Melbourne supermodel Kate Upton's sexy Super Bowl ad cleans up online

Kate Upton stuns in a 'leaked' Super Bowl commerci...: Kate Upton says nothing and still stuns in this apparently "leaked" Mercedes-Benz Super Bowl commercial.

In this image released by Sports Illustrated on Monday, Feb. 13, 2012, model Kate Upton is shown in a photo from the "Sports Illustrated 2012 Swimsuit Issue."

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File photo shows Kate Upton at the Daytona 500 in February, 2012. Social media sites are buzzing after a Super Bowl commercial featuring the 20-year-old graduate of Holy Trinity in Melbourne was previewed online Tuesday by Mercedes-Benz USA. / File photo

Yes, supermodel Kate Upton can stop traffic. Apparently, she can raise traffic, too.
Social media sites are buzzing after a Super Bowl commercial featuring the 20-year-old graduate of Holy Trinity in Melbourne was previewed online Tuesday by Mercedes-Benz USA.
The 1-minute and 35-second video -- titled “Kate Upton Washes the All-New Mercedes-Benz CLA in Slow Motion” -- features the Victoria’s Secret model in a simple black spaghetti-strapped tank top and cutoff jean shorts. The camera pans up at the leggy blonde in slow motion; she delivers a sultry stare and blows soap bubbles - it’s a car washing commercial, after all.
The video is generating thousands of Facebook likes, hundreds of comments and shares. Tweeters on Twitter are offering their two cents with hashtags like #kateupton #mercedes #superbowl and #jawdropping. The video has been viewed more than 3.1 million times on the Mercedes-Benz USA channel, and a search on YouTube for “kate upton mercedes commercial” results in more than 43,500 views on ENTV’s (Entertainment Television’s) channel.
The GQ magazine cover girl shared the commercial link on her Facebook page on Tuesday as well. The result? More than 205 shares, 1,818 likes and 115 comments. The posting was part of a “Two for Tuesday” special, a nod to her calendar-like website, www.dailykateupton.com, which features dozens of photos and videos of the model strutting her stuff and striking a pose.
Those at Mercedes-Benz of Melbourne hope the car/Kate Upton commercial generates some buzz about the luxury cars, too. We called the local dealership on Thursday, and while an employee there knew who Kate Upton was, she hadn’t heard about the commercial.
With more than 365,000 Facebook fans, anything the supermodel posts gets anywhere from 400 to 2,000 likes and at least half a dozen shares. She’s social media gold.
The commercial will air during the Super Bowl on Feb. 3.
SPOILER ALERT: She doesn’t actually wash the Mercedes, but a team of ogling football players end up doing the dirty work. Not that they mind.
Source: http://www.floridatoday.com

Coachella 2013 to Feature Phoenix, Skrillex and Wu Tang Clan Reunion

Getty Images

Skrillex performs on June 20, 2012 in New York City.

Blur, the Stone Roses, Phoenix and Red Hot Chili Peppers will headline the annual three-day Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival to be held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, on consecutive weekends, April 12 through 14 and April 19 through 21.
The announcement of the bill, made late last night, thus ends rumors of appearances by David Bowie, Daft Punk, the Rolling Stones, the Smiths and the Who.  As it has in recent years, Coachella continues to veer away from boomer-era acts:  Lou Reed is the rare artist on the bill whose career began in the ‘60s.  Also, there are few hip-hop acts scheduled to appear, though the reunions of the Wu Tang Clan and Jurassic 5 promise to be highlights of the desert festival.   Electronic dance music acts include Benny Benassi, Wolfgang Gartner, Richie Hawtin, Infected Mushroom, Fedde Le Grand, Moby, Paul Oakenfold, Pretty Lights, Roni Size, and Skrillex and Boys Noize’s Dog Blood.
Coachella has long favored reuniting British bands, and this year the Stones Roses, who ended a 15-year hiatus in late ’11, and Blur, who haven’t released an album of new music in 10 years, will share the opening-night headliner slot.  The festival also will feature relatively rare appearances by Modest Mouse and Violent Femmes, and the reunion of Ben Gibbard and Jimmy Tamborello’s the Postal Service.  Nick Cave will appear twice – on Friday nights with Grinderman and on Sundays with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – as will Jamie xx, who’ll perform with the xx and spin a DJ set.
General-admission tickets, priced beginning at $349, are on sale on Tuesday, January 29, at 10 a.m. PST.   To see the full lineup and for information on purchasing tickets, visit www.coachella.com.
Source: http://blogs.wsj.com

Disney confirms J.J. Abrams to direct next 'Star Wars'

After speculation leaked out of Hollywood yesterday, it's official: One man will be in charge of both 'Star Trek' and 'Star Wars' at the same time.

Disney said J.J. Abrams will direct the next 'Star Wars' film.

(Credit: Lucasfilm)

Disney and Lucasfilm confirmed this evening that 'Star Trek' director J.J. Abrams will direct the next 'Star Wars' film, expected to be released in 2015.
The news is not unexpected. Yesterday, word leaked out that Abrams was the likely choice, setting off a flurry of discussion online about the same director being in charge of both the "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" franchises at the same time. But tonight, the news was officially announced.

After a bevy of emails and phone calls, the formalities have been wrapped up, and at long last everyone can exhale and properly share the word with an excited Internet. Yes, J.J. Abrams will direct Star Wars: Episode VII, the first of a new series of Star Wars films to come from Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy. Abrams will be directing and Academy Award-winning writer Michael Arndt will write the screenplay. "It's very exciting to have J.J. aboard leading the charge as we set off to make a new Star Wars movie," said Kennedy. "J.J. is the perfect director to helm this. Beyond having such great instincts as a filmmaker, he has an intuitive understanding of this franchise. He understands the essence of the Star Wars experience, and will bring that talent to create an unforgettable motion picture."
George Lucas went on to say "I've consistently been impressed with J.J. as a filmmaker and storyteller. He's an ideal choice to direct the new Star Wars film and the legacy couldn't be in better hands."
"To be a part of the next chapter of the Star Wars saga, to collaborate with Kathy Kennedy and this remarkable group of people, is an absolute honor," J.J. Abrams said. "I may be even more grateful to George Lucas now than I was as a kid."

Source: http://news.cnet.com

Business news briefs: Citizens Bank website users report login issues

Citizens Bank website users report login issues

Customers of Citizens Bank were having intermittent problems accessing their online and mobile banking accounts Thursday and Friday following a denial of service attack, according to the bank's Facebook page. Such attacks, which have been hitting big U.S. banks more frequently in recent months, work by flooding websites with communications requests. "We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience," the bank reported, adding that no customer accounts had been compromised. Customers were asked to call 1-800-922-9999 for help or to visit a branch or ATM.

Dec. new-home sales down from Nov. rate

The Commerce Department said Friday that new-home sales fell 7.3 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 369,000. That's down from November's rate of 398,000, which was the fastest in 2 1/2 years. For the year, sales rose nearly 20 percent to 367,000. That's the most since 2009. Sales are still below the 700,000 level that economists consider healthy.

