LONDON (Reuters) ? The Arctic Monkeys lead the field with seven nominations at the NME music awards, including best British band, best album and best track.
The shortlists were decided by around eight million public votes, and the winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on February 29 at London's O2 Academy Brixton.
"We're up for all the big ones -- we're very happy," said Matt Helders, drummer for the Arctic Monkeys. "That's all we do, record or play live, so it's good to be recognized!"
The Sheffield band are nominated for best British band, best live band, best album for "Suck It and See," best track for "The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala," best video and best album artwork("Suck It and See") and most dedicated fans.
Other multiple nominees include Kasabian (best British band, live band and "greatest music moment") and U.S. artist Lana Del Rey who features in the best video and best track categories for "Video Games" and among the best new bands.
Kasabian and The Vaccines are among the acts due to perform at the awards show.
Following is a list of the main category nominees:
BEST BRITISH BAND: Arctic Monkeys; Bombay Bicycle Club; The Horrors; Kasabian; Muse
BEST INTERNATIONAL BAND: Arcade Fire; Foo Fighters; Justice; Odd Future (OFWGKTA); The Strokes
BEST SOLO ARTIST: Adele; Florence + The Machine; Frank Turner; Laura Marling; Miles Kane; Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
BEST NEW BAND: Foster The People; Lana Del Rey; Tribes; The Vaccines; Wu Lyf
BEST LIVE ACT: Arctic Monkeys; Kasabian; Muse; Pulp; Two Door Cinema Club
BEST ALBUM: Arctic Monkeys/Suck It and See; The Horrors/Skying; Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds/Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds; PJ Harvey/Let England Shake; The Vaccines/What did you Expect from the Vaccines?
BEST TRACK: Arctic Monkeys/The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala; Bombay Bicycle/Club Shuffle; Florence + The Machine/Shake It Out; Hurts/Sunday; Lana Del Rey/Video Games
BEST VIDEO: Arctic Monkeys/Suck It And See; Beyonce/Countdown; Hurts/Sunday; Lana Del Rey/Video Games; Tyler, The Creator/Yonkers.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
INDIANAPOLIS ? From pickpockets and prostitutes to dirty bombs and exploding manhole covers, authorities are bracing for whatever threat the first Super Bowl in downtown Indianapolis might bring.
Some ? nuclear terrorism, for instance ? are likely to remain just hypothetical. But others, like thieves and wayward manhole covers, are all too real.
Though Indianapolis has ample experience hosting large sporting events ? the Indianapolis 500 attracts more than 200,000 fans each year, and the NCAA's men's Final Four basketball tournament has been held here six times since 1980_ the city's first Super Bowl poses some unique challenges.
Unlike the Final Four, which is compressed into a weekend, the Super Bowl offers crowd, travel and other logistical challenges over 10 days leading up to the Feb. 5 game. And unlike the 500, where events are largely concentrated at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway about seven miles from Lucas Oil Stadium, the NFL's showcase event will consume 44 blocks ? about a mile square ? in the heart of the city, closing off streets and forcing an anticipated 150,000 or more NFL fans to jockey with downtown workers for space much of the week.
"This is clearly bigger in terms of the amount of people who will be downtown over an extended period of time," city Public Safety Director Frank Straub said.
Under a security risk rating system used by the federal government, the Super Bowl ranks just below national security events involving the president and the Secret Service, said Indianapolis Chief of Homeland Security Gary Coons. The ratings are based on factors including international attention, media coverage, the number of people the event attracts and visits by celebrities and foreign dignitaries, he said. The Indianapolis 500 ranks two levels below the Super Bowl.
The city has invested millions of dollars and worked with local, state and federal agencies to try to keep all those people safe. Up to 1,000 city police officers will be in the stadium and on the street, carrying smartphones and other electronic hand-held devices that will enable them to feed photos and video to a new state-of-the-art operations center on the city's east side or to cruisers driven by officers providing backup, Straub said. Hundreds of officers from other agencies, including the state police and the FBI, will be scanning the crowd for signs of pickpocketing, prostitution or other trouble.
One concern has been a series of explosions in Indianapolis Power & Light's underground network of utility cables. A dozen underground explosions have occurred since 2005, sending manhole covers flying.
Eight explosions have occurred since 2010. The latest, on Nov. 19, turned a manhole cover into a projectile that heavily damaged a parked car and raised concerns about the safety of Super Bowl visitors walking on streets and soaring above the Super Bowl village on four zip lines installed for the festivities.
Since December, IPL has spent about $180,000 to install 150 new locking manhole covers, primarily in the Super Bowl village and other areas expected to see high pre-game traffic.
IPL officials say the new Swiveloc manhole covers can be locked for security reasons during the Super Bowl. In case of an explosion, the covers lift a couple of inches off the ground ? enough to vent gas out without feeding in oxygen to make an explosion bigger ? before falling back into place.
An Atlanta consultant hired by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission last summer to audit IPL's underground network of cables for a cause of the explosions says the new covers are merely a Band-Aid.
"We've argued it's better to prevent," said Dan O'Neill of O'Neill Management Consulting, which filed its report in December.
O'Neill's team couldn't pinpoint an exact cause for the explosions but said a flawed inspection process contributed, noting that IPL workers missed warning signs such as road salt corroding an old cable or leaks in nearby steam pipes. In a report filed Jan. 19 with Indiana utility regulators, the power company said it had overhauled its inspection process.
IPL will dispatch extra crews to the area around the stadium in case of power-related problems, such as a recent breaker fire that left 10,000 customers in homes south of downtown without power. Spokeswoman Crystal Livers-Powers said the company doesn't anticipate any power issues.
Straub, the public safety director, said he's confident the city is prepared and notes that Indianapolis hosts major events "pretty regularly."
Special teams from the Department of Energy will sweep Lucas Oil Stadium and the surrounding area for nuclear terror threats, and a new $18 million high-tech communications center that opened in time for the lead-up to the game will tie it all together.
