Venezuela's Chavez undergoing "tough" chemotherapy, VP says

CARACAS (Reuters) - Ailing Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been undergoing "tougher" new treatment for cancer, including chemotherapy at the military hospital where he has been for the past two weeks, his vice president said.

Speaking after a Catholic Mass to pray for Chavez's health, Nicolas Maduro described how the socialist president had personally given the order to leave Cuba in mid-February, two months after his latest cancer surgery there.

"He said, 'I've taken the decision to return to Venezuela, I'm going to enter a new phase of complementary treatments, tougher and more intense, I want to be in Caracas,'" Maduro said in the comments late on Friday.

"Do you know what the complementary treatments are? They are the chemotherapies applied to patients after operations," he added outside a chapel in the Caracas military hospital.

Apart from one set of photos showing Chavez in a Havana hospital bed, he has not been seen or heard from in public since the December 11 surgery in Cuba, his fourth operation since the disease was detected in mid-2011.

Chavez had previous rounds of chemo- and radiotherapy, which at times left him bald and bloated. He twice wrongly declared himself cured.

Furious at rumors swirling all week that Chavez may have died, Maduro said chemotherapy was only possible because his condition had actually improved in January after a delicate few weeks following the December operation.

Chavez's No. 2 urged Venezuelans to be on guard against "rumor-mongers" and "destabilizes," saying right-wing politicians in the United States were in league with Venezuela's opposition to spread lies about his boss.

"Sadly, the opposition live in a world of hatred, wrongdoing, bad feelings and bad desires," Maduro said, adding that Chavez had become sick from overworking.

"He neglected his own body to give our people his work, his love, his life," Maduro said, confirming Chavez was still using a tracheal tube to breathe and was communicating with family and aides through written messages and other "creative" means.

'THEY MUST SHOW HIM'

Opposition leaders have accused Maduro of lying about Chavez's condition. Several dozen anti-government students have chained themselves up in public to demand proof that the president is alive and in Venezuela.

"We challenge Nicolas Maduro to say where Hugo Chavez is. They must show him," opposition leader Pablo Medina said during a visit on Saturday to the students in Caracas.

Chavez's family and supporters are smarting at the crescendo of rumors that surfaced this week in news media and on the Internet. They have ranged from a claim by a Panamanian diplomat that Chavez's family had switched his life support off, to a Spanish newspaper report he had gone to die on an island refuge.

"Let's see, let's see, gentlemen in the laboratory, what rumors have you prepared for us today?" said Information Minister Ernesto Villegas.

Chavez's daughter, Maria Gabriela, complained about the media scrutiny of her face during the Mass on Friday night. Her somber expression was interpreted by some on Twitter as a sign her father was near death.

"I can't be happy if my father is ill ... In the next Mass, I'll have to dance and laugh," she tweeted.

Should Chavez die or step down, a vote would be held within 30 days, probably pitting Maduro against opposition leader and state governor Henrique Capriles for leadership of a nation that holds the world's biggest oil reserves. Capriles lost to Chavez in last year's election.

The stakes are also high for the region. Chavez has been the most vocal Latin American critic of Washington and financed hefty aid programs for leftist governments from Cuba to Bolivia.

(Additional reporting by Mario Naranjo; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/venezuelas-chavez-undergoing-tough-chemotherapy-vp-says-224112300.html

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Rodman tells North Korean leader he has 'friend for life'

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? Ex-NBA star Dennis Rodman hung out Thursday with North Korea's Kim Jong Un on the third day of his improbable journey with VICE to Pyongyang, watching the Harlem Globetrotters with the leader and later dining on sushi and drinking with him at his palace.

"You have a friend for life," Rodman told Kim before a crowd of thousands at a gymnasium where they sat side by side, chatting as they watched players from North Korea and the U.S. play, Alex Detrick, a spokesman for the New York-based VICE media company, told The Associated Press.

Rodman arrived in Pyongyang on Monday with three members of the professional Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, VICE correspondent Ryan Duffy and a production crew to shoot an episode on North Korea for a new weekly HBO series.

The unlikely encounter makes Rodman the most high-profile American to meet Kim since the young North Korean leader took power in December 2011, and takes place against a backdrop of tension between Washington and Pyongyang. North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test just two weeks ago, making clear the provocative act was a warning to the United States to drop what it considers a "hostile" policy toward the North.

