Iran official: New US sanctions to have no effect (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran ? Iran's foreign ministry spokesman on Tuesday denounced Washington's new set of sanctions against Tehran, predicting the measures will have no effect and dismissing them as "propaganda and psychological warfare."

The remarks by Ramin Mehmanparast were the first from Iran after the Obama administration announced the new measures on Monday in an effort to apply greater pressure to get Tehran to halt its suspected nuclear weapons program.

The measures were coordinated with Britain and Canada and build on previous sanctions to target Iran's oil and petrochemical industries and companies involved in nuclear procurement or enrichment activity. The U.S. also declared Iran's banking system a center for money laundering ? a stern warning to financial institutions around the world to think twice before doing business with Tehran.

Shortly after the announcement, President Barack Obama said in a statement that "Iran has chosen the path of international isolation" and that "as long as Iran continues down this dangerous path, the United States will continue to find ways, both in concert with our partners and through our own actions to isolate and increase the pressure upon the Iranian regime."

The latest sanctions follow a new report from the U.N. nuclear watchdog suggesting Iranian work toward the development of atomic weapons. Tehran denies pursuing a nuclear weapon program saying its nuclear activities have aimed at peaceful purposes like power generation.

"The action that some Western countries, particularly United States and Britain is pursuing, will be without result," said Mehmanparast. He added that, like past sanctions, the new ones are "only attempts at propaganda and psychological warfare."

"The sanctions reflect the enmity toward our nation and are to be condemned," said Mehmanparast. He said the measures will be ineffective as Iran's trade and economic ties with the United States and Britain were small anyway.

Release of the International Atomic Energy Agency's report had sparked frenzied international diplomacy over how to halt the Iranian threat, including speculation in the U.S., Europe and Israel on the merits of military intervention.

The United Nations has passed four rounds of global sanctions against Iran since 2006, but veto-holding nations Russia and China stand in the way of any further action. American officials have held back from blanketing all of Iran's fuel-related exports and its central bank with sanctions, for fear of spiking world oil prices and hampering the American economic recovery.

Russia, China, India and other nations maintain larger-scale trade with Iran, whose energy exports have helped it shrug off serious harm from the U.N. sanctions and other penalties applied by individual countries or the European Union.

Mehmanparast also denied reports that Iran had supplied former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi with hundreds of special artillery shells for chemical weapons, which Libya kept secret for decades.

"This is another allegation in the psychological war," said Mehmanparast.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iran_us_sanctions

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Walt Hazzard dies at 69; former Bruins basketball star and coach

Walt Hazzard, a stellar point guard who helped John Wooden win his first national championship at UCLA and became the fifth coach to follow the college basketball legend, died Friday. He was 69.

Hazzard, who suffered a stroke in 1996, died at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center following a long illness, the university announced. Hazzard had endured complications following heart surgery, his family said.

The backbone of UCLA's undefeated 1964 championship team, Hazzard directed the Bruins' offense to a 98-83 victory over Duke in the NCAA final. But he was unable to bring another NCAA title banner to Pauley Pavilion as the Bruins' coach from 1984 to 1988. He was a special consultant with the Lakers at the time of his death.

PHOTOS: Walt Hazzard | 1942-2011

"Walt was the catalyst for Coach John Wooden's first championship team and played the game with a style that excited Bruin basketball fans everywhere," Dan Guerrero, UCLA's athletic director, said in a statement.

Hazzard, who played 10 seasons in the NBA, including three for the Lakers, was a scout for the L.A. team until suffering the stroke. He had open-heart surgery soon after and was in rehabilitation for years.

UCLA basketball coach Ben Howland called Hazzard "one of the pillars of UCLA's first championship team in men's basketball."

"He was a great player and an outstanding coach at UCLA," Howland said in a statement. "He is a huge part of the UCLA legacy."

Walter Raphael Hazzard Jr. was born April 15, 1942, in Wilmington, Del., and grew up in Philadelphia. As an 8-year old he went to a performance by the Harlem Globetrotters and later said, "I went out and practiced dribbling like Marques Haynes for hours every day."

Hazzard was soon absorbed into Philadelphia's basketball high society, honing his game as an Overbrook High School sophomore on the playground "against Guy Rodgers, Wilt Chamberlain, Woody Sauldsberry and Andy Johnson," he later said.

Like Chamberlain, Hazzard became a star at Overbrook, where his teams were 89-3. He was the city player of the year as a senior.

UCLA provided a grander stage, and the 6-foot-2 point guard helped the Bruins to their first Final Four appearance in 1962.

Hazzard's skills as a ball handler were such that Wooden once said, "I never had a better man on the fast break than Walt Hazzard."

The coach later recalled that he brought Hazzard into his office one day and "asked him to pattern himself after Oscar Robertson, who looks for the pass first and the shot second. I told him his passing could make him an All-American."

