Cap Cana Villa

Cap Cana is located in the Eastern region of the Dominican Republic known as Juanillo. The site was founded as a new and more ambitious touristic site with contributions from international investors and strategic partners such as Ritz-Carlton, Sotogrande, Donald Trump and many others. The site has a Marina, Large resorts, beaches, and many others. Primarily founded as a site to attract international visitors. The Cap Cana Championship, a Champions Tour golf tournament, is held at Punta Espada Golf Club in Cap Cana, a course designed by Jack Nicklaus.

Cap Cana's area includes more than one-hundred and twenty millon square meters of land, of which twenty-five million will be developed in its first phase. It also includes 8 kilometers of beach and coasts, 5 of which are considered to be among the most spectacular in the Caribbean, locally considered to be neck-in-neck to the beaches of Bahia de Las Aguilas (literally, Bay of the Eagles) located in the southwestern municipality of Perdernales- often referred by past visitors as some of the most beautiful in the world.

WASHINGTON – It was almost unthinkable. The president of the United States walked into a meeting of fellow world leaders and there wasn't a chair for him, a sure sign he was not expected, maybe not even wanted.
Barack Obama didn't pause, however. "I'm going to sit by my friend Lula," he said, moving toward Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
A Brazilian aide gave the U.S. president his chair, and Obama spent the next 80 minutes helping craft new requirements for disclosing efforts to fight global warming. Along with India, South Africa and Brazil, the key member in the room was China, which recently surpassed the U.S. as the world's top emitter of heat-trapping gasses.
At the table this time for China was Premier Wen Jiabao, not an underling as before. Obama was bent on striking a deal before flying home to snowbound Washington.
He would later hail the achievement as a breakthrough. But even Obama said there was much more to do, and climate authorities called Copenhagen's results a modest step in the global bid to curb greenhouse gasses that threaten to melt glaciers and flood coastlines.
Obama's 15-hour, seat-of-the-pants dash through Copenhagen was marked by doggedness, confusion and semi-comedy. Constrained by partisan politics at home, and quarrels between rich and poor nations abroad, he was determined to come home with a victory, no matter how imperfect.
Experts and activists may debate its significance for years. Some, like Jeremy Symons, who watched the talks for the National Wildlife Federation, said it was "high drama and true grit on the part of the president that delivered the deal."
Others were far less kind. The Copenhagen agreements are "merely the repackaging of old and toothless promises," said Asher Miller, executive director of the Post Carbon Institute.
Even though a weary, bleary-eyed Obama had added six hours to his planned nine-hour visit, he was back in Washington by the time delegates at the 193-nation summit approved the U.S.-brokered compromises on Saturday. The agreements will give billions of dollars in climate aid to poor nations, but they do not require the world's major polluters to make deeper cuts in their greenhouse gas emissions.
This account of Obama's hectic day is based on dozens of interviews and statements by key players from numerous countries.
___
Obama was thrown off schedule almost from the moment he landed Friday morning in Copenhagen, where the summit's final-day talks seemed to be collapsing.
Instead of attending a planned meeting with Denmark's prime minister, he plunged into an emergency session of about 20 nations, big and small, wealthy and poor. Right away there was a troubling sign.
China was the only nation to send a second-tier official: vice foreign minister He Yafei instead of Premier Wen, who was in the building. The snub baffled and annoyed delegates.
For months, Obama had been pressing China to put into writing its promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Obama later seemed unusually animated when he alluded indirectly to China in a short, late-morning speech to the full conference.
"I don't know how you have an international agreement where we all are not sharing information and ensuring that we are meeting our commitments," he said. "That doesn't make sense."
Things then appeared to turn for the better, as Obama and Wen met privately, as scheduled, for 55 minutes. A U.S. official said they took a step forward as they discussed emissions targets, financing and transparency.

The two leaders directed aides to work on mutual language, and Obama's team proposed specific wording meant to solidify China's promise to be more forthcoming about its anti-pollution efforts.

A short time later, however, the U.S. team was more baffled and irked than before. At a follow-up session of the morning's big meeting, the Chinese sent an even lower-ranking envoy in Wen's place.

An irritated Obama told his staff, "I don't want to mess around with this anymore, I want to just talk with Premier Wen," according to a senior administration official who spoke on background to discuss sensitive diplomatic issues.

___

By now night had fallen, and it was clear Obama would be late getting home. He kept an appointment to discuss arms control with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Meanwhile he asked aides to try to set up a final one-on-one meeting with Wen, and a separate meeting with leaders of India, Brazil and South Africa. He hoped these fast-growing nations, which had been loosely aligned with China on many of the key issues, might influence the Chinese.

Confusion reigned. Chinese officials said Wen was at his hotel and his staff was at the airport. The same was said of top Indian officials, but nothing was clear.

South African President Jacob Zuma agreed to meet with Obama, then canceled when he heard the Indian leader was away, and Brazil would attend only if India did.

The Chinese said Wen could meet with Obama at 6:15 p.m., then changed it to 7 p.m. Obama used the time to talk strategy with the leaders of France, Germany and Great Britain.

Meanwhile, a four-nation negotiating team known as BASIC gathered. The modified acronym reflected its members: Brazil, South Africa, India and China.

Obama was unaware, however, thinking he was going to meet alone with Wen. After some confusion about who had access to the room, White House aides told the president that Wen was inside with the leaders of the three other countries, apparently working on strategy.

"Good," Obama said as he walked through the door. "Mr. Premier, are you ready to see me?" he called out. "Are you ready?"

Inside he found startled leaders and no chair to sit in.

