Torben Grael's Ericsson 4 has won the second leg of the Volvo Ocean Race from Cape Town to Cochin.
LONDON, England. Volvo Ocean Race favorite Ericsson 4 has arrived in Cochin, India to win the second leg of the round-the-world race.
The victory adds to the crew's first leg win, keeping them on top of the points standings.
Telefonica Blue claimed second place, while Ericsson 3 took third and Telefonica Black, fourth.
Ericsson 4, skippered by Torben Grael has now claimed 26 of the 28
possible points on offer so far. The second leg victory was almost
assured a week from the finish when the boat opened up a significant
gap on the rest of its rivals.
The second leg saw the fleet pass
to the south east of the Gulf of Aden region where pirates have been
launching numerous attacks on vessels passing through the area.
All eight boats were being monitored by naval forces in the region for fear of hijacking.
Eight legs, plus several in-port races still remain in this edition of the race, which will run through until July next year.
The next leg begins on 13 December and sees the fleet make a 1950
nautical mile journey to Singapore, where they should arrive just in
time for Christmas Day.
Although a
relatively short leg, there is also a risk of piracy on this journey,
with the South China Sea, the Strait of Malacca, and the waters be
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Denilson (left) congratulates Van Persie after scoring at Stamford Bridge.
Arsenal threw the English title race wide open with a 2-1 victory over leaders Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.
Chelsea led through a Johan Djourou own goal at halftime, but two
goals by Dutch international Robin Van Persie in three minutes gave
Arsenal a much-needed win.
Chelsea still lead Liverpool on
goal difference with 33 points, but Liverpool can move three points
clear if they win their 15th round match against West Ham on Monday.
Champions Manchester United are on 28 points, having played 14 games,
with Arsenal two points further adrift having played a game more.
United beat Manchester City 1-0 in the early kickoff on Sunday with Wayne Rooney scoring the winner.
The later London derby was a make or break game for Arsene Wenger's men
who were struggling to compete with bigger, more physical opponents in
the first half and fell behind to a soft goal.
But Van Persie lashed a 59th-minute shot into the top corner from what appeared to be a clear offside position to equalize.
But if his first goal involved luck, there was none surrounding his second three minutes later.
Emmanuel Adebayor headed captain Cesc Fabregas' free kick to Van
Persie's feet and the Dutch striker turned and shot through Frank
Lampard's legs and into the far corner.
Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn star in "Four Christmases," which debuted at No. 1.
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Thanksgiving weekend movie crowds gobbled up
the Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn holiday comedy "Four
Christmases," which debuted at No. 1 with $31.7 million, according to
studio estimates Sunday.
The Warner Bros. release, featuring Witherspoon and Vaughn as a
couple suffering through four separate family holiday gatherings,
raised its total to $46.7 million since opening Wednesday to get a head
start on the long weekend.
In terms of revenue, it was
Hollywood's second-biggest Thanksgiving period ever. The top 12 movies
took in $223.7 million from Wednesday to Sunday, trailing only the
$232.2 million haul over Thanksgiving in 2000.
Summit
Entertainment's vampire romance "Twilight," which had a huge No. 1
opening the previous weekend, took a steep 62 percent decline from its
$69.6 million debut and was neck-and-neck for second place with
Disney's animated family flick "Bolt."
Based on Sunday's
estimates, "Bolt" had a slight lead with $26.6 million for the weekend,
compared to $26.4 million for "Twilight." Their rankings could change
once final numbers are released Monday.
"Twilight' is still a phenomenon, but you can't really maintain
that level of intensity week after week," said Paul Dergarabedian,
president of box-office tracker Media B
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Robert De Niro stars as a Hollywood producer whose life is way out of control in "What Just Happened."
LONDON, England. If you were looking for someone to
write a pithy satire dishing the dirt on the highs and lows of
Hollywood, then A-list producer Art Linson would be a pretty good bet.
He's got 25 years working with Tinseltown's finest under his belt,
and his film credits include "Into The Wild" and "Fight Club."
Now he's turned his hand to writing. First, a memoir detailing his
experiences as a Hollywood producer, "Bitter Hollywood Tales From the
Front Line." And lately, adapting the book into a screenplay for the
film, "What Just Happened," starring another Hollywood veteran, Robert
De Niro.
The film, which is directed by Barry Levinson, tells
the story of two weeks in the life of a nail-biting middle-aged
Hollywood producer who is desperately trying to balance a set of
outrageous crises in his day job with an equally complicated private
life. The film also features celebrity guest stars like Sean Penn and
Bruce Willis mercilessly sending themselves up
CNN's "The
Screening Room" caught up with Linson and De Niro and quizzed them
about how closely the Hollywood represented in the film resembles the
real Hollywood, how the book became a film -- and what it takes to get
ahead in the business.
CNN: It's a great book -- what made you decide to
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Rep. Henry Waxman successfully toppled Rep. John Dingell for a key chairmanship.
WASHINGTON. Congressional Democrats have a bigger
majority than they've enjoyed in decades, but that doesn't necessarily
mean there will be unity on Capitol Hill.
A new battle may be brewing as Democrats fighting Democrats show evidence of a party divide.
The growing Democratic majority could be in deadlock from within on
issues ranging from climate change and energy to health care and social
security.
"We're not just talking ideology here. The broader
your majority, the more you've got different regions of the country
that have different economic and social interests that you have to take
into account," said Norman Ornstein, a scholar with the American
Enterprise Institute.
The clash of the titans was evident just
hours after the election ended as a public fight erupted for the
leadership of a key committee charged with enacting many of
President-elect Barack Obama's agenda items.
House Government Reform Committee Chairman Henry Waxman,
D-California, successfully challenged Michigan Rep. John Dingell for
the chairmanship of the powerful Energy and Commerce committee.