A three-year starter, Hazzard did become an All-American in 1963 and again in 1964, when the Bruins went 30-0 and won the first of Wooden's 10 NCAA titles. Hazzard was named the outstanding player of the 1964 NCAA Final Four.

"Recruiting after that 1964 national championship was tremendous," Wooden said later. "Lew Alcindor [Kareem Abdul-Jabbar] would never have come to UCLA had we not won it in 1964 and 1965."

UCLA was also where Hazzard met his future wife, Jaleesa, who was a Bruin cheerleader.

Hazzard, attired in a sweater, shorts and sandals, was on campus one day with his roommate, tennis player Arthur Ashe, and said, "See that girl? I'm going to marry her."

She told him, "Not if you don't wear socks." The two were married in May 1964. By then Hazzard's future lay before him.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/latimes/sports/~3/9_Nf9I7Xl4E/la-me-walt-hazzard-20111119,0,7345670.story

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[OOC] Taken for Granted

Forum rules
This forum is for OOC discussion about existing roleplays.

Please post all "Players Wanted" threads in the Roleplayers Wanted forum!

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Taken for Granted?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
This is the auto-generated OOC topic for the roleplay "Taken for Granted"

You may edit this first post as you see fit.

Spectrum

Member for 0 years

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Yes! I will have Nikolas done this week, and I'll start my new character once Nikolas is done.... This is gonna be a blast! -evil laughter-

I love humans

poeticjustice

poeticjustice8012

Member for 0 years

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Um.... Can I has a character? I can submit everything but a character picture now.

I must admit, I'm rather mad...but aren't we all? Insanity is one of life's greatest joys, eh?

'Romeo oh Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?' Translation:'Desperate, desperate, I am really desperate.'

Do you, do you ever
only
live because
you
are afraid to
Die?

pieluver

Member for 1 years

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@Poetic: I sent my pictures for Rei and Statix over with the roleplay document, but I have to be really careful about deleting everything. I don't know if I can make Rei until I get internet back under my name. If worse comes to worse, I could always start him in an email to myself and save it.. I can't wait to see Nikolas, though! This is too awesome!

@Luv: Yeah! I'll reserve you. ^^

Spectrum

Member for 0 years

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hehe...hehe...OMG YESH! alright, i will..start my char. Boy most likely! *skips happily* this looks so FUN! cant wait Spec! :3

freakofnature

Member for 1 years

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Cyrus' new profile might take me a while but it'll be worth it I promise! Or I could just use his old one I made whilst I was a noob.

I hope to finish it today but it's already 7pm and college is tomorrow. D: Show Season starts next week so i'll be really busy! But I do hope to get it done soon, it's not like I need to think too hard. :D

~EDIT~ Aw come on Specs, our sheet is way longer than the New Kids. XD Damn you to heck.

Black

Member for 0 years

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I'm so excited to see Cyrus's new profile, Tabby! You don't even know! >3 And freak, I can't wait to see what you come up with for a character! Ahhh, this is all too cool. Finally getting this thing up after forever! I flagged Timeless as complete, too. Hall of Fame away~! I know what I can do! I can just write down the character sheet on a piece of paper and do everything on my laptop. I have a flashdrive now (got it two days ago!), so I can just transfer everything over when I'm done! :D Hooray for thinking!

Spectrum

Member for 0 years

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I'm sure you'll all love emotionallycompromised!Nikolas.... Of course, my new character will have to be just as awesome... Though, knowing me, I'll probably end up being lazy and not posting him up until later :P But yeah.... ^^

poeticjustice8012

Member for 0 years

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Oh, oh, wait! Attention everybody! I added two new things to each character sheet. Under Gender, I added: "Sexuality" and under that, before Powers, I added: "Love Interest"

Please add these to your character sheets! Sorry for the suddenness. I forgot to add them earlier. Man, the Originals' sheets are really long, though. xD I love long sheets!

@Poetic: I just know I will! ^^

Spectrum

Member for 0 years

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Oh, Spec-chan, if I finish Nikolas today can I put him up as an example...? Or would you rather I just PM him to you? I'm really proud of him so far! ^^

poeticjustice8012

Member for 0 years

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Put him up please Poetic. XD I need ideas for some fields on Cyrus' profile. Besides, I really wanna see him!

Black

Member for 0 years

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There, so we have a female character. We can't really just have Katie. ^^;; I hope someone agrees to it. Anyway, yes, poetic! Go right ahead! Put him up! I'm getting off now to work on Rei's profile, but I'll be getting on and off for a while 'till my dad's girlfriend gets home, so I'll accept him when he's up. ^^

Spectrum

Member for 0 years

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I love love him poetic! He's so great this time around! And the new pictures are a nice touch. He's such an awesome little manic-depressive, ain't he? ^^; No, I'm joking. He has every right to be depressive. Oh, please excuse me for this, though. You've done this so many times and I'm going to be a grammar nazi! I have no right to be The word you've been spelling so many times, "loose" means something coming undone, or becoming less tight. Like loosening a shoe-lace to take off your shoe. You mean, "lose." Like I'd hate to lose my shoes. I'm so sorry for correcting you and sounding like a pompous stuck-up! I'm just doing it because I've seen you do it before and I didn't want you to do it in school or something and get marked off for spelling incorrections.

