All Global News on One Page

WENATCHEE, Wash. – Blewett the black Labrador retriever knows what it’s like to need a little help. For nearly a week last March, the lost dog barked for attention on Washington’s Blewett Pass, capturing the hearts of dozens of travelers who fed him and tried unsuccessfully to catch him. After he was finally captured, Jay and Janie Smith of Plain, Wash., gave him a home.
Jay Smith said his wife were walking Blewett on a trail above the Wenatchee River on Monday when the dog started barking and raced down the steep bank to sniff an animal near the river’s edge. Janie Smith thought it was a dead bear, but it was an old, arthritic black dog — and it was alive.
The dog’s tags showed it to be Pepper, an 11-year-old dog lost since Saturday. Carol Hurt, who lives nearby, had been baby-sitting Pepper for the weekend. She thinks the old dog was swept away by the river while taking a drink. She calls the rescue “pretty heartwarming.”
___
Information from: The Wenatchee World, http://www.wenworld.com

Los Angeles (E! Online) –
Don't be surprised if Justin Timberlake shows up at the MTV Movie Awards on Sunday.
His Saturday Night Live buddy and frequent collaborator, Andy Samberg, will make his debut as host of this year's big golden popcorn get-together. “I'm calling in all the favors I can,” Samberg told me earlier today while prepping for the show at the Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City.
He said of a potential Timberlake appearance, “We're trying very hard to deliver on that.”
I have much more for you from Samberg. Read on for talk about Twilight, Susan Boyle and, of course, “Dick in a Box.”
Will we see your “Dick in a Box” on the show? How about some “Jizz”?
I swear to you: It's still up in the air.
Your “Dick in a Box” is still up in the air?
My dick is off my body, it's in a box, and that box is floating in space.
I have to tell you that my dream headline for this story is: “Andy Samberg: 'Twilight Makes Me Jizz!' ”
Do you want me to say that?
Yes.
Twilight makes me jizz, man. But will you include that you asked me to say that?
Yeah—I forced Andy Samberg to jizz. OK, how many times have you seen Twilight?
I've seen Twilight once. But I've seen scenes from Twilight many times in my dreams. You know what I mean? In a lot of ways I see Twilight constantly every day, because once you see it, it stays with you forever.
When I reported that the Movie Awards will include a first look at New Moon, fans went crazy. People are insane about it.
They love playing baseball! What's not to love? If you told me that we were going to make this movie about vampires that are really, really good at baseball, I would say, “Sign me on!”
Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob?
Edward all the way.
Why is that?
He's steamy!
See, I didn't ask you to say that!
I never root for the underdog. I always root for the crowd favorite. Big Yankees fan, big Manchester United fan.
I hear you're a big Susan Boyle fan, too.
Oh, yeah! I love Susan Boyle. I came home pretty intoxicated one night and discovered the “I Dreamed a Dream” clip and watched it like seven times in a row and just bawled. Which I think is probably more indicative to the fact that I'm a little stressed out and I'm not acknowledging it.
Or maybe it was just because you were drunk.
I don't generally just cry when I'm drunk; I get drunk and have fun. But it was a joyful cry. It wasn't like upset. For some reason, the combination of her voice and that song and the super over-the-top editing of that show really, really struck a chord with me.
A while ago I was telling folks at MTV that you have to get Susan for the Movie Awards.
Yeah, we tried. I wanted her here. But you know, they've got a pretty strict contract over there.
P. Diddy, who hosted the Video Music Awards in 2005, recently advised you to get drunk for the show. Will you?
I don't want it to mess with the 'shrooms, so I might just stay with one thing.
Mark Burnett [producer of the Movie Awards] just told me he's hoping you will become the permanent host of the show. He said he has always wanted that and you're the guy.
We'll see what happens. I don't ever like to put too much on any one thing, because I'm a great believer in jinxing things.
You must have dreams of hosting the Oscars one day, no?
I don't. I don't expect or believe that my career will ever get to the point where I am a person that's in a position of hosting the Oscars. To be honest, I kind of feel like I fall too lowbrow.
It's possible. I mean, you did win an Emmy for “Dick in a Box.”
Yeah, you're right. I never thought I'd be hosting the Movie Awards either, so who knows?
I was reading some clips about you in USA Today and they referred to it as “Gift in a Box.”
You can just say “D in a Box.” What's wrong with “D in a Box”?
Why can't people just say Dick?
I ask people that every day: Why don't you just say Dick? Not even in reference to the song. Just say Dick.
________
Get More Marc on Twitter @marcmalkin
··· THEY SAID WHAT? Get today's most commented stories now at www.eonline.com

Anxiety’ hitting British workers’
British workers are experiencing panic attacks and insomnia because of stress associated with the economic downturn, a survey has suggested.Norwich Union Healthcare polled 200 GPs, 200 business leaders and 1,000 employees for its Health of the Workplace survey. Half the workers admitted to being stressed, while one in five are suffering depression. A leading GP said people now had better access to talking therapies. The annual Norwich Union healthcare study found workers are putting increasing amounts of time and effort into their jobs. Around half are going into work when they are ill and working longer hours, while just over a third are not taking lunch breaks.
And 33% of the employees questioned said they were offering to take on more responsibility. When the workers were asked about their illness, half said they were suffering from insomnia while a third said they were having migraines and 21% had anxiety attacks and palpitations. Almost a third said they were drinking more and a fifth were smoking more. A third said they were comfort eating, and 11% said they were self-medicating with over-the-counter medicines. Of the GPs questioned, almost half said they have seen their patients’ use of alcohol and drug increase, and 89% expect levels of depression and requests for anti-depressants to dramatically increase this year. And more than nine out of 10 of the GPs and 80% of employers polled predicted that stress-related illness will be the most critical occupational health issue of 2009. ‘Far-reaching effects’But even though 97% of business leaders agree the health status of staff impacts upon productivity, only 1% said they planned to introduce new health measures in 2009. Dr Douglas Wright, head of clinical governance at Norwich Union Healthcare, said: “On top of the adverse mental effects of stress itself, an unhealthy diet, limited exercise and increased levels of smoking and drinking could have far-reaching and long-term effects on both the nation’s health and the UK economy.” Professor Steve Field, president of the Royal College of GPs, said: “We are seeing an increase in anxiety and stress due to the economic situation. “But we are very pleased that the Department of Health has invested in increasing access to talking psychological therapies becasue that means we’ll be able to help patients more than ever before.”

Source:BBC

Chelsea and Everton set for final
FA Cup FinalVenue: Wembley Stadium Date: Saturday, 30 May Kick-off: 1500 BSTCoverage: Live on ITV1, Setanta Sports. Full commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC London 94.9 FM, DAB & online and BBC Radio Merseyside 95.8 FM, 1485 MW and DAB and online; Text commentary on BBC Sport website & mobiles
Frank Lampard has given Chelsea a boost by declaring himself fit for Saturday’s FA Cup final against Everton.The England midfielder sat out last week’s win over Sunderland with a knock but will start at Wembley, with Alex and Juliano Belletti (virus) also fit. Everton have also received good news on the injury front, with Phil Neville and Steven Pienaar fully fit following recent worries over hamstring problems. That should enable David Moyes to deploy his favoured 4-5-1 formation. The 128th FA Cup final, the 75th to be held at Wembley, pits two of England’s form sides against each other.

