Turkey fines TV channel for "The Simpsons" blasphemy

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkey's broadcasting regulator is fining a television channel for insulting religious values after it aired an episode of "The Simpsons" which shows God taking orders from the devil.

Radio and television watchdog RTUK said it was fining private broadcaster CNBC-e 52,951 lira ($30,000) over the episode of the hit U.S. animated TV series, whose scenes include the devil asking God to make him a coffee.

"The board has decided to fine the channel over these matters," an RTUK spokeswoman said but declined further comment, saying full details would probably be announced next week.

CNBC-e said it would comment once the fine was officially announced.

Turkey is a secular republic but most of its 75 million people are Muslim. Religious conservatives and secular opponents vie for public influence and critics of the government say it is trying to impose Islamic values by stealth.

Elected a decade ago with the strongest majority seen in years, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and his Islamist-rooted AK Party have overseen a period of unprecedented prosperity in Turkey. But concerns are growing about authoritarianism.

Erdogan last week tore into a chart-topping soap opera about the Ottoman Empire's longest-reigning Sultan and the broadcasting regulator has warned the show's makers about insulting a historical figure.

"The Simpsons" first aired in 1989 and is the longest-running U.S. sitcom. It is broadcast in more than 100 countries and CNBC-e has been airing it in Turkey for almost a decade.

"I wonder what the script writers will do when they hear that the jokes on their show are taken seriously and trigger fines in a country called Turkey," wrote Mehmet Yilmaz, a columnist for the Hurriyet newspaper.

"Maybe they will add an almond-moustached RTUK expert to the series," he said, evoking a popular Turkish stereotype of a pious government supporter.

($1 = 1.7873 Turkish liras)

(Reporting by Ece Toksabay; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Paul Casciato)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/turkey-fines-tv-channel-simpsons-blasphemy-142447096.html

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Italy mayor concedes primary win to Bersani

ROME (AP) ? The mayor of Florence has conceded victory in a runoff primary to Pier Luigi Bersani to be the center-left's candidate for Italy's 2013 general elections.

In a Twitter message soon after polls closed Sunday, Mayor Matteo Renzi said: "It was the right thing to try, it was beautiful to do it together. Thank you all from the heart."

Sunday's primary has been closely watched since the Democratic Party, of which Bersani is leader, has a significant lead in the polls over Silvio Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom party looking ahead to general elections early next year. Berlusconi's party has been in disarray following the media mogul's 2011 downfall, a series of corruption scandals within party ranks and Berlusconi's indecision over whether to run for a fourth term.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Italy held a primary runoff Sunday to choose a center-left candidate to run in next year's general election ? a man who in a few months could become the EU nation's next premier.

Sunday's runoff pitted veteran Pier Luigi Bersani, 61, against the 37-year-old mayor of Florence, Matteo Renzi, who campaigned on an Obama-style "Let's change Italy now" mantra that has attracted many disgruntled Italians back to politics.

Nearly all polls projected Bersani, the leader of the main center-left Democratic Party, as winning Sunday's primary. He won the first round of balloting Nov. 25 with 44.9 percent of the vote to Renzi's 35.5 percent.

With Silvio Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom party lagging in the polls and in chaos over whether the three-time premier will run again, analysts were already discussing the possibility that Bersani could soon become Italy's next premier.

The 2013 general election ? expected in March or April ? will decide if Italy continues on the same path to financial health charted by Premier Mario Monti, appointed last year to save Italy from a Greek-style debt crisis. The former European commissioner was named to head a technical government after international markets lost confidence in then-premier Berlusconi's ability to reign in Italy's public debt and push through structural reforms.

Even if Renzi loses the primary, he will have won a victory of sorts in having changed the Italian left. Renzi's perceived conservative leanings, while alienating the left's hard-core communists, attracted Italians young and old who have grown disenchanted with Italy's political class.

"Even if he loses, as I think he will, he had an important renovation function within the party," Rome resident Pietro Marucci said Sunday as he voted for Renzi.

Renzi's style ? moving around Italy in a motor home to meet crowds, addressing supporters in just a shirt and tie, no jacket ? attracted quite a following and drew inevitable comparisons to Barack Obama.

