EU says China, U.S., Japan...

EU says China, U.S., Japan also have economic work to do

By Barbara Lewis 5-25-2012
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The United States and Japan must tackle their tax issues and China must relax restrictions on the yuan, as they share responsibility with Europe for restoring global economic health, EU leaders said ahead of a June summit of the G20 leading economies.
In a letter addressed to all 27 European Union nations, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy said Europe was doing it all it could.
"Europe has stepped up and assumed its special responsibility for securing the financial stability of the euro area and we will continue to do so," said the letter in the run up to the G20 summit in Los Cabos, Mexico.

JENNA JAMESON "I just want to go home."

JENNA JAMESON 911 

'She Went Into the Pole'

Jenna Jameson was a crying mess after she crashed into a light pole early this morning ... telling people, "I just want to go home."

TMZ obtained the 911 call made by a woman who claims she witnessed the porn legend driving like a

Pope's butler accused ...

May 25, 2012

Pope's butler accused of leaking confidential Vatican files

Vatican police have arrested Pope Benedict XVI's butler for allegedly leaking confidential documents and letters detailing claims of corruption, mismanagement and conflict in the Holy See, according to news reports from Italy.

Ind. man releases hostages, fatally shoots self

Ind. man releases hostages, fatally shoots self

By MICHAEL TARM, Associated Press

5-25-2012

VALPARAISO, Ind. (AP) — A gunman looking for someone he believed owed him money shot himself inside an Indiana real estate office several hours after releasing hostages Friday, and he died after being rushed to a hospital, police said.
Two loud bangs were heard Friday afternoon before SWAT team members broke windows and rushed into the Prudential Executive Group Real Estate office in Valparaiso, where police said the gunman had holed up.

For U.S., Egyptian election....

For U.S., Egyptian election results are simply 'flavors of bad'

BY MATTHEW SCHOFIELD
MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
 05-25-12
WASHINGTON -- The United States has been preparing for varying degrees of anti-Americanism with the election of a new Egyptian president.


But that doesn't make it any easier to bridge the gaps that almost certainly will exist between the ultimate winner of this election process and a nation seen as the power behind the toppled autocratic rule of Hosni Mubarak.


"We have to get our heads around the idea that there are no good things coming out of the Egyptian elections, as far as the United States is concerned," said Eric Trager, an Egypt expert with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. "Instead, this is about flavors of bad."

Is the Currency (Finally) Doomed?

Euro Crisis: Is the Currency (Finally) Doomed?

By Michael Schuman | @MichaelSchuman | May 25, 2012

Since the start of Europe’s debt crisis in 2009, there has been a steady drumbeat of predictions that the euro is doomed. The problems were too intractable, the debts too large, the political will too feeble. So far, the doomsayers have been wrong. The leaders of Europe have managed to put a bandage here and a few stitches there to keep the monetary union together. But now we really have to ask if the game is up. The years of half-measures, misguided policy and delusional stubbornness may finally be building up to crush the euro, like a cartoon snowball rolling downhill. Financial markets are clearly smelling an approaching debacle — the euro this week

Facebook emits in-house camera app

Instagram-owner Facebook emits in-house camera app

By Kelly Fiveash • Get more from this author

Posted in Business, 25th May 2012 

Free whitepaper – Enabling Datacenter and Cloud Service Management for Mid-Tier Enterprises

Facebook has launched a new Instagram-like mobile camera app via Apple's iTunes store.
The social network, which inelegantly plonked itself on the Nasdaq a week ago, said in April that it planned to buy photo-sharing startup Instagram in a $1bn cash-and-stock deal.

Observers considered the proposed buyout of that app to be a defensive move by Facebook. Now it turns

French president:

French president: all combat troops out in 2012

5-25-2012

By PATRICK QUINN, Associated Press 

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — All French combat forces will pull out of Afghanistan by the end of the year, France's new president said in Kabul Friday, but some trainers will remain to help Afghanistan's nascent security forces.

Francois Hollande said that France's troops have carried out their mission in Afghanistan and it is time for them to leave, an early pullout that will be coordinated with the United States and other allies.