I'm just gonna go crawl back to my hole now.. And work of Reivy and Statix! Dx

Spectrum

Member for 0 years

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Love it Poetic! I am still working on Cyrus'. ^^ You guys forget that I gotta incorporate Ghost's personality and things to the sheet too. Damn myself (and Cyrus) for making two characters. Ghost became really important, though at the start it was just Cyrus' mind playing tricks on him and no one believed him. XD Man Cyrus is a lot more complex than I realized. I could never explain how his mind works, never ever.

Nikolas certainly has changed, I sort of like the new him. It's a really good change for him in the sense that his PTSD make perfect sense. His personality change does too. Good work Poetic!

Get Out Alive. I actually found a good theme for the RP whilst listening to my Ipod, although it might have made more sense on the original. D: Still, it works... sort of.

Black

Member for 0 years

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OOhhh, Tezu ain't gonna like Nik when they first meet. ^^ This is gonna be fun. I can't wait to see everyone else. I think I'm gonna go creep around Timeless...sounds interesting, I wanna read it.

TwiliXDragon

Member for 1 years

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Guys, guys. I have 997 messages in my inbox. 99% full. Um, um, what happens when it gets full? Does it start deleting old messages or does it just not let me receive any new ones? I've never deleted a message since I started the site (forever ago). I'm kinda worried about this now! D:

@Twili: That'd be awesome if you did! ^^ It'd make me feel special. Your twins are awesome together!

Spectrum

Member for 0 years

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There, Pie is done with her little narcissist. Now, I do think I shall run off and check out Timeless as well.

pieluver

Member for 1 years

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997? Wow...i dunno what happens. Holy crap!! 4 pages in and my head is already reeling @_@ Timeless is freakin' awesome! I wish I could have gotten in on it. Oh well, I'm here now, so I suppose that's all that matters. :)

TwiliXDragon

Member for 1 years

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Luv! Rai made me laugh! You'll see why when I get done with my character--Rei. xD They're so much alike. And the fact that their names are close to each other... Yes, I can tell Rei is not going to like Rai very much at all. xD They're different in a few good ways, though. So there's no worries. But still. I just thought it was funny. Rai's awesome!

@Twili: I'm glad you like it so much! It was a lot of fun. Aside from a few complications, we're all glad to of finished it~!

Spectrum

Member for 0 years

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Is Silvio Berlusconi really gone for good? (The Week)

New York ? Italy's leader resigns over a crushing debt crisis, but some believe the survivor of myriad sex and corruption scandals will bounce back from this, too

After dominating Italian politics for 17 years, Silvio Berlusconi was forced to resign?as prime minister on Saturday.?Italy has piled up $2.6 trillion in sovereign debt ? an incredible 130 percent of the nation's gross domestic product of $2 trillion ? and?Berlusconi's government crumbled when it failed to pull the country back from the brink of financial disaster. After resigning, the 75-year-old media magnate was jeered by angry crowds who hurled coins at his limousine and called him a clown. Still, Berlusconi has rebounded before from innumerable political setbacks, corruption charges, and sex scandals. Is his political career truly over?

Silvio is really and truly done:?Berlusconi is lucky he wasn't "led out of office in handcuffs,"?says Alex Fusco at Britain's?Independent. For years, the "undisputed clown of international politics" dodged corruption convictions and somehow emerged unscathed from one sex scandal after another. But letting Italy slide "into the abyss" of fiscal crisis has discredited Berlusconi with "politicians from all sides." There's no future in Italian government for him.
"Berlusconi is gone ? but not in the manner we anticipated"

Don't count Berlusconi out yet: A new coalition government is forming under ex-European Union commissioner Mario Monti, says Aaron Goldstein at The American Spectator. But even in the best of times, Italian governments rarely last more than a year or two, and Monti probably won't make it that long. Since World War II ended, Italy has had an incredible 60 coalition governments. Under such fluid circumstances, it would "come as no shock" if Berlusconi winds up back in power somehow.
"Berlusconi will be back"

He's only leaving office ? not power: Berlusconi isn't going to disappear, says David Dayen at Firedoglake. He's going "from being prime minister to just being Rupert Murdoch, in control of most of the media Italians see." He'll still be around, steering public opinion and "wielding influence behind the scenes," whether he comes back to life politically or not.
"An elegy for Berlusconi, the man who ruined Italy (again)"

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/theweek/20111114/cm_theweek/221412

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Italy braces for new government, IMF warns Asia on euro (Reuters)

ROME/ATHENS (Reuters) ? Italy's parliament was set to approve austerity measures on Saturday, triggering the formation of an emergency government to replace that of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and meeting European Union demands to avert a euro zone meltdown.