Chelsea have suffered only one defeat in 21 games under manager Guus Hiddink, while three wins and a draw in their last four games helped the Toffees secure a top-six finish for the fourth season in five. It is Hiddink’s side who start as favourites, though, with the Londoners desperate to mark the Dutchman’s final match in charge with a trophy before he resumes as manager of national side Russia in the summer. Chelsea reached the final courtesy of a semi-final defeat of Arsenal at the same ground, while Everton beat champions Manchester United on penalties.
And the Toffees will be keen to upset the odds again on Saturday and secure what would be a sixth FA Cup trophy. Their hopes of doing so may rest heavily on the shoulders of midfielder Tim Cahill, who has once again proven himself a key figure for Everton this season and who has been labelled the club’s “new Alan Ball” by chairman Bill Kenwright. “The first game David (Moyes) and me went to see a player, Tim Cahill was just mesmeric,” said Kenwright. “I recall him coming into my office once to just tell me how much he wanted to play for Everton. That was a great thrill for me. “He is the prince of footballers, he is the new Alan Ball.

“He has the true spirit of Everton, the one who epitomises the never-say-die attitude of the whole squad.” Chelsea full-back Ashley Cole, meanwhile, could become the first player for more than 100 years to win five FA Cup winners medals, having won the trophy three times with Arsenal and again with Chelsea in 2007. “It would be a great milestone if I could get it,” said the left-back. “I would be honoured to have the record. It’s a great trophy to win and I would be delighted to win it five times.” Chelsea (from): Cech, Hilario, Bosingwa, Alex, Terry, Ivanovic, Carvalho, A Cole, Lampard, Obi, Ballack, Essien, Kalou, Malouda, Drogba, Anelka, Stoch, Di Santo, Deco, Mancienne. Everton (from): Howard, Hibbert, Yobo, Lescott, Baines, Osman, Neville, Cahill, Pienaar, Rodwell, Saha, Fellaini, Nash, Castillo, Vaughan, Jacobsen, Gosling, Baxter.
BIG-MATCH FACTS
Chelsea and Everton clash in the 128th FA Cup final, and the fifth ‘north versus south’ showpiece in six years. It is the 75th FA Cup final to be staged at Wembley Stadium and the third since its redevelopment into the largest all-covered football stadium in the world. These clubs have won the cup nine times between them, but have never met in the final. Both are chasing their first major piece of silverware since last lifting the trophy; Chelsea, for the fourth time in 2007 and Everton for the fifth occasion in 1995. Both managers are pursuing their first major trophy with their current clubs. David Moyes has never experienced victory over Chelsea in any competition as Everton manager; Guus Hiddick has a final opportunity to win something with Chelsea in three and a half months in temporary charge. In each of the last four seasons, the club knocking out Middlesbrough has gone on to finish runners-up in the competition. Everton ousted the Teessiders in the quarter-finals. It is 16 years since both teams competing in an FA Cup final at Wembley have both scored. This year’s final is being held later in the year than ever before. The previous latest (excluding replays) was 25 May 1963 when Manchester United beat Leicester City 3-1. This is an “all-blue” final, but Chelsea will be wearing all yellow for this match, while Everton will be sporting blue shirts, white shorts and white socks. The winners will receive 2m from the E.On sponsored prize fund; the runners-up 1m. The League ladderChelsea finished the Premier League season in third place, with 25 wins and 83 points; Everton were fifth, with 17 wins and 63 points. RefereeHoward Webb (South Yorkshire) The 37-year-old from Rotherham, says being in charge of this match is the culmination of a lifelong dream. Webb was the fourth official at the first final back at Wembley two years ago, and controlled last season’s semi-final between West Brom and Portsmouth, also at Wembley. In 42 league and cup games this season, Webb has brandished 133 yellow cards and five red. The total of 138 works out at an average of 3.29 cards per game. Assistants: Michael Mullarkey and David Richardson Fourth official: Martin Atkinson
CHELSEA
Current formWon their last three matches – all in the Premier League – with an aggregate of 9-3. Undefeated in 13; won nine and drawn four since losing 1-0, away to Tottenham in the top-flight on 21 March – their only loss in 23 league and cup matches. FA Cup historyThis is their ninth appearance in the final; won in 1970, 1997, 2000 and 2007, and runners-up in 1915, 1967, 1994 and 2002. They are bidding to become the fifth club to win the cup at least five times. Kept 122 clean sheets in 351 matches in the history of the competition. This season’s FA Cup runAvoided Premier League opposition, until overcoming Arsenal 2-1 in the semi-final. League One Southend was the only team to take them to a replay, after drawing 1-1 at Stamford Bridge in the third round. Scored more goals in this season’s competition proper than any other club (15). Their aggregate on this run so far is 15-5, and their top scorer is Nicolas Anelka with four, including a hat-trick against Watford in the fifth round. Anelka is the competition’s joint top scorer, with Robin van Persie of Arsenal. The ManagerGuus Hiddink won Holland’s equivalent of the FA Cup, the KNVB Cup, four times as coach of PSV Eindhoven. Those successes in 1988, 1989, 1990 and 2005 came in two spells at the Dutch club. Hiddink is Chelsea’s third manager since they last won the FA Cup two years ago. FA Cup factsPlayed in the last final at the old Wembley, and the first at the new Wembley. Gianluca Vialli’s side beat Aston Villa 1-0 in 2000. Roberto Di Matteo’s winner was the last FA Cup goal to be scored before the twin towers were dismantled. Didier Drogba’s 116th minute goal proved sufficient two years ago against Manchester United. His was therefore the first FA Cup goal to be scored under the Wembley arch. When Chelsea first lifted the trophy by beating Leeds 2-1 in a replay at Old Trafford in 1970, the TV audience was 28.49m. It is thought that only the Apollo 13 moon landing attracted higher viewing figures in that decade.
EVERTON
Current formEnded the Premier League season with three wins and a draw in their last four matches. An odd goal in three defeat to Manchester City at Goodison Park on 25 April is their only loss in nine league and cup outings. Not lost on the road since 21 March; 2-1, against Portsmouth. FA Cup historyThis is their 13th appearance in the final; won in 1906, 1933, 1966, 1984 and 1995, and runners-up in 1893, 1897, 1907, 1968, 1985, 1986 and 1989. Defeat would see them setting a new unwanted record by becoming the first club to lose eight FA Cup finals. Scored 711 goals in their 394 matches in the history of the competition; only Aston Villa (802 goals), Manchester United (738), Tottenham (732) and Blackburn (722) have scored more. This season’s FA Cup runHad a tough route to this end-of-season showpiece. After winning 0-1 at League Two Macclesfield, the Toffees had to hold Merseyside rivals Liverpool at Anfield, before dismissing the Reds, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough – all at Goodison. They then brought an end to Manchester United’s dreams of the quintuple. After a goalless 120 minutes in the semi-finals, Everton prevailed 4-2 in the penalty shoot-out. Keeper Tim Howard pulled off two great saves, before Phil Jagielka converted the decisive spot-kick to gain a place in their first final in 14 years. The ManagerDavid Moyes has experienced winning and losing in a Wembley final. He was a member of the victorious Bristol City side that defeated Bolton in the final of the Freight Rover Trophy in 1986. A year later Moyes again played for Bristol City in the final of the same competition. They drew 1-1 with Mansfield after extra time, and then lost 5-4 on penalties. Since being appointed in March 2002, the 46 year Glasgow-born boss has selected a Toffees’ side 20 times to face Chelsea. Seven of those matches were drawn, and 13 lost. Of those, two were in the FA Cup, in the fourth round in 2006. It was the only time an FA Cup tie between these two clubs needed a replay. Moyes’ only experience of a final as a manager was in the 2001 Division One play-off final in which his club Preston North End lost 3-0 to Bolton Wanderers, at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium. FA Cup factJoe Royle was at the helm when Everton last won the Cup 14 years ago, and Paul Rideout famously scored the only goal, against Manchester United. Everton’s 1-0 defeat to West Bromwich Albion in 1968 was the first FA Cup final to be televised in colour.
HEAD to HEAD
All competitionsEverton have not beaten Chelsea in the last 22 of their 156 meetings. Chelsea have won 14 and drawn eight in the Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup since Everton’s 2-1 home league victory on 25 November 2000. Only once in those 22 games have Everton scored more than one goal in a game; the 2-3 home league defeat on 17 December 2006. This season’s two Premier League meetings were both goalless draws. FA CupChelsea have won five and lost two of the seven previous times that the clubs have been paired together in the competition. Their first meeting was in the semi-finals in 1915; Chelsea won 2-0 at Villa Park and went on to lose to Sheffield United in the final. Everton have not knocked out the Londoners since a 1-0 fifth round victory in 1956, when Peter Farrell scored the winner. Their only previous victory, in 1938, was also by a 0-1 margin. Their most recent meeting in the competition was in the fourth round in 2006, when Chelsea prevailed 4-1 in a replay at Stamford Bridge; their largest winning margin against Everton in the competition. Jose Mourinho’s side lost to Liverpool in the semi-finals that season.
KEY PLAYER NOTES
CHELSEAIf selected:-Ashley COLE will be appearing in his sixth FA Cup final having played for Arsenal in 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2005 and for Chelsea in 2007. Only Arthur Kinnaird, Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs have played in more than six FA Cup finals. COLE will be aiming for a fifth FA Cup final winners’ medal, a total not achieved since the 1890s. Didier DROGBA has played in four domestic finals in England and scored in all four. He scored the winning goal in the 2005 League Cup final and both goals in Chelsea’s 2007 League Cup final victory. He also netted the winner in the 2007 FA Cup final and Chelsea’s goal when they lost to Tottenham Hotspur in the 2008 League Cup final. This will be DROGBA’S fourth match at the new Wembley Stadium and he has scored in the previous three, the aforementioned 2007 FA Cup final and 2008 League Cup final and the winning goal in this year’s FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal. Nicolas ANELKA will play in his second FA Cup final, 11 years after his first, a 2-0 win for Arsenal over Newcastle United in 1998 in which he scored the second goal becoming the third youngest goal scorer in an FA Cup final (19 years 63 days old). If ANELKA scores here, he will be only the fourth player to net FA Cup final goals for two different clubs. EVERTONIf selected:-Goalkeeper Tim HOWARD will be the first American to play in two FA Cup finals, as he was in goal for Manchester United in 2004. John Harkes (1993) is the only other American FA Cup finalist. Phil NEVILLE played in three FA Cup finals (1996, 1999, 2004) as a Manchester United player and won all three. Victory against Chelsea will put him in a select group of 11 players who have won the competition four times including his former teammates Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs. Marouane FELLANI will be only the second Belgian to play in an FA Cup final and the first for 22 years since Tottenham Hotspur’s Nico Claesen in 1987. Tim CAHILL played in the Millwall team which lost the 2004 FA Cup final against Manchester United. Shortly afterwards, Cahill signed for his current club. Louis SAHA has missed four previous FA Cup finals for various reasons. In 1999, he was not selected by Newcastle United. As a Manchester United player, he missed the 2005 and 2007 finals because of injury and was cup-tied in 2004 having played earlier in the competition for Fulham. Big Match Facts were compiled by Peter Robinson, with additional information supplied by Infostrada Sports

