Peru VP quits but hangs onto Congress seat (Reuters)

LIMA (Reuters) ? Peruvian Vice President Omar Chehade has resigned over corruption allegations but managed to hang onto his seat in Congress on Tuesday after surviving an expulsion vote.

He was able to retain his job in Congress after 13 members of the Permanent Commission in the legislature voted to keep him and 12 voted to remove him.

The departure of Chehade from one of Peru's two largely ceremonial vice presidential posts will not hurt the stability of the government and could help President Ollanta Humala further distance himself from the aide who caused one of the first scandals of his term. Humala took office in July after campaigning on promises to fight corruption.

The scandal initially hurt Humala's popularity, but a Cabinet shuffle he carried out in December and a crackdown on anti-mining protests has lifted his approval rating 7 percentage points to 54 percent, according to a poll published on Sunday. Chehade's resignation could remove a weight that had dragged on Humala's approval rating.

"I don't want to cause disruptions for President Humala, his image or the government," Chehade told members of the Permanent Commission of Congress.

Still, the vote to effectively keep Chehade in Congress could cause a backlash against the legislature, which polls show is widely distrusted by Peruvians, and lawmakers in the parties of the ruling coalition - Gana Peru and Peru Posible - that voted to save him.

Before the vote, opposition politicians warned that Chehade, who had resisted calls for months to step down as a vice president, was maneuvering to hold onto his seat in Congress.

"This is a ploy so that there will be less public outrage when the majority of Gana Peru and Peru Posible vote to protect him in Congress," said lawmaker Mauricio Mulder of the opposition APRA party.

Chehade said he was innocent of allegations that he asked a police general to help his brother evict workers from a cooperative sugar plantation to help a company that wants to take it over.

An overwhelming majority of the 130 lawmakers voted in December to suspend Chehade from Congress for 120 days and he had taken what he called "a leave" from his vice presidential post.

Humala, a former military officer, has shunned Chehade, going so far as to say, "We don't have any relationship with him."

Humala could not fire Chehade and his power to end the scandal has been limited by the constitution, which states that only Congress can remove a vice president from office in an impeachment proceeding.

(Reporting By Marco Aquino and Terry Wade; Editing by Eric Beech)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120118/wl_nm/us_peru_politics_chehade

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Beyonce gets fly with golden booty named after her

In this 2009 photo released by researcher Bryan Lessard of Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), a newly discovered horse fly in Austrlia with its golden-haired bum is shown at the Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra, Australia. For 24-year-old CSIRO researcher Lessard, a fan of pop diva Beyonce, there was only one name worthy of its beauty: Beyonce, He told The Associated Press Monday, Jan.16, 2012 he wanted to pay respect to the insect's beauty by naming it Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae. (AP Photo/Bryan Lessard, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) NO SALES, EDITORIAL USE ONLY, CREDIT MANDATORY

In this 2009 photo released by researcher Bryan Lessard of Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), a newly discovered horse fly in Austrlia with its golden-haired bum is shown at the Australian National Insect Collection, Canberra, Australia. For 24-year-old CSIRO researcher Lessard, a fan of pop diva Beyonce, there was only one name worthy of its beauty: Beyonce, He told The Associated Press Monday, Jan.16, 2012 he wanted to pay respect to the insect's beauty by naming it Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae. (AP Photo/Bryan Lessard, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) NO SALES, EDITORIAL USE ONLY, CREDIT MANDATORY

In this 2009 photo released by researcher Bryan Lessard of Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), a newly discovered horse fly in Austrlia with its golden-haired bum is pinned at the Australian National Insect Collection in Canberra, Australia. For CSIRO researcher Lessard, 24, a fan of pop diva Beyonce, there was only one name worthy of its beauty: Beyonce, He told The Associated Press Monday, Jan.16, 2012 he wanted to pay respect to the insect's beauty by naming it Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae. (AP Photo/Bryan Lessard, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) NO SALES, EDITORIAL USE ONLY, CREDIT MANDATORY

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) ? A newly discovered horse fly in Australia was so "bootylicious" with its golden-haired bum, there was only one name worthy of its beauty: Beyonce.

Previously published results from Bryan Lessard, a 24-year-old researcher at Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, were recently announced on the species that had been sitting in a fly collection since it was captured in 1981 ? the same year pop diva Beyonce was born.

He says he wanted to pay respect to the insect's beauty by naming it Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae.

Lessard said Beyonce would be "in the nature history books forever" and that the fly now bearing her name is "pretty bootylicious" with its golden backside.

"Bootylicious" was the title of a song by Beyonce's previous group, Destiny's Child.

It's unknown if the rare species is a bloodsucker like many female horse flies. Lessard says he was unable to find any live specimens when he went looking in 2010 in northeast Queensland's Atherton Tablelands, where it was captured three decades ago. However, at least one member of the public has alerted him that he was recently bitten by what's locally called the "gold bum fly."