Hasbro says Q4 revenue weak, planning cuts

Toy maker Hasbro said Friday that its fourth-quarter revenue failed to meet expectations because of weaker-than-expected demand over the holidays. It plans to cut about 10 percent of its workforce, or about 550 people, and consolidate facilities to reduce expenses. The company will report its fourth-quarter and full-year financial results Feb. 7.

France OKs word for hashtag

The French government is redefining "hashtag" with a Gallic touch. The country that has an academy devoted solely to the use of the French language has given its official seal of approval to a new word for the Twittersphere: mot-diese, pronounced "Mo-Dee-YEZ." The French word for hashtag follows the government's somewhat successful redefinition of email -- courriel.

Verizon sells spectrum to AT&T for $1.9 billion

Verizon Wireless said Friday that it's selling space on the airwaves to AT&T Inc. in exchange for $1.9 billion and the transfer of some airwave rights from AT&T. The sale of spectrum rights will let AT&T expand its capacity for wireless broadband. The deals are part of a yearlong spectrum reshuffling process for Verizon and AT&T. Public Knowledge, a Washington-based public-interest group, called on the Federal Communications Commission to stop the deal, as it's a transfer of spectrum between the two biggest cellphone carriers.

Source: http://www.post-gazette.com

Lindsey Vonn & Tiger Woods: Are They Dating?

Lindsey Vonn and Tiger Woods

Kevin Mazur/Wireimage; Stanley Chou/Getty

They have the Internet buzzing with dating rumors, following a report they have been spending time together in Antigua and skiing on the slopes of Austria this month.

True? Or should we be put this one on ice?

Woods's rep wasn't immediately available for comment, but Vonn's rep says the skier is thinking only of snow right now.

"Lindsey is currently in the midst of the World Cup season in Europe," her rep tells PEOPLE. "Her focus is solely on competing and on defending her titles and thus she will not participate in any speculation surrounding her personal life at this time."

This is not the first time Vonn, 28, has been linked to another star athlete. Right after announcing her split from husband Thomas Vonn in Nov. 2011, rumors flew that she was dating Tim Tebow. She quickly shot down those reports on Twitter.

Woods, 37, who was caught up in a highly publicized cheating scandal in 2009, hasn't been seriously linked to anyone since splitting from his ex-wife, Elin Nordegren. 

Source: http://www.people.com

Dear Apple, Welcome To Microsoft's Agonizing World (AAPL, MSFT)

Microsoft Apple Comparison Chart

For the longest time, Apple bulls could sneer at Microsoft.

After peaking in December of 1999 at $58, Microsoft slipped to $22 a year later. Since then it's failed to break out of the $17-$36 range. It looks flat if you look at it over a ten year period.

While Microsoft's stock went sideways all it could say was, "It's the market. It's out of our hands, we can only do so much."

Microsoft's top PR man Frank Shaw built a good defense of his company. While the stock was flat, he noted Microsoft:

    Tripled revenue from $23 billion in 2000 to $70 billion in 2011.

    Increased profits from $9 billion in 2000 to $23 billion in 2011.

    Returned $194 billion to shareholders via dividends and stock buyback.

Impressive numbers, but it didn't matter. Microsoft looked vulnerable to attacks from Apple and Google despite churning out impressive numbers year after years. The stock suffered because CEO Steve Ballmer failed to see the rise of mobile.

And while that was happening, Apple's stock was a rocket racing to the moon. Apple investors could look at Microsoft and laugh.

Well, the shoe is on the other foot today, as they say. Apple's defenders are throwing their hands in the air, shouting, "Apple had the fourth biggest earnings in history! What does Wall Street want?!?!"

The Street wants growth and stability. Apple's period of mega-growth is over. And real or perceived, there are threats to Apple's business right now. Samsung is selling a lot of smartphones. Amazon is clobbering Apple's margins. Google isn't going anywhere.

Apple can, and will, exist quite profitably while those companies do their thing. But, Microsoft existed quite profitably while Google and Apple did their thing. The looming threat is what held Microsoft in check.

The story can change for Apple. It doesn't have to be the next Microsoft. What really killed Microsoft was whiffing on the next big thing.

So far, Apple hasn't missed a technological revolution. If Apple rolls out a TV, an iWatch, or something else that people fall in love with, then it can avoid going sideways forever. But if Apple does miss the next big thing, then Apple will have to learn to live in annoying world Microsoft has been living in for years.

Source: http://www.sfgate.com

North Korea Warns of Retaliation if South Helps Enforce Tightened Sanctions

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea turned its anger on South Korea on Friday, warning the South Koreans they could suffer “physical countermeasures” for any enforcement of the tightened international sanctions meant to stop its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons activities.

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Jung Yeon-Je/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

South Korean soldiers patrolled Friday in Paju near the Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas, on a day when the North threatened the South with “physical countermeasures.”

Pool photo by Lee Jin-man

Park Geun-hye, the incoming president of South Korea.

The North Korean warning came a day after it bluntly threatened the United States, saying North Korea had no interest in talks on denuclearizing itself and would forge ahead with its missile and weapons development, with the goal of attaining the capability to hit American territory. North Korea framed the warning, including a threat to stage a third nuclear test, as a deterrent to what it called American hostility and efforts to isolate the country.

While the tone of the message was not unexpected after the United Nations Security Council’s unanimous decision this week on North Korea sanctions, the threats represent a new challenge to President Obama as he begins his second term, and to the incoming conservative president of South Korea, Park Geun-hye. She had signaled she would be more open to the North than the current president, but since her election last month she has said she will not tolerate the North’s nuclear program and will deal sternly with what she has called North Korean provocations.

In a statement issued in the name of North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, which manages relations with South Korea, the North gave no hint of what countermeasures were envisioned against the South over enforcement of the sanctions.

While the North does not follow through on many of its threats, it does have a history of unexpected military attacks — most recently, its shelling of a border island in 2010 that left four South Koreans dead. It was also blamed for sinking a South Korean warship the same year, leaving 46 sailors dead, despite North Korean denials.

Those two episodes were among the most serious in decades between the two Koreas, dispelling Washington’s desire to engage North Korea in serious negotiation. While calling for a vigorous enforcement of United Nations sanctions, Glyn Davies, Washington’s special envoy on North Korea, also appealed Thursday to the North’s new leader, Kim Jong-un, not to miss opportunities for a new beginning, stressing that Washington could not improve ties with the North without progress in inter-Korean relations.

North Korea’s outburst against South Korea on Friday was the latest installment of a verbal barrage it started after the Security Council on Tuesday adopted a resolution condemning a Dec. 12 rocket launching by the North. The resolution called the launching a violation of earlier United Nations resolutions banning it from testing ballistic missile technology, and called for tightening sanctions against the country. Especially notable was that China, the longtime North Korean protector and advocate, voted for the resolution.

Referring to the South Koreans, North Korea said: “If the puppet group of traitors takes a direct part in the U.N. ‘sanctions,’ the D.P.R.K. will take strong physical countermeasures against it,” using the acronym for its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “ ‘Sanctions’ mean a war and a declaration of war against us.”

