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NEW YORK ? One of his most popular works during the composer's lifetime, Wagner's early opera "Rienzi" still has the power to ignite strong feelings today.

The epic-length account of a 14th-century tribune who seeks to return Rome to its former glory was also a favorite of Adolf Hitler's, who saw the hero as an embodiment of his own mad dreams of power.

So it was with some embarrassment that one of Germany's leading opera companies, Deutsche Oper Berlin, discovered recently that it had scheduled a performance of the work for April 20, the date celebrated by the Nazis as Hitler's birthday. In response to complaints from company members, the date has now been shifted.

There was no such controversy surrounding the presentation of "Rienzi" in concert Sunday afternoon at Avery Fisher Hall by the Opera Orchestra of New York, conducted by the group's founder, Eve Queler.

But even in a flawed performance, "Rienzi" sets the pulse racing, and it was easy to see why it might foster grandiose thoughts. The score ? which looks back to Bellini and ahead to later Wagner ? is filled with rousing marches, romantic melodies, elaborate choruses for men, women and children, and extended fanfares for the brass.

By far the best singing was offered by Geraldine Chauvet, a French mezzo-soprano who was making her U.S. debut as the young nobleman Adriano. This "trousers" role ? a throwback to a tradition Wagner would never use again ? contains some stirring music as Adriano wrestles with the conflict between loyalty to his family and love for Rienzi's sister, Irene. Chauvet made the most of her opportunities, displaying warm, passionate tone, supple phrasing and ease in handling the many passages that took her to the top of the mezzo range.

As Irene, Portuguese soprano Elisabete Matos fearlessly unfurled high notes up to C-sharp. British tenor Ian Storey struggled in the daunting role of Rienzi, a pronounced wobble marring much of his delivery. He made it through his big aria, "Allmacht'ger Vater" ("Almighty Father"), but only barely.

The orchestra, supplemented by an offstage band, played with enthusiasm if not always precision. There were terrific contributions from members of the New York Choral Society and children from Vox Nova of the Special Music School.

"Rienzi," ? which ran six hours at its 1842 premiere and 3 1/2 hours in the abridged version used Sunday ? has long been a favorite of Queler's, who presented it twice in the early 1980s and again in 1992. Her conducting may have been a bit too four-square to bring out all the opera's sweep and power, but her advocacy of this neglected work is commendable.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_en_mu/us_opera_review_rienzi

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Stocks took a breather Monday but the major averages are still on track for the best start to the year since 2001. Patrick Dunkerley, Scout Mid Cap Fund, and Scott Colyer, Advisors Asset Management, discuss whether investors should play market offense ...

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46194763/

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Arm in arm with girlfriend Stacy Keibler, George Clooney and his leggy blonde walked the red carpet at Sunday night's Screen Actors Guild Awards. But I caught up with the former WWE wrestler on the set of "New York Live" just days before the big night to dish about her beau and how she constructs her flawless red carpet looks.

"It was really fun for me picking a dress that's comfortable, and easy was the key," Keibler tells me. "And then just figuring it out, what are we going to do with this now? How am I going to do my hair? It's just fun just being a girl."

Although Keibler seems right at home on the red carpet, she did admit that meeting Meryl Streep was "pretty cool" and left her speechless.

"Everyone has been so incredibly nice to me," Keibler beamed. "I have always tried to stay as private as I can be and George is a very private person and so, yes, it is hard to try and retain some sort of normalcy and privacy at times."

But there is one thing that Keibler wants to clear up when it comes to Clooney's supposed affinity for taller women.

"Actually George is a little bit taller than I am, but when I put my heels on I am taller," said Keibler, adding, "he loves it -- he doesn't mind one bit."

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A couple walks on a snow covered road near the Lake of Eymir, Ankara, Turkey, on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Winter temperatures and recent snowfall has partially paralyzed life in Turkey. (AP Photo/Selcan Hacaoglu)

Coots fight for a piece of bread on the frozen Lake of Eymir, near Ankara, Turkey, on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Winter temperatures and recent snowfall has partially paralyzed life in Turkey. (AP Photo/Selcan Hacaoglu)

Coots run for a piece of bread on the frozen Lake of Eymir, near Ankara, Turkey, on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Winter temperatures and recent snowfall has partially paralyzed life in Turkey. (AP Photo/Selcan Hacaoglu)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) ? A severe and snowy cold snap across central and eastern Europe has left at least 36 people dead, cut off power to towns, and snarled traffic. Officials are responding with measures ranging from opening shelters to dispensing hot tea, with particular concern for the homeless and elderly.

This part of Europe is not unused to cold, but the current freeze, which spread to most of the region last week, came after a period of relatively mild weather. Many were shocked when temperatures in some parts plunged Monday to minus 20 Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit).

"Just as we thought we could get away with a spring-like winter ..." lamented Jelena Savic, 43, from the Serbian capital of Belgrade, her head wrapped in a shawl with only eyes uncovered. "I'm freezing. It's hard to get used to it so suddenly."

Officials have appealed to people to stay indoors and be careful. Police searched for the homeless to make sure they didn't freeze to death. In some places, heaters will be set up at bus stations.

Still, 18 people, most of them homeless, died in Ukraine from hypothermia and nearly 500 people sought medical help for frostbite and hypothermia in just three days last week, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

Temperatures in parts of Ukraine fell to minus 16 C (3 F) during the day and minus 23 C (minus 10 F) in the night. Authorities opened 1,500 shelters to provide food and heat and closed schools and nurseries. More than 17,000 people have sought help in such shelters in the past three days, authorities said.