Kim, a diehard basketball fan, told the former Chicago Bulls star he hoped the visit would break the ice between the United States and North Korea, VICE founder Shane Smith said.

Dressed in a blue Mao suit, Kim laughed and slapped his hands on the table before him during the game as he sat nearly knee to knee with Rodman. Rodman, the man who once turned up in a wedding dress to promote his autobiography, wore a dark suit and dark sunglasses, but still had on his nose rings and other piercings. A can of Coca-Cola sat on the table before him in photos shared with AP by VICE.

"The crowd was really engaged, laughed at all of the Globetrotters antics, and actually got super loud towards the end as the score got close," said Duffy, who suited up for the game in a blue uniform emblazoned with "United States of America. "Most fun I've had in a while."

Kim and Rodman chatted in English, but Kim primarily spoke in Korean through a translator, Smith said after speaking to the VICE crew in Pyongyang.

"They bonded during the game," Smith said by telephone from New York after speaking to the crew. "They were both enjoying the crazy shots, and the Harlem Globetrotters were putting on quite a show."

The surprise visit by the flamboyant Hall of Famer known as "The Worm" makes him an unlikely ambassador at a time when North Koreans are girding for battle with the U.S. Just last week, Kim guided frontline troops in military exercises.

North Korea and the U.S. fought on opposite sides of the three-year Korean War, which ended in a truce in 1953. The foes never signed a peace treaty, and do not have diplomatic relations.

Thursday's game ended in a 110-110 draw, with two Americans playing on each team alongside North Koreans, Detrick said. The Xinhua News Agency first reported on the game, citing witnesses who attended.

After the game, Rodman addressed Kim in a speech before a crowd of tens of thousands of North Koreans, telling him, "You have a friend for life," Detrick said.

At a lavish dinner at Kim's palace, the leader plied the group with food and drinks as the group made round after round of toasts.

"Dinner was an epic feast. Felt like about 10 courses in total," Duffy said in an email to AP. "I'd say the winners were the smoked turkey and sushi, though we had the Pyongyang cold noodles earlier in the trip and that's been the runaway favorite so far."

Duffy said he invited Kim to visit the United States, a proposal met with hearty laughter from the North Korean leader.

"Um ... so Kim Jong Un just got the (hash)VICEonHBO crew wasted ... no really, that happened," VICE producer Jason Mojica wrote on Twitter.

Rodman's trip is the second attention-grabbing U.S. visit this year to North Korea. Google's executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, made a four-day trip in January to Pyongyang, but did not meet the North Korean leader.

Extending an invitation to a man known as much for his piercings, tattoos and bad behavior as for his basketball may seem inexplicable. But Kim is known to love the NBA, and has promoted sports since becoming leader.

"We knew that he's a big lover of basketball, especially the Bulls, and it was our intention going in that we would have a good-will mission of something that's fun," Smith said. "A lot of times, things just are serious and everybody's so concerned with geopolitics that we forget just to be human beings."

Rodman's agent, Darren Prince, said Rodman wasn't concerned about criticism about making a visit to an enemy nation.

"Dennis called me last night and said it's been a great experience and he made this trip out of the love of the USA ," he said. "It's all about peace and love."

___

Associated Press NBA writer Brian Mahoney contributed to this report from New York. Follow AP's Korea bureau chief Jean Lee at twitter.com/newsjean.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/rodman-tells-kim-jong-un-friend-life-141655557--spt.html

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New W3C Group Focuses on Automotive Web Platforms and ...

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international community that develops web standards, has announced the launch of the new ?Automotive and Web Platform Business Group? which will create web technology specifications for the automotive industry starting with a Vehicle Data API Specification.

There has been a rush in the creation of connected car applications and as ProgrammableWeb?s Greg Bates recently reported, car companies including Ford, GM, Toyota and BMW are racing to create vehicle-controlled app platforms and marketplaces.

The Automotive and Web Platform Business Group will focus on helping the automotive industry adopt web technologies and platforms as well as understanding W3C web specifications and standards. Specific issues related to the automobile industry will also be addressed such as reduction of driver distractions and driver safety. In the W3C press release, Roger C. Lanctot, Associate Director in the Global Automotive Practice at Strategy Analytics, states that:

?The W3C?s API initiative arrives just as OEMs are laying the groundwork to bring the browser into the car via multiple means. Car makers will be looking to the W3C to help identify best practices for over the air software updates and security and the launch of the new Business Group will provide the ideal forum for those conversations.?

