3-day trip becomes 3-week ordeal for 2 Jamaicans

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — It was supposed to be a three-day fishing trip at most. It turned into a three-week ordeal, drifting under an intense sun for hundreds of miles in the Caribbean in a small boat with a broken motor.

The two Jamaican fishermen survived by eating raw fish they caught and drinking water from melted ice they had brought to preserve their catch. The Colombian navy finally plucked them from the sea a week ago and delivered them home Saturday after treating them for severe dehydration, malnutrition and hypothermia.

Everton Gregory, 54, and John Sobah, 58, recounted their story in a telephone interview from Jamaica, while the boat owner and the men’s employer also provided details.

The men set off from Jamaica’s southeastern coast on Nov. 20. The water was glassy, the wind was calm and their boat was laden with 14 buckets of ice, 16 gallons of water and several bags of cereal, bread and fruit.

They headed to Finger Bank, a nearby sand spit 8-miles-long (13-kilometers) that is known for its abundance of fish like wahoo, tuna and mahi mahi. The owner of the 28-foot (8-meter) boat said she usually joins them on fishing trips, but she couldn’t go that afternoon.

After spending a couple of days around Finger Bank, the two men set off for home with their catch. But the boat’s engine soon died. The water was too deep to use the anchor and the current too strong to use the oars, so the boat slowly drifted away from Jamaica.

At first, the men got by on sipping the water and eating the food they brought with them. But days turned into weeks, and they began to eat the fish they had caught and drink the melted ice that had kept it fresh.

Gregory and Sobah kept eating raw fish and used a tarp to try to collect water, but the rain clouds remained at a distance.

Back home, friends and family called police and used their own boats to search the area where the men were last seen. The two fishermen work for the Florida-based nonprofit group Food for the Poor, which chartered a plane to search along Jamaica’s coast.

Marva Espuet, the owner of the boat, said she knew she had packed it with more food and water than needed for a three-day trip, but the thought provided little relief.

“If I had gone, there would have been two boats going,” said the 52-year-old woman, a longtime friend of both fishermen.

With searches proving fruitless, Sobah’s niece grew frantic, recalled Nakhle Hado, a fishing manager for Food for the Poor who helped lead the search. She “begged me that she wanted John back for Christmas,” Hado said.

Hado said some people believed the two men would never be found, but he and others didn’t give up. “My gut was telling me that they were still alive,” he said.

Hado said he had trained Gregory and Sobah on how to survive at sea.

“In case something happens, they don’t have to think twice. They know how to react,” he said. “It’s very important, their mental state.”

Gregory and Sobah finally ran out of fresh water and went several days without drink. A healthy human being can die from dehydration anywhere from three to five days without water.

Then on Dec. 12, a Colombian navy helicopter patrolling off the coast of that South American country spotted the men near Lack of Sleep cay, more than 500 miles (800 kilometers) from where they started. It took two days for a navy vessel to reach them because of bad weather. The men were hospitalized for several days at the Colombian island of San Andres before boarding a plane back home to Jamaica.

“It feels good,” Sobah told the AP in a brief phone interview after arriving.

Gregory said he had lost hope, but Sobah tried to keep him positive that they would be rescued. “I just had that belief,” Sobah said. “I believe in the Creator.”

Yet it is Gregory who plans to keep fishing despite the ordeal because he needs the job.

Sobah said he’s done. “I’m not going to go fishing again. No way.”

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Without an ‘iTV,’ Apple’s growth could shrink to the single digits by 2015

Another analyst believes that Apple is losing its shine. Toni Sacconaghi of Bernstein Research on Thursday trimmed his price target for the company, citing concerns that growth may be slowing. The analyst believes that iPhone sales will remain strong for at least the next two years, however Apple (AAPL) is expected to lose overall market share “if it does not bring out a lower-price device” in the wake of a changing industry. Sacconaghi notes that the iPad should continue to see success in a tablet market that is “a rocket…an absolute juggernaut,” with tablet PC shipments estimated to more than triple over the next five years. It is believed, however, that Apple will likely become a single digit growth company by 2015, unless it releases a new major product such as an HDTV.

