat with the Brazilian to establish his wellbeing but after that was in little doubt that it was the right decision to pick him

'I had no qualms really,' said Hughes. 'He was fully focused and looking ahead to the game.
'Mentally he was in the right place, he was concentrating on the job in hand and it was never any real doubt for me that he should play.
'The good thing was he played an intelligent ball to release Shaun Wright-Phillips for our first goal.
'The icing on the cake was Bellamy's performance.'
Bellamy scored on 77 minutes to add to Shaun Wright-Phillips' earlier strike before Andy Carroll pulled one back for the visitors, who saw Michael Owen limp off early on.
City, who also gave a debut to Nigel de Jong, started brightly and were ahead on 17 minutes when Wright-Phillips fired the ball under Magpies keeper Steve Harper, in for the injured Shay Given who has been linked with a move to City.
Bellamy made it two with a shot from outside the area after being picked out by Pablo Zabaleta before Newcastle ensured the hosts had a nervy last nine minutes when he fired the ball home from six yards

[unartig]

Thursday, January 29, 2009


Beckham celebrates with Kaka after scoring

David Beckham hopes an abductor injury which cut short his most impressive performance so far for AC Milan last night does not turn out to be serious
The England midfielder asked to be replaced in the 71st minute of his side's 1-1 draw with Genoa after scoring the opener with a stunning free-kick in the first half, but is still confident of being fit to face Lazio on Sunday.
'It's the abductor. We'll have to see how it is tomorrow,' he said

'I felt it before the game and then again just before half-time. I got to 20 minutes in in the second half and I felt it a little bit more.
'It's painful, but hopefully I will be fit for the game at the weekend.'
Under the watchful eye of England coach Fabio Capello, Beckham scored his second Milan goal with an angled free-kick in the 33rd minute, which endeared him even more to the Rossoneri fans.
That goal had looked destined to win the game for Milan, but Diego Milito's late equaliser ensured Genoa took a share of the spoils.
However, he claimed the appearance of Capello at the San Siro had not influenced his performance.
'I haven't spoken to him, but I know he was at the game because I read it in the papers,' he said.
'I think I was more concentrating on playing the game and playing well for the team.
'The most important thing is that I concentrate on my game here and my fitness and then if I get into the England squad, then great.
'Everybody knows how much playing for my country means to me.'
By dropping two points against Genoa, Milan lost further ground on league leaders and city rivals Inter Milan.
They now trail Inter by eight points and Juventus by two, but Beckham insists there is still all to play for in Serie A
.'I enjoyed the game, but I am disappointed we did not win the game,' he added
.'With Juventus losing, the points would have been really good tonight. But it's not over yet
'When I was in Manchester, we were 15 points behind but we came back and won the championship so anything is possible
.'We have got to start winning games and put pressure on Inter and Juventus
'There are still some very big games coming up

[unartig]

Mickey Rourke flamed out. Big time. But after almost two decades in the woods, he looks poised to make a comeback, thanks to his Oscar-nominated, flat-out brilliant performance in Darren Aronofsky's "the Wrestler

Rourke's problem was never lack of talent. After his breakout role in "Body Heat," Rourke delivered a string of soulful leading performances in the '80s -- "Diner," "Rumble Fish," and "The Pope of Greenwich Village" -- that floored the critics. He had an aura of both menace and vulnerability that had audiences comparing him to Marlon Brando. As legendary critic Pauline Kael wrote, "'He has an edge and a magnetism and a pure, sweet smile that surprises you."

