Bect CD

A bathroom is a room that may have different functions depending on the cultural context. In the most literal sense, the word bathroom means "a room with a bath". Because the traditional bathtubs have partly made way for modern showers, including steam showers, the more general definition is "a room where one bathes". There can be just a shower, just a bathtub or both; and often both plumbing fixtures are combined in the bathtub. The room may also contain a sink, often called a "wash basin" or "hand basin" (in parts of the USA) and often a "lavatory".

Electrical appliances, such as lights, heaters, and heated towel rails, generally need to be installed as fixtures, with permanent connections rather than plugs and sockets. This minimizes the risk of electric shock. Ground-fault circuit interruptor electrical sockets can reduce the risk of electric shock, and are required for bathroom socket installation by electrical and building codes in the United States and Canada. In some countries, such as the United Kingdom, only special sockets suitable for electric shavers are permitted in bathrooms, and are labelled as such.
[edit] History of bathrooms

Washroom Accessories

TEHRAN, Iran – Grandson of Iran's senior dissident cleric says Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri is dead.

WASHINGTON (AFP) –
US Senators called Wednesday for the creation of a "task force" to find ways to curb the soaring long-term US budget deficit and report back to Congress after the November 2010 mid-term elections.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, a Democrat, and Senator Judd Gregg, the panel's top Republican, unveiled a bill that would establish such a special body with 10 Democrats and eight Republicans.

The proposal, similar to a plan floated in 2007 without success, would aim to examine ways to reduce the deficit, which the White House forecasts will reach a whopping 1.502 trillion dollars in fiscal 2010.

"We face a perfect storm of exploding debt, brought on by rising health costs, a retiring 'baby boom' generation, and an outdated and inefficient revenue system. Now is the time to act," said Conrad.

"It is no longer enough for Congress to simply talk about reform; it is time for action and leadership," said Gregg.

The task force, grouping members of the US Congress and President Barack Obama's administration, would report back to Congress after the 2010 elections, and a majority of 14 members would be needed to publish any report or recommendation.

PERUGIA, Italy – Amanda Knox's lawyer argued Tuesday there wasn't sufficient evidence to convict the U.S. exchange student in the 2007 slaying of her British roommate, saying Knox had been swept up by a "tsunami" of events that led to her arrest.
In his closing arguments in the year-old trial, defense lawyer Carlo Dalla Vedova charged that key DNA evidence in the case cannot be attributed "beyond any doubt."
"There are still many doubts in this trial, and there's a young girl waiting to be judged," he told the eight-member jury, which is expected to issue a verdict this week.
The Seattle-born Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito are being tried in Perugia, central Italy, for the 2007 slaying of Meredith Kercher. They deny wrongdoing.
Kercher's body, her throat slit, was found in a pool of blood on Nov. 2, 2007, in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia. Prosecutors argued that Knox resented her British roommate and killed her, together with Sollecito and Rudy Hermann Guede of Ivory Coast, under "the fumes of drugs and possibly alcohol."
Prosecutors say a knife with a 6 1/2-inch (16.5-centimeter) blade, with Kercher's DNA on the blade and Knox's on the handle, was found at Sollecito's house.
Defense lawyers have argued that the knife is too big to match Kercher's wounds and claim the amount of what prosecutors say is Kercher's DNA is too low to be attributed with certainty.
Dalla Vedova also countered prosecutors' claim of a possible motive for the slaying. Prosecutors have charged Knox wanted to get back at Kercher for saying she wasn't clean and was promiscuous.
"We need facts, not only vague statements," said Dalla Vedova, who contended that any such resentment couldn't explain the crescendo of violence that led to the killing.
The lawyer also portrayed Knox as a "clean-faced young girl, swept away by a tsunami," who decided not to go back to the United States as she could have in the days after the slaying.
Knox, 22, and Sollecito, 25, have been jailed for more than two years since being arrested shortly after the slaying. They are being tried on charges of murder and sexual violence and prosecutors have urged they be given life imprisonment — Italy's stiffest punishment. Both were in court Tuesday.
Guede was sentenced to 30 years in prison last year after a fast-track trial he had requested. He also denies wrongdoing and is appealing his conviction.
Knox and Sollecito maintain they spent the night of the murder at Sollecito's house in Perugia, watching a movie on his computer. Their defense lawyers are working on the theory that Guede was the sole attacker.