"We're using more technology, and state of the art technology, than has been used in any Super Bowl before this one," Straub said.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. ? Packed to capacity in the lower level on one side of Gillette Stadium on Sunday, Patriots fans watched replays from the AFC championship victory that put New England in the Super Bowl.
A few minutes later, those roughly 25,000 fans sent the players off in style.
Before a spirited crowd that filled approximately one-third of Gillette Stadium, the Patriots officially began their short journey to Indianapolis by attending a free send-off rally, addressing the fans and returning the appreciation that's been bestowed upon them.
"This never gets old, huh?" running back Kevin Faulk asked the raucous crowd. "The one question I was asked during the offseason was, `Why are you coming back, Kevin?'
"This is it, right here."
Following the 13-minute program on a stage constructed at the 50-yard line, the players skirted the lower level of seats on their way out of the stadium, high-fiving fans and filming the celebration along the way before boarding busses bound for the airport.
New England will play the New York Giants next Sunday ? a little more than four years after the Giants spoiled the Patriots' perfect season with a stunning 17-14 Super Bowl victory.
"We wish we could take all of you guys to Indy with us," said Tom Brady, who will tie the record for quarterbacks with his fifth Super Bowl start. "Hopefully we'll have a lot more people at our party next weekend."
After re-watching Baltimore kicker Billy Cundiff's botched 32-yard field goal attempt in the closing seconds that gave New England a 23-20 win over the Ravens last Sunday, the fans erupted as players filed into the stadium to their traditional entrance music.
A parade of Patriots, including coach Bill Belichick, then made their way to the podium to thank fans for their support.
"You guys are the reason why we're in the spot we're in, because we had home-field advantage throughout the end, and we were able to take advantage and now we're in the Super Bowl," said receiver Wes Welker. "That's what it's all about.
"I promise you all, all of these guys, with the way we're going to play this next Sunday, we're going to give it everything we've got out there and you're going to be proud to support the New England Patriots."
Linebacker Jerod Mayo touched on the difficult year endured by team owner Robert Kraft, whose wife, Myra, passed away July 20 after a battle with cancer. The team dedicated this season to her, wearing oval patches with the initials "MHK" on their uniforms right above their hearts.
Kraft, the final speaker, took the stage to chants of "MHK."
"At the beginning of the season, (Kraft's son and team president) Jonathan and I met with the team and told them that they would wear an MHK patch over their hearts," Kraft said. "And they really dedicated this season to her and all the volunteers in America who make this country great."
Liam Corbett, a fan clad in a blue Rob Gronkowski jersey, recalled attending his first Patriots Super Bowl send-off rally with his father in 2004, when New England beat the Carolina Panthers for the second of its three championships.
Now, with his father unable to attend due to an injury, he made the 50-mile trek from New Bedford with his wife, sister and two children, marveling at how the celebration morphed from roughly a couple hundred fans eight years ago to more than 20,000 on Sunday.
"It gives you more of a connection," he said. "You're able to be here with the team and they're able to see you off and all that, because not everybody can get to Indianapolis. It's pretty cool."
Corbett's wife, Nicole, was focused on creating memories for her almost 2-year-old son, Maximus, and 5-year-old daughter, Aurora, who was sporting a Brady jersey.
"Someone asked why we were coming down ... he goes, `I could sit on my couch.' I said, `Yeah, but I can't afford to go to the stadium for a regular game so I'm going.' We love this," she said. "It's exciting. I just like the energy, getting pumped up for the game, especially the kids, it makes great memories.
"It really gives you a lot of history and connection to the team as you get older. (Liam) did this with his dad when he was little and now we get to do it with our kids."
LIVERPOOL, England - There was no crowing from Landon Donovan after he led his Everton side to victory over Clint Dempsey's Fulham in England's FA Cup.
After all, the U.S. teammates will be on the same side again soon enough.
Donovan set up both Everton goals in Friday night's 2-1 win but says Dempsey is still the American success story in this season's Premier League.
The former New England Revolution forward has scored 15 goals for Fulham since August and Donovan says "in my opinion, he's been one of the players of the season in the Premier League."
United States international Tim Howard was in goal for Everton and Donovan says the match was "a little bit of an American invasion."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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JACKSONVILLE, Florida (Reuters) ? Presidential candidate Mitt Romney has opened up a lead of 8 percentage points over rival Newt Gingrich in a Reuters/Ipsos poll in Florida, as he regains front-runner status in the Republican race.
The online poll released on Friday showed Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and private-equity executive, ahead of Gingrich by 41 percent to 33 percent among likely voters in Florida's January 31 Republican primary.
It confirms Romney's recovery in polls, aided by strong debate performances, after a stinging defeat at the South Carolina primary vote last weekend.
Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum trails with 13 percent and Texas Congressman Ron Paul would get 5 percent of the vote.
"We've had a pretty wild ride here throughout this primary process but right now in Florida it looks like Romney's back on top," said Chris Jackson, research director for Ipsos Public Affairs.
Other polls in Florida have shown Romney pulling ahead of Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted on Thursday and Friday, partially capturing likely voters after the most recent debate in Jacksonville where Romney was seen as a clear winner.
Statistical margins of error are not applicable to online surveys but this poll of 732 likely voters has a credibility interval of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.
GINGRICH STRONGER IN HEAD-TO-HEAD
Conservatives are still somewhat splintered. The poll found that Gingrich and Romney would be virtually tied if Santorum and Paul dropped out of the race.
Romney would win by 50 percent to 48 percent if the race were just between him and Gingrich.
Gingrich has also suffered in recent days from high-profile allies of Romney criticizing the former speaker's tenure in Congress, as well as from a barrage of attack advertisements against him.
Florida allows voters to cast their ballots by mail ahead of time, and 29 percent said they had already done so. Romney led Gingrich by 7 percentage points among this group. Among those who have yet to vote, Romney held a 9-point lead.
Questions in the poll include whether participants voted in previous elections, their likelihood of voting in the upcoming election and their interest in following news about the campaign.
Friday's Reuters/Ipsos survey is the first of four daily tracking polls being released ahead of Tuesday's primary.
