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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Fed Chairman Bernanke should not testify in AIG bailout lawsuit: U.S.

(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve chairman should not testify in the lawsuit by American International Group Inc's former chief Maurice "Hank" Greenberg against the United States over the insurer's 2008 bailout, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

In a Monday filing with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, the government said Greenberg's Starr International Co failed to show the "extraordinary circumstances" needed to justify a deposition of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke in the multibillion-dollar lawsuit.

The government said information about Bernanke's role in the bailout of AIG can be obtained elsewhere, such as minutes of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors or interviews of other officials.

It said this obviated any need for a deposition that Starr wants to hold on August 16, and added that high-ranking government officials like Bernanke in general cannot be deposed over the reasons that they took official actions.

David Boies, a partner at Boies, Schiller & Flexner representing Starr, said in an email: "We believe Mr. Bernanke has important testimony to give in this case."

Last month, Court of Claims Judge Thomas Wheeler said Starr may pursue claims over the government's taking of a 79.9 percent stake in AIG in September 2008 and a separate 1-for-20 reverse stock split in June 2009.

A trial could begin late next year. AIG's board decided in January not to join Starr's lawsuit after a public backlash, including from Congress.

Starr once held a 12 percent stake in AIG, which had been the world's largest insurer by market value prior to the financial crisis and a $182.3 billion federal bailout.

Greenberg, 88, led AIG for nearly four decades before his 2005 ouster. Starr is appealing another judge's dismissal of a related lawsuit against the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The case is Starr International Co. v. U.S., U.S. Court of Federal Claims, No. 11-00779.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fed-chairman-bernanke-not-testify-aig-bailout-lawsuit-225726431.html

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Slow landing speed of San Francisco jet probed

This image released by the National Transportation Safety Board Sunday, July 7, 2013, shows NTSB workers near the Boeing 777 Asiana Airlines Flight 214 aircraft. The Asiana flight crashed upon landing Saturday, July 6, at San Francisco International Airport, and two of the 307 passengers aboard were killed. (AP Photo/NTSB)

This image released by the National Transportation Safety Board, Sunday, July 7, 2013, shows the interior of the Boeing 777 Asiana Airlines Flight 214 aircraft. The Asiana flight crashed upon landing Saturday, July 6, at San Francisco International Airport, and two of the 307 passengers aboard were killed. (AP Photo/NTSB)

An unidentified family member of one of two Chinese students killed in a crash of Asiana Airlines' plane on Saturday, cries at the Airlines' counter as she and other family members check in a flight to San Francisco at Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China, Monday, July 8, 2013. The Asiana flight crashed upon landing Saturday, July 6, at San Francisco International Airport, and the two of the 307 passengers aboard were killed. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

An unidentified family member of one of two Chinese students killed in an Asiana Airlines plane crash on Saturday, is escorted by airport security officers at the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China, Monday, July 8, 2013. The Asiana flight crashed upon landing Saturday, July 6, at San Francisco International Airport, and the two of the 307 passengers aboard were killed. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

A passenger of Asiana flight 214 is wheeled into an ambulance on a stretcher upon her arrival at the Incheon Airport in Incheon, west of Seoul Monday, July 8, 2013. The Asiana flight crashed upon landing Saturday, July 6, at San Francisco International Airport, and two of the 307 passengers aboard were killed. (AP Photo/Kim Hong-Ji, Pool)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Investigators have determined that Asiana Airlines Flight 214 was traveling "significantly below" the target speed during its approach and that the crew tried to abort the landing just before it smashed onto the runway. What they don't yet know is whether the pilot's inexperience with the type of aircraft and at San Francisco's airport played a role.

A day after the jetliner crash landed in San Francisco, killing two people and sending more than 180 to hospitals, officials said Sunday that the probe was also focusing on whether the airport or plane's equipment also could have malfunctioned.

The South Korea government announced Monday that officials will inspect engines and landing equipment on all Boeing 777 planes owned by Asiana and Korean Air, the national carrier.

