Romney defends economic plan: I'm not changing progressive tax code

Mitt Romney defended his economic policy on Sunday from criticisms on both the right and left, saying he is not using the language of class warfare in defending the progressive tax code and he is not destroying the poor's safety net by cutting federal programs driving up the deficit.

Romney's plan, introduced in detail during a speech in Detroit last week, would cut individual marginal tax rates by 20 percent 'across the board,' eliminate taxes on capital gains and dividends for families making less than $200,000, cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent and slowly raise eligibility requirements on wealthier Americans to receive Medicare and Social Security.?

Though praised by "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board, Romney's opponent Rick Santorum said the Massachusetts governor's approach is the same class warfare supported by President Obama. Santorum accused Romney of using the language of Occupy Wall Street to make life more difficult and to change the rules on the top income earners.

"Whatever choice of language I have to use, I want to make sure to get across to the American people, I'm cutting rates across the board by 20 percent," the Republican presidential candidate told "Fox News Sunday."

But Romney, who acknowledged that the plan does eliminate deductions and and exemptions for high-income earners, said he is not trying to pit one group against another or give a better deal to certain taxpayers over others.?

"I want to get these rates down so we get American workers back into jobs again," he said, adding that he wants to maintain the progressivity of the tax code while lowering the marginal rate across the board.

"What I'm trying to do is to make sure that under no circumstances is the middle class going to end up with a larger share of the tax burden," he said.

Santorum too has had to fight off charges that he is picking winners and losers in his economic plan, which calls for eliminating taxes on manufacturers that return to the U.S. from abroad and cutting the corporate tax for all other industries in half.?

Santorum denied that's he's stacking the deck in favor of one industry.?

"What we have to realize is that manufacturers have to compete not against just other manufacturers in this country, they have to compete internationally, directly internationally for the jobs to stay in America. And so the problem is the government -- and our tax and regulatory policy -- the government's policy is making manufacturers in this country uncompetitive, and as a result, manufacturing jobs are moving offshore," Santorum told NBC's "Meet the Press."

"So if the government is causing the problem, then government has a responsibility to fix the problem. ... It's about creating a level playing field. I am for equality of opportunity," he said, adding that his ideas are far more dramatic than the "warmed over" and "timid" plans of an "institutional insider being designed by a whole bunch of Washington lobbyists who are basically running his campaign."

Aside from Santorum, Romney's plan has also been criticized on the left for being revenue neutral, in other words, not doing enough to close the deficit through the tax code. Instead, Romney's plan calls for eliminating a lot of federal programs, including poverty programs, and sending them to the states to manage. His plan calls for $500 billion in spending cuts in 2016.

Romney said his tax plan is similar to President Obama's own bipartisan commission, which was ultimately rejected by the president, and added that he believes in smaller government.

"This is a classic pitting of two very different philosophies," he said. "If this is an argument about President Obama saying hey, look, don't cut back on federal, keep on growing this deficit, I think that's a battle I'm going to win because I am planning on cutting the deficit down to zero. I'm planning to get the balanced budget and at the same time getting this economy going again."

Both men talked policy just two days before Republican primary voters in Michigan and Arizona go to the polls. Romney has seen his poll numbers go up in the state even as his favorability rating drops. ?

"If people think that there is something wrong with being successful in America, then they better vote for the other guy because I've been extraordinarily successful and I want to use that success and that know-how to help the American people," he said.

On the other hand, Santorum has seen his poll numbers go down since a critical debate last week in Arizona. He chalked it up to negative campaigning by Romney and his surrogates in Michigan.

"We've been under assault now for about three weeks, of course, you know that's going to drive up -- drive up our negatives a little bit," he said.?

The two are statistically tied in polling in Michigan with Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul far behind in the field of GOP candidates.

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84th Academy Awards Winners List

Published February 26, 2012

| FoxNews.com

List of the 84th Annual Academy Award winners announced Sunday:

1. Best Picture: "The Artist."
2. Actor: Jean Dujardin, "The Artist."
3. Actress: Meryl Streep, "The Iron Lady."
4. Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer, "Beginners."
5. Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer, "The Help."
6. Directing: Michel Hazanavicius, "The Artist."
7. Foreign Language Film: "A Separation," Iran.
8. Adapted Screenplay: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon and Jim Rash, "The Descendants."
9. Original Screenplay: Woody Allen, "Midnight in Paris."
10. Animated Feature Film: "Rango."
11. Art Direction: "Hugo."
12. Cinematography: "Hugo."
13. Sound Mixing: "Hugo."
14. Sound Editing: "Hugo."
15. Original Score: "The Artist."
16. Original Song: "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets."
17. Costume Design: "The Artist."
18. Documentary Feature: "Undefeated."
19. Documentary Short: "Saving Face."
20. Film Editing: "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."
21. Makeup: "The Iron Lady."
22. Animated Short Film: "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore."
23. Live Action Short Film: "The Shore."
24. Visual Effects: "Hugo."
------
Oscar winners previously presented this season:
Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award: Oprah Winfrey.
Honorary Award: James Earl Jones.
Honorary Award: Dick Smith.
Gordon E. Sawyer Award: Douglas Trumbull.
Award of Merit: ARRI cameras.

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Oscar host Crystal's Sammy Davis impression draws criticism

Published February 27, 2012

| Associated Press

Some are questioning Billy Crystal's impression of Sammy Davis Jr. in his opening number as Oscar host.

As part of Crystal's opening montage, he parodied Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris," going back in time to the 1920s. Then Crystal, performing as Davis in blackface, popped up and suggested they go kill Hitler.

Crystal played Davis the same way many times on "Saturday Night Live" in the 1980s, but that didn't stop hundreds from questioning the bit on Twitter.

When Octavia Spenser won supporting actress for "The Help," comedian Paul Scheer tweeted her win "shows just how far we've come since Billy Crystal performed in Blackface."

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Police, Border Patrol, other agencies looking to expand drone use at home

Heads up: Drones are going mainstream.

Civilian cousins of the unmanned military aircraft that have tracked and killed terrorists in the Middle East and Asia are in demand by police departments, border patrols, power companies, news organizations and others wanting a bird's-eye view that's too impractical or dangerous for conventional planes or helicopters to get.

Along with the enthusiasm, there are qualms.

Drones overhead could invade people's privacy. The government worries they could collide with passenger planes or come crashing down to the ground, concerns that have slowed more widespread adoption of the technology.

Despite that, pressure is building to give drones the same access as manned aircraft to the sky at home.

"It's going to be the next big revolution in aviation. It's coming," says Dan Elwell, the Aerospace Industries Association's vice president for civil aviation.

Some impetus comes from the military, which will bring home drones from Afghanistan and wants room to test and use them. In December, Congress gave the Federal Aviation Administration six months to pick half a dozen sites around the country where the military and others can fly unmanned aircraft in the vicinity of regular air traffic, with the aim of demonstrating they're safe.

The Defense Department says the demand for drones and their expanding missions requires routine and unfettered access to domestic airspace, including around airports and cities. In a report last October, the Pentagon called for flights first by small drones both solo and in groups, day and night, expanding over several years. Flights by large and medium-sized drones would follow in the latter half of this decade.

