Disable AutoRun to Stop 50% of Windows Malware Threats [Security]

Disable AutoRun to Stop 50% of Windows Malware ThreatsAccording to a biannual Security Intelligence Report from Microsoft, AutoRun?the feature in Windows that automatically executes files when you plug in a USB or connect to a network?accounts for almost half of all malware infections. That's really damn high.

To be clear, these are infections that don't require any user-input from you, so it's kind of not your fault that your computer gets infected. By turning off AutoRun, you'll add an extra step to certain tasks, but it's worth it to cut down on malware 50%.

What's also interesting in this report is that Windows XP SP3 systems get infected about ten times as much as Windows 7 SP1 64-bit systems, and six times as much vs. 32-bit Windows 7 systems. That alone is one reason why you might want to upgrade your parents' machines to Windows 7.

The easiest way to disable AutoRun is to download a free utility like Disable AutoRun or previously mentioned Panda USB Vaccine, run it, and call it a day (these apps are made specifically to turn off AutoRun). On the other hand, if you're comfortable with editing the registry, here's a quick guide to doing it yourself.

Windows XP Has 10-Times The Infection Rate Of Windows 7 | Ghacks

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/_8DJf79oV70/disable-autorun-to-stop-50-of-windows-malware-threats

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Italy pushes through austerity law (Reuters)

ROME/ATHENS (Reuters) ? Italy's parliament began rushing through austerity measures demanded by the European Union to avert a euro zone meltdown, after U.S. President Barack Obama ratcheted up pressure for more dramatic action from the currency bloc.

Italy's Senate approved a new budget law, clearing the way for approval of the package in the lower house on Saturday and the formation of an emergency government to replace that of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

In Athens, former European Central Bank policymaker Lucas Papademos was sworn in as Greek prime minister after days of political wrangling, tasked with meeting the terms of a bailout plan to avert bankruptcy.

Obama spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy late on Thursday and also called Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

A German government official said there had been an "exchange of opinions" between Merkel and Obama, while Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner demanded fast action from Europe.

"The crisis in Europe remains the central challenge to global growth. It is crucial that Europe move quickly to put in place a strong plan to restore financial stability," Geithner said in a statement following a meeting with finance ministers from the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation countries.

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

If the votes pass smoothly, Napolitano will accept Berlusconi's resignation over the weekend and ask veteran former European commissioner Mario Monti, a technocrat like Papademos, to form a government.

Berlusconi has promised to resign after the financial stability law is passed by both houses of parliament.

He had insisted on early elections but then softened his stance. Markets were calmed by the prospect that there would be an interim government, rather than a three-month vacuum before elections are held.

"The most important element to overcome this crisis is a very trusted and able new Italian government that can really fulfill the structural changes that are needed," ECB policymaker Ewald Nowotny told Reuters in Beijing.

EURO UP

The euro firmed but investors doubted whether it would climb far, given that even a technocrat Italian government might struggle to make progress on long-promised, never-delivered fiscal reforms.

Italian 10-year borrowing costs fell sharply to 6.6 percent, having hit an unsustainable 7.5 percent earlier in the week.

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

Spain, the euro zone's fourth largest economy, which holds elections in nine days' time, stopped growing in the third quarter, raising doubts about its ability to meet deficit reduction targets.

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

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

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

German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said on Friday the ECB did not have "unlimited firepower." He said if it opened its floodgates fully, they could never be closed again.

Berlin strongly opposes the ECB taking on a broader crisis-fighting role, arguing this would compromise the independence of the bank.

RESCUE FUND

The euro zone's plan for a more powerful rescue fund may also be running into trouble.

Klaus Regling, the head of the 440 billion euro European Financial Stability Facility, was reported by the Financial Times as saying the recent market turmoil had made it more difficult to scale it up to 1 trillion euros, as proposed by euro zone leaders, who promise a definitive plan by December.

Luring bond investors by offering insurance on losses, the centerpiece of a plan agreed in Brussels on October 26, would now probably use up more of the fund's resources, Regling said.

"The political turmoil that we saw in the last 10 days probably reduces the potential for leverage. It was always ambitious to have that number, but I'm not ruling it out," the FT quoted him as saying.

Nowotny also expressed concern.

"It is very important that these plans -- actually these decisions -- now really get operational, and I'm a bit concerned that this takes a long time, perhaps too long," he said.