Also Sunday, San Mateo County Coroner Robert Foucrault said he was investigating whether one of the two teenage passengers killed actually survived the crash but was run over by a rescue vehicle rushing to aid victims fleeing the burning aircraft. Remarkably, 305 of 307 passengers and crew survived the crash and more than a third didn't even require hospitalization. Only a small number were critically injured.

Investigators said that the weather was unusually fair for foggy San Francisco. The winds were mild, too. During the descent, with their throttles set to idle, the pilots never discussed having any problems with the plane or its positioning until it was too late.

Seven seconds before the Boeing 777 struck down, a member of the flight crew made a call to increase the jet's lagging speed, National Transportation Safety Board chief Deborah Hersman said at a briefing based on the plane's cockpit and flight data recorders. Three seconds later came a warning that the plane was about to stall.

Two-and-a-half seconds later, the crew attempted to abort the landing and go back up for another try. The air traffic controller guiding the plane heard the crash that followed almost instantly, Hersman said.

While investigators from both the U.S. and South Korea are in the early stages of an investigation that will include a weekslong examination of the wreckage and alcohol tests for the crew, the news confirmed what survivors and other witnesses had reported: a slow-moving airliner flying low to the ground.

"We are not talking about a few knots" difference between the aircraft's target landing speed of 137 knots, or 157 mph (250 kph), and how fast it was going as it came in for a landing, Hersman said.

Pilots normally try to land at the target speed, in this case 137 knots, plus an additional 5 more knots, said Bob Coffman, an American Airlines captain who has flown 777s. He said the briefing raises an important question: "Why was the plane going so slow?"

The airline said Monday in Seoul that the pilot at the controls had little experience flying that type of plane and was landing one for the first time at that airport.

Asiana spokeswoman Lee Hyomin said that Lee Gang-guk, who was at the controls, had nearly 10,000 hours flying other planes but only 43 in the 777, a plane she said he still was getting used to flying. Another pilot on the flight, Lee Jeong-min, had about 12,390 hours of flying experience, including 3,220 hours on the 777, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport in South Korea. Lee was the deputy pilot, tasked with helping Lee Gang-guk get accustomed to the 777, according to Asiana Airlines.

Two other pilots were aboard, with teams of rotating at the controls.

The plane's Pratt & Whitney engines were on idle and the pilots were flying under visual flight rules, Hersman said. Under visual flight procedures in the Boeing 777, a wide-body jet, the autopilot would typically have been turned off while the automatic throttle, which regulates speed, would been on until the plane had descended to 500 feet (150 meters) in altitude, Coffman said. At that point, pilots would normally check their airspeed before switching off the autothrottle to continue a "hand fly" approach, he said.

There was no indication in the discussions between the pilots and the air traffic controllers that there were problems with the aircraft.

Survivors and rescuers said it was nothing less than astonishing that nearly everyone survived after a frightful scene of fire burning inside the fuselage, pieces of the aircraft scattered across the runway and people fleeing for their lives.

In the first comments on the crash by a crew member, cabin manager Lee Yoon-hye said that seconds before impact she felt that something was wrong.

"Right before touchdown, I felt like the plane was trying to take off. I was thinking 'what's happening?' and then I felt a bang," Lee told reporters Sunday night in San Francisco. "That bang felt harder than a normal landing. It was a very big shock. Afterward, there was another shock and the plane swayed to the right and to the left."

She said that during the evacuation, two inflatable slides that were supposed to inflate toward the outside instead inflated toward the inside of the plane, hurting two Asiana flight attendants. Pilots came to rescue the flight attendants but even after getting injured, she said that the crew did not leave the plane until after the passengers evacuated. She said she was the last one to go.

South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said the 291 passengers included 141 Chinese, 77 South Koreans, 64 Americans, three Canadians, three Indians, one Japanese, one Vietnamese and one person from France.

The two dead passengers have been identified as students from China ?16 and 17 years old ? who were scheduled to attend summer camp in California with dozens of classmates. Hospital officials said Sunday that two of the people who remained hospitalized in critical condition were paralyzed with spinal injuries, while another two showed "road rash" injuries consistent with being dragged.

