Absurd Net

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea fired two missiles off it eastern coast Saturday, South Korea said, in yet another provocative move after U.N. sanctions were imposed on the communist regime for its May nuclear test.
The missiles were fired between 8 a.m. (2300 GMT) and 8:30 a.m. (2330 GMT), South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement. It did not say the range of the missiles.
"Our military is fully ready to counter any North Korean threats and provocations based on strong South Korea-U.S. combined defense posture," the statement said.
A Yonhap news agency report said North Korea fired two short-range missiles that appeared to be Scud missiles. The agency quoted a South Korean government official it did not identify. Yonhap originally reported the missiles were mid-range.
North Korea fired four short-range missiles off the east coast on Thursday.
Speculation had been high that the communist country might launch more missiles in coming days. North Korea had warned shipping to stay away from its east coast effective through July 10.
South Korea's military said Friday it was closely monitoring North Korean military sites, believing more missile launches were likely.
Saturday's launches came on July 4, or U.S. Independence Day. The North has a record of timing missile tests for the U.S. national day.
In 2006, Pyongyang fired off a barrage of missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2 that broke apart and fell into the ocean less than a minute after liftoff. Those launches while Americans were celebrating the Fourth of July holiday also came amid nuclear tensions with the U.S.
The bigger question is whether the North will attempt a long-range missile launch toward the United States, a move that would directly flout a U.N. sanctions resolution punishing Pyongyang for its May 25 nuclear test.
Firing a ballistic missile on July 4 would be a snub to Washington, which has been trying to muster international support for a tough enforcement of the U.N. resolution that bans Pyongyang from any further nuclear or ballistic missile tests.
Despite early speculation fueled by Japanese media and the North Korean warning to shipping, spy satellites have apparently not detected any of the preparations that would normally presage a launch.
Meanwhile, the chief of U.S. Naval operations, Adm. Gary Roughead, said the American military was ready for any North Korean missile tests.
"Our ships and forces here are prepared for the tracking of the missiles and observing the activities that are going on," Roughead said after meeting Japanese military officials in Tokyo on Saturday.
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Associated Press writer Yuri Kageyama contributed to this report from Tokyo.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Iranian authorities have barred journalists for international news organizations from reporting on the streets and ordered them to stay in their offices. This report is based on the accounts of witnesses reached in Iran and official statements carried on Iranian media.
___
A powerful cleric said Friday that Iran will put British Embassy staffers on trial for fomenting postelection turmoil, a step that would likely increase Iran's isolation and alienate Western nations that have been trying to keep options open with Tehran despite its crackdown on protesters.
The announcement fueled calls in Europe for tougher action against Tehran. Britain is pressing for members of the European Union to pull their ambassadors out of Tehran to protest the staffers' arrests last week.
The standoff is a test of how far Iran's clerical rulers are willing to go to shore up their position at home after the wave of protests — even if they risk wrecking possibilities for dialogue between Tehran and the West, a major policy goal of President Barack Obama that Tehran cautiously welcomed.
After quashing the street demonstrations, Iran's leadership has been trying to erase any lingering doubts about the legitimacy of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by portraying the unrest as sparked by foreign meddling, not by public anger over the June 12 election, which the protesters said was fraudulent. Prosecuting the detained Iranian members of the British Embassy staff could help boost its case before the Iranian public.
At the same time, the arrests test the U.S. and Europe's policy, which has so far been to avoid an overly harsh reaction to Iran's postelection crisis. The West has been wary of condemnations of Iran's leadership, in part for fear of undermining prospects for future talks with Tehran, particularly over its controversial nuclear program.
So far, the EU has taken an incremental approach. On Friday, a day after issuing a public call for the staffers' release, governments across the 27-nation bloc summoned Iran's ambassadors to present the demand in person.
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said the EU's "escalatory approach to Iran was working."
But French President Nicolas Sarkozy said his country backs Britain's push for tougher action, "so that Iranian leaders will really understand that the path that they have chosen will be a dead end."
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said his country is "deeply concerned" about the personnel, who he said "have not engaged in any improper or illegal behavior." He said he would speak with Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki about the issue.
Word of the trials came from Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, an ultra-conservative who is one of the most prominent figures in Iran's clerical leadership and is close to the country's supreme leader.
Jannati took a tough line in a sermon to thousands of worshippers attending Friday prayers at Tehran University, accusing Britain of being behind the protests.
London "designed a velvet revolution" to topple Iran's Islamic government and the detained staffers confessed to their role, he told the crowd, where some chanted slogans against the U.S. and Israel.
"In these events, their embassy had a presence," he said. "Some people were arrested. Well, inevitably, they will be put on trial."
He did not say how many staffers will be tried or on what charges. Earlier Iranian officials said all but one of the nine embassy personnel originally arrested had been released, but British officials say two are being held.
Government officials could not be reached on Friday for confirmation the staffers would be tried. Jannati does not hold a position in the government, but is the head of the Guardian Council, a powerful body in the clerical hierarchy that stands above the elected government.
The council oversees elections, and it carried out a partial recount which was ordered after Ahmadinejad's pro-reform rival Mir Hossein Mousavi cried fraud and said he was the victor. The recount ultimately upheld Ahmadinejad's election victory.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared the results would stand, and ruling clerics promptly called the elections "pure" and "healthy."

Giant protests erupted in Tehran and other cities over the results, but they were put down in a tough crackdown after Khamenei declared unrest would no longer be tolerated. Police say 20 "rioters" were killed during the violence. During his sermon, Jannati said seven or eight members of the paramilitary Basij militia were also killed. Basijis took a leading role in putting down the protests, often clashing with demonstrators.

There have been no street protests since Sunday, but Mousavi appears driven to maintain his opposition and even to raise the stakes. In a defiant statement on Wednesday, he said he considered the government illegitimate and demanded political prisoners be released. Still, he has been laying low, making no public appearances for days amid calls by many hard-liners for him to be prosecuted.

In major cities across Iran, clerics delivering Friday prayer sermons told worshippers to accept the supreme leader's ruling on the results, according to transcripts on the state news agency IRNA.

In the northern city of Rasht, Ayatollah Zeinolabedeen Ghorbani said "anyone still saying they don't accept the results ... should be ashamed of themselves as a believer and a Muslim."

Jannati's message in his sermon was clear — that supreme leader Khamenei had guided the country out of the crisis. "A nation that has rule by the cleric (the supreme leader) and the law does not leave a problem unsolved," he told the crowd.

He indirectly accused Mousavi of treason, pointing out that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, leader of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution, once said that "anyone disrupts unity has not only committed a sin but also has committed treason against the Islamic Republic and the system."

Jannati demanded that those involved in the protests "repent and ask God to forgive them."