Defining a Vehicle Data API Specification is the first priority of the group and will provide guidelines as to the types of vehicle data that should be accessible using a web API(s). There is a wide range of data that could be made accessible to app developers via web APIs such as vehicle make, model and year, vehicle conditions such as navigation, speed, climate and more. Diana Cheng, Web and Social Media Expert, Internet Standards, R&D at Vodafone Group states for the press release:

?Standardization of a Vehicle API will boost interoperability regardless of manufacturers and enrich automotive applications with vehicle data, which would increase security and user control. We believe the W3C is the right organization to ensure correct design and sandboxing of such an API so that it does not interfere with other vehicle functions; they have already been doing this for years, i.e. standardizing a large number of Web APIs that run securely in the browser?s runtime. We look forward to starting collaboration with other industry players through this business group.?

The concept of ?car as a platform? has actually been around for several years. However, as reported by ProgrammableWeb Editor Adam DuVander, the recent launch of the OnStar API by GM seems to have sparked a ?car as a platform? war. Only time will tell whether the ?car as a platform? will be embraced by developers and ultimately car consumers.

Source: http://blog.programmableweb.com/2013/02/26/new-w3c-group-focuses-on-automotive-web-platforms-and-vehicle-data-api-specifications/

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DIY Digs With Bob Vila: Pendant Lighting | Zillow Blog

By Jean Nayar

Of all the various forms of light fixtures, pendants may offer the greatest opportunity to make a statement and introduce a pop of personality to a room.

Though functional?? in that they provide either overall ambient light or directed ?task? lighting?? pendant fixtures come in a wide range of styles, shapes, materials and colors that can be combined to form a dramatic sculptural focal point in a room.

Whether positioned over a sink in a kitchen, lined up in a row over a countertop, or suspended over a hall or dining table, pendant fixtures look and function at their best when employed using a few aesthetic and practical rules of thumb.

Slideshow: Trending Now: Pendant Lighting

Read on for answers to the most frequently asked questions about pendant fixtures.

1. What should I look for in design?

Before buying a pendant fixture, consider the context. The style of your home and your decor is the best starting point. Are your rooms modern and minimalist or warm and rustic? Is your home classic and traditional, playful and eclectic, rich and glamorous, or understated and simple? Opt for a fixture with materials and shapes that complement your style or that provide an interesting counterpoint to other furnishings.

For a rustic space, you might opt for a schoolhouse-style pendant with antique pewter or iron hardware. In a modern space, a sleek linear chrome or brushed-nickel fixture would be more suitable. An eclectic room is ideal for a whimsical fixture with a colorful glass shade, while fabric-covered rectangular or drum-shaped fixtures are great transitional lighting elements that can work with most interior looks.

Also, think about where the fixture will be placed. Pendants over dining tables offer the greatest potential for a dramatic statement. Hanging them in a group? Then a subtle, compact fixture might be more appropriate.

When choosing multiple fixtures to place over a bar or countertop, consider what is commonly known as the ?rule of three,? which calls for three identical fixtures to establish a rhythm and sense of balance (patterns of odd numbered elements being more pleasing to the human eye). And if most of your furniture is boxy in shape, consider choosing a round or cylindrical fixture as a counterpoint, or vice versa.

2. What size and scale should I choose?

Pendant fixtures look best when their size and scale is in harmony with the size and scale of the room and its furnishings. A band of pendants running the length of a kitchen bar or countertop should be at least 10 inches smaller in diameter than the width of the counter. Why? To leave headroom for anyone seated beneath.

A massive dining room can handle a massive pendant or chandelier, while a compact breakfast nook needs a smaller-scale fixture in keeping with its size.

In general, however, bigger is better with pendants if your goal is to make a powerful visual statement. Diminutive pendants lose their impact among other room elements. So long as you follow the headroom rule above, opt for the biggest pendant that will work in your context. Just be careful not to produce a barrier effect between one side of the counter or table and the other.

Another approach for choosing the size of a pendant or chandelier in a foyer is to simply add the room?s dimensions together and change the total from feet to inches. For example, if your foyer is 11? by 14?, add 11 plus 14 to get 25. The proper pendant or chandelier size chandelier would be 25? in diameter.

