Actress clarifies remark about being gay by choice (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Actress Cynthia Nixon is trying to clarify her earlier remarks that got her in hot water with some fellow gay rights activists.

The "Sex and the City" star's personal life became an exercise in the politics of sexual orientation last week when The New York Times Magazine quoted Nixon saying that for her, being gay was a conscious choice. Nixon has been in a relationship with a woman for eight years. Before that, she spent 15 years and had two children with a man.

After some gay rights activists complained that Nixon's remarks could be used to deny a biological basis for homosexuality, the actress on Monday released a statement to The Advocate magazine explaining she is technically bisexual, and not by choice.

Nixon told the magazine: "What I have `chosen' is to be in a gay relationship."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_en_mo/us_cynthia_nixon_gay_by_choice

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Syrian troops storm areas near capital of Damascus (AP)

BEIRUT ? In dozens of tanks and armored vehicles, Syrian troops stormed rebellious areas near the capital Sunday, shelling neighborhoods that have fallen under the control of army dissidents and clashing with fighters. At least 62 people were killed in violence nationwide, activists and residents said.

The widescale offensive near the capital suggested the regime is worried that military defectors could close in on Damascus, which has remained relatively quiet while most other Syrian cities descended into chaos after the uprising began in March.

The rising bloodshed added urgency to Arab and Western diplomatic efforts to end the 10-month conflict.

The violence has gradually approached the capital. In the past two weeks, army dissidents have become more visible, seizing several suburbs on the eastern edge of Damascus and setting up checkpoints where masked men wearing military attire and wielding assault rifles stop motorists and protect anti-regime protests.

Their presence so close to the capital is astonishing in tightly controlled Syria and suggests the Assad regime may either be losing control or setting up a trap for the fighters before going on the offensive.

Residents of Damascus reported hearing clashes in the nearby suburbs, particularly at night, shattering the city's calm.

"The current battles taking place in and around Damascus may not yet lead to the unraveling of the regime, but the illusion of normalcy that the Assads have sought hard to maintain in the capital since the beginning of the revolution has surely unraveled," said Ammar Abdulhamid, a U.S.-based Syrian dissident.

"Once illusions unravel, reality soon follows," he wrote in his blog Sunday.

Soldiers riding some 50 tanks and dozens of armored vehicles stormed a belt of suburbs and villages on the eastern outskirts of Damascus known as al-Ghouta Sunday, a predominantly Sunni Muslim agricultural area where large anti-regime protests have been held.

Some of the fighting on Sunday was less than three miles (four kilometers) from Damascus, in Ein Tarma, making it the closest yet to the capital.

"There are heavy clashes going on in all of the Damascus suburbs," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, who relies on a network of activists on the ground. "Troops were able to enter some areas but are still facing stiff resistance in others."

The fighting using mortars and machine guns sent entire families fleeing, some of them on foot carrying bags of belongings, to the capital.

"The shelling and bullets have not stopped since yesterday," said a man who left his home in Ein Tarma with his family Sunday. "It's terrifying, there's no electricity or water, it's a real war," he said by telephone on condition of anonymity, for fear of reprisals.

The uprising against Assad, which began with largely peaceful demonstrations, has grown increasingly militarized recently as more frustrated protesters and army defectors have taken up arms.

In a bid to stamp out resistance in the capital's outskirts, the military has responded with a withering assault on a string of suburbs, leading to a spike in violence that has killed at least 150 people since Thursday.

The United Nations says at least 5,400 people have been killed in the 10 months of violence.

The U.N. is holding talks on a new resolution on Syria and next week will discuss an Arab League peace plan aimed at ending the crisis. But the initiatives face two major obstacles: Damascus' rejection of an Arab plan that it says impinges on its sovereignty, and Russia's willingness to use its U.N. Security Council veto to protect Syria from sanctions.

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby told reporters Sunday in Egypt that contacts were under way with China and Russia.

"I hope that their stand will be adjusted in line with the final drafting of the draft resolution," he told reporters before leaving for New York with Qatari Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim.

The two will seek U.N. support for the latest Arab plan to end Syria's crisis. The plan calls for a two-month transition to a unity government, with Assad giving his vice president full powers to work with the proposed government.