____

Keath reported from Cairo. Associated Press correspondent Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

SEOUL (Reuters) –
North Korea test-fired two Scud-type missiles on Saturday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said citing a government official, further stoking regional tensions after the North's nuclear tests and threats to boost its nuclear arsenal in response to U.N. sanctions.

"North Korea fired two missiles, which appear to be a Scud type, at around 8 a.m. today," Yonhap quoted the anonymous South Korean official as saying. "The missiles are estimated to have the range of about 500 km (310 miles)."

The North, which has a history of firing missiles at times of diplomatic friction, was hit with United Nations sanctions following its May 25 nuclear test. Saturday's launch also coincided with the United States' July 4 national holiday.

North Korea fired a rocket in April in what was widely viewed as a long-range missile test.

It then fired a barrage of short-range missiles after its May 25 nuclear test and fired off another salvo of similar missiles in early July.

The U.N. Security Council punished North Korea for the April long-range rocket launch by tightening existing sanctions.

North Korea said it had the right to fire the rocket in April as part of its civilian space program and had threatened an intercontinental ballistic missile launch unless the Security Council apologized for the punishment.

In response to the nuclear test, the U.N. Security Council in June approved a resolution to ban the trade of weapons by North Korea including missile systems, which are a vital source of foreign currency for the cash-short state.

It also authorized U.N. member states to inspect North Korean sea, air and land cargo, requiring them to seize and destroy shipped goods that violate the sanctions.

(Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Alex Richardson)

CHICAGO – Jake Fox drew a bases-loaded walk off Mark DiFelice to force in the winning run with two outs in the 10th inning, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 on Friday.
Ryan Theriot singled off second baseman Craig Counsell's glove with one out in the 10th and went to second on a wild pitch from DiFelice (4-1). After Theriot moved up on a fly ball, the Brewers intentionally walked Milton Bradley. With a 3-0 count on pinch-hitter Geovany Soto, DeFelice also walked him intentionally to load the bases.
Fox fouled off four straight pitches before walking on a close 3-2 pitch that had DiFelice extending his arms and walking toward plate umpire Bill Welke as the Cubs celebrated.
The Brewers threatened in the ninth when Cubs right fielder Milton Bradley lost Jason Kendall's high fly in the sun — the ball hit him on the right arm — and fell for a double. Kevin Gregg (3-2) hit Counsell with a pitch, but Ryan Braun popped out to end the inning.
The Brewers took a 1-0 lead when Cubs starter Carlos Zambrano walked Corey Hart with the bases loaded in the fourth. The Cubs tied it in the fifth on Zambrano's RBI single off Jeff Suppan.
Cubs center fielder Kosuke Fukudome made a great throw to cut down Suppan at the plate in the seventh and keep the game tied.
Suppan opened the seventh with a single before third baseman Fox fumbled Kendall's bunt for an error, putting runners at first and second. With two outs, Prince Fielder hit a sharp single to center and Fukudome made a one-hop throw to Koyie Hill, who tagged Suppan to end the inning.
Zambrano, who hasn't won in five starts since June 5, gave up five hits and a run in seven innings.
Suppan yielded four hits and a run in seven innings — his longest outing of the season.
The Brewers loaded the bases with no outs in the fourth after Counsell and Braun singled and Zambrano hit Fielder on the shoulder with a high inside pitch, but Milwaukee managed only one run when Zambrano walked Hart.
When Suppan drilled Derrek Lee on the left hip in the bottom of the inning, Welke warned both benches. Lee had seven RBIS and two homers Thursday night in the opener.
Bradley grounded a single to left to put runners at first and third, but J.J. Hardy fielded Fukudome's hard grounder up the middle and started an inning-ending double play.
After Fox was hit with a pitch in the fifth, Mike Fontenot followed with a double over Braun's outstretched glove in left to put runners at second and third. Zambrano, a switch-hitter batting right-handed against the right-handed Suppan, then dumped a one-out single into center to tie the game.
NOTES: Struggling Alfonso Soriano returned to the lineup after missing two games. He went 0 for 5 and is in an 0-for-12 slide. ... The announced crowd was 41,204 on another cool day in July with game-time temperature 67 degrees and the wind blowing in.

SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) –
African leaders will consider a resolution Friday to give African Union peacekeepers in Somalia a mandate to do more than just defend themselves from attacks by hardline rebels.

At the moment, the 4,300 troops from Uganda and Burundi in the AMISOM are largely confined to their bases and protect key sites such as the presidential palace, airport and seaport.

"It is suggested that the rules of engagement will have to be revisited so there that will be more flexibility for AMISOM to react to developments on the ground," African Union Peace and Security Commissioner Ramtane Lamamra told reporters.

He said African heads of state would consider the draft resolution Friday afternoon.

The Somali government has been pushing for AMISOM to have a mandate which allows them to help government forces on the ground in their fight against insurgents with links to al Qaeda.

Western nations and Somalia's neighbors worry that if the rebels succeed in toppling the government, the Horn of Africa nation will become a safe haven for al Qaeda training camps and the militants will destabilize the region.

At least 16 people were killed and 30 wounded, according to hospital officials, in a third day of heavy fighting in the north of the capital Mogadishu, taking the death toll since Wednesday to more than 50.

Al Shabaab warned Friday the situation would only get worse if African leaders beefed up the AMISOM mandate.

"If the mandate of African peacekeepers in Somalia now changes into a peace-making mission it will only cause fighting to continue and we shall keep on attacking AMISOM and, God willing, we shall defeat them," spokesman Sheikh Ali Mohamud Raage said in a statement.

The African Union plan has always been to send 8,000 soldiers but pledges of more troops for the AMISOM force have so far failed to result in more boots on the ground.

But with fears growing that the government might fall, African and Western nations are looking at several options to bolster the force with more troops and a tougher mandate.

Somali President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed met the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Johnnie Carson, on Friday at the summit in Libya.

"Carson again confirmed to President Sharif that full U.S. support is ready -- training security forces, logistical and financial assistance -- to stop these extremists taking over Somalia and having a base to destabilize the world," an official with the Somali president told Reuters.

(Additional reporting by Ibrahim Mohamed in Mogadish and Abdiaziz Hassan in Nairobi; writing by David Clarke)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) –
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a fiscal emergency on Wednesday, forcing lawmakers to tackle a budget gap that has raised the prospect of drastic measures to keep the state working.

Lawmakers debated late into the night Tuesday but could not agree on a plan to balance California's budget -- now showing a deficit of $26.3 billion -- in time for the new fiscal year, which began on Wednesday.

That left state officials with no choice but to prepare for suspension of payments to vendors and local agencies which instead will get "IOU" notes promising payment.

