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The hottest video game of the year, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2," offers enough hard-core action to sate the most critical gamer -- and one scene that's creating big controversy.

The game features amazing set pieces of action where a player takes on the role of different soldiers to battle a Russian terrorist group and a Russian invasion of the United States.

Buildings explode. Bullets fly. Choppers plunge to earth.

Things go boom, boom, boom in a big way.

It looks like something out of a Hollywood movie.

To understand the impact of these games on American culture, you need to know that in the first five days that this $60 game was released earlier this month, it made more money than either the last Harry Potter or Batman movie did in the first five days of their releases.

This game and others like it are so realistic that players are essentially taking part in a blockbuster film, and that's why a scene in a Russian airport in so troubling.

Here's the setup: The player has infiltrated a Russian terrorist cell to gather intelligence and is part of a team that enters the airport, guns blazing.

But the terrorists aren't battling airport security or soldiers. They're gunning down innocent civilians.

The player is faced with what should be, in the context of the game, an agonizing moral choice.

He can try to gun down the terrorists, to save the travelers and blow his cover. (This results in him getting killed.)

He can do nothing and tag along.

Or he can massacre the innocents like his comrades.

Fans of the game argue that Modern Warfare 2 is art that immerses you in a role and like all good art presents you with difficult questions.

We have no quarrel that the game is artfully done with a series of compelling stories and spectacular battle sequences.

But just presenting something troubling to players -- presuming they actually are troubled by it -- doesn't necessarily translate to compelling art -- or even art at all.

Fans of the game are confusing an idea that's interesting with one that's interesting and well executed.

During testing of the game, every player wound up shooting at the innocent crowd, according to one published report.

There didn't appear to be a lot of hand-wringing.

Players are warned about the intensity of the scene and can opt out of it without penalty.

But how many actually do that?

The game can't have it both ways -- desensitize players to waves of gloriously orchestrated violence -- which presents its own troubling ripple effects -- and then expect them to really care about just another mass slaughter.

Art should enrich us. It should leave us with something.

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Failure is not an option on health care, a leading Democratic senator said Monday, even as Republicans turned up the heat on moderates who hold the fate of the legislation in their hands.

"We're not going to not pass a bill," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. With or without Republican support, Democrats will get it done, Schumer said, because a health care system that leaves nearly 50 million uninsured and spends more than any other is clearly broken.

Republicans wasted no time Monday going after Democratic moderates who delivered a Senate victory Saturday for President Barack Obama. The 60-39 vote overcame a procedural hurdle and allowed floor debate to start after Thanksgiving. Senate Democrats hope to finish their bill by Christmas, but it remains to be seen whether Obama gets final health care legislation this year.

A state Republican Party leader accused Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., of trying to have it both ways by talking conservative back home and voting with liberals in Washington.

"Nebraskans are finally wising up that there are two Ben Nelsons," said Nebraska GOP Chairman Mark Fahleson. "There's the Washington Ben Nelson ... who gave Democrats the vote they wanted. Then there's the Nebraska Ben Nelson ... who comes back here to Nebraska and tries to portray himself as a conservative."

Nelson's office had no response, but the Democrat has said he won't vote for a final bill unless it takes into account his concerns about limits on abortion funding, as well as his opposition to a new government-run insurance plan.

Another moderate Democrat, Sen. Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, said Monday she also could not support "a government-run, government-funded" public plan. With hundreds of thousands of uninsured people in her state eligible for existing government programs such as Medicaid, getting them signed up should be the first priority.

Democrats hope to persuade at least one Republican, Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe, to vote for the final bill. But Snowe voted with Republicans on Saturday to block Majority Leader Harry Reid's 10-year, $979 billion bill from coming to the floor.

Reid, D-Nev., will have to resolve differences within his party over abortion, taxes and letting the government sell health insurance as a competitor with private insurers. Another 60-vote test awaits him at the end of the debate, weeks from now. The House has already passed its version.

Both bills would require all Americans to carry health insurance, with government help to make premiums more affordable. They would ban insurance companies from denying coverage or charging more to people with health problems. They would set up new insurance markets for those who now have the hardest time finding and keeping coverage - self-employed people and small businesses. Americans insured through big employer plans would gain new consumer protections but wouldn't face major changes. Seniors would get better prescription coverage.

They differ on abortion, taxes and the public plan.

If Democrats succeed in passing their legislation, it may leave consumers feeling a little cheated. Even after a phase-in of several years, the Democratic measures would leave 12 million or more eligible Americans uninsured. Many middle-class families who'd be required to buy coverage would still find the premiums a stretch, even with government aid. A new federal fund to provide temporary coverage for people with health problems would quickly run out of cash.

On abortion funding, the House adopted strict limitations as the price for getting anti-abortion Democrats to vote for the final bill. Abortion rights supporters are backing Reid's approach in the Senate bill, which tries to preserve coverage for abortion while stipulating that federal dollars may not be used except in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother.

In the end, Reid may have to bend. Catholic bishops say they can't accept his approach because it would let federally subsidized plans cover abortion. They vow to oppose the health care bill unless, like the House, the Senate enacts stronger language. Democratic senators opposed to abortion are already threatening a battle.

On financing, the House relies mainly on an income tax hike for upper-earners to pay for expanded coverage. The Senate opted for a tax on high-cost insurance plans, a Medicare payroll tax hike on the wealthy and fees on medical industries. In polls, the House approach is more popular. The Obama administration has signaled it likes the Senate's insurance tax.

That leaves the controversy over creating a government health plan to compete with the insurance industry. It has dominated the debate and remains unresolved.

Both House and Senate bills now provide for a government insurance plan, but Reid's bill would let states opt out. It's not clear that Reid has the votes. He may be able to get a compromise to allow a government plan only if, after a reasonable time, insurance companies fail to deliver lower premiums.

In advance of the Senate debate, the American Medical Association and AARP announced a new ad aimed at calming seniors' fears over Medicare. It features a white-coated man identified as a "real doctor" countering claims from another man identified as a "spin doctor" and will air nationally for two weeks. An AARP spokesman said it was a seven-figure ad buy but declined to give the exact figure.

Schumer appeared on NBC's "Today" show on Monday.

---

Associated Press writers Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Ark., Josh Funk in Omaha, Neb., and Erica Werner in Washington contributed to this report 

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LEH, India -- In the brewing discord between two giant, ambitious nations, even a remote meadow in the Himalayas is worth fighting over.

Some two-dozen Chinese soldiers converged earlier this year on a family of nomads who wouldn't budge from a winter grazing ground that locals say Indian herders had used for generations. China claims the pasture is part of Tibet, not northern India. The soldiers tore up the family's tent and tried to push them back toward the Indian border town of Demchok, Indian authorities say.

Chering Dorjay, the chairman of India's Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, says he arrived on the scene with a new tent and Indian intelligence officers and urged the herders to stay put. "The Chinese, it seems, are gradually taking our territory," he says. "We will feel very insecure unless India strengthens its defenses."

Dueling territorial claims along this heavily militarized mountain border, coupled with economic tensions between the two nations, are kindling a 21st-century rivalry. The budding distrust has created a dilemma for the U.S. about how to court one nation without angering the other.

China and India cooperate occasionally. But in recent years, they have competed vigorously over trade, energy investments, even a race to land a man on the moon. Some Indians want their nation to move closer to the U.S. as a hedge against a rising China -- a strategic shift that's likely to complicate ties among all three.

"China is trying to become No. 1," says Brajesh Mishra, a former national-security adviser for India. "This is the seed of conflict between China, India and the U.S."