Because of the escalating violence, the Arab League on Saturday halted the work of its observer mission in Syria at least until the League's council can meet. Arab foreign ministers were to meet Sunday in Cairo to discuss the Syrian crisis in light of the suspension of the observers' work and Damascus' refusal to agree to the transition timetable, the League said.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said he was "concerned" about the League's decision to suspend its monitoring mission and called on Assad to "immediately stop the bloodshed." He spoke Sunday at an African Union summit in Addis Ababa.

While the international community scrambles to find a resolution to the crisis, the violence on the ground in Syria has continued unabated.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 27 civilians were killed Sunday in Syria, most of them in fighting in the Damascus suburbs and in the central city of Homs, a hotbed of anti-regime protests. Twenty-six soldiers and nine defectors were also killed, it said. The soldiers were killed in ambushes that targeted military vehicles near the capital and in the northern province of Idlib.

The Local Coordination Committees' activist network said 50 people were killed Sunday, including 13 who were killed in the suburbs of the capital and two defectors. That count excluded soldiers killed Sunday.

The differing counts could not be reconciled, and the reports could not be independently confirmed. Syrian authorities keep tight control on the media and have banned many foreign journalists from entering the country.

Syria's state-run news agency said "terrorists" detonated a roadside bomb by remote control near a bus carrying soldiers in the Damascus suburb of Sahnaya, killing six soldiers and wounding six others. Among those killed in the attack some 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of the capital were two first lieutenants, SANA said.

In Irbil, a Kurdish city in northern Iraq, about 200 members of Syria's Kurdish parties were holding two days of meetings to explore ways of supporting efforts to topple Assad.

Abdul-Baqi Youssef, a member of the Syrian Kurdish Union Party, said representatives of 11 Kurdish parties formed the Syrian Kurdish National Council that will coordinate anti-government activities with Syria's opposition.

Kurds make up 15 percent of Syria's 23 million people and have long complained of discrimination.

___

Associated Press writers Maamoun Youssef in Cairo; Yahya Barzanji in Sulaimaniyah, Iraq; and Luc van Kemenade in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_syria

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Sony grows Cyber-shot family by three with DSC-WX50 and WX70, ultra-thin TX200V

Far more svelte than its lengthy product name, the Cyber-shot DSC-TX200V is Sony's new point-and-shoot flagship, packing an 18.2 megapixel Exmor R CMOS sensor, 26mm 5x optical zoom lens, 1080/60p video capture and a 3.3-inch Xtra Fine TruBlack OLED touchscreen. Sony claims that the cam's BIONZ processor can help it capture stills and video with extremely low noise, and an improved focusing system can deliver speeds of about 0.13 seconds in daylight and 0.25 seconds in lower-light conditions. Its reflective durable housing enables waterproof shooting down to 16 feet, and can protect the camera from dust and freezing temperatures of 14 degrees Fahrenheit.

If price is more important to you than an ultra-thin design and top-of-the-line spec list, then the DSC-WX70 and DSC-WX50 might be of interest. Both cameras include 16.2 megapixel Exmor R CMOS sensors, 25mm 5x optical zoom lenses, 12 megapixel stills during video capture, and 1080/60i HD shooting. There are nine "Picture Effects" options, adopted from the NEX series and also found on the TX200V. Both the WX50 and WX70 have a nearly identical list of features, though the first model includes a 2.7-inch display, compared to a 3-inch touchscreen on the WX70. All three cameras are expected to ship in March in a variety of colors. The TX200V will be available in silver, red and violet finishes with a retail price of $500, while the WX70 and WX50 will run you $230 and $200, respectively. Hit up the press release just past the break for the full list of colors and specs.

Continue reading Sony grows Cyber-shot family by three with DSC-WX50 and WX70, ultra-thin TX200V

Sony grows Cyber-shot family by three with DSC-WX50 and WX70, ultra-thin TX200V originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 Jan 2012 23:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Actress' claim to be gay by choice riles activists (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Cynthia Nixon learned the hard way this week that when it comes to gay civil rights, the personal is always political. Very political.