(Editing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Sandra Maler)
RAMALLAH, West Bank ? Israel is proposing to essentially turn its West Bank separation barrier into the border with a future state of Palestine, two Palestinian officials said Friday, based on their interpretation of principles Israel presented in talks this week.
The officials said Israeli envoy Yitzak Molcho told his Palestinian counterpart that Israel wants to keep east Jerusalem and consolidate Jewish settlements behind the separation barrier, which slices close to 10 percent off the West Bank. They spoke on condition of anonymity, citing strict no-leaks rules by Jordanian mediators.
The proposal would fall short of what the Palestinians seem likely to accept, especially because it would leave Jerusalem on the "Israeli" side of the border.
But it would also mark a significant step for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has spent most of his career as a staunch opponent of Palestinian independence.
And if talks advance in such a direction, it could also spell the end for his nationalist coalition, where key members would consider the abandonment of most of the West Bank ? a strategic highland and biblical heartland ? an unforgivable betrayal.
Israel has confirmed that it presented principles this week for drawing a border with a Palestinian state. But the politically charged nature of the talks ? even though they were held at a relatively low level, below that of Cabinet ministers ? was reflected in the guarded refusal by any top official to discuss details.
An Israeli government official said that as far as he knew, the information was incorrect, but declined to elaborate or go on the record, citing Jordan's demand for discretion.
Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor, one of the closest Cabinet ministers to Netanyahu, said he has been supporting such an offer for months, and that Israel should concentrate on preserving the large West Bank settlement blocs, close to the pre-1967 border. But he could not confirm whether the offer was in fact made.
"I do not know if (Molcho) said these words exactly, but it would be great," Meridor told The Associated Press.
The Palestinian officials ? one a senior member of the leadership ? said Molcho told the Palestinians that Israel wants to live peacefully beside a Palestinian state.
It would be the most detailed offer yet from Netanyahu on how much he wants to keep of the lands Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War ? the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem.
The Palestinians want to establish their state in virtually all of these lands ? although they do seem ready to accept minor adjustments, through land swaps in which Israel keeps some of the largest settlements.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is certainly unlikely to consider a proposal that keeps east Jerusalem under Israeli control. The eastern sector of the city is home to key Jewish, Muslim and Christian sites.
And Israel's position, as described by the Palestinians, is less than what was offered by Netanyahu's predecessors, Ehud Barak and Ehud Olmert, who were willing to discuss a partition of Jerusalem as well.
About half a million Israelis settled in east Jerusalem and the West Bank after 1967, including tens of thousands east of the barrier.
Israel started building the barrier in 2002, in the midst of a Palestinian uprising that included scores of deadly attacks by Palestinian militants who crossed from the West Bank into Israel and blew themselves up among civilians.
Israelis have generally credited the barrier ? along with other punitive measures ? with stopping the spate of incursions several years ago.
However, it was routed in a way that raised questions about Israel's claim that it was a temporary security measure ? weaving through the West Bank, looping wide around some settlements to leave room for expansion, and looking very much like a border a future Israeli government might argue for. The Palestinians condemned it from the start as a land grab.
The Palestinian officials also said that Molcho portrayed the Jordan Valley, which makes up about one-fourth of the West Bank and borders Jordan, as a strategic Israeli security asset. However, that wording suggests less than a demand for firm territorial control.
Netanyahu has said he wants a continued Israeli presence on the eastern border of a future Palestinian state as part of any peace deal.
Netanyahu has long argued Israel needs the area as a security buffer ? protection against possible attack from the east.
The 1994 peace treaty with Jordan eased this concern ? but the Arab Spring has given it new life: although it is almost never discussed by officials, mindful of riling Jordan, many in Israel ponder a nightmare scenario in which the Jordanian monarchy falls to Israel's enemies, who then pour weapons and militants into the West Bank, reaching within miles (kilometers) from its major cities.
A senior Israeli military official said last week the Israeli army had to consider in its planning the possibility of heightened threats from east of the West Bank.
Israeli officials have said any presence in the Jordan Valley could be reviewed over time.
Abbas, meanwhile, is under growing pressure from the Quartet of Mideast mediators ? the U.S., the U.N., the EU and Russia ? to continue the talks with Israel, which began earlier this month. The Quartet had asked the sides to present detailed proposals on borders and security arrangements.
The Palestinians argue that the period set aside for the contacts ended Thursday, or three months after the Quartet issued its marching orders. Israel says the intention was to have three months of talks, and so wants meetings to continue.
Abbas will consult Monday with senior officials from the Palestine Liberation Organization and his Fatah movement. Later next week, he will also seek advice from the Arab League.
WASHINGTON ? The pitch from the Republican presidential contenders to voters sounds a lot like the children's game of follow the leader.
When Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich aren't puffing up their own leadership credentials, they're running down the leadership skills of one another and of President Barack Obama.
If anyone missed Monday's conference call from the Romney campaign about Gingrich's record as a "failed leader," not to worry. They could have tuned in to Tuesday's conference call. Or Wednesday's. Or Thursday's. Or checked out the "unreliable leader" banner splashed across a Romney news release that labeled Gingrich "unhinged."
Romney's political biography, meanwhile, is all about his leadership as a businessman, Massachusetts governor and savior of the 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.
It's hard to miss Gingrich's frequent broadsides at Romney for failing to provide consistent, visionary leadership. Or the former House speaker's pronouncements that he, by contrast, offers "exactly the kind of bold, tough leader the American people want." Or Gingrich's descriptions of all that was accomplished in his four years as speaker in the 1990s.
Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, trailing in the polls, keeps trying to muscle his way into the conversation by offering himself as the steady bet who can be counted on to offer more reliable conservative leadership than "erratic" Gingrich or "moderate" Romney.
In a race where all the candidates are trying to out-conservative one another, stressing leadership credentials gives the GOP rivals a way to try to distinguish themselves. In a year when Obama's own leadership skills are seen as one of his weakest qualities, it gives the Republicans one more arrow in their quiver as they argue over who would be most electable in a matchup with Obama come November.