WASHINGTON – In a five-year span, Candice Singer went from being a respected juvenile defense lawyer to a homeless meth addict who once broke into a house just to take a shower.
By the time she was arrested, Singer was charged with 24 separate burglaries and with cooking meth in her mother's house. She could have spent at least five years in prison, but her lawyer was able to steer her to a New Jersey drug court that kept her in treatment instead of behind bars.
"I credit drug court with saving my life," Singer, 49, says. "If I had gone to prison, I would have continued to use drugs when I got out. I would probably be dead."
It's been 20 years since the first drug court was established in Miami as an innovative way of getting nonviolent offenders out of the criminal justice system and into court-supervised drug rehabilitation programs. Since then more than 2,300 drug courts have blossomed around the country, credited with reducing crime and saving the cost of locking people up.
Despite that success, the specialized courts remain available to less than 10 percent of the 1.2 million drug-addicted offenders. The Obama administration wants to boost funding so that hundreds more courts can begin work.
"There are a lot of people who need these programs and there aren't enough spaces," said Doug Marlowe, chief of science, policy and law at the National Association of Drug Court Professionals.
The main problem, advocates say, is a lack of money. While every state has at least one drug court, only a handful of states — like New York and New Jersey — have one in every county.
Drug courts received about $64 million in federal money this year. Congress could push funding over $100 million next year.
But it would take a much bigger infusion of federal dollars to build a true national network of drug courts. The drug court association says $1.5 billion over six years — along with matching money from states — could treat all who need it now.
"It's always difficult to get people to understand that if you spend this much money, there will be this much money in savings," said Gil Kerlikowske, the White House drug czar.
In Singer's case, the trouble began in her teens when she was using alcohol, cocaine and heroin. She completed an outpatient program in her early 20s and spent the next 15 years drug free. But Singer still had underlying depression and anxiety issues that only got worse under the daily pressures of being an attorney. Soon, she turned to meth and her life unraveled.
She is now among 75 percent of drug court graduates who remain arrest-free for at least two years after leaving the program.
At the same time, the proliferation of drug courts is raising new concerns about fairness. A September report from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers claims that prosecutors tend to cherry pick the easy cases for drug courts, shunning defendants with deeper addiction problems. The report also questions a requirement that defendants plead guilty before being allowed into drug courts.
"Unfortunately, many of these courts are conviction mills, which treat substance abusers as criminals and give them access to medical treatment only if they plead guilty and acquire a criminal record," said Cynthia Orr, president of the lawyers group.
Under the system, the guilty plea is held in abeyance during months or years of court-supervised treatment, weekly meetings and counseling sessions. But if they fail, defendants are kicked out of the program and must serve jail for the crime. Orr says some defendants can face a harsher sentence at the end of an unsuccessful treatment program than if they had just accepted a plea deal and avoided drug court.
That could have been the case for Singer, who says she faced up to 87 years in prison if she had not succeeded in drug court. Had she not entered drug court, she would have served five years through a plea agreement.
Marlowe concedes that some prosecutors avoid the tough cases.
But he said there's no way prosecutors would ever take serious offenders into a diversion program without having them first plead guilty. It can be months before they know whether the program will be successful, he said, and it's too hard to prosecute a case months later when evidence is stale and witnesses are lost.

Singer now does legislative and lobbying work at the National Council on Alcohol and Drug Dependence. She has been clean for seven years and has a 2-year-old daughter.

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) –
Adam Lambert knows how to shock, how to sing and how it feels to "lose" TV's top singing competition.

But what the "American Idol" runner-up is not so sure about is how fans will take to his debut album now that he's performing original material rather than wowing viewers each week with his unusual take on established classics.

And, yes, now that he's gone public about being gay.

A little bit glam rock, some classic rock, touches of kitsch, commercial pop, '70s and '80s throwbacks, and a power ballad -- Lambert says his new "For Your Entertainment", released on Nov 23, has something for everyone.

"The album title sums it up. It's not for me, it's for the people who are listening to it," Lambert told Reuters.

"We tried to nod to all that glam classic rock while creating a variety of different music. But at the same time I wanted to make music that was really modern and current and poppy too. I love commercial pop music," he said.

Nicknamed "Glambert," the 27 year-old Californian's vocal powers and flair for showmanship led Entertainment Weekly to call him "most exciting 'American Idol' contestant in years".

But the former musical theater performer, who brought male eyeliner and black nail polish into millions of American homes during the TV show six months ago, knows he has to prove himself all over again.

"On 'Idol' you are singing songs that people already like, so it allows them to really listen to your voice and your interpretation. But as an original recording artist, you are doing music that nobody knows yet and you have to convince them to like it.

"This is a huge step. This is the first big chance I am taking as far as the career I want to be in," he said.

TEAMING UP FOR "ENTERTAINMENT"

Lambert co-wrote four of the 14 tracks on the album and teamed up with some of the hottest artists and producers in the music industry, including Lady Gaga, Pink and "Idol" judge and songwriter Kara Dioguardi.

The title single "For Your Entertainment", released three weeks ago, was No. 68 on the iTunes top 100 on November 17. The album also includes Lambert's "Time For Miracles," the theme song for the blockbuster disaster movie "2012".

The album cover already has people talking. Lambert describes it as a striking, alien-like pose that chimed with his own attraction to the camp, androgynous vibe of singers like David Bowie in the 1980s.

It's the kind of look that split America in half when viewers voted Kris Allen from Arkansas their "American Idol" in May over Lambert, who was widely considered the front runner.

"We had divided the country up a bit morally, and socially. I was the left of center wild child and Kris was the everyman who is really charming, appealing and accessible. So I knew we were total polar opposites," Lambert recalled.

Lambert waited until after the end of the contest to state publicly that he was gay, and proud of his sexuality. "I wanted the focus to be my voice and my entertainment, not my (sexual) preference," he explained.

"Eyeliner and nail polish isn't gay. It's just eyeliner and nail polish. In fact, most of the musicians I know who rock that look happen to be straight. People need to open their eyes up to what it all really is. So gay/straight -- it's really not about that. It's about music and style. It's not about preference," he added.

Lambert launches his album with a string of U.S. media appearances and will perform live at the American Music Awards on Nov 22.

Next year he hopes to go on tour ("Something that is really exciting and theatrical and massively entertaining") and said he would love to branch out beyond North America to tour in Europe, Japan and Australia.