The United Nations resolution was the fifth against the North for its rocket and nuclear programs since 1993. It calls for tightening existing sanctions, including expanding a travel ban on North Korean officials and broadening the means for United Nations member nations to intercept and confiscate cargo headed for the North.

Ms. Park’s office said Friday that the president-elect would soon send a high-level delegation to Washington for a policy consultation at which North Korea was expected to be a focus of discussion.

The United Nations sanctions and the North’s angry reactions dissipated early hopes that changes of leadership in the North, the South and in the Obama administration would open the way for easing tensions. North Korea, which has lived through American-led trade embargoes, considers itself a small yet proud nation struggling to maintain its independence in the face of an “imperialist” plot to erase it from the earth. It has typically called any new round of American-inspired sanctions a declaration of war.

For the United States, a new entanglement over North Korea could distract from the American focus on pressuring Iran over its disputed nuclear program, which the Iranians say is peaceful but which the West suspects is meant to develop nuclear weapons capability. Talks aimed at resolving that dispute are stalled.

Some strategic weapons policy analysts suggested that North Korea’s defiant tone, and the relatively muted American response, had set an example for Iran by demonstrating what can be achieved when an American adversary is armed with nuclear weapons. Iranian leaders, like North Korea’s Kim family, view America as a nuclear-armed bully that respects only the threat of force.

Jeffrey Lewis, a nonproliferation expert at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in Monterey, Calif., said he feared that North Korea was now intent on demonstrating the ability to produce a far more powerful nuclear weapon than the two relatively small nuclear devices it had tested so far.

“If you think international politics is basically about power and that power is basically about armaments, then having a small number of fission devices is not good enough,” he said. “You want big nuclear devices.” (American intelligence officials believe North Korea has enough plutonium for roughly 6 to 10 weapons.)

Others dismissed the idea that Iran is taking any political cues from North Korea. They noted that Iran remained a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and that Iranian leaders had repeatedly asserted that they had no interest in nuclear weapons.

“They see North Korea is starving and isolated with no resources whatsoever,” said Gary G. Sick, an American academic and Iran expert who served on the National Security Council under the Ford, Carter and Reagan administrations. He called the connectivity on the nuclear issue between Iran and North Korea “a Western argument — I’ve never seen anybody in Iran make that argument.” 

Source: http://www.nytimes.com

Uni Watch evaluates New Orleans Pelicans

When we invited Uni Watch readers to rename and redesign the New Orleans Hornets last spring, one of the five finalists was this New Orleans Pelicans design by reader Chris Giorgio. That design was by far the most popular option among those who voted in an ESPN SportsNation poll.

New Orleans PelicansThe New Orleans Hornets will officially become the New Orleans Pelicans next season.

Maybe the NBA or team owner Tom Benson were listening, because the Hornets will become the Pelicans next season. Info on the new uniforms, according to the team's news release, "will be relayed in the coming months," but you can see the team's five new logos here.

Some preliminary thoughts:

• The new name makes a lot more sense for a New Orleans team than "Hornets" ever did, and it's also way better than some of the other names that had been floated. Well done.

• Looks like the NBA's long-running rule about logos having to show a basketball remains intact. It's odd that the league insists on sticking to this protocol. Can you imagine if the NFL had a similar rule about every logo showing a football?

• The feeling here is that the lettering is too ornate, too busy. And the trend of bookending the wordmark with a large letter on the right side is way overplayed by now.

• Oh man, another team wearing red and blue. Sigh. New Orleans has such a rich chromatic tradition, leaning heavily on purple and green. Why use the same default colors that so many other teams use?

• Here's an odd cross-sport confluence: The new Pelicans logo looks a lot like the Patriots' old "tri-corner hat" logo.

• The secondary logos are fine. Nice that they came up with the Bird-de-Lis to replace the Fleur-de-Bee (which was always misnamed, because a hornet is not a bee!).

In short: a mixed bag. But let's wait until we see the uniforms before passing final judgment.

The real question now is whether the Bobcats will claim the name "Hornets" and bring it back to Charlotte.

Source: http://espn.go.com

J.J. Abrams directing ‘Star Wars’: Many voices cry out in reaction

J.J. Abrams, who has made a name for himself writing, directing and producing such hits as "Lost" and "Star Trek," has been tapped to direct "Star Wars: Episode VII." (Tracey Nearmy / EuropeanReaction to Thursday’s news that “Star Trek Into Darkness” filmmaker J.J. Abrams will be directing the next “Star Wars” film has been decidedly mixed.

The seventh installment in the epic franchise is only scheduled to reach theaters in 2015, but speculation about who would helm “Episode VII” has been circulating since last October, when the Walt Disney Co. went public with its plans to acquire Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion and announced the upcoming “Star Wars” trilogy.

When “Lost” creator and “Star Trek” director Abrams was announced Thursday, “Star Wars” fans took to (where else?) the Internet to voice their approval or displeasure.

Some fans congratulated Abrams on his Facebook page, while others begged him not to drop the ball. A petition titled “Disney: Stop J.J. Abrams from directing the next Star Wars film” appeared on Change.org. And of course, the Twittersphere exploded with wildly divergent but overly enthusiastic responses, with some people claiming that Abrams’ involvement will spell the destruction of their beloved franchise, and others saying the decision heralds a new and glorious era in the universe of Sith, Jedi and blaster-toting princesses. Here’s a look at some of the more memorable reactions on Twitter. 

Source: http://herocomplex.latimes.com

Apple (AAPL) Shares Close Down 12 Percent on Slowdown Worries

An Apple store in Los Angeles is shown in this Jan. 23, 2013 photo. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Apple stock (Nasdaq: AAPL) took a hit the day after its first-quarter earnings were released, closing down more than 12 percent on Thursday. Investors were worried that growth is slowing at Apple, the world's most valuable company.
Shares of Apple dropped $63.51, or 12.35 percent, to $450.40 at the close of New York trading Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq index, on which Apple trades, also closed down 0.74 percent to 3,130.
On Wednesday after the market closed, the company reported that it sold 47.8 million iPhones in the quarter, compared with 37 million in the same quarter a year ago. Many investors had hoped that the company would sell 50 million iPhones, which drives Apple's earnings.
"No technology company has ever reported these kinds of results," Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, said on the earnings call on Wednesday.
Investors eagerly awaited Apple Inc., based in Cupertino, Calif., to report its earnings, seeking clarity after a number of rumors about iPhone parts and sales.
Earlier this week there were reports about the next iPhone being released in June.