U.S. officials denied that Obama crashed the party, saying he simply showed up for his 7 p.m. meeting with Wen and found the others there.

Whatever the meeting's original purpose, Obama used it to help strike an agreement on ways to verify developing nations' reductions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases, a good U.S. ending to their talks with the Chinese.

___

Other agreements that came from Copenhagen were a mixed bag, with some environmentalists keenly disappointed, and probably no nation entirely pleased.

Rich countries vowed to provide $30 billion in emergency climate aid to poor nations in the next three years, and set a goal of eventually channeling $100 billion a year to them by 2020.

The summit's final document said carbon emissions should be reduced enough to keep the increase in average global temperatures below 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) since preindustrial times. But average temperatures already have risen 0.7 degrees C (1.3 degrees F) since then.

The nations most vulnerable to climate change, including low-lying islands, say the 2 degree C figure is already too high.

It was just after 1 a.m. EST Saturday when Air Force One landed outside Washington on the flight from Copenhagen. With a steady snow falling, Obama headed for the White House. It would be 3 1/2 more hours before the 193 nations, with a few objections, would agree to the deal brokered by the American president. A short time later the conference adjourned.

Later Saturday, Obama put the best face possible on the results.

"This breakthrough lays the foundation for international action in the years to come," he said from the White House Diplomatic Reception Room.

But he got no plaudits in the Chinese press.

The English-language China Daily newspaper called Obama's Copenhagen speech "grandstanding," and said it left non-governmental organizations at the summit disappointed.

___

Associated Press writers Seth Borenstein, Michael Casey and Charles Hutzler in Copenhagen; H. Josef Hebert in Washington; and Cara Ana in Beijing contributed to this report.

The earliest historical record of a reservoir fountain pen dates back to the 10th century. In 953, Ma'ād al-Mu'izz, the caliph of Egypt, demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen which held ink in a reservoir and delivered it to the nib via gravity and capillary action.

The examples and perspective in this section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject.
Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.

Personalized Pens

PURCHASE, N.Y. – Gatorade is discontinuing its Tiger Woods drink but says it made the decision before the golfer's car accident led to a media firestorm surrounding his personal life.
The decision to drop the drink, called Tiger Focus, was first reported by trade publication Beverage Digest in an issue dated Nov. 25, two days before the incident at Woods' home in Florida. The publication's editor, John Sicher, said he learned of the decision the week of Nov. 9.
The brand — a unit of PepsiCo Inc. — says the decision does not have to do with recent events. A spokesman says the decision came several months ago.
The drink debuted in March 2008.
Beverage Digest estimates it represents less than 5 percent of Gatorade's volume. Sales volume of Tiger Focus was down 34 percent this year through October.
Meanwhile, there have been no advertisements in prime-time featuring Woods since Nov. 29, according to data from Nielsen Co.
The research firm said the last prime-time ad to appear featuring the golfer was a 30-second ad that day for the Gillette Co. That commercial aired eight times during November, spokesman Aaron Lewis said.
There have been no other commercials since then on all broadcast networks and 19 cable networks during the evening news, prime-time, late-night and during weekend sports, he said.

http://www.specialtiesdirect.com/products.html

A bathroom directly connected to a bedroom is often called an en-suite bathroom. Its use is primarily intended for the occupants of that bedroom only. In French the term "en-suite" literally means "a following", in this case referring to the bathroom being part of the bedroom to which it is attached. A bathroom adjacent to or directly connected to a master bedroom in a private home is generally called a master bathroom, unless it is shared by other bedrooms or is the only bathroom in the home. An en-suite bathroom attached to two bedrooms is sometimes referred to as a "Jack and Jill bathroom". Travelers often get confused regarding different types of bathrooms when booking rooms in hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation. Some common questions relate to en-suite, "private" and "shared" bathrooms (sometimes called "facilities"). Both en-suite and private bathrooms are for the exclusive use of the occupants of a particular bedroom. An en-suite bathroom is accessed from within the bedroom, however, whereas a private bathroom is accessed from outside the bedroom but is normally adjacent or near to the bedroom. A shared bathroom is a bathroom outside of any bedroom that is shared between guests staying in two or more separate bedrooms. Although the word bathroom may be used, this room may have a shower stall instead of a bathtub. The bathroom would also normally include a toilet as well as washing facilities.

In fact throughout the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries, the use of public baths declined gradually in the west, and private spaces were favoured, thus laying the foundations for the bathroom, as it was to become, in the 20th century. However in Japan shared bathing in sento and onsen (spas) still exists; the latter being very popular.

Cap Cana Villa

Cap Cana is located in the Eastern region of the Dominican Republic known as Juanillo. The site was founded as a new and more ambitious touristic site with contributions from international investors and strategic partners such as Ritz-Carlton, Sotogrande, Donald Trump and many others. The site has a Marina, Large resorts, beaches, and many others. Primarily founded as a site to attract international visitors. The Cap Cana Championship, a Champions Tour golf tournament, is held at Punta Espada Golf Club in Cap Cana, a course designed by Jack Nicklaus.

Cap Cana's area includes more than one-hundred and twenty millon square meters of land, of which twenty-five million will be developed in its first phase. It also includes 8 kilometers of beach and coasts, 5 of which are considered to be among the most spectacular in the Caribbean, locally considered to be neck-in-neck to the beaches of Bahia de Las Aguilas (literally, Bay of the Eagles) located in the southwestern municipality of Perdernales- often referred by past visitors as some of the most beautiful in the world.