(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

COPENHAGEN – Denmark's premier indicated Tuesday he expected the United States to bring specific pledges to cut greenhouse gases to next month's climate change conference.
Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said President Barack Obama supported his proposal for a sweeping political deal in Copenhagen covering all essential elements, including commitments by industrial countries to reduce carbon emissions and to provide funds for less developed countries to fight the effects of global warming.
"Also the American president endorsed our approach, implying that all developed countries will need to bring strong reduction targets to the negotiating table in Copenhagen," Loekke Rasmussen told top negotiators from 44 key countries preparing for the U.N. conference in the Danish capital.
Loekke Rasmussen's remarks appeared to ratchet up the pressure on Obama, who has been reluctant to move too far ahead of slow-moving domestic climate legislation, for fear of delivering international promises that could later be countermanded by Congress. The Senate will debate its climate and energy bill only next year.
In Beijing, Obama said he also wanted an all-encompassing agreement in Copenhagen, even if it falls short of a legal treaty.
"Our aim there, in support of what Prime Minister Rasmussen of Denmark is trying to achieve, is not a partial accord or a political declaration, but rather an accord that covers all of the issues in the negotiations, and one that has immediate operational effect," he said after meeting Chinese President Hu Jintao.
Obama said the agreement would be an important step in efforts to "rally the world around a solution" to global warming. "And we agreed that each of us would take significant mitigation actions and stand behind these commitments," he said.
European officials welcomed the remarks as a sign Obama was willing to bring specific numbers to Copenhagen.
"He says it very loud and clear that we must deliver on all elements of the negotiations," Danish Climate Minister Connie Hedegaard said. She noted, however, that the U.S. hasn't presented any figures yet.
Swedish Environment Minister Andreas Carlgren said Obama's comments showed he backs Loekke Rasmussen's plans for a political deal, including immediate financing to stop deforestation and help the poorest countries fight the consequences of climate change.
"Quick measures may also include emission cuts, but it hasn't been specified what Obama means on that point," said Carlgren, whose country currently holds the presidency of the 27-nation European Union.
Some parts of the agreement will have to be carried out long before a full treaty is negotiated and ratified. Among them is a proposal to provide $10 billion or more annually to developing countries over the next three years.
Loekke Rasmussen also wants pledges of long-term financing, likely to exceed $100 billion a year from 2020.
"We need numbers on the table in Copenhagen," Loekke Rasmussen told a closed meeting of negotiators who ended a two-day consultation Tuesday.
The Copenhagen accord is meant to succeed the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which set emissions targets for 37 industrialized countries. The U.S. rejected Kyoto since it made no demands of rapidly growing economies.
South Korea — which did not have to cut emissions under Kyoto — announced its first greenhouse gas reduction target Tuesday, pledging to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases by 4 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.
The voluntary target-setting could put pressure on developed nations to act more aggressively to fight global warming.
Ambitions for Copenhagen have been scaled back in recent months, as negotiators acknowledged that divisions between rich and poor countries are too deep and the technical details too complex to complete a full treaty this year.

But Loekke Rasmussen said Copenhagen must end in a deal covering all the essential political elements.

"Copenhagen should neither be a stopover nor a tiny stepping stone, as some proclaim," he said.

The agreement "should be concrete and binding on countries committing to reach targets," he said.

In Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the summit would be high on her new Cabinet's agenda.

"We need to do everything in our power to swiftly come to a binding agreement, even if it is not possible to achieve this in Copenhagen, it cannot be put off indefinitely," said Merkel who will be among more than 40 heads of government attending the final sessions of the Dec. 7-18 conference.

The Danes want to set a deadline for the final text — possibly at talks set for December 2010 in Mexico City.

"The stronger our politically binding agreement in Copenhagen, the faster the progress toward a new legally binding, global climate regime," Loekke Rasmussen said.

___

Associated Press writers Arthur Max in Amsterdam, Melissa Eddy in Berlin, Malin Rising in Stockholm contributed to this report.

Cholesterol is a lipidic, waxy alcohol found in the cell membranes and transported in the blood plasma of all animals. It is an essential component of mammalian cell membranes where it is required to establish proper membrane permeability and fluidity. Cholesterol is the principal sterol synthesized by animals, but small quantities are synthesized in other eukaryotes, such as plants and fungi. It is almost completely absent among prokaryotes, which include bacteria. Cholesterol is classified as a sterol (a portmanteau of steroid and alcohol).

Although cholesterol is essential for life, high levels in circulation are associated with atherosclerosis. Cholesterol can be ingested in the diet, recycled within the body through reabsorption of bile in the digestive tract, and produced de novo. For a person of about 150 pounds (68 kg), typical total body cholesterol content is about 35 g, typical daily dietary intake is 200–300 mg in the United States and societies with similar dietary patterns and 1 g per day is synthesized de novo.

http://www.hbextract.com/

BARCELONA (Reuters) –
A company behind plans to open the first hotel in space says it is on target to accept its first paying guests in 2012 despite critics questioning the investment and time frame for the multi-billion dollar project.

The Barcelona-based architects of The Galactic Suite Space Resort say it will cost 3 million euro ($4.4 million) for a three-night stay at the hotel, with this price including an eight-week training course on a tropical island.

During their stay, guests would see the sun rise 15 times a day and travel around the world every 80 minutes. They would wear velcro suits so they can crawl around their pod rooms by sticking themselves to the walls like Spiderman.