The prime ministers of India and China are expected to meet this weekend at a summit of Asian leaders in Bangkok, following several weeks in which their nations traded barbs over trade and disputed territory. "Both sides will exchange views on issues of mutual concern," China's assistant foreign minister, Hu Zhengyao, told reporters Wednesday.

Next month, after a planned visit to China, President Barack Obama will host a U.S. visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a meeting meant to highlight what the White House says is a "growing strategic partnership." Commercial and military ties between the two countries have been getting stronger. Last year, the U.S. loosened restrictions to allow India to buy sensitive technology and nuclear equipment for civilian use. Soldiers from both countries are participating this month in a joint defense exercise.

Indian defense analysts say India needs closer U.S. ties to hedge against potential hostilities with China. "If China's rise is peaceful, and it integrates into the global economy, everything should be fine," says retired Indian Brig. Gen. Gurmeet Kanwal, director of the Center for Land Warfare Studies, an army think tank. "Should China implode, it's better to have a friend like the U.S."

In addition to the defense concerns, trade friction is growing between India and China. India leads all members of the World Trade Organization in antidumping cases against China. India has banned imports of Chinese toys, milk and chocolate, citing safety concerns, and has launched investigations into export surges of Chinese truck tires and chemicals, among other products.

On Oct. 15, Indian heavy-industries minister Vilasrao Deshmukh asked the finance ministry to impose taxes on imports of inexpensive Chinese power equipment. "We don't want India to be turned into a dumping ground," he told reporters.

At the moment, the biggest threat to India-China relations may be their competing claims for big swaths of territory along their border. In recent years, China has settled border disputes with a host of nations, including Russia, as part of what it calls its "good neighbor policy." But China and India have made little progress, despite 13 rounds of meetings since 2003.

China says the eastern Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh is historically part of southern Tibet. India wants China to hand back territory it calls Aksai Chin, desolate high-altitude salt flats that residents of Ladakh claim as part of its ancient Buddhist kingdom. India's discovery of a Chinese-built road in the region helped spark a border war in 1962.

Earlier this month, China objected to a visit by Indian Prime Minister Singh to Arunachal Pradesh to campaign for local elections, saying it was disputed territory. "We request India to pay great attention to China's solemn concerns, and not stir up incidents in the areas of dispute," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu told reporters.

India's foreign minister countered that Arunachal Pradesh is Indian territory, and demanded that China stop investing in infrastructure-related projects in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir. Both India and Pakistan claim the whole of Kashmir.

The 1962 border war, which India lost, complicated the boundary between the two countries. These days, Chinese and Indian forces in some border areas have agreed to go out on different days to patrol contested territory. "We want to avoid an eyeball-to-eyeball conflict," says Gopal Pillai, India's secretary for the home ministry, which oversees the border police.

India and China are intent on turning fast economic growth into national strength. When their interests have converged, they have proven a powerful combination. On Wednesday, they announced plans to cooperate at December's climate-change talks in Copenhagen, a pact likely to see both fighting carbon-emission caps proposed by industrialized nations. During global-trade talks, they both resisted Western pressure to open farm markets.

"China's economic and military growth is not a threat to India. And India's shouldn't be a threat to China," says Cheng Ruisheng, a former Chinese ambassador to India. "We should be an opportunity to one another."

But many Chinese resent any comparison with India, still a largely poor agrarian nation with only about one-third of China's per-capita income. And they're generally wary of India's warming ties with the U.S.

Indians, for their part, bristle over the flood of Chinese imports and China's increasingly cozy ties with India's neighbors, including Nepal, Sri Lanka and arch-rival Pakistan. In a speech last November, Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, then its foreign minister, identified an expansionist China as one of India's top challenges. "Today's China seeks to further her interests more aggressively than in the past," he told the National Defense College in New Delhi.

The Chinese government has objected to a proposed Asian Development Bank program that India hoped would help fund a water project in the disputed territory of Arunachal Pradesh. This year, the Chinese embassy began issuing visas to residents of Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir in a manner that Indian officials say leaves China with a way to later claim that it isn't recognizing the visa recipients as Indian citizens. A spokeswoman for the Chinese embassy in New Delhi says "every country has the right" to set its own visa policies.

U.S. defense contractors could benefit from India's desire to modernize its military. While the U.S. has banned weapons sales to China, it has ramped up such sales to India. Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co. are among the defense contractors competing to supply India's air force a new fleet of jet fighters -- a deal that could be valued at $10.4 billion.

Some Chinese analysts say friction between India and China are playing into what they say is a U.S. wish to contain China. "If border tensions between India and China continue to simmer, I can't say the U.S. will be displeased," says Shi Yinhong, a specialist in Sino-U.S. ties at People's University in Beijing.

The contested territory in northern India lies in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The region abutting China, known as Ladakh, consists largely of rocky mountain terrain with isolated green pastures grazed by yaks, goats and horses. Many of the herders and traders living on both sides of the blurred border share the same Tibetan heritage and Buddhist faith. The main town on the Indian side, Leh, was an ancient caravan stop.

Today, the area crawls with Indian soldiers. Indian border police tightly regulate visitors traveling east toward China.

The roads, which run beside Indian army camps and over a pass above 17,000 feet, are dotted with offbeat signs: "I'm curvaceous, be slow," warns one. "I like you darling, but not so fast," says another.

India intends to use the new mountain roads in part to move military supplies. In September, an Indian cargo plane landed at a new high-altitude airstrip near the border.

Indian villagers near the border have been caught in the middle of the conflict. When villagers were constructing an irrigation canal a few years ago, Chinese soldiers tried to wave them off, says Rigzin Spalbar, chairman at the time of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council.

The villagers hurled abuse at the soldiers, but were angry at Indian soldiers for doing nothing, he says. The Chinese "are pestering us to test India's reaction," he says.

Indian residents of the area claim Chinese soldiers have painted Chinese characters on rocks in territory that India claims as its own. The residents say the border has never been as tightly patrolled as it is now.

Konchok Gurmet, 70 years old, lives in Spangmik, a village ringed with Tibetan prayer flags on Panggong Lake, beside the border with China.

He says that until a few years ago he was able to smuggle horses and wool across the border in exchange for Chinese crockery, clothes and thermos bottles.

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Hillary Clinton vows she will never run again for the White House.

"No," replied the Secretary of State with a laugh when asked whether she will ever again seek the presidency during an interview that aired on NBC's "Today" show Monday.

"This is a great job. It is a 24/7 job. And I'm looking forward to retirement at some point," Clinton, 61, said.

Clinton, who lost her bid for the Democratic nomination last year, also denied she still wishes she's the one making the final decisions instead of President Obama.

"I have to tell you, it never crosses my mind," Clinton said.

"Never?" NBC's Ann Curry asked again.

"No, not at all," Clinton said. "I am part of the team that makes the decisions."

Clinton vehemently refuted media reports suggesting she is "largely invisible" on the major foreign policy issues facing the nation, most notably the wars in Afghanistan and Iran.

"I find it absurd," said Clinton, referring to the reports saying she's been marginalized. "I find it beyond any realistic assessment of what I'm doing every day."

Still, Clinton conceded, there might be "some misunderstanding" about her stature in the Obama White House that needs to be "clarified."

The former first lady - and now the highest-ranking woman in the Obama administration -- suggested her leadership style might be a factor in the public's perception of her role in the administration.

"I believe in delegating power," Clinton said. "I'm not one of these people who feels like I have to have my face in the front of the newspaper or on the TV every moment of the day. I would be irresponsible and negligent were I to say, 'Oh, no. Everything must come to me.'"