In Poland, at least 10 people froze to death as the cold reached minus 26 C (minus 15 F) on Monday.

Malgorzata Wozniak, a spokeswoman for Poland's Interior Ministry, told The Associated Press that elderly people and the homeless were among the dead. Police were checking unheated empty buildings for homeless people they could take to shelters.

Warsaw city authorities decided to place more than 40 heaters in the busiest city transport stops to help waiting passengers keep warm.

City authorities in the Czech capital of Prague set up tents for an estimated 3,000 homeless people. Freezing temperatures also damaged train tracks, slowing railway traffic.

In central Serbia, three people died and two more were missing, while 14 municipalities were operating under emergency decrees. Efforts to clear roads blocked by snow were hampered by strong winds and dozens of towns faced power outages.

Police said one woman froze to death in a snowstorm in a central Serbian village, while two elderly men were found dead, one in the snow outside his home. Further south, emergency crews are searching for two men in their 70s who are feared dead.

"We are getting some 'real' winter this week," Croatian meteorologist Zoran Vakula said.

In Bulgaria, a 57-year-old man froze to death in a northwestern village and emergency decrees were declared in 25 of the country's 28 districts. In the capital of Sofia, authorities handed out hot tea and placed homeless people in emergency shelters.

Strong winds also closed down Bulgaria's main Black Sea port of Varna, while part of a major highway leading to Bulgaria and Greece from Turkey was closed after a heavy snowfall. Nearly 200 Turkish Airlines flights to and from Istanbul's Ataturk Airport were canceled, and a city sports hall was turned to a temporary shelter for some 350 homeless people.

The temperature in Turkey's province of Kars, which borders Armenia, dropped to minus 25 C on Sunday night.

The situation was similar in Romania, where reports said four people have died because of freezing weather. There, authorities sent prison inmates to shovel snow and unblock paths leading to a shelter with some 300 stray dogs and puppies.

Weather forecasts say the cold snap will continue through the week.

_____

Associated Press writers across the region contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-30-EU-Europe-Weather/id-5ad7e01a4a3d4ba3aef4a7e2ef6420e6

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AVENTURA, Florida (Reuters) ? Newt Gingrich describes the Palestinians as an invented people and seeks covert action against Iran, while Mitt Romney accuses President Barack Obama of throwing Israel under a bus.

But the Republican presidential candidates' tough talk on the Middle East in Florida before Tuesday's primary is doing little to sway the state's large Jewish population from its longstanding support for the Democrats.

If anything, it's Republican arguments on the U.S. economy - not Israel - that might win more favor with Jewish voters here come the general election in November.

"There has been, particularly among younger voters, a small shift toward the Republican Party in general," said Terri Susan Fine, a political scientist at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

She said there was some concern about Israel, but the larger reason was because some Jews see the Republican Party as more friendly to business.

"Economic conservativism is what is shifting their focus toward the Republican Party," she said. "Younger Jewish voters are very secure in Israel's stability."

Rabbi David Kaye of Congregation Ohev Shalom, a conservative temple north of Orlando, said members of his congregation were more concerned with economic issues in a state hard-hit by the housing crisis and one of the nation's highest unemployment rates.

"We still see that there's a lot of folks hurting," he said.

Jewish voters are also generally more liberal on social issues than the Republican candidates.

President Barack Obama received almost eight out of every 10 votes cast by Jewish voters in 2008. That overwhelming support among Florida's 640,000-member Jewish community, half of whom are over 65, was a key component in his narrow 3 percentage point victory in the swing state.

Jewish voters historically have been concerned with social justice and older voters especially have deep ties to the Democratic Party and labor movement going back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt's presidency during the 1930s and earlier.

"It's part of our being - we are our brother's keeper," said Sydelle Sher, 79, of Delray Beach, a retired schoolteacher.

IRAN TENSIONS

But Sher, who attended a Gingrich rally last week, described herself as a fiscal conservative worried about the direction the country is going in under Obama.

"I fear the European-style socialism trend," she said, although she added that Israel policy is very important in her decision.

With tensions in the Middle East rising over Iran's nuclear ambitions, some Jewish Republicans wonder if the United States will stick by Israel.

Gloria Winton, 75, had harsh words for Obama on Israel as she headed into Mo's Bagels and Deli, near her home in Aventura, Florida. "I never thought before that Israel couldn't trust the United States. Now, I don't think that they can trust us," she said.

But she said she was leaning toward Romney, not Gingrich, because of Romney's more moderate tone. "I think (Gingrich is) very smart but I don't know if the independent voter would accept him," she said.

As they fight for their party's nomination, Romney and Gingrich have often seemed to compete over who can take the strongest pro-Israel line.

Gingrich, a former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, drew 700 people to a rally on Friday sponsored by a Jewish Republican group, and both he and Romney count pro-Israel businessmen among their financial supporters.

Gingrich dismisses the Palestinians as an "invented people," and promises he would move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv as soon as he takes office.

Despite years of U.S.-led negotiations toward a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Romney insists the Palestinians are not interested in living in their own nation alongside Israel, saying they want to destroy the Jewish state.

The former Massachusetts governor says Obama "threw Israel under the bus" for suggesting negotiations start with borders as they were before the 1967 Middle East war.