The description of the fly was earlier published in the Australian Journal of Entomology, but the results were announced last week.

Lessard says he hasn't heard from Beyonce, who recently gave birth to her first child, but he is a fan and hopes she will take his scientific gesture as a compliment. He also said the name was picked to help draw attention to the importance of his field and the need for more researchers to catalog and study insects.

Horse flies are "vital pollinators of native plants, not just in Australia, but all over the world," Lessard said. "It's extremely important to name all the undescribed species so we can measure our human impact on the environment and hopefully protect it for future generations to enjoy."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2012-01-16-AS-Australia-Beyonce-Horse-Fly/id-b5d519ca3f2544bd83ee803818d4881a

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Jon Huntsman reportedly pulling out of GOP presidential race (Americablog)

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Stricken Italian liner shifts, 29 people missing (Reuters)

GIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) ? A stricken Italian cruise liner shifted on its rocky resting place as worsening weather disrupted an increasingly despairing hunt for survivors and authorities almost doubled their estimate of the number missing to 29 people.

As the Costa Concordia's owners accused their captain of veering too close to shore in a bravura "salute" to residents of a Tuscan island, the giant ship slid a little on Monday, threatening to plunge 2,300 tonnes of fuel below the Mediterranean waters of the surrounding nature reserve.

The slippage forced rescuers to suspend efforts to find anyone still alive after three days in the capsized hull, resting on a jagged slope outside the picturesque harbor on the island of Giglio. Six bodies have been found. Most of the 4,200 passengers and crew survived, despite hours of chaos.

Captain Francesco Schettino was arrested a day after the disaster accused of manslaughter and abandoning the ship before all of the people were evacuated. Prosecutors say he also refused to go back on board when requested by the coastguard.

Schettino was due to appear before magistrates for questioning on Tuesday morning.

An Italian coastguard official told Reuters late on Monday that the number of people missing had been revised up to 29 - 25 passengers and four members of staff - from 16, showing how much uncertainty still surrounded the disaster.

Another maritime official said later that 10 Germans were thought to be among the missing passengers.

The 114,500-tonne ship, one of the biggest passenger vessels ever to be wrecked, foundered after striking a rock just as dinner was being served on Friday night. It quickly rolled on its side, revealing a long gouge below the waterline.

Firefighters' spokesman Luca Cari said there were still small movements of the vessel but they were not considered dangerous. However, searches were suspended overnight and would resume at daybreak.

Another senior firefighter, Luciano Roncalli, told Reuters that all the unsubmerged areas of the liner had been searched, indicating faint hopes of finding more survivors in the flooded and upturned maze of luxurious state rooms and tennis courts, bars and spas that are now submerged beneath the sea.

Environment Minister Corrado Clini said he would declare a state of emergency because of the risk that the ship's fuel would leak into the pristine Tuscan Archipelago National Park. No fuel spillage has been detected so far, he said on an Italian television show due to air on Monday evening.

Should rougher seas dislodge the wreck and cause it to sink or break up, that could scupper any hopes for the owners, a unit of Florida's Carnival Corp., of salvaging a liner which cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build just six years ago.

"SALUTE" TO SHORE

Investigators say the ship was far too close to the shore and its owners, Costa Cruises, said the captain had carried out the rash maneuver to "make a bow" to people on Giglio island, who included a retired Italian admiral.

Schettino denies charges of manslaughter.

His lawyer issued a statement saying the skipper was "broken-up, troubled and saddened by the loss of life." But he believed he had saved many lives by carrying out a difficult emergency maneuver with anchors after the accident, which turned the ship closer to the shore.

The father of the ship's head waiter told Reuters that his son had telephoned him before the accident to say the crew would salute him by blowing the ship's whistle as they passed close by Giglio, where both the waiter, Antonello Tievoli, and his 82-year-old father Giuseppe live.

Costa Cruises chief executive Pier Luigi Foschi on Monday blamed errors by Schettino for the disaster. He told a news conference the company would provide its captain with any assistance he required. "But we need to acknowledge the facts and we cannot deny human error," he added.

Foschi said company vessels were forbidden to come closer than 500 meters to the Giglio coast. Investigators say the liner, designed as a floating pleasure palace for over 3,000 paying customers, was about 150 meters (yards) offshore when it hit the rocks that tore a long gash in its thousand-foot hull.

Schettino denies being too close to the coast and says the rock he hit was not marked on charts.

The calm weather which since Friday has aided the search of the wreck, by some estimates the biggest passenger vessel ever to founder, took a turn for the worse on Monday with rougher seas and a light drizzle falling. Forecasters said it would get worse.