Leadership is always a part of the equation in presidential elections. In 2008, for example, the candidates all were abuzz with claims that they offered "transformational" leadership.
"I want to transform this country," Obama said when he announced he was running.
This year, leadership is getting an extra dose of attention, perhaps because of statistics such as this: The share of Americans viewing Obama as a strong leader slipped from 77 percent at the start of his presidency to 52 percent in a Pew Research Center poll released this month. Among Republicans, only about one-fourth of those surveyed in the most recent poll said Obama was a strong leader, compared with 80 percent of Democrats.
At a campaign debate last week in Tampa, Fla., Gingrich and Romney both turned a question about electability into an answer about the L-word.
"This is going to come down a question of leadership," Romney said. Then the former Massachusetts governor recited his track record as a leader in business and government and took a dig at Gingrich for having to "resign in disgrace" when he was speaker in the 1990s.
Gingrich, answering the same question, aligned himself with the leadership record of conservative hero Ronald Reagan and offered himself as someone "prepared to be controversial when necessary" to bring about great change.
The answers offer a window into how differently the two candidates define leadership: Romney more as a manager with business school credentials, Gingrich more as a big-thinking visionary.
The leadership argument is a particularly potent campaign weapon for Romney because a number of Republicans who served in Congress with Gingrich have been happy to describe his shortcomings in running the House.
"If you were somebody trying to serve with him, you were always sort of left standing with your hands empty in terms of moving forward with an actual plan or putting a plan to paper," Rep. Mary Bono Mack, R-Calif., said of Gingrich on a Romney campaign conference call Thursday. "So for me, it's an example that he's just not an effective leader. I think Mitt has the temperament and the ability to lead."
Gingrich, who resigned after a spate of ethics problems and a poor showing for House Republicans in the 1998 elections, managed to turn even his resignation as speaker into evidence that he's a strong leader.
"I took responsibility for the fact that our results weren't as good as they should be," he said in the Tampa debate. "I think that's what a leader should do."
As for the turbulence of his tenure as speaker, Gingrich casts that, too, as evidence of his bold leadership.
"Look, I wish everybody had loved me, but I'd rather be effective representing the American people than be popular inside Washington," he said earlier in the campaign.
Stephen Wayne, a presidential scholar at Georgetown University, said the harsh judgment of Obama's presidential leadership by Republicans and even some Democrats in part is due to the high hopes that he raised during the 2008 campaign. Obama the president has been measured against the words of Obama the candidate ever since.
Now that it's campaign season again, says Wayne, "he's not competing against his own image, he's competing against a real life person that has frailties. ... In a sense, that lowers the bar for Obama."
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AP Deputy Polling Director Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.
___
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Temporary monuments are erected in Tahrir Square on Wednesday as thousands of Egyptians gather to mark the one year anniversary of the uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
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They are scenes reminiscent of Egypt's 18-day revolution that toppled the 30-year rule of Hosni Mubarak.
Men and women, young and old, Muslim and Christian, rich and poor, secular and conservative ? all back in the symbolic heart of Egypt?s revolution, Tahrir Square. They are also in cities all across the country.
But the unity seen during Egypt's revolution in 2011 has been replaced by widening differences over where the country stands one year later.
The difference revolves around the transition to democracy. Is it on the right path? Led by the right people? Genuine or simply cosmetic? Actions versus promises. Accomplishments versus rhetoric.
Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary of the beginning of the uprising that ousted Mubarak.
Some gathered in the square to celebrate that revolution. They said the past year had been one of transformation. They cited a newly elected lower house of parliament, new individual freedoms and an explosion of political parties running the gamut.
Those gathered Wednesday celebrated the accomplishments of the revolution. Those accomplishments cannot simply be dismissed. The pace of reform may be slow, but change has been tangible.
Those here commemorating the revolution argued change has been cosmetic. One regime has simply been replaced by another.
"We have changed the driver in the car, but you have not changed the car or its direction," one protester told me. "Only when the direction of the car changes will the revolution be considered successful," he added.
Related: Obama wants to boost Egypt aid quickly
Those commemorating the revolution said the anniversary should serve as a reminder of what Egyptians can accomplish when they are united. The past year has not lived up to its potential. They cited thousands of civilians in military trials as evidence that the ruling military council -- all appointed by Mubarak coincidentally -- has resorted to the same draconian measures as its predecessor. They said that in the past year, not a single senior officer of the internal security forces or minister has been convicted in the killings of around 800 protesters. So for them, Wednesday was about renewing demonstrations against the ruling military council.
The military council said it's holding the ship steady on the course to democracy. And while it has changed the timetable to elections a few times, it has done so only when events on the ground rapidly deteriorated and protests flared up. On one hand that showed it had been responsive to public sentiments and street protests; but on the other hand, it continued to act unilaterally when it came to fundamental issues concerning the process of reform. It retained exclusive power over the security services and the judiciary. It has refused to delegate powers and authority to the military-appointed prime minister or the newly elected lower house of parliament. At the same time, the military has issued a declaration of constitutional principles that many interpret as an attempt to retain powers after a new government is directly elected.
Related: Huge crowd in Cairo
And of course? there are the new democratic realities that have emerged in post-revolution Egypt. New political parties, but not necessarily new political voices. The loudest so far has been that of the Muslim Brotherhood and the ultra-conservative Salafist movement. Between the two of them, they overwhelmingly won the majority of seats in parliament. Will their mandate from the people be seen as a direct order to challenge the military? Some argue the Islamists are content with the democratic process undertaken by the military because it has paved their way to power. They fear the two have cut backroom deals. The military will move the democratic process at a pace and under conditions favorable to Islamist parties at the expense of the lesser and weaker secular and liberal forces. In exchange, the Islamists will not mobilize their massive street support against the military or hold them accountable for past misdoings going forward.
So whether Egyptians celebrate, commemorate or reinvigorate their January 25 Revolution, one thing is for certain, it has been a remarkable year in the history of this country.
NEW YORK ? Flanked by his wife and children, with five World Series trophies sitting on a table to his right, Jorge Posada announced his retirement Tuesday.