PORTLAND, Maine – Bolstered by out-of-state money and volunteers, both sides jockeyed Monday to boost turnout for a Maine referendum that could give gay-rights activists in the U.S. their first victory at the ballot box on the deeply divisive issue of same-sex marriage.
The state's voters will decide Tuesday whether to repeal a law that would allow gay marriage. The law was passed by the Legislature and signed by Democratic Gov. John Baldacci last May but has never taken effect.
The contest is considered too close to call, and both campaigns worked vigorously — with rallies, phone calls, e-mails and ads — to be sure their supporters cast votes in the off-year election.
If voters uphold the law, it will be the first time the electorate in any state has endorsed marital rights for same-sex couples, energizing activists nationwide and deflating a long-standing conservative argument that gay marriage lacks popular support.
Conversely, a repeal — in New England, the corner of the country most receptive to same-sex marriage — would be a jolting setback for the gay-rights movement and mark the first time voters overturned a gay-marriage law enacted by a legislature. When Californians voters rejected gay marriage a year ago, it was in response to a court ruling, not legislation.
Elsewhere around the country, Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine is locked in a tight battle for re-election in New Jersey, Republican Bob McDonnell is heavily favored in the race for Virginia governor, a hotly contested special congressional election in upstate New York has exposed a rift in the GOP between moderates and conservatives, and billionaire Michael Bloomberg is expected to coast to victory in his bid for a third term as mayor of New York.
Apart from Maine, five states have legalized same-sex marriage — Iowa, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. But all did so via legislation or court rulings, not through a popular vote. By contrast, constitutional amendments banning gay marriage have been approved in all 30 states where they have reached the ballot.
"The eyes of the nation will be on Maine," said Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. "The stakes are high, but so is our hope that Maine will remain among the growing number of states that extend the essential security and legal protections of marriage to all loving, committed couples."
Brian Brown of the New Jersey-based National Organization of Marriage, which has contributed $1.5 million to the repeal campaign, agreed the election is critical for both sides.
He took heart in polls showing a close race, saying polling in other states that voted on the issue tended to underestimate the eventual opposition to same-sex marriage.
"New England is the one area where it's much tougher ground for us than other states," Brown said. "The fact that in a state like Maine we're polling relatively even shows the depth of support for saying marriage is between a man and a woman."
In downtown Portland, hundreds of people carrying signs gathered for a raucous noontime rally Monday in favor of gay marriage. Participants were exhorted to go to City Hall to vote — and make sure others vote as well.
Meredith Hunt, who hopes to wed her partner of 15 years, Melissa Hamkins, has been doing door to door, working the phones and recruiting volunteers. She took time off from her job as a nurse practitioner Monday to join in the final push for gay marriage.
"I'm running on adrenaline at this point. I don't want to leave any stone unturned," said Hunt, 45, who lives on a farm in Bowdoin. "This isn't politics. This is personal."
On the other side, Jeannette Saucier, 71, of Topsham, telephoned potential voters in hopes of stopping gay marriage.
"It's not that I feel bigoted to gay people. We have gay people in my own family, but I don't see them having to be married to prove a point," she said.
Both campaigns have attracted volunteers and hefty financial support from out of state, but the financial advantage went to the side defending same-sex marriage, Protect Maine Equality. It raised $4 million, compared with $2.5 million collected by Stand for Marriage Maine, which forced the repeal vote through a petition drive.
Marc Mutty, on leave from a job with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland to run the Stand for Marriage campaign, said in a homestretch appeal for donations that the election "is about the future of marriage in Maine, and thus the nation."

"It is about whether marriage will continue to be between one man and one woman as God intended and human history has affirmed, or if we will plunge our state into a radical social experiment of 'any two will do,'" he said.

The diocese coordinated $550,000 in contributions to the repeal campaign and has criticized Baldacci, a Catholic and former altar boy, for signing the marriage law.

Gay-marriage opponents have stressed the theme — disputed by their rivals — that gay marriage will be taught in schools if the law is allowed to stand. A Stand For Marriage radio ad Monday focused on an attempt to strip the state license from a high school counselor who spoke out against gay marriage in a television commercial.

"Don't be fooled. If Question 1 fails and homosexual marriage is legalized, those in power in Maine schools will push it on students just as they are trying to punish one of Maine's best educators for supporting traditional marriage," the radio ad said.

Gay rights was also on the ballot Tuesday in Washington state, where voters will decide whether to uphold or overturn a recently expanded domestic partnership law that gives same-sex couples the same state-granted rights as heterosexual married couples.

Among other ballot items around the country:

• Measures in Maine and Washington that would limit state and local government spending by holding down increases to the rate of inflation plus population growth. Voters would have to approve of any spending over the limits, or any tax hikes.

_A measure in Maine that would allow dispensaries to distribute marijuana for medicinal purposes. It is a follow-up to a 1999 measure that legalized medical marijuana without setting up a distribution system for patients who don't grow their own pot.

_In Ohio, a measure that would allow casinos in four major cities: Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati and Toledo. Voters have defeated four previous gambling proposals over two decades, but casino supporters — who claim 34,000 jobs would be created_ say the woeful economy might produce a different outcome this time.

___

David Crary reported from New York.