But some analysts said he was simply not yet ready for the job of running Italy, and that his relaxed, fresh approach to politics isn't what Italy needs as it navigates through a grinding recession and near-record high unemployment and tries to tackle its enormous public debt of ?2 trillion ($2.5 trillion).

"Italy certainly badly needs new faces, fresh faces," commentator Massimo Franco said. "But I think that between Renzi and Bersani, the big problem is also experience."

Renzi addressed that charge during a debate this week, asking Bersani, who has served as the national transport and industry minister, what he had accomplished in his 2,547 days in government.

Renzi also complained bitterly this week about primary rules that limited voters and his campaign reported alleged voting irregularities on Sunday.

Primary organizers said they were investigating a handful of individual cases but that on the whole voting was proceeding regularly.

Berlusconi had largely stayed out of the public spotlight for the past year ? until recent weeks, when he announced he was thinking about running again, then changed his mind, then threatened to bring down Monti's government, and then went silent about his political plans.

His waffling has thrown his People of Freedom party into disarray, disrupting its own plans for a primary.

A poll published Friday gave the Democratic Party 30 percent of the vote if the election were held now, compared with 19.5 percent for the upstart populist movement of comic Beppe Grillo. Berlusconi's party was in third with 14.3 percent. The poll, by the SWG firm for state-run RAI 3, surveyed 5,000 voting-age adults by telephone between Nov. 26 and 28. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.4 percentage points.

It's been quite a turnabout both for Berlusconi's once-dominant movement and the Democratic Party, which had been in shambles for years, unable to capitalize on Berlusconi's professional and personal failings.

Another unknown is Monti's political future. He has ruled out running for office but has said he would be willing to stay on in some capacity if he could be of service. Some commentators have floated the idea of Monti taking over the largely ceremonial role as Italian president, while others say his talents would put to better use as treasury minister.

___

Maria Grazia Murru contributed from Rome.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italy-mayor-concedes-primary-win-bersani-193550077.html

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Improve Your Financial Outlook With These Valuable Tips ...

It isn?t always easy to save your money, particularly when you consider all the ways society encourages you to spend all you can. You will find yourself tempted to spend money by everything from promotional offers to television advertisements. The following article contains personal finance tips that can make it easier for you to save money.

Don?t drink bottled water. This expense is unnecessary, as you can get water for free. If you don?t enjoy how it taste, add powdered drink mix or buy a filter. This can end up saving you money in the long run, while not having to sacrifice taste.

Your vehicle is a large and important purchase that you will have to make. The easiest way to get a cheap price on your next car is to shop, shop, shop around to all of the car dealers in your driving radius. If you aren?t finding a good deal, then there is always the Internet.

TIP! Plan at least one calender day every month to pay bills. You won?t spend the entire day paying down bills, obviously, but the payment of your debt does warrant its own day.

The only way to accumulate wealth is to make more money than you spend. By developing proper spending procedures, you will begin to save money for the future. To help save money, develop a budget and stick to it.

The night before your next payday, put some money aside for weekend spending. By budgeting your weekend money, you will help protect your paycheck. This will help you avoid foolish or impulsive spending on the weekend.

Create a budget and follow it until you are able to dig yourself out of debt. You can keep a budget on your phone, on your computer, or simply in a diary. Budgets will help you be more accountable for your spending habits.

You may want to get overdraft protection with your bank if you are frequently struggling financially. It may cost a few bucks, but the cost is usually lower than having to pay basic overdrawn fees.

Always pay attention to your credit report. You can look at your credit report absolutely free! Request a free credit report two or three times per year and look for charges you didn?t make, accounts you didn?t open, or other suspicious activity that suggests someone has stolen your identity.

Do not stick with investments just because they have done well for you in the past. If a company that you have had previous experience with is floundering, move on.

Frequent flier programs are advantageous to anyone who travels by air often. It is not uncommon for credit card issuers to offer incentives like airline miles or valuable discounts. Frequent flyer miles can also be redeemed for all kinds of rewards, including totally or partially discounted hotel rates.

