assassinated

Second Afghan peace broker assassinated

Gunmen killed a senior member of Afghanistan's High Peace Council Sunday morning, in yet another signal that some elements within the insurgency are against talks.

By Tom A. Peter, Correspondent / May 13, 2012

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

In yet another blow to the Afghan peace process, gunmen assassinated a senior member of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council on Sunday morning. The attackers reportedly pulled up next to Maulvi Arsala Rahmani while he was stuck in Kabul’s rush hour traffic and opened fire killing the peace broker.

The murder of Mr. Rahmani comes less than a year after insurgents managed to kill the then head of the High Peace Council, Burhanuddin Rabbani, in his own home using a suicide bomber disguised as a Taliban messenger.

Negotiating a settlement with the insurgency has long been seen by the US and NATO as the best way to

Carroll Shelby

Carroll Shelby dies at 89; cult classic car designer

He retired from racing and built the Cobra, which married Ford V-8 engines with a lightweight British chassis. He later worked with Ford on the Mustang.

By Shav Glick and Jerry Hirsch, Special to The Times

May 12, 2012

Carroll Shelby, the charismatic Texan who parlayed a short-lived racing career into a specialized business building high-performance, street-legal cars, died Thursday. He was 89.

Shelby died at Baylor Hospital in Dallas, according to an announcement by his company, Carroll Shelby Licensing. A cause was not disclosed.

He led a colorful, outsized life that touched virtually every corner of the automotive world, said Leslie Kendall, curator of the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles.

"He was the only individual to influence the designs of all three major American automakers. Everything he touched became legendary," Kendall said. "Even recently he was working on an experimental engine."

Time Magazine

Time Magazine breast-feeding cover: Its art historical origins, and what makes the image so sensational

5/12/2012

By Maura Judkis

Time Magazine’s sensational cover may have made a few subscribers squirm — and it’s ignited a fervent discussion about attachment parenting and breast-feeding. Beyond that, photographer Martin Schoeller’s image of 26-year-old mom Jamie Lynne Grumet breast-feeding her three-year-old son has inspired conversations about what makes a good cover, and what pushes the boundaries of taste.

Schoeller said in Time’s “Behind the Cover” article that he looked to religious imagery of the Madonna and Child for inspiration in creating this provocative contemporary image.

Pushing the boundaries is what makes a cover great, according to the Post’s visuals editor, David Griffin. He’s guided National Geographic and U.S. News & World Report in their cover designs previously, and was intrigued by Time’s arresting image.

“[A good cover] should always be what contemporary social norms can barely handle,” Griffin said. “My feeling is, you want to produce enough covers each year that people will remember you as a publication. When they look to renew, you risk the chance that they will forget about you.”

Vince Young

Vince Young signs with Bills, but not as starter

Associated Press

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Bills general manager Buddy Nix had no difficulty assessing Vince Young's attributes after agreeing to a one-year contract with the free-agent quarterback Friday.

Strong arm. Great mobility. And then there's his winning record as an NFL starter.

When it came to projecting Young's role with the Bills, Nix offered no guarantees except to say the starting job's already taken by Ryan Fitzpatrick, leaving Young competing for a backup job.

"We're looking always to try to improve our team," Nix said. "It's a competition for the backup quarterback job and not the starter. ... He knows it. That's the way it is."

Weekend book

Weekend book pick: John Irving's 'In One Person'

5/12/2012

By USA TODAY

What should you read this weekend? USA TODAY's picks for book lovers include

In One Person
By John Irving; Simon & Schuster, 425 pp., $28; fiction

Ever since that car coasted up the driveway with the lights out in The World According to Garp, you could craft an epilogue to the Kinsey Report with all the unusual impulses, desires and peculiarities that John Irving has tenderly humanized.

• MORE: Last weekend's book picks

In One Person is a plea for acceptance. Novelist Billy Abbott, the bisexual narrator, grows up in

Greek exit not fatal for euro zone ...

UPDATE 1-Greek exit not fatal for euro zone - ECB's Honohan

5/12/2012Reuters

* Greek euro exit could be managed technically-ECB's Honohan

* Would be blow to euro zone, not necessarily fatal

* EU's Rehn says Europe loans to Greece generous

TALLINN, May 12 (Reuters) - A Greek exit from the euro zone would damage confidence in the single currency bloc but not necessarily be fatal, Irish central bank chief and European Central Bank policymaker Patrick Honohan said on Saturday.

Facebook Co-Founder...

Facebook Co-Founder Saverin Gives Up U.S. Citizenship Before IPO

By Danielle Kucera, Sanat Vallikappen and Christine Harper - May 11, 2012

Eduardo Saverin, the billionaire co- founder of Facebook Inc. (FB), renounced his U.S. citizenship before an initial public offering that values the social network at as much as $96 billion, a move that may reduce his tax bill.

Facebook plans to raise as much as $11.8 billion through the IPO, the biggest in history for anInternet company. Saverin’s stake is about 4 percent, according to the websitewhoownsfacebook.com. At the high end of the proposed IPO market capitalization, that would be worth about $3.84 billion. His holdings aren’t listed in Facebook’s regulatory filings.

Saverin, 30, joins a growing number of people giving up U.S. citizenship ahead of a possible increase in tax rates for top earners. The Brazilian-born resident of Singapore is one of several people who helped Mark Zuckerberg start Facebook in a Harvard University dormitory and stand to reap billions of dollars after the world’s largest social network holds its IPO.

Maritime tensions

Maritime tensions with China bonds Philippines closer to US but brings its own risks

5/12/2012Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — China's assertive behavior is breathing life into America's historically tumultuous relationship with the Philippines.