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

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

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

Automotive giant Daimler spoke out against keeping Greece in the euro zone at all costs and said the euro would survive even if it were forced out.

"I wouldn't consider one link splitting off from the rest as a 'break-up' of the euro zone," Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche told Reuters in an interview.

(Additional reporting by James Mackenzie in Rome, Renee Maltezou in Athens, Nick Edwards in Beijing, writing by Mike Peacock; Editing by Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111111/bs_nm/us_eurozone_f

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Ruling on Florida parents' murder trial delayed

In this undated handout image released by the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, shows Nubia Barahona. A judge has delayed ruling on whether a South Florida couple accused of killing Nubia, their adoptive daughter, will be tried together or separately. (AP Photo/Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, HO)

In this undated handout image released by the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, shows Nubia Barahona. A judge has delayed ruling on whether a South Florida couple accused of killing Nubia, their adoptive daughter, will be tried together or separately. (AP Photo/Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, HO)

(AP) ? A judge delayed ruling Wednesday on whether a Miami couple accused of killing their adoptive daughter will be tried together while state officials released dozens of photos of the couple's family to comply with a public records request.

Prosecutors won't know until closer to trial whether they will use statements that Jorge and Carmen Barahona made against each other. Judge Sarah Zabel agreed to their request to revisit the issue later.

The Barahonas have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and child abuse charges. Authorities say they tortured their 10-year-old twins at their Miami home and prosecutors have said they are seeking the death penalty.

The body of their daughter, Nubia, was found on Valentine's Day partially decomposing and soaked in chemicals in the back of her father's truck along Interstate 95. Her twin brother, Victor, survived, but was badly burned by the chemical.

Defense attorneys wanted the couple to be tried separately. But the guardian representing the children's interests said separate trials would be more difficult on the deceased girl's twin brother, who was traumatized by her death and his alleged abuse.

The couple took the twins in as foster children in 2004 and later adopted them. They also have two other adopted children, an 11-year-old boy who is autistic and a younger daughter.

The photos of the Barahonas released by state officials depict a happy family. They show Nubia, often wearing pink and having ribbons in her blonde hair, hugging her siblings and swimming with them. Her face is smeared in frosting at a birthday party and she wears a pink princess costume in a Halloween picture.

Other pictures show Carmen and Jorge Barahonas laughing with their children on rides at an amusement park.

But authorities described a different scene at the family's Miami home. Police said the Barahonas bound the twins by their hands and feet and locked them in a bathroom for days on end. The twins had scars and other injuries indicating abuse and that they had been restrained, according to court documents.

Police said that Jorge Barahona grabbed Nubia from the bathroom on Feb. 11 and beat her to death as Victor listened to her screams. He was also injured after his lip split open. The boy was born with a cleft palate, but police said the Barahonas refused to take him to the doctor in the weeks before Nubia's death.

After the couple's arrest, police took carpet samples, a bloody T-shirt, sheets and bags of evidence from their home.

In past years, school officials warned Nubia was afraid of her mother and was hoarding food at school. One teacher said Nubia confessed that Carmen hit her, but each abuse allegation was deemed "unfounded" by child welfare officials.

A handful of DCF employees have since been fired, including the child investigator who visited the Barahonas' home in the days before Nubia's body was found.

The agency has since hired 80 new investigators and is making several internal changes, including the way hotline calls are handled and protocol ordering investigators to call police immediately if a child believed to be in danger cannot be located.

Court documents show a family falling apart, as a paranoid Jorge Barahona told authorities the girl tried to poison him by putting baby oil in his soda. He also feared she was using rat poison on him and others in the family, according to court documents.

In a rambling 2006 letter from Jorge Barahona that was released earlier this year, he said he took handfuls of prescription and over the counter medicines. Victor also told authorities the family frequently took sleeping pills.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-09-Toxic%20Truck%20Family/id-39274171a53c477fa925f67b8c15e3c1

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Quality of life benefits of transcatheter aortic valve replacement differ by access site

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 10-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Judy Romero
jromero@crf.org
Cardiovascular Research Foundation

Results of the PARTNER Cohort A, quality of life analysis trial, reported at TCT 2011

SAN FRANCISCO, CA NOVEMBER 10, 2011 Results of the PARTNER Cohort A QOL study demonstrate that transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) results in improved quality of life compared with surgical valve replacement, but only when performed via the transfemoral approach. The results of the study were presented today at the 23rd annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation.