"Now, maybe that is a woman's thing. Maybe I'm totally secure and feel absolutely no need to go running around in order for people to see what I'm doing. It's just the way I am."

Asked whether Obama deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, Clinton said she can't "read" the Nobel committee members' minds.

"But the fact that they recognized that his attitude toward America's role in the world, his willingness to challenge everyone to kind of step up and take responsibility really restores an image and appreciation of our country."

Clinton said she didn't think winning the prize would influence the president's deliberations concerning next steps in Afghanistan, including the question of whether to increase the number of troops in the country.

"I think that the president makes each decision on the merits," she said. "It's not going to influence some of these tough decisions."

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The President of the United States doesn't have to give back the Nobel Peace Prize just because people in his own country don't think he deserves it, he doesn't have to apologize for it or act like getting caught with a Nobel is like a talk-show host getting caught with an intern.

The Nobel hasn't suddenly become more trivial than the People's Choice Awards because Barack Obama wasn't supposed to get it. And just because the committee finally found another American President it thought worthy of this honor doesn't mean Obama really wants to be President of the whole world.

That was the guy before him.

This really is a first with the Nobel, all these sudden and self-righteous experts on the prize actually wondering how badly an honor like this hurts Obama.

Chicago loses the Olympics, Obama is the one who really lost. He wins the Nobel Prize and is told he's some kind of bum loser again. Forget that he was surprised and properly humbled and said so. Forget that the $1.4 million he got for the prize goes to charity.

The truth is that the ones who hate him, hate anything he tries to do, don't want him to win any prize with the word "peace" attached to it, not at a time when they want him to be a big-war President and give the generals what generals always want, which is more troops.

Right now Obama has to do the hardest thing any President ever has to do: Be smart and right in a time of war. People keep saying that the opposition he faces right now is as mean and hateful as what Bill Clinton faced. No, it isn't. There was no war for Clinton when he took office. It changes everything.

Gen. William Westmoreland always wanted another 100,000 troops from Lyndon Johnson to send to Vietnam. Johnson kept going along until he finally said no. It was much too late for Johnson by then, of course, his legacy was shot, the American President who signed the Civil Rights Act and who signed Medicare into law was going to be remembered for Vietnam, the war that finally made him quit on his stool in the spring of 1968.

Now, the only way Obama is supposed to get the armies of the right off his back is to give Gen. Stanley McChrystal what he wants, as many as 40,000 more troops for Afghanistan, maybe as many as 60,000.

Obama put himself on this road when he sent more troops over there and said he had to, it wasn't just his war, it was America's war, and a war of necessity. Right. So was Vietnam. At the beginning of 1964, there were 16,000 military "advisers" in Vietnam. By 1967, the number of ground troops had grown to nearly half a million

Still Westmoreland kept pushing for more. He called 550,000 the "minimum essential force" and called 670,000 American troops "optimum." That was when Johnson, broken by then, famously asked, "Where does it all end?" And Westmoreland said that if he got all the troops he wanted, he could finish the job in three years.

Obama worried too much about being called weak during the campaign and he is clearly worried about the same thing now, as his own generals call for reinforcements in Afghanistan. So do the tough guys in the media who have never served a day in the military in their lives. These are the same guys who worry about where the money will come from to pay for Obama's social agenda but never worry about where we find enough soldiers to fight these wars.

We can't keep sending the same heroes back, or the war in Afghanistan eventually becomes a nightmare out of "Zombieland." You know where the soldiers will eventually have to come from for Obama to be the big, strong, brave President they say he has to be with wars? From a draft. Wait and see how much the war lovers love war if the military ever comes after their sons and daughters.

You want to say this President hasn't backed up his own fancy words so far? You want to say he's done an awful job of explaining the difference between health care and health care legislation? Go ahead. And he does seem lost sometimes, preoccupied with being the most popular kid in class. But the idea that it's some sort of terrible thing for the rest of the world to think highly of him is just one more shouted lie in America.

Just not nearly as big and loud a lie as this one:

That the only way for Barack Obama to make things right for winning the Nobel Peace Prize is by sending more kids off to war.

The first doses of swine flu vaccine will be nasal sprays, not shots, health officials said Friday.

The needle-free FluMist is not recommended for some of the people most in danger of serious complications from swine flu - including pregnant women, children younger than 2, and people with asthma and other respiratory diseases.

Some 3.4 million doses of the nasal spray will be available the first week of October, according to the Centers for Disease Control. It is not clear when swine flu shots will be ready.

Health officials in the city expect to receive an initial shipment of 1.2 million doses next month, followed by a half-million more every week thereafter.

The city Department of Health, which will offer free vaccines to all school-aged children this fall, says the spray and shot are equally effective among healthy people ages 2 to 49.

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The new

The Opposite House
Designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma and located in the heart of Beijing's trendy Sanlitun district, The Opposite House is by far and away Beijing's coolest hotel. A striking, open-plan lobby reaches up to the sky, while fashion-themed works of art draw your eye to different corners of the relaxed space. The Zen rooms are the main reason to stay here, but the major bonus is the fantastic selection of restaurants and bars, including the popular after-work hangout Mesh and Mediterranean eatery Sureno.

11 Sanlitun Road, Chaoyang District (+86 10 6417

The old

With a list of guests that extends to celebrities and heads of state, the St Regis is Beijing’s most prestigious address. Many an important executive has thrashed out a deal in the Press Club Bar, and the Sunday brunch at the Garden Court is for those who prefer quality to quantity – or to put it another way, caviar to a greasy fry-up. The style is over-the-top elegance, with more marble and chestnut wood than you can shake a stick at: definitely a classy experience.

1 Jianguomenwai Dajie (+86 10 6460

The new

The Zetter
If you’re looking for a modern, stylish and very reasonably priced boutique hotel in the capital, then The Zetter should be your first port of call. Situated in the heart of London’s stylish Clerkenwell district, the hotel incorporates all the amenities you’d expect of a modern hotel  – free wi-fi, 24-hour room service and movies on demand – with a host of elegant design touches that set this hotel apart: think Penguin paperbacks, pink mood lighting and Eley Kishimoto textiles. Whatever your room rate, the staff offer a level of dedicated and hospitable service usually only found in the most deluxe of London hotels.

St John’s Square, 86-88 Clerkenwell Road

The old

Claridge’s
The opulent Claridge’s has long been the Mayfair destination for comfort, service and downright decadence. Many deluxe hotels offer the top-notch range of facilities and services available at Claridge’s, but none can imitate the quintessentially English sense of luxury on offer here. From the lavish art deco interior style, to the Michelin-starred restaurant run by Gordon Ramsay, via a world-beating afternoon tea, a stay at Claridge’s is an exercise in 1930s-style glamour. On a wintry London evening, nothing beats slipping through the hidden door that conceals ‘The Fumoir’ – a sensuous, low-lit bar perfect for a secret rendezvous.

Brook Street W1K 4HR

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The relationship between China and the U.S. may be the world's most complicated. While the two economies desperately need each other — China relies on exports to the U.S. to drive growth while the U.S. requires investments from China to finance its giant deficits — Beijing and Washington nevertheless routinely spar over a wide range of sensitive issues. The U.S. has accused China of manipulating its currency to unfairly promote exports, while China has openly called for the replacement of the U.S. dollar as the world's premier currency. But with so much at stake, the two nations have tried to keep their rapport cordial. In July, U.S. President Barack Obama called for "cooperation, not confrontation" with China.