The most populous U.S. state -- the eighth-largest economy in the world in 2006 -- now risks further cuts to its credit ratings, which would increase its borrowing costs when coffers are already stretched to breaking point.

"Though the legislature failed to solve our budget problem yesterday, rest assured that solving the entire deficit remains my first and only priority, and I will not rest until we get it done. I will not be a part of pushing this crisis down the road -- the road stops here," Schwarzenegger said in a statement.

California lawmakers struggle with budget deadlines nearly every year but this budget fight is taking place amid the state's worst drop in revenues from personal income taxes since the Great Depression as recession and rising joblessness worsen damage done to the state economy by the housing slump.

Democrats, who control the legislature, and Republicans agree on the need for spending cuts but are split over whether to raise taxes to help fill the gap.

Republican lawmakers and Schwarzenegger, also a Republican, have ruled out tax increases. They want deep spending cuts to balance the budget. Democrats say that would slash the state's safety net for the needy to the bone.

By declaring a fiscal emergency, former Hollywood action star Schwarzenegger is forcing lawmakers to focus on plugging the budget gap.

Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico said Democrats would press the governor to back their budget plan, which they believe some Republicans will inevitably support. "He can issue as many edicts as he wants," Torrico said. "We're going to keep sending it to him until he signs it."

California bonds due in 10 to 30 years traded stronger in the secondary municipal debt market after suffering in recent weeks on the growing crisis in California, said Municipal Market Data analyst Domenic Vonella.

CASH CRISIS LOOMS

The White House said it was keeping a close eye on California's woes but, after federal coffers were stretched with massive bailouts of the U.S. financial sector and automakers, it did not hold out an offer of help.

Officials from several states have proposed Washington help with more aid or by vouching for state debt. "We continue to watch the situation and we'll see as it develops," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

California's treasurer was preparing plans to issue short-term debt assuming Washington will not guarantee it. "We did not ask for a bailout, repeat, we did not ask for a bailout. We wanted the federal government to step in and provide a backstop for our cash-flow borrowing," said spokesman Tom Dresslar.

Meanwhile, California's lack of a budget may trigger action by Wall Street credit ratings agencies, which have warned they may lower the state's rating further.

Fitch last week downgraded California's general obligation debt by one notch to A-minus, four notches above speculative "junk" status, making it the lowest rating of any U.S. state.

Fitch and Moody's had no immediate comment on California's IOU plan or failure to pass a budget. Standard & Poor's said in a statement it affirmed its A rating on the state's general obligation debt, but kept it on CreditWatch with negative implications.

"Should the current impasse over a budget revision remain unresolved long enough that the state's cash management actions no longer are sufficient to effectively insulate its priority payments -- including debt service -- the state's GO rating will likely be lowered, possibly to below 'A-'," S&P said.

In Sacramento, tempers flared in the state Senate as the midnight start of the new fiscal year and the prospect of IOUs -- last used 17 years ago -- neared.

"There is no excuse to hold this whole state hostage," state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg told Republicans during a floor debate.

Senate Republican Leader Dennis Hollingsworth countered that major cuts are urgently needed. Otherwise, "there will be entire programs that will have to be lopped off," he said.

California risks being unable to pay all of its bills this month. State Controller Chiang plans to issue IOUs by Thursday to state vendors, some local agencies and to the elderly, disabled and college students who receive state aid.

Bank of America said it would accept IOUs from customers through July 10, becoming one of the first major commercial banks to jump on board the program.

Chiang plans to send $3.36 billion in IOUs this month to help the state make $10.9 billion in other payments, including money owed to investors holding California's debt.

"California has never defaulted on its debt obligation and we don't plan to do so," he told Reuters.

California needs to reassure Wall Street it can pay its debts because state officials need to sell $7 billion to $9 billion of short-term debt once there is a budget agreement.

"Absent a credible budget revision package, we believe the state may suffer insufficient investor confidence in its finances to successfully place such an offering," S&P said.

(Reporting by Jim Christie; Additional reporting by Marianne Russ in Sacramento, Lisa Lambert and Doug Palmer in Washington; Editing by Gary Hill)

Swinging, sometimes referred to as the swinging lifestyle, is "non-monogamous sexual activity, treated much like any other social activity, that can be experienced as a couple." The phenomenon of swinging (or at least its wider discussion and practice) may be seen as part of the sexual revolution of recent decades, which occurred after the upsurge in sexual activity made possible by the prevalence of safer sex practices during the same period. Swinging has been called wife swapping in the past, but this term has been criticized as androcentric (taking a male-oriented point of view) and inaccurately describing the full range of sexual activities in which swingers may take part.

The term hot wife refers to a married woman who has sex with men other than her spouse, with the husband's consent. In most cases the husband takes a vicarious pleasure in watching the pleasure of his wife and the man or men, or enjoys watching, hearing, or knowing about his wife's adventures. Husbands may also take part by engaging in threesomes, or arranging dates for their wives.

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OXFORD, Fla. – A pet Burmese python measuring more than 8 feet long broke out of a terrarium and strangled a 2-year-old girl in her bedroom Wednesday at a central Florida home, authorities said. Shaiunna Hare was already dead when paramedics arrived at about 10 a.m., Lt. Bobby Caruthers of the Sumter County Sheriff's Office said.
Charles Jason Darnell, the snake's owner and the boyfriend of Shaiunna's mother, discovered the snake missing from its terrarium and went to the girl's room, where he found it on the girl and bite marks on her head, Caruthers said. Darnell, 32, stabbed the snake until he was able to pry the child away.
"The baby's dead!" a sobbing caller from the house screamed to a 911 dispatcher in a recording. "Our stupid snake got out in the middle of the night and strangled the baby."
Authorities did not identify the caller and removed the person's name from the recording.
"She got out of the cage last night and got into the baby's crib and strangled her to death," the caller said.
Authorities removed the snake from the home Wednesday afternoon after obtaining a search warrant. Once outside the small, tan home, bordered by cow pastures, the snake was placed in a bag then inside a dog crate. The snake was still alive.
Darnell did not have a permit for the snake, which would be a second-degree misdemeanor, said Joy Hill, a spokeswoman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He has not been charged, but Caruthers said investigators were looking into whether there was child neglect or if any other laws were broken.
Hill said the snake will be placed with someone who has a permit, pending an investigation into the girl's death.
The Humane Society of the United States said including Wednesday's death, at least 12 people have been killed in the U.S. by pet pythons since 1980, including five children.
Burmese pythons are not native to Florida, but they easily survive in the state and can reach a length of 26 feet and weigh more than 200 pounds.
Some owners have freed pythons into the wild and a population of them has taken hold in the Everglades. One killed an alligator and then burst when it tried to eat it. Scientists also speculate a bevy of Burmese pythons escaped in 1992 from pet shops battered by Hurricane Andrew and have been reproducing since.
"It's becoming more and more of a problem, perhaps no fault of the animal, more a fault of the human," said Jorge Pino, a state wildlife commission spokesman. "People purchase these animals when they're small. When they grow, they either can't control them or release them."
George Van Horn, owner of Reptile World Serpentarium in St. Cloud, said the strangulation could have occurred because the snake felt threatened or because it thought the child was food.
"They are always operating on instinct," he said. "Even the largest person can become overpowered by a python."
Oxford is about 50 miles northwest of Orlando.
___
Associated Press writers Matt Sedensky, Antonio Gonzalez and Lisa Orkin contributed to this report from Miami.