[More from BGR: RIM’s biggest problem: It’s still scrambling to catch yesterday’s hottest mobile app]

“That said, it will have a pristine balance sheet, and be generating a mind-boggling $ 49 billion in free cash flow a year after paying its current dividend,” Sacconaghi wrote in a note to investors, according to Forbes. “More importantly, we believe that Apple’s innovation offers significant option value, which is not in our forecast. Three years ago, the iPad did not exist. Today it generates $ 32 billon in annual revenues, and as a standalone business would be the 11th biggest U.S. tech company. Potential ‘options’ for Apple investors include a lower-end iPhone, a television ‘solution,’ a larger iPad or converged device and monetizing advertising, e-commerce and search from its iOS platform (and credit card database) of 435 million users.”

[More from BGR: WhatsApp goes free for iPhone for a limited time]

The analyst kept his Outperform rating on shares of Apple, although he trimmed his price target from $ 800 to $ 750 and lowered his 2013 fiscal year EPS forecast to $ 49.41 per share, from $ 50.57.

This article was originally published by BGR

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Anti-tax conservatives say no to tax-increase deal

BOSTON (AP) — In the city where a protest over tax policy sparked a revolution, modern day tea party activists are cheering the recent Republican revolt in Washington that embarrassed House Speaker John Boehner and pushed the country closer to a "fiscal cliff" that forces tax increases and massive spending cuts on virtually every American.

"I want conservatives to stay strong," says Christine Morabito, president of the Greater Boston Tea Party. "Sometimes things have to get a lot worse before they get better."

Anti-tax conservatives from every corner of the nation echo her sentiment.

In more than a dozen interviews with The Associated Press, activists said they would rather fall off the cliff than agree to a compromise that includes tax increases for any Americans, no matter how high their income. They dismiss economists' warnings that the automatic tax increases and deep spending cuts set to take effect Jan. 1 could trigger a fresh recession, and they overlook the fact that most people would see their taxes increase if President Barack Obama and Boehner, R-Ohio, fail to reach a year-end agreement.

The strong opposition among tea party activists and Republican leaders from New Hampshire to Wyoming and South Carolina highlights divisions within the GOP as well as the challenge that Obama and Boehner face in trying to get a deal done.

On Capitol Hill, some Republicans worry about the practical and political implications should the GOP block a compromise designed to avoid tax increases for most Americans and cut the nation's deficit.

"It weakens the entire Republican Party, the Republican majority," Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio, said Thursday night shortly after rank-and-file Republicans rejected Boehner's "Plan B" — a measure that would have prevented tax increases on all Americans but million-dollar earners.

"I mean it's the continuing dumbing down of the Republican Party and we are going to be seen more and more as a bunch of extremists that can't even get a majority of our own people to support policies that we're putting forward," LaTourette said. "If you're not a governing majority, you're not going to be a majority very long."

It's a concern that does not seem to resonate with conservatives such as tea party activist Frank Smith of Cheyenne, Wyo. He cheered Boehner's failure as a victory for anti-tax conservatives and a setback for Obama, just six weeks after the president won re-election on a promise to cut the deficit in part by raising taxes on incomes exceeding $250,000.

Smith said his "hat's off" to those Republicans in Congress who rejected their own leader's plan.

"Let's go over the cliff and see what's on the other side," the blacksmith said. "On the other side" are tax increases for most Americans, not just the top earners, though that point seemed lost on Smith, who added: "We have a day of reckoning coming, whether it's next week or next year. Sooner or later the chickens are coming home to roost. Let's let them roost next week."

It's not just tea party activists who want Republicans in Washington to stand firm.

In conservative states such as South Carolina and Louisiana, party leaders are encouraging members of their congressional delegations to oppose any deal that includes tax increases. Elected officials from those states have little political incentive to cooperate with the Democratic president, given that most of their constituents voted for Obama's Republican opponent, Mitt Romney.