"There will be no combat troops" after the end of the year, Hollande said during a joint news conference with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Hollande flew to Afghanistan to meet with troops and to discuss plans with Karzai to withdraw French

Buffett Says

Buffett Says Free News Unsustainable, May Add More Papers 

May 25, 2012 By Zachary Tracer

Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) struck a deal this month to acquire 63 newspapers, said he may buy more publications as the industry rethinks whether to offer free content on the Internet.

“This is an unsustainable model and certain of our papers are already making progress in moving to something that makes more sense,” Buffett wrote in a letter to editors and publishers of Berkshire’s daily newspapers. “We want your best thinking as we work out the blend of digital and print that will attract both the audience and the revenue we need.”

Kidman vamps it up in steamy Cannes

May 25, 2012 by smh.com.au

Nicole Kidman sizzles as a small-town vamp drawn to a convicted murderer in Lee Daniels' The Paperboy, marking the US director's return to Cannes on Thursday after his harrowing hit Precious.

The steamy new picture, set partly in Florida's humid swamps, features a bleached-blonde Kidman as Charlotte, an "oversexed Barbie doll" who carries on correspondence with dozens of prison inmates in the late 1960s.

One day a letter arrives that stands out from the others, mainly in its vivid description of the sex the convict Hillary (John Cusack) wants to have with her when he gets out. Charlotte promptly declares him "The One".

Meanwhile crusading newspaperman Ward (Matthew McConaughey) learns of Hillary's case and believes he has been falsely sent to death row for the killing of a policeman.

Ward, his brother Jack (Zac Efron) and a black writer Yardley (David Oyelowo) begin to investigate with the help of a

Angels' Haren Ks 14 in shutout of Mariners

Sports Network

May 25, 2012

Seattle, WA — 

Dan Haren tossed his first shutout of the season to help the LA Angels of Anaheim take down the Seattle Mariners, 3-0, in the opener of a four-game set Thursday.

Haren (2-5) gave up just four hits with no walks and a career-high 14 strikeouts. His 12th strikeout of the game was the 1,500th of his career. 

Albert Pujols went 3-for-4 with a two-run homer, the 450th of his career, while Kendrys Morales drove in the other run for the Angels, who have won three straight. 

Jason Vargas (5-4) gave up three runs on seven hits with six strikeouts over seven innings of work for the Mariners, who had won five of six coming into the game. Ichiro Suzuki's double in

originated on Mars.

Organic carbon originated on Mars

May 25, 2012  by Emma Woollacott

New, NASA-funded research indicates that very large molecules containing carbon - a key ingredient for the building blocks of life - have originated on Mars.

Through a study of Mars meteorites that have landed on Earth, the CarnegieInstitution for Science team's established that the reduced carbon - carbon that's bonded to hydrogen or itself - found inside isn't a result of contamination. But, says the team, it comes from volcanic processes, not life.

The macromolecules themselves of biological origin, but do show that complex carbon chemistry has taken place on Mars.

"These findings show that the storage of reduced carbon molecules on Mars occurred throughout the planet's history and might have been similar to processes that occurred on the ancient Earth," says Carnegie's Andrew

It Underestimated Radiation Released in Japan

Utility Says It Underestimated Radiation Released in Japan 

May 25, 2012

By REUTERS  

TOKYO (Reuters) — The amount of radioactive materials released in the first days of the Fukushima nuclear disaster was almost two and a half times the initial estimate by Japanese safety regulators, the operator of the crippled plant said in a report released on Thursday.

The operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, said the meltdowns it believes took place at three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant released about 900,000 terabecquerels of radioactive substances into the air during March 2011. The accident, which followed an earthquake and a tsunami, occurred on March 11.

The iPen?

Apple's next invention: The iPen?