Additionally some parents prefer the use of pacifiers to the child sucking their thumbs.

Infant mortality is the death of an infant in the first year of life. Infant mortality can be subdivided into neonatal death, referring to deaths in the first 27 days of life, and post-neonatal death, referring to deaths after 28 days of life. Major causes of infant mortality include dehydration, infection, congenital malformation, and SIDS.

Natural Baby

http://www.singlesoffaith.com

According to The San Francisco Chronicle in 2005, "Mobile dating is the next big leap in online socializing." More than 3.6 million cell phone users logged into mobile dating sites in March 2007, with most users falling in the under 35 age range.

According to Scientific American, Virtual Dating is "the next step in online dating" (Feb/March 2007, p.35) .

WASHINGTON – Federal health officials say at least 12 people have been hospitalized in connection with a possible E.coli outbreak in beef and two of them suffered kidney failure.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at least 23 people in nine states may have become ill after eating beef produced by JBS Swift Beef Co. of Greeley, Colo.
The company recalled about 380,000 pounds of beef this week after some illnesses were reported and a government investigation showed a possible connection to the company's product. That recall expanded a June 24 recall of just over 41,000 pounds.
The CDC says health officials in several states investigating the strain of E. coli found that most ill persons had consumed ground beef, and many reported that it was undercooked.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A US Airways flight to Los Angeles was diverted to Albuquerque after a passenger removed all of his clothing mid-flight, forcing flight attendants to cover him with a blanket before he was arrested. Keith Wright, 50, of the Bronx in New York, was taken into custody by airport authorities after he allegedly disrobed while sitting in his seat in the back of Flight 705 on Tuesday evening, authorities said.
The plane carrying about 148 passengers from Charlotte to Los Angeles landed in Albuquerque about 6:45 p.m., US Airways spokeswoman Valerie Wunder said.
Wright was unresponsive when asked by a flight attendant to put his clothes back on, said Dan Jiron, a spokesman for the Albuquerque airport. Authorities suspect the passenger may have been drunk or on prescription drugs.
"She asked him on more than one occasion to put on his clothes. She covered him with a blanket and he took that off," Jiron said.
Wright allegedly became combative when flight attendants tried to cover him with the blanket and fasten his seat belt, the FBI said Wednesday in a news release.
Two off-duty law officers who were passengers on the flight helped the flight attendants subdue and handcuff Wright before the flight landed, Jiron said.
Passenger Ginny Keegan of Detroit was sitting in the front of the plane.
"All of a sudden there was a bunch of activity and a lot of loud things going on and all of a sudden people started getting out of their seats in the back of the plane," she said.
Passengers were notified of a violent passenger as the plane began to approach Albuquerque, but Keegan said no one was fearful.
"No one was really panicking. The flight attendants seemed to handle it very well," she said.
She said the man was "completely naked" as he was taken in handcuffs off the plane.
As the plane took off again, Keegan said the usual announcement to please fasten your seat belts came over the loudspeakers with a twist.
The message included "a reminder to everybody to please keep your clothing on. It got a couple chuckles," Keegan said.
The flight attendants also were dealing with an unrelated onboard medical emergency at the same time, which exacerbated the situation, the FBI said.
Wright is in federal custody on a federal charge of interfering with flight crew members and attendants. He is expected to appear in federal court in Albuquerque on Thursday.
It was not immediately known if Wright has a lawyer.

MORONI (AFP) –
The only known survivor of the crash of the Yemeni airliner clung to wreckage in the Indian Ocean for more than 10 hours before she was rescued, officials said Wednesday, hailing the girl's courage.

Bahia Bakari, a timid 12-year-old, spent the day recovering in hospital in the Comoros capital Moroni, not far from where the Yemenia airlines jet plunged into the sea in the early hours of Tuesday, killing the other 152 on board.

"She showed admirable courage," France's Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet told reporters after meeting the girl in hospital, and before she boarded his aircraft to return home to Paris.

"She spent close to 10 hours waiting to be rescued after the crash."

Bahia's father, Kassim Bakari, told AFP that his daughter was ejected from the Airbus A310 into the ocean -- suffering a fractured collarbone and burns to her knee, but no life-threatening injuries.

"She didn't feel a thing. She found herself in water," Bakari told the RTL station after speaking to her by phone, adding that -- as she told to him -- some others survived the impact with the rough seas, at least for a while.

"She could hear people talking, but in the middle of the night she couldn't see a thing. She managed to hold on to a piece of something."

"She said that, at a point in time, instructions were given to passengers to strap themselves in," added Joyandet, also on RTL radio. "She said that afterwards, she felt something like electricity -- that was the term she used."

"And then, very quickly, she found herself in the water hanging on to a piece of the aircraft with which she struggled to stay alive for more than 10 or so hours."

When rescuers emerged in the clear light of day, she was too weak to react.

"We tried to throw a life buoy. She could not grab it. I had to jump in the water to get her," one rescuer told France's Europe 1 radio, saying that she was spotted bobbing in the middle of bodies and debris.

"She was shaking, shaking. We put four covers on her. We gave her hot, sugary water. We simply asked her name, village."

The head of the government crisis cell in the Comoros said the youngster survived astonishing odds. "It is truly, truly, miraculous," said Ibrahim Abdoulazeb. "The young girl can barely swim."

Bakari said his daughter had been told her mother survived the crash.

"When I spoke to her she was asking for her mother. They told her she was in a room next door, so as not to traumatise her. But it's not true. I don't know who is going to tell her."

Joyandet gave the girl's age as 12. Officials have variously said she was 14 or 13, but the minister's spokesman said she would turn 13 on August 15.

He scotched rumours that a second child had been found alive, reported by doctors who said their hospital had been put on alert.

Yemenia airlines, which has come under attack from victims' families angry over its safety record, said it will make an initial payment of 20,000 euros (28,000 dollars) to the families of each victim.

Chairman Abdul Khaleq al-Qadi told reporters in Sanaa the payments would be "a first instalment," without saying when they would begin.