The ship is resting in about 20 meters (60 feet) of water but could go down by up to 130 meters if it becomes detached from the rocks.

Carnival Corp, the ship's Miami-based parent company, said it estimated the impact on its 2012 earnings for loss of use alone to be around $90 million. Its share price closed down around 16 percent on the London market.

(Additional reporting by Silvia Ognibene, Silvia Aloisi and Kate Hudson; Writing by Catherine Hornby and Barry Moody; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120117/wl_nm/us_italy_ship

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France to pursue reforms after downgrade

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, arrives with Prime Minister Francois Fillon to address his New Year speech to the Justice representatives at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. The euro fell to a 17-month low against the dollar on news reports that France's credit rating might be downgraded by Standard & Poor's. If France were downgraded it could hurt efforts to resolve Europe's debt crisis. (AP Photo/Charles Platiau, Pool)

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, left, arrives with Prime Minister Francois Fillon to address his New Year speech to the Justice representatives at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. The euro fell to a 17-month low against the dollar on news reports that France's credit rating might be downgraded by Standard & Poor's. If France were downgraded it could hurt efforts to resolve Europe's debt crisis. (AP Photo/Charles Platiau, Pool)

German chancellor Angela Merkel, attends a press conference in Kiel, northern Germany, Saturday Jan. 14, 2012 after a meeting with Christian Democratic (CDU) party leaders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Standard & Poor's downgrades of nine eurozone countries underline the fact that Europe has a "long road" in front of it to win back investors' confidence. Merkel pushed Saturday for European countries to implement "as soon as possible" a planned pact to strengthen budget discipline and said eurozone countries also must move quickly to implement their permanent rescue fund - the so-called European Stability Mechanism. (AP Photo/dapd: Philipp Guelland)

German chancellor Angela Merkel, speaks at a press conference in Kiel, northern Germany, Saturday Jan. 14, 2012 after a meeting with Christian Democratic (CDU) party leaders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Standard & Poor's downgrades of nine eurozone countries underline the fact that Europe has a "long road" in front of it to win back investors' confidence. Merkel pushed Saturday for European countries to implement "as soon as possible" a planned pact to strengthen budget discipline and said eurozone countries also must move quickly to implement their permanent rescue fund - the so-called European Stability Mechanism. (AP Photo/dapd: Philipp Guelland)

German chancellor Angela Merkel, speaks at a press conference in Kiel, northern Germany, Saturday Jan. 14, 2012 after a meeting with Christian Democratic (CDU) party leaders. German Chancellor Angela Merkel says Standard & Poor's downgrades of nine eurozone countries underline the fact that Europe has a "long road" in front of it to win back investors' confidence. Merkel pushed Saturday for European countries to implement "as soon as possible" a planned pact to strengthen budget discipline and said eurozone countries also must move quickly to implement their permanent rescue fund - the so-called European Stability Mechanism. (AP Photo/dapd: Philipp Guelland)

PARIS (AP) ? France's prime minister said Saturday his country will push ahead with cost-cutting measures after its top-tier debt rating was downgraded, a blow with repercussions across financially beleaguered Europe.

Other European countries from Austria to Cyprus assailed ratings agency Standard & Poor's after a raft of downgrades Friday night that renewed questions about the power such agencies wield. The move may make it more expensive for struggling countries to borrow money, reduce debts and avoid a new recession.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said downgrades of nine eurozone countries underline the fact that Europe has a "long road" ahead to win back investors' confidence. Her own country, the engine of Europe's economy, was not downgraded.

Merkel and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the downgrades should push European countries to quickly implement a planned pact to strengthen budget discipline. Germany and France have piloted rescue efforts for other eurozone countries as the continent has been swept up in crisis after crisis over the past two years.

Fillon struck a somber, measured tone when responding Saturday to the downgrade, which was particularly wounding to France's self-image and could hurt bailout efforts. France is central to those efforts, and the downgrade, by pushing up its own borrowing costs, could make it harder for France to help others.

Fillon said the downgrade confirmed his conservative government's plans for more reforms to bring down debts, despite worries that more austerity measures could suffocate growth.

He said the government wouldn't adjust the budget yet, saying it had been devised with an assumption of higher borrowing costs. S&P had warned 15 European nations in December that they were at risk for a downgrade.

The downgrade, three months before France holds presidential elections, was "an alert that should not be dramatized any more than it should be underestimated," he said.

Standard & Poor's stripped France of its coveted AAA status, knocking it down one notch to AA+. It dropped Italy even lower. Germany retained its top-notch rating, but Portugal's debt was consigned to junk.

Cyprus' finance minister called Standard & Poor's two-notch downgrade of his eurozone country to junk status "arbitrary and unfounded."