Climate change, energy independence, and health-care reform all fall under the purview of the committee.
Sarah Palin hits the campaign trail Sunday and Monday for GOP Sen. Saxby Chambliss of Georgia.
WASHINGTON. Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is adding her name
to the list of big-name surrogates who are making campaign cameos in
the last remaining Senate election this year.
Palin teams up with Sen. Saxby Chambliss at a fundraiser Sunday
night and at four campaign stops across Georgia on Monday, the last
full day of campaigning before Tuesday's runoff election.
Chambliss is the freshman Republican senator from Georgia who is
fighting to keep his seat. He's facing Jim Martin -- a former state
lawmaker in Georgia -- in the runoff election.
Chambliss
won a plurality of the vote on Election Day, but Georgia state law
requires 50 percent plus one vote for a victory. Due to the inclusion
of a third party candidate, Chambliss fell just shy of that threshold,
forcing a runoff contest.
Palin is the latest high-profile
surrogate to stump with Chambliss. Sen. John McCain returned to the
trail to campaign with Chambliss just nine days after losing the
presidential election to Sen. Barack Obama.
Two weeks ago,
former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee -- who ran for the Republican
presidential nomination before dropping out in March and backing McCain
-- campaigned with Chambliss. Former Massachuse
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Dr. Anthony S. Fauci: Progress has been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS, but "our work is just beginning."
Editor's note: Dr. Anthony S. Fauci is director of the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes
of Health.
When we commemorated the first World AIDS Day on December 1, 1988, we had little to celebrate.
The number of reported AIDS cases in the United States was nearing
80,000 and rising rapidly. Untold thousands more in this country were
living with the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV. Globally, AIDS
cases already had been reported from more than 135 countries. An AIDS
tsunami clearly was looming, but we had few defenses at our disposal.
For those of us caring for people with AIDS, it was a dark time. We had
just one anti-HIV medicine in our pharmacies, AZT, a drug that the
virus rapidly defeated by mutating and developing resistance. Lacking
other medicines to slow the relentless replication of HIV and its
destruction of a person's immune system, we did our best to help our
patients by managing to the extent possible their AIDS-related
infections and complications. But the life span of most of the patients
was measured in months.
Two decades later, much has changed. An
unprecedented research effort has led to more than two dozen anti-HIV
drugs, more than for all other viral diseases combined. Taken in pro
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KENNESAW, Georgia. The sweet smell of sugar cookies baking filled the air in Kris Shock's kitchen.
She pulled a tray from the oven and sat down with her 9-year-old son, Drew, to frost the treats.
Then, Shock did something that might have been unthinkable for her a few years ago. She took a bite of a cookie.
Shock, 36, of Kennesaw, Georgia, spent most of her adolescence and
early adulthood struggling with bulimia and an addiction to diet pills.
Long holiday seasons were always the worst, Shock said, as she dealt
with the stress of trying to create a picture-perfect Thanksgiving and
Christmas for her family.
"I would be emotionally and physically
exhausted come the New Year, and I would have no memories to show for
it other than sheer anxiety," Shock recalled. "I would be acting out at
every moment, whether that was using diet pills, taking laxatives or
restrictive behavior, whatever I used to cope at that moment."
Now in recovery, Shock approaches the holidays and all that tempting food with a bit of trepidation.
"I always keep in mind that relapse is potentially possible if I
don't do the right things," Shock said. "For me, that is being honest
with myself, knowing that tomorrow I may have to pick up the phone and
call a nutritionist ... or call my therapist."
That's just what
some experts recommend, including Cynthia Bulik, director of the
Un
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Palestinian women hold candles during a vigil protesting the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.
JERUSALEM Israeli naval vessels intercepted a Libyan
ship carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza on Monday, Palestinian and
Israeli officials said.
Israel's Foreign Ministry said the ship was stopped and ordered to
turn back because it was not authorized to dock in the Palestinian
territory of Gaza which is under an Israeli blockade.
After receiving the message by radio contact, the Libyan ship turned back, a ministry spokesman said.
Gaza lawmaker Jamal Khoudary said the ship returned to the Egyptian port town of Al-Arish near the Gaza border.
"This ship was carrying food and medicine and was coming to assist the
Palestinian people in Gaza, where they live under siege," Khoudary said.
Israel
maintains that rocket attacks and security threats from militant groups
in Gaza forced it to close its border crossings with Gaza. The blockade
also applies to ships coming into Gaza. Israel controls the waters off
the coast of the Palestinian territory.
Human rights groups have expressed concern about the Israeli
blockade on Gaza, which has restricted the delivery of emergency aid
and fuel s
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Indian authorities say this man, suspected of being a gunman in the Mumbai attack, claims he is Pakistani.
MUMBAI, India A second Indian official offered his
resignation Monday in the wake of last week's deadly terrorist attacks
as Pakistan urged its nuclear neighbor to withhold blame until further
investigation.
Vilasrao Deshmukh, chief minister of the state of Maharashtra where
Mumbai is located, said he would leave it up to his ruling Congress
party to decide whether his resignation would be accepted.
His
announcement followed Sunday's resignation of federal Home Minister
Shivraj Patil, who quit amid criticism of the response to Wednesday's
attacks that left 179 dead.
The attacks have damaged India's
already strained relationship with Pakistan, which says India has yet
to offer any proof to support allegations that a Pakistani-based
Islamic militant group was behind the massacre.
One captured
suspect has told police that he is Pakistani, Indian officials said.
Sources told CNN's sister station, CNN-IBN, that the captive has said
he was trained by Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, a Pakistan-based terror group
allied with al Qaeda.
The suspect also said he and his fellow attackers were told to memorize Google Earth maps of Mumbai's streets so they could find their targets, CNN-IBN reported. ... Читать дальше »
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