Over the past decade, TAVR has been developed as a less invasive alternative to surgical valve replacement (AVR) for high-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis. In the landmark PARTNER trial, reported earlier this year at the ACC Scientific Sessions, TAVR was found to be non-inferior to surgical AVR for the primary endpoint of one-year mortality among high risk patients with severe aortic stenosis. However, the overall impact of this alternative treatment on the patients' health-related quality of life has not been previously reported.

Researchers measured quality of life using the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ, the primary endpoint), the SF-12 Health Status Survey, and the EuroQOL (EQ-5D). Patients were assessed on a broad range of factors, such as their symptoms, physical and social limitations and overall quality of life upon enrollment in the trial and at follow-up intervals of one month, six months and 12 months. A total of 699 patients were randomized to either TAVR (N=348) or SAVR (N=351).

The study population was then broken down between the patients who were eligible for transfemoral (TF) valve implantation (n=492) and a separate group of patients for whom only a transapical (TA) approach through a small incision in the chest was possible (n=207).

At one year follow-up, patients who underwent either surgical or transcatheter aortic valve replacement experienced substantial improvement in disease-specific and generic health quality of life measures. For TF patients, TAVR resulted in substantial quality of life benefits compared with surgical AVR at one month with similar benefits at later time points. For patients eligible only for the TA approach, there was no benefit of TAVR over AVR at any time point, and quality of life measures tended to be better with surgical AVR at both one and six months.

"Taken together with previous data, these findings demonstrate that for patients suitable for a transfemoral approach, transcatheter aortic valve replacement provides meaningful clinical benefits compared with surgical aortic valve replacement from the patient's perspective," said David J. Cohen, MD, the principal investigator for the quality of life sub-study. Dr. Cohen is Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Director of Cardiovascular Research at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute.

"The lack of benefit and suggestion of worse outcomes among patients ineligible for the transfemoral approach suggest that the transapical approach may not be preferable to surgical aortic valve replacement in such patients. Whether further experience and refinements in the transapical approach can overcome these limitations should be the subject of future investigation."

###

The trial is funded by a research grant from Edwards Lifesciences, Inc. Dr. Cohen reported no other financial relationship with the company.

About CRF and TCT

The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) is an independent, academically focused nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the survival and quality of life for people with cardiovascular disease through research and education. Since its inception in 1991, CRF has played a major role in realizing dramatic improvements in the lives of countless numbers of patients by establishing the safe use of new technologies, drugs and therapies in interventional cardiovascular medicine.

Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) is the annual scientific symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation. TCT gathers leading medical researchers and clinicians from around the world to present and discuss the latest developments in the field.

For more information, visit www.crf.org.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 10-Nov-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Judy Romero
jromero@crf.org
Cardiovascular Research Foundation

Results of the PARTNER Cohort A, quality of life analysis trial, reported at TCT 2011

SAN FRANCISCO, CA NOVEMBER 10, 2011 Results of the PARTNER Cohort A QOL study demonstrate that transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) results in improved quality of life compared with surgical valve replacement, but only when performed via the transfemoral approach. The results of the study were presented today at the 23rd annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium, sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation.

Over the past decade, TAVR has been developed as a less invasive alternative to surgical valve replacement (AVR) for high-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis. In the landmark PARTNER trial, reported earlier this year at the ACC Scientific Sessions, TAVR was found to be non-inferior to surgical AVR for the primary endpoint of one-year mortality among high risk patients with severe aortic stenosis. However, the overall impact of this alternative treatment on the patients' health-related quality of life has not been previously reported.

Researchers measured quality of life using the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ, the primary endpoint), the SF-12 Health Status Survey, and the EuroQOL (EQ-5D). Patients were assessed on a broad range of factors, such as their symptoms, physical and social limitations and overall quality of life upon enrollment in the trial and at follow-up intervals of one month, six months and 12 months. A total of 699 patients were randomized to either TAVR (N=348) or SAVR (N=351).

The study population was then broken down between the patients who were eligible for transfemoral (TF) valve implantation (n=492) and a separate group of patients for whom only a transapical (TA) approach through a small incision in the chest was possible (n=207).