After months of dither and delay, Rome appears to have got the message as bond markets pushed it to the brink of needing a bailout that the euro zone cannot afford.

President Giorgio Napolitano and Italian lawmakers have put the process on a fast track: the Chamber of Deputies was due to start debating at 1130 GMT (6:30 a.m. EST) and final approval of the cuts by the lower house marks the Berlusconi government's final act.

Berlusconi was expected to hold a last cabinet meeting and then hand his resignation to Napolitano at the Quirinale Palace.

A largely technocratic government headed by former European Commissioner Mario Monti was seen in place by Sunday night or Monday morning.

In Athens on Friday, former European Central Bank policymaker Lucas Papademos, a technocrat like Monti, was sworn in to lead a new government tasked with meeting the terms of a bailout, after days of political angling.

WARNINGS OF GLOBAL CONTAGION

In Tokyo, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde warned that if strains in Europe worsen, Asia would be negatively affected through trade and financial sector links.

At a news conference after meeting Japan's Finance Minister Jun Azumi, she said: "...we touched on the economic situation in the euro zone, the way to address it, and the consequences that the euro zone crisis has and would have if it deteriorated further in the rest of the world, particularly in Asia."

"I insisted with Minister Azumi that no country can be immune under the present circumstances, no matter how developed or how emerging or how far away it is. The countries are totally interconnected. That is what we see at IMF," she said.

Her warning came after pressure from Washington for faster action from the currency bloc.

"The crisis in Europe remains the central challenge to global growth. It is crucial that Europe move quickly to put in place a strong plan to restore financial stability," U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Friday.

U.S. President Barack Obama spoke separately with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy about the crisis late on Thursday.

MARKET RELIEF...BUT WILL IT LAST?

The euro made its strongest gains against the dollar in two weeks on Friday and Italian bond yields, which had raced above sustainable levels this week, fell in relief at the prospect of a new government.

European shares also rose, with Italian banks including Intesa Sanpaolo rallying.

But some investors doubted the recovery would last, as even a technocrat government might struggle for progress on fiscal reforms Italy has long promised but never delivered.

"We can have maybe two or three days of calm -- in inverted commas -- but nothing has really changed underneath," one bond trader said.

Spain, the euro zone's fourth largest economy and due to hold elections in nine days, stopped growing in the third quarter, putting its deficit-reduction goals in doubt.

With European leaders dithering over how to tackle the deepening crisis, pressure has mounted on the European Central Bank to act more forcefully by becoming a full lender of last resort like the U.S. Federal Reserve and the Bank of England.

"There is real turbulence in the markets, real question marks over whether countries can deal with their debts and a big question mark over the future of the euro zone," British Prime Minister David Cameron said.

Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expressed doubts Europe had the firepower to avoid the "catastrophe" of an Italian collapse. Russian experts "believe that without direct intervention from the ECB this problem cannot be solved," he said.

On the same day that the head of the 440-billion-euro ($600-billion) European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) was quoted saying market turmoil had made it more difficult to boost the bailout fund, Putin said the EU, which accounts for half his country's trade, badly needed more emergency funding.

"The EFSF, alone or cooperating with the IMF, does not have the necessary resources. I believe that the resources needed to overcome the crisis are about 1.5 trillion euros," said Putin.

MORE ZEROS WON'T HELP

EFSF chief Klaus Regling told the Financial Times it would now be a challenge to boost the fund to 1 trillion euros as euro zone leaders proposed in a late-October summit, hoping to lure bond investors by offering to insure any eventual losses.

"The political turmoil that we saw in the last 10 days probably reduces the potential for leverage," said Regling.

But ECB policymaker Juergen Stark from Germany reiterated his view that it is up to politicians and not central bankers to solve the problems in the euro zone.

"I personally doubt very much that adding two or three zeros to the bailout volume can solve the structural and political problems," Stark, who opposes the ECB's strategy of buying the bonds of problem states such as Greece to prop them up and will quit the bank early this year, told a Swiss paper.

Senior ECB policymakers have rebuffed arm-twisting from investors and world leaders to intervene massively on bond markets to shield Italy and Spain from financial contagion.

Germany, Europe's biggest economy, strongly opposes the ECB taking on a broader crisis-fighting role, arguing that this would compromise the central bank's independence.

Greece's Papademos, a former ECB vice president, faces major challenges at the helm of a unity government forged after a chaotic power struggle between the two main political forces.

"With the unity of all people, we will succeed," Greece's premier told George Papandreou, who led the previous Socialist administration that fell apart last week.

Papademos has about 100 days to start fulfilling the terms of a 130-billion-euro bailout plan to keep Greece solvent while placating warring political factions.

Socialist party big-hitter Evangelos Venizelos will remain finance minister in a new cabinet that includes many of the same politicians who led the nation into crisis.