3. What is the ideal height for a pendant?

There are two approaches to positioning pendants properly over a dining table. One is to hang the bottom rim of the pendant 60 to 66 inches from the floor. The other is to suspend it about 30 inches above the table surface. Either approach will yield the same result by providing ample illumination on the table surface while shielding the glare of the light sources from the eyes of diners around the table.

If your ceilings are more than 8 feet high, increase the height of the chandelier or pendant 3 inches for each additional foot of ceiling height. If a pendant fixture or a series of fixtures is placed over a bar or raised counter, the bottom of the fixture should (ideally) float 30 inches above the counter surface, though this may vary depending on the height of the inhabitants or the function of the table or counter surface (desk surfaces, for example, need light positioned about 16 inches from the surface). For a pendant in a foyer, suspend the fixture so that its bottom hangs about 7 feet from the floor.

4. When should I use multiple pendants in a row?

This is a great option over a very long dining table, or over a kitchen bar or counter. The key to using a collection of pendants in any space is finding balance among all of the other competing elements in the room. In some cases, such as over a short, wide counter in a small room, it may be worthwhile to break the ?rule of three? and instead use one or two larger pendants to call attention to the bar while keeping the space from looking too busy. When placing pendants in a row, the space between the bulbs or light sources (not the edges of the fixture themselves) should be about 30 inches apart.

5. Should I use a dimmer?

It?s always worthwhile to install a dimmer. Not only does it allow you to control the mood and amount of light shed on any given surface or space; it?s also a great way to limit energy consumption and lower your energy bills.

Related:

Author Note: Jean Nayar is the author of Detailing Light (The Whitney Library of Design), a book on lighting designed by the country?s most notable architects and lighting designers.

Bob Vila is the home improvement expert widely known as host of TV?s This Old House, Bob Vila?s Home Again, and Bob Vila. Today, Bob continues his mission to help people upgrade their homes and improve their lives with advice online at BobVila.com. His video-rich site offers a full range of fresh, authoritative content ? practical tips, inspirational ideas, and more than 1,000 videos from Bob Vila television.

Note: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or position of Zillow.

Source: http://www.zillowblog.com/2013-02-22/diy-digs-with-bob-vila-pendant-lighting/

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Gun Activists Say: Obama Is Raising a Private Black Army to Massacre White People (Little green footballs)

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Helper mayor resigns following third DUI arrest

The mayor of Helper resigned Saturday morning following his arrest on suspicion of drunken driving the day before ? his second during his term.

The Helper City Council and Mayor Dean Armstrong, released from the Carbon County Jail, met Saturday and the mayor, after offering a prepared statement, resigned effective immediately. The council accepted his resignation, said city attorney Gene Strate.

The council had already given Armstrong a second chance following his 2011 arrest for driving under the influence. Armstrong was arrested again Friday afternoon after a minor accident on Main Street in Helper, in which no one was injured, said Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Lawrence Hopper. A field Breathalyzer test indicated Armstrong?s blood alcohol level was .169, Hopper said. Under Utah law, it is illegal to operate a motor vehicle with a blood-alcohol level above .08.

"I have determined that I can no longer adequately perform the duties of mayor," Armstrong, 51, wrote in his statement, according to Strate. "Instead, I will turn my focus toward taking care of my family, my health and my business."

Armstrong, who owns a market that specializes in meats and baked goods, noted in his statement that he?s saddened that he cannot complete his term, though he feels that the city administration has improved Helper in the past several years. "The people of this community are strong, and it has been my honor and privilege to have served you," Strate read from the letter.

Armstrong was elected to a four-year term in 2010. Strate said he still needs to review the process for replacing him, since this is the first resignation by a Helper mayor that he can recall. Helper is a town of about 2,000 residents roughly 120 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

Armstrong started a lot of projects with the council, including big improvements to the water and sewer systems that the city has needed for 70 years, said council member Kirk Mascaro. Mascaro will serve as mayor pro tem, a position he already held so that he could act in Armstrong?s place if the mayor couldn?t attend a meeting.

"Mayor Armstrong has been, I feel, somewhat of an asset putting Helper City on the map, and we?ve got to move on right now. I?ve got to fill those shoes," Mascaro said. "We?re going to move on, move forward and it?s not just Mr. Armstrong, the whole council will be getting these projects completed."

Armstrong?s first DUI arrest in office was in November 2011, also by the UHP, court records show.