Democrats insist that Obama is not hostile to Israel, and call the Republicans' campaign a misleading and desperate attempt to make headway with an overwhelmingly Democratic voter bloc.

"Our ironclad commitment - and I meant ironclad - to Israel's security has meant the closest military cooperation between our two countries in history," Obama said in his State of the Union address on Tuesday.

Jewish voters typically account for 6-8 percent of turnout in Florida elections, and a lower percentage in Republican-only contests like Tuesday's primary, but they can make a difference if the vote is close.

Ira Sheskin, who runs the University of Miami's Jewish Demography Project, said statements like Gingrich's denial of the Palestinians' national identity could alienate the many Jewish voters whose main goal is Middle East peace.

"It was really not good for Gingrich to say that," Sheskin said. "Because if he becomes president, you want him to act as an honest broker in the Middle East. You don't do that if you've told one of the sides that they are an invented people."

"You won't advance the cause of peace."

(Additional reporting by Ros Krasny in Delray Beach; Editing by Alistair Bell and Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/us_nm/us_usa_campaign_jews

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MELBOURNE, Australia ? American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Romanian Horia Tecau won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open on Sunday, beating Elena Vesnina and Leander Paes 6-3, 5-7, 10-3.

It was the first Grand Slam victory for the 26-year-old Mattek-Sands, known as much for her eccentric on-court attire as her tennis. For the final, she wore a lime, one-sleeve top, black skirt, black knee-high socks, purple streaks in her hair and her regular eye black on her cheeks.

Tecau also captured his first Grand Slam title. He has lost twice before in the men's doubles final at Wimbledon.

Paes, a 38-year-old doubles specialist from India, was playing in his second championship match in as many days. He won the men's doubles trophy with Radek Stepanek on Saturday night.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_sp_te_ga_su/ten_australian_open_mixed_doubles

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Guatemala's former dictator Efrain Rios Montt wipes sweat from his forehead in a courtroom in Guatemala City, Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. Rios Montt is refusing to testify in a genocide case involving crimes against indigenous communities during his dictatorship in the 1980s. He has been accused of being responsible for some of the worst massacres during the Central American country's 36 years of civil war. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

Relatives of genocide victims gather in the court room were Guatemala's former strongman Efrain Rios Montt (1980-1982) was linked to the process of genocide and crimes against humanity in Guatemala City, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. The judge decided that Rios Montt is under house arrest and can not move without permission of the court. On January 14, 2012, R?os Montt lost the immunity against prosecution that he had enjoyed as a member of the national legislature. As the commander in chief and alleged intellectual author of a military campaign that largely targeted civilians, R?os Montt?s prosecution has long been sought by human rights organizations in Guatemala and elsewhere. (AP Photo/Moises Castilo)

Guatemala's former strongman Efrain Rios Montt (1980-1982), center, listens to prosecutors next to his lawyers in the court in Guatemala City, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. The judge decided that Rios Montt is under house arrest and can not move without permission of the court after being linked to the process of genocide and crimes against humanity. On January 14, 2012, R?os Montt lost the immunity against prosecution that he had enjoyed as a member of the national legislature. As the commander in chief and alleged intellectual author of a military campaign that largely targeted civilians, R?os Montt?s prosecution has long been sought by human rights organizations in Guatemala and elsewhere. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A relative of genocide victims gather in the court room were Guatemala's former strongman Efrain Rios Montt (1980-1982) was linked to the process of genocide and crimes against humanity in Guatemala City, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. The judge decided that Rios Montt is under house arrest and can not move without permission of the court. On Jan. 14, 2012, R?os Montt lost the immunity against prosecution that he had enjoyed as a member of the national legislature. As the commander in chief and alleged intellectual author of a military campaign that largely targeted civilians, R?os Montt?s prosecution has long been sought by human rights organizations in Guatemala and elsewhere. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

Guatemala's former strongman Efrain Rios Montt (1980-1982) gestures as listening a journalist's question outside the courtroom after being linked to the process of genocide and crimes against humanity in Guatemala City, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. The judge decided that Rios Montt is under house arrest and can not move without permission of the court. On January 14, 2012, R?os Montt lost the immunity against prosecution that he had enjoyed as a member of the national legislature. As the commander in chief and alleged intellectual author of a military campaign that largely targeted civilians, R?os Montt?s prosecution has long been sought by human rights organizations in Guatemala and elsewhere. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) ? The defense lawyer for former dictator Efrain Rios Montt said Friday that a judge violated due process when she issued unprecedented genocide charges against Rios Montt for conduct during Guatemala's bloody civil war.

Danilo Rodriguez Galvez said Judge Carol Patricia Flores was supposed to issue her decision only after hearing testimony on allegations that Rios Montt was involved in hundreds of murders, human violations and the displacement of 29,000 people during the three-decade war.

Flores charged Rios Montt with genocide and crimes against humanity late Thursday, hours after he appeared in court but refused to testify about the allegations.

It's the first time a Latin American court has charged former president with genocide.

Flores first lectured Rios Montt for an hour on the allegations, citing witness testimony, before issuing her decision, Rodriguez said. He said that her conduct resembled a conviction and that he would file a formal complaint next week.

"The judge's duty was to report the resolution. The fact is that she talked for an hour as if the case had already been prosecuted," Rodriguez said.

Flores said Friday she would not comment because the complaint had yet to be formally filed.