At one year follow-up, patients who underwent either surgical or transcatheter aortic valve replacement experienced substantial improvement in disease-specific and generic health quality of life measures. For TF patients, TAVR resulted in substantial quality of life benefits compared with surgical AVR at one month with similar benefits at later time points. For patients eligible only for the TA approach, there was no benefit of TAVR over AVR at any time point, and quality of life measures tended to be better with surgical AVR at both one and six months.

"Taken together with previous data, these findings demonstrate that for patients suitable for a transfemoral approach, transcatheter aortic valve replacement provides meaningful clinical benefits compared with surgical aortic valve replacement from the patient's perspective," said David J. Cohen, MD, the principal investigator for the quality of life sub-study. Dr. Cohen is Professor of Medicine at the University of Missouri-Kansas City and Director of Cardiovascular Research at Saint Luke's Mid America Heart Institute.

"The lack of benefit and suggestion of worse outcomes among patients ineligible for the transfemoral approach suggest that the transapical approach may not be preferable to surgical aortic valve replacement in such patients. Whether further experience and refinements in the transapical approach can overcome these limitations should be the subject of future investigation."

###

The trial is funded by a research grant from Edwards Lifesciences, Inc. Dr. Cohen reported no other financial relationship with the company.

About CRF and TCT

The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) is an independent, academically focused nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the survival and quality of life for people with cardiovascular disease through research and education. Since its inception in 1991, CRF has played a major role in realizing dramatic improvements in the lives of countless numbers of patients by establishing the safe use of new technologies, drugs and therapies in interventional cardiovascular medicine.

Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) is the annual scientific symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation. TCT gathers leading medical researchers and clinicians from around the world to present and discuss the latest developments in the field.

For more information, visit www.crf.org.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/crf-qol111011.php

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What X-rays of baby mammoths reveal

High-tech scans of two baby mammoths pulled from the Siberian permafrost reveal that one, originally identified as male, was in fact a female.

In addition, the scans showed major skeletal differences between the two mammoths, perhaps representing evolutionary change in the mammoth lineage.

"A lot of what we've done with mammoths in the past has been done based on dental anatomy, based on what we can see from teeth," study researcher Ethan Shirley of the University of Michigan Museum of Paleontology told LiveScience in Las Vegas at the annual meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.

"Now, we have teeth ? but we also have the whole rest of the baby mammoth: skin, fat, muscle, bone, everything in between," Shirley added.

Even the contents of the animals' stomachs are preserved, Shirley said, a clue as to the diet of the Ice-Age beasts.

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    4. What's so special about 11/11/11?

Two little mammoths
The two mammoths, dubbed "Lyuba" and "Khroma," were found in 2007 and 2009, respectively. Lyuba is 42,000 years old, while Khroma was found in geologically older sediments. Lyuba is female and is believed to have suffocated in thick mud after getting stuck. Khroma was originally pegged as male. Khroma was originally thought to have died of an anthrax infection, prompting scientists to irradiate the mummy for fear of infection, but further research suggests the mammoth died of some other cause, said study researcher Daniel Fisher, also of the University of Michigan museum.

"It's when you follow it inwards, which we were not able to do visually or tactilely, that the differences become manifest," Fisher told LiveScience, explaining that the tissue believed to be Khroma's penis was in fact a clitoris.

The scans also exposed Lyuba and Khroma's skeletons for the first time. Although both are the same species, there were major differences in their bones, Shirley said. Lyuba's front legs are proportionally longer than Khroma's, and Khroma has bony ridges where her tusks would have erupted that Lyuba lacks, he said.

"That was all really a surprise," Shirley said.

Mammoths adapting
It's too early to say what those anatomical differences mean, Fisher said. It could be that mammoth populations varied slightly over the vast geography of Siberia. Or perhaps evolution refined the mammoth line over the time between Khroma's death and Lyuba's life.

"In any case, it gives us a clearer picture of the sort of variation that exists within lineages of organisms like mammoths," Fisher said. "It is variation like this that natural selection operates on to produce evolutionary change."

The scans are also turning up smaller revelations about mammoth life. For example, Fisher said, Lyuba has much larger kidneys than researchers would have expected. It's possible these massive organs allowed mammoths to process urine more effectively, excluding waste while holding on to water.