The announcement came amid mounting anger over the condition of the 19-year-old Yemenia jet, which had been banned from France's airspace because of doubts about its safety. Airbus has stopped manufacturing the long-haul plane since 2007.

Comoros Vice President Idi Nadhoim criticised France over the crash, saying Paris should have alerted them that the twin-engine aircraft was unsafe.

"It could have been easier for us if France had communicated to us the list of Airbus planes not good to fly, which is not the case," Nadhoim told France 24 television.

The flight left Paris on Monday for Marseille and Sanaa aboard a modern Airbus A330 before passengers switched to the older Airbus jet to continue to Djibouti and Moroni.

Comorans in Marseille, home to more Comorans than the Indian Ocean state's capital, said the tragedy was waiting to happen.

"We had been sounding the alarm bells, both here and in the Comoros," said Moegni Toahiry, 39, as he stood outside his Comoran consulate hoping for news of his cousin and three children who were on the flight.

Some Comorans staged a protest at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport on Wednesday delaying a Yemenia flight for 40 minutes to highlight what they called poor safety conditions on the planes.

Around 100 protestors forced two Marseille travel agents selling Yemenia tickets to shut down on Wednesday.

A desperate hunt for other survivors continued, with French military headquarters in Paris saying the sound of a rescue beacon had been picked up by a Transall search plane -- but no sign of bodies or major debris.

Airbus, still reeling from the crash of an Air France A330 into the Atlantic on June 1 with 228 people on board, has sent investigators to the Comoros, while a judicial investigation was announced by French prosecutors.

In the 2000s, the term "home cinema" encompasses a range of systems. The most basic system could be a DVD player, a standard CRT television, and a "home theater in a box", a 2.1 speaker system with left and right speakers and a small 8" subwoofer cabinet. An expensive home cinema set-up might include a High-Definition DVD format such as Blu-ray, a 60" High-Definition Television with a "cinema-style" 16 X 9 format, a several thousand-watt home theatre receiver with five to seven surround sound speakers, and a powered subwoofer with a 12" subwoofer. The most expensive home theater set-ups, which can cost over $100,000 US, have digital projectors, expensive screens, and custom-built screening rooms which include cinema-style chairs and audiophile-grade sound equipment.

Home theater seating consists of chairs specifically engineered and designed for viewing movies in a personal home theater setting. Most home theater seats have cup holder built into the chairs' armrests and a shared armrest between each seat. Some seating is movie theater-style chairs like those seen in a movie cinema, which features a flip up seat cushion. Other seating systems have plush leather reclining lounger types, with flip-out footrests. Additional features like storage compartments, snack trays, tactile transducers (nicknamed "Bass Shakers"), or even electric motors to recline the chair are available, depending on the model.

Link

Three leading South Carolina Republican office-holders, including the state’s two U.S. senators, called Gov. Mark Sanford Wednesday for what GOP sources close to the lawmakers described as frank conversations about the governor’s ability to carry out his job.
Republican Sens. Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham and Republican Rep. Gresham Barrett talked with Sanford a day after the governor gave an interview to the Associated Press in which he revealed new details about his affair, including declaring his Argentine mistress to be his “soul mate.”
Three top South Carolina GOP sources confirmed the calls but were hesitant to say whether the lawmakers had urged Sanford to resign.
“The conversations are clearly geared toward do the right thing,” said one top South Carolina Republican.
Another top Republican in the state said of the governor: “His support has collapsed.”
“He was made aware that his support is getting to be dang-near nonexistent,” said this Republican, calling the AP interview “the final straw.”
During an interview on Fox News’ “Fox & Friends,” DeMint said that a lot of state Republicans are talking to Sanford "behind the scenes in hopes that he'll make the right decision about what needs to be done.”
Asked to clarify what the “right decision” would be, DeMint responded: “I don't want to say.”
DeMint said Sanford's further confessions to the AP were "not a wise thing to do in this business.”
“They say, when you are explaining, you are losing. And particularly on that subject, I think, he was,” the senator said. “I'm concerned of whether or not he is in a position that he can continue to lead the state.”
“I think we will see some resolution in the next week.”
But even as these Republicans, among the most prominent in the state party, edge toward calling for Sanford to resign, the governor seems to have dug in his heels.
Asked about the calls, Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer would only say: “The governor has given a full and truthful account, and he is finished discussing this matter. He is focused on being governor, on rebuilding his marriage, and on building back the trust of South Carolinians.”
Of the three, Graham is probably closest to Sanford, serving as god father to the governor’s youngest son. Barrett, who represents an Upstate district, is running for governor next year.
None of the three have publicly called for Sanford to quit. By placing private phone calls to the governor, it would seem their hope is for him to step down without further public pressure.
Already, over half of the GOP caucus in the state Senate has called on the governor to step down.

Playa del Carmen is named for Our Lady of Mount Carmel, who is the patron saint of Cancún. The first recorded visitors to the beaches of what is now Playa del Carmen came during the Early Classic Period (a.d. 300-600) of the Mayan civilization. Then called Xaman-Ha, or "waters of the north," Playa del Carmen was a rest stop of sorts for travelers making their way from the great cities of the Mayan world to the island of Cozumel.

The coast and lowlands of the peninsula were still heavily populated with the descendents of the fallen civilization when the Spaniards arrived. Tulum, less than an hour south of Playa, was the last Mayan outpost and there are plenty of small ruins in Playa del Carmen. The Spanish focused their attention around the area of Mérida, where conditions were better for growing henequén (sisal), a fibre used to make rope. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Caribbean coast was considered a savage place with not much to offer for potential settlers.

Playa Del Carmen Villas

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) –
California prepared on Tuesday to resort to issuing IOUs as the giant but cash-strapped U.S. state struggled to approve a new budget in time for the new fiscal year that begins on Wednesday.

The IOUs, which are notes promising payment to vendors and local agencies, or shutting down some public services, are among measures that California and other states may have to rely on as they contend with staggering budget gaps caused by the U.S. recession.

Several U.S. states are due to start their fiscal years on July 1 with budget talks at an impasse. California, the most populous state, is especially hard hit.

The Golden State, hit by a leap in unemployment and a crash in property values, is suffering its worst tax revenue fall since the Great Depression and faces a $24.3 billion budget deficit.

"It's been a sort of perfect storm, of a very deep recession hitting us and exposing the weakness of depending on revenue sources sensitive to economic cycles," labor lobbyist Barry Broad said.

Fixing the massive budget gap "is going to require pain. That's the only way out of it," added Jack Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger insists on deep spending cuts. But Democrats who run the Legislature want tax increases that Schwarzenegger and fellow Republicans oppose.

GIVING WALL STREET HEARTBURN

Budget talks have ground to a stalemate, forcing State Controller John Chiang to prepare IOUs to be mailed on Thursday.