Other government agencies want to fly drones, too, but they've been hobbled by an FAA ban unless they first receive case-by-case permission. Fewer than 300 waivers were in use at the end of 2011, and they often include restrictions that severely limit the usefulness of the flights. Businesses that want to put drones to work are out of luck; waivers are only for government agencies.

But that's changing.

Congress has told the FAA that the agency must allow civilian and military drones to fly in civilian airspace by September 2015. This spring, the FAA is set to take a first step by proposing rules that would allow limited commercial use of small drones for the first time.

Until recently, agency officials were saying there were too many unresolved safety issues to give drones greater access. Even now FAA officials are cautious about describing their plans and they avoid discussion of deadlines.

"The thing we care about is doing that in an orderly and safe way and finding the appropriate ... balance of all the users in the system," Michael Huerta, FAA's acting administrator, told a recent industry luncheon in Washington. "Let's develop these six sites — and we will be doing that — where we can develop further data, further testing and more history on how these things actually operate."

Drones come in all sizes, from the high-flying Global Hawk with its 116-foot wingspan to a hummingbird-like drone that weighs less than an AA battery and can perch on a window ledge to record sound and video. Lockheed Martin has developed a fake maple leaf seed, or "whirly bird," equipped with imaging sensors, that weighs less than an ounce.

Potential civilian users are as varied as the drones themselves.

Power companies want them to monitor transmission lines. Farmers want to fly them over fields to detect which crops need water. Ranchers want them to count cows.

Journalists are exploring drones' newsgathering potential. The FAA is investigating whether The Daily, a digital publication of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., used drones without permission to capture aerial footage of floodwaters in North Dakota and Mississippi last year. At the University of Nebraska, journalism professor Matt Waite has started a lab for students to experiment with using a small, remote-controlled helicopter.

"Can you cover news with a drone? I think the answer is yes," Waite said.

The aerospace industry forecasts a worldwide deployment of almost 30,000 drones by 2018, with the United States accounting for half of them.

"The potential ... civil market for these systems could dwarf the military market in the coming years if we can get access to the airspace," said Ben Gielow, government relations manager for the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, an industry trade group.

The hungriest market is the nation's 19,000 law enforcement agencies.

Customs and Border Patrol has nine Predator drones mostly in use on the U.S.-Mexico border, and plans to expand to 24 by 2016. Officials say the unmanned aircraft have helped in the seizure of more than 20 tons of illegal drugs and the arrest of 7,500 people since border patrols began six years ago.

Several police departments are experimenting with smaller drones to photograph crime scenes, aid searches and scan the ground ahead of SWAT teams. The Justice Department has four drones it loans to police agencies.

"We look at this as a low-cost alternative to buying a helicopter or fixed-wing plane," said Michael O'Shea, the department's aviation technology program manager. A small drone can cost less than $50,000, about the price of a patrol car with standard police gear.

Like other agencies, police departments must get FAA waivers and follow much the same rules as model airplane hobbyists: Drones must weigh less than 55 pounds, stay below an altitude of 400 feet, keep away from airports and always stay within sight of the operator. The restrictions are meant to prevent collisions with manned aircraft.

Even a small drone can be "a huge threat" to a larger plane, said Dale Wright, head of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association's safety and technology department. "If an airliner sucks it up in an engine, it's probably going to take the engine out," he said. "If it hits a small plane, it could bring it down."

Controllers want drone operators to be required to have instrument-rated pilot licenses — a step above a basic private pilot license. "We don't want the Microsoft pilot who has never really flown an airplane and doesn't know the rules of how to fly," Wright said.

Military drones designed for battlefields haven't had to meet the kind of rigorous safety standards required of commercial aircraft.

"If you are going to design these things to operate in the (civilian) airspace you need to start upping the ante," said Tom Haueter, director of the National Transportation Safety Board's aviation safety office. "It's one thing to operate down low. It's another thing to operate where other airplanes are, especially over populated areas."

Even with FAA restrictions, drones are proving useful in the field.

Deputies with the Mesa County Sheriff's Office in Colorado can launch a 2-pound Draganflyer X6 helicopter from the back of a patrol car. The drone's bird's-eye view cut the manpower needed for a search of a creek bed for a missing person from 10 people to two, said Ben Miller, who runs the drone program. The craft also enabled deputies to alert fire officials to a potential roof collapse in time for the evacuation of firefighters from the building, he said.

The drone could do more if it were not for the FAA's line-of-sight restriction, Miller said. "I don't think (the restriction) provides any extra safety," he said.

The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, north of Houston, used a Department of Homeland Security grant to buy a $300,000, 50-pound ShadowHawk helicopter drone for its SWAT team. The drone has a high-powered video camera and an infrared camera that can spot a person's thermal image in the dark.

"Public-safety agencies are beginning to see this as an invaluable tool for them, just as the car was an improvement over the horse and the single-shot pistol was improved upon by the six-shooter," said Chief Deputy Randy McDaniel, who runs the Montgomery drone program.

The ShadowHawk can be equipped with a 40 mm grenade launcher and a 12-guage shotgun, according to its maker, Vanguard Defense Industries of Conroe, Texas. The company doesn't sell the armed version in the United States, although "we have had interest from law-enforcement entities for deployment of nonlethal munitions from the aircraft," Vanguard CEO Michael Buscher said.

The possibility of armed police drones someday patrolling the sky disturbs Terri Burke, executive director of the Texas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

"The Constitution is taking a back seat so that boys can play with their toys," Burke said. "It's kind of scary that they can use a laptop computer to zap people from the air."

A recent ACLU report said allowing drones greater access takes the country "a large step closer to a surveillance society in which our every move is monitored, tracked, recorded, and scrutinized by the authorities."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which focuses on civil liberties threats involving new technologies, sued the FAA recently, seeking disclosure of which agencies have been given permission to use drones. FAA officials declined to answer questions from The Associated Press about the lawsuit.

Industry officials said privacy concerns are overblown.

"Today anybody— the paparazzi, anybody — can hire a helicopter or a (small plane) to circle around something that they're interested in and shoot away with high-powered cameras all they want," said Elwell, the aerospace industry spokesman. "I don't understand all the comments about the Big Brother thing."

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US drone strike kills 4 in Somalia

Published February 24, 2012

| Associated Press

MOGADISHU, Somalia – ?A U.S. military drone strike that targeted an international militant in southern Somalia killed four al-Shabab fighters, officials said Friday.

A U.S. official in Washington confirmed the attack was carried out by a U.S. drone. A second U.S. official said an "international" member of al-Shabab was the target of the strike, though he said a white Kenyan reported killed in the attack was not the target.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity in order to share details of the classified program.

Somalia's al-Shabab formally merged with Al Qaeda this month, a move analysts said was borne of desperation. Al-Shabab has been forced out of Mogadishu and faces military attacks on three sides. Al-Qaeda's power has ebbed as the group has seen key leaders killed in targeted attacks.