Rourke's problem was one of temperament. He was raised in a house with a violent, abusive stepfather. Rourke channeled that pain and aggression into his first love -- boxing -- before the doctors sidelined him after a particularly nasty concussion. Later, as his acting career took off, he developed a reputation for being "difficult." He got into brawls. He partied too hard. He burned bridges with studio heads, and infuriated directors. He developed a knack for rejecting roles in soon-to-be classic movies: Nick Nolte's part in "48 Hours," Tom Cruise's part in "Rain Man," Eliot Ness in "The Untouchables," Christopher Lambert's part in "Highlander" and Bruce Willis' part in "Pulp Fiction." Instead, he chose to star in increasingly sleazy fare like "9 1/2 Weeks," "Angel Heart," and "Wild Orchid."
Rourke, in the eyes of the industry, went from being an up-and-coming silver-screen rebel to a dissolute deviant. His performances hollowed out and became increasingly vacant. In numerous interviews, he admitted that at this period in his life his self-respect was hitting the skids. And that was before he starred in that dignity-sapping Razzie favorite "Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man."
Not long after that film flopped, he retreated back to the ring. And as it turned out, Rourke wasn't a bad boxer. He ended his career undefeated: six wins -- half from KOs -- and two draws. Yet his time as a pugilist exacted a toll. He suffered neurological damage and all those punches to the face destroyed his matinee-idol good looks. He needed five reconstructive operations on his nose. Not long afterwards, his disastrous marriage to "Wild Orchid" co-star Carrie Otis fell apart after she filed spousal abuse charges against him (they were later dropped). He was scraping by acting in dreck like Dennis Rodman vehicle "Double Team," while living beyond his means. When it all eventually came crashing down, Rourke hit bottom. And he blamed only himself:
"I brought [it] upon myself. I lost everything, the wife, the house, my friends, my name in the business," he told the British newspaper [ برای مشاهده لینک ، با نام کاربری خود وارد شوید یا ثبت نام کنید ] . "I was paying $500 a month for an apartment with my dogs. Nobody really knew how broke I was. A friend used to give me a couple of hundred of dollars a month to buy something to eat. And I'd be calling up my ex-wife and crying like a baby and trying to get her back. I was desperate. And I was all alone. And this went on for years, for years."
Rourke brought all that suffering and anguish to his role as a spandex-clad has-been Randy the Ram in "The Wrestler." His performance is so emotionally raw that Rourke claims that he hasn't actually managed to watch the film all the way through. It's simply too painful. The parallels between his character and his life too obvious.
Rourke spent the late '90s and the beginning of the '00s struggling to climb out the hole he dug himself. He made bit parts memorable in movies like "The Rainmaker," "Buffalo '66," and Sean Penn's "The Pledge." But his really career started showing signs of life with his turn as Marv, a brutishly strong, sociopathic good guy in Robert Rodriquez's "Sin City." The only problem was that he was under piles of latex makeup; no one recognized him.
After all the buzz with "The Wrestler," however, his career looks back on track. He's already been tapped for a part in Sly Stallone's upcoming "The Expendables" and he's in discussions with Marvel over playing the villain in "Iron Man 2."
Thanks to a decade and a half of psychotherapy, and the support of his aging Chihuahua, Loki, Rourke claims he's coming to terms with his personal demons. He has no plans to backslide like his character Randy. "Never. Not as hard as I've worked to change. No. I've been to hell, I'm not going back there," he told The Guardian.
Of course, Rourke is still prone to tabloid-worthy antics. He was spotted tongue-wrestling his on-screen daughter Evan Rachel Woods during a SAG award after-party (a charge she publically denied today). He was also reportedly set to jump into the ring at Wrestlemania and square off against Chris Jericho, before his management stepped in and nixed the idea.
So will Rourke get Oscar redemption or will he go down against Sean Penn or Brad Pitt? And will this comeback be the one that finally sticks? Tell us what you think below.

[M O B I N]

A bus carrying Chinese tourists has crashed on a highway in the US state of Arizona, killing at least seven people, US officials say.

They say at least nine people were injured - some seriously - when the bus overturned close to the Hoover Dam.

The Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) said the injured had been transported to hospital by air and ground ambulances.

Local TV showed images of the tour bus lying on its side in the road.