LOS ANGELES – A California appeals court will listen to oral arguments from Roman Polanski's attorneys about why it should require a lower court to decide whether to dismiss charges against the fugitive director, whether he is present or not.
Polanski in July appealed a Los Angeles Superior Court judge's decision not to dismiss the criminal case because the director didn't appear for a hearing. The California Second District Court of Appeal on Monday set oral arguments for Dec. 10.
Los Angeles authorities have considered the Oscar-winning director a fugitive since he fled the United States in February 1978 just before he was to be sentenced for unlawful sexual intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.
The appeal was filed before Polanski's arrest in Switzerland on Sept. 25. He has resisted efforts to return him to Los Angeles. Extradition paperwork filed by U.S. authorities states the maximum sentence that Polanski, 76, faces is two years in prison.
Polanski's French attorney has filed a new bail offer with Swiss authorities in an attempt to free the Oscar-winning filmmaker.
Lawyer Herve Temime said the offer Monday includes "adequate guarantees" that Polanski will not flee justice if released. Polanski is awaiting a decision on extradition to the United States.
Switzerland's Justice Ministry rejected a bail offer Friday, considering Polanski a high flight risk. They noted it was not a cash offer.
Temime said Sunday the new offer would include a "very, very significant" cash amount, but he gave no further details Monday.
The California appellate court's decision to schedule oral arguments came 10 days after prosecutors and Polanski's attorneys filed supplemental briefs on why the appeal should either be heard or dismissed.
Prosecutors have consistently argued that Polanski needs to be present for the judge to consider whether to dismiss the case against him. They argued the appeal should be barred by Polanski's status as a fugitive, and that his arrest has rendered the case moot since there is now a chance that he will be returned to the United States.
Polanski's attorneys, however, argued his status as a fugitive shouldn't disqualify his appeal. The Superior Court judge should be required to decide whether to dismiss the case because of a judge's misconduct in handling Polanski's original criminal case, they stated in court filings.
They also contend that because of the previous misconduct, Polanski should not have to attend the hearing.
Polanski's victim, Samantha Geimer, has repeatedly asked for dismissal of the charges against Polanski. Her attorney filed a declaration in the appeals case last month, stating that the case's re-emergence has caused her undisclosed health issues and problems at her workplace.
She sued Polanski years after he fled, and the director agreed to pay a $500,000 settlement to her. It is unclear how much of the money she received.

WASHINGTON – Tens of thousands of people may have taken advantage of the first-time home buyer tax credit to defraud the government, an IRS watchdog office said Thursday, in testimony that could jeopardize efforts to extend the popular program.
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George told a House panel that more than 19,000 people filed 2008 tax returns or amended returns claiming the credit for homes they had not yet purchased. Those claims amounted to $139 million and it was not clear that the IRS planned to go back to verify that those purchases actually took place, he said.
George said his office had identified another $500 million in claims, by some 74,000 taxpayers, where there were indications of prior home ownership.
George's office said the IRS did not require taxpayers to provide documentation to substantiate the purchase of a home. They were told by the tax agency that it did not have the ability to accept such documentation electronically.
He told a House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee that they also found 580 taxpayers under the age of 18 who claimed $4 million in first-time home buyer credit. One was 4 years old.
George said that while the IRS has since taken steps to tighten oversight, "some key controls were missing to prevent an individual from erroneously or fraudulently claiming the credit."
Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., chairman of the subcommittee, said he was concerned that the quick IRS response to the new credit came at a cost. "There are possibly hundreds of millions of dollars that have been paid to taxpayers who are not entitled to the credit," he said.
The top Republican on the panel, Rep. Charles Boustany, Jr., of Louisiana, said that while the issue of extending the credit was not the purpose of the hearing, "every time Congress creates a new refundable credit ... the incentive for fraud is magnified."
Linda Stiff, IRS' deputy commissioner for services and enforcement, agreed that "any time that there is an opportunity to receive cash back it tends to attract people that might have an intent to defraud the government." The agency "recognizes that there is potential for both fraud and errors" when a new tax credit is enacted. She said the agency "will vigorously pursue those who filed fraudulent claims."
The home buyer credit was a key element of the $787 billion stimulus package enacted last February. Under the measure, low- and middle-income first-time home buyers purchasing a home between Jan. 1 and Nov. 30 of this year could claim a credit of up to $8,000 on their 2008 or 2009 income tax return.
The Internal Revenue Service says it has processed claims from more than 1.5 million individuals or families. The General Accountability Office, in a report to the subcommittee, said that represented about $10 billion in tax revenue.
With the program scheduled to expire in a month and the housing market's recovery still shaky, there have been various proposals in Congress to extend and expand it.
At one end, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., says the program should be extended for a month while lawmakers take another look at how it is being run. On the other end, Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., with the backing of banking committee chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., wants to extend it through next June 30, and expand it to include all home buyers, at an estimated cost of $16.7 billion.
Housing and Human Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, in testimony to Congress earlier this week, was noncommittal, saying the administration understands the urgency of the housing situation but wants to get a better grasp of the costs involved.
As of the end of September the IRS, according to the GAO report, has frozen more than 110,000 refunds pending civil or criminal examinations, identified 167 criminal schemes and commenced 115 criminal investigations.
George said the IRS has implemented computer programming to reject claims from people who have not yet purchased a new home. He also acknowledged that the agency has installed filters to catch claimants who had entered information on tax returns indicating they may have owned a home in the three previous years. Those could include deductions for home mortgage interest or real estate taxes.
George also noted that through late July his office had identified some 3,200 taxpayers claiming credits totaling more than $20.8 million on tax returns filed with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, an identifier that is used mainly by resident immigrants and does not indicate whether an individual is authorized to live or work in the U.S. The stimulus act specifically denies the credit to nonresident immigrants.
Stiff stressed that those claims flagged as potentially erroneous may be found, on further examination, to be legitimate.

While the program has widespread support in Congress, there are growing concerns about the costs. The cause, said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., "is a worthy one." But "I hope we can find ways to pay for it."