Still, al-Shabab boasts hundreds of foreign fighters -- many of whom have fighting experience in Iraq and Afghanistan -- among its ranks. The group also counts several dozen Americans, many of Somali origin, among its estimated 8,000 fighters.

Officials in Somalia confirmed Friday's attack in the Lower Shabelle region, where al-Shabab still controls wide swaths of territory. A Somali military official said a white Kenyan commander named Akram was among the four killed. The official said he could not be named for security reasons. A second Somali intelligence official confirmed the attack, but also could not be named.

The U.S. military has carried out multiple attacks inside Somalia against high-ranking militant targets in recent years.

Last month, a raid by Navy SEALs rescued an American and a Danish hostage from a gang of criminals. The U.S. military actions in Somalia are representative of the Obama administration's pledge to build a smaller, more agile military force that can carry out surgical counterterrorist strikes to cripple an enemy.

Kenya's military has also launched multiple airborne attacks in southern Somalia since Kenyan troops moved into the region in October.

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Sacha Baron Cohen spills ashes of Kim Jong Il on Ryan Seacrest on Oscar red carpet

Published February 26, 2012

| FoxNews.com

Oops.

Outfitted extravagantly as "The Dictator," the character he plays in the upcoming film of the same name, Sacha Baron Cohen made a mess of the Oscars' red carpet Sunday night.

More specifically, he ruined E! host Ryan Seacrest's tuxedo.

After initially being dis-invited by the academy, for some reason, Baron Cohen was allowed to attend the ceremony acting as the kind of Moammar Gadhafi parody he plays in his upcoming film. As expected, he brought his unique brand of publicity stunt and method comedy.

Flanked by two flower girls, he jokingly claimed to be carrying the ashes of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, whose face was displayed on the container.

In an interview with Seacrest, he claimed it was Jong Il's dream "to be sprinkled over the red carpet and over Halle Berry's chest." Then, as Seacrest was bending down, he spilled the ashes over Seacrest's tuxedo.

Even the preternaturally cool Seacrest looked shaken as he attempted to dust himself off.

As security -- real security -- muscled Baron Cohen away, Seacrest attempted to cut to commercial, but his E! colleagues sought to milk the incident. And for good reason. It quickly became the most-chatted about topic on Twitter, where commentators eagerly lapped up the rare breach in decorum at the Academy Awards.

Said Seacrest: "Anything can happen and it most certainly did, all over my lapel."

- The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Hot tub installation on roof of campus building a mystery

Published February 26, 2012

| Associated Press

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – ?Officials are puzzled over a mysterious hot tub that was installed -- and then removed -- from the roof of a building on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor.

But a group of "creative" students are believed to be the culprits, Computer Science and Engineering building spokesman Steven Crang told AnnArbor.com on Friday.

Initially reported by the Michigan Daily campus newspaper, the hot tub first was noticed Saturday, had visitors and was gone by Monday night.

"People were kind of flabbergasted," Crang said. "It was obviously unexpected. It was pretty creative and now it's gone. It left a buzz in its wake."

Despite its short stay, students called the hot tub the Bob and Betty Beyster Bubbler after the couple who donated $15 million to the school. The building is named after them.

The philanthropic couple "found it amusing," Crang said.

"It's apparently people who are close to the department because they were able to gain access to the building and install the tub," he said of whoever installed it. "The thing that intrigued everyone was that it was on the fourth-floor balcony. It's a large hot tub and the doors that lead out to the balcony are not real big, so they had to do some work to get it out there."

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China brings supermarket concept to North Korea

PYONGYANG, North Korea-- In his last public appearance, late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il went shopping.

He peered at the prices affixed to shelves packed with everything from Pantene shampoo to Pabst Blue Ribbon beer. And he nodded his approval of Pyongyang's version of Walmart, which was soon to open courtesy of China.

The visit played up a decidedly un-communist development in North Korea: A new culture of commerce is springing up, with China as its inspiration and source. The market-savvy Chinese are introducing the pleasures of the megamart to a small niche of North Koreans, and flooding the country's border regions with cheap goods.

And they are doing it with the full approval of North Korea's leadership. The new consumerism is part of a campaign launched three years ago to build up the economy, and so the image of new leader Kim Jong Un.

At the Kwangbok area supermarket in downtown Pyongyang, that translates into lime green frying pans, pink Minnie Mouse pajamas, popcorn and a line of silvery high heels sparkling in the sunlight.

"It is very good to come to this shop and buy goods which I like by feeling them and looking over them myself," said shopper Pak So Jong, bundled up in a winter jacket with a furry collar, as she examined bags of locally made sweets and biscuits a few days after the store's opening.

In many ways, North Korea can seem like the land time forgot. Dignitaries are ferried around in ancient but immaculate Mercedes Benzes, and the boxy, beige telephones at the five-star Koryo Hotel look like something out of "Austin Powers."

Billboards in the capital, Pyongyang, are likely to feature the latest Workers' Party slogans, not advertisements, and there are no shopping malls, McDonald's golden arches or Starbucks coffee shops.

At least, not yet.

Outside Pyongyang, much of the country remains impoverished. Millions rely on state-provided food, but poor agricultural yields mean they'll get only a fraction of what they need to survive, according to the World Food Program.

Still, there are signs that a newfound consumer culture is taking hold both in Pyongyang and in the border towns where Chinese-made goods are bought and sold every day.

Pyongyang Department Store No. 1 regularly stages exhibitions of goods to show off what deputy manager Kim Ja Son calls "socialist commerce," borrowing a phrase attributed by state media to Kim Jong Il.

The displays boast what North Korea's newly modernized factories are producing, including perfume, rubber boots, silk blankets and hand towels printed with the words "peace" and "friendship." What the North Koreans aren't making themselves is coming in from China: cellphones, laptop computers, cars, Spalding basketballs, bicycles, pressure cookers, karaoke machines, ping pong sets, even Gucci knockoffs.

Business with China, North Korea's largest trading partner, has boomed in the last two years. In 2010, North Korea did $3.5 billion in trade with China, a 30 percent increase from the previous year. And for the first 11 months of 2011, that figure was up to $5.1 billion, a jump of nearly 70 percent from 2010, according to China's Commerce Ministry.

And it's not just Chinese-made goods on North Korean shelves. The Kwangbok shopping center is also introducing North Korean shoppers to popular American, European and Japanese items they've never seen before: Skippy peanut butter, Spanish olive oil and Snoopy, all shipped in from China.

The Kwangbok center was born when North Korea recruited China's Feihaimengxin International Trade Co. to partner with its Korea Taesong Trading Corp. to transform the old shop in the Kwangbok district of western Pyongyang into a gleaming supermarket. Feihaimengxin has a 65 percent stake in the supermarket, according to the Beijing-registered private company -- an unusual arrangement for North Korea, where most enterprises are state-owned and the ruling philosophy is "juche," or self-reliance.

But as the new consumerism is reshaping the face of the capital, it is also stretching an already huge gap between elites in Pyongyang, who have access to valuable foreign currency, and working-class people elsewhere, who have few ways to add to their low salaries.