"If it takes us going off a cliff to convince people we're in a mess, then so be it," South Carolina GOP Chairman Chad Connelly said. "We have a president who is a whiner. He has done nothing but blame President Bush. It's time to make President Obama own this economy."

In Louisiana, state GOP Chairman Roger Villere said that "people are frustrated with Speaker Boehner. They hear people run as conservatives, run against tax hikes. They want them to keep their word."

Jack Kimball, a former New Hampshire GOP chairman, said he was "elated" that conservatives thwarted Boehner. He called the looming deadline a political creation. "The Republicans really need to stand on their principles. They have to hold firm."

Conservative opposition to compromise with Obama does not reflect the view of most Americans, according to recent public opinion polls.

A CBS News survey conducted this month found that 81 percent of adults wanted Republicans in Congress to compromise in the current budget negotiations to get a deal done rather than "stick to their positions even if it means not coming to an agreement." The vast majority of Republicans and independent voters agreed.

Overall, 47 percent in the poll said they blamed Republicans in Congress more than Obama and Democrats for recent "difficulties in reaching agreements and passing legislation in Congress." About one-quarter placed more blame on the Democrats and 21 percent said both were responsible.

Although negotiations broke down last week, Obama still hopes to broker a larger debt-reduction deal that includes tax increases on high earners and Republican-favored cuts to entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security. If a compromise continues to prove elusive, lawmakers could pass a temporary extension that delays the cliff's most onerous provisions and gives Congress more time to work out a longer-term solution.

That's becoming the favored path by some Republicans leery of going over the cliff.

Mississippi Republican Chairman Joe Nosef shares his Southern colleagues' disdain for tax increases. But he stopped short of taking an absolute position.

"I really, really feel like the only way that Republicans can mess up badly is if they come away with nothing on spending or something that's the same old thing where they hope a Congress in 10 years will have the intestinal fortitude to do it," he said.

Matt Kibbe, president of the national organization and tea party ally, FreedomWorks, says that going over the cliff would be "a fiscal disaster." He says "the only rational thing to do" is approve a temporary extension that prevents widespread tax increases.

But his message doesn't seem to resonate with conservative activists in the states.

"If we have to endure the pain of the cliff then so be it," said Mark Anders, a Republican committeeman for Washington state's Lewis County. "While it may spell the end of the Republican Party ... at least we will force the government to cut and cut deep into actual spending."

Back where the Boston Tea Party protest took place in 1773, Morabito wonders whether Boehner will survive the internal political upheaval and says Republicans need to unite against Obama.

"It looked like from the very beginning they were just going to cave to what President Obama wanted," she said of the GOP. "I didn't want that to happen. Now I'm hopeful that they're standing up for taxpaying Americans."

___

Associated Press writers Bill Barrow in Atlanta, Rachel La Corte and Michael Baker in Washington state, Thomas Beaumont in Iowa, and AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta in Washington contributed to this report.

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Disney Sets August 9 Release for ‘Cars’ Spin-off ‘Planes’

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) – Disney will release “Planes,” a spin-off of Pixar‘s “Cars” franchise, August 9, 2013, in the United States. DisneyToon Studios is behind the film with Pixar/Disney Animation chief creative officer John Lasseter producing.

The film follows a fleet of planes, in particular Dusty. “Two and a Half Men” star Jon Cryer was to voice Dusty, but he has dropped out and the studio is now casting the part.

Disney initially intended to release “Planes” direct to video, but it will now send it into theaters domestically and overseas.

“Planes” will compete against a pair of films that summer weekend, both of which should have more adult followings. The big-ticket item will be Sony’s “Elysium,” Neill Blomkamp‘s follow-up to “District 9.” Also opening that weekend is “We’re the Millers,” a New Line drug-smuggling comedy starring Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer Aniston.

Next summer’s biggest animated movies should all be sequels save “Epic,” Fox’s story of a teenage girl caught in a forested battle. Beyonce Knowles‘ leads the voice cast. The other big openers are Despicable Me 2,” “Monsters University” and “Smurfs 2.”