Rios Montt, who ruled Guatemala in 1982-83 after a military coup, is accused in 266 incidents that resulted in 1,771 deaths, 1,400 human rights violations and the displacement of 29,000 indigenous Guatemalans.

The war ended in 1996 with the signing of a peace accord between the government and leftist guerrillas. The conflict left more than 200,000 dead and missing, 93 percent of them by state forces and paramilitary groups, according to a U.N. report. Hundreds of Mayan villages were largely wiped away.

Thousands of people demanding prosecution packed the courthouse where Rios Montt appeared Thursday. There were also supporters in the crowd.

"I understand what the prosecution is saying and I won't respond," Rios Montt said before the judge, later adding: "The point is to do justice, not vengeance."

He had immunity from prosecution as a member of congress, but it expired Jan. 14.

After hearing daylong testimony, some by victims and witnesses of atrocities, Flores deliberated for three hours before issuing her decision. Rios Montt faces prosecution on charges he was the mastermind of the abuses in his roles as head of the military and Guatemala's equivalent of the secret service.

"Unfortunately there are cases like this where people have been waiting 29 years for justice," Flores said during the testimony.

The next step is for the prosecution to present the formal case against Rios Montt before the court.

He was ordered to be held under house arrest and to pay a $64,000 bond.

The former dictator was also told not to communicate with others accused in the case, which also involves country's first genocide charges against retired generals Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez and Hector Mario Lopez Fuentes, the army chief of staff under Rios Montt.

Crimes against humanity charges were suspended earlier this month for retired Gen. Oscar Humberto Mejia, the defense minister for Rios Montt who later deposed him to take over the presidency. The court determined Mejia doesn't have the physical or mental faculties to go to trial.

Rodriguez and Lopez have also claimed health conditions have kept them from court proceedings. All are in their 80s.

Prosecutors argued Thursday that as de facto president, Rios Montt was responsible for the army's "scorched earth" policy in communities where there was potential support for the leftist rebels.

Prosecutor Manuel Vasquez also accused him of authorizing massacres of ethnic Ixil Maya as well as sexual assaults on the women.

"The politics that caused the massacres started in 1965 and continued throughout," Rodriguez argued on behalf of Rios Montt. "You can't ascribe authorship of that long-term political policy to Rios Montt."

Zury Rios, the former leader's daughter who heads the Guatemala Republican Front political party, said the case against her father came from outside interests.

It was first brought in 2000 by the Center for Legal Action for Human Rights based on testimony of victims and their families.

Guatemala's 1992 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Rigoberta Menchu, also has accused Rios Montt of genocide in a Spanish court.

The country's recently inaugurated president, Otto Perez Molina, was a top military officer during the war and has long insisted there were no massacres, human rights violations or genocide in the conflict.

But his close advisers have said he supports meeting the conditions set by various U.S. congressional appropriations acts for restoring aid that was first eliminated in 1978 halfway through the civil war. Among the required steps is reforming a weak justice system that has failed to bring those responsible for wartime abuses to justice.

The unprecedented genocide trial has continued since Perez took office earlier this month.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-27-LT-Guatemala-Ex-Dictator/id-0de5e9b89b674f1fa61b6e1223f17d36

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LONDON (AP) ? World stocks turned lower on Friday after official data showed the U.S. economic recovery was not as fast as many had hoped.

The Commerce Department said that the U.S. economy, the world's largest, grew at a modest 2.8 percent in the final three months of last year. While that is the fastest growth in 2011, economists had expected growth of 3 percent.

A cut in government spending was offset partly by a rise in inventories, which are expected to slow back down in the early months of 2012, hurting growth. After that, "growth will pick up again by late spring," said Harm Bandholz, chief U.S. economist at UniCredit Bank.

With the data suggesting the U.S. recovery would continue to be a slow process, investors sold off stocks to cash in on gains made so far this month.

Britain's FTSE 100 was down 1.1 percent to 5,733 while Germany's DAX fell 0.4 percent at 6,511.98 and France's CAC-40 lost 1.3 percent to 3,318.76. The euro was up 0.83 percent at $1.3189.

Wall Street edged lower on the open ? the Dow Jones industrial average fell 94 points to 12,639 and the S&P 500 5.8 points to 1,312.

Other economic and corporate news released Friday contributed to sour market sentiment.

Consumer products maker Procter & Gamble Co. cut its earnings outlook and Ford Motor Co. fell short of Wall Street expectations, while Japanese games and electronics companies Nintendo and NEC issued profit warnings.

In Europe, traders digested grim statistics from Spain showing more than 5 million people without jobs. The National Statistics Institute said the jobless rate shot up from 21.5 percent ? already the highest in the eurozone ? to 22.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

Attention was also focused on the resumption of talks to reach a deal on how Greece can avoid a catastrophic default on its debt. Greece and its bailout rescuers ? other countries that use the euro and the International Monetary Fund ? are asking private creditors to swap their Greek bonds for new ones with a lower value, interest rate and much longer maturity.

The two sides have so far disagreed over what interest rate the new bonds should take. Some negotiators have said they hope to have a deal this weekend, in time for a European leaders' meeting on Monday.

While investors appear to expect a deal at some point ? the euro was up and eurozone borrowing rates were down, suggesting a steady increase in confidence ? some worried that the crisis was far from over.

Portugal's markets have worsened in recent days on fears that its austerity efforts will not be enough to achieve its deficit-reduction targets and that it may end up like Greece, needing a second bailout effort and possibly a debt writedown.