(Additional reporting by James Mackenzie in Rome, Renee Maltezou in Athens, Nick Edwards in Beijing, Ana Nicolai da Costa and Francesco Canepa in London and Gleb Bryanski in Russia; Writing by Mike Peacock and Stephen Brown; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111112/bs_nm/us_eurozone

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UFC on Fox video: Dos Santos says boxing coaches will make difference tomorrow night

Junior dos Santos knows all about Cain Velasquez's decorated wrestling background and legendary stamina, but he thinks his technical boxing will be the difference in making it a short night for the reigning UFC heavyweight champ.

JDS began working with famed Brazilian boxing coach Luis Carlos Dorea back in 2006. He quickly transitioned from being a guy who relied on his jiu-jitsu to one who could overwhelm opponents with good footwork, hand speed and power punching. Dos Santos said that combination will prevent the fight from going the full five rounds.

"No, no ... for sure no. I'm going to finish this fight before that. I want to finish," Dos Santos told the media gathered at the UFC on Fox workout day in Rosemead, Ca. "Heavyweight fights, when they go five rounds they're boring fights. I know Cain Velasquez is very fast. He's a different heavyweight. Me too, I'm very fast for the division too. For sure, it's going to be a war. I think it's going to finish before the third round."

Dos Santos has also worked a lot with Acelino "Popo" Freitas, a world champ at both 130 and 135 pounds. The Brazilian stopped fighting in 2007 with 38-2 record that included 36 KO's. Dos Santos' camp also covered the wrestling aspect of the fight by bringing in a huge wrestler to simulate Velasquez's hard-charging style. Josh Janousek, a squatty, fast wrestler in the mold of Velasquez has been working with JDS and Antonio Nogueira since the beginning of the year.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-on-Fox-video-Dos-Santos-says-boxing-coaches?urn=mma-wp9280

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At APEC summit, Obama sees new Greek, Italian governments calming financial markets (Star Tribune)

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Boxing: Pacquiao's Ready for His Third Round with Marquez (Time.com)

Manny Pacquiao trains in a Hollywood gym called the Wild Card Boxing Club, which sits above a laundromat and a Thai restaurant in a run-down strip mall. The Filipino boxer does early-morning runs in the Hollywood Hills and then goes to the Wild Card to plot and work on strategy with his trainer and the gym's owner, Freddie Roach. For the past several weeks, Pacquiao, who is also a Congressman and game-show host in his native Philippines, has been preparing for Saturday's megafight, his third meeting against Mexican Juan Manuel Marquez. Near the gym's speed bag is a photo of Marquez wearing a T-shirt that declares, "Marquez beat Pacquiao twice." Pacquiao sees that photo every day. It irritates him ? and gets him working.

The previous Pacquiao-Marquez bouts were controversial and close. Back in 2004, in their first meeting, the men were fighting for a featherweight (126-lb. limit) title. Pacquiao knocked down Marquez three times in the first round, but the Mexican slugger popped up off the canvas each time and fought on to salvage a come-from-behind draw. In 2008 they met again for a super-featherweight title (130-lb. limit). It was a back-and-forth thriller in which Pacquiao received a Round 2 left hook to the chin that teetered him, and Marquez went down in Round 3, but both men were able to fight until the end. Pacquiao won the fight in a controversial split decision. (See photos of the rise of Manny Pacquiao.)

Marquez has been bitter about the conclusion since, and has been begging for a rematch. The T-shirt is his version of history.

Everyone else's history has been kinder to the Filipino fighter. Pacquiao went on to fight and vanquish other boxers (including Oscar De La Hoya), win a congressional seat, visit President Barack Obama at the White House, get featured on a 60 Minutes segment, make a hit single ("Sometimes When We Touch"), introduce his own fragrance (Scent of the Champion), and sign lucrative endorsement deals with Nike, Hewlett-Packard and Hennessy. Under the tutelage of Roach, Pacquiao kept improving as a boxer. He says that since his last fight with Marquez, he has learned how to better combat counterpunching, the Mexican's specialty. Pacquiao, a southpaw, developed a devastating right hand and refined his already mesmerizingly quick footwork. (After studying film of Marquez's most recent fight, Pacquiao, who at 32 years old is six years younger than his opponent, concluded, "He is slower than before.")

To challenge fighters in heavier weight classes and create an even larger legacy, Pacquiao spent the intervening three years adding muscle weight to increase the force of his punches. He successfully fought larger men ? one victim outweighed him by 17 lb. at fight time. He has been able to increase his power while maintaining his rabbit-like speed, and this brutal combination of speed, power and boxing intellect has helped him win an unprecedented eight world titles in eight different weight classes (a swing of about 40 lb.), and earn the title of boxer of the decade. "I know Marquez has got off the canvas four times [from Pacquiao punches in the past], but I don't think he's going to be able to get up from the power Manny has now," says Roach.

See "Boxing Icon Manny Pacquiao Now Belts Out Love Songs."

See Manny Pacquiao's reaction to the Philippines' reproductive-health bill.