Source:BBC

OKLAHOMA CITY – Confronted by two holdup men, pharmacist Jerome Ersland pulled a gun, shot one of them in the head and chased the other away. Then, in a scene recorded by the drugstore’s security camera, he went behind the counter, got another gun, and pumped five more bullets into the wounded teenager as he lay on the floor.
Now Ersland has been charged with first-degree murder in a case that has stirred a furious debate over vigilante justice and self-defense and turned the pharmacist into something of a folk hero.
Ersland, 57, is free on 100,000 bail, courtesy of an anonymous donor. He has won praise from the pharmacy’s owner, received an outpouring of cards, letters and checks from supporters, and become the darling of conservative talk radio.
“His adrenaline was going. You’re just thinking of survival,” said John Paul Hernandez, 60, a retired Defense Department employee who grew up in the neighborhood. “All it was is defending your employee, business and livelihood. If I was in that position and that was me, I probably would have done the same thing.”
District Attorney David Prater said Ersland was justified in shooting 16-year-old Antwun Parker once in the head, but not in firing the additional shots into his belly. The prosecutor said the teenager was unconscious, unarmed, lying on his back and posing no threat when Ersland fired what the medical examiner said were the fatal shots.
Anthony Douglas, president of the Oklahoma chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, called it an “execution-style murder” and praised the district attorney for bringing charges. Ersland is white; the two suspects were black.
Parker’s parents also expressed relief that Ersland faces a criminal charge.
“He didn’t have to shoot my baby like that,” Parker’s mother, Cleta Jennings, told TV station KOCO.
But many of those who have seen the video of the May 19 robbery attempt at Reliable Discount Pharmacy have concluded the teenager in the ski mask got what he deserved.
Mark Shannon, who runs a conservative talk show on Oklahoma City’s KTOK, said callers have jammed his lines this week in support of Ersland, a former Air Force lieutenant colonel who wears a back brace on the job and told reporters he is a disabled veteran of the Gulf War.
“There is no gray area,” Shannon said. One caller “said he should have put all the shots in the head.”
Don Spencer, a 49-year-old National Rifle Association member who lives in the small town of Meridian, 40 miles north of Oklahoma City, said the pharmacist did the right thing: “You shoot more than enough to make sure the threat has been removed.”
Barbara Bergman, past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law, likened the public reaction to that of the case of Bernard Goetz, the New Yorker who shot four teenagers he said were trying to rob him when they asked for 5 on a subway in 1984.
Goetz was cleared of attempted murder and assault but convicted of illegal gun possession and served 8 1/2 months in jail.
Bergman said those who claim they used deadly force in self-defense have to show they were “in reasonable fear of serious bodily injury.”
The pharmacy is in a crime-ridden section of south Oklahoma City and had been robbed before.
The video shows two men bursting in, one of them pointing a gun at Ersland and two women working with the druggist behind the counter. Ersland fires a pistol, driving the gunman from the store and hitting Parker in the head as he puts on a ski mask.
Ersland chases the second man outside, then goes back inside, walks behind the counter with his back to Parker, gets a second handgun and opens fire.
Irven Box, Ersland’s attorney, noted the outpouring of support for the pharmacist, including 2,000 in donations, and said: “I feel very good 12 people would not determine he committed murder in the first degree.”
Under Oklahoma’s “Make My Day Law” — passed in the late 1980s and named for one of Clint Eastwood’s most famous movie lines — people can use deadly force when they feel threatened by an intruder inside their homes. In 2006, Oklahoma’s “Stand Your Ground Law” extended that to anywhere a citizen has the right to be, such as a car or office.
“It’s a ‘Make-My-Day’ case,” Box said. “This guy came in, your money or your life. Mr. Ersland said, `You’re not taking my life.’” The gunman “forfeited his life.”
Box said that another person might have reacted differently, but he asked: “When do you turn off that adrenaline switch? When do you think you’re safe? I think that’s going to be the ultimate issue.”
If convicted, Ersland could be sentenced to life in prison with or without parole, or receive the death penalty.
The 14-year-old boy accused of wielding the gun in the robbery was arrested Thursday. The district attorney said he will seek murder charges against the teenager, a man accused of being the getaway driver, and another man suspected of helping talk the teens into the crime.