At Kwangbok, a bottle of Great Wall red wine from China costs 81,000 North Korean won -- about 300 times the cost of a typical Korean meal. A jar of honey goes for 36,100 won, or about a third of the average monthly salary in 2010 of 103,000 won, according to estimates provided by the Bank of Korea in Seoul.

North Korea has not published economic figures for decades. The U.S. State Department puts

North Korea's annual gross domestic product at $1,800 per person, with 20 percent of the nation's income coming from agriculture and 48 percent from industry in 2010.
Even the way the relatively rich and the poor shop is different.

Most North Koreans rely on limited rations from government-subsidized stores in every neighborhood. They supplement their rations with goods from local markets, called "jangmadang," where they can bargain over prices.

In Pyongyang, middle-class shoppers buy items the old-fashioned Soviet way in dim, narrow shops: Customers line up to make their requests to a saleswoman behind a long counter, who then retrieves the items from a small selection on shelves behind her. No browsing, and not much choice even if you could.

Only the rich can afford to shop at the newfangled supermarkets, where customers choose from an array of goods and then take them to a cashier. At the Pothongmun Street meat and fish shop in central Pyongyang, the city's premier butcher and fishmonger, trained cashiers scan and tally up the items. Some even accept the two debit cards available in North Korea to foreigners and locals flush with euros, U.S. dollars or Chinese renminbi.

This Western style of shopping is still novel in North Korea, and two would-be shoppers looked perplexed by refrigerated display cases piled high with pyramids of canned whale meat and chubby rolls of kielbasa, and freezers on the floor stocked with quail meat, goose, chicken and even vacuum-packed pig snouts.

"Pick the items yourself and put them in the basket," a saleswoman in red gently advised them

The consumer drive mirrors one 50 years ago, when Kim Il Sung was rebuilding North Korea from the ruins of the Korean War. The communist bloc was still intact, and the people were focused on building their fledgling nation. By the 1970s, North Korea had the stronger economy of the two Koreas, before the famine and tension of the 1990s.

North Korea's new economic campaign seeks to draw on the people's memories of that time and their reverence for Kim Il Sung, as well as to create a foundation for the leadership of Kim Jong Un.

For three years, Kim Jong Il laid the groundwork for his son's ascension by ushering in a new, two-pronged focus on the economy along with defense, and made it clear that there was nothing wrong with reaching out to old allies like China. Kim made four extensive trips to China in the last two years of his life, and shopping was high on his sightseeing list.

In May 2010, he visited a supermarket in the Chinese city of Yangzhou run by Suguo Supermarket Co. "Well done!" store officials quoted him as saying in comments posted to the website of China Resource Vanguard Co., the Hong Kong-based company that owns the supermarket chain.

North Korea's welcome to Chinese commerce is felt not just in Pyongyang but also in the border towns. In Rason, in the far northeastern corner where North Korea, China and Russia meet, trucks haul in goods from China, thanks to a road paved with help from the Chinese. At an indoor market visited by The Associated Press last August, women stood behind tables piled high with shampoo, binoculars and high heels. One woman was selling rabbit meat, another live chickens.

Some analysts see the boom in Chinese trade as a political move motivated by Beijing's desire to ensure stability in neighboring North Korea and to buy clout in Pyongyang. However, others say it's pure economic strategy by Chinese companies expanding their reach across Asia.

For the North Koreans, the Chinese model offers a safe and sanctioned way to explore commerce within the confines of socialism.

"China is the conduit through which the North Korean economy is becoming more internationalized," said Andray Abrahamian, executive director of the Choson Exchange, a Singapore-based nonprofit group that since 2009 has conducted workshops on business and economic policy for North Koreans.

There's a newfound thirst among North Koreans to learn about business management and financial policy, and a noticeable openness to all things foreign, said Abrahamian, who has traveled to North Korea several times over the past two years. He said younger North Koreans see business as a way to get ahead -- a distinct change from a few years ago, and not just in Pyongyang.

"People in Rason say the attitude in that region toward foreigners has improved remarkably in the last few years as people get comfortable with the idea of trading with foreigners," he said.
Still, the traditional wariness kicks in. During his visit to a market in Rason, officials warned him not to take photos.

Back in Pyongyang, the Kwangbok supermarket is bustling. Shoppers navigate carts up and down aisles packed with 20 types of toothbrushes, a dozen varieties of beers, red carry-on suitcases and rows of black bicycles. In the produce aisle, most of the fruit and vegetables are already sold out.

Salesgirls in fire-engine red jackets deftly ring up shoppers' items and count out their change. One lane is reserved for foreigners, who are allowed to change their money into North Korean won to pay for their goods.

Kim Myong Sim, 32, said she couldn't help but think of late leader Kim Jong Il while shopping at Kwangbok, the place where he last appeared in public. Like most North Koreans, she weaves an obligatory comment about the leader into what she says, even as she chastises her nephew squirming next to the cart.

"You're getting a lot of love and buying a lot of tasty goodies, Yong Gu,"' she admonished, trying to wrest a cellphone from his mittened hands. "You've got to say 'thank you' to your aunt before you run off. You've got to give thanks to the fatherly general (Kim Jong Il) as well."

Outside the store, ornate red and gold plaques commemorate the Dec. 15 visit of Kim Jong Il and his son Kim Jong Un. High above the plaques, the Korean name of the store is written in red.
Beneath it, the Chinese name is written in green.

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Obama pledges continued pressure on Assad as regime pounds rebel-held areas in central Syria

WASHINGTON – ?President Bashar Assad's forces pounded rebel-held areas in central Syria on Friday, killing at least 22 people, activists said. More than 60 nations meeting in Tunisia asked the United Nations to start planning for a civilian peacekeeping mission that would deploy after the Syrian regime halts its crackdown.

As government troops relentlessly shelled rebel-held neighborhoods in the besieged city of Homs, thousands of people in dozens of towns staged anti-regime protests under the slogan: "We will revolt for your sake, Baba Amr," referring to the Homs neighborhood that has become the center of the Syrian revolt. Activists said at least 50 people were killed nationwide.

In Tunisia, the U.S., European and Arab nations asked the U.N. to start drafting plans for a civilian peacekeeping mission that would deploy after the Damascus regime halts the brutal crackdown.

Still unwilling to commit to military intervention to end the bloodshed, the group offered nothing other than the threat of increasing isolation and sanctions to compel compliance from Assad, who has ignored similar demands.

In Washington, President Barack Obama said the U.S. and its allies would consider "every tool available" to stop the slaughter of innocent people in Syria. He did not give specifics about what that might entail.

"It is time for that regime to move on. And it is time to stop the killing of Syrian citizens by their own government," he said.

On Thursday, former U.N. secretary-general Kofi Annan was appointed the joint United Nations-Arab League envoy on the Syrian crisis.

Annan said in a statement Friday that he would try to "help bring an end to the violence and human rights abuses, and promote a peaceful solution" in Syria. He expressed hope that the Syrian government and opposition groups will cooperate with him in his efforts.

The Tunisia meeting is the latest international effort to end the crisis, which began when protesters inspired by uprisings sweeping across the Arab world took the streets in some of Syria's impoverished provinces nearly a year ago to call for political change.