The actress best known for portraying fiery lawyer Miranda Hobbes on "Sex and the City" is up to her perfectly arched eyebrows in controversy since The New York Times Magazine published a profile in which she was quoted as saying that for her, being gay was a conscious choice. Nixon is engaged to a woman with whom she has been in a relationship for eight years. Before that, she spent 15 years and had two children with a man.

"I understand that for many people it's not, but for me it's a choice, and you don't get to define my gayness for me," Nixon said while recounting some of the flak gay rights activists previously had given her for treading in similar territory. "A certain section of our community is very concerned that it not be seen as a choice, because if it's a choice, then we could opt out. I say it doesn't matter if we flew here or we swam here, it matters that we are here and we are one group and let us stop trying to make a litmus test for who is considered gay and who is not."

To say that a certain segment of the gay community "is very concerned that it not be seen as a choice" is an understatement. Gay rights activists have worked hard to combat the idea that people decide to be physically attracted to same-sex partners any more than they choose to be attracted to opposite-sex ones because the question, so far unanswered by science, is often used by religious conservatives, including GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum and former candidate Michelle Bachman, to argue that homosexuality is immoral behavior, not an inherent trait.

Among the activists most horrified by Nixon's comments was Truth Wins Out founder Wayne Besen, whose organization monitors and tries to debunk programs that claim to cure people of same-sex attractions with therapy. Besen said he found the actress' analysis irresponsible and flippant, despite her ample caveats.

"Cynthia did not put adequate thought into the ramifications of her words, and it is going to be used when some kid comes out and their parents force them into some ex-gay camp while she's off drinking cocktails at fancy parties," Besen said. "When people say it's a choice, they are green-lighting an enormous amount of abuse because if it's a choice, people will try to influence and guide young people to what they perceive as the right choice."

Nixon's publicist did not respond to an e-mail asking if the actress wished to comment on the criticism.

While the broader gay rights movement recognizes that human sexuality exists on a spectrum, and has found common cause with transgender and bisexual people, Nixon may have unwittingly given aid and comfort to those who want to deny same-sex couples the right to marry, adopt children and secure equal spousal benefits, said Jennifer Pizer, legal director of the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation and the Law, a pro-gay think tank based at the University of California, Los Angeles.

One of the factors courts consider in determining if a law is unconstitutional is whether members of the minority group it targets share an unchangeable or "immutable" trait, Pizer noted. Although the definition of how fixed a characteristic has to be to qualify as immutable still is evolving ? religious affiliation, for example, is recognized as grounds for equal protection ? the U.S. Supreme Court still has not included sexual orientation among the traits "so integral to personhood it's not something the government should require people to change," she said.

"If gay people in this country had more confidence that their individual freedom was going to be respected, then the temperature would lower a bit on the immutability question because the idea of it being a choice wouldn't seem to stack the deck against their rights," Pizer said.

Nixon stirred the identity politics pot further when she explained in a follow-up interview with The Daily Beast this week that she purposefully rejected identifying herself as bisexual even though her history suggested it was an accurate term.

"I don't pull out the "bisexual" word because nobody likes the bisexuals. Everybody likes to dump on the bisexuals," she said. "But I do completely feel that when I was in relationships with men, I was in love and in lust with those men. And then I met (her fiance) Christine and I fell in love and lust with her. I am completely the same person and I was not walking around in some kind of fog. I just responded to the people in front of me the way I truly felt."

Although science has not identified either a purely biological or sociological basis for sexual orientation, University of California, Davis psychologist Gregory Herek, an expert on anti-gay prejudice, said Nixon's experience is consistent with research showing that women have an easier time moving between opposite and same-sex partners.

A survey Herek conducted of gay men, lesbians and bisexuals of both genders bore this out. Sixteen percent of the lesbians surveyed reported they felt they had had a fair amount of choice in their sexual orientations, while only five percent of the gay men did. Among bisexuals, the figures were 40 percent for men and 45 percent for women.

What remains to be teased out, Herek said, is how a representative national sample of heterosexuals would answer the same question, and what people mean when their sexual orientation was a choice or not. Are they talking about their sexual desires? Acting on those desires? Or simply the identity they choose to show to the world?