Kikis Kazamias said on Saturday that the agency ignored the island's deficit-cutting measures as well as the discovery of significant offshore natural gas deposits. He said the action illustrates once more how credit ratings agencies exacerbate Europe's debt crisis.

Austria's chancellor criticized S&P's decision to strip his country of the top AAA rating, and noted that his coalition government is working on an austerity package.

Werner Faymann wrote on his Facebook page that "Austria's economic data remain very good." He added that the decision showed "that Austria must become more independent from the financial markets."

The downgrade brought a downbeat end to a mildly encouraging week for Europe's heavily indebted nations and served as a reminder that the 17-country eurozone faces another tough year.

France's downgrade to AA+ lowers it to the level of U.S. long-term debt, which S&P downgraded last summer.

Stocks fell Friday as downgrade rumors reached the trading floors of Europe and the United States. But the declines were nothing like the wrenching swings of last summer and fall.

Speaking to fellow conservatives in the northern German city of Kiel, Merkel stressed the importance of a new treaty enshrining tougher fiscal rules. Most European Union leaders agreed in early December to draw up the pact.

"We are now called upon ... to implement quickly the fiscal pact and implement it decisively ? without trying to water it down everywhere," Merkel said.

The chancellor sought to allay concerns that the downgrade of France, the 17-nation eurozone's No. 2 economy after Germany, would complicate the work of the bloc's temporary rescue fund, the ?440 billion ($560 billion) European Financial Stability Facility. However, she did underline the urgency of putting its permanent successor, the European Stability Mechanism, in place quickly.

France's presidential elections could complicate Europe's internal discussions. President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been at the heart of the debate, is highly unpopular and far from certain of winning a second term.

The man who tops polls ahead of the April and May elections, Socialist Francois Hollande, said the downgrade was a punishment for conservative Sarkozy's policies. He said Saturday that austerity measures were stifling growth and France's competitiveness.

Elie Cohen, economist with France's National Center for Scientific Research, said the Standard & Poor's decision casts doubt on Sarkozy's choices and European leaders' ability to handle the crisis.

"From the moment France was downgraded, it boomerangs on (Sarkozy's) own economic record, and it becomes one factor in the electoral battle," Cohen told AP Television News. Cohen said France's economic standing had been weakening for a long time, and the downgrade was overdue.

___

Geir Moulson in Berlin, Cecile Brisson and Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-14-EU-Europe-Financial-Crisis/id-0e053ee1cb2c46099df7794596054ded

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Showtime announces Dick Cheney documentary, "Big C" returns (Reuters)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) ? Showtime announced a Dick Cheney documentary from "The War Room" filmmaker R.J. Cutler and that "Nurse Jackie," "The Big C" and "The Borgias" will all return on Sunday, April 8.

The network made the announcements Thursday at the Television Critics Association winter press tour.

In "The World According to Dick Cheney," Cutler will offer what Showtime describes as a "measured, layered profile of the polarizing, controversial former vice president. Cheney's life and career will be deeply analyzed from his days as Gerald Ford's 34-year-old chief-of-staff to his eight-year reign as the most powerful vice president this country has ever known."

"Jackie" will be back for its fourth season at 9 p.m. on April 8; "Big C" will return for its third season at 9:30, and "The Borgias" will return for its second season at 10.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120112/tv_nm/us_dickcheney

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Tiny Frog Makes Big Claim

60-Second Science | More Science

Researchers say a newly discovered species is the world's smallest frog--and more. Cynthia Graber reports.

January 13, 2012?|

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Magnifying glass, calipers, teeny tiny tape measure. These are the weapons with which researchers are fighting it out to find the world?s smallest frog.

One team just announced the discovery of the on-average 7.7 millimeter Paedophryne amanuensis, which can sit comfortably on a dime. It was discovered in the moist under-layer of New Guinea?s tropical rainforest. The research was published in the journal Public Library of Science One. [Eric N. Rittmeyer et al, Ecological Guild Evolution and the Discovery of the World's Smallest Vertebrate]

The little guy thus ousts another New Guinea frog, which had only claimed the title in December. The newest frog species is also being cited as the world?s smallest vertebrate, although it?s more correctly the smallest free-living vertebrate. A 6.2 millimeter male anglerfish spends its life buried in the body of its mate.?

Finding the little frog was no small achievement. Besides being tiny, the high-pitched mating calls researchers followed sound more insect than amphibian. [Frog calls.]

Tiny vertebrates reveal changes that make miniaturization possible. For instance, some of the digits on the frogs? feet have disappeared. And their skulls develop differently than those of larger critters.

So we celebrate the world?s smallest frog and free-living vertebrate. Until the next one is discovered.

?Cynthia Graber

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast]

Frog audio via Christopher Austin, LSU, http://www.museum.lsu.edu/Austin/Lab.html

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