"They're living in a cold, cold environment where essentially all available water is frozen, and having to pee a lot would get rid of a lot of body water that would have to be replaced by eating snow or ice, which is cold," Fisher said. "So it's much better just to recycle the urine. Nobody's ever had an idea that that aspect of physiology was part of mammoth adaptation to the cold."

Editor's Note: This article has been corrected to reflect Khroma's cause of death and to remove a reference to a traveling museum exhibit starring Lyuba. The exhibit is scheduled to open at the Missouri History Museum in St. Louis, but may include a replica of the mammoth instead of the mummy itself.

You can follow LiveScience senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45224689/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Amid flood catastrophe, Thais ready for festival (AP)

BANGKOK ? Every year when the moon is full and the rainy season draws to an end, Thailand's waterways fill with millions of floating lotus-shaped lanterns ? a symbolic, centuries-old gesture once meant to placate to the country's goddess of water.

Today, many Thais still believe the candlelit boats launched during Loy Krathong can carry misfortune away with them, allowing past sins to be cleansed and life to begin anew.

This year, flood-ravaged Thailand has plenty of reason to pray for rebirth ? and little reason to celebrate.

The festival, due Thursday, comes on the heels of a cataclysmic waterborne disaster that's drowned one-third of the country in three months, killing 529 people and wiping out rice fields and factories and livelihoods along the way. The flooding is the worst in Thailand since World War II, and it's not over yet. Damage so far is likely to exceed $6 billion. Recovery will take months.

"Most people don't feel like celebrating this year ? there's been too much sadness and suffering," said Saithong Sateankamsoragai, a Bangkok flower vendor who sells the tiny boats, called krathongs, that are an integral part of the annual festival.

Saithong fled her own home late last month after chest-level water engulfed it. Now she lives with her sister in a drier part of the capital, a refugee forced to flee by the water this Southeast Asian kingdom is ironically paying tribute to.

Tragedy in mind, the Tourism Authority of Thailand has canceled all official celebrations in Bangkok, including those along the Chao Phraya river ? the chocolate-colored waterway that snakes through the city of glittering condominiums and decrepit apartment blocks.

In recent weeks, the river's banks have brimmed to record levels, forcing a halt to dinner cruises and fueling fears the mighty waterway could swamp downtown.

Outside the capital, in cities floodwaters have spared, festivities are going ahead. They include the northern town of Sukhothai, where the tradition is believed to have been born. Revelers there have already begun setting off fireworks this week, filling the skies with the spellbinding spectacle of balloon-like lanterns.

The mood in Bangkok, where many neighborhoods remain submerged, is far more subdued. The Culture Ministry is calling for revelers to float just one boat per family, or float them online through websites on which you can light digital candles and incense and watch yours float on a full-screen rendering of lake.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Authority, meanwhile, is urging people in flooded zones not to launch any at all.

Close to a million krathongs are typically set adrift annually in the capital alone, and there is concern they could trigger fires in abandoned homes or clog drains and canals critical to helping ease the massive pools of runoff bearing down on the metropolis of 9 million people.

Most krathongs are made from hardened, painted bread or ornately curled banana leafs filled with yellow marigold flowers and metallic-purple globe thistles. Some are built from environmentally unfriendly non-biodegradable plastic foam.

Thais joke they won't have to go far from home to find water this year. "We probably can float the krathongs right in the house," tweeted one.

Bangkok authorities have designated a dozen parks where krathongs can safely be launched.

"Of course it's different than it has been in years' past," said Ladda Thangsupachai, a senior Culture Ministry official. "Can there be fun while there is suffering?"

Loy Krathong has its roots in a long ago era when most Thais lived in stilt houses made of wood, dependent on rivers and rain-fed agricultural land for their sustenance and survival.

That life is slowly being erased by mass urban development, which critics say has exacerbated the current crisis. Over the last few decades, canals that once allowed annual floodwaters to pass through the capital unheeded have been paved over to make room for roads, highways, shopping malls and housing estates.

"Most people in Bangkok have lost their connection to water, it doesn't exist like it did in the past," said Siripan Nogsuan Sawasdee, Associate Professor of Political Science at Chulalongkorn University.