"Certainly a new product line is in the works," said Brian Colello, Morningstar senior equity analyst. "It remains to be seen what Apple will ultimately come out with and when. Those are certainly factors to keep an eye on."
Last week, a report that Apple had decreased its order for iPhone parts may have contributed to a decrease in its stock price to near $500.
"It will be interesting to see if Apple is really pushing the envelope in terms of innovation and shortening the product cycle," Colello said.
Colello said Apple is facing growing competition from Samsung. Last summer, when Apple released the iPhone 4S, Samsung also released its Galaxy S 3, which saw strong sales.
On Wednesday, Apple said it sold a "record" 22.9 million iPads in the quarter, compared to 15.4 million a year ago. The company also sold 4.1 million Mac computers, compared to 5.2 million in the same quarter last year.
On Apple's earnings call CFO Peter Oppenheimer attributed the Mac slide to the refreshed Mac products not being released until December. Its new iMac desktops were not sold until early December.
"We believe our Mac sales would have been much higher without those constraints," Oppenheimer said on the call.
Colello said the iPhone unit sales were "a bit of a disappointment."
And despite a record number of iPad sales, he said they were still lighter than Wall Street's expectations.
The company failed to beat Wall Street's expectations about revenue, but it did beat forecasts for profit. Apple's own forecast was $52 billion in revenue.
"We're thrilled with record revenue of over $54 billion and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter," said Cook in a statement. "We're very confident in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in the world."
In light of the company's "fairly weak" quarterly earnings, Colello said Apple's forecast for $41 billion to $43 billion in future revenue was also "light."
The company still can boast about the amount of cash it has hoarded: $137 billion.
On Tuesday, some investors had their hopes up after Verizon reported a stronger than expected number of new iPhone subscribers during its conference call.
Colello cautioned that Verizon's iPhone sales were strong but they also sold a large number of older iPhone models.


"Obviously the iPhone is the biggest driver, but there are a couple factors in there, such as the types of units and at what prices," Colello said. "Was it the Phone 5 or 4S?"
Apple does not break out the type of iPhones sold.
Source: http://abcnews.go.com

Giovanna Plowman, 'Tampon Girl', Apparently Puts Bloody Hygiene Product In Mouth (GRAPHIC VIDEO)

So, bloody tampon sucking is a thing now, it seems.
The person to thank for this happening is the lovely and talented Giovanna Plowman who posted a GRAPHIC video (shown below) to her now deleted Facebook page in which she appears to put a bloody tampon in her mouth and suck on it, several times.
There is, as KnowYourMeme.com points out, lots of speculation amongst commenters as to the video's authenticity. Some suspect the tampon was dipped in tomato sauce or some other red liquid.
But even with the prospect of the video's fraudulence in mind, it's hard not to cringe when you see Plowman swallow the feminine hygiene product.
The Buffalo, N.Y. teen has received a lot of blowback for posting the video from Twitter users and commenters who accuse her of doing anything for 15 minutes of fame, according to the International Digital Times.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

Vicco, Smallest Town In Kentucky, Passes LGBT Non-Discrimination Law

On the heels of a statewide push for Kentucky to its protect lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) citizens, one of the smallest towns in the commonwealth has just approved a new nondiscrimination law which does exactly that.
A week ago, the Fairness Coalition joined Vicco, Ky. -- home to some 334 residents in total -- as they passed the commonwealth’s first LGBT fair treatment ordinance in a decade, reports Lex 18. Vicco is now being touted by a number of media outlets as the smallest town in America to adopt an anti-discrimination law based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The law prevents discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based upon a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender identity. The Advocate reports that Mayor Johnny Cummings supported the fair shake along with three out of the four members of the Appalachian’s commission.
Vicco became the fourth city in Kentucky to pass the equality bearing law. In 1999, Lexington and Louisville both approved such laws, followed by Covington in 2003, LGBTQ Nation reported.
“Vicco is a community that believes all folks should be treated fairly,“ attorney Eric Ashley said in a Fairness Coalition press release sent to HuffPost Gay Voices. “We believe everyone deserves the opportunity for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Fairness is a Kentucky value, a Vicco value, and one of our most American values.”
Last October, the acquittal of the first-ever federal prosecution of a hate crime, which took place in Harlan County, Ky., left many baffled. Four cousins were accused of attacking Kevin Pennington, a 28-year-old gay man, because of his sexual orientation and possibly because of their own self-hatred.
Though the case had been nationally touted as the first to be prosecuted under the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (signed by President Barack Obama in 2009), it was eventually deemed a drug deal gone wrong. While the men were convicted of kidnapping and conspiracy charges, the jury ultimately rejected the theory that hatred had motivated their crimes.
Perhaps the sentiments of Vicco’s new law will echo in the minds of Kentucky lawmakers while the KEF continues to run its petition to alter the commonwealth’s Civil Rights Act of 1966, amending it to include protection for all LGBT Kentucky residents.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com

North Korea Turns Its Ire on the South

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea threatened on Friday to take “physical countermeasures” against South Korea if it takes part in enforcing sanctions against the besieged North, calling the United Nations-endorsed penalties a “declaration of war” and warning of a prolonged chill in the relations between the two Koreas.

In a statement issued in the name of its Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, which manages relations with South Korea, North Korea gave no hint on what those countermeasures might be. While its earlier pronouncements more often than not turned out to be a bluster, North Korea does have a history of following up some with unexpected military attacks — most recently, its shelling of a border island in 2010 that left four South Koreans dead. It was also blamed for the sinking of a South Korean warship the same year that left 46 sailors dead.

Those two incidents brought the two Koreas closer to waging a full-scale war than ever in recent decades, dispelling Washington’s desire to engage North Korea for a serious negotiation. In the last few days, while calling for a vigorous enforcement of U.N. sanctions, U.S. officials also appealed to the North’s new leader, Kim Jong-un, not to overreact and miss the opportunities for a new beginning.

Pyongyang’s threat against South Korea was the latest in a verbal barrage it has launched since the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday unanimously adopted a resolution condemning North Korea’s Dec. 12 rocket launching as a violation of earlier U.N. resolutions banning it from testing ballistic missile technology. The resolution called for tightening sanctions to cut off the procurement activities for North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, while the North accused Washington of masterminding the Security Council to “stifle” the already impoverished country.

“If the puppet group of traitors takes a direct part in the U.N. ‘sanctions,’ the D.P.R.K. will take strong physical countermeasures against it,” North Korea said on Friday, using the nickname it often uses for the South Korean government and the acronym of its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “‘Sanctions’ mean a war and a declaration of war against us.”

The U.N. resolution was the fifth to be slapped on the North for its rocket and nuclear programs since 1993. It calls for the tightening of existing sanctions, such as expanding a travel ban on North Korean officials and the freezing of assets of North Korean banks and other agencies accused of engaging in shipments and financing for the North’s missile and nuclear programs. It also broadened the means for U.N. member nations to intercept and confiscate cargo headed for the North.

Since the Security Council resolution, North Korea has said it would conduct a nuclear test and launch more long-range rockets and that there would be no more talks on the “denuclearization” of the Korean Peninsula, a main goal of Washington’s thus-far unsuccessful diplomacy on the Korean Peninsula for the last two decades.

With Friday’s threat against the South, North Korea, under the young Mr. Kim, appeared to be following a well-worn track established under his late father, Kim Jong-il, before his death in December 2011: a cycle of North Korean provocation such as a rocket launching, U.N. condemnation, North Korean warnings of “physical countermeasures,” which were sometimes followed by provocative actions, such a nuclear test.