LONDON – Can she do it? Or will she crack?
It’s testing time for Susan Boyle, the Cinderella-like Scottish church volunteer who may or may not be a world-class singer. She goes on stage Saturday night in the finals of “Britain’s Got Talent,” even as tabloid newspapers call her a foul-mouthed lout and some critics suggest she isn’t all that great at the microphone.
All this untested amateur singer who suffers from learning disabilities has to do now is outshine nine other tough competitors on live television in front of millions of viewers in Britain and a huge Internet audience around the world.
The pressure would rattle a pro — even Aretha Franklin admits she wasn’t at her best at President Barack Obama’s inauguration — and there are signs Boyle is feeling the heat.
Already this week she lost her cool during a confrontation with two reporters that saw the police intervene, and, according to one contest judge, contemplated pulling out of the competition to soothe her frazzled nerves.
Judge Piers Morgan has called for everyone to back off and give Boyle room to breathe. He said she would carry on, no matter what.
“She is one tough lady who has had to fight since the day she was born,” he wrote on his blog Friday. “There is no way she’s going to quit now as some of the papers seem to be suggesting, trust me.”
“Britain’s Got Talent” has mesmerized Britain all week as a bizarre range of competitors vie for the finals.
The last two finalists will be chosen Friday night under complex rules that give both call-in voters and the three celebrity judges a say. All 10 finalists then compete Saturday, with the winner announced at the end of the show. The prize: 159,000 and a chance to perform before Queen Elizabeth II at the Royal Variety Show.
It won’t be shown live in the United States, or streamed over the Internet, meaning U.S. fans will have to rely on video sharing sites like YouTube, where videos will be posted by fans and by the show’s producers once it ends at 5 p.m. EDT Saturday.
Boyle sailed through her last test — a performance Sunday of “Memory” from “Cats” — although she started poorly and did not seem to captivate the audience as much as in her first round, when no one knew her dowdy looks masked a soaring, evocative voice.
But the competition is real — and if there is more evidence of diva-like behavior in the run-up to the performance, Boyle risks breaking the almost mystical bond she enjoys with the British public.
If that happens, voters could easily swing to an incredibly cute, talented soul singer, Shaheen Jafargholi, who’s only 12, or teenage heartthrob Shaun Smith, whose has the easy good looks of a male lead in a Disney movie.
They could also be swayed by the schmaltzy appeal of John Neill and Sallie Lax, a granddad and granddaughter singing duo known as 2 Grand. It’s hard not to be moved when Neill talks about how he is wearing his late wife’s wedding ring on a pendant underneath his tuxedo.
And the judges seemed quite taken with finalist Julian Smith, a handsome saxophonist in the soft, Kenny G style.
There are also several dance acts, including a two-man comedy team that performs shirtless and in skirts.
Boyle became a favorite to win the competition almost immediately after her first appearance in April. Her frumpy appearance drew condescending looks from the judges — who include Simon Cowell of “American Idol” fame — and the studio audience, but her voice silenced the doubters and turned her into an Internet sensation.
Videos of her performance of “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables” are the fifth most-watched in YouTube history, viewed more than 220 million times, said industry watcher Matt Fiorentino of Visible Measures, a Massachusetts firm. The video of her second performance is nearly as popular.
Not to mention the traffic on Twitter, which was filled Friday with speculation about whether Boyle could lose or fall apart.
Industry analysts point out that FremantleMedia Enterprises, which owns the digital rights to the show, has failed to capitalize on the unprecedented demand for video clips of the show.
Eliot Van Buskirk, a writer for Wired.com who covers the industry, thinks a unique commercial opportunity was missed.
“This video of Susan Boyle is quickly becoming the most viewed video of all-time — and nobody’s making money,” said Van Buskirk. “It’s been sort of a growing pains stage of ad-supported media.”
Rebecca Perfect, a spokeswoman with Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, which is handling publicity for FremantleMedia Enterprises, would not comment on whether the company has struck a new deal allowing it to profit from the video clips.
“We’re not having any comment on that,” she said.
The majority of the hits received by videos of Boyle were unofficial uploads by fans. None of the videos carried advertising. But the producers have built global brand recognition for the show.
Hunter Walk, a product manager for YouTube, credited “Britain’s Got Talent” and its producers for thinking “very new media” about their content and moving quickly to distribute it.
“To the show’s credit, they immediately got the sense that their audience is worldwide and that’s why they chose to quickly partner with YouTube to get this content out there,” said Walk. “They worked with us to get this content up immediately after broadcast.”
Boyle’s life story — she cared for her widowed mother for years, lives alone with her cat Pebbles in one of Scotland’s poorest regions and said she’s never been kissed — also helped win over the world’s media.
Psychologist David Wilson warned in the Daily Mail Friday that a woman of Boyle’s background would have difficulty coping with the intense media focus, which has turned her — for this week, at least — into one of the most famous, and hunted, women on the planet.
He said she was “a psychological lamb to the slaughter.”
___
Associated Press writers Jake Coyle in New York and Raphael G. Satter in London contributed to this report.
___
On the Net:

http://talent.itv.com/?ps

Los Angeles (E! Online) –
Mum's the word for American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert's mother until he's ready to talk—and word is, he's finally ready.
“I would rather not answer until it comes out,” Leila Lambert said in a phone interview with E! News regarding Adam's reported upcoming announcement to Rolling Stone that he is indeed gay.
But that's not the real shocker. Check out what she has to say about the behind-the-scenes antics of the Idol camp…
Leila says she also signed a contract with American Idol and is not allowed to discuss her son's personal life anyway without their permission.
“We signed a contract with Idol and unless it has been set up by them, I'm not allowed to answer,” says Leila.
We couldn't reach Idol reps at press time for comment.
··· THEY SAID WHAT? Get today's most commented stories now at www.eonline.com