They would preserve dwindling cash for payments to schools and, just as important since California needs to sell short-term debt, for cash-flow purposes -- once it has a budget agreement.

Chiang plans to issue $3.36 billion in IOUs in July to help California maintain $10.9 billion in normal cash payments during the month, including payments to bondholders.

"The general obligation bonds will be paid," Chiang told Reuters. "California has never defaulted on its debt obligation and we don't plan to do so."

California's budget woes are making Wall Street nervous.

Fitch Ratings last week downgraded its rating on the state's general obligation debt and warned it may lower the rating again, citing the state's fiscal and economic stress. The agency cut California's rating by one notch to A-minus, placing it four notches above speculative, or "junk" status, and making it the lowest rating of any U.S. state.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services and Moody's Investors Service have also warned there may be downgrades of California's general obligation debt. Moody's has warned the state could see a multi-notch downgrade of its A2 rating. S&P rates $57 billion of the state's outstanding general obligation bonds A.

A MUDDLE IN THE MIDWEST

As California officials readied their IOUs, Ohio Governor Ted Strickland on Tuesday signed a seven-day interim spending plan that buys lawmakers more time to craft a two-year budget.

"It is troubling that Senate Republicans are still refusing to say what they would do to fill the budget gap. Because of this, I have no other option but to sign a temporary budget that only delays the inevitable hard choices before us," Strickland, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Indiana appeared to be on course to avert a government shutdown at midnight. A vote on a compromise budget was heading for a vote on Tuesday, according to John Schorg, a spokesman for Democrats who control the House.

Republican Governor Mitch Daniels has said safety services, such as state police and prisons, will continue to operate should there be a shutdown, while other services would stop.

Illinois lawmakers could send Governor Pat Quinn legislation to sell $2.23 billion of shorter-term general obligation bonds to ease spending cuts in a budget they passed late last month. Proceeds from the bonds would fund part of a fiscal 2010 pension payment, freeing up money in the budget.

But Quinn, who has claimed the Legislature's budget has a $9.2 billion shortfall, appeared to be holding out for a balanced spending plan to avoid drastic cuts in social services spending. He has been pushing for an income tax increase.

Pennsylvania's lawmakers were stuck on Governor Edward Rendell's plan to raise the income tax rate, possibly pushing negotiations past the midnight deadline.

(Additional reporting by Karen Pierog in Chicago and Jon Hurdle in Philadelphia; Editing by Jan Paschal)

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles County prosecutors allege that a convicted sex offender tried to extort a teenager by demanding cash or sex for the return of her lost dog.
Deputy District Attorney Jan Perlstein says 27-year-old Alfredo Dempkey has been scheduled for arraignment Tuesday afternoon on a count of attempted extortion.
Prosecutors say the Lancaster resident found the dog Friday and used information on its tags to contact the owner.
A meeting was arranged at a fast-food restaurant, where Dempkey was arrested. The dog was returned to its owner.
Prosecutors plan to ask that bail for Dempkey be set at $170,000. A telephone listing for Dempkey could not be immediately located.

GRETNA, La. – An Arizona man who likes several drinks with his lunch has been arrested three times in the past week for refusing to pay at restaurants where he ate. Jefferson Parish sheriff's records show that a 36-year-old man was booked with defrauding an innkeeper after he ate at three restaurants, then laughed when asked to pay his bill.
The man allegedly ran up bills ranging from $23 to $31 — including four beers with a lunch plate at one restaurant and four margaritas with a cheeseburger at another — then said he was homeless and couldn't pay.
The man was being held Tuesday at the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna in lieu of $1,000 bond. But he has been released on the same charges twice previously due to overcrowding.
___
Information from: The Times-Picayune, http://www.nola.com

WASHINGTON – The Senate plans to hold a hearing next week looking into antitrust issues surrounding college football's Bowl Championship Series.
It will be the second hearing on the BCS held on Capitol Hill this year, following a contentious one in the House in May.
The Senate Judiciary Committee Web site says the hearing will be next Tuesday in the committee's subcommittee on antitrust, competition policy and consumer rights.
Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, the subcommittee's top Republican, had sought the hearing. His office did not immediately return telephone and e-mail messages.
Football fans in Hatch's state were furious that Utah was bypassed for the national championship despite going undefeated in the regular season.

TUESDAY, June 30 (HealthDay News) -- Online genetic testing for
lung cancer appears to offer some benefits to patients, according to U.S.
researchers who evaluated the use of an online test among 44 smokers.

"Up until now we have had a clear model for genetic testing. You see a
professional genetics counselor, undergo a battery of tests and that
professional helps you interpret your results," Saskia Sanderson, who
conducted the study while at the social and behavioral research branch of
the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute, said in a news release
from the American Association for Cancer Research.

"That model is coming under increasing pressure as more and more
genetic information is generated, and as a greater number of genetic tests
become available on the Internet," Sanderson added.

"What we found was encouraging in that people who got these online
genetic results recalled them correctly, and no one regretted having taken
the test, though it is important to remember that this was a small group
of select smokers and that others may respond differently," said
Sanderson, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of genetics and genomic
sciences at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City.

The online test examined in this study assessed the presence or absence
of the GSTM1 gene. The absence of the gene has been associated with a
slightly increased risk of lung cancer. Half the smokers in the study were
missing the gene, and all of them correctly identified themselves as
"higher risk." Of those with GSTM1, 55 percent accurately identified
themselves as "lower risk," while 41 percent interpreted their results as
"average risk."

The patterns of accurate interpretation remained six months after the
participants received their genetic test results, which suggests that they
retained the information, the study said.

According to the researchers, the participants said they found the test
results to be believable, trustworthy, easy to understand, relevant and
important. Those who learned they had a higher genetic risk for lung
cancer did have a short-term decrease in confidence that quitting smoking
could reduce their risk of lung cancer. However, all the participants
decided to use at least one of several smoking cessation aids.

The study is published in the July issue of the journal Cancer
Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

"Genetic information is complex, and there is a risk that providing
unfiltered information will result in heightened worry and
misinterpretation of results," Jamie Ostroff, chief of behavioral science
services at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and an
editorial board member of the journal, said in the news release.

"This pilot study found no harm in undergoing these tests and
underscores the importance of conducting future research as to how to best
educate smokers about gene-environment risks," Ostroff said.

More information

The U.S. National Library of Medicine has more about genetic testing.