"The nature vs. nurture debate really is passe," he said. "The debate is not really an either/or debate in the vast majority of cases, but how much of each. We don't know how big a role biology plays and how big a role culture plays. A possibility not often discussed is it's not the same for everybody."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_en_tv/us_cynthia_nixon_gay_by_choice

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IAEA checks Japan reactors pending safety approval

(AP) ? A team of International Atomic Energy Agency experts is making its first inspection of a Japanese nuclear power plant that has undergone official "stress tests" required after the Fukushima disaster.

On Thursday, the 10-member IAEA team was inspecting two reactors at the Ohi nuclear power plant in Fukui prefecture in western Japan.

Passing the test is one of several steps needed to restart dozens of idled nuclear plants.

Only four of Japan's 54 reactors are currently operating, so getting some back on line would help Japan avoid a power crunch.

If none get approval, Japan will be without an operating reactor by the end of April.

The stress tests are meant to assess how well the plants could withstand earthquakes, tsunamis and other extreme events.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-25-AS-Japan-Nuclear/id-521b56fd4fe64bde8131665e9863befa

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Bayern tricks fans into 'liking' it on Facebook

Associated Press Sports

updated 10:44 a.m. ET Jan. 26, 2012

MUNICH (AP) -Bayern Munich tricked its fans into "liking" the team on Facebook, promising them a "spectacular new signing" Thursday if they logged on to the social networking site to watch the announcement in a news conference.

Bayern had said on its website that it would present a new striker at 2 p.m. local time, and directed fans to go Facebook to watch it live. Once they were logged in, the fans were made to "like" Bayern's page in order to view the proceedings.

But instead of learning who would be striker Mario Gomez's backup, they were instead presented with a promotion entitled "The New FCB Star."

"Dear fans, you probably already noticed that we did not sign a new player. This app is for our fans to show the importance of you for our club," Bayern said.

The move has lead to a backlash from fans, with thousands leaving uncomplimentary comments on the club's Facebook page.

Bayern, which leads the Bundesliga and plays Wolfsburg on Saturday, said the whole thing was "a bit of fun for our fans."

"Each Bayern fan is the 'spectacular new signing,' our 12th man!" Bayern said on its website.

Bayern's desire to raise its profile on Facebook follows the German national football team's announcement last month that it had reached 1 million fans on the site. The team's fan page is trying to compete with England's national team.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Barca holds off Madrid rally

Pedro Rodriguez and Daniel Alves scored first-half goals, and Barcelona held off a spirited Real Madrid comeback attempt to eliminate the defending Copa del Rey champion with a 2-2 tie Wednesday night.

Do-or-die

The U.S. women's soccer team was still on the field, having dispatched rival Mexico, when Abby Wambach gathered her teammates for a little speech.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46148288/ns/sports-soccer/

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Blindness eased by historic stem cell treatment

For the first time since they were discovered 13 years ago, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) have shown medical promise.

Two people with eye degeneration both say their vision improved in the four months after they received implants of retinal pigment epithelial cells made from hESCs. The treatments were also safe, with no sign that the cells triggered aggressive tumours called teratomas, no sign of immune rejection of the cells, and no inflammation.

Discovered in 1998, hESCs had previously failed to deliver on their medical promise. The new procedures, performed by Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology of Marlborough, Massachusetts, and colleagues, could represent a turning point for hESC therapies.

One of the women in the trial had Stargardt disease, an inherited form of eye degeneration in which the pigment cells wither and die. She had replacement cells made from hESCs injected into one of her eyes.

Before the treatment she could only make out hand movements, but afterwards her vision in the treated eye had improved enough to discern finger movements too. She could also read five letters on a standard visual acuity chart ? beforehand she could not make out any letters.

"That doesn't really capture the difference it's made in her life," says Lanza. "She reports she can see more colour and has better contrast and dark adaptation out of the treated eye. She started using her computer and could even read her watch. Little things like that, which we all take for granted, can make a huge difference in the quality of people's lives."

Stem cell boost

The second woman in the trial, who has age-related macular degeneration, also reported improved vision. She expanded the number of letters she could read on a visual acuity chart from 21 to 28.