Assad's security forces have responded with a fierce crackdown, and blame the violence on Islamic extremists and armed gangs. In recent months, the situation has grown increasingly militarized as opposition forces, boosted by army defectors, have increasingly taken up arms against the regime.

The U.N. estimated in January that 5,400 people were killed in the conflict in 2011. Hundreds more have died since. Syrian activists say the death toll is more than 7,300. Overall figures cannot be independently confirmed because Syria has prevented most media from operating inside the country.

On Thursday, U.N.-appointed investigators in Geneva said they had compiled a list of Syrian officials accused of crimes against humanity in the crackdown. The list reaches as high as Assad.

While the U.S., EU and Arab League have ratcheted up the pressure on Assad, Russia and China have opposed foreign intervention or sanctions against Syria.

Alexei Pushkov, a Russian lawmaker, said Friday that in his recent meeting with Assad the Syrian president sounded confident and showed no sign he would he step aside. Pushkov warned that arming the Syrian opposition would fuel civil war.

"Assad doesn't look like a person ready to leave, because, among other things, there is no reason for him to do that as he is being supported by broad layers of the population," Pushkov said, according to the RIA-Novosti news agency.

Syrians demonstrating Friday condemned the positions of Russia, China and Iran -- countries whose governments have stood by the Assad regime.

"Iranian and Russian bullets are tearing apart our bodies," read a large banner unfurled in the town of Tibet el-Imam just north of the central city of Hama.

But in a move highlighting Assad's deepening isolation, the Hamas prime minister of Gaza voiced support for Syrian protesters seeking to overthrow his regime. It was the first time that a senior Hamas figure has publicly backed the uprising and rebuked the Syrian regime.

"We commend the brave Syrian people that are moving toward democracy and reform," Ismail Haniyeh told congregants after Friday prayers in Egypt's Al-Azhar Mosque, the country's pre-eminent Islamic institution.

Assad has long hosted and supported leaders of the Hamas movement, which rules Gaza, but the group has significantly reduced the presence of its exiled leaders in Syria in the wake of protests.

Four people died Friday in the renewed shelling of the Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs, activists said, the latest of hundreds killed there in recent weeks. The neighborhood has been under siege and intense shelling for three weeks.

A Red Cross spokesman said the group has evacuated seven people from Baba Amr to a hospital elsewhere in the city. Hicham Hassan said he did not know whether those evacuated included two foreign journalists who were wounded earlier this week.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four others were killed in Homs' rebel-held neighborhood of Khaldiyeh while 14 were killed in shelling of the central Qarabeen neighborhood.

Amateur videos posted on the Internet by activists showed black smoke rising from residential areas of Baba Amr and debris littering its slum-like apartment blocks. Parts of Homs, Syria's third-largest city, have been under a fierce government attack for nearly three weeks.

The Observatory said troops were also attempting to storm Rastan, a besieged rebel-held town just north of Homs. He said the town was being shelled and reported heavy clashes between troops and army defectors who destroyed two armored personnel carriers.

The Observatory said 50 civilians were killed throughout Syria on Friday, including a father and his three sons in the central village of Kfar Alton in the province of Hama that came under intense government troops shelling.

The Local Coordination Committees activist network said 97 people were killed by security forces across Syria Friday, but the number could not be immediately confirmed by others.

In the northwestern town of Kfar Takharim, APTN video showed activists and youths demonstrating in the streets and chanting anti-Assad slogans.

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Volunteers save cities billions, but unions cry foul

With budgets tighter than ever, cities across America are increasingly looking for more free labor. Nowhere is that trend more evident than Yakima, Wash.

“More and more every year, a large part of what we do is volunteers,” says Archie Matthews, Yakima’s director of neighborhood development services, “It saves us a ton of money.”

Matthews says begging for volunteers is not beneath him. And to his surprise, he usually gets them. Once signed up, they do a variety of tasks, including construction work for low-income housing, painting over gang graffiti and keeping senior centers from having to close their doors.

Mary Lizotte, 74, volunteers eight hours a week at a senior center, where the paid staff has been trimmed to just three employees.?

“We’ve been faced with cuts in the budget and threatened to be closed down a couple of days a week,” Lizotte said. “It’s not only good for them, it’s good for us volunteers.” The center is able to stay open seven days a week with volunteers doing everything from clerical work to preparing and serving the food.

According to a Volunteering in America study, last year 63 million Americans volunteered more than eight billion hours. When you calculate average wages and benefits for city employees, local governments saved $173 billion.

In many places churches are leading the way. “We’re at a time when, as citizens we need to be giving ourselves away freely to serve our communities,” says Dave Edler, pastor at Yakima’s Foursquare Church which held a park cleanup with several hundred volunteers recently.

But not everyone is thrilled about the civic spirit. Some unions are pushing back, fearing volunteers are cutting into their territory. “They’re eroding the number of hours for our people,” says Ian Gordon of Laborer’s Union 1239 in Seattle. “It’s of great concern that they might be doing further work that we would normally do.”

Gordon’s union represent 900 city employees, nearly half of them maintenance workers in the Parks Department, which cut staff by 14 percent. He’s met with city officials over the volunteer issue and insisted on a significant roadblock. Volunteers are not allowed to drive work trucks or use power equipment of any kind. No lawnmowers, no weed whackers, no leaf blowers.

Len Gilroy of the Reason Institute says it’s about protecting their turf. “Unions see a threat to jobs and lavish benefits that they’ve secured for their employees,” says Gilroy.

Ian Gordon won’t dispute that. “I need to be concerned about our people, who have lives, families and who need to make a living wage,” says Gordon.

Some unions don’t have a problem. The Police Guild in Redlands, Calif., has welcomed a big spike in volunteer cops even after 21 paid officers were laid off. The city now has nearly four times as many volunteer officers as full-time, paid cops. Many of the volunteers do everything their paid counterparts do, from chasing down suspects to making arrests. “It’s essential for us,” says Redlands Police Chief Mark Garcia, “especially in tough financial times.”

City officials admit there is a balancing act. They want to keep city services going in the wake of cutbacks. The only way to do that is with volunteers. The trick, they say, is to tap into a growing pool of free labor without angering their organized labor.

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Feds probing missing South Carolina exec focus on up to $900G in missing funds

Federal authorities probing the disappearance of a South Carolina restaurant industry lobbyist say as much as $900,000 may be missing from the association he headed, the State newspaper reported Friday.

Tom Sponseller, president and CEO of the South Carolina Hospitality Association, was last seen Saturday at his office in Columbia. Law enforcement officials told the newspaper that Sponseller's accounting director, Rachel Duncan, 41, is a person of interest in the missing money investigation, though she has not been charged in the case.

Authorities told the newspaper more than $100,000 and possibly up to $900,000 is missing from the association's accounts.

A spokeswoman for the Columbia Police Department declined to comment on the report. The FBI in Columbia, S.C., also refused comment, and would not confirm or deny its involvement in the case.

Court records show Duncan, who handled the association's financial accounts, is currently being foreclosed on. She also filed for bankruptcy in 1998 and has been charged three times with submitting fraudulent checks, though she does not appear to have served any prison time.

