Football: Messi reaches 82 goals as Barca stay clear

MADRID: Lionel Messi struck twice as Barcelona won 4-0 at Levante on Sunday to remain three points clear of Atletico Madrid at the top of La Liga.

Messi's goals were both laid on by Andres Iniesta who also hit the target himself before supplying Cesc Fabregas for the fourth.

The Argentine's brace means he now has 82 goals in 2012, just six short of German legend Gerd Mueller's all-time calendar record set in 1972.

He also tops the La Liga charts for the season with 19 goals.

Atletico had earlier beaten Sevilla 4-0 to keep pace at the top and go eight points ahead of city rivals Real Madrid in third who had lost 1-0 at Betis on Saturday.

Barca had struggled in the first half and their cause was not helped by losing Dani Alves after only 13 minutes with what appeared to be a recurrence of a recent hamstring injury.

When his replacement Martin Montoya took the pitch it meant Barca's full side had also starred for the club at youth level.

Jose Maria Barkero had the best chance of the opening exchanges for Levante, drawing Barca goalkeeper Victor Valdes into a save with a 12th-minute drive.

Barca took 10 minutes to react, Messi hitting a low shot that missed just wide right, a minute before Xavi Hernandez hit a similar drive that went to the left.

The Catalans' intricate build-up play was comfortably contained by solid defending from the home team in a tight first period.

Levante, in the meantime, looked dangerous on the counter-attack and Obafemi Martins narrowly glanced a header wide just before half-time.

However, Barca finally found a way through just after the break and it was from a perfectly threaded pass from Iniesta that allowed Messi to coolly slot home.

Five minutes later, Iniesta was the provider again, the little midfielder pulling back the ball for Messi to double the lead.

Another five minutes had passed before Iniesta buried Levante's challenge for good with a drive from the edge of the area.

The fourth came on 63 minutes, this time Fabregas was given the simple task of finishing off another Iniesta pass.

Barca had solved what had at first seemed a difficult task with four goals in 18 second-half minutes and for Levante there was no way back.

Valdes made matters worse for the home side making a double save from a Barkero penalty in the dying minutes after Carles Puyol had handled in the area.

For Atletico, Radamel Falcao, Arda Turan and Koke got first-half goals and Miranda one in the last-minute to make it seven straight home wins in the league against a Sevilla side that played with only 10 men from the 22nd minute and finished with nine.

Atletico made a breakthrough on 19 minutes when Koke was pulled down by Federico Fazio, who received a straight red.

Falcao smashed the penalty straight down the middle of the goal for his 11th league goal of the season and Sevilla were facing more than an hour of play with ten men.

On 38 minutes, Turan doubled the home side's lead when Falcao received a defensive clearance and broke at speed before releasing the Turkish winger, who hit a shot that caught a slight deflection of Spahic on the way to goal.

On the stroke of half-time, Koke stroked home a Diego Costa cross for the third.

It was one way traffic in the second period but Sevilla held firm for most of it, despite losing Ivan Rakitic to a second yellow card on 83 minutes, before Miranda hit the fourth from close range in injury time.

Also on Sunday, Athletic Bilbao and Deportivo La Coruna shared the points in a 1-1 draw in the San Mames stadium.

Oscar de Marcos put the home side ahead on 24 minutes when he converted a Markel Susaeta cross, but against the run of play Abel Aguilar hit an equaliser early in the second-half to earn Deportivo a point and move his side out of the relegation zone.

Getafe won 2-0 at Espanyol to keep the Barcelona side bottom of the table, two points behind Deportivo.

Pedro Leon put Getafe ahead on 15 minutes before Mane doubled the lead in the last-minute.

-AFP/ac

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Colleagues remember CBI DIG Suresh Kumar Palsania

NEW DELHI: A condolence meeting was held on Sunday at the CBI headquarters in memory of DIG Suresh Kumar Palsania, who led the probe in the 2G spectrum allocation case.

Palsania, a 1996-batch IPS officer of Odisha cadre, passed away earlier this month at the age of 44 after an acute illness. Remembering him as a gritty officer, minister of state for personnel V Narayanasamy said, "When he was battling with disease, me and director CBI went to hospital where he said he would be fit and be back soon. I vividly remember my last meeting with him at Vigyan Bhavan, just a month back. He looked hale and hearty and as always, smiling, while he received the President's Police Medal. I could not have imagined in my dream that we would lose him so soon."