Critics have also characterized the program as a subsidy for people who would have bought a new home regardless of the tax credit. The National Association of Realtors has estimated that one-fourth of those who have claimed the credit, about 350,000, would not have purchased their homes without the credit.

NAPA, Calif. – Oakland Raiders coach Tom Cable won't face charges after being investigated over allegations that he assaulted one of his assistants, ending a two-month saga that was a cloud over the team's season.
Napa County district attorney Gary Lieberstein said Thursday that the investigation concluded no charges were warranted.
"Our duty is to do the right thing for the right reasons," Lieberstein said. "Under the facts and circumstances of this case, it would be a miscarriage of justice to pursue criminal charges and we will not ask our citizens to give up their valuable time for jury duty, nor will we allow our criminal justice system to be compromised."
Cable has denied the charges from the beginning and said shortly before the district attorney's announcement that he trusted in the legal system. Cable said he does not intend to speak to the media again until Friday.
"The Raider organization waited patiently for a comprehensive legal process to conclude and now this matter has been resolved," Raiders spokesman Mike Taylor said. "Our focus has been and remains on the New York Jets."
Commissioner Roger Goodell said last week that criminal charges need not be brought against Cable for the NFL to discipline him if he broke the league's conduct rules.
"We will review the decision announced earlier today by the Napa District Attorney and the facts developed in the underlying investigation," the league said in a statement Thursday. "Following that review, we will take appropriate action, if any, under our policies."
The alleged attack occurred at the team's training camp hotel on Aug. 5 in Napa, after Cable called Randy Hanson into a meeting with defensive coordinator John Marshall and defensive backs coaches Lionel Washington and Willie Brown.
Hanson told Yahoo! Sports this month that Cable came up from behind him and knocked him out of his chair. Hanson said he broke his jaw and cracked two teeth after hitting a table. Hanson also alleged that Cable threatened to kill him before the other coaches pulled him away.
Calls to Hanson's attorney, John McGuinn, were not immediately returned Thursday. He told Comcast Sportsnet California that he did not understand the decision not to press charges.
"All I know is they had abundant evidence to proceed, but they chose not to," McGuinn said. "I don't know why they didn't."
Lieberstein said there was not enough evidence for a jury to convict Cable of any offenses beyond a reasonable doubt.
He said interviews with the three assistants established that Cable did not punch Hanson or make any verbal threats. He said evidence showed Cable became angry and rushed toward Hanson, but Washington stepped between the coaches.
Cable ran into Washington, who bumped into Hanson and knocked him out of his chair. The witnesses also told authorities that Cable then grabbed Hanson by the shirt but never struck or threatened him. Cable did not talk to police.
Lieberstein said that because Hanson did not file a police report at the time of the alleged incident, police were unable to search the hotel room for any physical evidence that might have corroborated Hanson's story. He said Hanson did not talk to the police until the end of September, which delayed the case.
"It should be further noted that within the past week and a half, Mr. Hanson showed up unannounced at the police department and made a statement to the effect that since the Raiders had not given him what he asked for, he would now fully cooperate with the prosecution," Lieberstein said.
Lieberstein said there were inconsistencies in what Hanson told the police and what he said in media interviews. He said those were not cleared up in a follow-up interview Wednesday.
"Something happened but even he doesn't know how it happened," Lieberstein said. "I don't even think he has a good idea."

Cable has said the pending case was not a distraction to his coaching, and the players have said it has not been an issue around the team.

"Honestly it hasn't even been in the locker room," receiver Louis Murphy said. "Nobody has really spoke on it. Stuff stays in the locker room. Whatever goes on the outside goes on the outside."

___

AP Sports Writer Josh Dubow in Alameda, Calif., contributed to this report.

RABAT (Reuters) –
The son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been named coordinator of a grouping of tribal, political and business leaders, a Libyan paper said on Friday -- making him the second most powerful figure in the country.

The exact powers Saif al-Islam will exercise are not clear, but the appointment as head of the "Popular Leaderships," if confirmed, is likely to convince many observers that he is being groomed as successor to his father.

Political sources in Tripoli said they expected Saif, seen as a reformist, to propose a new constitution to be voted on by the parliament-like General People's Congress. Libya has had no constitution since 1977 and political parties are banned.

The grouping has approved Saif al-Islam's appointment, the Oea newspaper said. Libyan media reported earlier this month Gaddafi had asked for Saif al-Islam to be given a senior post.

A statement said he would be given "all the power prerogatives to carry out his role toward building the Libya of the future," the newspaper reported.

On October 6, Gaddafi told a meeting that "Saif al-Islam is a faithful man and loves Libya."

His son should take a post with no term limit, he said. "Saif needs a position that allows him to pursue his role in carrying out his program to further Libya's interests," he added.

Gaddafi said Saif would cure Libya of widespread corruption and other social woes, arguing that state structures had failed to do so.

Saif has detailed over the past three years an agenda named Libya's Future, pledging to invest $70 billion to upgrade neglected infrastructure and to encourage Libyans to build a freer civic society with an independent judiciary and media.

He won widespread sympathy among Libyans when he assailed leading figures in the government as "fat cats."

Gaddafi, who chairs the African Union and holds the titles of "King of African Kings" and "the Internationalist Leader," has said he does not want to be distracted from his role on the world stage by domestic issues.

"SUCCESSION SIGNAL"

Analysts and opposition groups in exile say Gaddafi has anointed Saif as successor and wants to prevent opposition from inside his powerful clan before he leaves the political stage.