Getting economies like Portugal to grow is fast becoming a priority and is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion at the European leaders' summit in Brussels on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Asian markets showed little momentum ahead of the weekend.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.1 percent to close at 8,841.22 while South Korea's Kospi rose 0.4 percent to 1,964.83. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.3 percent to 20,501.67 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4 percent to 4,288.40.

Japanese exporters continued to be hit by a strong yen, which reduces the value of repatriated profits. The dollar fell to 76.81 yen from 77.49 yen.

Nintendo Corp., the Japanese gaming giant behind the Super Mario and Pokemon games, plummeted 4.1 percent, a day after it lowered its annual earnings forecast to a 65 billion yen ($844 million) loss. The company blamed the strong yen for much of the loss.

Japanese electronics company NEC Corp. plummeted 7.1 percent after announcing Thursday that it was slashing 10,000 jobs worldwide and would slide into the red for the full year.

Benchmark oil for March delivery was up 5 cents at $99.75 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 30 cents to finish at $99.70 per barrel on the Nymex on Thursday.

___

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-27-World-Markets/id-ae6931b92ea948bea6f83718da04b6a2

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Dancing with wolves -- prestigious award goes to a scientist at the Vetmeduni Vienna

Public release date: 27-Jan-2012
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Contact: Dr. Friederike Range
freiderike.range@vetmeduni.ac.at
43-676-930-8094
University of Veterinary Medicine -- Vienna

The American Psychological Association, the largest psychological society in the world, will grant its 2012 "Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology" to Dr Friederike Range of the Messerli Research Institute at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna (Vetmeduni Vienna). The award is recognition of Range's ground-breaking research on animal cognition and will be made in August 2012 at a ceremony in Orlando, Florida. The American Psychological Association grants the award each year to excellent young scientists whose work has already contributed substantially to the field of psychology.
Animal behaviour and cognition

From the very start of her scientific career, Range's research has focused on animal behaviour and cognition, with her most recent work addressing social and physical cognition in dogs and wolves. Her results have invariably been thought-provoking and frequently spectacular. As an example, she showed by means of sophisticated tests that dogs have some form of sense of fairness. In a further study, she and her colleagues discovered that male and female dogs perceive some features of their environments in a different way. The majority of Range's work with dogs has been undertaken in the so-called Clever Dog Lab in Vienna, while her work on wolves has been performed at the Wolf Science Center in Ernstbrunn, Lower Austria. Range is a co-founder of both of these research institutes. Nevertheless, her research has not been restricted to dogs: she has also studied various species of monkeys as well as ravens, keas and even man.
International career

Friederike Range studied at the University of Bayreuth, where her diploma work related to the social behaviour of the sooty mangabey, a primate species found in West African forests. For her doctoral project she went to the University of Pennsylvania, where the distinguished behavioural scientists Robert Seyfarth and Dorothy Cheney helped her continue her investigations. She then spent six months at the Konrad Lorenz Research Station in Grnau, Upper Austria, studying the intelligence and social behaviour of corvids. In 2005 she moved to Ludwig Huber's group at the Department of Cognitive Biology in the University of Vienna. In this period she also started to work with dogs and wolves. On 1 September 2011 Range and Huber moved together to the new Messerli Research Institute at the Vetmeduni Vienna, where she is continuing her successful work on animal behavior and cognition.

###

Links
American Psychological Association: http://www.apa.org
Clever Dog Lab: http://www.cleverdoglab.at/
Wolf Science Center: http://www.wolfscience.at

Contact
Dr Friederike Range (currently on maternity leave)
Messerli Research Institute, Vetmeduni Vienna
M +43 676 930 8094
E freiderike.range@vetmeduni.ac.at

Alternative contact
Prof Ludwig Huber
Messerli Research Institute, Vetmeduni Vienna
T +43 1 25077-2656
E ludwig.huber@vetmeduni.ac.at

Released by
Mag. Klaus Wassermann
T +43 1 25077-1153
E klaus.wassermann@vetmeduni.ac.at

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Dancing with wolves -- prestigious award goes to a scientist at the Vetmeduni Vienna Public release date: 27-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dr. Friederike Range
freiderike.range@vetmeduni.ac.at
43-676-930-8094
University of Veterinary Medicine -- Vienna

The American Psychological Association, the largest psychological society in the world, will grant its 2012 "Distinguished Scientific Award for Early Career Contribution to Psychology" to Dr Friederike Range of the Messerli Research Institute at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna (Vetmeduni Vienna). The award is recognition of Range's ground-breaking research on animal cognition and will be made in August 2012 at a ceremony in Orlando, Florida. The American Psychological Association grants the award each year to excellent young scientists whose work has already contributed substantially to the field of psychology.
Animal behaviour and cognition

From the very start of her scientific career, Range's research has focused on animal behaviour and cognition, with her most recent work addressing social and physical cognition in dogs and wolves. Her results have invariably been thought-provoking and frequently spectacular. As an example, she showed by means of sophisticated tests that dogs have some form of sense of fairness. In a further study, she and her colleagues discovered that male and female dogs perceive some features of their environments in a different way. The majority of Range's work with dogs has been undertaken in the so-called Clever Dog Lab in Vienna, while her work on wolves has been performed at the Wolf Science Center in Ernstbrunn, Lower Austria. Range is a co-founder of both of these research institutes. Nevertheless, her research has not been restricted to dogs: she has also studied various species of monkeys as well as ravens, keas and even man.
International career