Loy Krathong, meanwhile, has morphed into a romantic evening for hand-holding lovers, a relaxing night for families and friends, a commercialized holiday in which beauty contests are held.

Thanking the water goddess ? Phra Mae Khongkha ? or asking her forgiveness for polluting the nation's life-sustaining rivers, "isn't on people's minds" any longer, Siripan said. "Most people don't believe in that anymore."

Still, as floodwaters approached Bangkok in early October, the city's governor held a special ceremony to pay tribute to the water goddess and beg for the crisis' swift end.

Floodwaters came anyway, and Bangkok's drowning outskirts are still reeling from the catastrophe.

Even at the city's unflooded flower market, vendors say business has been cut by half. Fewer people are buying krathongs, and the flowers used to decorate them are in short supply because fields have been submerged.

Saithong said she would launch her own float this year on the Chao Phraya out of respect for tradition.

"It gives us a little bit of inspiration," Saithong said. "It gives us hope that life will be better next year."

___

Associated Press writer Pailin Wedel contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111109/ap_on_re_as/as_thailand_floods_loy_krathong

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UN has been ratcheting up Iran sanctions (AP)

UNITED NATIONS ? The U.N. Security Council first imposed sanctions against Iran in December 2006 and has been ratcheting up the punitive measures since then in hopes of pressuring the government to suspend enrichment and start negotiations on its nuclear program ? which it has refused to do.

The council has acted in response to reports from the International Atomic Energy Agency, which is expected to release new details this week indicating possible secret work by Iran to develop nuclear weapons. It could lead to new sanctions.

Here is a rundown of the four sanctions resolutions adopted thus far:

? December 2006: The council ordered all countries to stop supplying Iran with materials and technology that could contribute to its nuclear and missile programs. It also ordered countries to freeze the assets of 10 key Iranian companies and 12 individuals related to those programs.

? March 2007: The council banned Iranian arms exports and ordered countries to freeze the assets of 28 additional individuals and organizations involved in Iran's nuclear and missile programs. It called for voluntary restrictions on travel by the individuals subject to sanctions, on arms sales to Iran, and on new financial assistance or loans to the Iranian government.

? March 2008: The council banned all countries from trading with Iran in goods that have both civilian and military uses. It authorized inspection of cargo suspected of containing banned items on planes and ships that are owned or operated by Iran Air Cargo and Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line. It authorized financial monitoring of Bank Melli and Bank Saderat, called on all countries "to exercise vigilance" in entering into new trade commitments, and froze the assets of 12 additional companies and 13 individuals.

? June 2010: The council banned Iran from pursuing "any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons," barred Iranian investment in activities such as uranium mining, and prohibited Iran from buying several categories of heavy weapons. It called on all countries to cooperate in the inspection of suspect cargo and to block financial transactions and ban the licensing of Iranian banks if they have "reasonable grounds" to believe these activities could contribute to Iranian nuclear activities.

The council also imposed sanctions on 40 Iranian companies and organizations. It added one individual to the previous list of 40 Iranians subject to an asset freeze and banned travel for all of them.

Oil exports, the lifeblood of Iran's economy, are not affected by sanctions because of opposition from Russia and China, which have veto power on council decisions.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111107/ap_on_re_us/un_un_iran_sanctions

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Looking for an rp partner.

Looking for a partner to roleplay with. I play only females at the moment and don't really have any ideas in the works..though I prefer fantasy genre above all others. What I like to do is take a single idea (for instance, a stanza in a song) and create a storyline, or more often a character out of that. I do have an old stockpile of characters that I'll go back to at times, but for the most part I create characters for individual storylines. I'm familiar with a good number of animes, games etc. I am an advanced player, I've been doing this a while..but I am not one to write an extremely long post with overly complicated words..hence I keep my thesaurus ON my bookshelf. Length varies from a paragraph to five or six, my openings being the longest. So if you've got an idea, message me and we'll see what we can work out.

The secret side of me, I never let you see
I keep it caged but I can't control it
So stay away from me, the beast is ugly
I feel the rage and I just can't hold it

It's scratching on the walls, in the closet, in the halls
It comes awake and I can't control it
Hiding under the bed, in my body, in my head
Why won't somebody come and save me from this, make it end?

I hate what I've become, the nightmare's just begun
I must confess that I feel like a monster

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/k3MozfO29HU/viewtopic.php

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