Duncan had no comment Friday when approached by Fox News outside her home in Lexington.

Bob McAlister, a spokesman for the association, would not comment on the reported allegations against Duncan or the investigation into Sponseller's whereabouts, referring all inquiries on the matter to law enforcement.?

"He’s a very dignified man," McAlister said of Sponseller. "He carried tremendous respect at the statehouse. He's a man that everybody trusted."

"It’s rare that your see the entire political establishment in South Carolina come together for much of anything, but everybody shares deep concern for Tom and his family," he said.?

Sponseller's disappearance has baffled investigators and spawned a prayer vigil that drew hundreds.?

"Since we don't know his whereabouts, we cannot rule out foul play at this time," Columbia police spokeswoman Jennifer Timmons told FoxNews.com Wednesday. ?

Sponseller, 61, was reported missing on Saturday night by his wife after friends and family tried repeatedly to contact him by phone.?

He was last seen by co-workers at around noon at his office in downtown Columbia. His car was found parked in a garage near the office and no signs of a struggle were evident.

A family friend who answered the door at Sponseller's home Friday said she does not believe the money investigation is related to his disappearance.

"She [Duncan] is in big trouble," the woman said, "But I don’t think it has anything to do with Tom."

"He is a straight up guy and he is probably the one that reported it missing," she said.

Sponseller is a Citadel graduate and a former Air Force officer, according to his biography on the South Carolina Hospitality Association's website.

He has been lobbying for the state's hospitality and tourism industry for more than 20 years. He is married and has three adult children, all of whom have worked in the hospitality industry, according to the bio.

Anyone with information is urged to call Midlands Crime Stoppers at (888) CRIME-SC of the Columbia Police Department at (803) 545-3500.

Fox News' Cristina Corbin and Mary Quinn O'Connor contributed to this report.

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Nearly 2 dozen states consider plans to drug test welfare recipients as issue arises in GOP campaign

CHEYENNE, Wyo. – ?Conservatives who say welfare recipients should have to pass a drug test to receive government assistance have momentum on their side.

The issue has come up in the Republican presidential campaign, with front-runner Mitt Romney saying it's an "excellent idea."

Nearly two dozen states are considering plans this session that would make drug testing mandatory for welfare recipients, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. And Wyoming lawmakers advanced such a proposal this week.

Driving the measures is a perception that people on public assistance are misusing the funds and that cutting off their benefits would save money for tight state budgets -- even as statistics have largely proved both notions untrue.

"The idea, from Joe Taxpayer is, `I don't mind helping you out, but you need to show that you're looking for work, or better yet that you're employed, and that you're drug and alcohol free,"' said Wyoming Republican House Speaker Ed Buchanan on Friday.

Supporters are pushing the measures despite warnings from opponents that courts have struck down similar programs, ruling that the plans amount to an unconstitutional to search of people who have done nothing more than seek help.

"This legislation assumes suspicion on this group of people. It assumes that they're drug abusers," said Wyoming Democratic Rep. Patrick Goggles during a heated debate on the measure late Thursday.

The proposals aren't new, according to the NCSL. About three dozen states have taken up such measures over the years.

But as lawmakers seek new ways to fight off the effect of the recession on state budgets and Republican politics dominate the national discussion as the party seeks a presidential nominee, the idea has sparked political debates across the nation.

This year conservative lawmakers in 23 states from Wyoming to Mississippi -- where lawmakers want random screening to include nicotine tests -- are moving forward with proposals of their own.

Romney, in an interview this month in Georgia, supported the idea. "People who are receiving welfare benefits, government benefits, we should make sure they're not using those benefits to pay for drugs," Romney said to WXIA-TV in Atlanta.

Newt Gingrich addressed the topic with Yahoo News in November, saying he considered testing as a way to curb drug use and lower related costs to public programs.

"It could be through testing before you get any kind of federal aid -- unemployment compensation, food stamps, you name it," he said.

In Idaho, budget analysts last year concluded that such a program would cost more money than it would save, prompting lawmakers to ditch the idea.

Also, recent federal statistics indicate that welfare recipients are no more likely to abuse drugs than the general population.

Data show that about 8 percent of the population uses drugs. And before a random drug testing program in Michigan was put on hold by a court challenge, about 8 percent of its public assistance applicants tested positive.

In years past such legal challenges had a chilling effect on state legislatures, but that seems to have thawed.

Michigan's program was halted after five weeks in 1999, eventually ending with an appeals court ruling that it was unconstitutional.

For more than a decade, no other state moved to implement such a law.

"The biggest piece that has held up action now and in the past are the constitutional questions," said Rochelle Finzel, the Children and Families Program manager at the NCSL.

But Florida last year passed legislation that was eventually halted by a federal court ruling that cited constitutional concerns.

Finzel said some states are trying to avoid court challenges by requiring drug tests only in cases where there's reasonable cause to believe there's substance abuse, instead of requiring everyone to take a test.

Missouri took that approach in passing a law last year that hasn't gotten tied up in court, but which has touched off an attempt at political one-upsmanship from a statehouse Republican who introduced a bill this month that would require his colleagues at the state Capitol to take and pass the same test.

In Wyoming, the Republican-controlled state House handily approved a welfare drug-testing bill after a fiery debate Thursday. The plan sailed through a second vote Friday and needs only one more reading before heading to the solidly-conservative state Senate, where a key leader supports the concept.

In Colorado, a testing plan is expect to fail because Democrats who oppose it control the state Senate -- but Republicans have succeeded in starting a conversation on the issue.

"If you can afford to buy drugs, and use drugs, you don't need" welfare, said Republican Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, who is sponsoring a bill this session.

Sonnenberg said his bill also seeks to help drug users get clean because applicants must complete rehab to qualify for government aid again.

Sonnenberg's critics said the idea feeds off the negative -- and unsubstantiated -- stereotype that low-income communities are more likely to use drugs. Sonnenberg said he's not picking on any group, and pointed out that the legislation would likely have a narrow effect.

"The five percent, or the four percent, or whatever that percentage is that is on drugs, will have a choice to make. They will either do what they can to get clean, or not have their (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) funds," he said.

In Wyoming, Republican Rep. Frank Peasley, a co-sponsor of the testing bill, said the measure is an effort to rein in a welfare system run amok.

"We are going broke," he said,

But Linda Burt, director of the ACLU in Wyoming, said this week it's possible her group would challenge the testing program if it's adopted in Wyoming.

"We challenged it in Michigan. We challenged it in Florida. Both of those cases found that singling out this particular group of people for drug testing was unconstitutional with absolutely no cause."

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Does White House deserve credit for increase in domestic oil production? Some analysts say no

By Jim Angle

Published February 24, 2012

| FoxNews.com

The president and the White House haven't been shy about claiming credit for doing everything possible to keep gasoline prices low.

As White House spokesman Jay Carney said this week "Oil and gas production in the United States has risen every year since the president's been in office. Oil production is now higher than it's been in eight years."

Industry analysts say production is rising -- not because of President Obama, but in spite of him.