Friederike Range studied at the University of Bayreuth, where her diploma work related to the social behaviour of the sooty mangabey, a primate species found in West African forests. For her doctoral project she went to the University of Pennsylvania, where the distinguished behavioural scientists Robert Seyfarth and Dorothy Cheney helped her continue her investigations. She then spent six months at the Konrad Lorenz Research Station in Grnau, Upper Austria, studying the intelligence and social behaviour of corvids. In 2005 she moved to Ludwig Huber's group at the Department of Cognitive Biology in the University of Vienna. In this period she also started to work with dogs and wolves. On 1 September 2011 Range and Huber moved together to the new Messerli Research Institute at the Vetmeduni Vienna, where she is continuing her successful work on animal behavior and cognition.

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Links
American Psychological Association: http://www.apa.org
Clever Dog Lab: http://www.cleverdoglab.at/
Wolf Science Center: http://www.wolfscience.at

Contact
Dr Friederike Range (currently on maternity leave)
Messerli Research Institute, Vetmeduni Vienna
M +43 676 930 8094
E freiderike.range@vetmeduni.ac.at

Alternative contact
Prof Ludwig Huber
Messerli Research Institute, Vetmeduni Vienna
T +43 1 25077-2656
E ludwig.huber@vetmeduni.ac.at

Released by
Mag. Klaus Wassermann
T +43 1 25077-1153
E klaus.wassermann@vetmeduni.ac.at

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Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/uovm-dww012712.php
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Update: It seems O2 has now tweaked things to prevent its network from including phone numbers in HTTP headers. We'll keep you updated with any further developments.

If you're browsing the web on your phone or tablet on O2 UK, then the network could be exposing your phone number to every website you visit. O2 customer Lewis Peckover recently discovered that when you're browsing over 3G on O2, your handset's phone number is often included in the HTTP headers sent to each website you visit, in plain text.

HTTP headers are information exchanged between your browser and the web server before a page is loaded. In theory, the way O2 includes your phone number -- alongside more mundane information like your IP address, browser and OS -- means that any website you visit could easily find out your number. It's worth pointing out that the header used by O2 to send phone numbers -- "x-up-calling-line-id" -- isn't one that's routinely logged by web servers. However, just a couple of lines of code would allow a malicious server to find your phone number just by having you visit a website over 3G.

Lewis Peckover has set up a site to allow O2 customers to see whether they're affected. We've tried this with an O2 SIM in our Galaxy Nexus, and sure enough, there our phone number was in the list of "headers received". If you're on O2, make sure you've got Wifi disabled on your device, then click here and see if you spot your phone number among the HTTP headers. For what it's worth, early reports indicate that not all O2 customers are affected, though a large proportion apparently are.

This isn't an Android-specific problem, however due to the fact that it's a network-level issue, it'll affect Android phones just the same as any other device that's browsing over O2's data network. For this reason, just about anything that connects via HTTP over O2's network could potentially access this information. For its part, O2 says it's "investigating" the issue, and while this is a big deal for O2 customers, the fact that this is a network-level problem should mean that a fix will be relatively quick and easy to deploy.

More: Lew.io; via: ThinkBroadband

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/W0LTWSsLFNU/story01.htm

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WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? U.S. school children, accustomed to a steady diet of pizza and French fries, will find more fruits, vegetables and whole grains on their trays under new government rules announced on Wednesday.

The new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules aim to boost the nutritional quality of the federally funded meals consumed by roughly 32 million U.S. school children.

The rules represent the first major revision of school meal standards in more than 15 years and are intended to combat the nation's childhood obesity crisis -- nearly one in three children in America is overweight or obese.

The revamp comes just months after U.S. lawmakers protected pizza's status as a vegetable and killed proposed limits on weekly servings of starchy vegetables like potatoes.

In addition to doubling produce servings, the new guidelines call for serving only fat-free and low fat milk, child-appropriate portion sizes and reductions in sodium, saturated fat and trans fat.

They fall under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act (HHFKA), which was championed by first lady Michelle Obama. President Barack Obama approved the measure in late 2010.

The new standards will be largely phased in over time, starting in the 2012-13 school year. They are estimated to cost roughly $3.2 billion to implement over the next five years, starting in the 2012-13 school year.

HHFKA provides more funding to schools to help cover the extra costs associated with the menu changes.

FRIES WITH THAT?

Lawmakers altered the school lunch guidelines in November, when they barred the USDA from limiting the weekly servings of French fries and ensured that pizza counted as a vegetable portion because of its tomato paste.

Trade associations representing frozen pizza sellers like ConAgra Foods Inc and Schwan Food Co as well as French fry sellers McCain Foods Ltd and J.R. Simplot Co were instrumental in blocking changes to rules affecting those items.

Those actions, which caused a public uproar, won cheers from critics of the rules. They held up the changes as an example of overreach by the federal government, saying it should not meddle in the food decisions made by families.

"What we are announcing today are science-based rules and regulations that are going to substantially improve the meal qualities across the United States for children," USDA Undersecretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services Kevin Concannon said on a conference call.

Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director for the non-profit Center For Science in the Public Interest, said that the new standards were a big improvement despite food industry lobbying and the congressional revamp.

"The new school meal standards are one of the most important advances in nutrition in decades," she said in a statement.