Saif, 36, has in the past repeatedly dismissed the succession scenario.

His father's most trusted envoy, he is credited with having helped convince the British and U.S. governments that his father was keen to end Libya's isolation by abandoning his program to develop weapons of mass destruction.

Tripoli scrapped the program in 2003 and has increasingly improved ties with the West. Gaddafi travelled to the United States last month for the first time in four decades to attend the U.N. General Assembly.

Saif chairs the Gaddafi Foundation charity but has held no official post in government before. His brothers hold key positions in the military, security apparatus and economy.

Ahmed Bouchaah, of Libya's exiled Muslim Brotherhood opposition group, was quoted on a website as saying: "Gaddafi's proposal is the clearest official signal to put Saif on the path of succeeding his father."

(Reporting by Lamine Ghanmi; editing by Andrew Roche)

GENEVA – The U.N. Human Rights Council voted Friday to endorse a report on last winter's Gaza conflict that calls on Israel and authorities in Gaza to carry out credible investigations into alleged abuses — or face possible referral to international war crimes prosecutors.
The decision means that Israel could find itself facing a request at the U.N. Security Council to refer the case to prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in The Hague — whose jurisdiction Israel does not accept.
Although a U.S. veto at the Security Council would be virtually assured, Friday's decision will keep attention on the report, compiled by an expert panel chaired by respected South African jurist Richard Goldstone.
Israel bitterly denounced Friday's decision, with officials arguing that continuing the course of the Goldstone report would embolden terror groups around the world — with nations reluctant to fight them for fear of facing the same fate as Israel.
The 575-page report concluded that Israel used disproportionate force, deliberately targeted civilians, used Palestinians as human shields and destroyed civilian infrastructure during its Dec. 27-Jan. 18 campaign to root out Palestinian rocket squads.
It also accused Palestinian armed groups including Hamas — which controls Gaza — of deliberately targeting civilians and trying to spread terror through rocket attacks on southern Israel. In the years leading up to the conflict Israel absorbed thousands of rocket attacks, which caused only a handful of fatalities but badly disrupted life in the area neighboring Gaza. During the campaign 1,400 Palestinians and 13 Israelis were killed.
The report, commissioned earlier this year by the U.N. Human Rights Council, recommends that the 15-member Security Council require both sides in the conflict to show within six months that they are carrying out independent and impartial investigations into alleged abuses. If they are not, the matter should then be referred to prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, the report says.
Friday's decision to endorse this approach followed two days of debate. The Palestinian-backed resolution passed 25-6, with mostly developing countries in favor and the United States and five European countries — Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Slovakia and Ukraine — opposing.
Eleven mostly European and African countries abstained, while Britain, France and three other members of the 47-nation body declined to vote. Russia and China, two permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, were among those voting yes.
"The clock on the report starts now," said Ibrahim Khraishi, the Palestinian Authority's U.N. ambassador in Geneva.
In order to be adopted, a U.N. Security Council resolution must get nine yes votes, and no veto by a permanent member. The U.S. is likely to use its veto to block any call to get the International Criminal Court involved in the dispute or to take action against Israel.
Officials from the Palestinian Authority visited the International Criminal Court on Friday to present legal arguments in favor of giving the court legal authority over territory it controls — something only sovereign nations are allowed to do. The Palestinian Authority is technically an autonomous entity, not a state.
Palestinians hope that, if the court accepts its request, court prosecutor Moreno Ocampo would then have jurisdiction to launch an investigation into war crimes committed by both sides during the Gaza conflict even without an order from the Security Council.
Israel does not accept the court's jurisdiction.
Ocampo had no comment Friday.
In Ramallah, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, welcomed Friday's vote.
"What is important now is to translate words into deeds in order to protect our people in the future from any new aggression," Nabil Abu Rdeneh said.
Israel and the U.S. called the Goldstone report "flawed" because it ignored Israel's right to defend its people from Palestinian rocket fire. They warned that the vote could jeopardize Middle East peace prospects.

Israel's foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, also said endorsing the report could have far-reaching consequences.

"Whoever votes in favor of endorsing the report must understand that next time it will be the soldiers and officers of NATO in Afghanistan, and then Russian soldiers and officers in Chechnya," Lieberman said late Thursday.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the resolution "provides encouragement for terrorist organizations worldwide and undermines global peace."

U.S. diplomat Douglas M. Griffiths told the council that Washington was disappointed with the outcome of the vote.

"We're focused on moving forward in the peace process and we feel that this is a distraction from that," Griffiths told The Associated Press.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, urged both sides earlier this week "to carry out impartial, independent, prompt and effective investigations into reported violations of human rights and humanitarian law."

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Associated Press Writer Mike Corder in The Hague, Aron Heller in Jerusalem and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

A late-day surge left stocks with modest advances Thursday as a jump in the price of oil lifted energy companies, offsetting weakness in bank shares. The gains came a day after strong profit reports from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Intel Corp. vaulted the Dow Jones industrials above the 10,000 level for the first time in a year.
The Dow rose 47.08, or 0.5 percent, to 10,062.94.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.54, or 0.4 percent, to 1,096.56.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 1.06, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,173.29.
For the week:
The Dow is up 198.00, or 2.0 percent.
The S&P is up 25.07, or 2.3 percent.
The Nasdaq is up 34.01, or 1.6 percent.
For the year:
The Dow is up 1,286.55, or 14.7 percent.
The S&P is up 193.31, or 21.4 percent.
The Nasdaq is up 596.26, or 37.8 percent.