Galactic Suite Ltd's CEO Xavier Claramunt, a former aerospace engineer, said the project will put his company (http://www.galacticsuite.com) at the forefront of an infant industry with a huge future ahead of it, and forecast space travel will become common in the future.

"It's very normal to think that your children, possibly within 15 years, could spend a weekend in space," he told Reuters Television.

A nascent space tourism industry is beginning to take shape with construction underway in New Mexico of Spaceport America, the world's first facility built specifically for space-bound commercial customers and fee-paying passengers.

British tycoon Richard Branson's space tours firm, Virgin Galactic, will use the facility to propel tourists into suborbital space at a cost of $200,000 a ride.

Galactic Suite Ltd, set up in 2007, hopes to start its project with a single pod in orbit 450 km (280 miles) above the earth, traveling at 30,000 km per hour, with the capacity to hold four guests and two astronaut-pilots.

It will take a day and a half to reach the pod - which Claramunt compared to a mountain retreat, with no staff to greet the traveler.

"When the passengers arrive in the rocket, they will join it for 3 days, rocket and capsule. With this we create in the tourist a confidence that he hasn't been abandoned. After 3 days the passenger returns to the transport rocket and returns to earth," he said.

More than 200 people have expressed an interest in traveling to the space hotel and at least 43 people have already reserved.

The numbers are similar for Virgin Galactic with 300 people already paid or signed up for the trip but unlike Branson, Galactic Suite say they will use Russian rockets to transport their guests into space from a spaceport to be built on an island in the Caribbean.

But critics have questioned the project, saying the time frame is unreasonable and also where the money is coming from to finance the project.

Claramunt said an anonymous billionaire space enthusiast has granted $3 billion to finance the project.

(Writing by Stuart McDill; Editing by Belinda Goldsmith and Miral Fahmy)

WASHINGTON (AFP) –
A key US House of Representatives panel voted Thursday to create a government agency to defend consumers from abuses by financial institutions partly blamed for sparking the global economic crisis.

US President Barack Obama cheered the 39-29 vote by the House Financial Services Committee as a clear victory for guarding Americans against predatory lending and giving them clear information about credit cards and mortgages.

"The creation of the agency is part of a broader regulatory reform effort that we are working on with Congress to bring a new sense of responsibility and accountability to our financial system," Obama said in a statement.

Obama's Republican foes mostly oppose the measure, while his Democratic allies mostly favor the new agency, which must now clear the full House of Representatives and the Senate before the president can sign it into existence.

"While there is more work ahead, today we are much closer to putting in place strict new rules of the road for the financial industry," said US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Obama has made creation of the agency a key plank of his plans to overhaul the rules of the US financial system, ground zero for the global economic meltdown of 2008.

Under industry pressure, however, the committee carved out exemptions for a range of financial players.

WASHINGTON, Oct 16 (OneWorld.net) - Well over 100 million people around the world are expected to "stand up" this weekend to call governments to action on poverty, hunger, and gender inequalities -- a set of global issues that most Americans say they would like their government to fund much more than it has.

What's the Story?

Last year, some 116 million people worldwide took part in the weekend-long events to "Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now!" That set a new Guinness World Record for largest mobilization of human beings in recorded history. Organizers are aiming to break that record this year.

Participants are calling on their governments to take concrete steps to achieve the so-called Millennium Development Goals, a set of eight targets to cut extreme poverty and hunger in half, reduce HIV/AIDS and child and maternal mortality, get children into school, and ensure women's equality in society, all while protecting the environment. World leaders agreed at a summit in 2000 to commit the funding and implement the programs necessary to achieve the goals by 2015.

"With just six years left until the deadline ... 'Stand Up' will be a stark reminder that citizens will not accept excuses for governments breaking promises to the world's poorest and most vulnerable citizens," said Salil Shetty, Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign, in a statement this week.

"This year's mobilization will place particular emphasis on telling world leaders that their track record on women's rights, maternal mortality, and hunger is unacceptable," Shetty added. "Citizens refuse to accept the fact that 70 percent of the people living in poverty are women and children and 500,000 women continue to die annually in the process of giving life, and they are demanding urgent action from their leaders."

Thousands of "Stand Up" events will be held across the world this weekend, from a lamp-lighting ceremony during India's Festival of Lights to a "poverty hearing" in Peru. Attendees at a college football game in Montreal will be asked to stand up against poverty, and New Yorkers will "Stand Up and Dance" tonight at a party organized by the humanitarian group Mercy Corps and the ONE Campaign. Across Europe, radio stations will simultaneously play Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up" on Saturday. [» Read more about the Stand Up events below.]

Charting Progress

The latest United Nations progress report shows that, while important advances have been made toward most of the goals, not enough has been done to achieve them by 2015 in all parts of the world.

As of June 2008, for example, South Asia was on track to meet the anti-poverty and universal education goals, but only one of the three women's equality targets and two of the four environmental marks. On the health goals, the region, which includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal as well as several other less populous nations, was only on track to reverse the spread of tuberculosis; efforts have not been sufficient to meet the child mortality, maternal health, or HIV/AIDS goals, if current trends continue.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, by contrast, poverty and employment rates remain a serious concern, along with school enrollment levels, maternal health and HIV/AIDS. But the hunger, child mortality, and tuberculosis goal are likely to be met, along with three of the four environmental targets and two of the three women's equality goals.

Sub-saharan Africa, however, is not on track to meet a single goal.