Until now. A widening trade dispute threatens to ratchet up the tension in the China-U.S. relationship, with potential consequences for the entire world economy. The spat began on Sept. 11, when the Obama administration announced it would slap tariffs of as much as 35% on Chinese-made tires, effectively pricing them out of the low end of the American market. Two days later, China's Ministry of Commerce said that it would start anti-dumping investigations against imports of some U.S. chicken products and auto parts. Though the ministry's announcement made no mention of the tire tariffs, the timing of China's action appears as an eye-for-an-eye reaction to Obama's decision

Some analysts fear the ill will caused by the tariff dispute could lead to an escalating round of conflict between the two nations, souring overall U.S.-China ties. "The action taken by the U.S. government no doubt will damage the Sino-American relationship seriously at a time when mutual trust is most needed," comments Yu Yongding, an economist at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing. "This is indeed a very bad beginning for the Obama government in terms of cooperation" between the two countries.

The timing couldn't be worse. Policymakers and business leaders have been looking more and more to a partnership between China and the U.S to solve the world's most intractable problems, from reform of the global financial system to climate change to nuclear proliferation. Most pressing, cooperation between Washington and Beijing is seen as absolutely crucial to nurturing the budding recovery of the global economy. The two sides need to alleviate the giant economic imbalances — excessive debt and deficits in the U.S. paired with excessive savings in China — to restore the world economy to a more sustainable growth path

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Radioactive cobalt cleared from Lebanese lab.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repatriated dozens of Russian-made, highly radioactive sources that had been languishing unused in a Lebanese research institute for more than a decade.

The effort forms part of a wider IAEA initiative to secure radioactive materials used in scientific research, medicine and industry, which could potentially be used by terrorists to make a so-called 'dirty bomb'

IAEA officials identified possible security issues with the radioactive material at an unspecified agricultural institute in Lebanon in 2006. They were concerned to find that a cobalt-60 irradiator, originally used for a biological pest control project, had been lying dormant since 1996. The sealed unit still contained 36 individual sources with a combined activity of 3,500 Curies, making it the most powerful source of radioactivity in Lebanon.

The irradiator had previously been used to sterilize male Mediterranean fruit flies or medfly (Ceratitis capitata), with a view to controlling the medfly population and preventing crop damage by egg-laying females. But after the project ended, all the staff members who knew how to look after the radioactive equipment subsequently left the institute, leaving the cobalt-60 sources potentially insecure.

 The sources were fully shielded, so there was no risk to research staff entering the room where the irradiator was stored. "We were worried about the risk of theft, either for the value of the irradiator or particularly for malicious purposes," said Robin Heard, an IAEA radioactive source specialist who oversaw the mission. If the sources had been removed from the container, direct exposure to the radioactive material could have killed someone within minutes.

Source of worry

Plans to repatriate the radioactive material were initially delayed, owing to general political instability in the region, and in particular Israel's bombing of Lebanon's airport, which prevented outgoing flights. The sources were finally moved to a secure storage facility in Russia on 30 August.

"This is a big enough set of sources to be worrisome were it to fall into terrorists' hands," says Matthew Bunn, a non-proliferation expert at Harvard University. "Lebanon is certainly a country with some fairly substantial terrorist activity." The IAEA's repatriation mission in Lebanon was a piece of "good international housekeeping", adds John Simpson, an expert on nuclear non-proliferation at the University of Southampton's Mountbatten Centre for International Studies, the United Kingdom. "It is clearly extremely sensible that the IAEA should try to get all states to account for all radioactive sources that are within their territories."While this operation was a success, it merely scratches the surface of a global problem, says Bunn: "It's a thousand-piece jigsaw puzzle and this is at best one piece."The IAEA has identified more radioactive material that it would like to remove from Lebanon, although the location and activities of these sources is not being made public. The cost of the removal programme has been met by the European Union.IAEA officials are also working in Africa and former Soviet Union satellite states to improve the security of radioactive materials. In the Ukraine, for example, a centralized storage facility is planned to house used radioactive sources from across the country. Construction of the facility within the Chernobyl exclusion zone is expected to begin later this year. The UK government has pledged £2.1 million from its Global Threat Reduction Programme towards the scheme.

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By DANIEL ONG KIAN HONG and JESSIE HO

TAIPEI -- The Taipei District Court Friday found former President Chen Shui-bian guilty of corruption during his time in office and sentenced him to life in prison.

Mr. Chen was absent from the sentencing -- which the judges had approved -- in a sign of protest against the ruling.

He was accused of graft, money laundering, forgery, and bribery. The court will provide more details of the verdict at a news conference later Friday.

The sentencing comes after other members of the former first family, including Mr. Chen's wife, son and daughter, were found guilty last week of perjury and other charges, and given jail sentences.

Mr. Chen's wife, Wu Shu-chen, was also convicted of corruption and received life in prison, said court spokesman Huang Chun-ming.

Mr. Chen is the first former president in Taiwan to be convicted of crimes. He left office last year after serving the maximum presidential term of eight years.

The verdicts came as hundreds Chen supporters demonstrated outside a downtown Taipei court, holding flags and banners saying "free him" and "Chen's innocent."

The three-judge Taipei District Court panel found Mr. Chen guilty on multiple corruption counts, said Mr. Huang.

Mr. Chen was charged with embezzling $3.15 million during his 2000-2008 presidency from a special presidential fund, receiving bribes worth at least $9 million in connection with a government land deal, laundering some of the money through Swiss bank accounts, and forging documents.

—The Associated Press contributed to this article.

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Investitures are also occasionally held overseas, during a State visit by The Queen or a foreign visit by another member of the Royal Family.

Recipients can bring with them to the Investiture up to three friends or relations, who are invited to sit in the audience to witness the occasion.

At the start of the ceremony The Queen enters the room attended by two Gurkha orderly officers, a tradition begun by Queen Victoria in 1876.

Also on duty are members of The Queen's Body Guard of the Yeomen of the Guard, which was created by Henry VII in 1485. Music is provided by either a military band or an orchestra from the Purcell School of Music.

The Queen, or the member of the Royal Family holding the Investiture, remains standing throughout. Each Investiture takes about an hour.

After the National Anthem has been played either the Lord Chamberlain or a Lord in Waiting announces the name of each recipient and the achievement for which he or she is being honoured. The Queen then places the decoration on the person concerned before congratulating them on receiving the award.

Those who are to receive a knighthood (and who are therefore entitled to style themselves 'Sir'), kneel on an Investiture stool before The Queen. Her Majesty uses the sword that belonged to her father, King George VI, to dub the knight.

As well as receiving awards within one of the Orders of Chivalry, recipients may also attend to receive a decoration for gallantry such as the George Cross or The Queen's Gallantry Medal.

Occasionally, an award for gallantry may be made posthumously, and in this case The Queen presents the decoration or medal to the recipient's next of kin at a private ceremony before the formal Investiture begins.

The Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood, which is a branch of the Lord Chamberlain's Office, is responsible for the organisation of each Investiture.

The Central Chancery also organises the distribution of British insignia awarded by The Queen throughout the Commonwealth.