Provides a handle: (i) for grasping, and (ii) provides a cool area of the mug that is insulated from the hot liquid by distance.

A travel mug is a variation on the traditional mug that is better for transporting hot liquids. It may or may not be a vacuum flask, but is usually well insulated and completely enclosed, with an easily closed opening on the top.

Photo Mugs

Obama tries to grab control of health care debate, will address Congress next Wednesday night
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama will deliver a major prime-time health care address to Congress next week, opening an urgent autumn push to gain control of the debate that has been slipping from his grasp under withering Republican-led attacks.
Scheduling of the speech next Wednesday night, just a day after lawmakers return from their August recess, underscores the determination of the White House to confront critics of Obama's overhaul proposals and to buck up supporters who have been thrown on the defensive. Allies have been urging the president to be more specific about his plans and to take a greater role in the debate, and aides have signaled he will do that in the address to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber.
The speech's timing also suggests that top Democrats have all but given up hope for a bipartisan breakthrough by Senate Finance Committee negotiators. The White House had given those six lawmakers until Sept. 15 to draft a plan, but next week's speech comes well ahead of that deadline.
It follows an August recess in which critics of Obama's health proposals dominated many public forums. Approval ratings for Obama, and for his health care proposals, dropped during August.
Senior adviser David Axelrod had said Tuesday that Obama was considering being "more prescriptive" about what he feels Congress must include in a health bill. Axelrod said all the key ideas for revising health care are "on the table," suggesting that Obama will not offer major new proposals.
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Fire offical says huge fire north of LA is human caused as firefighters make more progress
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Firefighters made more progress Wednesday against a giant wildfire that has ravaged a national forest north of Los Angeles as investigators said the blaze was human-caused and officials began letting more people back into their homes.
Officials are still trying to figure out what set off the blaze in the Angeles National Forest that had burned nearly 219 square miles, or 140,150 acres, by early Wednesday. Deputy incident commander Carlton Joseph would only say that the fire was human-caused, but it's not known specifically how it was started or whether it was accidental or arson.
Joseph said a human cause could include a range of things from a dropped cigarette to a spark from something like a lawn mower. Joseph says investigators have several leads and notes that lightning has been ruled out as a possible cause.
Investigators huddled beneath a partially burnt oak tree Wednesday near the spot where fire started — signs that the probe is actively under way. Pink and yellow tape roped off part of a ravine next to the tree where small red flags were planted.
Firefighters have created a perimeter around 22 percent of the blaze, largely by removing brush with bulldozers and setting controlled burns. Bulldozers still have 95 miles of fire line to build, mostly on the blaze's eastern front near the San Gabriel Wilderness Area.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger visited the fire area Wednesday morning and served breakfast to firefighters, scooping Cream of Wheat into paper bowls and giving them plenty of protein so "they get all pumped up for the next fight out there with those fires."
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Former Red Sox pitcher Schilling expresses 'some interest' in succeeding Kennedy in US Senate
BOSTON (AP) — Curt Schilling, the former major league pitcher who won the allegiance of Bostonians by leading the Red Sox to the 2004 World Series, said Wednesday that he has "some interest" in running for the seat held for nearly 50 years by Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.
Schilling, a registered independent and longtime Republican supporter, wrote on his blog that while his family and video gaming company, 38 Studios, are high priorities, "I do have some interest in the possibility."

"That being said, to get to there, from where I am today, many, many things would have to align themselves for that to truly happen," he added.

Any other comment "would be speculation on top of speculation," Schilling said, adding, "My hope is that whatever happens, and whomever it happens to, this state makes the decision and chooses the best person — regardless of sex, race, religion or political affiliation — to help get this state back to the place it deserves to be."

Schilling refused to comment when his office was contacted by phone.

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Repeat offender Pfizer paying record $2.3B settlement for illegal drug promotions

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal prosecutors hit Pfizer Inc. with a record-breaking $2.3 billion in fines Wednesday and called the world's largest drugmaker a repeating corporate cheat for illegal drug promotions that plied doctors with free golf, massages, and resort junkets.

Announcing the penalty as a warning to all drug manufacturers, Justice Department officials said the overall settlement is the largest ever paid by a drug company for alleged violations of federal drug rules, and the $1.2 billion criminal fine is the largest ever in any U.S. criminal case. The total includes $1 billion in civil penalties and a $100 million criminal forfeiture.

Authorities called Pfizer a repeat offender, noting it is the company's fourth such settlement of government charges in the last decade. The allegations surround the marketing of 13 different drugs, including big sellers such as Viagra, Zoloft, and Lipitor.

As part of its illegal marketing, Pfizer invited doctors to consultant meetings at resort locations, paying their expenses and providing perks, prosecutors said.

"They were entertained with golf, massages, and other activities," said Mike Loucks, the U.S. attorney in Massachusetts.

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Afghanistan's deputy intelligence chief among 23 people killed in Taliban suicide attack

KABUL (AP) — A Taliban suicide bomber attacked officials leaving a mosque east of the capital Wednesday, killing the country's deputy intelligence chief and 23 other people in a major blow to Afghanistan's security forces.

The brazen assault occurred as tensions are running high after last month's divisive presidential election and a sharp rise in U.S. casualties — events that have already raised alarm in Washington over the future of President Barack Obama's strategy to turn the tide of the war.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claimed responsibility for the bombing, which happened as Afghan dignitaries were leaving the main mosque in Mehterlam, 60 miles (100 kilometers) east of Kabul, after ceremonies marking the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

The bomber approached the crowd on foot and detonated an explosive belt, killing 23 people, including Abdullah Laghmani, deputy chief of Afghanistan's National Directorate for Security and the target of the attack, according to provincial spokesman Sayed Ahmad Safi.