DPS officials say the crash occurred at about 1600 local time (2300 GMT) on Friday as the bus travelled on Highway 93 - the main route between the cities of Phoenix and Las Vegas.

The vehicle veered left and then right across the road, before rolling at least once and finally stopping, DPS's Dean Nyhart said at a news conference in Phoenix.

He said up to 20 people could have been on the bus, as investigators were still trying to identify the victims.

Mr Nyhart said the passengers were Chinese nationals who had flown from Shanghai to San Francisco.

The cause of the crash is unclear

[C. Breezy]

Over 124,000 Lose Jobs In Japan


he number of nonregular workers who have lost or are expected to lose their jobs in the October to March period amid the economic downturn stood at 124,802 as of Monday, according to a Health, Labour and Welfare Ministry survey released Friday.

The figure is about 1.5 times higher than the 85,012 nonregular workers listed in the previous survey as of Dec. 19.

Those who managed to find new jobs accounted for about 10 per cent of about 30,000 who were tracked down by companies concerned.

The number of people losing jobs continues to increase even after the government hammered out measures to secure employment by providing subsidies to companies and via other means. Calls for expanded job measures and their early implementation likely will grow, observers said.

The ministry conducted the survey through its local labor bureaus and Hello Work employment service centers by interviewing company representatives. The surveyed cases include those in which workers lost their jobs in the middle of their contract periods and those in which contracts were not renewed at completion.

Of the 124,800 listed in the survey, 85,743, or 68.7 per cent, were dispatch workers while 23,247, or 18.6 per cent, were seasonal and other contract workers. Subcontracted workers stood at 10,456, accounting for 8.4 per cent.

Since the survey did not cover all companies in the nation, the actual number likely is higher. By prefecture, Aichi led with 20,113; followed by Nagano at 6,436; Fukushima at 4,911; Kanagawa at 4,792; and Shizuoka at 4,583.

Those who found new jobs stood at 3,125, or 10.2 per cent, of the 30,645 who were tracked down by companies concerned. Those who lost their housing totaled 2,675, or 5.8 per cent of the 45,818 who were monitored.

By month, the number of nonregular workers who lost their jobs in October stood at 5,159, jumping to 14,312 in November and 42,421 in December. The figure for January, which includes those who are due to lose their jobs, stands at 24,263. The numbers expected to lose their jobs in February stood at 8,555 and 9,480 for March. In addition, there were about 20,000 job-losers for whom the timing of when they lost their jobs could not be determined.

With a sizable number of nonregular workers seeing their contracts ending in March, the end of this fiscal year, industry groups of temporary workers agencies and subcontract companies released their estimates Tuesday that 400,000 workers would lose their jobs by March.

Companies are required to give contract workers at least 30 days' advance notice that the contracts will not be renewed. The ministry's latest survey might not have included workers whose contracts are due to run out in March as they had yet to receive company notification when the survey was conducted.


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[C. Breezy]

Inexpensive ‘exotic’ handbags

f it’s true that mid-market brands are the first to take a beating in this recession, the Italian leathergoods house Furla is certainly not showing any evidence of that.

The palette of the spring collection alone is as vivid and bright as the company’s optimism.

“We haven’t felt it as much as Japan,” says Adrien Hiver, the young Hong Kong-based Frenchman who is area manager of Furla. “We’re doing okay.”

In the Philippines, Furla is still strong, according to April Grace Reyes, the merchandise manager of the brand. Stores Specialists Inc is the exclusive local distributor.

“Especially now, since women are shopping locally. Another come-on is the price point. It’s nearly the same as Hong Kong prices.”

Furla is trying to update and increase its profile by coming up with collections that appeal to fashionable consumers at a fraction of the cost of luxury brands.

And is that an ostrich leather purse on the shelf?

It’s leather all right, Hiver says of the geranium-red handbag (it also comes in china-blue and cream shades), but not ostrich skin, as that would cost an arm.