The global economic crisis and the impacts of climate change threaten to further stymie progress, warned UN chief Ban Ki-moon in the forward to the UN report, but a renewed commitment from world leaders can still ensure the goals' achievement.

"The right policies and actions, backed by adequate funding and strong political commitment, can yield results," said Ban. "Fewer people today are dying of AIDS, and many countries are implementing proven strategies to combat malaria and measles, two major killers of children. The world is edging closer to universal primary education, and we are well on our way to meeting the target for safe drinking water."

"Our efforts to restore economic growth should be seen as an opportunity to take some of the hard decisions needed to create a more equitable and sustainable future," added Ban. [» Check out the UN progress reports.]

Finding the Money

There is plenty of money available to reach the goals -- the evidence is in the hundreds of billions of dollars found to bail out banks around the world last year, said Adelaide Sosseh of the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, an international umbrella group of organizations that is helping to organize this week's "Stand Up" events.

Education experts believe, for example, that just $11 billion more per year could ensure "education for all" by 2015.

The price tag on ending world hunger is estimated at about $30 billion a year.

And Americans have said they would be willing to pay their share, as long as other countries did the same.

An October 2008 poll found that 77 percent of people in the United States would be willing to pay their part of the cost -- estimated at about $56 per person per year -- to cut hunger in half and reduce severe poverty by 2015.

The cost was determined by divvying up among the world's industrialized nations the estimated $39 billion needed to reduce extreme poverty and cut hunger in half. Countries were assumed to pay different amounts depending on the size of their own economies. 

Similar majorities in six of the seven other industrialized countries polled said they would also be willing to pay their share: $49 per person in Great Britain, $45 in France, $43 in Germany, $39 in Italy, $23 in South Korea, and $10 in Turkey.

A smaller majority -- 54 percent -- of Russians were also in favor of paying their country's share of the costs, about $11 per person per year. [» Check out all the poll results.]

A similar poll in 2005 found that 70 percent of people in the United States were in favor of paying their country's share of up to $80 billion per year to achieve all eight of the Millennium Development Goals.

But according to the nonprofit Center for Global Development, which ranks wealthy countries' commitment to foreign assistance each year, the United States only gives about 28 cents per person per year in aid -- 20 cents per person in government-funded initiatives, and another 8 cents per person in charitable giving to aid organizations working in developing countries. 

When considering aid, trade, investment, migration, technology, and a host of other policies impacting people in developing countries, the United States scored 17th out of 22 industrialized nations in its overall "commitment to development," according to researchers at the Center. [» Check out the Commitment to Development Index.]

Putting the Money to Good Use

Americas have long been skeptical about the effectiveness of aid provided to developing countries whose political and economic systems are often not the most transparent.

Humanitarian workers and analysts say, however, that while those fears are understandable, aid money has done a lot of good worldwide and is increasingly effective.

"These funds need not find themselves in the hands of local warlords or corrupt governments," says Tom Peterson of Heifer International, which provides farm animals to families in developing countries to help build incomes. "[Aid funds] work their way through assistance organizations. Much of the good work going on today is focused on building capacity and scaling up a development network that is both effective and transparent."

Oxfam International's Paul O'Brien agrees. Speaking to OneWorld readers in an online dialogue earlier this year, O'Brien wrote: "Aid is working, but just not as well as it should. In these economically trying times, we can't afford to waste money, but neither can we afford to give up on the global poor or pretend that their problems won't affect us if we ignore them."

O'Brien and Sheila Herrling of the Center for Global Development said that new efforts to "modernize" the way foreign assistance is channeled are starting to ensure more bang for every buck. Both are members of the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network of analysts and aid groups calling on the U.S. government to take concrete steps to improve the way it provides international assistance funds, learning from the successes and mistakes of the past.

In recognition of tomorrow's UN-sponsored International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the student campaigning group Americans for Informed Democracy is calling on its activists to tell Congress to do just that.

"With a new president and a new Congress, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform U.S. foreign assistance," the group's Sarah Frazer wrote to supporters today. "Tell Congress the U.S. needs a fresh approach to global development -- one that streamlines our aid, eliminates long-standing inefficiencies, and increases the impact of our dollars, even in a time of economic hardship." [» Learn more about the call-in campaign.]

But despite its shortcomings, foreign assistance dollars have already brought about many remarkable achievements, noted Herrling in the OneWorld dialogue earlier this year.

"Over the past decades, our assistance has: created the capacity for millions of people to feed their families through the green revolution; nearly eradicated river blindness and polio; helped Mozambique, El Salvador, and other countries rebound from civil war; stimulated economic growth in countries around the world; saved millions of lives each year through routine vaccinations and access to basic health care; and put hundreds of thousands of HIV patients on life-saving anti-retroviral treatments. These are not small accomplishments," she said.

But the 100 million people "Standing Up" this weekend are hoping to convince their governments to accomplish even more -- and move faster -- in the years to come.

» Discuss this article on OneWorld.net

» OneWorld.net's Perspectives Magazine: Foreign Assistance - What Happens with All That Money? 

» OneWorld TV: One Brit 'Stands Up and Speaks Out'

More from OneWorld:

» 'Alternative' Nobel to Climate Educator

» Africa Drought 'Worst in Decades'

» Guinea Soldiers Threatening Journalists

» World Cup Goal: Educate Every Kid

Millions Mobilize Worldwide and on Web Demanding That World Leaders Eradicate Poverty

From: Millennium Campaign

October 12, 2009

After a year in which progress on eradicating global poverty has
actually reversed, millions of people will come together across
continents, cultures and time zones next week to tell their governments
in no uncertain terms what they want them to do: End Poverty Now!