The Environmental Working Group said the adjustments could pack a financial punch since they may help reduce medical bills related to diabetes and other obesity-related chronic diseases.

"A healthier population will save billions of dollars in future healthcare costs," said Dawn Undurraga, EWG's staff nutritionist.

As an example of a new meal, the USDA said an elementary school lunch could be whole wheat spaghetti with meat sauce and a whole wheat roll, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, kiwi, low-fat milk, low-fat ranch dip and soft margarine.

That lunch would replace a meal of a hot dog on a bun with ketchup, canned pears, raw celery and carrots with ranch dressing, and low-fat chocolate milk.

As part of the new standards, USDA will increase the number of inspections of school menus.

The USDA gives school districts funds for meals through its National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs.

(Reporting By Ian Simpson in Washington and Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Steve Orlofsky)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/education/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/us_nm/us_school_food

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LONDON (AP) ? Scotland's leader has presented his proposal for a ballot on independence ? and his ideas include letting 16- and 17-year-olds cast ballots in a vote that could see the breakup of Britain within four years.

First Minister Alex Salmond announced the Scottish government's preferred options for the vote on whether to sever ties from Britain, which it plans to hold in the fall of 2014. A "yes" vote would lead to independence taking effect with a May 2016 election for the Scottish Parliament.

Scotland and England united in 1707 to form Great Britain. Scotland gained significant autonomy after voting in 1997 to set up the Edinburgh-based Scottish Parliament, but some Scots want to go further and make the nation of 5 million people an independent country within the European Union.

Salmond told Scottish lawmakers in the Edinburgh assembly Wednesday that the ballot would ask "Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?"

But he said it could also include a third option, backing increased autonomy short of full independence.

And he said the voting age should be lowered from the current 18.

"If a 16-year-old in Scotland can register to join the army, get married and pay taxes, surely he or she should be able to have a say in this country's constitutional future?" Salmond said.

Scottish 16-year-olds can join the army ? though they cannot be sent into combat until they are 18 ? work full-time and marry without parental consent. The official Scottish drinking age outside the home is 18, but even that has some exceptions for 16- and 17-year-olds.

Salmond, who leads the separatist Scottish National Party, said independence would bring "a new, more modern relationship between the nations of these islands ? a partnership of equals."

The exact wording is subject to input from Scottish voters and negotiations with the British government in London, which insists it has the final authority to authorize a binding referendum.

British Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservative-led government has offered the Scottish administration the power to hold a vote on independence, but wants a say in the timing and could insist that the Electoral Commission, which will run the referendum, be allowed to set the question.

Salmond's proposed wording is likely to be seen by opponents as slanted in favor of independence.

Opponents of independence want to hold the vote as soon as possible, because polls suggest only about a third of Scots favor it.

Cameron has said the ballot should pose a straight yes-no question, and not include a third option, which has been dubbed maximum devolution but Salmond disagrees.

"If there is an alternative of maximum devolution which would command wide support in Scotland, then it is only fair and democratic that option should be among the choices open to the people of Scotland," Salmond said.

Cameron stressed Wednesday that everyone in Britain, not just Scots, should have a say in any changes to Scotland's status.

"The point that everyone needs to understand is that options for further devolution, options for changes across the United Kingdom, are matters all of the United Kingdom should rightly discuss," he said.

Michael Moore, Cameron's minister responsible for Scotland, was due to hold talks with Salmond on Friday but the meeting was postponed because Moore has chicken pox.

Salmond said an independent Scotland would keep Queen Elizabeth II as head of state but would not send troops to "illegal wars like Iraq, and we won't have nuclear weapons based on Scottish soil." Scotland is currently home to Britain's fleet of nuclear-armed submarines.

Scottish Labour leader Johann Lamont, whose party opposes independence, accused Salmon of belittling Scots who wished to remain in Britain.

"Why does he assert as fact that we all wish to be independent of each other when we all know, as families and communities, we want to come together in partnership and cooperation?" she said.

____

Online: Scottish Government referendum consultation paper: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Consultations/Current

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-25-EU-Britain-Scotland/id-af73f449793e46b4af9453ad2cb040f3

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This undated photo taken at an unknown location and released by the Danish Refugee Council on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 shows American Jessica Buchanan from the Danish Refugee Council's de-mining unit. U.S. military forces helicoptered into Somalia in a nighttime raid Wednesday and freed two hostages, American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, while killing nine pirates, officials and a pirate source said. (AP Photo/Danish Refugee Council)

This undated photo taken at an unknown location and released by the Danish Refugee Council on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 shows Dane Poul Hagen Thisted from the Danish Refugee Council's de-mining unit. U.S. military forces helicoptered into Somalia in a nighttime raid Wednesday and freed two hostages, American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, while killing nine pirates, officials and a pirate source said. (AP Photo/Danish Refugee Council)

Map locates area around the town of Adado, Somalia, where two hostages were rescued during a helicopter raid.

%mlink(STRY:v3588; PHOTO:; AUDIO:%)

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) ? The same U.S. Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden parachuted into Somalia under cover of darkness early Wednesday and crept up to an outdoor camp where an American woman and Danish man were being held hostage. Soon, nine kidnappers were dead and both hostages were freed.

President Barack Obama authorized the mission by SEAL Team Six two days earlier, and minutes after he gave his State of the Union address to Congress he was on the phone with the American's father to tell him his daughter was safe.