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Long-lived bats offer clues on diseases, aging

HONG KONG (Reuters) – The bat, a reservoir for viruses like Ebola, SARS and Nipah, has for decades stumped scientists trying to figure out how it is immune to many deadly bugs but a recent study into its genes may finally shed some light, scientists said on Friday.

Studying the DNA of two distant bat species, the scientists discovered how genes dealing with the bats’ immune system had undergone the most rapid change.

This may explain why they are relatively free of disease and live exceptionally long lives compared with other mammals of similar size, such as the rat, said Professor Lin-Fa Wang, an infectious disease expert at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore who led the multi-centre study.

“We are not saying bats never get sick or never get infections. What we are saying is they handle infections a lot better,” Wang said in a telephone interview.

What was missing from both species of bats was a gene segment known to trigger extreme, and potentially fatal, immune reactions to infections, called the cytokine storm.

Cytokine storms end up killing not only offending viruses in the body, but the host’s own cells and tissues too.

“Viruses rarely kill the host. The killing comes from the host’s immune response. So it looks like what bats are doing is depress the inflammation (cytokine storm). If we can learn that, we can design drugs to minimize the inflammation damage and control viral infection,” Wang said.

The study, which saw the participation of researchers from China, Denmark, Australia and the United States, was published on Friday in the journal Science.

Compared with other mammals of similar size, bats live a long time, with lifespans of between 20 and 40 years. Rats live between 2 and 3 years, on average.

IMMUNE GENES LINKED TO FLIGHT

Interestingly, Wang and his colleagues found that the highly evolved genes that give bats their superior immune system also enable them to fly.

Out of more than 5,000 types of mammals on the planet, bats are the only one capable of sustained flight and some species can fly more than 1,000 km in a single night.

Such intense physical exertion is known to produce toxic “free radicals” that cause tissue damage and it is these same genes that give the bat the ability to repair itself, Wang said.

“What we found was the genes that evolved fastest were genes involved in repairing DNA damage. That makes sense … because when you fly, metabolism goes up and it generates free radicals that are toxic to cells,” Wang said.

“Because bats fly, they (would have had) to evolve and adapt … to get genes that can repair DNA damage.”

Wang said we have much to learn from the bat, which has evolved to avoid disease and live exceptionally long lives.

“Cancer, ageing and infectious disease, these are the three major areas of concern for people,” he said.

“We have studied rats for 150 years to understand how to do better in these three areas. Now we have a system, the bat, that has done very well in evolution. We can learn from the bat. With modern techniques, we can design new drugs to slow down the ageing process, treat cancer, fight infections.”

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

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Showrooming little threat to clothiers in ho-hum holidays

Chicago (Reuters) – In retail, showrooming has not hit shirts yet.

Showrooming, the retail term for shoppers who try a product, then buy it cheaper on Amazon.com or other websites, has driven retailers to the point of hiding barcodes, improving their own websites and coming up with methods to get people to complete their purchase in the store.

But brand-name clothing retailers have an advantage over companies that sell items you can buy anywhere, like televisions and home goods.

“Specialty apparel retailers are some of the least affected by showrooming since the more exclusive the product is, the harder it is to showroom,” said Joel Bines, managing director of the retail practice at advisory firm AlixPartners.

That, in turn, has helped retailers like Gap Inc and Lululemon Athletica Inc find favor with investors.

A survey of 2,010 adults conducted by AlixPartners showed consumers who shop for apparel were among the least likely (35 percent) to go to other websites after they liked an item at a store, compared with 42 percent of electronics shoppers and 41 percent of those looking for accessories like watches and jewelry.

“If you look at some of the most successful (clothes) companies in the past few years, they are those that have that moat around them,” said hedge fund manager Shawn Kravetz, who runs Esplanade Capital in Boston.

He cites yogawear maker Lululemon and Gap as good examples of how it can help to have clothes that are not sold elsewhere.

If a shopper wants to buy a Banana Republic or Nordstrom shirt from the latest season, they have to buy it either from their stores or online shop.