Mexico seizes five in drugs swoop
Mexican police have arrested five alleged members of one of the country’s most powerful drugs cartels.Authorities say the five belong to the La Familia cartel, which controls drugs trafficking in the state of Michoacan. They were arrested in a raid on a restaurant in a Pacific coastal town in the southern state of Guerrero. The arrests come three days after 27 officials, including 10 mayors, from Michoacan were arrested for alleged links to La Familia. The cartel infiltrating local police “above all” police spokesman Rodolfo Cruz Lopez told the AFP news agency. “It is also starting to permeate higher levels.” Mexico’s security ministry said the latest raid took place in the small town of Petacalco, which authorities say is a strategic drugs trafficking site being close to the Pacific ports of Lazaro Cardenas and Zihuatanejo. Violent reputationThe La Familia cartel is considered to be one of the most violent drug gangs in Mexico. Among those detained in the previous wave of arrests was the mayor of Uruapan, which made headlines in 2006 when hitmen dumped five human heads on the dance floor of a bar. The western state of Michoacan was chosen by President Felipe Calderon to launch his military offensive against the cartels in 2006. Tens of thousands of troops have since been deployed throughout the country to tackle drugs-related violence which has claimed the lives of nearly 9,000 people in the last two years.

Source:BBC

DALLAS – Southwest Airlines Co., which has bashed competitors for charging fees, said Friday it will add new fees for passengers who bring small pets onboard and for unaccompanied minors.
It will also raise the charge for checking a third piece of luggage or an overweight bag.
Other airlines have raised hundreds of millions of dollars since last year with new fees that include charges for checking one or two pieces of luggage and talking to reservations agents on the phone.
Southwest fired back by spending heavily on television commercials that blasted other airlines for charging “hidden fees.” Southwest officials said they were winning customers turned off by the new bag fees.
On Friday, Southwest officials defended their own new fees, which Chief Executive Gary Kelly called “just the starting point” for more changes later this year.
“It is always our goal to be upfront with our customers and to set the right customer expectations,” Kelly said. “Our changes today associate a charge for items that are truly an extra service.”
Southwest has lost money the last three quarters, and it has joined all other airlines in searching for new revenue, a job made more difficult by a downturn in travel during the recession.
Southwest already charges for checking three or more pieces of luggage and for cocktails, and it is testing onboard Internet access for a fee. Kelly hinted last month that new fees were coming, while insisting they wouldn’t be “hidden,” by which he seemed to mean fees on first and second checked bags.
“It’s disingenuous on our part to say that there are no, quote, fees,” Kelly said last month. “We just try to be as honest and straightforward and have the right expectation with our customers on fees as we can.”
Kelly said hidden fees are ones “that people don’t think are right.”
Starting with flights on June 17, Southwest will let small dogs and cats onboard — now only service animals are allowed — for 75 each way.
The Dallas-based discount airline will also begin charging 25 each way for unaccompanied children ages 5 through 11. That fee will apply to tickets bought after May 31 for travel June 17 or later.
And the fee for a third checked bag or a bag over 50 pounds but less than 71 pounds will rise to 50 from 25. Like JetBlue, Southwest still doesn’t charge for the first two checked bags.
Veteran travel industry expert Terry Trippler said the new fees probably won’t upset too many Southwest travelers.
“The fees for pets is something all airlines have — in fact, some are close to 150 one way, so at 75 Southwest is pretty low,” Trippler said. Likewise, he said many airlines charge more for unaccompanied minors.
Trippler said bump in third-bag fee might cause some groaning, but Southwest said only 1 percent of travelers check a third bag.

HARDIN, Mont. – On Capitol Hill, politicians are dead-set against transferring some of the world’s most feared terrorists from Guantanamo to prisons on U.S. soil. But at City Hall in this impoverished town on the Northern Plains, the attitude is: Bring ‘em on.
Hardin, a dusty town of 3,400 people so desperate that it built a 27 million jail a couple of years ago in the vain hope it would be a moneymaker, is offering to house hundreds of Gitmo detainees at the empty, never-used institution.
The medium-security jail was conceived as a holding facility for drunks and other scofflaws, but town leaders said it could be fortified with a couple of guard towers and some more concertina wire. Apart from that, it is a turnkey operation, fully outfitted with everything from cafeteria trays and sweatsocks to 88 surveillance cameras.
“Holy smokes — the amount of soldiers and attorneys it would bring here would be unbelievable,” Clint Carleton said as he surveyed his mostly empty restaurant, Three Brothers Pizza. “I’m a lot more worried about some sex offender walking my streets than a guy that’s a world-class terrorist. He’s not going to escape, pop into the IGA (supermarket), grab a six-pack and go sit in the park.”
After Hardin’s six-member council passed a resolution last month in favor of taking the Guantanamo detainees, Montana’s congressional delegation was quick to pledge it would never happen.
Notwithstanding the reputation of Montanans as Second Amendment-loving gun owners, they said that putting terrorists on Montana soil could invite attacks from the detainees’ sympathizers.
“These Gitmo guys, they’re a scary bunch,” said Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat. “You’ve got to realize what you’re getting into.”
Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer said this week that it is every state’s obligation to do its part in addressing terrorism. But he dismissed Hardin’s jail as not up to the task.
A White House spokesman on Thursday declined to comment on Hardin’s proposal and said there has been no decision on what to do with the detainees.
The jail’s No. 1 promoter, Greg Smith, executive director of Hardin’s economic development agency, said the Two Rivers Detention Center could easily be retrofitted to increase security. And while the town hasn’t had its own police force since the 1970s, Smith said the jail’s well-armed neighbors would constitute an “unofficial redneck patrol.”
While some townspeople welcome the idea as a way to produce jobs and put the jail to use, others worry that it would be too dangerous.
One of the jail’s neighbors, Bill Eshleman — a 72-year-old retired postal worker who said he keeps his .30-06 hunting rifle loaded and ready — said the detainees would invite trouble, and he would rather see them sent back where they came from.
But he joked that his rifle was “very accurate,” and backed up the claim by pointing to a pronghorn antelope head propped along his fenceline, a trophy from last hunting season.
His wife, Clara, squirmed uncomfortably in the face of her husband’s bravado, and said she is dead-set against Hardin becoming America’s Gitmo. As a matter of civic pride, she said she wants to put bad guys in the jail to relieve the town of what has become a community embarrassment.
“But not the Gitmos,” she said. “They’re the worst of the worst.”
Hardin — situated about an hour’s drive from Billings on the edge of the Crow Indian Reservation, not far from the Little Bighorn, where Custer made his last stand — is beset with high unemployment and a poverty rate double the national average. It built the 464-bed jail on spec — that is, with no contracts lined up ahead of time to take prisoners.
Attempts to bring offenders, out-of-state criminals and federal inmates to Hardin have all failed, and the bonds issued to pay for construction are now in default.
Some prison agencies, including the Montana Corrections Department, have said the jail does not meet their design and security standards, in part because of its dormitory-style rooms and lack of an exercise yard. Others said they had no need for the jail or selected a competing proposal.
Inside its concrete walls, orange jumpsuits, rubber sandals and stacks of white tube socks weigh down the shelves of the storeroom. Computers, phones and video monitors line the tables in the control room. In the cafeteria, stacks of plastic trays and cooking utensils wait to be put to use.
Mayor Ron Adams said the jail could generate up to 300,000 a year for Hardin’s coffers if it were to open. That is about 20 percent of the town’s annual budget. It would also create more than 100 jobs.
Some townspeople — whether they like the idea or not — doubt it will come to pass.
“I saw on the news last night that there are only three prisons in the country that could hold them, maximum-security prisons. So what’s this little one-horse deal? There ain’t a chance in hell,” said Bill Moehr, 77, a former cattle ranch manager who lives next to the jail.
Bonnie Kennedy, a 60-year-old convenience store clerk who also lives next door, chuckled when asked if she thought terrorists would be moving in any time soon.
“Like that’s going to ever happen. But it did put us back on the map,” she said. “I can’t say I like it, but it might get us some interest from somebody who could actually use it.”