Since his last meeting with Pacquiao, Marquez has fought six times, losing to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in 2009. Marquez, a naturally slight man, fights his best at around 130 lb. In boxing, the weight classes were developed to combat physics: bigger men create more force in their punches. While Pacquiao is an exception, smaller men adding weight to compete in higher weight divisions usually run into problems because they lose quickness and struggle with the power and reach of larger-framed men. When Marquez ? known as Dinamita for his explosive counterpunches ? fought Mayweather, he had been forced to rise two weight classes and weighed 142 lb. He looked uncomfortable throughout the fight.

Saturday's bout ("Pacquiao-Marquez III") at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas will favor Pacquiao because it is at a welterweight catchweight of 144 lb., near Pacquiao's ideal heft. Taking a page from Pacquiao's regimen, Marquez has spent his training camp adding muscle to his frame. He hired Angel Hernandez, a strength-and-conditioning coach, who put him on an intense weight-lifting program. Many boxers shy away from the weight room because they feel like weight-lifting techniques don't give them "functional muscles." Hernandez also raised eyebrows in the boxing community when it was reported that he supplied steroids to track stars Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery and later became the key government witness in the case against the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative. Marquez insists, however, that he is not juiced. "Whatever testing they want to do, blood or Olympic, I am ready to do it," says the Mexican boxer. "We'll do it, no problem, as long as he does it too." (See "Where Manny Pacquiao Is the Underdog: Philippine Politics.")

Pacquiao's trainer does not have good reviews for the new Marquez. Says Roach: "Marquez looks old and slow. He has gotten worse." Roach, a five-time trainer of the year, has trained 31 world champions. He says his fighter has developed into one of the greatest champions the world has seen and predicts that Pacquiao will knock out Marquez by Round 6. Roach says the fight is deeply personal to Pacquiao. "Manny's not going to be kind in this fight," says Roach. "I don't have to motivate him to knock this guy out."

Roach said training camp was more intense than normal, and they were having difficulty persuading $1,000-a-week sparring partners to return every day because Pacquiao had been inflicting so much daily punishment. Roach says Pacquiao hit one boxer so hard that the opponent's legs buckled, and the sparring mate suffered an ankle sprain.

Roach has Parkinson's disease, resulting in tremors and foot drop, but when he gets into the ring with Pacquiao, he moves fluidly and the tremors disappear when he works the mitts. It's as if the two men are making music: pat, pat, pat, pat ? pat, pat, pat, pat. "That's it, Manny, that's it," he says, as they work on different combinations and footwork to counter the counterpuncher. Roach is considered a master cornerman psychologist too. Pacquiao has been pushing himself so hard in camp to train against Marquez that Roach bent the truth during a recent session in order to get him to let up a bit. He told Pacquiao that he needed to slow down because a Mexican television station was in the gym filming and he didn't want any of the footage to be seen by Marquez. Pacquiao believed the white lie and eased up.

One day recently, as Pacquiao wrapped his own hands before a sparring session in the cramped dressing room of the Wild Card, he told me, "Marquez was screaming that he wanted this fight. That's why I train hard, because, you know, I want to end this and end the doubts." He gave a sly smile and let out a knowing giggle. Pacquiao abhors trash-talking, but Marquez had obviously gotten under his skin. Quietly, he said, "He talks too much. It's not good for a fighter to talk a lot without action. I don't talk a lot. Just action."

See "The Meaning and Mythos of Manny Pacquiao."

See "When Will Manny Pacquiao Fight the Right American?"

View this article on Time.com

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/time/20111111/wl_time/08599209923700

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Feds: Mexican cartel plotted attack against US (AP)

CHICAGO ? The leaders of a powerful Mexican cartel, frustrated that U.S. law enforcement was interfering with their lucrative drug business, plotted a military-style attack on a U.S. or Mexican government building to "send the gringos a message," federal prosecutors allege in documents filed this week.

Leaders of the Sinaloa cartel sought dozens of American-made weapons for an attack in Mexico City on possible targets that included government buildings, an embassy or consulate or media outlet, according to documents in the case against Vicente Zambada, an alleged top lieutenant in the cartel.

Zambada is in jail in Chicago awaiting trial, one of dozens of defendants charged in the city as part of a sweeping international investigation. He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he conspired to import and sell large amounts of cocaine and heroin in the United States, including Chicago.

Authorities say his father, Ismael Zambada, runs the cartel along with Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. There's nothing in the documents to indicate the plot was carried out.

Vicente Zambada's lawyers claim he and other cartel leaders were granted immunity by U.S. agents ? and carte blanche to smuggle cocaine over the border ? in exchange for intelligence about rival cartels engaged in bloody turf wars in Mexico. Prosecutors have denied that such an agreement exists.

But deals with key players in the cartel have allowed prosecutors to chip away at its operations. Pedro and Margarito Flores, twin brothers who bought and distributed drugs from the cartel in Chicago, are among those cooperating with the government.