Citizens
will gather at events across the globe on October 16-18, 2009 as part
of “Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now!” to demand that world
leaders achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – a set of
promises to eradicate extreme poverty and its root causes by 2015. In a
sign of the massive global demand for the achievement of the MDGs, last
year more than 116 million people participated in “Stand Up,”
shattering the Guinness World Record for the largest mobilization of
human beings in recorded history.

“With just six years left
until the deadline by which heads of state have pledged to eradicate
extreme poverty and its root causes, ‘Stand Up’ will be a stark
reminder that citizens will not accept excuses for governments breaking
promises to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable citizens,” said
Salil Shetty, Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign. “This
year’s mobilization will place particular emphasis on telling world
leaders that their track record on women’s rights, maternal mortality
and hunger is unacceptable. Citizens refuse to accept the fact that 70
percent of the people living in poverty are women and children and
500,000 women continue to die annually in the process of giving life,
and they are demanding urgent action from their leaders.”

“Millions of people are standing up against poverty, while politicians
are sitting on their hands,” said Adelaide Sosseh, Co-Chair of the
Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP)
based in The Gambia. “The combined effects of the economic, climate and
food crises are affecting people of all ages and stations in life, in
all countries – especially women — but those already living in poverty
are the hardest hit. Given the amounts found to bail out banks in just
a year, we know the resources are not lacking. It´s this lack of
political will to tackle poverty that remains the biggest motivation
behind Stand Up participation.”

Harnessing Technology To Connect The World and Mobilize Online

This
year, for the first time, organizers will take advantage of the awesome
power and reach of digital technology to make mobilization and
engagement possible online. The UN Millennium Campaign has partnered
with Skype and Ustream, the leading live online video platform that
enables anyone to broadcast to a global audience of unlimited size. The
unique partnership will bridge technologies in order to connect the
world in conversation about the most important issues facing our
generation.

On October 12-15, in the lead-up to the mobilization, former Irish
President Mary Robinson and African entertainers Femi Kuti and
Angelique Kidjo will be amongst a group of high profile decision makers
and cultural celebrities participating in a 30 minute conversation with
ordinary citizens around the world to discuss poverty and its root
causes. For the first time ever, the Skype calls will be broadcast live
on Facebook, thanks to technology provided by Ustream. Viewers will be
encouraged to start their own conversations about poverty and its root
causes on these powerful social networking platforms. For more details
and to watch and participate in the conversations live visit
www.facebook.com/mcampaign.

Media
wishing to view or embed the live conversations can visit
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/stand-up-against-poverty and media
wishing to download and broadcast the clips after the conversations
have occurred should use http://ustream.tv/UNcampaign. Both links will
be active on October 13.

Citizens can also visit
www.standagainstpoverty.org beginning on October 16 to Stand Up
virtually and be counted towards what organizers hope will be a new
Guinness World Record.

Actions Around the World

Amongst the thousands of “Stand Up” events being planned across every inhabited continent are:

In
Nairobi, Kenya, an anti- hunger concert dubbed Free the Hungry Billion,
Stand Up and Take Action, will bring together development-conscious
musicians from across the African continent, including Oliver Mutukudzi
(Zimbabwe), Susan Owiyo (Kenya), Professor Jay (Tanzania), Didier Awadi
(Senegal), Ntsiki Mazwai (South Africa), Carlou D (Senegal), Nameless
(Kenya) and Wahu (Kenya). Food donations will be collected from
attendees.

Also in Kenya, thousands of people are expected to
attend the Western Kenya Utamaduni Festival to celebrate the region’s
culture through music, drama and bull-fighting performances and
advocate for pro-poor development, focused on food security. The event
will be hosted by a Member of Parliament who is Chairman of the Public
Accounts Committee.

In Nigeria, thousands of people are
expected to attend various concerts over the three-day mobilization by
performers including Sarah Mitaru and Femi Kuti, who will honor the
life and work of renowned African musician/AIDS
activist Fela Kuti. The performers will explore the MDGs and the issues
of social injustice, exclusion and poverty through song and dance. They
will also sign a petition demanding accountability and transparency in
their governments in order to achieve the MDGs.

In Zimbabwe,
residents from Harare’s high density suburbs are expected to
participate in a sports gala organized by Transparency International,
where 20 teams will compete in soccer, volleyball and netball games.
The activity will provide the residents of the suburbs with a platform
to hold their leaders accountable for their promises to end poverty.

In
the Philippines, the Millennium Campaign will launch an “I Vote for the
MDGs” campaign during “Stand Up” by surveying citizens about the issues
they want their leaders to prioritize, in preparation for the May 2010
national and local elections. Results of the survey will be presented
to the country’s presidential candidates during a forum on October 20.

In
India, citizens will gather at India Gate on October 16 to light a lamp
to symbolize the dispersal of the darkness of poverty and illiteracy,
against the backdrop of the festival of lights that begins on October
17th across the country. At the event, organized by the National
Confederation of Dalit Organizations, intellectuals, Members of
Parliament, civil society and youth groups will demand implementation
of the Urban Employment Guarantee Act to provide livelihood
opportunities to millions of people living in poverty in urban slums
across the country.