The five-time All-Star catcher ends his major league career after 17 seasons, all with the New York Yankees.
The 40-year-old Posada finished with a .273 career batting average, 275 home runs and 1,065 RBIs. Shifted to designated hitter last year, his playing time diminished.
Posada joins Bernie Williams and Andy Pettitte in retirement, leaving only 37-year-old Derek Jeter and 42-year-old Mariano Rivera from the core group that led the Yankees to four World Series titles in five years from 1996-2000.
With Jeter, Rivera and CC Sabathia looking on, Posada began by quoting Joe DiMaggio: "I want to thank the good Lord for making me a Yankee."
"I could never wear another uniform," he said. "I will forever be a Yankee."
Posada's voice broke up, especially when he spoke in Spanish. He thanked his teammates, rubbing his chin three times and wiping his eyes.
"Hopefully you won't miss me that much," he said.
Diana Munson, wife of the late Yankees catcher Thurman Munson, spoke about how Posada helped revive her interest in baseball, which had disappeared after her husband's death.
"I think he and Thurman definitely would have been best buds," she said.
Posada said he made the decision to retire during last season, which turned tumultuous May 14 when he was dropped to No. 9 in the batting order against Boston. He asked to be taken out of the lineup, saying he wasn't ready to play.
Yankees manager Joe Girardi and GM Brian Cashman said that was just a blip in his career ? part of Posada's fiery nature, the one that drew fans to him. Jeter said that emotion can't be faked, that it comes from a drive to win.
"I feel the same way," Jeter said. "I'm just better at hiding it."
Jeter and Rivera talked about how their days for retirement would come.
"Mo's going to be here longer than all of us," Jeter said.
WARSAW, Poland ? Polish leaders will debate on Monday their stance on an international copyright agreement after activists attacked government websites to protest the treaty.
The attacks, which left many websites, including those of the prime minister and parliament, inaccessible Monday for the second straight day, were claimed by Anonymous, a loose network of online activists who oppose Warsaw's plans to sign the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA.
"Dear Polish government, we will continue to disrupt and interfere with your government official websites until the 26th. Do not pass ACTA," one message on Twitter said. The message was posted from an account called "AnonymousWiki," the same one that announced the planned attacks before government websites went down on Sunday.
ACTA is a far-reaching agreement aimed at harmonizing intellectual property protections across different countries. It covers everything from counterfeit pharmaceuticals to fake Prada bags to online piracy. Critics fear it could lead to censorship on the Internet.
Poland was originally scheduled to sign ACTA on Thursday, but whether it will do so is now unclear.
Michal Boni, the minister for administration and digitization, said Prime Minister Donald Tusk and other members of the government were meeting to determine what to do now.
Boni also acknowledged in a radio interview Monday that the government had failed to hold consultations over its stance on the issue.
New York ? The EU's vow to stop buying millions of barrels of oil a day from Tehran could have a devastating effect on Iran's economy
Taking a cue from the U.S., the European Union is trying to force Tehran to rein in its nuclear program by imposing damaging new sanctions on Iran, banning imports of Tehran's cash cow, oil. Iran, the world's third largest oil exporter, reacted angrily, renewing a threat to block all oil tankers from leaving the Persian Gulf by closing the Strait of Hormuz. Russia also warned that the new sanctions could be counterproductive, since an alienated Tehran might be less willing to cooperate with coming inspections by the International Atomic Energy Authority. Will the new sanctions really backfire?
These sanctions could help Iran's leaders: "While this might seem like a good way to way to stall Iran's nuclear ambitions," says Matthew Feeney at The American Conservative, these "foolish" sanctions, like past ones, will be ineffective. Either Iran will find new buyers for its oil, or its "already suffering" economy will collapse. And if Iran's leaders successfully blame the West for cratering the country's domestic economy, they would effectively silence Iran's oppressed political opposition and "unite the country behind the regime the sanctions are aiming to harm." "More foolish sanctions"
Or they might encourage Iranians to demand reform: "The embargo matters because of the scale of the relationship," says Ian Black at Britain's Guardian. Europe buys 20 percent of Iran's oil (2.6 million barrels a day), and cutting that off could devastate an economy already "suffering badly from rising unemployment and inflation." The political impact is anybody's guess: Yes, it could rally Iranians behind the regime. But remember, the Arab Spring just proved that autocratic states can be undone by "anger fueled by economic hardship." That could happen in Iran, too. "The Iran oil embargo carries an uncertain cargo to Tehran"
Whatever happens, this is undeniably a risky move: Iran's angry threats are driving up oil prices, says Steve Rattner at CNN, and they'll "go a lot higher if Iranian oil is out of the picture." The world barely has enough spare capacity to replace the 2.8 million barrels Iran produces daily. So the U.S. and Europe will "have to thread the needle" to get results without sparking a global energy crisis. The fact that they're even trying such a risky move "just shows how scared people are about the nuclear side of Iran." "Will Iran finally change course?"
Actually, the sanctions might have little effect: There's a chance "the EU's advertised toughness is less than meets the eye," says Robert Marquand in The Christian Science Monitor. The EU is banning new contracts, but Iran can keep exporting under old deals for another six months. That's plenty of time for Iran figure out how to soften the blow, or for Europe to ease the pressure if the embargo is doing too much harm to EU economies, "particularly beleaguered Greece, which takes 30 percent of its oil from Iran." "Iran oil embargo: How tough are the EU sanctions?"
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The amazing part isn?t that she tried but that she seems to have succeeded, at least in mice:
This is a great American story and also, obviously, a great statement about the value of legal immigration. We?re lucky to have Angela and she?s equally lucky to have this country. Talk about a win-win situation.
Contact: Gisela Speidel gspeidel@hawaii.edu University of Hawaii ? SOEST
Nearly one-third of CO2 emissions due to human activities enters the world's oceans. By reacting with seawater, CO2 increases the water's acidity, which may significantly reduce the calcification rate of such marine organisms as corals and mollusks. The extent to which human activities have raised the surface level of acidity, however, has been difficult to detect on regional scales because it varies naturally from one season and one year to the next, and between regions, and direct observations go back only 30 years.