Foucrault, the coroner, said one of the bodies was found on the tarmac near where the plane's tail broke off when it slammed into the runway. The other was found on the left side of the plane about 30 feet (10 meters) away from where the jetliner came to rest after it skidded down the runway. Foucrault said an autopsy he expects to be completed by Monday will involve determining whether the second girl's death was caused by injuries suffered in the crash or "a secondary incident."

He said he did not get a close enough look at the victims on Saturday to know whether they had external injuries.

The flight originated in Shanghai, China, and stopped over in Seoul, South Korea, before making the nearly 11-hour trip to San Francisco.

On audio recordings from the air traffic tower, controllers told all pilots in other planes to stay put after the crash. "All runways are closed. Airport is closed. San Francisco tower," said one controller.

At one point, the pilot of a United Airlines plane radioed.

"We see people ... that need immediate attention," the pilot said. "They are alive and walking around."

"Think you said people are just walking outside the airplane right now?" the controller replied.

"Yes," answered the pilot of United Flight 885. "Some people, it looks like, are struggling."

When the plane hit the ground, oxygen masks dropped down, said Xu Da, a product manager at an Internet company in Hangzhou, China, who was sitting with his wife and teenage son near the back of the plane. He stood up and saw sparking ? perhaps from exposed electrical wires ? and a gaping hole through the back of the plane where its galley was torn away along with the tail.

Xu and his family escaped through the opening. Once on the tarmac, they watched the plane catch fire, and firefighters hose it down.

In the chaotic moments after the landing, when baggage was tumbling from the overhead bins onto passengers and people all around her were screaming, Wen Zhang grabbed her 4-year-old son, who hit the seat in front of him and broke his leg.

Spotting a hole at the back of the jumbo jet where the bathroom had been, she carried her boy to safety.

"I had no time to be scared," she said.

Nearby, people who escaped were dousing themselves with water from the bay, possibly to cool burn injuries, authorities said.

By the time the flames were out, much of the top of the fuselage had burned away. The tail section was gone, with pieces of it scattered across the beginning of the runway. One engine was gone, and the other was no longer on the wing.

___

Lowy reported from Washington, D.C. Associated Press writers Terry Collins, Terry Chea, Lisa Leff and Sudhin Thanawala in San Francisco, David Koenig in Dallas, Louise Watt in Beijing and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-07-08-US-San-Francisco-Airliner-Crash/id-32223fb473dd4bfb9158c7bdc51fc0da

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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

hormone replacement therapy for men | Andy Fine MD

Posted by Dr. Fine on Jul 8, 2013 in Blog | 0 comments

Most men don?t like to hear this, but when it comes to testosterone, they hit their peak at about age 17. Levels plateau for a while, then slowly start to slide in their 30s and 40s. By the time a man reaches 80, his testosterone level will be about half of what it was when he was a strapping young lad.

For decades, doctors have used synthetic testosterone to treat a small number of men whose hormone level is unambiguously low. Hypogonadism, as it is called, can be caused by a problem in the testes (where most testosterone is made) or in the pituitary gland (the ?master gland? under the brain that secretes a signaling hormone to get the testes into action).

But now a growing number of men in the United States are taking testosterone to reverse the gradual, age-related decline of the hormone, or so-called andropause. By some estimates, the number of testosterone prescriptions in the United States has tripled in recent years, and total sales now come to about $400 million a year. That?s not much compared with the $12.5 billion spent on cholesterol-lowering statins, but the upward trend is still impressive.

Rub it in

Testosterone isn?t taken as a pill, because it can be toxic to the liver in that form. It?s readily absorbed through the skin, so it?s easy to use as a gel that is usually spread daily on the upper arms, shoulders, and abdomen after a morning shower, when the skin is clean and dry. The gels have largely replaced testosterone patches, the first transdermal method. Striant is a gel designed to be applied to the gums. It?s also possible to get testosterone injections. The FDA classifies the hormone as a controlled substance, so it?s more tightly regulated than, say, Viagra. Testosterone products sold over the Internet are not reliable.