But for a price that’s in the neighbourhood of 45,000 pesos (US$950), a woman can have the next best thing with this stamped calfskin leather. The cowhide undergoes a technical process that duplicates the distinct surface nubs of the real bird hide.

Printing calfskin to mimic exotic skins like ostrich and reptile is Furla’s way of giving an alternative to women with modest budgets. (Here, Reyes says Furla generally appeals to career women.) Hiver hastens to add that all the company’s leathergoods—at least 95 per cent of the business—are still made in Italy.

“We’re not like Coach,” he says of its American competitor. “All their leathergoods are made in China.” Only other items, like the resin jewelry, are outsourced, he says.

Of course, efforts like this have made the brand increase its prices by around 10 per cent, says Hiver, though it’s a small price to pay for true Italian quality.

For this season, Furla also experiments with some lightweight materials for its casual styles, like the “rubberised” linen, which is resin-coated and gives off an iridescent effect. The creams, coffees and blacks—staples in any collection—are punctuated by deep plums, emeralds, ceruleans, reds. The shapes are rounded and largely unstructured. Most have high-gloss finishes.



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[M O B I N]

Baby Born In Bay Area With 12 Functioning Fingers, 12 Toes


DALY CITY, Calif. -- A Daly City couple is beaming after becoming the proud parents of a healthy but incredibly rare baby boy this month.

Baby Kamani Hubbard has six-fully formed and functional fingers and toes on his hands and feet. It's called “polydactyly” -- extra digits -- not an uncommon genetic trait, but Bay Area doctors say they've never seen a case so remarkable.

Born at San Francisco's Saint Luke's Hospital three weeks ago, Hubbarb seemed so perfect at birth no one noticed.

“Nurses and doctors, looked so normal they couldn't tell, they told me he was six pounds in good health, that was all they said,” said Miryoki Gross, Hubbard’s mother.

But his dad Kris Hubbard noticed this spectacularly rare case of polydactyly: 6-perfect fingers on each hand and 6-perfect toes on each foot, which went well beyond a general trait that runs in his family.

“Some family member have had six fingers, not completely developed. But not the toes,” said Kris Hubbard, 34 and a postal worker.

In fact Kris Hubbard himself had nubs of sixth fingers removed as a child as these non-functional digits routinely are.

But Hubbards case is so vanishingly rare according to doctors, and because the extra digits are functional, it's not a deformity to be discarded.

“It's merely an interesting and beautiful variation rather than a worrisome thing,” said Dr. Michael Treece and St. Luke's Hospital Pediatrician. “I would be tempted to leave those fingers in place. I realize children would tease each other over the slightest things, and having extra digits on each hand is more than slight. But imagine what sort of a pianist a 12-fingered person would be imagine what sort of a flamenco guitarist, if nothing else think of their typing skills.”

Kamani's mother says she hasn't had time to absorb this; her baby's specialness didn't even show up on prenatal ultrasounds.

“ I heard nothing before I gave birth so I'm still in shock, kinda,” said Gross.

“I just want him to see what greatness will be in store for him,” said Kris Hubbard.

The Florida Marlins’s pitcher Antonio Alfonseca, blues guitarist Hound Dog Taylor and several remarkable figures in history have had polydactyly.

This little guy may, at the very least, help others grasp the importance of embracing difference.

[M O B I N]

Obama half-brother on drug charge




The Kenyan half-brother of President Barack Obama has been arrested for alleged marijuana possession.

George Obama was arrested in Nairobi with one joint of marijuana, police chief Joshua Omokulongolo said.

"He is not a drug peddler. But it is illegal, it is a banned substance," he said. Mr Obama has denied the allegations.

The US president and George Obama share the same father, but are thought to have only met each other briefly.

George Obama, who is in his 20s, is due in court on Monday.

"They took me from my home," George Obama told reporters in Nairobi from his jail cell. " I don't know why they are charging me."