TIP! Although you may not like your job too much, making some money is better than none. If you are considering taking a new job, make sure you have one lined up before you quit your present job.

Save a few dollars every day. For example, check out a couple of different grocery store circulars to see which one has the cheapest prices rather than going to the store that is closest. You should be willfully ready to buy food that is on sale.

In order to establish a nest egg, you need to deposit money on a regular basis into some type of savings account. Doing so will let you get the loan you need, even in hard situations. If your savings are great enough, a loan may not be required at all. Saving a small amount, even ten dollars a month, helps you build your savings over time if you do not have a lot of extra income.

Saving money is often the last thing people think about doing. It gets even harder to save when you take into account all the ways our society encourages us to spend. Keep these tips in mind and use them to help you save money and become financially independent.

One of the benefits of online banking is that your bank can send you online alerts to help you manage your money. Many banks will send emails or texts when there is activity reported on your account. Having a large withdrawal or low balance alert will protect you from fraud and overdraft.

Source: http://www.projectpb.net/blog/index.php/personal_finance/improve-your-financial-outlook-with-these-valuable-tips/

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Video: New insights into mosquitoes' role as involuntary bioterrorists

Saturday, December 1, 2012

For many years scientists thought that mosquitoes provided the disease organisms which they spread with a relatively free ride because the insects didn't have much in the way of natural defenses to fight off these microscopic stowaways.

Recent research, however, has revealed that mosquitoes have surprisingly sophisticated immune systems. Unlike humans and most other animals, mosquitoes do not generate antibodies that identify and attack specific infectious agents. However, they have developed alternative methods for destroying various pathogens, including parasites that cause malaria.

In the latest study of the mosquito's immune system ? published online on Nov. 29 in the journal PLOS Pathogens? a pair of Vanderbilt biologists have discovered mosquitoes possess a previously unknown mechanism for destroying pathogens that takes advantage of the peculiarities of the insect's circulatory system to increase its effectiveness.

Studies of this sort are providing the information needed to manipulate the mosquito immune system to block malaria parasites more effectively and to develop other novel disease control strategies.

"It may come as a surprise to many people, but mosquitoes get sick too and they need to protect themselves," said Juli?n Hillyer, assistant professor of biological sciences, who conducted the research with graduate student Jonas King.

"The mosquito's immune system isn't as complex as ours. About 350 of its 12,500 genes have immune functions," Hillyer said. "But it is remarkably effective. The vast majority of the malaria parasites that infect a mosquito die before they can get into the salivary glands where they can infect vertebrate prey, such as humans."

"Pathogens like those that cause malaria, dengue and yellow fevers come from the female's blood meal and end up in the mosquito's gut," Hillyer said. "They then leave the gut and enter the mosquito's main body cavity, and from there they have to make their way to its salivary glands." Inside the body cavity, pathogens have to fight two main forces: the swift circulation of the mosquito's own blood, and attacks from the mosquito's immune system.

The mosquito's circulatory system is dramatically different from that of mammals and humans. A long tube extends from the insect's head to tail and is hung just under the cuticle shell that forms the mosquito's back. The heart makes up the rear two-thirds of the tube and consists of a series of valves within the tube and helical coils of muscle that surround the tube. These muscles cause the tube to expand and contract, producing a worm-like peristaltic pumping action.

Most of the time, the heart pumps the mosquito's blood?a clear liquid called hemolymph?toward the mosquito's head, but occasionally it reverses direction. The mosquito doesn't have arteries and veins like mammals. Instead, the blood flows from the heart into the abdominal cavity and eventually cycles back through the heart. "The mosquito's heart works something like the pump in a garden fountain," Hillyer said.

In order to make it to their goal, pathogens must pass through one of the heart valves. As a result, the valves act as physical bottlenecks during the migration of viruses and malaria parasites.

Cells called hemocytes are an important element in the mosquito's defense system. These are special immune cells carried in the hemolymph that play a role analogous to white blood cells in humans. They circulate around the body with the hemolymph and attack foreign cells and viruses when they contact them. What Hillyer and King discovered was that when a mosquito becomes infected with bacteria or malaria parasites, a population of hemocytes is recruited to the valves of the heart, where they capture and destroy invading pathogens. These new mosquito immune cells, which they have named periostial hemocytes, substantially increase their odds of encountering and destroying invaders by congregating in areas of high hemolymph flow.