Apple has filed a patent application for an iPen stylus, Draw Something loses players, and Yahoo attempts a new spin on search with the Axis tool.

by Bridget Carey  May 24, 2012

In today's show, we ponder a world with an iPen, lose our addiction to Draw Something, and tilt our heads to the Axis:

Yahoo has launched a new tool for searching the Web, called Yahoo Axis. This is not a browser, but rather a plug-in that attaches to your desktop browser, and it's also an app for Apple devices. So why use it? It's supposed to be a faster way to comb through search results. Start typing in your search term, and a horizontal bar will showcase thumbnail previews of websites you can jump to.

Donald Trump "thinking"...

May 24, 2012 

Donald Trump "thinking" about starting super PAC

by  Leigh Ann Caldwell

(CBS News) Businessman and reality TV host Donald Trump is once again entering the political fray -- by hosting a upcoming fundraiser for Mitt Romney, participating in an online contest and by possibly starting a super PAC to oppose President Obama's re-election.

In the first of a two-part interview with conservative website Newsmax posted on Wednesday, Trump said he is "thinking about just doing my own PAC," referring to an independent third-party organization able to raise unlimited funds for political activity. 

The real-estate mogul said his super PAC's television advertisements "would show how badly we're doing as a country - how disrespected we are as a country."

"I would show people form OPEC - 11 people sitting around a beautiful, round, gold-encrusted table, talking about how they're going to continue to rip off the United States," he said.

American Idol Champ

American Idol Champ Phillip Phillips Admits He "Came Close" to Quitting Show!

 by  TIERNEY BRICKER

5-24-2012

So you just won American Idol, what's your next move? 

For season 11 champion Phillip Phillips, it's surgery to reconstruct his kidney after battling kidney stones throughout the season. But could his impending surgery affect his presence on the Fox hit's summer tour? 

We chatted with Phillip about his recent health problems and how he almost exited the show early to get the procedure done. Plus, the heartthrob opens up about his hometown girlfriend!

MORE: Yes, That Was the Least-Watched American Idol Finale Ever, But...

While Phillip isn't exactly sure where or when he'll be undergoing surgery, he tells us, "It's just my right kidney kind of isn't functioning

Greek Exit Could ...

Greek Exit Could Trigger a Run on European Banks

By Elena Logutenkova, Liam Vaughan, and Gavin Finch on May 24, 2012

European banks have spent the past two years increasing capital buffers, writing down Greek bonds, and using central bank loans to refinance regional operations in southern Europe in anticipation of some cataclysmic event such as a Greek withdrawal from the euro. All that preparation may not do much good. With more than $1.2 trillion in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, and Irish debt, Europe’s lenders still face deposit flight risk and rising defaults elsewhere. “A Greek exit would be a Pandora’s box,” says Jacques-Pascal Porta of Ofi Gestion Privee, an asset manager in Paris. “It’s a disaster that would leave the door open to other disasters. The euro’s credibility will be weakened, and it would set a precedent: Why couldn’t an exit happen for Spain, for Italy, and even for France?”

Should Greece return to the drachma, its currency probably would suffer an immediate devaluation of as much as 75 percent against the euro, spurring widespread defaults on foreign loans,

Philadelphia Sixers vs. Boston Celtics Game 6

Somehow, 76ers get to a Game 7 against Celtics

By Bob Ford / The Philadelphia Inquirer
Thursday, May 24, 2012

PHILADELPHIA — There was no reason this playoff series was going to get any easier, or any prettier, and neither of those happened Wednesday night in the Wells Fargo Center. What happened was even better as far as the 76ers were concerned, however.

The Sixers played well enough to beat a disjointed Boston Celtics [team stats] team, 82-75, and force a Game 7 in the

Obama energy plan

Obama touts election-year energy plan in Iowa

Published May 24, 2012

Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. –  President Obama is returning to Iowa, seeking support for an election-year agenda to encourage renewable energy along with a more immediate prize: the state's up-for-grabs voters. 

Obama was pushing Congress to support clean energy tax incentives, part of his congressional "to-do list" that he contends could help bolster the economy. The president has tried to portray congressional Republicans as obstructing his ideas to create jobs and said Republican challenger Mitt Romney would follow their lead. 