引用

China curbs downward trend in economic growth: Premier

 

China curbs downward trend in economic growth: Premier

GOV.cn Thursday, September 10, 2009

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao addresses the opening plenary of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2009, or the Summer Davos, in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Sept. 10, 2009. (Xinhua Photo) China has curbed the downward trend in economic growth and the country's macro-economic policy and economic stimulus package proved timely, powerful and effective, Premier Wen Jiabao said Thursday. Delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the 2009 Summer Davos held in north China's port city Dalian, Wen said: "Generally speaking, China's macroeconomic policy and economic stimulus package to address the global financial crisis are in line with the country's reality, and are timely, powerful and effective." "We cannot and will not change our policy stance," he said. Wen said China would continue to unswervingly follow the proactive fiscal policy and moderately easy monetary policy, and fully implement and continuously enrich and improve the stimulus package. "We can now see the light of dawn on the horizon," he said. China's economy grew 7.1 percent in the first half of this year, investment expanded at a faster pace, and consumption maintained fast and steady growth. In the first seven months, 6.66 million new jobs were created in urban areas. However, the stabilization and recovery of Chinese economy was not steady, solid and balanced, he said. "With many uncertainties remaining in the prospects of the world economy, we still face tremendous pressure of the decline in external demand," he said. "Some people take a simplistic view and believe that China's stimulus package means only the four trillion yuan investment," he said. "This is a total misunderstanding." Wen reiterated that the stimulus package focused on expanding domestic demand and was aimed at driving economic growth through both consumption and investment. The premier also said that the package aimed to address both immediate problems and long-term needs, and achieved economic growth in the course of restructuring. "It is designed to both sustain economic growth and improve people's livelihood," he added. The three-day summit, also known as the Annual Meeting of New Champions 2009 under the World Economic Forum, attracted about 1,400 business leaders and policy makers from 86 countries and regions.

 

引用 
                                                      Father Kills Bear to Save Son

Just a few more steps, a few … more … steps. Crouched in a thick stand of pines above the Shoshone River in Wyoming's Absaroka mountain range, Ron Leming Jr. gave another blow on his elk call, willing the big bull elk to move closer to his father. Ron Sr. was hidden below in the brush, an arrow in place, his bow ready. A former hunting guide who had moved to these mountains simply for the love of hunting and fishing, Ron Jr. had waited years to get his father this close to a trophy elk. Now the moment seemed within reach. Just a few more steps.

Suddenly, the big elk spooked, jolting as though it had been hit with an electric current; it veered off into the timber and was gone. That's weird, Ron Jr. thought, disappointed. There's no way that elk caught our scent. What could make a bull spook like that? He stood up to get a better view, turned around, and found himself staring straight into the eyes of the answer.

Photographed by Tom Spitz

Father-son bond: Ron Leming Jr. and his dad, Ron Sr., near their home in Cody, Wyoming.

Both father and son love the land that rises above the riverbanks in this corner of Wyoming's Shoshone National Forest: pine-robed peaks reaching 12,000 feet, thick woods punctuated with lush meadows, rocky basins dotted with mountain lakes, and all of it stitched together with heart-shaped elk tracks, wolf howls, and the sudden flash in the rocks that might be a cougar. Accessible only by packhorse—a rough, 15-mile ride up Boulder Basin—it's true wilderness, some of the wildest land in America. It's also grizzly country.

Once nearly driven to extinction, the grizzly has rebounded here; the region's population is now estimated at 600. But it wasn't bears that the Lemings were looking for on their weeklong hunting trip last September. It was elk. "My father and I do a bow-hunting trip for elk just about every year," says Ron Jr. It's a special time for a son who grew up hunting with his father, who also grew up hunting with his father—the hunt a thread that binds the men together. They camp in the same spot each year and sit around the fire until long after dark, sharing coffee, laughs, and stories of the mountains they cherish. "We're very close," says Ron Sr. "These trips mean everything to me."

Perhaps this trip meant even more. On the last day of their hunt the year before, Ron Sr. was tossing his saddle on a horse when he heard something pop in his elbow. A tendon had snapped, leaving the elder Leming barely able to move his right arm, much less shoot a bow accurately. Arm surgery followed by a lengthy rehab and a lot of target practice had him feeling confident again, but this trip was the real test. "My dad has never had the experience of getting a big bull elk with a bow," says Ron Jr., who has taken several trophy elk himself. "I really wanted him to have that." Twice on this trip, he'd been within range, but both times, his arrow missed the mark.

"It was frustrating," Ron Sr. says. "I got to wondering if maybe I was too old." This time, this day, he hoped, would be different. As he rode out of camp that morning, he said a silent prayer in the half-light of a mountain sunrise: "God, guide my arrow today." It was a hunter's prayer, whispered in humility. "I would never pray to kill something," the father says. "I just wanted to know I could still shoot well if I got the chance." Within hours, that prayer would be answered in a way he never could have imagined.

The two men were hunting in a place they call the Rock. "It's one of our favorite areas," Ron Jr. says—a long rim of cliffs with scattered stands of trees. "We always see elk in there, and this time we had a plan." Dressed in full camouflage and wearing elk scent to help cover his human scent, Ron Jr. stood about 40 yards uphill from his father and began mimicking a bugling elk with his handheld elk call—a wavering, high-pitched note that echoed through the mountains. For 30 minutes he called. Then a response: A big elk appeared from the timber below and moved toward Ron Sr.

The bull came within 60 or 70 yards, just out of bow range but then stopped and turned to rake a tree with its antlers. Ron Jr. kept calling, waiting, not moving, hoping it would turn and come within range. That's when he heard something rustling behind him in the bushes: another elk, a small bull that had smelled him and run away. But the big bull stayed, moving even closer to the 30 to 40 yards Ron Sr. needed for a clean shot.

"Everything looked good: The wind was right in our faces. The elk had no idea we were there," Ron Jr. says. "I was sure Dad was going to get a shot." But that shot never came. The bull elk ran. Ron Jr. stood up, turned around, and locked eyes with a bear.

Adult male grizzlies rarely attack humans," says Mark Bruscino, the warden who would later investigate the incident for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. "But they can be very predatory toward elk." With Ron Jr. doing his best to sound and smell like an elk, the bear likely thought it was stalking a bull, says Bruscino. "When it saw the movement of the hunter standing up, it just acted on instinct." And its instinct was to attack.

The bear—a dark-brown, 500-pound avalanche of teeth, claws, and muscle—reached Ron Jr. in seconds. With no firearm or bear spray, he had only his bow to protect himself. "I had an arrow ready, and my first thought was to shoot," he says, "but there was no time." He dodged the first charge, jumping behind a tree and gaining a few steps on the bear, then took off running downhill toward his father.

"I heard Ronnie yell, 'Hey, get outta here!' and from the tone of his voice, I knew instantly that it was a bear," says Ron Sr. When he looked up, he saw his son running for his life, a few steps ahead of the attacking grizzly, and both of them coming his way. "My first thought was, That bear's going to maul my son."

There was no time to think or be scared; there was only a father's instinct. "For just an instant, he was a baby back in my arms, and I just knew I couldn't let this happen," says Ron Sr. Forgetting the danger, the injury to his arm, and the frustration of missing so many easy shots earlier in the trip, Ron Leming Sr. stood his ground, pulled back on his bow, aimed, and took the shot.

"I saw an arrow zip right past my leg," Ron Jr. says. But he didn't have a chance to turn and see where it landed. In seconds, the bear was on top of him. Ron Jr. rolled on his back and tried using his arms to protect his face, the bear biting into his arm and crushing his elbow in the vise of its jaws. "The force of its bite was just tremendous," Ron Jr. says, "and he was tossing me all around. But there was no pain at all." In the fury of it, he was thrown back on his feet. He ran for a split in a tree, hoping to get between the trunks, but in seconds, the bear was on him again, biting his hand and back.

"I turned to get another arrow," says Ron Sr., "but when I looked back, all I could see was the bear on top of Ronnie. I had to do something." Using his compound bow like a club, Ron Sr. charged up to the marauding bear and pummeled its back and head with the flimsy weapon until the bear released his son. The bear turned and lurched down the hill, away from both men.