Combining computer modeling with observations, an international team of scientists concluded that anthropogenic CO2 emissions over the last 100 to 200 years have already raised ocean acidity far beyond the range of natural variations. The study is published in the January 22 online issue of Nature Climate Change.
The team of climate modelers, marine conservationists, ocean chemists, biologists and ecologists, led by Tobias Friedrich and Axel Timmermann at the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, came to their conclusions by using Earth system models that simulate climate and ocean conditions 21,000 years back in time, to the Last Glacial Maximum, and forward in time to the end of the 21st century. They studied in their models changes in the saturation level of aragonite (a form of calcium carbonate) typically used to measure of ocean acidification. As acidity of seawater rises, the saturation level of aragonite drops. Their models captured well the current observed seasonal and annual variations in this quantity in several key coral reef regions.
Today's levels of aragonite saturation in these locations have already dropped five times below the pre-industrial range of natural variability. For example, if the yearly cycle in aragonite saturation varied between 4.7 and 4.8, it varies now between 4.2 and 4.3, which based on another recent study may translate into a decrease in overall calcification rates of corals and other aragonite shell-forming organisms by 15%. Given the continued human use of fossil fuels, the saturation levels will drop further, potentially reducing calcification rates of some marine organisms by more than 40% of their pre-industrial values within the next 90 years.
"Any significant drop below the minimum level of aragonite to which the organisms have been exposed to for thousands of years and have successfully adapted will very likely stress them and their associated ecosystems," says lead author Postdoctoral Fellow Tobias Friedrich.
"In some regions, the man-made rate of change in ocean acidity since the Industrial Revolution is hundred times greater than the natural rate of change between the Last Glacial Maximum and pre-industrial times," emphasizes Friedrich. "When Earth started to warm 17,000 years ago, terminating the last glacial period, atmospheric CO2 levels rose from 190 parts per million (ppm) to 280 ppm over 6,000 years. Marine ecosystems had ample time to adjust. Now, for a similar rise in CO2 concentration to the present level of 392 ppm, the adjustment time is reduced to only 100 200 years."
On a global scale, coral reefs are currently found in places where open-ocean aragonite saturation reaches levels of 3.5 or higher. Such conditions exist today in about 50% of the ocean mostly in the tropics. By end of the 21st century this fraction is projected to be less than 5%. The Hawaiian Islands, which sit just on the northern edge of the tropics, will be one of the first to feel the impact.
The study suggests that some regions, such as the eastern tropical Pacific, will be less stressed than others because greater underlying natural variability of seawater acidity helps to buffer anthropogenic changes. The aragonite saturation in the Caribbean and the western Equatorial Pacific, both biodiversity hotspots, shows very little natural variability, making these regions particularly vulnerable to human-induced ocean acidification.
"Our results suggest that severe reductions are likely to occur in coral reef diversity, structural complexity and resilience by the middle of this century," says co-author Professor Axel Timmermann."
###
An animation showing the changes in aragonite surface saturation level from 1800 to 2100 is available at http://iprc.soest.hawaii.edu/users/tobiasf/Outreach/OA/Ocean_Acidification.html. The animation is also playing at the Science on a Sphere in the Jhamandas Watumull Planetarium at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu.
This study was funded by The Nature Conservancy (www.nature.org), the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) through its sponsorship of the International Pacific Research Center, and National Science Foundation grant #0902551.
Citation: T. Friedrich, A. Timmermann, A. Abe-Ouchi, N. R. Bates, M. O. Chikamoto, M. J. Church, J. E. Dore, D. K. Gledhill, M. Gonzlez-Dvila, M. Heinemann, T. Ilyina, J. H. Jungclaus, E. McLeod, A. Mouchet, and J. M. Santana-Casiano: Detecting regional anthropogenic trends in ocean acidification against natural variability. Nature Climate Change - DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE1372.
Researcher contacts:
Friedrich, Tobias: International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii; (808) 956-7385; Email: tobiasf@hawaii.edu
Timmermann, Axel: International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii (808) 956-2720; Email axel@hawaii.edu
International Pacific Research Center Media Contact: Gisela E. Speidel (808)956-9252; Email gspeidel@hawaii.edu.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Gisela Speidel gspeidel@hawaii.edu University of Hawaii ? SOEST
Nearly one-third of CO2 emissions due to human activities enters the world's oceans. By reacting with seawater, CO2 increases the water's acidity, which may significantly reduce the calcification rate of such marine organisms as corals and mollusks. The extent to which human activities have raised the surface level of acidity, however, has been difficult to detect on regional scales because it varies naturally from one season and one year to the next, and between regions, and direct observations go back only 30 years.
Combining computer modeling with observations, an international team of scientists concluded that anthropogenic CO2 emissions over the last 100 to 200 years have already raised ocean acidity far beyond the range of natural variations. The study is published in the January 22 online issue of Nature Climate Change.
The team of climate modelers, marine conservationists, ocean chemists, biologists and ecologists, led by Tobias Friedrich and Axel Timmermann at the International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, came to their conclusions by using Earth system models that simulate climate and ocean conditions 21,000 years back in time, to the Last Glacial Maximum, and forward in time to the end of the 21st century. They studied in their models changes in the saturation level of aragonite (a form of calcium carbonate) typically used to measure of ocean acidification. As acidity of seawater rises, the saturation level of aragonite drops. Their models captured well the current observed seasonal and annual variations in this quantity in several key coral reef regions.
Today's levels of aragonite saturation in these locations have already dropped five times below the pre-industrial range of natural variability. For example, if the yearly cycle in aragonite saturation varied between 4.7 and 4.8, it varies now between 4.2 and 4.3, which based on another recent study may translate into a decrease in overall calcification rates of corals and other aragonite shell-forming organisms by 15%. Given the continued human use of fossil fuels, the saturation levels will drop further, potentially reducing calcification rates of some marine organisms by more than 40% of their pre-industrial values within the next 90 years.