Anybody who has watched the hopes for hormone therapy in women fade as the risks become apparent has to wonder why some men are willing to risk the possible consequences of taking a sex hormone that isn?t medically necessary. Some may see this as evidence that male risk-taking behavior (some might say foolishness) lasts even when testosterone doesn?t!

Mainstream medicine has been duly, if predictably, cautious. An Institute of Medicine (IOM) report in November 2003 called for a go-slow approach, recommending small, placebo-controlled trials to prove benefit and then, if the results are positive, larger studies to prove safety. In January 2004, a review article in the?New England Journal of?Medicine?(NEJM) took a practical approach to what is perhaps the thorniest issue: whether testosterone treatments increase the risk for prostate cancer. The article says that testosterone doesn?t cause cancer, but that men taking it need to be monitored for prostate cancer ?given the widespread, albeit poorly substantiated, concern? that the hormone may stimulate the growth of hidden cancer.

The male hormone

You can go too far with gender stereotyping of hormones. Women make testosterone, too, although in much smaller amounts, and the FDA has approved Estratest, a combination estrogen-testosterone pill, for women suffering from menopausal symptoms like hot flashes (the testosterone dose is so small that the risk of liver toxicity is minor). Moreover, some of a man?s testosterone gets converted by the liver and fat tissue into estrogen.

Still, testosterone deserves its reputation as?the?male hormone. A male fetus starts producing it seven weeks after conception. The adolescent surge changes the voice of a teenage boy, makes his muscles fill out, and stimulates his sex drive. In adult men, the hormone plays a role in maintaining muscle mass and strength, fat distribution, bone strength, and red blood cell production, as well as libido and sperm production. And yes, a metabolite of testosterone does promote baldness, although testosterone treatments do not.

In younger men, testosterone levels fluctuate quite a bit, usually spiking in the early morning. But in older men, the peaks and valleys flatten out, so getting an accurate measurement isn?t difficult. Only about half of the testosterone in a man?s blood stream is biologically active. The rest is stuck to another hormone called, appropriately enough, the sex hormone?binding globulin, and levels of it go up with age, furthering the testosterone skid in older men.

Benefits and risks

There?s pretty good evidence that testosterone treatment will make a man leaner, though not necessarily stronger. Citing 12 placebo-controlled studies of body composition, the IOM reported that testosterone treatment probably does increase lean-body mass and decrease fat. But surprisingly, muscle strength showed no improvement in 8 of 10 studies. Results on mood and cognition are too mixed to draw any firm conclusions. Some researchers see a positive trend in bone density.

As for sex, no surprise ? testosterone plays an important role in sexual interest and motivation. Some research hints at a use-it-or-lose-it feedback loop ? testosterone levels increase with sexual stimulation and activity, and decline after long periods of celibacy. But even men with low levels of the hormone can have erections.

Testosterone therapy hasn?t been effective as a treatment for erectile dysfunction. In younger men it shrinks the testes and in all men, drops the sperm count. Yet doctors who prescribe testosterone say their patients often report that it improves the quality of their erections.

On the risk side, one of the big worries has been heart attacks and other cardiovascular problems. But research has chipped away at that idea. Low, not high, testosterone has been linked to cardiovascular risks like diabetes. Testosterone treatment does not have an appreciable effect on cholesterol. In clinical studies, treatment has been shown to widen coronary arteries and may even help angina. Red blood cell counts sometimes go up, although this is more common with injections of the hormone. For men with anemia, that side effect could be a plus. But higher red blood cell counts can also make the blood thicker and therefore more likely to clot. So doctors who prescribe testosterone should be careful about monitoring red blood cell counts.

The other big worry is prostate cancer. Testosterone doesn?t seem to initiate it. In fact, there?s reason to believe that in men with naturally high levels, the hormone may act as a prostate cancer inhibitor. On the other hand, it?s pretty clear that once prostate cancer is present, the cancerous cells need testosterone and related hormones to grow. About half of all men over age 50 harbor cancer cells in their prostate that aren?t causing symptoms or doing any real harm. Theoretically at least, testosterone treatment might ?wake up? those cells and make them aggressively cancerous. To guard against that, some doctors insist on a prostate biopsy to rule out the presence of cancer before they start a man on testosterone therapy.