Margarito Flores has alleged that the plot to attack a government or media building was hatched during a 2008 meeting at a mountaintop compound in Mexico. Cartel leaders, upset about the recent arrest of Ismael Zambada's brother, griped that the Mexican government was allowing American law enforcement to "do whatever they want," Flores has told prosecutors.

When Guzman asked what leaders were going to do about the problem, Ismael Zambada allegedly responded, "It will be good to send the gringos a message. Whatever we do, we have to do it in someone else's territory," according to a 63-page proffer filed Thursday in which prosecutors summarize their evidence against Vicente Zambada and the cartel.

During the conversation, the documents say, Guzman suggests they target a Mexican or American government building in Mexico City. Vicente Zambada then turns to Margarito Flores and tells him to find a U.S. soldier returning from overseas to give him 20-30 "big powerful weapons," specifying that they be American-made. During a later recorded phone conversation, prosecutors say, Vicente Zambada reiterates with Flores that the cartel will buy the weapons.

Prosecutors also laid out in the proffer how the cartel has smuggled tons of cocaine and kilograms of heroin into the United States over land, sea and air over the years.

Members of the cartel have allegedly evaded arrest by means including the bribing of public officials and law enforcement and carrying out brazen acts of violence ? including killing officers who wouldn't accept bribes. The elusive billionaire Guzman escaped from a Mexican prison in a laundry truck in 2001.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111111/ap_on_re_us/il_cartel_heir

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Alabama county files biggest municipal bankruptcy (Reuters)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Reuters) ? Alabama's Jefferson County filed for bankruptcy court protection on Wednesday in the biggest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Commissioners for the county, which is home to Birmingham, the state's biggest city and economic powerhouse, voted 4-1 to declare bankruptcy after meeting behind closed doors for two days in a last ditch-attempt to restructure its debt out of court.

A tentative deal reached with creditors in September to settle $3.14 billion in red ink had been widely expected to avert bankruptcy. But the deal fell apart over what the commission described as creditors' refusal to meet the terms of previously agreed economic concessions.

There was also frustration over the fact that the estimated savings from the September agreement had shrunk by about $140 million, commission sources said.

"In September 2011, the commission and receiver entered into a comprehensive term sheet setting forth a framework for the resolution of the sewer system crisis," the commission said in a press release announcing the bankruptcy filing.

"Creditors ultimately were unwilling to make the economic concessions contemplated in the term sheet and the receiver made additional demands inconsistent with the term sheet that the commission was unwilling to accept."

The commissioners, who are elected and not political appointees, are the final arbiters over much of the county's business and day-to-day municipal affairs.

The bankruptcy filing by the southern U.S. county will add to concerns about the risks in the $3.7 trillion U.S. municipal bond market, which was hit recently by the high-profile debt crisis in Pennsylvania's capital of Harrisburg.

In addition to Harrisburg, which filed for bankruptcy last month, just two other cities -- Vallejo, California and tiny Central Falls, Rhode Island -- have declared bankruptcy in recent years since the onset of the U.S. financial crisis.

Jefferson County's debt escalated in the mid-2000s when bond issuance deals to upgrade its sewer system soured amid widespread corruption, bribery and fraud charges that led to some 22 convictions.

Costs ballooned as interest rates rose, and the county had teetered on the edge of insolvency since its debt was downgraded in 2008. With more than $5 billion in total indebtedness, the Chapter 9 filing on Wednesday surpassed that filed by Orange County California, in 1994.

Jefferson County, with a population of about 660,000, contains some of the richest neighborhoods in the country as well as pockets of urban poverty and blight.

Birmingham was the scene of one of the fiercest confrontations of the U.S. civil rights movement in 1963 when city leaders and police violently resisted a campaign for desegregation by demonstrators led by Martin Luther King Jr.

Larry Langford, a Democrat and former mayor of Birmingham, was sentenced to 15 years in prison last year for his role in corrupt business deals that fueled the multibillion-dollar sewer debt. Langford presided over the county commission during the height of the bond swaps that led to the run-up of the massive debt.

Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, who as late as Tuesday pledged to call a special session of the state legislature to facilitate the September deal, said the vote to file for bankruptcy was unfortunate.

"DARK CLOUD" OVER COUNTY

"I am disappointed by the commission's decision today, as bankruptcy will negatively impact not only the Birmingham region, but also the entire state," Bentley said in a statement.

Bentley was heavily involved in negotiations with creditors and had twice pushed the county to avoid declaring bankruptcy, fearing its impact on the state's economic reputation. Efforts to forestall bankruptcy had already triggered layoffs of government employees and cuts in municipal services.

There are also widespread fears that the bankruptcy filing could raise borrowing costs for other Alabama governments and school districts.

Creditors such as JPMorgan Chase & Co and the county in September reached a tentative deal calling for Jefferson County's sewer-system debt to be substantially reduced but final terms were not reached.

A sticking point discussed in a commissioners' meeting on Monday was adjustment of a $140 million difference between the originally agreed figure of $2.05 billion the county must repay to creditors. That amount crept up to $2.19 billion because certain parts of the deal terms shifted.