"Any significant drop below the minimum level of aragonite to which the organisms have been exposed to for thousands of years and have successfully adapted will very likely stress them and their associated ecosystems," says lead author Postdoctoral Fellow Tobias Friedrich.
"In some regions, the man-made rate of change in ocean acidity since the Industrial Revolution is hundred times greater than the natural rate of change between the Last Glacial Maximum and pre-industrial times," emphasizes Friedrich. "When Earth started to warm 17,000 years ago, terminating the last glacial period, atmospheric CO2 levels rose from 190 parts per million (ppm) to 280 ppm over 6,000 years. Marine ecosystems had ample time to adjust. Now, for a similar rise in CO2 concentration to the present level of 392 ppm, the adjustment time is reduced to only 100 200 years."
On a global scale, coral reefs are currently found in places where open-ocean aragonite saturation reaches levels of 3.5 or higher. Such conditions exist today in about 50% of the ocean mostly in the tropics. By end of the 21st century this fraction is projected to be less than 5%. The Hawaiian Islands, which sit just on the northern edge of the tropics, will be one of the first to feel the impact.
The study suggests that some regions, such as the eastern tropical Pacific, will be less stressed than others because greater underlying natural variability of seawater acidity helps to buffer anthropogenic changes. The aragonite saturation in the Caribbean and the western Equatorial Pacific, both biodiversity hotspots, shows very little natural variability, making these regions particularly vulnerable to human-induced ocean acidification.
"Our results suggest that severe reductions are likely to occur in coral reef diversity, structural complexity and resilience by the middle of this century," says co-author Professor Axel Timmermann."
###
An animation showing the changes in aragonite surface saturation level from 1800 to 2100 is available at http://iprc.soest.hawaii.edu/users/tobiasf/Outreach/OA/Ocean_Acidification.html. The animation is also playing at the Science on a Sphere in the Jhamandas Watumull Planetarium at the Bishop Museum in Honolulu.
This study was funded by The Nature Conservancy (www.nature.org), the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) through its sponsorship of the International Pacific Research Center, and National Science Foundation grant #0902551.
Citation: T. Friedrich, A. Timmermann, A. Abe-Ouchi, N. R. Bates, M. O. Chikamoto, M. J. Church, J. E. Dore, D. K. Gledhill, M. Gonzlez-Dvila, M. Heinemann, T. Ilyina, J. H. Jungclaus, E. McLeod, A. Mouchet, and J. M. Santana-Casiano: Detecting regional anthropogenic trends in ocean acidification against natural variability. Nature Climate Change - DOI: 10.1038/NCLIMATE1372.
Researcher contacts:
Friedrich, Tobias: International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii; (808) 956-7385; Email: tobiasf@hawaii.edu
Timmermann, Axel: International Pacific Research Center, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii (808) 956-2720; Email axel@hawaii.edu
International Pacific Research Center Media Contact: Gisela E. Speidel (808)956-9252; Email gspeidel@hawaii.edu.
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
New York ? About half of the world's abortions are performed illegally, resulting in dangerous complications and sometimes death
The number of women having unsafe abortions is on the rise, according to a report from the World Health Organization. While the global abortion rate has held steady for most of the past decade, researchers found that countries where the procedure is illegal had much higher rates of women dying from complications. Some women in Africa, for instance, resort to using broken soda bottles or consuming dangerous doses of medicine. "An abortion is actually a very simple and safe procedure," says Gilda Sedgh, the study's lead author. "All of these deaths and complications are easily avoidable." Here's a look at this "deeply disturbing"?trend, by the numbers:
43.8 million Abortions performed worldwide between 2003 and 2008?
SEE MORE: iPhone uproar: Is Siri anti-abortion?
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86 Percentage of worldwide abortions done in developing countries in 2008
1 in 5 Pregnancies that ended in abortion in 2008
SEE MORE: Sending kids to lobby against abortion: 'Cheap exploitation'?
?
49 Percentage of worldwide abortions classified as "unsafe" in 2008
44 Percentage of worldwide abortions classified as "unsafe" in 1995
47,000 Women who died from unsafe abortions in 2008
13? Percentage of maternal deaths worldwide blamed on unsafe abortions
8.5 million Women who had serious medical complications from unsafe abortions in 2008
28 per 1,000 Abortion rate for women aged 15 to 44 from 2003 to 2008, a period during which the rate remained virtually unchanged
12 per 1,000 Abortion rate for Western Europe ? the study's lowest
43 per 1,000 Abortion rate for Eastern Europe ? the study's highest
38 and 36 per 1,000 Abortion rates for Middle and Eastern Africa, respectively
19 per 1,000 Abortion rate in North America
95 to 97 Percentage of abortions in Latin America and Africa classified as "back-street" abortions. Legal restrictions making such procedures more common were "surprisingly associated with higher abortion rates."
Sources: Associated Press, CNN,?The Grio, Lancet
?
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BANGKOK ? One of the world's most endangered turtles has been released into a Cambodian river with a satellite transmitter attached to its shell to track how it will navigate through commercial fishing grounds and other man-made hazards.
The 75-pound (34-kilogram) southern river terrapin ? one of only about 200 adults remaining in the wild ? waddled into the Sre Ambel river in southwestern Cambodia this past week to the cheers of local residents and conservationists.
The New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society said the female terrapin was given to the group last year instead of being sold to traffickers who have decimated the country's population of turtles and other species to cater to demand for exotic wildlife in China.
The southern river terrapin, once considered the sole property of Cambodia's kings, only survives in the wilds of Malaysia, Indonesia and Cambodia, the group said in a statement. The population in the Sre Ambel river is estimated at less than 10 nesting females.
But it said the terrapins there have an excellent chance of recovery because coastal mangrove forests in the region are among the largest and most pristine in Southeast Asia, spanning some 175 square miles (45,000 hectares).
The first-ever satellite monitoring of the species hopes to determine how the turtle will fare among fisherman as well as in areas threatened by sand mining and conversion of mangrove forests into shrimp farms.