"Today on federal land, the area where the president has control, production in the Gulf of Mexico is down 30 percent. Lease sales in Rocky Mountains on federal lands are down 70 percent," Jack Gerard, head of the American Petroleum Institute said.?

He says the president has put 85 percent of the outer continental shelf off limits and overall, is only making 3 percent of the areas under his control available for development.

Numbers from think tanks and the federal Energy Information Administration confirm those numbers.

Nevertheless, steadily rising gas prices are a political liability. That's why the president now takes credit for the results of policies he ran against in 2008. One ad lambasted McCain by tying him to the Bush energy policies, saying "McCain and Bush support a drilling plan that won't produce a drop of oil for seven years."

The president initially wanted to drive up oil prices to make renewable energy more attractive.

His cap and trade plan was too harsh even for Democratic allies and failed. Nevertheless, Obama still seems to deny that drilling would reduce prices.

"You know there are no quick fixes to this problem, and you know we can't just drill our way to lower gas prices," he said at a speech in Florida this week.

Exploration and development do take years. But analysts argue the administration can't now take credit for decisions about drilling made years ago by President Bush and his predecessors.

"That production is a direct result of leases issued before this administration and as result of development on private and state lands," Gerard said.

On private lands, oil production is booming. In North Dakota, the oil and gas are on private or state land and beyond the president's control.

The state has gone from producing a small amount of oil to some 450,000 barrels a day.

Unemployment is 3.3 percent, the lowest in the country. And the state has a budget surplus in the billions.

Gerard thinks North Dakota isn't the only place. He says if the President would unleash the energy industry, the US and Canada have so much oil and gas that, along with renewables, we could become energy independent.

"We could be energy self sufficient right here in North America in 12 years, but that takes political courage," he said.?

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and others are now talking about releasing oil from the strategic petroleum reserve.

Gerard says it at least shows the administration recognizes that supply affects prices. But he argues we have a bigger reserve right under our feet-- if we'd only develop it.

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Massachusetts off-duty sergeant shoots officer, then kills self, district attorney says

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U.S. HOME Crime Economy Immigration Disasters National Interest Terror Military Religion Education Crime & Courts - US Massachusetts off-duty sergeant shoots officer, then kills self, district attorney says

Published February 25, 2012

| FoxNews.com

Print Email Share Comments Recommend Tweet AP/Massachusetts State Police

This photo provided by the Massachusetts State Police shows Hamilton police Sgt. Kenneth Nagy.

BEVERLY, Mass. – ?A Massachusetts district attorney says an off-duty sergeant shot a police officer from a nearby town, then returned to the scene and killed himself as authorities closed in.

Beverly Police were called before 6 p.m. on Friday after reports of a person being shot. When they arrived, they found off-duty Beverly Police Officer Jason Lantych suffering from serious injuries outside of Starbucks.

In a Friday night press conference, Essex District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett alleged that Hamilton Police Sergeant Ken Nagy shot off-duty Beverly officer Jason Lantych and then fled the scene.?

Lantych underwent surgery on Friday night. His condition is unknown.

Nagy and Lantych knew each other, but the motive for the shooting is unclear, the district attorney's office said. Beverly and Hamilton are towns about 5 miles apart in northeastern Massachusetts.

Nagy was promoted to sergeant last summer after 19 years of service, according to a July 3 story from the Hamilton-Wenham Chronicle. His wife, Katie, smiled as she pinned a badge on Nagy's uniform, and their two young sons clapped, the newspaper reported.

Beverly and Hamilton are about 5 miles from each other in northeastern Massachusetts.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

To read more on this story, see the myFOXboston.com article here.

Hamilton Police sergeant accused of shooting Beverly Police officer: MyFoxBOSTON.com

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Red carpet photographers mulling photo ban on Charlize Theron; it wouldn't be their first

We’re used to seeing celebrities flip off paparazzi in the street. But did you know that red carpet photographers have no problem turning the tables?

That's right. Sometimes celebrity photographers, sick of a star's behavior, will refuse to take their photo. We're talking 20 or 30 photographers at a red carpet event putting their cameras down, en masse, when a certain celeb starts to pose.

Talk about embarrassing!

So who’s the latest star creeping towards photographers' "no flash" list?

“Charlize Theron. She doesn’t like to stop for us or even smile,” veteran Hollywood photographer James Smeal told us. “I even said congratulations when she was nominated for a Golden Globe, and she totally ignores you. That’s the worst.”

Other red carpet photographers concur that Theron is on a short leash.?

“Charlize is the newest talk around the line because she is typically rushed if she even stops at all… But it really doesn’t take that much to keep us happy,” one insisted. “I don’t know if it’s just that major celebs are so pressed for time, if it’s their publicists that instigate the line rushing, if they really don’t like doing it, or if they don’t understand we are not street paparazzi."

The shutterbug wants celebs to know there is a big difference.

"We are photo journalists that cover entertainment. I know that if I ever became famous enough to warrant attention from press photographers, that it is just part of the job," the photographed said. "You can’t enter into the entertainment spotlight and not expect to get attention from the press, whether it is a photographer or reporter.”

A rep for Theron did not respond to a request for comment.

So how is a celeb ban orchestrated? Photographers share their frustrations with each other on a daily basis, and when frustrations reach a boiling point, one or two of the photogs lead the way by drafting up a letter (or these days, an email) which is circulated among the others. They all then decide on the best event to start, and then the photographs stop. ?

However, photogs do on occasion issue warning signs before going full-throttle with a ban.

“Before the extreme of a boycott, we boo them,” one photographer explained.?

This shutterbug wants to make clear how much work and care they put into their jobs.

“We are cleared and given permission to do the carpet. We get there hours and hours before and we’re told in advance who is supposed to turn up," the shoot said. "The paparazzi industry has made us look bad and it’s not right. We are shooting for legitimate agencies. We don’t want to be disrespected; surely a smile for a few moments isn’t that hard.”

But Theron is hardly the first to draw celeb snappers' ire.

After the death of Princess Diana in 1997, George Clooney – who already had beef with paparazzi over their relentless pursuits – scolded photographers and tabloids for their actions, and the red carpet snappers took it as a personal attack. In response, they all agreed to not photograph Clooney at both the New York and Los Angeles premieres of the first big DreamWorks film, “The Peacemaker.”?

“It was a ripple effect; we made it clear we were really upset. A couple of us drafted a letter and gave it to his publicist,” Smeal continued. “Finally George came up to us, apologized that things were taken the wrong way and said he was going to make a statement. He then went up to all the video crews and said that things should have been worded differently, he apologized. He set the record straight, and to this day he has been great.”

Sylvester Stallone also caused an uproar after reportedly calling the photographers “legalized stalkers.” At the opening of a new Planet Hollywood in Rome in 1997, shooters in attendance refused to photograph him. Then at the Emmys that same year, “The Nanny” star Fran Drescher found herself flash-free, having reportedly whined about the photographers in the weeks prior. Drescher reportedly retaliated by "walking briskly down the red carpet.” At the time, she declined to comment on the incident.?