Risks from testosterone replacement

Who qualifies as having low testosterone?

There is an unsettling imprecision in all of this. The clinical trials so far have been too small or too short, or both, to draw firm conclusions. We?re years away from having results from definitive studies, if and when they?re ever done. With so much uncertainty, what should be done in the meantime? Dr. Peter Snyder, an endocrinologist at the University of Pennsylvania, took a stab at answering that question in an article published in the aforementioned issue of the?New England?Journal of Medicine.?Here are four principles he outlined:

Strict criteria for a diagnosis. For men over 65, a diagnosis of testosterone deficiency should be limited to those who have three early-morning tests that are ?unequivocally subnormal.? But reflecting the uncertainty surrounding the issue, Snyder hedges on a cutoff number and says it should be ?perhaps below 200 ng/dL.?

Treatment only for those with a diagnosis. Men with testosterone levels that aren?t quite so low (200?300 ng/dL) might benefit from testosterone, but the ?prudent course? would be to treat only men with very low levels.

Monitor testosterone levels. The symptoms of testosterone deficiency are so general (fatigue, depressed mood, diminished muscle mass, etc.) that measuring testosterone levels is the best way to tell whether the treatment is working. In men over 65, the goal should be 300?450 ng/dL, the middle of the normal range for that age.

Monitor for testosterone-dependent diseases. Benign prostate enlargement and prostate cancer are the main concerns, but doctors should also check for worsening of sleep apnea, breast tenderness, and elevated red blood cell counts.

Alternate routes, same destination

In theory, a methodical, low-risk approach like Snyder?s may make sense. Cautious doctors and their patients may follow it. But Dr. Abraham Morgentaler, a Harvard-affiliated urologist and one of the coauthors of the NEJM review article, regards Snyder?s advice as highly conservative. For example, he says 400 ng/dL, not 200, is the cutoff often used for low testosterone by many urologists.

More fundamentally, Dr. Morgentaler says that focusing on the numbers is putting the cart before the horse. In his opinion, doctors should let the symptoms be the primary guide, with testosterone levels serving as useful backup information.

Dr. Morgentaler also believes that some of the misgivings about testosterone treatment stem from prejudices about aging. We look askance at older people who don?t act their age, which is to say old and frail.

But there are ways to slow the aging process that are certifiably safe and ?natural,? if not quite as easy as smearing on a hormone-laden cream every morning. Weight-bearing exercise builds muscle mass, keeps off fat, and makes bones stronger. Walking keeps the cardiovascular system in shape. Fatigue often can be traced back to solvable sleep problems. Finally, we tend to want to defy age, when just a little more acceptance would make us relax about it. Eighty doesn?t feel like 18 or even 38, but should men want it to?

Source: http://www.andyfinemd.us/2013/07/hormone-replacement-therapy-for-men/

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Anna Benson Arrested for Breaking Into Ex's Apartment with Gun, Bulletproof Vest

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/07/anna-benson-arrested-for-breaking-into-exs-apartment-with-gun-bu/

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Monday, July 8, 2013

Agent says 3 teams interested in 41-year-old Jagr

Jaromir Jagr wants to extend his NHL career, and his agent said some teams are "very interested" in his 41-year-old client.

Jagr might have to wait a while, and the league's active scoring leader might not be the only free agent without a new job this weekend.

"He definitely still wants to play and there is some interest in him," Jagr's agent, Petr Svoboda, told The Associated Press on Saturday afternoon. "I think it's going to take some time, but you never know for sure because there are three teams that are very interested."

Svoboda declined to say which teams wanted to sign Jagr.

J.P. Barry, who represents two of the top free agents available, Daniel Cleary and Mason Raymond, also expected a relatively slower pace of moves around the league.