Although modest, the vision improvements represent a huge boost for researchers developing treatments based on hESCs.

From the outset, these studies have been opposed by anti-abortion groups on the grounds that the cells can be obtained only by destroying human embryos. Consequently, most progress so far with stem cells has been with adult stem cells extracted from tissue such as fat or skin.

Former US president George W. Bush impeded progress in federally funded US labs by restricting researchers' access to hESCs in 2001. The move was reversed by Barack Obama in 2009, paving the way for treatments to enter trials in 2010, including the eye trials that have now been completed.

"The goal of this therapy is not to cure blindness, but to slow down or prevent its onset," says Lanza. However, with evidence now that the stem cells are safe they could be used earlier in treatment, where they might have a greater impact.

Other researchers welcomed the developments. "At last we're seeing the fruits of hESC research entering clinical trials, and I am immensely happy this has happened in the eye," says Pete Coffey of University College London, who is head of a team developing tiny patches of retinal pigment epithelial cells from embryonic stem cells to treat age-related macular degeneration. "Hopefully, we will be able to enter our own clinical trials using hESC therapy soon," he says.

The results "move us much closer to the future of regenerative medicine for vision disorders", says Paul Sieving, director of the US National Eye Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. He adds that the institute is also working with hESCs to combat retinal diseases and cataracts.

Journal reference: The Lancet, DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)60028-2

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Simon Cowell breaks off engagement

Simon Cowell's trip down the aisle is getting postponed.

In an interview with UK newspaper the Daily Mirror, the "X Factor" judge reveals that he and his fiancee, Mezhgan Hussainy, are taking a break from both their relationship and their wedding plans.

PHOTOS: See which Idol alums are engaged or have kids

"It's quite a complicated relationship. We have had a break from each other, and we are still incredibly close," the 52-year-old Brit explains in Sunday's Mirror . "I'm vulnerable. It's not on, it's not off, it's somewhere in the middle. I don't know if I will ever get married, but I am happy."

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Cowell and Hussainy met on the set of American Idol in 2003, where she was working as a makeup artist, and the couple got engaged in February 2010. At the time, Cowell, who's known for his emotionless demeanor, made it clear that he was very much over the moon.

"I'm smitten with Mezghan, I think she's the one," he gushed to the British TV host Piers Morgan. "She's very special...You know when you've found somebody very special."

PHOTOS: Revisit Simon's last season on Idol

But in Sunday's Mirror, Cowell alludes that the spark has fizzled out and he's regretting his remarks from two years ago.

Addressing his heartfelt quip on "Piers Morgan," Cowell says, "I have been pretty good about not talking about my private stuff, but I got caught up in the moment."

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46095115/ns/today-entertainment/

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Simon Cowell breaks off engagement

Simon Cowell's trip down the aisle is getting postponed.

In an interview with UK newspaper the Daily Mirror, the "X Factor" judge reveals that he and his fiancee, Mezhgan Hussainy, are taking a break from both their relationship and their wedding plans.

PHOTOS: See which Idol alums are engaged or have kids

"It's quite a complicated relationship. We have had a break from each other, and we are still incredibly close," the 52-year-old Brit explains in Sunday's Mirror . "I'm vulnerable. It's not on, it's not off, it's somewhere in the middle. I don't know if I will ever get married, but I am happy."

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    5. Late-night 'Idol' guest? Jim Carrey's daughter

PHOTOS: Celebrity engagements

Cowell and Hussainy met on the set of American Idol in 2003, where she was working as a makeup artist, and the couple got engaged in February 2010. At the time, Cowell, who's known for his emotionless demeanor, made it clear that he was very much over the moon.

"I'm smitten with Mezghan, I think she's the one," he gushed to the British TV host Piers Morgan. "She's very special...You know when you've found somebody very special."

PHOTOS: Revisit Simon's last season on Idol

But in Sunday's Mirror, Cowell alludes that the spark has fizzled out and he's regretting his remarks from two years ago.

Addressing his heartfelt quip on "Piers Morgan," Cowell says, "I have been pretty good about not talking about my private stuff, but I got caught up in the moment."

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46095115/ns/today-entertainment/

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