JAKARTA (AFP) –
A massive underwater mountain discovered off the Indonesian island of Sumatra could be a volcano with potentially catastrophic power, a scientist said Friday.
Indonesian government marine geologist Yusuf Surachman said the mountain was discovered earlier this month about 330 kilometres (205 miles) west of Bengkulu city during research to map the seabed's seismic faultlines.
The cone-shaped mountain is 4,600 metres (15,100 feet) high, 50 kilometres in diameter at its base and its summit is 1,300 metres below the surface, he said.
“It looks like a volcano because of its conical shape but it might not be. We have to conduct further investigations,” he told AFP.
He denied reports that researchers had confirmed the discovery of a new volcano, insisting that at this stage it could only be described as a “seamount” of the sort commonly found around the world.
“Whether it's active or dangerous, who knows?” he added.
The ultra-deep geological survey was conducted with the help of French scientists and international geophysical company CGGVeritas.
The scientists hope to gain a clearer picture of the undersea lithospheric plate boundaries and seafloor displacement in the area, the epicentre of the catastrophic Asian quake and tsunami of 2004.
The tsunami killed more than 220,000 people across Asia, including 168,000 people in Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra.
Indonesia is on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.

Britons to return from Zimbabwe
More than 60 British passport holders, reduced to poverty in Zimbabwe, are to be repatriated to Britain over the next few weeks.They are the first successful applicants to a UK government scheme to resettle elderly and vulnerable people unable to afford the move themselves. All their savings were lost in years of hyper-inflation in Zimbabwe. The government says it may eventually have to pay for the return of 750 of its citizens. The scheme is available to people aged over 70 with medical or care needs. Bags packedFred Noble has lived in Zimbabwe for 51 years, but is now packing his bags for the move back to Britain this weekend. He had built up a good pension fund working on the railways, but is now almost destitute. “I got sick, had to go to a private hospital and pay all the expenses myself. I had to sell my flat,” he said.
“One day you are very well off, and the next day you are a poor man.” Inflation in Zimbabwe, which at one point reached 231m per cent, made pensions, savings and investments worthless. British local government minister John Healy says the number of enquiries went up after last year’s presidential election in Zimbabwe. “People were looking for help, particularly as the economy was still collapsing, the health care system, food supplies were getting more difficult,” he said. With the new unity government in power, the economy in Zimbabwe is beginning to stabilise. But it has come too late for Mr Noble. “I’ll miss this,” he said. “Wonderful years. But I am not a young man any more, and I am going home to die – that is how I look at it. I came to a beautiful country and I will remember it as that.”

Source:BBC

WASHINGTON (AFP) –
A huge volcanic eruption in China some 260 million years ago led to the sudden extermination of marine life clear around the world, British paleontologists announced, in a report being published this week in the journal Science.
The researchers were able to pinpoint the exact timing of the massive eruption thanks to a layer of fossilized rock which showed mass extinction of different life forms — clearly linking the volcanic blasts to a major environmental catastrophe.
“The abrupt extinction of marine life we can clearly see in the fossil record firmly links giant volcanic eruptions with global environmental catastrophe,” said Paul Wignall, a professor and palaeontologist at the University of Leeds, who was the lead author of the research paper in the May 29 edition of Science.
The eruption in southwest China unleashed about a half million cubic kilometers of lava, covering an area five times the size of Wales, according to the research by scientists at the British university.
The mass extinction of ocean life came about because of the collision of fast flowing lava with shallow sea water, which caused a violent explosion at the start of the eruptions and threw huge quantities of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere.
“When fast flowing, low viscosity magma meets shallow sea … there's spectacular explosion producing gigantic clouds of steam,” Wignall said.

WASHINGTON – For a health food nut, President Barack Obama sure likes his burgers.
Obama made a surprise lunchtime stop at Five Guys, a fast-food restaurant in Washington.
The president ordered a cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, jalapeno peppers, and mustard as well as several other cheeseburgers to go. He also ordered a cheeseburger for Brian Williams, news anchor for NBC. The network was filming a day-in-the-life program at the White House.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the president wasn’t showing off for the cameras.
“I can assure you it was done simply for the benefit of the appetite of the commander in chief,” Gibbs said.
The president snacked on peanuts, and chatted with surprised customers while he waited for his order.
There are “more problems than we thought,” Obama told a man who asked him about his first months in office.
Early this month, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden took a short motorcade ride from the White House to Virginia and ordered lunch at a small independent restaurant called Ray’s Hell Burger.
Gibbs joked that while the cheeseburgers at the White House are pretty good, the president likes to “get out of the gate a little bit.”
First lady Michelle Obama has also proven herself to be a burger fan. She recently said she snuck out to a Five Guys restaurant without anyone noticing.
Despite their burger runs, the Obamas are big believers in exercise and healthy eating.
The first lady has started a vegetable garden at the White House. Some of the crops will be served to the Obamas and to White House staff and guests, while some will be donated to a local soup kitchen.

FORT MYERS, Fla. – Authorities in south Florida say a homeless man beheaded a good Samaritan who had given him a place to stay. Lee County Sheriff’s deputies went to 70-year-old Charles Rogers’ apartment Thursday and found his body still in his wheelchair. His head had been placed near the front door.
Police say a home health care provider identified 55-year-old Robert Cope as the man who had been staying with Rogers. Neighbors say Rogers was a good Samaritan-type who often helped people.
Authorities say they found Cope’s shoe prints at the scene and he had blood on his shoes when they arrested him.
He is charged with second-degree murder and being held without bond. The jail where he was being held did not know if he has an attorney.

NEW YORK – A spokesman for Columbia Pictures says Angelina Jolie is back on the set of her latest movie after a brief trip to the hospital for a minor bump to the head.
Jolie sustained the injury Friday while filming an action sequence on Long Island in New York, where her upcoming thriller “Salt” is being shot.
Studio Spokesman Steve Elzer says the actress was taken to a local hospital, examined and released as a precautionary measure.
Elzer says she was back on the set Friday and production has resumed.

WASHINGTON – The White House says Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor acknowledges she made a poor word choice in a 2001 speech in which she said that a Latina judge would often reach a better conclusion than a white male judge who hasn’t lived the same life.
That’s according to presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs. He says he has not talked directly to Sotomayor about it but has spoken to people who have.
Critics have singled out the 2001 comment by Sotomayor for criticism. She was describing how personal experiences can affect judging. She said a “wise Latina woman” with her experiences would more often than not reach a “better conclusion” than a white male.