Also in India, from October 16-18
campaigners from Wada Na Todo Abhiyan will launch the second phase of
the “9 is Mine” campaign across more than 100 Parliamentary
constituencies, demanding functional health centers and schools in
every village, town and city of the country. Across bus stands,
schools, hospitals, railway stations, bazaars, parks and places of
worship, the public will be asked to assess the functionality of their
health centers and schools.

In Bangladesh, tens of thousands
of people are expected to attend a massive rally at Bangabandhu
National Stadium in Dhaka on October 17, inaugurated by Prime Minister
Sheikh Hasina. The rally will encourage the government to make fighting
poverty a major goal of Vision 2021, the long-term plan being developed
in advance of the country’s 2021 Golden Jubilee. The event will be
telecast on 10 screens in other public places throughout Dhaka.

In
Nepal, the President will read a Stand Up Pledge with members of the
Constituent assembly at an event organized by the National Planning
Commission and UN in Nepal at the President’s Official residence,
broadcast live on national television. This will be followed by a
concert hosted by the Millennium Campaign and Art of Living, where
thousands of people are expected to gather in a large open-air theatre
in the heart of Kathmandu on October 16 to Stand Up for peace and the
reduction of poverty in Nepal. The concert will feature folk songs,
religious songs set to the tune of rock music and performances by some
of Nepal’s top singers.

A report will be launched on MDG
progress at a poverty hearing in Peru on October 17, bringing together
rural citizens to call on their government to combat maternal and child
mortality and assure healthcare for women. An “alternative budget” with
a concrete plan for how the government can achieve the MDGs will be
presented to Parliament.

Across Europe, on October 17 from 7:00-9:00 PM(GMT
+ 1 hour), radio stations will simultaneously play Bob Marley’s song
“Get Up, Stand Up.” The song will also be played often throughout the
three-day mobilization in Europe, reminding audiences of the
mobilization happening across the globe.

On October 16-17, the cities of Barcelona, Munich, Paris and Milan will be awarded with the “MDG
Committed City Seal” for their role in promoting the Millennium
Development Goals in their cities. Through a partnership between United
Cities and Local Governments (UCLG) and the Millennium Campaign, UCLG
members across the world will show their commitments to the MDGs by
displaying large white banners on City Halls and other government
buildings.

In New York City, citizens will Stand Up and Dance on October 16 at a Friday evening party organized by Mercy Corps and the ONE Campaign to pressure the United States Congress to pass the Roadmap to End Global Hunger plan.

At
McGill University in Canada, the entire football stadium will be asked
to Stand Up against poverty at the university’s homecoming game on
October 17.

Visit www.standagainstpoverty.org/map for a full list of events.

Among the millions of people who will again Stand Up to affect change from their governments are:

Monica
Amollo, a Kenyan woman who after being told she won a Parliamentary
election, saw her seat handed to a male opponent. To try to affect
policy change, she organized the first-ever public anti-poverty rally
in Kenya’s Nyanza province, where women spoke about being sexually
harassed on Lake Victoria while trying to access fish — their main
means of livelihood. The women petitioned their local authorities, and
police immediately began cracking down on harassment. Today, women in
the area are able to work with a greater sense of security.

Chendramma,
a 48 year-old poor tribal woman from India’s lowest caste, who
spearheaded public rallies during “Stand Up” in 2008 and organized a
human chain to demand fair, equal and productive employment
opportunities. Taking inspiration from the massive mobilization,
anti-poverty campaigners filed a Public Interest Litigation in the High
Court of Andhra Pradesh, demanding wages in line with the country’s
Minimum Wages Act. The effort culminated in great success when on July
3, 2009, the State Government revised wages under the National Rural
Employment Guarantee Act as per the demands of the citizens.

The mobilization is organized globally by the United Nations Millennium Campaign and Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP).

LOS ANGELES – Three years ago, Pete Yorn contacted Scarlett Johansson about recording a duets album. He wanted to create something with a '60s vibe like Serge Gainsbourg's recordings with Brigitte Bardot.
Yorn didn't know if Johansson could sing, but thought she would be a good fit.
"I figured, you know, most actors are multitalented. They've got to be able to do a lot of things and they probably have some ability to sing," the 35-year-old singer-songwriter said.
Last year, Johansson released "Anywhere I Lay My Head," a gauzy assortment of covers of Tom Waits songs. Many argued that her singing voice was hidden behind a curtain of effects so impenetrable, it was impossible to tell if she could sing.
Some fans and critics weren't sold on the idea that she was serious about pursuing a musical path.
Now that "Break Up," her collaboration with Yorn, has been released, does she hope it will add some positive notes to her music career?
Johansson says she's still not looking for anyone's approval.
"I don't hope for anything. Of course whenever you put something out you hope that people are into it," the 24-year-old actress said. "But I don't really validate myself through critical praise."
AP: Pete, why did you reach out to Scarlett?
Yorn: For some reason the image I had in my head and the context of the project, Scarlett just seemed right for it. In fact, when I asked her if she would do it I didn't even know she could sing. ... I knew that she was very talented and it was like an afterthought. I was like, "Oh, I'm sure she can sing."
AP: What surprised you the most, musically speaking, about working with her?
Yorn: I was really surprised with how fast she learned the songs. She didn't hear any material beforehand. She came to the studio and I had to teach her the songs very quickly. We didn't have much time because she was very busy at the time.
AP: Scarlett, your first album, "Anywhere I Lay My Head," received mixed reviews. Was that discouraging?
Johansson: No, I mean I'm really proud of ... "Anywhere I Lay My Head." It's a sound that I'm really into. I think for me the most important thing was that I was happy with the end result. ... The entertainment industry in general is that you have to have a thick skin in general to survive it and it's something that I have developed for ... since I was 8 years old. Just projection and praise and all those things. I think it's important to not let that stuff get to your head so you can keep a clear picture of what it is that you want to do.
AP: Scarlett, a lot of people thought it was perhaps going to be a one-time thing when you released your CD last year. Here you are back again. Do you think this will prove to the critics that you're serious about your music career?
Johansson: I don't hope for anything. Of course whenever you put something out you hope that people are into it. But I don't really validate myself through critical praise. You know it's wonderful to have that but you know you expect when you put something out that people are going to like it, some people aren't going to like it.
___
On the Net:

http://www.peteyorn.com/

An award that generates as much interest as the Nobel Peace Prize is bound to be surrounded by myths. Geir Lundestad, secretary of the secretive committee that awards the prize, outlines for The Associated Press some of the most common misunderstandings:
• Myth: The awards committee announces a shortlist of candidates.
The committee does not release the names of any candidates and keeps records sealed for 50 years.
• Myth: A campaign for a particular candidate can sway the awards committee.
A campaign could have the exact opposite effect on the fiercely independent committee, which does not want to appear influenced by public pressure.
• Myth: Candidates can be nominated until the last minute.
The nomination deadline is eight months before the announcement, with a strictly enforced deadline of Feb. 1.
• Myth: Anyone can nominate a person or group for the Peace Prize.
No, although Nobel statutes on who can nominate were slightly broadened in 2003. They now include former laureates; current and former members of the committee and their staff; members of national governments and legislatures; university professors of law, theology, social sciences, history and philosophy; leaders of peace research and foreign affairs institutes; and members of international courts of law.
• Myth: The prize can be revoked if a laureate does not live up to the standards of the peace prize.
There are no provisions for revoking the prize.
• Myth: The prize can be awarded posthumously.
The prize was award posthumously only once — in 1961, to former U.N. Secretary-General Dag Hammerskjold, after he was killed in a plane crash in Africa. The rules were amended in 1974 to prohibit posthumous prizes.
• Myth: The prize is awarded to recognize efforts for peace, human rights and democracy only after they have proven successful.
More often, the prize is awarded to encourage those who receive it to see the effort through, sometimes at critical moments.
___
On the Net:
http://www.nobelpeaceprize.org

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Emmy and Tony-winning Actor David Hyde Pierce is returning to his upstate New York hometown to play a rebuilt organ in the church he attended while growing up.
Pierce and his three siblings donated the funds to rebuild the 1920 Skinner organ at the Bethesda Episcopal Church in Saratoga Springs, 25 miles north of Albany.
Pierce will perform during a service dedicating the instrument on Sunday. He was an assistant to the church organist as a teen.
The rebuilt organ will be named the George and Laura Pierce Gallery Organ in memory of Pierce's parents.
Pierce was a four-time Emmy winner during his 11-year role as Dr. Niles Crane on TV's "Frasier," and he won a Tony in 2007 for his role as a musical-theater-loving detective in the Broadway musical, "Curtains."
___
Information from: The Saratogian, http://www.saratogian.com

LONDON (Reuters) –
A British "UFO eccentric," wanted in the United States for breaking into NASA and Pentagon computers in "the biggest military hack of all time," lost his latest battle to avoid extradition on Friday.

Gary McKinnon, 43, was refused permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, Britain's highest judicial body, as he continued his long battle to avoid being sent to the United States.

McKinnon, who was recently diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism, had challenged a refusal by Britain's chief prosecutor to allow him to be tried in Britain, which would have avoided any need for extradition.

However, London's High Court said his case did not raise "points of law of general public importance" which is necessary to pursue a case at the Supreme Court, the Press Association reported.

His lawyers said they would now consider applying to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

In an earlier ruling, the High Court accepted that his extradition could have consequences for his health, but judges decided that the process of the law overruled those concerns.

"The effects of these proceedings on Gary have been devastating," said McKinnon's lawyer Karen Todner. "The legal team are now considering our position and we will exhaust every avenue to prevent Gary's extradition."

McKinnon, whose lawyers describe him as a "UFO eccentric" who used the Internet to search for alien life, is accused of causing the U.S. Army's entire network of more than 2,000 computers in Washington to be shut down for 24 hours. U.S. authorities called this "the biggest military hack of all time."

He was arrested in 2002 after U.S. prosecutors charged him with illegally accessing computers, including systems at the Pentagon and NASA, and causing $700,000 worth of damage.

If he is convicted by a U.S. court, McKinnon could face up to 70 years in prison.

McKinnon told Reuters in an interview that he was just a computer nerd who wanted to find out whether aliens really existed. He became obsessed with trawling through large military data networks for any proof that they might be out there.

He had used his own computer with a 56K dial-up modem at his London home with no password protection and somehow managed to evade every security measure the U.S. military had adopted. While McKinnon admits hacking, he argues it was not malicious.

His cause has been backed by the Daily Mail newspaper and some British politicians.

"What Gary did was wrong, born of his compulsive and obsessive behavior. But it does not justify Gary's extradition, which would be a cruel and excessive punishment, particularly given his Aspergers," his mother Janis Sharp said. "I've fought for five years to protect my son and I am not about to give up now."

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by David Stamp)