Sharon Stone also had her photo-free days. Smeal recalled that it all went down around the time that the 1995 hit “Casino” came out and she wasn’t paying attention to the red carpet snappers, the ones who watched her rise to fame. The result? He said they snubbed her at three separate events.

“Her publicist at the time couldn’t understand why we weren’t shooting her, so we explained. It happened a few times until she finally got the message,” Smeal said. “The same thing happened with Jennifer Lopez around the same time that ‘Selena’ (1997) came out. She hardly posed and we were furious.”

Reps for Stone and Lopez did not respond to a request for comment.

After Clooney made amends, others apparently followed suit and made nice. Several of the snappers we talked to now claim that Stone, Clooney and Lopez are now among the nicest and easiest to photograph.

“George is like this God in Hollywood, even back in 1997. Everyone looks to George and followed his cue,” Smeal explained.

One New York-based photographer says Theron and many others simply don’t respond well to the boisterous yelling and screaming (“Over here! Look at me! This way!”) and the overall red carpet chaos.

“Ask her (Charlize) nicely and calmly, and I have never had a problem. She just doesn’t like rudeness,” the photog explained. “Renee Zellweger is another who likes things quiet and calm, so we all hush when she comes. They will all give you your shot if you just don’t yell at them.”

But others prefer that sourpuss stars don’t bother wasting their time at all.

“I would just rather that if they don’t want to be photographed than don’t step onto the carpet,” another said simply. “It is rude to come onto a red carpet where the purpose is to pose for photos and talk to reporters and then just blow past everyone.”

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US bulks up Iran defenses

Published February 24, 2012

| The Wall Street Journal

The Pentagon is beefing up U.S. sea- and land-based defenses in the Persian Gulf to counter any attempt by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz.

The U.S. military has notified Congress of plans to preposition new mine-detection and clearing equipment and expand surveillance capabilities in and around the strait, according to defense officials briefed on the requests, including one submitted earlier this month.

The military also wants to quickly modify weapons systems on ships so they could be used against Iranian fast-attack boats, as well as shore-launched cruise missiles, the defense officials said.

The readiness push is spearheaded by the military's Central Command, which oversees U.S. forces in the Gulf region, these officials said. It shows the extent to which war planners are taking tangible steps to prepare for a possible conflict with Iran, even as top White House and defense leaders try to tamp down talk of war and emphasize other options.

The changes put a spotlight on what officials have singled out as potential U.S. shortcomings in the event of conflict with Iran. The head of Central Command, Marine Gen. James Mattis, asked for the equipment upgrades after reviews by war planners last spring and fall exposed "gaps" in U.S. defense capabilities and military preparedness should Tehran close the Strait of Hormuz, officials said.

The Central Command reviews, in particular, have fueled concerns about the U.S. military's ability to respond swiftly should Iran mine the strait, through which nearly 20% of the world's traded oil passes.

"When the enemy shows more signs of capability, we ask what we can do to checkmate it," a U.S. military officer said. "They ought to know we take steps to make sure we are ready."

Click here to read more from The Wall Street Journal.

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Is the Church ready for an American pope?

In just a decade, Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York City, has risen from a local bishop to becoming a prince of the Catholic Church. He returned from Rome after receiving his cardinal's red hat and ring, like a rock star; a bevy of cameras and lights in tow.

Worldwide buzz around the newly minted Cardinal Dolan is that with his popularity, political savvy, and passion for the church, the question is being raised as to whether he could be the first American pope.

And it's more than just wishful thinking.

"There is something qualitatively different about the speculation surrounding Cardinal Dolan in New York right now," John Allen, senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, said.

Dolan, the shepherd of New York's nearly three million Catholics, was coy when a journalist in Rome posed the question, answering only "Um, non parlo inglese," meaning, "I don't speak English"

And again on his home turf, he was equally evasive, pointing to his ears and claiming the jet lag was still affecting his hearing.

Predicting who the next pope is never a sure bet. In 1978 no one saw a Polish pope, Karol Woytyla, who became John Paul II. And in 2005, many thought Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, now Benedict VXI, was too old, too European and too controversial.

Papal politics, says Allen, is not like the Iowa caucuses, candidates don't declare themselves, you don't have yard signs and bumper stickers. The cardinals choose the pope's successor in secret conclave at the Vatican, after the death of a sitting pope.

Americans, though, have always been considered long shots. Conventional wisdom holds that the nation's super power status runs counter to the Church's outreach mission. And, Dolan himself lacks a mastery of foreign languages, useful skills that other popes possessed as head of a global church.

Still, the possibility of an American as the next Bishop of Rome has never been so strong Allen, whose latest book, "A People of Hope", is a lengthy interview with then Archbishop Dolan, says,

"With Timothy Dolan there is some of the JP II magic (Pope John Paul II). This guy is a rock star in any room he walks into. He exudes charisma, it's almost as if its charisma on steroids. At a time when the Catholic Church is suffering from an image problem I think a lot of people see in Dolan someone who can put a positive face and voice on the Catholic message."

Right now the message has turned political as the nation's bishops, headed by Dolan, are embroiled in a high stakes showdown with the Obama administration over the contraceptive mandate in the Affordable Health Care Act. Allen concedes that if the bishops fail and lose this fight it might dim Dolan's star. But, the perception is that Dolan has rung Obama's bell, and the president is paying attention. As cardinal of the most prominent pulpit in America, Dolan has the platform to wield a powerful political punch.

In the end though, the next pope will only ostensibly be chosen by the cardinals. The faithful believe that ultimately God will raise up the man who is best fit for the task.

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Taylor Swift invites New Jersey teen with cancer to award show

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Entertainment Home Celebrity Gossip Movies Style & Beauty TV Music FOX411 Blog Entertainment Taylor Swift invites New Jersey teen with cancer to award show

Published February 25, 2012

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SOMERDALE, N.J. – ?Country-pop star Taylor Swift said Friday she won't be able to accept a prom invitation from Kevin McGuire, a New Jersey teen undergoing treatment for leukemia, but offered to take him to an awards show instead

The 22-year-old singing star was apologetic, but in a post on her Facebook page said, "I'm so sorry but I won't be able to make it to your prom. But I was wondering, the ACM [Academy of Country Music ] Awards are coming up. Would you be my date?"

McGuire's sister, Victoria, had launched a Facebook petition earlier this week to get her 18-year-old brother a date with Swift for his June 1 prom at Sterling High School in Somerdale, N.J.

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"Nothing, and I mean NOTHING brightens Kevin's day more than Taylor Swift. Kevin DESERVES more than anyone a special event in his life," his sister wrote on the event's page, amassing more than 90,000 fans.

"The one thing he wants is to GO TO PROM WITH TAYLOR SWIFT! Let's make this happen people! TAYLOR PLEASE GO TO PROM WITH KEVIN!!!!!!" she added.

McGuire is currently being treated for a relapse of leukemia, which he was diagnosed with five years ago, at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

The Academy of Country Music awards show will be held April 1 in Las Vegas. Swift has been nominated for three awards including Entertainer of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year.
McGuire has yet to respond to the counteroffer from the "You Belong With Me" crooner.

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