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. – An alert deliveryman spotted a woman tied up inside a remote cabin in Tennessee’s Smoky Mountains while dropping off a pizza, and police said his 911 call helped rescue the kidnapping and rape victim.
Sevier County deputies freed the 24-year-old woman Tuesday evening after getting an emergency call from deliveryman Chris Turner. They arrested David J. Jansen, 46, of Snellville, Ga., on charges of aggravated kidnapping and rape, Sheriff Ron Seals said.
The woman told authorities she was jogging near her home in Atlanta about 11:50 a.m. Tuesday when Jansen, whom she knew, asked her to see his new car. She got into the vehicle, which turned out to be a rental.
She told police she was tied up, driven more than 200 miles to the cabin in Tennessee and raped. Later, the suspect ordered takeout. The Associated Press does not identify alleged victims of sexual assault.
Turner said he pulled up to the cabin with the pizza around 8 p.m.
“When I knocked on the door and handed the guy my credit card slip to get him to sign it, there happened to be a young lady (who) popped over the back of the couch and showed me that her hands were bound together,” Turner told WBIR-TV. “(She) was mouthing to me, ‘Please call 911.’”
The deliveryman returned to his van, wrote down the suspect’s tag number and called police from a neighbor’s house.
Deputies arrived, found the victim tied up on the couch and arrested Jansen. They took the woman to a hospital.
Capt. Jeff McCarter refused to discuss the case Friday beyond a police report, but earlier told The Mountain Press newspaper, “We feel like she was in very imminent danger based on what investigators saw and evidence found at the scene.”
Jansen was released on 800,000 bond late Thursday and faces an initial court appearance July 17 in Sevierville. Phone calls to a listing for a 46-year-old David J. Jansen in Snellville were not returned Friday. His attorney, Donald Bosch of Knoxville, had no comment Friday.
Turner said the victim and her husband came by the pizza shop the day after the abduction. “She just wanted me to know she was OK and everything,” he said. “And that they were thankful for what I did and all that.”

HARDIN, Mont. – On Capitol Hill, politicians are dead-set against transferring some of the world’s most feared terrorists from Guantanamo to prisons on U.S. soil. But at City Hall in this impoverished town on the Northern Plains, the attitude is: Bring ‘em on.
Hardin, a dusty town of 3,400 people so desperate that it built a 27 million jail a couple of years ago in the vain hope it would be a moneymaker, is offering to house hundreds of Gitmo detainees at the brand-new, never-used institution.
The medium-security jail was conceived as a holding facility for drunks and other scofflaws, but town leaders said it could be fortified with a couple of guard towers and some more concertina wire. Apart from that, it is a turnkey operation, fully outfitted with everything from cafeteria trays and sweatsocks to 88 surveillance cameras.
“Holy smokes — the amount of soldiers and attorneys it would bring here would be unbelievable,” Clint Carleton said as he surveyed his mostly empty restaurant, Three Brothers Pizza. “I’m a lot more worried about some sex offender walking my streets than a guy that’s a world-class terrorist. He’s not going to escape, pop into the IGA (supermarket), grab a six-pack and go sit in the park.”
After Hardin’s six-member council passed a resolution last month in favor of taking the Guantanamo detainees, Montana’s congressional delegation was quick to pledge it would never happen.
Notwithstanding the reputation of Montanans as Second Amendment-loving gun owners, they said that putting terrorists on Montana soil could invite attacks from the detainees’ sympathizers.
“These Gitmo guys, they’re a scary bunch,” said Sen. Jon Tester, a Democrat. “You’ve got to realize what you’re getting into.”
Democratic Gov. Brian Schweitzer said this week that it is every state’s obligation to do its part in addressing terrorism. But he dismissed Hardin’s jail as not up to the task.
A White House spokesman on Thursday declined to comment on Hardin’s proposal and said there has been no decision on what to do with the detainees.
The jail’s No. 1 promoter, Greg Smith, executive director of Hardin’s economic development agency, said the Two Rivers Detention Center could easily be retrofitted to increase security. And while the town hasn’t had its own police force since the 1970s, Smith said the jail’s well-armed neighbors would constitute an “unofficial redneck patrol.”
While some townspeople welcome the idea as a way to produce jobs and put the jail to use, others worry that it would be too dangerous.
One of the jail’s neighbors, Bill Eshleman — a 72-year-old retired postal worker who said he keeps his .30-06 hunting rifle loaded and ready — said the detainees would invite trouble, and he would rather see them sent back where they came from.
But he joked that his rifle was “very accurate,” and backed up the claim by pointing to a pronghorn antelope head propped along his fenceline, a trophy from last hunting season.
His wife, Clara, squirmed uncomfortably in the face of her husband’s bravado, and said she is dead-set against Hardin becoming America’s Gitmo. As a matter of civic pride, she said she wants to put bad guys in the jail to relieve the town of what has become a community embarrassment.
“But not the Gitmos,” she said. “They’re the worst of the worst.”
Hardin — situated about an hour’s drive from Billings on the edge of the Crow Indian Reservation, not far from the Little Bighorn, where Custer made his last stand — is beset with high unemployment and a poverty rate double the national average. It built the 464-bed jail on spec — that is, with no contracts lined up ahead of time to take prisoners.
Attempts to bring offenders, out-of-state criminals and federal inmates to Hardin have all failed, and the bonds issued to pay for construction are now in default.
Some prison agencies, including the Montana Corrections Department, have said the jail does not meet their design and security standards, in part because of its dormitory-style rooms and lack of an exercise yard. Others said they had no need for the jail or selected a competing proposal.
Inside its concrete walls, orange jumpsuits, rubber sandals and stacks of white tube socks weigh down the shelves of the storeroom. Computers, phones and video monitors line the tables in the control room. In the cafeteria, stacks of plastic trays and cooking utensils wait to be put to use.
Mayor Ron Adams said the jail could generate up to 300,000 a year for Hardin’s coffers if it were to open. That is about 20 percent of the town’s annual budget. It would also create more than 100 jobs.
Some townspeople — whether they like the idea or not — doubt it will come to pass.
“I saw on the news last night that there are only three prisons in the country that could hold them, maximum-security prisons. So what’s this little one-horse deal? There ain’t a chance in hell,” said Bill Moehr, 77, a former cattle ranch manager who lives next to the jail.
Bonnie Kennedy, a 60-year-old convenience store clerk who also lives next door, chuckled when asked if she thought terrorists would be moving in any time soon.
“Like that’s going to ever happen. But it did put us back on the map,” she said. “I can’t say I like it, but it might get us some interest from somebody who could actually use it.”