The chairman of the local provincial council and the executive director of the local governor's office also died in the blast, Safi said.

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Levi Johnston: Palin wanted to adopt grandchild so people wouldn't know daughter was pregnant

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Levi Johnston, the father of Sarah Palin's grandchild, said the former Republican vice presidential candidate wanted to adopt his child so that people wouldn't know her 17-year-old daughter was pregnant.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, Johnston said Palin had a plan to deal with Bristol's pregnancy.

"Sarah kept mentioning this plan. She was nagging — she wouldn't give it up. She would say, 'So, are you gonna let me adopt him?' We both kept telling her we were definitely not going to let her adopt the baby. I think Sarah wanted to make Bristol look good, and she didn't want people to know that her 17-year-old daughter was going to have a kid," Johnston told the magazine for its October edition, which goes on sale Saturday. Excerpts of the interview were posted Wednesday on the magazine's Web site.

Meghan Stapleton, Palin's spokeswoman, did not immediately respond to request for comment, but has previously discounted Johnston's allegations. Palin has been keeping a low profile since she resigned on July 26 with more than a year left in her first term.

A week after Republican presidential candidate John McCain named Palin as his running mate, the campaign issued a statement that her unwed daughter was pregnant. It also said Bristol, now 18, and the young man would marry.

Johnston, 19, lived in the house for two months awaiting the birth of the baby, Tripp, who was born in December. The couple called off the wedding shortly after their son's birth.

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Israeli archaeologists uncover section of Jerusalem's oldest and largest fortification

JERUSALEM (AP) — Archaeologists digging in Jerusalem have uncovered a 3,700-year-old wall that is the oldest example of massive fortifications ever found in the city, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Wednesday.

The 26-foot-high wall is believed to have been part of a protected passage built by ancient Canaanites from a hilltop fortress to a nearby spring that was the city's only water source and vulnerable to marauders.

The discovery marks the first time archaeologists have found such massive construction from before the time of Herod, the ruler behind numerous monumental projects in the city 2,000 years ago, and shows that Jerusalem of the Middle Bronze Age had a powerful population capable of complex building projects, said Ronny Reich, director of the excavation and an archaeology professor at the University of Haifa.

The wall dates to the 17th century B.C., when Jerusalem was a small, fortified enclave controlled by the Canaanites, one of the peoples the Bible says lived in the Holy Land before the Hebrew conquest. The kingdom thought to have been ruled from Jerusalem by the biblical King David is usually dated to at least seven centuries later.

A small section of the wall was first discovered in 1909, but diggers have now exposed a 79-foot portion, and Reich believes it stretches much further. Reich said budget constraints related to the global financial crisis put an end to the excavation, at least for now.

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New York City official: Pills found in DJ AM's stomach, apparent OxyContin in throat

NEW YORK (AP) — DJ AM had prescription pills in his stomach and one in his throat when police found him dead in his apartment, a New York City official said Wednesday.

The official told The Associated Press that six pills were found in the celebrity disc jockey's stomach and that the pill in his throat appeared to be the powerful painkiller OxyContin.

The official didn't know how strong a dose each pill contained and wasn't sure what kind of pills were in DJ AM's stomach.

The official was familiar with the preliminary autopsy report released last week but was not authorized to talk publicly about it and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The 36-year-old, whose real name was Adam Goldstein, was found Friday evening in his apartment in New York City's trendy SoHo neighborhood after a friend called 911. Paramedics had to break down the door before they found him, shirtless and wearing sweat pants, in his bed around 5:20 p.m. There was no evidence of foul play.

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Stocks fall to extend slide as investors worry that unemployment will short-circuit recovery

NEW YORK (AP) — The stock market extended its slide to a fourth day as investors worried that a weak job market will trip up a recovery in the economy.

Stocks posted modest losses Wednesday, a day after tumbling on fears about the health of banks and concerns that a six-month rally of 50 percent has left the stock market overheated. The Dow Jones industrial average lost another 30 points after skidding 186 points Tuesday.

A private sector report on unemployment gave investors new reason to fret about what is widely seen as the biggest problem facing the economy. The ADP National Employment Report found that employment fell by 298,000 in August following a revised loss of 360,000 jobs in July. The losses were the smallest since September 2008 but more than analysts had expected.

The report shapes expectations for the Labor Department's monthly reading on jobs, which is due Friday. Unemployment has hit consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic activity. Without more help from consumers, the economy will have trouble pulling out of the longest recession since World War II.

"Until Friday's data comes, no one is really making any big bets," said Neil Massa, senior trader at MFC Global Investment Management. "A little profit-taking looks healthy at this point."

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Venus Williams moves on with win, Safin bids adieu with loss at US Open

NEW YORK (AP) — Venus Williams moved on and Marat Safin said goodbye at the U.S. Open on Wednesday.

Her left knee heavily wrapped, the third-seeded Williams defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 6-2, in a much easier match than she had two nights before when she fell behind a set before rallying against Vera Dushevina.

She hurt the knee in the opener, but if she was still in pain in the second round, her opponent couldn't tell.

"She was moving like a cat," Mattek-Sands said.

While Williams advances to the third round, Safin's Grand Slam career is over.

Planning to retire at season's end, the former world No. 1 fell 1-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 to Austria's Jurgen Melzer. Safin's career will end with two Grand Slam titles, a smaller number than many experts thought possible when he broke through by beating Pete Sampras in the 2000 U.S. Open final.