CBI chief A P Singh said Palsania had assured him that he would ensure the agency met all challenges.

"Throughout last year, under very trying circumstances, I found Suresh completely unflappable and totally in control of the situation. Whether it was briefing the PAC, JPC or CVC on the intricacies of the investigation, we relied on Suresh," he said. Terming his death as a huge loss to the Indian Police Service, DGP Prakash Mishra said Palsania was an outstanding officer whose "perfect upbringing" reflected in his humane qualities.

Special director V K Gupta choked with emotion while describing his association with him. "When I joined CBI in 2010 and sat down with him to review the 2G case, he took with seriousness the responsibility and led the team in the probe," he said.

His batch-mate and fellow DIG, Sanjay Kumar Singh termed him as a fearless, strong-willed and brave officer who never cared for personal comfort while on duty but always showed caring attitude towards his subordinates and colleagues. SP Vivek Priyadarshi, who was the investigating officer in the 2G case, said when Palsania joined the Anti-Corruption Branch, there were reports that CBI had changed its officer under pressure. But, his professionalism proved otherwise.

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Distant Dwarf Planet Secrets Revealed

Orbiting at the frozen edges of our solar system, the mysterious dwarf planet Makemake is finally coming out of the shadows as astronomers get their best view yet of Pluto's little sibling.

Discovered in 2005, Makemake—pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh after a Polynesian creation god—is one of five Pluto-like objects that prompted a redefining of the term "planet" and the creation of a new group of dwarf planets in 2006. (Related: "Pluto Not a Planet, Astronomers Rule.")

Just like the slightly larger Pluto, this icy world circles our sun beyond Neptune. Researchers expected Makemake to also have a global atmosphere—but new evidence reveals that isn't the case.

Staring at a Star

An international team of astronomers was able for the first time to probe Makemake's physical characteristics using the European Southern Observatory's three most powerful telescopes in Chile. The researchers observed the change in light given off by a distant star as the dwarf planet passed in front of it. (Learn how scientists found Makemake.)

"These events are extremely difficult to predict and observe, but they are the only means of obtaining accurate knowledge of important properties of dwarf planets," said Jose Luis Ortiz, lead author of this new study and an astronomer at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, in Spain.

It's like trying to study a coin from a distance of 30 miles (48 kilometers) or more, Ortiz added.

Ortiz and his team knew Makemake didn't have an atmosphere when light from the background star abruptly dimmed and brightened as the chilly world drifted across its face.

"The light went off very abruptly from all the sites we observed the event so this means this world cannot have a substantial and global atmosphere like that of its sibling Pluto," Ortiz said.

If Makemake had an atmosphere, light from the star would gradually decrease and increase as the dwarf planet passed in front.

Coming Into Focus

The team's new observations add much more detail to our view of Makemake—not only limiting the possibility of an atmosphere but also determining the planet's size and surface more accurately.

"We think Makemake is a sphere flattened slightly at both poles and mostly covered with very white ices—mainly of methane," said Ortiz.

"But there are also indications for some organic material at least at some places; this material is usually very red and we think in a small percentage of the surface, the terrain is quite dark," he added.

Why Makemake lacks a global atmosphere remains a big mystery, but Ortiz does have a theory. Pluto is covered in nitrogen ice. When the sun heats this volatile material, it turns straight into a gas, creating Pluto's atmosphere.

Makemake lacks nitrogen ice on its surface, so there is nothing for the sun to heat into a gas to provide an atmosphere.

The dwarf planet has less mass, and a weaker gravitational field, than Pluto, said Ortiz. This means that over eons of time, Makemake may not have been able to hang on to its nitrogen.

Methane ice will also transform into a gas when heated. But since the dwarf planet is nearly at its furthest distance from the sun, Ortiz believes that Makemake's surface methane is still frozen. (Learn about orbital planes.)

And even if the methane were to transform into a gas, any resulting atmosphere would cover, at most, only ten percent of the planet, said Ortiz.

The new results are detailed today in the journal Nature.

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No Powerball Winner; Jackpot Grows to $425 Million

Nov 25, 2012 10:37am

                                                                (Image Credit: Charlie Neibergall/AP Photo)

The Powerball jackpot has swelled to $425 million, the largest in the lottery’s history, after no tickets matched the winning numbers in a drawing Saturday night.