Discount retailers like Zappos, Amazon and others stock brand-name products, but the merchandise is often not from the current season or limited in colors and sizes.

“I don’t need to see if a television fits my body shape when I buy a TV,” said Joe Megibow, senior vice president of omni-channel e-commerce at American Eagle Outfitters. The teen clothes retailer has seen better sales than its peers over the past year.

“I can get a sense of the TV and I’m good. Clothing is different. Does it fit me, is it my style, do I like the quality of the material and how it is put together. There’s so much more with apparel that matters,” he said.

That is the part of the reason, analysts say, why online-only clothing companies like Bonobos and Gap’s Piperlime have started opening brick-and-mortar stores or tied up with retailers to sell their products in physical locations.

Choice and easy availability are the two most important aspects of shopping, especially during a holiday season that has lost steam after what looked like strong Thanksgiving sales.

Estelle Tran, an “impulsive” shopper in her twenties, agreed.

“If I want to buy books, tech items, DVDs, I would definitely buy online. For clothes, I would rather (visit stores) as it is also a fun experience to try on clothes,” said the Chicago-based finance auditor.

Tran said she would definitely check prices online if she was spending more than $ 100.

Luxury and high-priced items can be more susceptible to showrooming, because pricing is what drives the behavior, said Marshal Cohen, chief economist at the consultancy NPD Group.

“With electronics and certain consumer goods it is very easy to compare specific brands across multiple websites. But (showrooming is) happening and it will be growing. If a (clothes) retailer isn’t taking it seriously, they are going to fall behind,” said Bolette Andersen, principal in KPMG’s retail industry practice.

ROOM TO GROW

Some investors are betting on apparel stocks because of their relative insulation from the threat of showrooming.

While the S&P Apparel Index has returned a sizzling 27.71 percent year to date, according to Reuters data, far outperforming the S&P 500, which is up 14.80 percent, more gains may be coming.

“We still think there’s plenty of room to grow,” said Brian Peery, co-portfolio manager at Hennessy Funds. Its growth fund, heavily weighted in apparel and consumer discretionary goods shares, is up 30 percent over the year.

“As we look into the sector 12-18 months, we continue to buy the discretionary area. Two of our heaviest investments would be Foot Locker Inc and TJX Companies Inc,” he said.

Discount chains like TJX and Ross Stores, which sell branded clothes at low prices, have benefited from the surge in bargain-seeking shoppers.

Even the stocks of retailers like Gap and American Eagle that have staged or are staging turnarounds have gotten a good boost over the year. Gap has soared 69 percent and American Eagle is up 31 percent.

R. Shawn Neville, president of Avery Dennison retail branding and information solutions, said another reason that apparel and to a broader extent other consumer discretionary stocks do well is because of their sustainability.

“In uncertain times, investors look towards market segments that have strong underlying demand which are more stable, like the apparel industry,” Neville said.

Moreover, in times of economic uncertainty, shoppers can still afford clothes and shoes, as opposed to a new car, home, or expensive vacations, helping apparel stocks do well, he said.

“Though Amazon is clearly stealing some share in various categories, clothes retailers, say Abercrombie & Fitch isn’t going anywhere. They’re not being run out of the shopping mall,” said Esplanade’s Kravetz.

(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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Vatican says pope beats Justin Bieber on re-tweets

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – Pope Benedict, white-haired, 85, and a neophyte to social media site Twitter, has beaten out 18-year old heartthrob Justin Bieber to set a percentage record for re-tweeting by his followers, the Vatican said on Thursday.

The Vatican newspaper said that as of noon Italian time on Thursday the pope had 2.1 million followers on Twitter, eight days after his first tweet was sent.

While Canadian singer-songwriter Bieber has roughly 15 times as many followers – 31.7 million – the Vatican newspaper said Benedict had beaten Bieber on re-tweets.

It said about 50 percent of the pope’s followers had re-tweeted his first tweet on December 12 while only 0.7 percent of Bieber’s followers had re-tweeted one of the singer’s most popular tweets on September 26, when he commented on the death by cancer of a six-year-old fan.