A small population of the species was found in 2000 in Sre Ambel after being considered locally extinct for many years.
Following the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge in the mid-1970s which left the country devastated, poor rural dwellers scoured the forests for wildlife, much of which was sold to traders connected to China, where many wild animals ? from turtles to tigers ? are believed to possess medicinal and sex-enhancing properties.
The turtle project is being run by the Wildlife Conservation Society in cooperation with the Cambodian government and Wildlife Reserves Singapore, a zoological enterprise.
DETROIT (AP) ? The government ended its safety investigation into the Chevrolet Volt on Friday after concluding that the Volt and other electric cars don't pose a greater fire risk than gasoline-powered cars.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration began studying the Volt last June after a fire broke out in one of the cars three weeks after it was crashed as part of safety testing. Two other fires occurred later related to separate safety tests, and NHTSA opened an official investigation into the vehicle on Nov. 25.
The agency and General Motors Co. know of no fires in real-world crashes.
GM and federal safety officials say they believe the fires were caused by coolant leaking from damaged plastic casing around the batteries after side-impact collisions. The coolant caused an electrical short, which sparked battery fires seven days to three weeks after the crashes.
GM announced earlier this month that it will add steel plates to about 12,000 existing Volts to protect the batteries in the event of a crash. The company has sold around 8,000 Volts and 4,000 are still for sale. GM is repairing the vehicles for free. NHTSA didn't order the recall, as it sometimes does after a safety investigation.
GM said Friday that NHTSA's decision to close the investigation is consistent with the results of its own internal testing. It said the steel plates will provide additional protection and minimize fire risk in the days and weeks after a crash.
NHTSA said Friday that it "continues to believe that electric vehicles show great promise as a safe and fuel-efficient option," and that based on available data, electric cars don't appear to be riskier than gas-powered ones.
But the agency said electric cars do have some specialized components, and the agency has developed guidelines for firefighters and other responders on how to handle electric cars after a crash.
WASHINGTON?? A billionaire history buff has stepped forward to donate the $7.5 million matching gift that's needed to start repairing cracks near the top of the Washington Monument from last summer's East Coast earthquake.
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Businessman David Rubenstein told The Associated Press he was inspired to help fund the repairs to the 555-foot obelisk when it became clear how severely damaged it was by a 5.8-magnitude quake on Aug. 23. The monument received about 1 million visitors a year before the famous landmark was closed to the public after the quake.
The Park Service hopes to have a contractor begin work by the end of August. The repair work is expected to take a year to complete, likely keeping the monument closed for two years.
Largest gift Congress allocated $7.5 million in December on the condition that private donations would match that amount. The National Park Service and nonprofit Trust for the National Mall are expected to announce Rubenstein's gift Thursday morning. It will be the largest gift to the nonprofit group, which aims to raise $350 million to restore the mall's grounds and facilities.
The combined $15 million in public and private funds is expected to cover the cost of repairing damage directly caused by the quake, said National Park Service spokeswoman Carol Johnson. Repairing water damage will cost more, as would a seismic study or reinforcements to strengthen the obelisk against future earthquakes, she said.
Rubenstein, a co-founder of The Carlyle Group, began building the private equity firm's business in Washington and said he wanted to restore a symbol of the nation and hasten repairs to reopen the landmark.
"This Washington Monument is probably one of the most recognizable buildings in the United States next to the Capitol and the Empire State Building," he said. "It could use a little repair work, and I wanted people to get to see it as soon as possible."
Experts have noted the monument needs more than just a little repair work, though it has been deemed structurally sound.
Extensive repairs needed The August quake was centered some 40 miles west of Richmond, Va., and felt from Canada to Georgia. It damaged the Washington National Cathedral, where pieces of mortar rained down from its vaulted ceiling. At the Washington Monument, panicked visitors fled down flights of stairs on the day of the big shake, but there were no known deaths or serious injuries in the region.
The earthquake caused numerous cracks to form in the obelisk, which was the tallest man-made structure in the world when it was completed in 1884.
Surveillance video taken the day of the quake and later released by the park service showed the spire shaking violently. Daylight could be seen through some of the cracks, the largest of which was reported to be at least 4 feet long and about an inch wide.
A report in December recommended extensive repairs and reinforcements to preserve the spire. It said some marble panels were cracked all the way through near the top portion of the monument. Cracks near its peak also have left the monument vulnerable to water damage from rain, engineers noted.
Last fall, daredevil engineers on a "difficult access team" rappelled from the top to conduct a visual inspection of the exterior of the obelisk.
Officials said it's unclear whether the work will require scaffolding to be built around the monument, similar to what was erected during a restoration project from 1999 to 2001.
'A true patriot' Caroline Cunningham, president of the Trust for the National Mall, called Rubenstein "a true patriot" and said his gift "demonstrates how much people care about this space." She said it should serve as an example for other philanthropists.
There has long been talk of sprucing up the mall at the heart of the nation's capital.
A design competition is under way to develop ways to improve the mall, including the Washington Monument grounds. Finalists will be chosen in May, and the group will seek funding for each project. The nonprofit group has targeted parts of the mall that are run down from over use and neglect as a focus for its restoration efforts.
Rubenstein has made large gifts in recent years to Washington's cultural institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center.
The monument, which he visited recently, was built with private $1 donations eventually totaling over $1 million, Rubenstein said. Construction began in 1848, but funds ran out during the Civil War when the monument was left as an embarrassing stump for years. It was finally completed in 1884 and was the world's tallest man-made structure until it was eclipsed by the Eiffel Tower. It remains the tallest structure in Washington.
Rubenstein owns a copy of the Magna Carta, among other historical documents, and reveres George Washington.
"I like to remind people about American history," Rubenstein said. "George Washington is an incredible figure. When he was the head of the Revolutionary War Army, he could have stayed on as really the head of the government when we won the Revolutionary War, but he put down his arms."
___
Trust for the National Mall: http://www.nationalmall.org
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Public release date: 22-Jan-2012
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