GENEVA (Reuters) –
Cigarette packages should show graphic images of yellow teeth, blackened gums, protruding neck tumors and bleeding brains to alert smokers to their disease risks, the World Health Organization said on Friday.
More than 20 countries, including Britain, Iran, Peru and Malaysia, already use visual warnings on their tobacco products, the head of the WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative said.
“Although some people question the need for such pictures, the evidence is absolutely clear that they convince people to quit,” Douglas Bettcher told a news conference ahead of World No Tobacco Day, to be held on Sunday.
Bettcher pointed to a warning that read “smoking causes brain strokes” and showed blood oozing from a brain.
He has called for such images to be printed on all tobacco product packages and on tags to water pipes that are popular in the Middle East. Bettcher added that the “disgust, fear, sadness or worry” from the warnings can discourage smoking.
The WHO, which requires all its staff to be non-smokers or to agree to try to quit, has been campaigning for more than two decades to discourage smoking and fight efforts by big companies such as Philip Morris International, Imperial Tobacco, Japan Tobacco and British American Tobacco to attract new customers.
Bettcher said the tobacco industry opposed visual warnings, viewing them as a threat to profits.
Tobacco is the world's leading preventable cause of death, killing more than 5 million people a year, the WHO says,
Around 80 percent of smokers live in developing countries, where smoking rates have risen sharply in recent years alongside a ramping-up of tobacco marketing and production in poorer states, Bettcher said.
In addition to package warnings, the WHO supports bans on tobacco marketing and sponsorship, prohibitions of smoking in public buildings, and high taxes on tobacco products.
The recent emergence of designer cigarette pack-holders and other accessories to cover up health warnings showed the warnings were having an impact, Rob Cunningham of the Canadian Cancer Society said.
“That is a good indication, because smokers are noticing enough that they feel that they must not look at them,” Cunningham said.
(For images from the WHO's World No Tobacco Day campaign, see: www.who.int/tobacco/wntd)

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – A retired Air Force colonel with decades of experience as a flight instructor gave one of his students a hands-on lesson in a key principle of flying: Don’t run out of gas. Al Uhalt made a bumpy but safe landing in a field Thursday when the single-engine Aviat Husky he and a student were flying ran out of fuel near the end of a 45-minute lesson.
Neither Uhalt nor the student, 16-year-old Kyle Sundman, was injured and the plane was undamaged.
Uhalt said he’s embarrassed. Kyle’s grandfather, Jim Young, who owns the plane, was flying behind them and saw what happened. He said he didn’t worry because he knew Uhalt was experienced and the plane was rugged.
The Federal Aviation Administration said pilots who run out of fuel usually get a verbal admonition.
___
Information from: The Gazette, http://www.gazette.com

BUENOS AIRES, ArgentinaAs with most industries around the globe, the art world has been taking a hit, as collectors pare down purchases on expensive pieces.
About 130,000 people visited the 2009 show considered the most important of its type in Latin America.
But in Latin America, there’s some light in the art world: affordable art is selling well. The Buenos Aires International Art Fairknown as ArteBAtook place this week and attracted more than 130,000 visitors during its five-day run. ArteBA is considered the most important contemporary art fair in Latin America, and has been increasingly attracting more and more galleries and collectors from around the globe. This year, 90 galleries representing 800 Latin American artists were present. Despite fears that the global financial crisis would hit business, most gallery owners said sales were brisk. “What crisis? My sales have been incredible this week,” says Daniel Abate, a gallery owner in Buenos Aires, who was selling works at ArteBA with an average price of 5,000 dollars. “We’ve made some great sales, some great contacts. So I cannot complain. I think people are more cautious about spending but real collectors are always helping to keep the wheel moving,” said Henrique Faria, who runs galleries in Caracas and New York. Participants say what sets the Buenos Aires Art Fair apart from other contemporary art gatherings, like ones that take place in Switzerland, the U.S. or Italy, is that in Buenos Aires world-class works of art sell for prices unheard of anywhere else. Watch how the exhibition is enjoying international success » “If you are a collector and have 1 million dollars to spend on art, when you go to Basel, Switzerland, and with that 1 million you buy, I don’t know, three, four, five pieces of art… can you imagine in Argentina what you can do with 1 million dollars for art?,” said Abate. Two hundred international collectorsmore than double the amount that attended last yearvisited galleries from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Venezuela, Spain and the United States at ArteBA. Alejandra Von Hartz owns a gallery in Miami and says that unlike elsewhere in the world, there is no price bubble on Latin American art. “It has never been overvalued. It always has very reasonable prices with respect to the quality and the seriousness of the proposals of the artists,” Von Hartz said. The vast majority of the galleries present at ArteBA are from Argentina, but Brazil always has a strong presence, with five galleries selling works this year. Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo have long bickered over bragging rights for the title of ‘cultural capital of South America’but at least one Brazilian thinks the Argentines come out on top. “Sao Paulo is undoubtedly the regional leader for business, but I must admit that Buenos Aires seems to have taken the lead recently in regards to its cultural and artistic offerings,” said Sergio Goncalves, owner of Almacen Galeria in Rio de Janeiro. Artist Lorena Bicciconti is a member of an Argentine art collective known as 36 Veces. Her works were on display at ArteBA for the first time, in an area dedicated entirely to young artists, known as Barrio Joven (The Young Neighborhood). “The people’s reactions were incredible. I think it was because of our proposals, which were different and a bit riskier,” said Bicciconti.
Jorge Mara of the Jorge Mara-LaRuche Gallery in Buenos Aires said the reason art often sells well during times of crisis is that people like to buy things that make them feel good. “People realize that art is a good investment. A double investment: A financial one and a spiritual one,” said Mara.
Source:CNN

Formula One’s budget cap row looks over as Ferrari and other leading teams submitted conditional entries to the 2010 world championship on Friday.
Ferrari’s team manager Luca Baldisseri (L) and Brawn GP’s team principal Ross Brawn leave the meeting in Monaco.
Ferrari had led opposition from the Formula One Team’s Association (FOTA) against proposals by motor sport’s governing body Federation Internationale de ”Automobile (FIA) over a proposed 60 million limit on spending by the teams. The deadline to sign up for the 2010 season was Friday and Ferrari joined McLaren, BMW Sauber, Toyota, Renault, Red Bull Racing, Toro Rosso and Brawn GP in confirming their entries. Williams had broken ranks on Monday by signing up. “All FOTA Teams have today (Friday) submitted conditional entries for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship,” the body said in a statement. “FOTA confirms all its members’ long-term commitment to be involved in the FIA Formula One World Championship.” Ferrari, who were among the founding teams of F1 back in 1950, had threatened to pull out of next year’s championship unless FIA president Max Mosley allowed some leeway over the budget cap. The sides met with Formula One commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone at the Monaco Grand Prix last weekend to thrash out a compromise.
Don’t Miss
F1 furor explained
Court rules against Ferrari
Renault join Ferrari in F1 boycott
FOTA said it had “unanimously agreed further and significant actions to substantially reduce the costs of competing in the championship in the next three years, creating a mechanism that will preserve the technological competition and the sporting challenge and, at the same time, facilitate the entry in the F1 Championship for new teams. “These measures are in line with what has been already decided in 2009 within FOTA, achieving important saving on engines and gearboxes.” It is not the first time that FOTA has flexed its muscles, with F1 bosses forced to back down before the start of the season over controversial plans to introduce a new points scoring system to decide the world drivers championship, based on race wins.
This year’s championship is being dominated by the Brawn GP team whose chief Ross Brawn warned CNN last week that a Ferrari pull out would have been damaging for the sport. Brawn were one of the teams broadly in favor of the budget cap which would give smaller line ups the chance to compete in F1 and on Friday the new Prodrive line up also entered for 2010.
Source:CNN