"What happens to these pathogens while they are carried inside the mosquito's body is a critical part of the infection cycle that we are just beginning to understand," said Hillyer.

###

Vanderbilt University: http://www.exploration.vanderbilt.edu

Thanks to Vanderbilt University for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 51 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125622/Video__New_insights_into_mosquitoes__role_as_involuntary_bioterrorists

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2 dead after bus crash at Fla. airport; 3 critical

Law enforcement officers watch as a bus which hit a concrete overpass at Miami International Airport is hauled away, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 in Miami. The vehicle was too tall for the 8-foot-6-inch entrance to the arrivals area, and buses are supposed to go through the departures area which has a higher ceiling, according to an airport spokesperson. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Law enforcement officers watch as a bus which hit a concrete overpass at Miami International Airport is hauled away, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 in Miami. The vehicle was too tall for the 8-foot-6-inch entrance to the arrivals area, and buses are supposed to go through the departures area which has a higher ceiling, according to an airport spokesperson. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee) (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Law enforcement officers stand next to a bus after it hit a concrete overpass at Miami International Airport in Miami on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012. The vehicle was too tall for the 8-foot-6-inch entrance to the arrivals area, and buses are supposed to go through the departures area which has a higher ceiling, according to an airport spokesperson. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Emergency personnel attend to injured passengers after a bus accident at Miami International Airport on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012 in Miami. Officials say a bus has hit an overpass, killing at least one person and injuring more than two-dozen people on board. Airport spokesman Greg Chin says the large, white bus hit the overpass going into the airport's arrivals section on Saturday morning. The bus was going about 20 mph when it clipped the roof entrance. (AP Photo/El Nuevo Herald, Roberto Koltun)

A bus is lodged into an overpass at the Miami International Airport on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012. The vehicle was carrying over 30 people when it crashed into the structure. Authorities say buses typically are routed through the departures area, which has a higher clearance. (AP Photo/Suzette Laboy)

A bus is lodged into an overpass at the Miami International Airport on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012. The vehicle was carrying over 30 people when it crashed into the structure. Authorities say buses typically are routed through the departures area, which has a higher clearance. (AP Photo/Suzette Laboy)

MIAMI (AP) ? A charter bus carrying 32 members of a church group hit a concrete overpass at Miami International Airport after the driver got lost Saturday, killing two elderly people on board and leaving three others critically injured, officials said.

The large, white bus was too tall for the 8-foot-6-inch entrance to the arrivals area, said airport spokesman Greg Chin. Buses are supposed to go through the departures area, which has a higher ceiling, he said.

Chin said passengers told him they were part of a group of Jehovah's Witnesses headed to West Palm Beach. Police said in a news release that the group had chartered the bus to take them to a church convention there.

The group was made up of congregation members of Sweetwater's Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses, said Sweetwater Mayor Manny Maro?o.

"This is a tragic accident that has affected many families, as well as, our Sweetwater family," Maro?o said in a press release. "I am pursuing all avenues to get in touch with the appropriate persons to officially extend our help to the congregation and those who were hurt."

A phone number listed for the center in Sweetwater went unanswered.

At the airport, two large signs warn drivers of large vehicles not to pass beneath the concrete overpass. One attached to the top of the concrete barrier reads: "High Vehicle STOP Turn Left." The other, placed to the left of the driveway and several feet in front of the barrier, says all vehicles higher than the 8-foot-6 threshold must turn left.

Three people were at hospitals in critical condition. The other 27 surviving passengers were hurt, but their injuries were less extensive, authorities said.

One person died at the scene; the second died later at a hospital.

Eight of the 14 patients taken to Ryder Trauma Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital were in stable condition while two others were in critical, said hospital spokeswoman Lidia Amoretti. Three others were expected to be discharged later Saturday.

A majority of the injuries were facial due to the frontal impact, said Miami-Dade Police spokesman Det. Alvaro Zabaleta.