While this familiar cycle repeated itself in recent years, North Korea also steadily boosted its nuclear and missile capabilities. The North Korean nuclear crisis began in the early 1990s with nothing but a tiny amount of fissile material North Korea was suspected of gleaning from its experimental research reactor. It has since accumulated enough plutonium for an estimated half dozen nuclear bombs, built a full-scale uranium-enrichment program, conducted two nuclear tests and made strides toward building intercontinental ballistic missiles that U.S. officials feared could one day be tipped with nuclear warheads.

On Thursday, North Korea said it felt no need to hide its intention of building rockets and nuclear weapons with the United States as a “target” because Washington had intensified its “hostile” policy against the North.

On Friday, North Korea directed its ire at its neighbor, South Korea, warning that Seoul should expect a continuing confrontation and even potential military clashes on the Korean Peninsula if the hard-line policy of the outgoing President Lee Myung-bak was inherited by his successor, President-elect Park Geun-hye, who will be sworn in next month.

“Now that the South Korean puppet conservative group is more desperately kicking up a racket against the D.P.R.K. over its nuclear and missile issues with the U.S., there will be no more discussion on denuclearization between the north and the south in the future,” North Korea said. “As long as the South Korean puppet group of traitors persistently pursues a hostile policy toward the D.P.R.K., we will never negotiate with anyone.”

In its statement, the North also said that a 1992 joint declaration in which the two Koreas committed themselves not to purse nuclear weapons was now completely invalid. It was not the first time North Korea has called its deals with Seoul and Washington nullified. Still, analysts said, the North’s posture significantly limits room for Ms. Park’s overtures toward the North; like Mr. Lee and President Obama in the United States, Mr. Park considers the dismantling of the North’s nuclear program the premise in all South Korea’s diplomacy toward the North.

The U.N. sanctions and the North’s angry reactions dissipated early hopes that changes of leadership in Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington might open the way for easing tensions. But some analysts said that North Korea was just escalating tensions ahead of dialogue to increase its leverage.

North Korea, which has lived through U.S.-led trade embargoes throughout its existence, considers itself a small yet proud nation struggling for independence in the face of an “imperialist” plot to erase its from the earth. It has typically called any new round of American-inspired sanctions a declaration of war.

Washington says North Korea is one of the leading threats to global efforts for nuclear and missile non-proliferation. 

Source: http://www.nytimes.com

Hillary Clinton’s clarity on threats in North Africa

 “LET ME underscore the importance of the United States continuing to lead in the Middle East, North Africa and around the world,” Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday in testimony to Congress. “When America is absent, especially from unstable environments, there are consequences. Extremism takes root, our interests suffer and our security at home is threatened.”
Much of the news coverage of Ms. Clinton’s appearances before Senate and House committees focused on her jousting with Republicans over responsibility for the attack on a U.S. diplomatic outpost in Benghazi, Libya. But we were struck by the forcefulness and clarity with which she made the case that the United States faces a “very serious, ongoing” and “strategic” threat in North Africa from al-Qaeda affiliates and other jihadists — one that she argued demands a vigorous and comprehensive response.

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A D.C. judge overreaches with her sentence of an antiabortion protester.

“We are in for a struggle,” Ms. Clinton said. “But it is a necessary struggle. We cannot permit northern Mali to become a safe haven. . . . We’ve got to have a better strategy.”
The outgoing secretary’s statements were particularly striking when compared with President Obama’s inaugural address Monday, which promised to end “a decade of war” in favor of nation-building at home, and with the White House’s current approach to Mali. France sent troops there this month to prevent jihadists linked to al-Qaeda who are entrenched in Mali’s northern deserts from taking over the rest of the country.
But as the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, Mr. Obama and his advisers have taken a skeptical view of the need for U.S. involvement. French requests for air refueling and surveillance help are still on ice two weeks after being made; the administration grudgingly agreed to transport some French troops to the country but only after trying to stick Paris with the bill. The Journal reported that while the Pentagon has wanted to target the leaders of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which was involved in the Benghazi attack as well as last week’s assault on a gas field in Algeria, White House policymakers argue that the group doesn’t pose a direct threat to the United States.
Ms. Clinton evidently doesn’t agree. “People say to me all the time, well, AQIM hasn’t attacked the United States,” she said. “Well, before 9/11, 2001, we hadn’t been attacked on our homeland since, I guess, the War of 1812 and Pearl Harbor. So you can’t say, well, because they haven’t done something they are not going to do it.”
Ms. Clinton offered Somalia as an example of an effective U.S. response to such a threat. Over a period of several years, U.S. military forces carried out drone strikes and raids against al-Qaeda leaders and trained local forces, while diplomats patiently worked to foster a new and more representative Somali government.
“It took time,” Ms. Clinton said. “There were no shortcuts. But we had literally the boots of our American soldiers and the boots of American diplomats on the ground.”
The outgoing secretary’s point about U.S. leadership — and the results of its absence — doesn’t apply just to Mali. It is equally true of Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and other “unstable environments.” If Mr. Obama continues to eschew an active U.S. role in those places, or to retreat from one, there will be, as Ms. Clinton said, “consequences.”
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com 

Apple (AAPL) Announces it Sold 47.8 Million iPhones But Investors Disappointed

Advertisements for the iPhone 5 are displayed at an Apple store, Jan. 14, 2013 in New York. (Getty Images)

Apple stock took a hit after its first-quarter earnings were released on Wednesday afternoon, topping profit forecasts but with lower than expected iPhone sales.
Shares of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) fell more than 5 percent in after-hours trading. Apple stock was up 1.86 percent to $514.17 at the close of trading in New York.
"No technology company has ever reported these kinds of results," Tim Cook, CEO of Apple, said on the earnings call.
The company reported that it sold 47.8 million iPhones in the quarter, compared with 37 million in the same quarter a year ago. Many investors had hoped that the company would sell 50 million iPhones, which drives Apple's earnings.
Investors eagerly awaited Apple to report its earnings, seeking clarity after a number of rumors about iPhone parts and sales.
Earlier this week there were reports about the next iPhone being released in June.
"Certainly a new product line is in the works," said Brian Colello, Morningstar senior equity analyst. "It remains to be seen what Apple will ultimately come out with and when. Those are certainly factors to keep an eye on."
Last week, a report that Apple had decreased its order for iPhone parts may have contributed to a decrease in its stock price to near $500.
"It will be interesting to see if Apple is really pushing the envelope in terms of innovation and shortening the product cycle," Colello said.
Colello said Apple is facing growing competition from Samsung. Last summer, when Apple released the iPhone 4S, Samsung also released its Galaxy S 3, which saw strong sales.
On Wednesday, Apple Inc., based in Cupertino, Calif., said it sold a "record" 22.9 million iPads in the quarter, compared to 15.4 million a year ago. The company also sold 4.1 million Mac computers, compared to 5.2 million in the same quarter last year.
On Apple's earnings call CFO Peter Oppenheimer attributed the Mac slide to the refreshed Mac products not being released until December. Its new iMac desktops were not sold until early December.
"We believe our Mac sales would have been much higher without those constraints," Oppenhimer said on the call.
Colello said the iPhone unit sales were "a bit of a disappointment."
And despite a record number of iPad sales, he said they were still lighter than Wall Street's expectations.
The company failed to beat Wall Street's expectations about revenue, but it did beat forecasts for profit. Apple's own forecast was $52 billion in revenue.
"We're thrilled with record revenue of over $54 billion and sales of over 75 million iOS devices in a single quarter," said Cook in a statement. "We're very confident in our product pipeline as we continue to focus on innovation and making the best products in the world."
In light of the company's "fairly weak" quarterly earnings, Colello said Apple's forecast for $41 billion to $43 billion in future revenue was also "light."
The company still can boast about the amount of cash it has hoarded: $137 billion.
On Tuesday, some investors had their hopes up after Verizon reported a stronger than expected number of new iPhone subscribers during its conference call.
Colello cautioned that Verizon's iPhone sales were strong but they also sold a large number of older iPhone models.