"Ronnie yelled for me to shoot him again, but I didn't want to make him madder than he already was, so I just watched him," the father says. "From the way he was stumbling, I knew I'd hit him pretty well with the first shot."

In fact, the single arrow from Ron Sr.'s bow had severed a blood vessel near the animal's heart. In a creature that even a high-powered rifle sometimes can't stop with four or five shots, it was a one-in-a-million shot for an archer. The grizzly staggered a few more steps, fell over, and didn't move again. The arrow had flown true.

"That's when the trees and everything started getting blurry," Ron Jr. recalls. He was going into shock. "There was so much blood," Ron Sr. says, "but we couldn't tell how much of it was the bear's and how much was from Ronnie." Checking for wounds, they found deep bites on Ron Jr.'s hand and arm, a few cuts and scratches, but miraculously no major injuries. Most of the blood was from the bear. Still, Ron Jr. was shaken. His father built a fire and began to think about getting his son to safety 15 miles down a rugged mountain trail and then to a hospital another 30 miles away.

Their cell phones were out of range. No one would come looking for them for days. The only option was to go out on horseback. But with his injuries, Ron Jr. couldn't mount his horse. "It was ironic," he says. "Since last year, I've had to help my dad get on his horse because of his arm injury, and here he was helping me get up on mine."

They managed the mount and set off. Much of the six-hour journey is fuzzy in their memories, but the sight of the two men on horseback is something hunter Carl Sauerwein will never forget. Nearing Boulder Creek on his way up the mountain and into an elk-hunting camp of his own, Sauerwein recognized the two from their trips through the years. He shouted a greeting from a distance and noticed that the younger man was wrapped in a heavy coat even though the air was warm.

He didn't think much of it until they got closer and Ron Jr. said, nonchalantly, that they were headed off the mountain because they'd just been mauled by a bear. "That's when I saw the blood on his face and all the cuts," says Sauerwein, who has spent 18 years in the Wyoming mountains and had his own share of run-ins with grizzlies. "Still, he seemed pretty well off, considering." (In fact, he was: At the hospital, he was treated for puncture wounds and released after one day.) The two men just tipped their hats and kept on riding.

During the long ride out, Ron Jr. thought about his love for hunting: its risks and its rewards. "I don't blame the bear," he says. "Hunting is just something I've always wanted to do, and I know that someday we'll go back, my dad and me, to see if we can get another shot at that elk he's always wanted."

He almost had that shot even as they rode off the mountain. "At one point along the ride, we heard a bugling elk," Ron Jr. says. "We looked up, and there about a hundred yards off the trail was a pretty nice bull."

With a smile, he told his father to get off his horse and go shoot it. "I probably couldn't hit it anyway," his father said.

To which his son replied, "If I got off and made it chase me, I'll bet you could hit him." They laughed, two men in the mountains, thinking about the shot of a lifetime—a father's arrow that had saved the life of his son.

China curbs downward trend in economic growth: Premier

GOV.cn Thursday, September 10, 2009

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao addresses the opening plenary of the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2009, or the Summer Davos, in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province, Sept. 10, 2009. (Xinhua Photo) China has curbed the downward trend in economic growth and the country's macro-economic policy and economic stimulus package proved timely, powerful and effective, Premier Wen Jiabao said Thursday. Delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the 2009 Summer Davos held in north China's port city Dalian, Wen said: "Generally speaking, China's macroeconomic policy and economic stimulus package to address the global financial crisis are in line with the country's reality, and are timely, powerful and effective." "We cannot and will not change our policy stance," he said. Wen said China would continue to unswervingly follow the proactive fiscal policy and moderately easy monetary policy, and fully implement and continuously enrich and improve the stimulus package. "We can now see the light of dawn on the horizon," he said. China's economy grew 7.1 percent in the first half of this year, investment expanded at a faster pace, and consumption maintained fast and steady growth. In the first seven months, 6.66 million new jobs were created in urban areas. However, the stabilization and recovery of Chinese economy was not steady, solid and balanced, he said. "With many uncertainties remaining in the prospects of the world economy, we still face tremendous pressure of the decline in external demand," he said. "Some people take a simplistic view and believe that China's stimulus package means only the four trillion yuan investment," he said. "This is a total misunderstanding." Wen reiterated that the stimulus package focused on expanding domestic demand and was aimed at driving economic growth through both consumption and investment. The premier also said that the package aimed to address both immediate problems and long-term needs, and achieved economic growth in the course of restructuring. "It is designed to both sustain economic growth and improve people's livelihood," he added. The three-day summit, also known as the Annual Meeting of New Champions 2009 under the World Economic Forum, attracted about 1,400 business leaders and policy makers from 86 countries and regions.

 

引用

JACKO KIDS TO STEAL THE SHOW AT CONCERT

 

引用

MICHAEL Jackson’s three children will take the stage at a tribute concert, just as the Daily Star told you.

His older brother Jermaine, 54, finally confirmed yesterday what we exclusively revealed two months ago.

Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and seven-year-old Blanket will star at the huge event at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria, later this month.

Jermaine broke down in tears while revealing details of the 65,000-fan gig at a London conference yesterday.

He told how the three youngsters wanted to pay their own tribute to their late father.

He would not be drawn on whether the children would perform at the show, but he insisted: “There could be some surprises.”

However, he admitted that Prince, Paris and Blanket would join his own children, plus his brothers and sisters on September 26.

He said: “You never know what might happen once the music hits them.”

Jermaine also revealed he is planning to sing a special duet with his late brother, thanks to modern technology, but he kept tight-lipped on what song they would perform.

He also spoke of the need for justice to be done for Michael, whose death in June has been classed as homicide.

Jermaine said: “I will say, if there was foul play in anything to do with the passing of my brother, it will be dealt with accordingly.”

 被过滤广告

      Charles Dickens

Charles Darwin called Dickens the great inimitable.

Indeed, has there ever been another writer in English able to combine such a complex literary, private and public life?

There are not only his "big" books but also a plethora of letters, journalism, shorter fiction, plays, verses, essays, writings for children, travel books, speeches and scripts for his public readings, not to mention the travel, the charitable works, the amateur theatricals... Dickens was a true polymath.

When Londoners flush their toilets they should do so with a prayer of thanks for his campaigning for a decent sewage system in the city. And although he ultimately abandoned his opposition to capital punishment - "if I knew what to do with the Savages of civilisation" - he campaigned vigorously for the end of public executions.

All of this finds its way into this huge 720-page hardback, which the publishers claim to be the first serious biography of Dickens for 20 years.

And author Michael Slater is certainly something of an expert on his subject: emeritus professor of Victorian literature at Birkbeck College, past president of the International Dickens Fellowship, former editor of its journal The Dickensian and for many years a trustee of the Charles Dickens Museum, including several periods as chairman.

But despite Slater's academic credentials, this is no dry-as-dust exercise, though it is scrupulously documented and includes much material that has only recently become available.

Only Peter Ackroyd's 1991 study equals this biography in delivering some impression of Dickens's kaleidoscopic life but the comparison falls short when it comes to the detail.

Reading Slater's sometimes breathless account of how his subject crammed so much into a comparatively short life of just 58 years is rather like standing at the great man's shoulder as he juggles all the various aspects of his life like the popular performers he loved so well - and whose example he followed in his own public persona.

Dickens's story - and his stories - should be a shining example to any contemporary writer seeking to get to grips with the world we live in today, so different and yet in many ways so like the Victorian world which made him the popular voice of his time.