In May 2012, Armstrong pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charges of impaired driving, open container/drinking alcohol in a vehicle, and failing to stop or yield to a traffic sign, court records show. A judge suspended any jail time and placed Anderson on one year of probation. The terms of probation included a fine. Armstrong also was ordered to wear an ankle monitor for 60 days. The monitor was removed in September, jail records show.

story continues below

Helper?s council met following the 2011 arrest but took no action against Armstrong, Mascaro said.

Court records also indicate that Armstrong pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of driving under the influence in June 1991 in Salt Lake City. He received a suspended jail sentence and was ordered to perform community service, pay a fine and attend alcohol counseling, the records show. An additional charge of negligent collision was dropped.

mmcfall@sltrib.com Twitter: @mikeypanda

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/55886482-78/armstrong-mayor-helper-council.html.csp

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Fed officials point to fiscal benefits of bond buying

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Two top Federal Reserve officials offered a fresh defense of the U.S. central bank's asset-buying program on Friday, arguing that it helps the nation's fiscal health by boosting the economy.

The comments from Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Eric Rosengren and Fed Governor Jerome Powell amounted to an effort to inoculate the central bank against political pressures that might mount if it faces losses on its massive bond portfolio when interest rates finally rise.

Both officials pointed to increased economic output and the related rise in tax revenues as two benefits of the central bank's policy of buying $85 billion in bonds per month.

"We do well to ... consider these benefits, and the costs of inaction, when evaluating policy," Rosengren, who is considered one of the more dovish Fed officials, said at a conference hosted by the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.

The Fed has said it would keep purchasing assets until the outlook for the labor market improved substantially, although minutes from the central bank's January policy meeting released on Wednesday showed some officials thought they might have to stop short of that goal due to risks the policy presents.

Most officials have focused on the possibility of asset price bubbles and future inflation, or the potential for roiling markets when the time comes to shrink the Fed's balance sheet, which has tripled since 2008 to around $3 trillion.

Bloomberg, citing anonymous sources, reported on Friday that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke had played down concerns that monetary policy was fueling asset bubbles at a private meeting with U.S. bankers earlier this month.

But the prospect of political blowback if the Fed loses money on its bonds also troubles officials, particularly since any losses would likely come when the central bank is raising the interest rate it pays commercial banks to park their excess reserves at the Fed.

The central bank plans to jack up that rate when it comes time to withdraw money from the economy to make sure it does not overheat.

"We're going to pay interest on reserves to large banks in the U.S., and to foreign banks, to the tune of tens of billions of dollars, at a time when we're not going to pay anything back to the U.S. Treasury," St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said from the audience at the conference.

"That sounds like a recipe for political problems."

PAYING THE PRICE

The central bank returns portfolio profits to the Treasury each year and it has never missed a payment before. Last year, remittances hit a record $89 billion thanks to its bloated balance sheet.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates it will contribute some $95 billion a year to federal coffers through 2016. But remittances are expected to hit zero from 2018 through 2020, before resuming in 2021.

"We are in a period where the attacks on the Federal Reserve are the worst I have seen," former Fed Governor Frederic Mishkin said during a panel at the conference. "This issue is going to come up big time in Congress."

Powell, in his first public remarks since joining the central bank's board last May, acknowledged the Fed could come under public and political criticism, but said any losses needed to be put in a broader context.

"Any temporary losses should be weighed against the expected social benefits of the increased economic growth generated by the (bond buying), which would include higher tax revenue from increased output," he said.

In his remarks Rosengren, who along with Bullard and Powell backed the Fed's bond buying plan in a vote last month, said the program helps the nation lower its debt-to-GDP ratio by reducing the interest rate the government pays bond holders.

It also reduces government spending in areas such as unemployment insurance because it reduces joblessness, he said.

Bullard, considered an inflation hawk, has expressed caution about expanding the central bank's balance sheet too far.

On Friday, he acknowledged more voices within the Fed are pressing to scale back bond buying. "The idea of tapering the program at some point in the future may be gaining some steam on the committee," he said on CNBC television.

But he added: "Fed policy is very easy and it's going to stay easy for a long time."

(Additional reporting by Jason Lange in Washington and Richard Leong in New York; Editing by James Dalgleish, Tim Ahmann and Chizu Nomiyama)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fed-officials-point-fiscal-benefits-bond-buying-165933027--business.html

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