The Vatican said this was part of a wider trend in which people were looking for more spiritual content.

The pope already tweets in English, German, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and Arabic. The newspaper said he will start tweeting in Latin and Chinese soon.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella, editing by Paul Casciato)

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Predicting who's at risk for violence isn't easy

CHICAGO (AP) — It happened after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, Colo., and now Sandy Hook: People figure there surely were signs of impending violence. But experts say predicting who will be the next mass shooter is virtually impossible — partly because as commonplace as these calamities seem, they are relatively rare crimes.

Still, a combination of risk factors in troubled kids or adults including drug use and easy access to guns can increase the likelihood of violence, experts say.

But warning signs "only become crystal clear in the aftermath, said James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminology professor who has studied and written about mass killings.

"They're yellow flags. They only become red flags once the blood is spilled," he said.

Whether 20-year-old Adam Lanza, who used his mother's guns to kill her and then 20 children and six adults at their Connecticut school, made any hints about his plans isn't publicly known.

Fox said that sometimes, in the days, weeks or months preceding their crimes, mass murderers voice threats, or hints, either verbally or in writing, things like "'don't come to school tomorrow,'" or "'they're going to be sorry for mistreating me.'" Some prepare by target practicing, and plan their clothing "as well as their arsenal." (Police said Lanza went to shooting ranges with his mother in the past but not in the last six months.)

Although words might indicate a grudge, they don't necessarily mean violence will follow. And, of course, most who threaten never act, Fox said.

Even so, experts say threats of violence from troubled teens and young adults should be taken seriously and parents should attempt to get them a mental health evaluation and treatment if needed.

"In general, the police are unlikely to be able to do anything unless and until a crime has been committed," said Dr. Paul Appelbaum, a Columbia University professor of psychiatry, medicine and law. "Calling the police to confront a troubled teen has often led to tragedy."

The American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry says violent behavior should not be dismissed as "just a phase they're going through."

In a guidelines for families, the academy lists several risk factors for violence, including:

—Previous violent or aggressive behavior

—Being a victim of physical or sexual abuse

—Guns in the home

—Use of drugs or alcohol

—Brain damage from a head injury

Those with several of these risk factors should be evaluated by a mental health expert if they also show certain behaviors, including intense anger, frequent temper outbursts, extreme irritability or impulsiveness, the academy says. They may be more likely than others to become violent, although that doesn't mean they're at risk for the kind of violence that happened in Newtown, Conn.

Lanza, the Connecticut shooter, was socially withdrawn and awkward, and has been said to have had Asperger's disorder, a mild form of autism that has no clear connection with violence.

Autism experts and advocacy groups have complained that Asperger's is being unfairly blamed for the shootings, and say people with the disorder are much more likely to be victims of bullying and violence by others.

According to a research review published this year in Annals of General Psychiatry, most people with Asperger's who commit violent crimes have serious, often undiagnosed mental problems. That includes bipolar disorder, depression and personality disorders. It's not publicly known if Lanza had any of these, which in severe cases can include delusions and other psychotic symptoms.

Young adulthood is when psychotic illnesses typically emerge, and Appelbaum said there are several signs that a troubled teen or young adult might be heading in that direction: isolating themselves from friends and peers, spending long periods alone in their rooms, plummeting grades if they're still in school and expressing disturbing thoughts or fears that others are trying to hurt them.

Appelbaum said the most agonizing calls he gets are from parents whose children are descending into severe mental illness but who deny they are sick and refuse to go for treatment.

And in the case of adults, forcing them into treatment is difficult and dependent on laws that vary by state.

All states have laws that allow some form of court-ordered treatment, typically in a hospital for people considered a danger to themselves or others. Connecticut is among a handful with no option for court-ordered treatment in a less restrictive community setting, said Kristina Ragosta, an attorney with the Treatment Advocacy Center, a national group that advocates better access to mental health treatment.