"Obviously the iPhone is the biggest driver, but there are a couple factors in there, such as the types of units and at what prices," Colello said. "Was it the Phone 5 or 4S?"
Apple does not break out the type of iPhones sold.
Source: http://abcnews.go.com

Vandals target LGBT office at Boston College Law School

Vandals scrawled homophobic words over the weekend on the walls of a Boston College Law School office where a LGBT student group meets, according to BC officials. Jack Dunn, a spokesman for Boston College, said the graffiti was found Tuesday morning in the Lambda Law Students Association office, an LGBT organization, when the students returned from the long weekend. The office and the building doors were unlocked, he said, and Boston College police are investigating the incident.
Jason Triplett, a Lambda co-chair said he never thought something like this would happen at BC Law School, and that he has always felt safe on campus.
“No one can believe that it’s someone at BC law, we believe it was a BC outsider who was looking for some trouble,” he said.
Triplett said Vincent Rougeau, dean of the BC Law School, left a faculty meeting the moment he was notified about the graffiti. By lunchtime, the dean had written a letter to the community. And by the afternoon he had consulted with students from Lambda to see how they were doing.
“The administration responded immediately,” he said. “Everyone involved is really shocked by this.”
Rougeau issued a statement saying that as the investigation continues, the school will continue to respond appropriately.
“The cowardly act of vandalism that was discovered yesterday morning is reprehensible and runs counter to everything we stand for as a law school,” he said. “We are working closely with the police in the hope of resolving the matter.”
In the letter to the BC law community, Rougeau said that the school will do everything in its power to find the people who vandalized the office, and ensure that something like this will never happen again.
“The administration of Boston College Law School condemns this reprehensible action and will not tolerate hateful or threatening speech of any kind,” Rougeau wrote. “This behavior is the antithesis of all we stand for as an institution, and is an assault on our shared values of a welcoming, loving, and inclusive community.”
Robert Trescan, regional director for the Anti-Defamation League of New England, said the league plans to be involved with the investigation, and has reached out to BC officials as well as the police.
“From the police and school’s perspective we want this to be treated as a priority, and all indications is that they are treating this as a priority,” he said.
Trescan said incidents of hateful speech occur on campuses, but he thinks this case is more serious than most.
“This is a targeted message at a particular place that is important to students, specifically designed to send a message,” he said.
But Triplett said he does not think the vandalism was necessarily targeted. Their office, which is next to all other student offices was the only one unlocked, he said. In addition to the homophobic language, there were racial slurs written on the walls.
Triplett also said he does not believe a student committed the crime, because the students and faculty at the BC law school are very accepting of the LGBT community.
“The atmosphere and the community that we know at BC law, it’s such an inclusive community,” he said. “It’s almost like a family up there.”
Source: http://www.boston.com

In Benghazi hearings, Hillary Clinton storms Capitol Hill

 They blamed her mismanagement for the death of Americans in Benghazi, Libya. They accused her of a cover-up. Some even suggested that she faked an illness to avoid testifying about the attack.
On Wednesday, Hillary Rodham Clinton finally had her chance to respond to critics, and the outgoing secretary of state served up a potent brew of righteous outrage.

She began her appearance before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee with restraint, and even remorse. She choked up as she described receiving flag-draped caskets at Andrews Air Force Base and hugging relatives of those killed.
But her anger boiled over when rookie Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) demanded to know why she and her aides didn’t immediately call those evacuated from Benghazi to find out whether a protest had preceded the attack. Clinton replied that she didn’t want to interfere with the FBI’s investigation — which is almost certainly what Republicans would have accused her of doing.
“That’s a good excuse,” Johnson said, scornfully.
“Well, no, it’s a fact,” Clinton retorted, growing irritated. Waving her index finger, she pointed out that much of what happened in Libya on Sept. 11 remains unknown.
“No, no, no, no,” Johnson rejoined. “We were misled that there were supposedly protests and then something sprang out of that, an assault . . . and the American people could have known that within days.”
Clinton raised her voice. “With all due respect, the fact is we had four dead Americans,” she shouted at the lawmaker. Waving her arms and then pounding the witness table with her fist, she continued: “Was it because of a protest, or was it because of guys out for a walk one night who decided they’d go kill some Americans? What difference, at this point, does it make?”
Johnson stopped interrupting as Clinton continued. “It is, from my perspective, less important today looking backward as to why these militants decided they did it than to find them and bring them to justice,” she said.
Johnson didn’t attempt a rebuttal. “Okay, thank you, Madam Secretary.”
It never made sense that Republicans focused less on the serious security lapses that allowed the debacle in Libya than on the supposed cover-up surrounding U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s initial claim, since disproved, that the attack had spun out of a protest.
But Clinton’s appearance on the Hill, expected to be her last before she is succeeded by John Kerry, provided a broader vindication of the one-time (and probably future) presidential candidate. There had been concern among Democrats that the Benghazi episode would mar her otherwise successful tenure at State — but in fact she is leaving the post more popular than ever.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll finds that 67 percent of Americans view her favorably, a career high and roughly double the popularity congressional Republicans have. So when Clinton clashed with GOP lawmakers Wednesday, it had the feeling of a Hummer colliding with a Smart Car.
Senators, even Republicans, prefaced remarks with obligatory good wishes.
“You probably traveled more than any secretary of state in history and came at your job in the way we all thought you would, with hard work and diligence,” said Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.), the panel’s ranking Republican.
Added Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.): “As a doctor, I will tell you, I have seen you work yourself to exhaustion, not for your own benefit but for the benefit of the people of this country, and the country is grateful.”
Clinton, in heavy green jacket, dark pants and thick glasses, disarmed her critics, who sat uncomfortably through the tearful moment in her opening statement. She further preempted their criticism by readily accepting responsibility for the lapse, which occurred at lower levels.
After her dressing-down of Johnson, the questioning became less aggressive. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), although making clear his displeasure with the handling of Libya generally, was relatively subdued. “We are proud of you,” he told Clinton. “All over the world where I travel, you are viewed with admiration and respect.”
Only gadfly Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) still had the stomach to fight with Clinton. “Had I been president at the time and I found that you did not read the cables from Benghazi . . . I would have relieved you of your post,” he charged.
“Ohhh!” exclaimed one of Clinton’s aides, appalled.
But Paul, a man of exotic opinions, is never going to be president, and Clinton deflected his provocation with a mild reply: “I believe in taking responsibility, and I have done so.”
That may have been Clinton’s most cutting response to a critic: Letting him know he’s not worth wasting her breath.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com

10 possible NFL fits for JaMarcus Russell

Brett Davis/US PresswireJaMarcus Russell is looking for a shot to make it back into the NFL. Which team will give it to him?