"We've touched based with several teams and many of them are being patient at this point," Barry said Saturday. "We've got options for (Cleary and Raymond), but we're in a holding pattern with each of them because I think everyone is taking a breath this weekend.

"I've been through about 15 of these, and there is always a frenzy of moves then a pause to reassess and then a second wave. It's tough to predict when that second wave will happen, so we're always on call when teams are ready."

Day 1 of the free agency flurry included dozens of deals, including Jarome Iginla signing a one-year deal worth as much as $6 million with Boston, which almost acquired the six-time All-Star last season when Pittsburgh did from Calgary. Nathan Horton cashed in on his second strong postseason performance for the Bruins with a $37.1 million, seven-year contract in Columbus.

Daniel Alfredsson made perhaps the most surprising move. The 40-year-old forward is taking what might be his last shot at winning a Stanley Cup with the Detroit Red Wings, jilting the Ottawa Senators after being the face of the franchise.

The Senators tried to bounce back by making a bold trade for Anaheim forward Bobby Ryan in exchange for a pair of promising players and a first-round draft pick.

On Saturday, the second day NHL teams could sign free agents, the pickings were slim after top-tier players were taken off the market by teams that agreed to and signed deals following two days of talks.

Among the relatively notable names available Saturday afternoon: Jagr, Cleary, Mason, Mikhail Grabovski, Ilya Bryzgalov, Tim Thomas, Damien Brunner, Mason Raymond, Toni Lydman, Derek Roy, Brad Boyes and Brenden Morrow.

Technically, Teemu Selanne is an unrestricted free agent, too.

No one, though, expects the 43-year-old Finnish Flash to leave the Anaheim Ducks if he chooses to keep playing in North America. Ducks general manager Bob Murray plans to contact Selanne next week to find out if he is close to making a decision on returning or retiring.

Senators general manager Bryan Murray, though, was among the many shocked when Alfredsson said he was ready to leave the only franchise he has played for in his 17-season NHL career.

"He indicated winning a Stanley Cup was an opportunity he couldn't pass up," Murray recalled. "He told me the two teams he was talking to. He told me he thought they were in a position ahead of us to make that happen."

While Alfredsson could've stayed in Ottawa to make more than the $5.5 million he'll be paid next season by the Red Wings to chase a Cup, Horton is leaving a championship-contending team to be well-compensated by a franchise in Columbus without a postseason win in its 12 seasons of existence.

"This is a team on the rise with great players and I'm looking forward to being a part of it," Horton said.

Jagr, a five-time scoring champion and former NHL MVP, was able to continue his career in the league during the shortened season when the Dallas Stars gave him a $4.55 million, one-year contract last summer.

After Jagr had 14 goals and 26 points in 34 games for the Stars, showing he could still produce in his 40s, Dallas dealt him to the Bruins. He had nine points in 11 regular season games in Boston and 10 assists in 22 postseason games in which he didn't score, but made key plays that didn't show up on the scoresheet. Jagr teamed with Mario Lemieux to help lead the Penguins win a pair of Stanley Cup championships as a teenager in his first two NHL seasons in 1991 and 1992, and was the league's MVP in 1999.

___

AP Sports Writers John Wawrow in Buffalo, N.Y., Dan Gelston in Philadelphia and Rusty Miller in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/agent-says-3-teams-interested-41-old-jagr-185000321.html

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Heated NYC mayor's race is a star-studded affair

NEW YORK (AP) ? One makes a video with Steve Buscemi and rockers Vampire Weekend. Another gets shout-outs from Whoopi Goldberg and Brooke Shields. A third hobnobs over cocktails with an actor from "The Sopranos."

No, it's not an awards show weekend. It's the New York City mayor's race, featuring a cast of celebrities like few other municipal elections.

Last weekend, Democratic mayoral contender Christine Quinn unfurled a star-dusted list of pro-gay-rights backers of her bid to become the city's first female and first openly gay mayor. Among them: singer Lance Bass, actor Neil Patrick Harris, director Rob Reiner and "Project Runway" style czar Tim Gunn, who said Quinn would "make the position of mayor the bully pulpit it needs to be to fight for all New Yorkers. "

Ten days earlier, Alec Baldwin announced that he'd raffle off two dinner invites to any-amount donors to Democratic candidate Bill de Blasio.