WASHINGTON – U.S. officials said Tuesday that a North Korean ship has turned around and is headed back toward the north where it came from, after being tracked for more than a week by American Navy vessels on suspicion of carrying illegal weapons.
The move keeps the U.S. and the rest of the international community guessing: Where is the Kang Nam going? Does its cargo include materials banned by a new U.N. anti-proliferation resolution?
The ship left a North Korean port of Nampo on June 17 and is the first vessel monitored under U.N. sanctions that ban the regime from selling arms and nuclear-related material.
The Navy has been watching it — at times following it from a distance. It traveled south and southwest for more than a week; then, on Sunday, it turned around and headed back north, two U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence.
Nearly two weeks after the ship left North Korea, officials said Tuesday they still don't know where it is going. But it was some 250 miles south of Hong Kong on Tuesday, one official said.
Though acknowledging all along that the Kang Nam's destination was unclear, some officials said last week that it could be going to Myanmar and that it was unclear whether it could reach there without stopping in another port to refuel.
The U.N. resolution allows the international community to ask for permission to board and search any suspect ship on the seas. If permission for inspection is refused, authorities can ask for an inspection in whichever nation where the ship pulls into port.
North Korea has said it would consider any interception of its ships a declaration of war.
Two officials had said earlier in the day Tuesday that the Kang Nam had been moving very slowly in recent days, something that could signal it was trying to conserve fuel.
They said they didn't know what the turnaround of the ship means, nor what prompted it.
The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, said Sunday that Washington was "following the progress of that ship very closely," but she would not say whether the U.S. would confront the Kang Nam.
The sailing of the vessel — and efforts to track it — set up the first test of a new U.N. Security Council resolution that authorizes member states to inspect North Korean vessels. The sanctions are punishment for an underground nuclear test the North carried out in May in defiance of past resolutions.
Meanwhile on Tuesday, the Obama administration imposed financial sanctions on a company in Iran that is accused of involvement in North Korea's missile proliferation network.
In the latest move to keep pressure on Pyongyang and its nuclear ambitions, the Treasury Department moved against Hong Kong Electronics, a company located in Kish Island, Iran. The action means that any bank accounts or other financial assets found in the United States belonging to the company must be frozen. Americans also are prohibited from doing business with the firm.

The lumbar is the region of the spine between the diaphragm and the pelvis; it supports the most weight and is the most flexible. The adjustable lumbar mechanisms in seats allow the user to change the seat back shape in this region, to make it more comfortable. Some seats are long enough to support full thigh.

A Child Restraint system, also commonly referred to as a child safety seat or a car seat, is a restraint which is secured to the seat of an automobile equipped with safety harnesses or seat belts, to hold a child in the event of a crash.

Visit

TEHRAN (Reuters) –
A senior hardline Iranian cleric Tuesday demanded an end to protests over the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president after Iran's top legislative body slammed shut the last door for a legal challenge.

As expected, the Guardian Council Monday dismissed complaints of irregularities in the June 12 vote raised by two defeated candidates, Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi.

A statement on Mousavi's website Tuesday did not comment directly on the 12-man body's ruling, but referred to the former prime minister's letter to the Guardian Council Saturday in which he repeated his demand for the election to be annulled.

The presidential poll sparked Iran's most vigorous internal unrest since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The next formal step is for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to confirm Ahmadinejad as president. Parliament will swear him in a few weeks later.

It is not clear whether Mousavi will pursue his demand for the vote to be canceled -- and risk arrest -- or accept defeat at the hands of Ahmadinejad, who is backed by Khamenei, the elite Revolutionary Guard and his own well-placed loyalists.

"The Guardian Council is the only legal reference in the election and therefore it seems the issue of protests against the presidential election is over," said Ahmad Khatami, a cleric who called Friday for leading "rioters" to be executed.

"All who believe in the Islamic system and are committed to its laws and regulations must accept the Guardian Council's opinion," he said, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

"If some people still oppose the Guardian Council's decision it means opposing the law and it shows that these people do not want to move forward within legal channels and they would like to achieve their aims by force," Khatami said.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians joined street protests after Ahmadinejad's victory was first declared, but riot police and religious militia have crushed protests since June 20.

State media say 20 people died in the violence, which the government and opposition blamed on each other.

The Guardian Council, which vets presidential candidates and oversees the election process, declared that a partial recount of 10 percent of the vote had uncovered no irregularities and said in its final verdict that the dossier had been closed.

FEW OPTIONS FOR OPPOSITION

The turbulent aftermath of the poll exposed splits in Iran's political and religious elite, but for now few options seem open for Ahmadinejad's reformist and conservative foes, who include powerful men such as former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Hamid Najafi, editor-in-chief of the conservative Kayhan International daily, said Mousavi, a moderate ex-premier with solid revolutionary credentials, could take no further action.

"As far as the constitution is concerned...I don't think he can do anything," Najafi told Reuters. "It is over, finished."

Parliament's national security and foreign policy commission has been trying to heal rifts, holding meetings in the past week with Rafsanjani, Mousavi and Karoubi, as well as senior clerics and officials. It is also expected to meet Ahmadinejad.

"We are seeking to strengthen national unity and solidarity," Hassan Ebrahimi, a member of the commission, was quoted as saying by the official IRNA news agency.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Iran's rulers faced a "huge credibility gap" with their own people after the election and were still likely to face internal opposition.

Asked if Washington would recognize Ahmadinejad as president of the world's fifth biggest oil exporter, she said:

"We're going to take this a day at a time."

Tehran, locked in a row with the West over its nuclear program, has blamed the post-vote trouble on foreign powers.

Four Iranian staff of the British embassy remain in custody, accused of stirring the unrest. Britain rejects the charge.

Najafi said he foresaw no change in Iran's attitude to the West during Ahmadinejad's second term. "I don't think there is going to be any change unless the other side takes some other steps. Currently they have turned more hostile toward Iran."

(Writing by Alistair Lyon; editing by Samia Nakhoul)

NEW YORK – The Food and Drug Administration said Monday a sample of raw cookie dough collected at a Nestle USA manufacturing plant last week has tested positive for E. coli.
Nestle voluntarily recalled all Toll House refrigerated cookie dough products made at the Danville, Va., factory earlier this month after the FDA told Nestle it suspected consumers may have been exposed to E. coli bacteria after eating the dough raw.
The FDA and the federal Centers for Disease Control have been investigating whether the cookie dough was the source of the E. coli outbreak which has sickened 69 people in 29 states, according to the latest CDC data. E. coli is a potentially deadly germ that can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration and, in the most severe cases, kidney failure.
The FDA says the sample of Toll House refrigerated prepackaged dough was manufactured at the plant on Feb. 10.
In a statement, Nestle said the sample that tested positive came from a 16-ounce Toll House refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough bar. The product had a "best before June 10 2009" label.
"We are very concerned about those who have become ill ... and deeply regret that this has occurred," the company said in the statement.
The company also reiterated that consumers can return the recalled products to their local grocer for a full refund.
FDA spokeswoman Stephanie Kwisnek says the FDA is working with the Glendale, Calif.-based unit of Switzerland-based Nestle SA to find the source of the contamination. Nestle said it will continue to work "closely and in full cooperation" with the investigation.
Besides the Toll House products, Nestle also makes a variety of refrigerated pastas and pasta sauces at the plant.
The company shut down production in the cookie dough section of the plant when it issued the recall. That section remains closed, but the company is still manufacturing the pasta and pasta sauces in a separate section of the plant.