"People that are passengers on a chartered bus, you are putting total confidence on the driver and they're high back chairs," he said. "It's just like you are sitting on a plane. You really don't see anything in front of you until of course they felt the impact ? the force takes them forward and the majority of them were facial injuries."

Zabaleta said it was "too early to tell if in fact any charges are going to be filed."

Osvaldo Lopez, an officer with the Miami-Dade Aviation Department, said he first heard a loud noise Saturday morning and was certain it was some sort of car wreck.

He said he went inside the bus to help and found several passengers thrown into the center aisle. He said the passengers, many of whom were elderly, remained calm after the wreck.

"It was just very bloody," he said of the scene.

After helping the passengers, Lopez suffered some injuries of his own ? his left arm and a finger on his right hand were both bandaged.

Fire trucks and police cars swarmed the area after 8 a.m. Saturday, and the bus was blocked off by yellow police tape. A white cooler that had been filled with water bottles was on its side behind the bus, the front of which remained wedged beneath the overpass for hours before it was towed away.

The bus was privately owned and typically used for tours, though police believe all the passengers were local residents, said Miami-Dade police Lt. Rosanna Cordero-Stutz. The driver was unfamiliar with the area near the airport and did not intend to wind up at the arrivals area, Cordero-Stutz said. Investigators were interviewing the driver, she said.

The bus was going about 20 mph when it struck the overpass Saturday morning, Chin said.

The bus model is commonly used for charters and tours, with the driver seated low to the ground and passenger seats in an elevated area behind the driver's seat.

Markings on the bus show it was owned by Miami Bus Service Corp.

Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration records found online show the company has had no violations for unsafe driving or controlled substances and alcohol. It also had not reported any crashes in the two years before Oct. 26, 2012.

The records show it did receive three citations related to driver fatigue in April 2011.

The company owns three motor coaches, according to the records. Miami Bus Service Corp. officials did not immediately respond to a phone message Saturday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-01-Miami%20Airport-Bus%20Crash/id-4ca45bb538e34991a0bb4afd17be2157

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Faxless Payday Loans: Hassle Free Finance

Faxless payday loans are actually payday loans that mainly benefit the salaried people who face financial demand just after ten to fifteen days of a calendar month. The salaried people have, actually, a kind of limited and fixed monthly income. Unwarranted financial necessity is a regular experience in their life. It is not always easy to secure the finance. Faxless payday loans are really a boon for these people.

Faxless payday loans are offered to the loan-seekers against their paychecks of the immediate next month, but the borrowers get the loan amount in the unsecured variant. This is to mean that they are not to submit a guarantee. There are more advantages. The lenders do not verify credit report of the borrowers. This is why people with unhealthy credit record can apply for faxless payday loans. The best of the relief comes in the form that they are not to fax huge documents in papers to their respective lenders in support of personal information. They are, in this way, saved from great botheration.

Faxless payday loans are really hassle free. The applicants obtain the finance at the shortest possible time. They can apply online. Online application is good, because their privacy is maintained and loan application is processed fast. The lender sends the finance to the bank account of the borrower electronically immediately after he approves the application.

The loan-seekers must submit the checking account to the lenders. They must be 18 and of course citizens of United Kingdom to qualify for the faxless payday loans. It is an imperative that they must work in an authorized organization and that they earn around 1000 in a month.

Faxless payday loans are short loans and also short term loans. An amount between 100 and 1000 are available to the loan-seekers. They are to pay back the borrowed amount within two to four weeks. They are to pay the interest towards the loan amount at higher rates.

The loan-seekers applying for the faxless payday loans should bear in mind that they must honor the loan agreement and pay back the loan amount in time. If they fail to do so, they will be burdened with extra charges and fines. It is also good if they do not run for getting any other kind of finance till they clear the reimbursement towards the faxless payday loans.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/Faxless-Payday-Loans--Hassle-Free-Finance/4297231

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China launches French-made communications satellite ... - Hourly TV

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Source: http://jude8.typepad.com/blog/2012/11/china-launches-french-made-communications-satellite-hourly-tv.html

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