The Powerball numbers for Saturday were 22-32-37-44-50, and the Powerball was 34.

Iowa Lottery spokeswoman Mary Neubauer said the jackpot could get even bigger before Wednesday, because sales tend to increase in the run-up to a big drawing.

The previous top windfall was $365 million. The jackpot was claimed by eight co-workers in Lincoln, Neb., in 2006.

PHOTOS: Biggest Lotto Jackpot Winners

While millions of Americans can have fun dreaming about how they’d spend the jackpot, the odds of winning are 1 in 175,000,000, according to lottery officials.

To put that in perspective, a ticket holder is 25 times less likely to win the jackpot then they are to win an Academy Award.

Even still, the old saying holds true: “You’ve got to be in it to win it.”

SHOWS: Good Morning America

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Obama’s pick for CIA could affect drone program

President Obama began his first term with a dramatic change of course for the CIA, issuing orders on his second day in office to close the agency’s secret prisons and ban harsh interrogation techniques.

As Obama approaches a second term with an unexpected opening for CIA director, agency officials are watching to see whether the president’s pick signals even a modest adjustment in the main counterterrorism program he kept: the use of armed drones to kill suspected extremists.

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Spain's ETA ready to disband if certain conditions met

MADRID: Spain's armed Basque separatist group ETA said Saturday it was ready to discuss disbanding and to negotiate with France and Spain if certain conditions are met, in a statement published on a Basque news site.

The group, which last year said it had abandoned violence after a four-decade campaign for an independent homeland that claimed more than 800 lives, said one outstanding issue was the transfer of Basque prisoners to jails closer to home.

ETA wanted to discuss "formulas and timetables" to bring home prisoners and Basque political exiles; disarmament and the break-up of its armed structures; and the demobilisation of ETA members.

The statement ran on Naiz.info, the website of the Basque newspaper Gara.

Until Saturday's statement, the group had refused to announce its dissolution and disarmament, as demanded by Spain and France.

But weakened by a series of arrests in France and Spain in recent years, ETA said Saturday it was ready to "listen to and analyse" proposals from Madrid and Paris.

The two governments would have a "precise knowledge" of its positions, it added.

Gara said it would publish the full statement in its Sunday edition.

ETA has been placed on a list of terrorist organisations by the United States and the European Union and has been blamed for the deaths of 829 people. Its last attack on Spanish soil was in August 2009.

It has persistently called for around 700 Basque prisoners incarcerated in jails across Spain to be transferred back to prisons in the Basque region so they can be closer to their families.

-AFP/ac

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BJP slams Cong for its sustained attack on CAG, PAC

NEW DELHI: Opposition BJP on Saturday condemned the continued attack by Congress ministers on constitutional bodies like CAG and PAC and wondered whether PM Manmohan Singh approved of such criticism by his Cabinet colleagues.

Criticizing UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi for her comment against the CAG and questioning her silence about the scams of the Congress-led UPA government, BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said here on Saturday, "BJP condemns the non-stop way the Congress party is out to denigrate institutions. It is surprising, in fact shocking, that even ministers from the Union cabinet come out to question to destabilize and to in a way demoralize institutions..."

She said, "We certainly would want to ask whether the Prime Minister approves of his ministers coming out and speaking in such terms about bodies I'm sure he respects and honours."

Reacting to Sonia's comments on CAG, BJP said that the party hopes that she would comment on how Congress shall handle corruption and that too when her party had committed itself to set up the proposed anti-graft body Lokpal.

"How she is going to have institutions function if this is the way her party's ministers are coming out to undermine them?" Sitharaman asked, adding that BJP would like to hear the Congress chief speak on Coalgate, CWG and Robert Vadra.

"Why has she remained silent all the while and only when there is a constitutional body being questioned, and unfairly at that, we have the comment coming forth? Mrs Gandhi, we expect you to comment on many other things..," Sitharaman demanded.

"Is there a way in destabilizing PAC, the CAG reports that are looking into KG basin or civil aviation...? Is it expected that you bring hindrance for them to carry on with their work? What is the strategy," she asked.