"There are few things I enjoy more than a good meal with good company, particularly when an issue as urgent as the New York City mayoral election is up for discussion," the "30 Rock" actor told de Blasio supporters in an email, saying the candidate "understands the inequality crisis facing our city."

And in May, a fundraiser for Republican hopeful Joe Lhota spotlighted as "special guest" Steve Schirripa, best known as gentle-spirited goodfella Bobby "Bacala" Baccalieri on "The Sopranos."

With the super-competitive campaign to lead the nation's biggest city in high gear since spring, the day-to-day menu of candidate forums, policy speeches and endorsements from political figures and interest groups has increasingly been sprinkled with a healthy dash of glitz.

One day, it's a video from hip-hop impresario Russell Simmons praising de Blasio, now the city public advocate. Another day, it's Goldberg posting on her Facebook page to cheerlead for Quinn, now the City Council's leader. Or salsa star Willie Colon tweeting a link to a song he wrote lauding Democratic contender Bill Thompson, a former city comptroller.

Indeed, the race can sometimes seem like something of a ballot-box version of "Battle of the Network Stars." De Blasio's "LGBT for BdB" gala is headlined by Sarah Jessica Parker and Cynthia Nixon of "Sex and the City" fame and Tony Award-winning actor Alan Cumming? Well, here comes the "LGBT for Quinn" team, with actor-playwright Harvey Fierstein and actors Cheyenne Jackson and George Takei, along with Bass, Harris, Reiner and Gunn.

Republican candidate George McDonald, meanwhile, has links to actor Ethan Hawke, a longtime supporter of the Doe Fund, the homelessness-services nonprofit McDonald runs. GOP rival John Catsimatidis has been cultivating a theatrical tie of his own ? the billionaire businessman has been underwriting performances of "The Little Flower," actor Tony Lo Bianco's one-man show about former New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia.

Entertainers, athletes and other pop culture icons have lent star power to national politics since at least 1920, when singer and comedian Al Jolson wrote a campaign song for Republican nominee Warren Harding and ushered dozens of theater performers to a rally at Harding's Ohio home. Later, show business would pave the path for several stars to win office themselves, most prominently President Ronald Reagan.

And celebrities' politics can be local, too, particularly in such fame havens as New York and Los Angeles, where the recent mayoral contest drew in Salma Hayek, Moby, Jimmy Kimmel and Magic Johnson, among other buzzerati.

In places where voter rolls are stuffed with boldface names, candidates can almost feel pressed to get celebs on their side, says former New York mayoral candidate Tom Allon, a newspaper publisher who dropped his campaign in March. He doesn't think stars' political opinions carry much weight with New Yorkers, but if he'd kept running and could tap some famous endorsers, "I'm sure I would have tried," he said.

While celebrities' imprimatur may not sway voters, stars can help campaigns more indirectly, political observers say.

"The crude notion that celebrities are persuasive, most of the time, for how people vote is just wrong. But I think celebrities are very important in certain situations: fundraising, attracting crowds and interest where it otherwise might not exist," says North Carolina State University political science professor Michael Cobb, who has researched whether celebrity endorsements affect voters.

A star might get more people to a rally or fundraiser, generate press coverage or write checks and round up wealthy friends to do likewise. (Several celebrities are bringing their pocketbooks to bear on the New York mayoral campaign, including Quinn donors Tom Hanks and Jon Bon Jovi and de Blasio contributors Paul Simon and John Turturro.)

And a celebrated backer can contribute to voters' view of a candidate, especially if the star's known for political activism.

Baldwin, for example, is so outspoken about city matters that he flirted with a mayoral run himself. Buscemi, a former city firefighter, got arrested alongside de Blasio in 2003 while protesting plans to close a firehouse.