After the rubberized silicon surface was incorporated onto the surface of the steel roller ball mouse, the popular fabric-surface mousepad was found to be the most appropriate. It helped keep the rubberized roller-ball surface cleaner and with better tracking, speed and accuracy than just a desk surface, which collected dirt and slowed the mouse's motion.

Optical mice have the problem of not working well on transparent or reflective surfaces (such as glass or highly polished wood). These surfaces, which often include desk and table surfaces, cause jitter and loss of tracking on the display pointer as the mouse moves over these reflective spots. The use of mousepads with precision surfaces eliminates spot jitter effects of modern optical mice.

Mousepad

http://www.accentlighting.com/

Artificial lighting is most commonly provided today by electric lights, but gas lighting, candles, or oil lamps were used in the past, and still are used in certain situations. Proper lighting can enhance task performance or aesthetics, while there can be energy wastage and adverse health effects of lighting. Indoor lighting is a form of fixture or furnishing, and a key part of interior design. Lighting can also be an intrinsic component of landscaping.

Lighting is the deliberate application of light to achieve some aesthetic or practical effect. Lighting includes use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and natural illumination of interiors from daylight. Daylighting (through windows, skylights, etc.) is often used as the main source of light during daytime in buildings given its low cost. Artificial lighting represents a major component of energy consumption, accounting for a significant part of all energy consumed worldwide.

MORONI (AFP) –
Rescuers on Tuesday found a child survivor of a Yemeni airliner that crashed off the coast of the Indian Ocean archipelago of Comoros, a hospital official said.

"A child was found alive. He is now on a rescuers' boat," said Ben Imani, a doctor at Moroni's main hospital told AFP.

A Comoros Red Cross official confirmed the rescue.

"We have all that is needed -- drips, equipment -- to assist the child immediately," said Al fachad Salim.

It was not immediately clear if the child was the same survivor reported earlier in Sanaa by a Yemenia airline official.

LONDON – It's a tragic loss — and an accounting nightmare for the promoters of Michael Jackson's doomed 50-night "This is It" concert extravaganza in London.
More than 750,000 fans are waiting for details on ticket refunds, and the British government's consumer protection board told them Monday not to hold their breath — complex legal issues need to be worked out first.
"The advice we're giving is that it may take a little while because it was quite a large ticket distribution," said Frank Shepherd, spokesman for Consumer Direct. "We're advising people to be a bit patient."
In addition, he said ticket holders may not be able to reclaim fees paid to sellers, which in some cases reached $16 per ticket.
The skirmishing over refunds is just one aspect of what is likely to be years of legal wrangling over financial matters, including Jackson's considerable debts, assets and custody of his three children. The battles are likely to dwarf earlier fights for the control of assets left by other departed rock gods, including guitar hero Jimi Hendrix and reggae trailblazer Bob Marley.
Legal arguments over whether insurance companies must shoulder much of the financial burden caused by Jackson's death are expected to slow the refund process, experts said.
Promoters are generally required to take out insurance to cover concert cancellations or non-appearances, said Malcolm Tarling, a spokesman for the Association of British Insurers.
Many of the policies are extremely specific, allocating levels of payouts according to the reason for the cancellation — including the cause of any death. If a drug overdose was specified as a risk with lower coverage, AEG may be entitled to less money.
Los Angeles-based tour operator AEG Live, which operates the 02 Arena where Jackson was to have performed, said ticket refund details should be announced this week.
Much of the company's ability to weather the financial storm caused by Jackson's demise may depend on how much of its losses are covered by insurance.
And that will be determined in part by what the Los Angeles County coroner's office finally determines as the cause of the mega-star's death. Officials have warned it will be up to six weeks before a cause of death can be pinpointed because complicated toxicology tests are needed.
AEG Live has so far been tightlipped about the amount of insurance coverage it had for the concerts and which companies were the underwriters. Insurance market Lloyd's of London says its member corporations underwrote some policies, but said AEG likely had multiple contracts, with several insurers all taking on a portion of the risk.
Bart Nash, a spokesman for Lloyd's, said a number of different policies were written to cover the Jackson concerts, each with different clauses that could be affected by the all important "cause of death" determination.
"These things are written into the policies, and each one is different, and these types of contracts are so complex that different issues affect different policies," he said.
That is a recipe for a series of lawsuits that could easily take years to resolve.
Nash said, for example, that some policies would pay out differently if the artist's death was due to a pre-existing medical condition or if any medical negligence were found. "There are so many variables in the policies and all these little things matter," he said.
It is also likely the coroner's determination on whether drugs played a role in Jackson's death could affect insurance payments.
Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc., the primary ticket seller, did not provide details of refund plans on Monday; its Web site quoted an AEG Live statement promising information this week.

While these issues are being worked on, Jackson fans who purchased tickets on eBay or through viagogo on the secondary ticket market may be in for an easier time.

Viagogo executives said Friday that all tickets would be refunded — "No forms, no fuss, just refunded." And eBay executives have extended a buyer protection program to cover anyone who bought a ticket through the company's Web site.

"You'll be covered for the full amount of the transaction, not just the face value of the ticket," eBay spokeswoman Jenny Thomas said Monday. That means people who paid three or four times the face value for a chance to see Jackson should get all their money back.

She said the company has not yet worked out details of the refund plan, including whether the company or the ticket sellers would ultimately be responsible for refunds.

Not everyone, it seems, wants a refund. Some want to hold onto the tickets as bittersweet reminders of what might have been — or to cash in later should they become collector's items.

Elliott Parkin, a 27-year-old construction worker, said his friends plan to keep their tickets to honor Jackson.

"He'll be remembered for his music above all else," said Parkin, who had planned to attend one of the London shows. "His funeral will be bigger than Diana's."

___

Associated Press writers Nardine Saas and Paisley Dodds in London contributed to this report.

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Zsa Zsa Gabor is back home after spending six days in a hospital being treated for flu-like symptoms.
Her husband, Prince Frederick von Anhalt, said Monday the 92-year-old actress was treated at a hospital and released. He did not provide details on her condition.
Gabor is partially paralyzed from a 2002 car accident and reportedly had a stroke in 2005.
The actress, married eight times, had a middling film career mostly in the 1950s and has epitomized the celebrity who is famous for being famous.