"The county has negotiated extensively and in good faith with its creditors and their representatives about restructuring the county's debts out of court," County Commission President David Carrington said in a statement after Wednesday's vote.

"Despite the county's best efforts, these negotiations have not produced a deal that fairly treats the county and its citizens, and there is no reason to believe that further out-of-court negotiations will lead to a fair, acceptable result," he said.

The county's biggest creditor, JPMorgan Chase, had wanted to avoid bankruptcy, according to company spokeswoman Jennifer Zuccarelli.

"We offered very substantial financial concessions to make the deal happen, while keeping sewer rates within the parameters proposed by the county. While we're disappointed by the county's decision to file we will continue to work for a fair and reasonable solution," Zuccarelli said.

Alabama's attorney general said he would work to ensure that any sewer rate increases in Jefferson County were fair. The issue is highly contentious in the county, as many residents fear larger bills as part of a deal to settle the county's sewer bond debt.

But the sewer system's court-appointed receiver said the bankruptcy filing would inevitably translate into higher fees for the county's sewer system customers.

"This utterly irresponsible act makes the dark cloud hanging over Jefferson County even darker," the receiver, John Young Jr., said.

The September settlement would have meant a 6.5 percent rate increase for residential and non-residential customers but now those rises will be significantly larger because of the bankruptcy filing, according to Young.

The news will no doubt cause a lot of selling of municipal bonds in the next few days, said Jason Thomas, chief investment officer at Aspiriant, a registered investment advisory firm with $7.5 billion in assets under management.

"There is going to be a lot of selling pressure, and we expect that we will take advantage of it and do a lot of buying," he said.

The action should not be viewed as a harbinger of more filings in the municipal bond market, said Michael Walls, portfolio manager of Waddell & Reed Advisors Municipal High Income Fund and the Ivy Municipal High Income Fund.

"This is not systemic to the municipal bond market; it's a situation where there was gross mismanagement of a municipal water and sewer project," Wall said.

In a statement late on Wednesday, JPMorgan Chase said the Jefferson County bankruptcy would have no material impact on its financial results.

(Additional reporting by Matthew Bigg in Atlanta, Jessica Toonkel, Joan Gralla and Chip Barnett in New York; Writing and additional reporting by Michael Connor in Miami; Editing by Tom Brown and Eric Walsh)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111110/us_nm/us_usa_alabama_jeffersoncounty1

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Mexico president: weather may have caused crash

--> AAA??Nov. 11, 2011?4:00 PM ET
Mexico president: weather may have caused crash
E. EDUARDO CASTILLOE. EDUARDO CASTILLO, Associated Press??

In this Wednesday July 14, 2010, Mexico's Interior Minister Francisco Blake Mora attends his his swearing in ceremony at Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City. The Mexican government said Friday Nov. 11, 2001, that Mora, Mexico's No. 2 government official next to the president, has died in a helicopter crash with seven others, including the pilot. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

In this Wednesday July 14, 2010, Mexico's Interior Minister Francisco Blake Mora attends his his swearing in ceremony at Los Pinos presidential residence in Mexico City. The Mexican government said Friday Nov. 11, 2001, that Mora, Mexico's No. 2 government official next to the president, has died in a helicopter crash with seven others, including the pilot. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 24, 2010 file photo, Mexico's Interior Minister Francisco Blake Mora attends a news conference in Mexico City. The Mexican government said Friday Nov. 11, 2011, that Mora, Mexico's No. 2 government official next to the president, has died in a helicopter crash with seven others, including the pilot. (AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo, File)

In this video frame grab image taken from Televisa's Forotv via APTN, the wreckage of a helicopter carrying Mexico's Interior Minister Francisco Blake Mora is seen in a mountainous area of Mexico state southeast of Mexico City, Friday Nov. 11, 2011. The Mexican government said Friday, that Mora, Mexico's No. 2 government official next to the president, died in the helicopter crash with seven others, including the pilot. (AP Photo/Forotv-Televisa via APTN)

In this video frame grab image taken from Televisa's Forotv via APTN, investigators examine the wreckage of a helicopter that was carrying Mexico's Interior Minister Francisco Blake Mora, in a mountainous area of Mexico state southeast of Mexico City, Friday Nov. 11, 2011. The Mexican government said Friday, that Mora, Mexico's No. 2 government official next to the president, died in the helicopter crash with seven others, including the pilot. (AP Photo/Forotv-Televisa via APTN)

MEXICO CITY (AP) ? Mexican President Felipe Calderon says weather conditions appear to have been a factor in a helicopter crash that killed his top Cabinet official, Francisco Blake Mora.

Calderon says the helicopter was flying foggy conditions and the crash "was probably an accident."

The government says Blake died with seven others on Friday.

Calderon made a televised address and called Blake "a great patriot."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-11-Mexico-Blake%20Mora/id-212722f1b7ff49e49cf57a4707bbebd6

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