The Danish Refugee Council confirmed the two aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, were "on their way to be reunited with their families."

Buchanan, 32, and Thisted, 60, were working with a de-mining unit of the Danish Refugee Council when gunmen kidnapped the two in October.

The raiders came in quickly, catching the guards as they were sleeping after having chewed the narcotic leaf qat for much of the evening, a pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein told The Associated Press by phone. Hussein said he was not present at the site but had spoken with other pirates who were, and that they told him nine pirates had been killed in the raid and three were "taken away."

A U.S. official confirmed media reports that the SEALs parachuted into the area before moving on foot to the target. The official said SEAL Team Six carried out the mission, the same team that killed al-Qaida leader bin Laden in Pakistan last May. The raid happened near the Somali town of Adado.

New intelligence emerged last week that Buchanan's health was "deteriorating rapidly," so Obama directed his security team to develop a rescue plan, according to a senior administration official who was not authorized to speak publicly.

"As Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission, and the dedicated professionals who supported their efforts," Obama said in a statement released by the White House. "The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice."

A Western official said the rescuers and the freed hostages flew by helicopter to a U.S. military base called Camp Lemonnier in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been released publicly. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta visited Camp Lemonnier just over a month ago. A key U.S. ally in this region, Djibouti has the only U.S. base in sub-Saharan Africa. It hosts the military's Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.

Buchanan lived in neighboring Kenya before Somalia, and worked at a school in Nairobi called the Rosslyn Academy from 2007-09, said Rob Beyer, the dean of students. He described the American as easy to laugh and adventurous.

"There have been tears on and around the campus today," Beyer said. "She was well-loved by all her students."

The timing of the raid may have been made more urgent by Buchanan's medical condition. The Danish Refugee Council had been trying to work with Somali elders to win the hostages' freedom but had found little success.

"One of the hostages has a disease that was very serious and that had to be solved," Danish Foreign Minister Villy Soevndal told Denmark's TV2 channel. Soevndal did not provide any more details. oevndal congratulated the Americans for the raid.

The Danish Refugee Council said both freed hostages are unharmed "and at a safe location." The group said in a separate statement that the two "are on their way to be reunited with their families."

Ann Mary Olsen, head of the Danish Refugee Council's international department, informed Hagen Thisted' family of of the successful military operation and said "they were very happy and incredibly relieved that it is over."

The two aid workers appear to have been kidnapped by criminals ? sometimes referred to as pirates ? and not by Somalia's al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab. As large ships at sea have increased their defenses against pirate attacks, gangs have looked for other money making opportunities like land-based kidnappings.

The Danish Refugee Council had earlier enlisted traditional Somali elders and members of civil society to seek the release of the two hostages.

"We are really happy with the successful release of the innocents kidnapped by evildoers," said Mohamud Sahal, an elder in Galkayo town, by phone. "They were guests who were treated brutally. That was against Islam and our culture ... These men (pirates) have spoiled our good customs and culture, so Somalis should fight back."

Buchanan and Hagen Thisted were seized in October from the portion of Galkayo town under the control of a government-allied clan militia. The aid agency has said that Somalis held demonstrations demanding the pair's quick release.

Their Somali colleague was detained by police on suspicion of being involved in their kidnapping.

The two hostages were working in northern Somalia for the Danish Demining Group, whose experts have been clearing mines and unexploded ordnance in conflict zones in Africa and the Middle East.

Several hostages are still being held in Somalia, including a British tourist, two Spanish doctors seized from neighboring Kenya, and an American journalist kidnapped on Saturday.

___

Associated Press reporters Julie Pace in Washington, Jason Straziuso in Nairobi, Kenya and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark contributed to this report. Houreld reported from Nairobi and Dozier from Washington.

___

Follow Katharine Houreld at ?http://twitter.com/khoureld

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-25-AF-Somalia-Helicopter-Raid/id-606e62a161064fb7a0f0b425ec740b10

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It was a very slippery slope outside of Rhee Braby?s house in Boutiful, Utah. He began shooting the snow fall, then focused on drivers sliding down the hill. Police say there were nearly a dozen crashes, but fortunately no injuries.

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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Rousing revival of Wagner's early `Rienzi' (AP)

Video: Play Market Offense or Defense?

Stacy Keibler Talks George Clooney Relationship, Meeting Meryl Streep

Monday, January 30, 2012

Winter cold snap kills 36 in eastern Europe

Economy more worrying than Mideast for Florida Jews (Reuters)

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Mattek-Sands, Tecau win Australian mixed title (AP)

Guatemala: Ex dictador to face genocide charges

Saturday, January 28, 2012

SpursUpBlog: Staley asked about NCAA Tourney chances at this point, says, "I like where we are." But emphasizes it's still one game at a time. #Gamecocks

World stocks slide as US growth data disappoint

Friday, January 27, 2012

Dancing with wolves -- prestigious award goes to a scientist at the Vetmeduni Vienna

O2 UK network security blunder exposes customers' phone numbers to websites

Thursday, January 26, 2012

More fruits, veggies in school lunch rules (Reuters)

Scots ponder independence vote with 16-year-olds

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

US military raid in Somalia frees American, Dane

Video: Road becomes slip and slide after snow

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Afghan president sends condolences to France (AP)

Monday, January 9, 2012

YouTube's got big plans for web TV: specialized channels with niche and original content

PFT: Expect Dolphins to make last push for Fisher