Lanza's medical records haven't been publicly disclosed and authorities haven't said if it is known what type of treatment his family may have sought for him. Lanza killed himself at the school.

Jennifer Hoff of Mission Viejo, Calif. has a 19-year-old bipolar son who has had hallucinations, delusions and violent behavior for years. When he was younger and threatened to harm himself, she'd call 911 and leave the door unlocked for paramedics, who'd take him to a hospital for inpatient mental care.

Now that he's an adult, she said he has refused medication, left home, and authorities have indicated he can't be forced into treatment unless he harms himself — or commits a violent crime and is imprisoned. Hoff thinks prison is where he's headed — he's in jail, charged in an unarmed bank robbery.

___

Online:

American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry: http://www.aacap.org

___

AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner

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Hundreds pay tribute to legendary Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar

ENCINITAS, California (Reuters) – Ravi Shankar‘s daughters, Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar, along with the wife of late Beatle George Harrison said their final goodbyes to the Indian sitar virtuoso on Thursday at a public memorial service in Encinitas, California.

The legendary musician and composer, who helped introduce the sitar to the Western world through his collaboration with The Beatles, died on December 11 in Southern California. He was 92.

About 700 people joined Shankar’s wife, Sukanya, and family at the service held at a spiritual center in the coastal town about 25 miles north of San Diego.

Olivia Harrison, the widow of Beatles guitarist George Harrison, told Reuters the three-time Grammy winner who formed a musical and spiritual bond with The Beatle “expressed music at its deepest level.”

“As a person he was just sweet and seemed to know everything,” she added. “He was a true citizen of the world.”

Shankar is credited with popularizing Indian music through his work with violinist Yehudi Menuhin and The Beatles beginning in the mid-1960s, inspiring George Harrison to learn the sitar and the British band to record songs like “Norwegian Wood” (1965) and “Within You, Without You” (1967).

“He completely transformed (George’s) musical sensibilities,” a tearful Harrison told the crowd. “They exchanged ideas and melodies until their hearts and minds were intertwined like a double helix.”

‘LITTLE CRUMB’

His friendship with Harrison led him to appearances at the Monterey and Woodstock pop festivals in the late 1960s and the 1972 Concert for Bangladesh. He became one of the first Indian musicians to become a household name in the West.

His influence in classical music, including on composer Philip Glass, was just as large. His work with Menuhin on their “West Meets East” albums in the 1960s and 1970s earned them a Grammy, and he wrote concertos for sitar and orchestra for both the London Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic.

“I always felt like a little crumb in his presence,” Zubin Mehta, a former music director of the New York Philharmonic and collaborator with Shankar, said at the service.

Jazz pianist Herbie Hancock also attended the service along with “Anna Karenina” director Joe Wright, the husband of Shankar’s daughter Anoushka.

Shankar, who had lived in Encinitas for the past 20 years, had suffered from upper respiratory and heart issues over the past year and underwent heart-valve replacement surgery last week at a hospital in San Diego.

The surgery was successful but he was unable to recover.

Shankar’s final concert was on November 4 in Long Beach, California, with his Grammy-winning sitarist daughter Anoushka, who spoke giving thanks to those who came. Jones, the third Grammy-winner in the family, did not speak at the service.

(Writing by Eric Kelsey; editing by Philip Barbara)

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Firms spend less to pitch to kids, foods slightly better: U.S. FTC

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Food companies spent considerably less to advertise to children in 2009 than they did in 2006, although the foods that were pitched were only slightly more nutritious, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission said in a report out on Friday.

The FTC, in a survey of data from industry, found that companies spent $ 1.79 billion to advertise to children aged 2 to 17 in 2009, down almost 20 percent, on an inflation-adjusted basis, from $ 2.1 billion three years earlier.

But that drop came not because companies were advertising less, necessarily, but because they were switching from more expensive television advertising to online marketing, the FTC said.

The FTC also found “modest nutritional improvements” in the foods advertised to children, in categories including cereals, drinks and fast-food kid’s meals.

(Reporting By Diane Bartz)

Parenting/Kids News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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