The No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 NFL draft is ready for a comeback.

Yes, JaMarcus Russell is down to a svelte 308 pounds and is looking to squeeze onto an NFL roster. The former LSU quarterback -- turned hot draft prospect by Charlie Weis’ Sugar Bowl defense -- says he is committed to the sport and to shedding the bust tag, telling Yahoo! Sports: “The last few years, the things going through my life, football is my job and it is how it feeds my family.” (Tip for JaMarcus: In this image-makeover attempt, try to limit all mentions of feeding.)

Russell, who was drafted ahead of Calvin Johnson, Adrian Peterson, Patrick Willis, Marshawn Lynch and Darrelle Revis -- go Raiders! -- hasn’t played in the NFL since Oakland released him after the 2009 season, and the leaguewide trend is toward mobile quarterbacks, not offensive lineman with strong throwing arms. Yet some NFL teams could still give Russell a look. Here they are:

Kansas City Chiefs

The Chiefs have Matt Cassel and Brady Quinn. Yikes. Russell is rightfully considered a draft bust, but look at the quarterbacks picked after him: Quinn, Kevin Kolb, John Beck, Drew Stanton and Trent Edwards. You couldn’t go right picking a quarterback in 2007. It was everything that 2012 wasn’t. So maybe Andy Reid wants to come in and shake things up.

How would Russell and his cannon arm do in Reid’s short-pass offense? Oh, quite terribly. Russell has no touch. But neither does Michael Vick, and Reid bet his entire Eagles future on him. If the Chiefs hope to rebuild by earning high draft picks for several more years, Russell deserves consideration.

Arizona Cardinals

When Brian Hoyer, Ryan Lindley, John Skelton and Kolb are your options, you have to be willing to try someone/anyone else. New head coach Bruce Arians has had success with both a No. 1 overall pick (Andrew Luck) and a “big-boned” quarterback (Ben Roethlisberger). Maybe he’s the JaMarcus whisperer. Maybe not. But the Cardinals could do worse. In fact, they have. Every snap. Every week of the season.

New York Jets

JaMarcus Russell! What a joke, right? One of the worst quarterbacks ever!

Fun facts: In 2008, Russell started 15 games and had a 77.1 quarterback rating and 35.3 Total QBR. In 2012, Mark Sanchez started 15 games and had a 66.9 quarterback rating and 23.4 Total QBR. When a team as bad as the Jets has a chance to get a clearly superior quarterback, they have to do it.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Sorry, Jaguars fans, but Blaine Gabbert and Chad Henne aren’t the answer and Tim Tebow isn’t ever going to Jacksonville. But if you can't get Tebow, would you be interested in JaMarcus instead? Tebow is a former SEC quarterback who many think should play another position (tight end or fullback) in the NFL, and Russell is a former SEC quarterback who many think should play another position (offensive lineman or cautionary tale) in the NFL. They’re basically the same person! Make it happen, Jaguars.

Buffalo Bills

Every quarterback on Buffalo’s roster -- Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tyler Thigpen and Tarvaris Jackson -- is a failed NFL starting quarterback. Russell clearly fits Buffalo’s system.

Cleveland Browns

Russell is two years younger than Brandon Weeden and has thrown for more career yards and touchdowns. There’s really not even a debate here.

Chicago Bears

Is there anyone left who still thinks Jay Cutler can win a Super Bowl? Maybe new head coach Marc Trestman can bring the best out in Russell. Trestman comes from the CFL, and many people think Russell is a CFL quarterback. Perfect fit.

One downside: Chicago has cold winters. Cough medicine is readily available, so the Bears would have to keep Russell away from that. But other than that purple warning flag, Russell’s name would not look out of place among all the other starting quarterbacks in Chicago Bears' history.

Dallas Cowboys

Jerry Jones hired Monte Kiffin as his defensive coordinator. You can’t say that signing Russell wouldn’t be a very Jerry Jones thing to do.

Denver Broncos

Look, it simply didn’t work out with Peyton Manning. He came in and, unlike his predecessor, couldn’t even win a playoff game. Say what you will about Russell, but he doesn’t have Manning’s track record of playoff failure.

Whoever drafts Manti Te’o

Eventually -- probably somewhere late in the second or third round -- an NFL general manager is going to sigh and decide to take a flier on Te’o. But if a team is going to have Te’o in its camp, it's going to need a big sideshow to take attention away from the fake elite linebacker. And JaMarcus Russell is as big as they come.

Source: espn.go.com

Sloane Stephens: The Teenage Star Who Beat Serena Williams

Sloane Stephens, 19, Beats Serena Williams

Some may call it the shock heard around the tennis world.
Sloane Stephens defeated one of the greatest players to lace up tennis shoes, Serena Williams, a tennis player whose poster once adorned Stephens' bedroom wall.
The 19-year-old can now say she is the only American younger than Williams to beat the 31-year-old. Stephens, with a giant white smile from ear to ear, won 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 against Williams in the Australian Open quarterfinals Wednesday.
The match was the farthest Stephens has ever gotten in a Grand Slam tournament. Williams, on the other hand, is a 15-time major winner, a five-time Australian Open champion and was on a 20-match winning streak.
Unfortunately for Williams, she suffered injuries in her ankle and back during the game. She called a trainer onto the court and had a three-minute medical timeout.
When asked about the win, all 29th-seeded Stephens could manage to say was, "I don't even know. Oh, my goodness."
"While it's not good for Serena, it's a great development for U.S. tennis. They've been waiting for a long time for someone to come to the forefront," said Christine Brennan, a sports columnist for USA Today and sports consultant for ABC News. "It's too early to know what this will all mean, but it's possible that they may have found the next up-and-coming female star."