引用

JACKO KIDS TO STEAL THE SHOW AT CONCERT

 

引用

MICHAEL Jackson’s three children will take the stage at a tribute concert, just as the Daily Star told you.

His older brother Jermaine, 54, finally confirmed yesterday what we exclusively revealed two months ago.

Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and seven-year-old Blanket will star at the huge event at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria, later this month.

Jermaine broke down in tears while revealing details of the 65,000-fan gig at a London conference yesterday.

He told how the three youngsters wanted to pay their own tribute to their late father.

He would not be drawn on whether the children would perform at the show, but he insisted: “There could be some surprises.”

However, he admitted that Prince, Paris and Blanket would join his own children, plus his brothers and sisters on September 26.

He said: “You never know what might happen once the music hits them.”

Jermaine also revealed he is planning to sing a special duet with his late brother, thanks to modern technology, but he kept tight-lipped on what song they would perform.

He also spoke of the need for justice to be done for Michael, whose death in June has been classed as homicide.

Jermaine said: “I will say, if there was foul play in anything to do with the passing of my brother, it will be dealt with accordingly.”

 被过滤广告

 

 

引用

Obama still wants public option for health

 

引用

CINCINNATI — After months of angry protests and Republican pushback on his plans to reform the health care system, President Obama found a safe port on the banks of the Ohio River Monday to make his case.

Nearly 5,000 supporters – most of the Cincinnati-area union members and their families – roared their approval Monday afternoon when the president, speaking at Riverbend's PNC Pavilion, said it was time to end the bickering and pass a health care plan that would give "security and stability" to those with health insurance and a chance to buy affordable insurance for those who don't.

"It is time to put aside partisanship; time to stop saying things that are not true; time to pass health care reform – this year," the president said in his 36-minute speech, bringing the labor crowd to its feet in a deafening cheer.

Obama's speech came two days before he is scheduled to address a joint session of Congress on the progress of health care reform, where he is expected to state his bottom-line position on the issue that has led to multimillion ad campaigns for and against and a summer full of public forums. Members of Congress have gotten an earful from those who oppose Obama's call for a government-run alternative to private health insurance.

The president, though, didn't entirely tip his hand on what he will say.

"I want you all to tune in," Obama said, drawing a laugh from the crowd.

But Obama reiterated some core principles of reform in which people wouldn't lose health insurance if they lost their jobs, where there is a cap on out-of-pocket expenses and where people would not be denied coverage because of a pre-existing medical condition.

And he made it clear that he still believes in the "government option."

"And I continue to believe that a public option within the basket of insurance choices would help improve quality and bring down costs," he said.

If the White House was looking for a friendly venue at a time when the president's poll numbers are plummeting and job losses continue to mount, it could not have picked a better place on this Labor Day than Riverbend and Coney Island, where the Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council was holding its 23rd annual Labor Day picnic.

Obama spent a good deal of his time extolling the virtues of the union movement.

"It was labor that helped build the largest middle class in history. So, even if you're not a union member, every American owes something to America's labor movement," said Obama, whose run for the presidency was energized in no small part by unions.

The event was moved at the last minute to the covered PNC Pavilion next door to Coney Island, where it had been scheduled for an open air mall, when it appeared there would be more rain Monday afternoon – a threat that never materialized.

Local labor leaders said they distributed 10,000 tickets to the outdoor rally, but the PNC Pavilion only holds about 5,000; a handful of seats in the upper reaches were still empty when the president arrived on the Marine One helicopter shortly after 1 p.m.

Many in the crowd were wearing the same Obama/Biden T-shirts they wore last fall when organized labor here hit the streets and the phone banks by the thousands to help elect the Democratic ticket.

And many of them did the same last fall for the Cincinnati area's only Democratic congressman, Steve Driehaus of West Price Hill, who is one of the Democrats in the House who have so far withheld their support from health care bills proposed by the Obama administration and the Democratic House leadership.

Driehaus arrived at the pavilion about an hour before the president's appearance with his wife and family. He said that he would be returning to Washington on Air Force One with President Obama and said the conversation would doubtless turn to health care reform.

"I think we have spent the last month here in the district listening to all points of view and I think I'm better for it. What I want to do now is get the president's perspective on this," Driehaus said.

Obama had sharp words for those who have loudly opposed his proposals in public forums and for the insurance industry, which has spent millions on advertising against his proposals for a government-run health care option. He said he will listen to critics, but wants to hear them offer alternatives. "What's your answer?" Obama said. "What's your solution? The fact is, they don't have one. It's do nothing."

Inside the PNC Pavilion, the response to Obama was positive and enthusiastic. Outside was a different matter.

About 80 people, organized by the Community Tea Party organization, protested Obama's health care policies and federal spending, lining Kellogg Road near the gate to Coney Island.

 

引用

JACKO KIDS TO STEAL THE SHOW AT CONCERT

 

引用

MICHAEL Jackson’s three children will take the stage at a tribute concert, just as the Daily Star told you.

His older brother Jermaine, 54, finally confirmed yesterday what we exclusively revealed two months ago.

Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and seven-year-old Blanket will star at the huge event at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria, later this month.

Jermaine broke down in tears while revealing details of the 65,000-fan gig at a London conference yesterday.

He told how the three youngsters wanted to pay their own tribute to their late father.

He would not be drawn on whether the children would perform at the show, but he insisted: “There could be some surprises.”

However, he admitted that Prince, Paris and Blanket would join his own children, plus his brothers and sisters on September 26.

He said: “You never know what might happen once the music hits them.”

Jermaine also revealed he is planning to sing a special duet with his late brother, thanks to modern technology, but he kept tight-lipped on what song they would perform.

He also spoke of the need for justice to be done for Michael, whose death in June has been classed as homicide.

Jermaine said: “I will say, if there was foul play in anything to do with the passing of my brother, it will be dealt with accordingly.”

 被过滤广告

                                                        Father Kills Bear to Save Son

Just a few more steps, a few … more … steps. Crouched in a thick stand of pines above the Shoshone River in Wyoming's Absaroka mountain range, Ron Leming Jr. gave another blow on his elk call, willing the big bull elk to move closer to his father. Ron Sr. was hidden below in the brush, an arrow in place, his bow ready. A former hunting guide who had moved to these mountains simply for the love of hunting and fishing, Ron Jr. had waited years to get his father this close to a trophy elk. Now the moment seemed within reach. Just a few more steps.

Suddenly, the big elk spooked, jolting as though it had been hit with an electric current; it veered off into the timber and was gone. That's weird, Ron Jr. thought, disappointed. There's no way that elk caught our scent. What could make a bull spook like that? He stood up to get a better view, turned around, and found himself staring straight into the eyes of the answer.

Photographed by Tom Spitz

Father-son bond: Ron Leming Jr. and his dad, Ron Sr., near their home in Cody, Wyoming.

Both father and son love the land that rises above the riverbanks in this corner of Wyoming's Shoshone National Forest: pine-robed peaks reaching 12,000 feet, thick woods punctuated with lush meadows, rocky basins dotted with mountain lakes, and all of it stitched together with heart-shaped elk tracks, wolf howls, and the sudden flash in the rocks that might be a cougar. Accessible only by packhorse—a rough, 15-mile ride up Boulder Basin—it's true wilderness, some of the wildest land in America. It's also grizzly country.