Such supporters "may be famous, but they are also progressive New Yorkers and passionate activists who care deeply about the future of our city and believe we need real change" after Mayor Michael Bloomberg's 12 years, de Blasio said in a statement. His campaign's famous friends also include Susan Sarandon.

Campaigns can run the risk that celebrity supporters will distract from their message instead of amplifying it. Just ask Mitt Romney about Clint Eastwood's Republican National Convention speech to an empty chair or query President Barack Obama about Robert de Niro's crack about some GOP candidates' wives at a fundraiser earlier in 2012.

De Blasio faced questions last week after Baldwin lashed out at a British journalist with a vulgar Twitter tirade using an anti-gay term. Baldwin apologized in a statement to the gay rights group GLAAD, and a de Blasio spokesman called the actor's language "clearly unacceptable."

And Quinn was on the spot when illustrious feminist Gloria Steinem publicly threatened to forsake Quinn's mayoral campaign if Quinn kept preventing the council from voting on requiring many businesses to provide paid sick time. Quinn ultimately backed the proposal, and Steinem endorsed her.

Some candidates say their campaigns aren't courting stars. Average New Yorkers' votes "are way more valuable than the endorsement of the 'Sex and the City' cast," said Todd Brogan, a spokesman for Democratic contender Sal Albanese, a former city councilman.

Another candidate is well-known enough in his own right, for good or ill: Anthony Weiner, the Democratic former congressman felled by smutty tweets. Weiner hasn't announced any endorsements since he jumped into the race roughly six weeks ago.

Campaigns that are embracing luminaries say they're keeping fame in perspective.

"We're always so appreciative to have them," said Jessica Proud, a spokeswoman for Lhota, an ex-Metropolitan Transportation Authority boss. But ultimately, Proud said, "people want to know what you're going to do with them in office."

"You're not running for 'American Idol,'" she added. "You're running for mayor."

___

Associated Press writer Colleen Long contributed to this report.

___

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/heated-nyc-mayors-race-star-studded-affair-145737310.html

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Sunday, July 7, 2013

SF Plane Crash: Video Taken From Inside Terminal Of Asiana Airlines Crash (VIDEO)

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Sources at the San Francisco Fire Department told KTVU that at least two people were dead and 61 injured after Asiana Airlines flight 214 crashed at SFO International Airport on Saturday.

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Twitter user @EuniceBirdRah tweeted the following:

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Audio chatter during the incident from the SFO air traffic control tower has surfaced on YouTube:

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MSNBC shows the flames following the impact:

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In what appears to be a sliding doors moment, Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said she was originally booked to be on Asiana Airlines Flight 214, which crashed and caught fire at SFO airport in San Francisco on Saturday.

Writing on her Facebook page, Sandberg said that she, her family and three of her colleagues were slated to be on the plane that went down while attempting a crash landing, but that the group switched to another flight in order to use frequent flyer miles.

More here.

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The LA Times reports:

Federal law enforcements officials are monitoring the crash of the Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 on Saturday at San Francisco International Airport, but sources said there was no immediate indication of terrorism or other foul play.

Read the whole story here.

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From @EuniceBirdRah on Twitter:

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Oakland-based KCBS reporter Doug Sovern tweeted that 10 people are in critical condition after the crash.

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A spokeswoman for the National Transportation Safety Board said during a press conference that the NTSB hasn't yet started its investigation. "We haven't left Washington yet," she said.

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A man who saw the plane crash gave an eerie account to CNN:

"I knew something was wrong about three or five seconds out?the wheels were too low, too soon," he said, starting to cry. "The whole thing [plane] collapsed immediately?it just pancaked immediately, it collapsed and then it slid?it started to slide and pivot, and then the wings caught on the tarmac and they flew off and the whole inside of the cabin went orange."

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Airlines took to Twitter to send condolences to Asiana and to share information on their customers' flights. American Airlines waived ticket change fees for those who are scheduled to fly both Saturday and Sunday; Virgin America and JetBlue similarly followed suit. United Tweeted that affected customers should head to the airline's website for more information on flights .