The president was stopping in Iowa on Thursday after attending fundraisers in Colorado

snap Dodgers streak

Diamondbacks hammer Lilly, snap Dodgers streak

May 24, 2012

(Reuters) - The Arizona Diamondbacks hammered Los Angeles starter Ted Lilly for eight runs in an 11-4 rout to spoil his unbeaten start to the season and snap the Dodgers' six-game winning streak.

The 36-year-old Lilly, who entered the night 5-0 for the best start of his career, lasted just 3 1/3 innings as Arizona batters feasted on his pitches in front of their home crowd to avoid being swept in the finale of the three-game series.

The Diamondbacks (20-25) jumped out with five runs in the first three innings, then scored three more in the fourth where Lilly departed trailing 8-1.

"It was one of those nights that I couldn't find a way to get ahead or put guys away," Lilly told

UK recession ...

UK recession deeper than thought

24 May 2012

LONDON - Britain is in a deeper recession than previously thought, official figures showed Thursday, in another downbeat development that will likely heap the pressure on the government and the central bank to do more to boost the flagging economy.

The Office for National Statistics said the British economy contracted by 0.3 percent in both the fourth quarter of 2011 and the first quarter of 2012, as against the 0.2 percent rates previously reported. The declines mean Britain is back in recession, officially defined as two straight quarters of negative growth.

Marc Ostwald, strategist at Monument Securities, said the "really striking element" is that the

Fire on nuclear sub at Maine shipyard

Fire on nuclear sub at Maine shipyard hurts 7

May 24, 2012

The Associated Press

KITTERY, Maine — A fire on a nuclear-powered submarine at a Maine shipyard has injured seven people, including five firefighters, but did not affect the reactor, which was not active.

Crews responded at about 5:40 p.m. Wednesday to the USS Miami SSN 755 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on an island in Kittery, a town near Portsmouth, N.H. It was not clear how many people were aboard the submarine at the time.

Rear Adm. Richard Breckenridge, commander of Submarine Group Two, said the fire was out Thursday morning and the shipyard was open as usual. He said the three shipyard firefighters, two civilian firefighters and two crew members received minor injuries and were in good shape.

Breckenridge called their efforts heroic, saying the extreme heat and smoke in the contained spaces

Playing the Facebook Blame Game

May 24, 2012

By Serena Saitto, Lee Spears, Joseph Ciolli, and Michael J. Moore

The Facebook (FB) initial public offering—preceded by an epic lawsuit over ownership, an Oscar-nominated movie, a great leap forward for sweatshirts, and the constant feedback of roughly a billion customers—was always going to be more than just a financial event. It was a cultural event, too, a global

Utah authorities step up...

Utah authorities step up search for cabin burglar

2012-05-23 www.usatoday.com

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – With the summer tourist season fast approaching, authorities are stepping up the search for a mountain man considered armed and dangerous who has spent more than five years breaking into dozens of cabins across remote southern Utah, stealing guns and supplies before retreating into the forest.

Investigators believe the suspect is still roaming the mountains around Zion National Park based on recent cabin break-ins where food and clothing were taken, Kane County Sheriff's Detective Dathan Chamberlain, who has been assigned full-time to the case, told The

Colombia prostitution scandal was isolated incident

Secret Service director says Colombia prostitution scandal was isolated incident

Mark Sullivan assures a Senate panel that there's no evidence of a wider culture of reckless partying and that President Obama's safety was not compromised.

By Brian Bennett, Washington Bureau

May 23, 2012

WASHINGTON — The prostitution scandal that has embroiled the Secret Service is not evidence of a wider culture of boozing and paying for sex among those who are trained to take a bullet for the president, the director of the agency told skeptical senators.

The senators challenged Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan to explain how it was possible, without an

Birth Control

Birth Control: New Research Gives Boost to IUD Effectiveness

By SAMANTHA MEANEY, M.D., ABC News Medical Unit

May 23, 2012

Twenty-seven-year-old Julie Vonder Haar of St. Louis describes herself as a smart and responsible person, but like many women, she found it difficult to remember taking her birth control pills while juggling four