Once nearly driven to extinction, the grizzly has rebounded here; the region's population is now estimated at 600. But it wasn't bears that the Lemings were looking for on their weeklong hunting trip last September. It was elk. "My father and I do a bow-hunting trip for elk just about every year," says Ron Jr. It's a special time for a son who grew up hunting with his father, who also grew up hunting with his father—the hunt a thread that binds the men together. They camp in the same spot each year and sit around the fire until long after dark, sharing coffee, laughs, and stories of the mountains they cherish. "We're very close," says Ron Sr. "These trips mean everything to me."

Perhaps this trip meant even more. On the last day of their hunt the year before, Ron Sr. was tossing his saddle on a horse when he heard something pop in his elbow. A tendon had snapped, leaving the elder Leming barely able to move his right arm, much less shoot a bow accurately. Arm surgery followed by a lengthy rehab and a lot of target practice had him feeling confident again, but this trip was the real test. "My dad has never had the experience of getting a big bull elk with a bow," says Ron Jr., who has taken several trophy elk himself. "I really wanted him to have that." Twice on this trip, he'd been within range, but both times, his arrow missed the mark.

"It was frustrating," Ron Sr. says. "I got to wondering if maybe I was too old." This time, this day, he hoped, would be different. As he rode out of camp that morning, he said a silent prayer in the half-light of a mountain sunrise: "God, guide my arrow today." It was a hunter's prayer, whispered in humility. "I would never pray to kill something," the father says. "I just wanted to know I could still shoot well if I got the chance." Within hours, that prayer would be answered in a way he never could have imagined.

The two men were hunting in a place they call the Rock. "It's one of our favorite areas," Ron Jr. says—a long rim of cliffs with scattered stands of trees. "We always see elk in there, and this time we had a plan." Dressed in full camouflage and wearing elk scent to help cover his human scent, Ron Jr. stood about 40 yards uphill from his father and began mimicking a bugling elk with his handheld elk call—a wavering, high-pitched note that echoed through the mountains. For 30 minutes he called. Then a response: A big elk appeared from the timber below and moved toward Ron Sr.

The bull came within 60 or 70 yards, just out of bow range but then stopped and turned to rake a tree with its antlers. Ron Jr. kept calling, waiting, not moving, hoping it would turn and come within range. That's when he heard something rustling behind him in the bushes: another elk, a small bull that had smelled him and run away. But the big bull stayed, moving even closer to the 30 to 40 yards Ron Sr. needed for a clean shot.

"Everything looked good: The wind was right in our faces. The elk had no idea we were there," Ron Jr. says. "I was sure Dad was going to get a shot." But that shot never came. The bull elk ran. Ron Jr. stood up, turned around, and locked eyes with a bear.

Adult male grizzlies rarely attack humans," says Mark Bruscino, the warden who would later investigate the incident for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. "But they can be very predatory toward elk." With Ron Jr. doing his best to sound and smell like an elk, the bear likely thought it was stalking a bull, says Bruscino. "When it saw the movement of the hunter standing up, it just acted on instinct." And its instinct was to attack.

The bear—a dark-brown, 500-pound avalanche of teeth, claws, and muscle—reached Ron Jr. in seconds. With no firearm or bear spray, he had only his bow to protect himself. "I had an arrow ready, and my first thought was to shoot," he says, "but there was no time." He dodged the first charge, jumping behind a tree and gaining a few steps on the bear, then took off running downhill toward his father.

"I heard Ronnie yell, 'Hey, get outta here!' and from the tone of his voice, I knew instantly that it was a bear," says Ron Sr. When he looked up, he saw his son running for his life, a few steps ahead of the attacking grizzly, and both of them coming his way. "My first thought was, That bear's going to maul my son."

There was no time to think or be scared; there was only a father's instinct. "For just an instant, he was a baby back in my arms, and I just knew I couldn't let this happen," says Ron Sr. Forgetting the danger, the injury to his arm, and the frustration of missing so many easy shots earlier in the trip, Ron Leming Sr. stood his ground, pulled back on his bow, aimed, and took the shot.

"I saw an arrow zip right past my leg," Ron Jr. says. But he didn't have a chance to turn and see where it landed. In seconds, the bear was on top of him. Ron Jr. rolled on his back and tried using his arms to protect his face, the bear biting into his arm and crushing his elbow in the vise of its jaws. "The force of its bite was just tremendous," Ron Jr. says, "and he was tossing me all around. But there was no pain at all." In the fury of it, he was thrown back on his feet. He ran for a split in a tree, hoping to get between the trunks, but in seconds, the bear was on him again, biting his hand and back.

"I turned to get another arrow," says Ron Sr., "but when I looked back, all I could see was the bear on top of Ronnie. I had to do something." Using his compound bow like a club, Ron Sr. charged up to the marauding bear and pummeled its back and head with the flimsy weapon until the bear released his son. The bear turned and lurched down the hill, away from both men.

"Ronnie yelled for me to shoot him again, but I didn't want to make him madder than he already was, so I just watched him," the father says. "From the way he was stumbling, I knew I'd hit him pretty well with the first shot."

In fact, the single arrow from Ron Sr.'s bow had severed a blood vessel near the animal's heart. In a creature that even a high-powered rifle sometimes can't stop with four or five shots, it was a one-in-a-million shot for an archer. The grizzly staggered a few more steps, fell over, and didn't move again. The arrow had flown true.

"That's when the trees and everything started getting blurry," Ron Jr. recalls. He was going into shock. "There was so much blood," Ron Sr. says, "but we couldn't tell how much of it was the bear's and how much was from Ronnie." Checking for wounds, they found deep bites on Ron Jr.'s hand and arm, a few cuts and scratches, but miraculously no major injuries. Most of the blood was from the bear. Still, Ron Jr. was shaken. His father built a fire and began to think about getting his son to safety 15 miles down a rugged mountain trail and then to a hospital another 30 miles away.

Their cell phones were out of range. No one would come looking for them for days. The only option was to go out on horseback. But with his injuries, Ron Jr. couldn't mount his horse. "It was ironic," he says. "Since last year, I've had to help my dad get on his horse because of his arm injury, and here he was helping me get up on mine."

They managed the mount and set off. Much of the six-hour journey is fuzzy in their memories, but the sight of the two men on horseback is something hunter Carl Sauerwein will never forget. Nearing Boulder Creek on his way up the mountain and into an elk-hunting camp of his own, Sauerwein recognized the two from their trips through the years. He shouted a greeting from a distance and noticed that the younger man was wrapped in a heavy coat even though the air was warm.

He didn't think much of it until they got closer and Ron Jr. said, nonchalantly, that they were headed off the mountain because they'd just been mauled by a bear. "That's when I saw the blood on his face and all the cuts," says Sauerwein, who has spent 18 years in the Wyoming mountains and had his own share of run-ins with grizzlies. "Still, he seemed pretty well off, considering." (In fact, he was: At the hospital, he was treated for puncture wounds and released after one day.) The two men just tipped their hats and kept on riding.

During the long ride out, Ron Jr. thought about his love for hunting: its risks and its rewards. "I don't blame the bear," he says. "Hunting is just something I've always wanted to do, and I know that someday we'll go back, my dad and me, to see if we can get another shot at that elk he's always wanted."

He almost had that shot even as they rode off the mountain. "At one point along the ride, we heard a bugling elk," Ron Jr. says. "We looked up, and there about a hundred yards off the trail was a pretty nice bull."

With a smile, he told his father to get off his horse and go shoot it. "I probably couldn't hit it anyway," his father said.

To which his son replied, "If I got off and made it chase me, I'll bet you could hit him." They laughed, two men in the mountains, thinking about the shot of a lifetime—a father's arrow that had saved the life of his son.