With Washington turning its attention more to the Asia-Pacific region, the U.S. and the Philippines last week held the first joint meeting of their top diplomats and defense chiefs. The U.S. increased military aid and resolved to help its ally on maritime security.

The steps came with the Philippines locked in a standoff with China over competing territorial

Viewpoints: Election impact on eurozone

5/12/2012

The elections in France and Greece have reverberated across Europe, with voters challenging the eurozone's austerity drive.

France now has a Socialist President, Francois Hollande, while in Greece the left-wing Syriza group came second.

The European Parliament, given more muscle by the Lisbon Treaty, is a big player in the debate. So BBC News asked a range of MEPs for their opinions on the election results and the eurozone crisis.

Markus Ferber (Germany), centre-right European People's Party

James wins

AP Source: James wins 3rd NBA MVP award

5/11/2012 Associated Press

MIAMI –  LeBron James loves telling the story about his first MVP award.

In James' first season of organized basketball, he was the best player on an undefeated team, but everyone on the roster got an MVP trophy from coach Frank Walker Sr.

"Right then and there, I knew that this is what I wanted to do," James said Friday.

On Saturday, the Miami Heat forward was set to get another MVP award — one that puts him on a list alongside seven of the game's absolute greats.

A person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press that James will be announced

FDA panel ...

FDA panel endorses pill to prevent HIV infection

Final say on Truvada likely by mid-June

May 12, 2012 

CHICAGO -- Condoms and other safe-sex practices accomplished only so much. Now the 30-year battle against AIDS is on the verge of a radical new phase, with the government expected to endorse a once-a-day pill to prevent infection with the virus.

Some doctors already are giving patients the drug, Truvada, to ward off infection. But Food and Drug Administration approval would expand that practice and could make the expensive medicine more affordable. Truvada costs $11,000-$14,000 a year.

Euro-Area Economy

Euro-Area Economy Seen Returning to Growth in 2013

By Simone Meier - May 11, 2012

The euro-region economy will return to growth in 2013 with only Spain among its 17 members remaining in recession, the European Commission said.

Gross domestic product will rise 1 percent in 2013 after declining 0.3 percent in 2012, the commission said today. While Greece will have the deepest slump this year, with GDP declining 4.7 percent, the economy may be unchanged in 2013. Italy and Portugal will return to growth next year. Spain’s economy may shrink 1.8 percent this year and 0.3 percent in 2013.

discovered in Guatemala

Maya lunar calendar notes discovered in Guatemala

Deborah ZabarenkoReutersMay 11, 2012

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - On the wall of a tiny structure buried under forest debris inGuatemala, archaeologists have discovered a scribe's notes about the Maya lunar calendar, which they say could be the first known records by an official chronicler of this ancient civilization.

These notes pertain to the same Maya calendar that is sometimes erroneously thought to predict the world's end on or about December 22, 2012. The researchers who helped uncover and decipher the wall's inscriptions said the Maya calendar foresaw a vast progression of time, with the December 2012 date the beginning of a new calendar cycle called a baktun.

"They were looking at the way these cycles were turning," said William Saturno of Boston University, an author of an article on the find in the journal Science. "The Maya calendar is going to keep going and keep going for billions, trillions, octillions of years into the future, a

iPad rumor

Latest iPad mini rumor puts price at $200 with 8GB storage

A smaller iPad would bring a smaller price tag, but a new report suggests it might shrink down the built-in storage too.

by Josh Lowensohn  May 10, 2012

A smaller version of the iPad will be less expensive and offer less storage than Apple's full-sized model, but will have the same resolution, according to a new report.

Citing a previously reliable source, iMore today adds to the handful of existing iPad mini rumors, with something a little different.

The outlet says such a device is very much in the works and will come in around the $200 to $250 price range. On the lower end, that's less than half the price of Apple's current entry-level iPad model, and $150 to $200 less than the 16GB second-generation model that Apple still sells. That would also overlap with the pricing of

Germany tells...

Germany tells Greece not to stray if it wants cash

By Gareth Jones and Stephen Brown

BERLIN |  2012 5:46am EDT

(Reuters) - Germany told Greece on Friday that staying in the euro zone was its own choice and that it must not stray from austerity if it expects to get international cash.

It also laid out its support for a European 'growth pact' in an attempt to deflect criticism that its insistence on austerity has exacerbated Athens' debt woes.

In a speech to parliament, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Germany wanted to help Greece stay in the euro zone but made clear the EU-IMF loans needed to stave off bankruptcy hinged on continued spending cuts and tax hikes.

With a nod to France's Socialist President-elect Francois Hollande and other European critics of Berlin's drive for budget discipline, Westerwelle said Germany too wanted more growth but not if it meant more spending.

Asian Stocks

Asian Stocks Decline Third Day as China Production Slows

By Jonathan Burgos and Yoshiaki Nohara on May 11, 2012

Asian stocks slid for a third day, with the regional index capping its worst week in almost six months, as JPMorgan Chase & Co. revealed a $2 billion trading loss and China’s industrial output grew at a slower pace, while Indian factory production fell.

Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., the world’s biggest lender by

prevent HIV

Pill to prevent HIV gets an FDA endorsement

An advisory panel recommends approval for Truvada, a daily pill that is the first drug shown to protect from the virus that causes AIDS. Critics worry the pill could lead to risky behavior.

Associated PressMay 11, 2012

SILVER SPRING, Md. — The first drug shown to prevent HIV infection won the endorsement of anFDA advisory panel Thursday, clearing the way for a landmark approval in the 30-year fight against the virus that causes AIDS.