While the PM had volunteered to appear before PAC on 2G spectrum issue, ministers in his Cabinet are out to criticize constitutional bodies and Congress MPs are not allowing them to function, Sitharaman accused.

When corruption has emerged as a major poll issue, be it in states or in general elections, the main issue that is worrying Congress is also corruption, she said. "They are not denying corruption, they are only dithering over the amount," she pointed out.

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Distant Dwarf Planet Secrets Revealed

Orbiting at the frozen edges of our solar system, the mysterious dwarf planet Makemake is finally coming out of the shadows as astronomers get their best view yet of Pluto's little sibling.

Discovered in 2005, Makemake—pronounced MAH-keh MAH-keh after a Polynesian creation god—is one of five Pluto-like objects that prompted a redefining of the term "planet" and the creation of a new group of dwarf planets in 2006. (Related: "Pluto Not a Planet, Astronomers Rule.")

Just like the slightly larger Pluto, this icy world circles our sun beyond Neptune. Researchers expected Makemake to also have a global atmosphere—but new evidence reveals that isn't the case.

Staring at a Star

An international team of astronomers was able for the first time to probe Makemake's physical characteristics using the European Southern Observatory's three most powerful telescopes in Chile. The researchers observed the change in light given off by a distant star as the dwarf planet passed in front of it. (Learn how scientists found Makemake.)

"These events are extremely difficult to predict and observe, but they are the only means of obtaining accurate knowledge of important properties of dwarf planets," said Jose Luis Ortiz, lead author of this new study and an astronomer at the Instituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia, in Spain.

It's like trying to study a coin from a distance of 30 miles (48 kilometers) or more, Ortiz added.

Ortiz and his team knew Makemake didn't have an atmosphere when light from the background star abruptly dimmed and brightened as the chilly world drifted across its face.

"The light went off very abruptly from all the sites we observed the event so this means this world cannot have a substantial and global atmosphere like that of its sibling Pluto," Ortiz said.

If Makemake had an atmosphere, light from the star would gradually decrease and increase as the dwarf planet passed in front.

Coming Into Focus

The team's new observations add much more detail to our view of Makemake—not only limiting the possibility of an atmosphere but also determining the planet's size and surface more accurately.

"We think Makemake is a sphere flattened slightly at both poles and mostly covered with very white ices—mainly of methane," said Ortiz.

"But there are also indications for some organic material at least at some places; this material is usually very red and we think in a small percentage of the surface, the terrain is quite dark," he added.

Why Makemake lacks a global atmosphere remains a big mystery, but Ortiz does have a theory. Pluto is covered in nitrogen ice. When the sun heats this volatile material, it turns straight into a gas, creating Pluto's atmosphere.

Makemake lacks nitrogen ice on its surface, so there is nothing for the sun to heat into a gas to provide an atmosphere.

The dwarf planet has less mass, and a weaker gravitational field, than Pluto, said Ortiz. This means that over eons of time, Makemake may not have been able to hang on to its nitrogen.

Methane ice will also transform into a gas when heated. But since the dwarf planet is nearly at its furthest distance from the sun, Ortiz believes that Makemake's surface methane is still frozen. (Learn about orbital planes.)

And even if the methane were to transform into a gas, any resulting atmosphere would cover, at most, only ten percent of the planet, said Ortiz.

The new results are detailed today in the journal Nature.

Read More..

Sandy-Hit Stores Seek Small Business Saturday Boost

Nov 24, 2012 3:35pm

                                                                                      (Image Credit: Associated Press)

Superstorm Sandy delivered a one-two punch on small businesses, creating millions of dollars in damage and in turn, delivering a debilitating blow to their revenue.

But on Small Business Saturday, when  shoppers are encouraged to support local businesses,  those mom-and-pop stores are hoping for a rebound.

Donna Scofield and her family have sold toys at their Manhattan shop, called Stationery & Toy World, for the past 25 years. Although the store is located on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where the storm did little damage, $500,000 of Scofield’s inventory, which she kept in her home and three Staten Island warehouses, was destroyed.

“Some days are easier than others,” she told ABC New York station WABC-TV last week. “We’re taking each day at a time.”

PHOTOS: Superstorm Sandy’s Wide Swath of Destruction

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced today that more than $45 million in loans, grants and financial assistance would be made available to businesses like Scofield’s that were hurt by the storm.