 

Andy Wong/AP Photo

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Even before Stephens started playing tennis, she had posters of both Williams sisters -- Serena and Venus -- up in her bedroom, her mother, Sybil Smith, told ABC News. When she began playing tennis at age 9, she began looking up to their game.
"The funny thing about it is we kind of have a joke with Team Sloane, with my family," Smith said. "We say, 'We think you can beat everyone but Serena because she's the best.' And that's a little bit of a joke, because she is the best. Sloane said she's arguably the greatest of all time. So Sloane always had in her mind that Serena would be extremely tough to beat."
Stephens played against Williams before in Brisbane, but this time around she was ready for the match-up.
"She wasn't so paranoid about playing Serena. She was excited to play Serena," Smith said. "She wasn't so concerned about the hype and playing the greatest of all time. She just changed her mind-set and said, 'You know, it's just another tennis match. I've got to go compete, no matter who I'm playing against.'"
Off the court, Stephens, originally of Plantation, Fla., but now living in Bel Air, Calif., is a typical teenager. She texts, she tweets, she loves spending time with friends, and she has a serious shopping addiction.
"I said I was going to buy one thing but now I'm going to buy two," she said in an interview just after the big win. "I was begging my mom for these pair of shoes, but I'm sure she'll have them waiting when I get home -- so I have to think of something quick so I can tell her, so she can have it when I get home."
Stephens told ESPN she had 145 text messages after her win. She added she hoped the win would get her more Twitter followers. Her followers shot from 17,000 before the competition to 46,300 and counting.
Stephens is also getting attention from Hollywood and other sports greats after her win.
"Just found out her dad is John Stephens from the Pats. (that's my real name) I had his football card when I was a kid. I was so proud, ha ha," John Legend tweeted. Stephens' father is a former New England Patriots player who died in a car accident in 2009.
"@sloanetweets congrats on a great match. Excellent focus n poise. Keep it goin. When u defeat a legend you become a legend. Keep it going," Shaquille O'Neal tweeted.
"Wow. What a win for Sloane. Some amazing defense. She gets every ball back," Dallas Mavericks player Dirk Nowitzki tweeted.
The real test now is to see how Stephens can handle the pressure of the main stage of tennis and if she can keep rising.

"Could Sloane put back-to-back matches together? How's she going to react?" Brennan wondered. "There are a lot of unknowns. Sloane is now going to enter a new phase of her career."
Stephens' mother said her daughter has a good head on her shoulders. She's determined to play her game the best that she can but she also schedules valuable time with friends and family.
"She called home last night right after the match. She was getting ready to go into press, and she goes, 'What are you guys doing?'" Smith said. "It was three minutes of what's going on at home right now. It wasn't even about tennis."
Source: http://abcnews.go.com

Diane O’Meara: Woman In Manti Te’o Fake Girlfriend Photo Said Hoax Perpetrator Stalked Her On Facebook

Diane O’Meara was the real face of the fake girlfriend who fooled Notre Dame star Manti Te’o, and now the 23-year-old O’Meara is speaking out about how she was sucked into the hoax.
News broke last week that the woman Te’o believed to be his girlfriend, known to him as Lennay Kekua, was actually fake. Kekua became a major plotline for Notre Dame this year after it was reported that she died of leukemia in September, on the same day that Te’o lost his grandmother.

An expose in Deadspin uncovered the hoax, and also found that the picture Te’o believed to be Kekua actually came from someone else, later revealed to be Diane O’Meara.
Now O’Meara has broken her silence, saying that the photos were used without her knowledge, NESN noted. Diane O’Meara also said that the person who orchestrated the hoax, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, called her to apologize for using the photos.
“I don’t think there’s anything [Tuiasosopo] could say to me that would fix this,” O’Meara said.
O’Meara, who attended high school with Tuiasosopo but said they were not close, added that she said Tuiasosopo was literally stalking her on Facebook for five years.
While the initial reaction against Manti Te’o was harsh, and many jumped to the conclusion that he was somehow in on the hoax, evidence now points to him as a victim in the ordeal. O’Meara said she sympathizes with him.
“I’m still trying to wrap my head around this entire confusing situation myself,” Diane O’Meara told Savannah Guthrie on the Today show. “If Manti is truly innocent in this entire situation, I empathize with him because I assume we would have the same emotions — you know, frustration, you know, anger, confusion.”

Source: http://www.inquisitr.com

4 in Hospital After Shooting at Houston College Campus

Jason Fochtman/The Courier of Montgomery County, via Associated Press

Students gathered Tuesday after the shooting at the North Harris campus of Lone Star College, on the outskirts of Houston.

HOUSTON — A dispute between two men at a community college in the wooded northern outskirts of Houston led to a shooting on Tuesday that left four people hospitalized and touched off fears that the campus was the site of another mass shooting.

Instead, the authorities said, the shooting, at Lone Star College’s North Harris campus, centered on an argument between two men, at least one of whom may have been a student or former student. Three people appeared to have been wounded by gunfire, including a maintenance worker who was shot in the leg. A fourth person, who was not shot, was taken to a hospital with medical problems.

Joshua Flores, a senior, was standing outside the cafeteria with friends when they heard gunshots. “We thought it was fireworks, so we didn’t go anywhere,” said Mr. Flores, 21. “And then a bunch of people came running our way, yelling: ‘The guy has a gun! Run! Run!’ ”

The college, which has 19,000 students, was evacuated, and Houston police officers and Harris County sheriff’s deputies spent hours clearing the buildings and deeming them safe. The campus was scheduled to reopen on Wednesday.

Officials with the Sheriff’s Office said they received the first call at 12:19 p.m. They said they did not know what the dispute was about. No arrests were made, but the authorities detained and were questioning the two men they believed were involved in the argument. Both of the men were hospitalized with injuries and were described as persons of interest by the authorities. One of the men had student identification, but officials had not confirmed that he was enrolled at the college.

An official with the Sheriff’s Office, Maj. Armando Tello, said there appeared to be only one gun involved. Major Tello was the acting sheriff because Sheriff Adrian Garcia was out of town.

The shooting shocked students, faculty members and administrators at the 200-acre campus. The school is in northern Harris County and about 30 minutes from downtown. It is so close to George Bush Intercontinental Airport that college officials said one can often look up and wave at the passengers.

Students said they did not realize that the shots were actually gunfire. Because the shooting occurred outdoors — in a center courtyard near the library and academic buildings, officials said — many heard the sounds. One student sitting at a table on the third floor of the library thought it was a book cart toppling.

“Later we heard people screaming, and we knew it was gunshots,” said the student, Jonathan Moreno, 19, a freshman.

Mr. Moreno hid with other students in a back room on the third floor of the library in the moments after the shooting. “It was a scary thing,” he said. “Some people were panicking. Some lady was about to have like an asthma attack. There were some people crying.”

Other students sat or crouched in classrooms in buildings with the lights turned off. Some fled classrooms and buildings so quickly that they left their belongings behind and planned on returning late Tuesday night to retrieve them.

Richard Carpenter, the chancellor for the Lone Star College System, said the North Harris campus, the system’s first, was celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. “In 40 years, this is the first kind of incident like this we’ve ever had,” Mr. Carpenter said. “The campus will be reopening tomorrow. It has been safe for 40 years. We think it’s still safe.”

One freshman, Whikeitha Thomas, 21, had been in math class for about 15 minutes when he heard loud bangs. “A teacher came in,” Mr. Thomas said. “She said: ‘There’s been a shooting on campus. Lock the doors. Turn off the lights.’ ”

Mr. Thomas and his classmates hid in the classroom. In those tense moments, one of the students, a 23-year-old woman, collapsed. Mr. Thomas and another student gave the woman CPR inside the classroom and called 911. “The lights were off at first until she passed out,” Mr. Thomas said. “When she passed out, they turned the lights back on so I could perform CPR.”

As Mr. Thomas was trying to revive the woman, she told him that she was more frightened than the others. She said she had survived the Virginia Tech shooting. “She said, ‘I went through this already at Virginia Tech, and I just don’t like this feeling.’ ” 

Source: http://www.nytimes.com