“Getting New York City small businesses back on their feet is key to helping our economy recover from Sandy,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “The capital provided through this program will help businesses purchase supplies, make repairs, and get back up and running.”

Small Business Saturday, which is going on its third year, is being celebrated nationwide.

Andrea Evans, the owner of Pink Boutique in Phoenix, said stores like hers don’t stand a chance with shoppers on Black Friday.

“Everyone’s up so early, and they’re going more for, you know, appliances and TVs and stuff like that, and I think by the time noon hits, they’re done,” she told ABC News Radio.

Over the past two decades, small and new businesses have created two out of every three net new jobs in the United States, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.

It is estimated that half of all working Americans either own a small business or are employed by one.

SHOWS: World News

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Low wage protests target Walmart sales day

SECAUCUS, New Jersey: Protesters targeted Walmart stores across the United States on Friday, the busiest shopping day of the year, accusing the bargain superstore of ripping off its own employees.

The protests were designed to disrupt the Black Friday shopping frenzy after Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday, when deep discounts pull in waves of customers.

About 200 activists outside a huge Walmart in Secaucus, New Jersey chanted against what they called the dark side of the biggest US private employer, which has 1.3 million non-unionized workers, or "associates," as they're called. Critics say the average Walmart hourly wage is a meager $8.81, although the company says the figure is closer to $13.

"Walmart pushes wages down!" they chanted.

"I'm here because they should be paid a working wage, they should be able to buy things on Black Friday, not being forced to work on Thanksgiving," said Barry Kushnir, 43, a New Jersey road maintenance worker.

Protesters included unionized workers, street activists from the Occupy movement, a roller-skating woman in a Marie-Antoinette mini-dress, a faux pastor known for his anti-capitalist campaigns, and a lively brass band.

There did not appear to be any employees from the Walmart outlet, where the doors were open to a steady stream of shoppers, many reemerging with shopping carts piled high.

Jaclyn Kessel, one of the organizers of the demonstration, said Walmart employees "are afraid of getting fired" and she didn't expect any to come.

However, discontent at Walmart has become unusually visible this year, with strikes and protests planned in more than 100 cities, according to the United Food & Commercial Workers union, or UFCW, which is campaigning for Walmart employees.

The main force behind the demonstrations, the Organization United for Respect at Walmart (OUR Walmart), said it was pressuring for "decent pay, regular hours, affordable healthcare and respect."

The powerful UAW auto-workers union also came on board, saying that because of Walmart's size, the company "has enormous power to set the trends not just for the retail and service industries, but for the economy as a whole."

Another prominent supporter was Robert Reich, labour secretary under president Bill Clinton, who saw the debate over conditions at Walmart, owned by the multi-billionaire Walton family, as reflecting deeper problems in US society.

"The widening inequality reflected in the gap between the pay of Walmart workers and the returns to Walmart investors, including the Walton family, haunts the American economy," Reich wrote in a post to his blog titled, "Why You Shouldn't Shop at Walmart on Friday."

Walmart, which denies there are any widespread complaints, last week filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board to try to block the Black Friday protests.

On Friday, Walmart downplayed the controversy, saying in a statement that "only 26 protests occurred at stores last night and many of them did not include any Walmart associates."

In addition, Walmart US said it had its "best ever Black Friday events," featuring 1.8 million towels, 1.3 million televisions and 1.3 million dolls sold in the first hours.

In Secaucus, shoppers had to negotiate an increasingly thick crowd of protesters in the entrance, many of whom were dancing to the brass band, watched by a half-dozen patient police officers.

Drivers in several passing cars tooted horns in support, but most paid no attention to the disturbance.

Karen Mendoza, 30, expressed sympathy with the protesters as she went into Walmart with her 55-year-old mother, saying that the kind of low-end jobs the store offers are part of an increasingly unforgiving economy.

"With the economy today it's really, really hard to get a job anywhere," she said. "My mother works at a factory, she's been there for 27 years, and they're getting rid of people all the time. Now you're not enjoying work anymore."

The roller skating Marie-Antoinette figure, whose name is Marni Halasa, agreed.

"I'm here to support the low-wage worker. Basically, unless you come from money and have access, there's very little social mobility in America," Halasa, 46, said, before gliding away on her skates.

-AFP/ac

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