Saturday, August 17, 2013 Hot Searches

Saturday, August 17, 2013  Hot Searches

UFC

Princess Diana

Raz B

Solheim Cup 2013

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Friday, August 16, 2013 Hot Searches

Friday, August 16, 2013  Hot Searches

Jared Remy

Charlie Manuel

Area 51

The Butler

Katie Couric

Larry Shippers

Elvis Presley

Chicago Bears

Iams Recall

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Tuesday, August 13, 2013 Hot Searches

Tuesday, August 13, 2013  Hot Searches

Lisa Robin Kelly

Olinguito

Darren Young

FOX Sports 1

Teresa Giudice

Marion Bartoli

Tibetan Mastiff

Jake Pavelka

Laura Prepon

Kendrick Lamar Verse

Payday 2

Sinkhole in Florida

Jamaal Charles

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Monday, August 12, 2013 Hot Searches

Monday, August 12, 2013  Hot Searches

Kendrick Lamar

Hyperloop

Lady Gaga Applause

Whitey Bulger

Luke Bryan

Hunter Hayes

Carrie Underwood

new iPhone

K Michelle

Myla Sinanaj

Chrissy Teigen

Usain Bolt

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In a flash, Usain Bolt regains title in 100

In a flash, Usain Bolt regains title in 100

IVAN SEKRETAREV/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A wet track in Moscow and a great start by runner-up Justin Gatlin (left) didn’t deter Usain Bolt in the final.

s legs were hurting, the rain was pouring, and he was trailing late in the race.

Doesn’t matter. This is Usain Bolt.

And nothing gets in the way of him and first place, especially when he’s driven as he was Sunday night in the 100-meter final at the world championships.

Bolt blew by Justin Gatlin with about 30 meters to go and never glanced back. He also didn’t even crack a smile when he crossed the finish line because this took a lot more work than the world’s fastest sprinter usually needs.

Gatlin was second and Bolt’s Jamaican teammate Nesta Carter took third.

Of all Bolt’s titles, this one will have a special meaning, considering he false-started two years ago in the final to lose his crown.

Now, it’s his again.

‘‘It’s always great to get back your title,’’ said Bolt, who won in 9.77 seconds. ‘‘I’m happy with myself I got it done.’’

Like Bolt, Brittney Reese and Ashton Eaton were just as dominant. Reese won her third straight long jump gold, while Eaton now owns the world and Olympic decathlon titles.

Many of Bolt’s top rivals were missing. Gone were Tyson Gay (doping offense) and Jamaican teammate Yohan Blake, who was the reigning champion but skipped the worlds because of an injured hamstring.

Shortly after the race, Bolt sauntered around the track with his country’s flag tied around his neck like a cape. These days, he has to be the Superman of his sport. Given all the recent doping scandals, track needs someone to save the day.

For now, he will settle for blowing away the dark cloud over his country, a proud sprinting nation. Some of Jamaica’s most decorated sprinters have taken a fall: Asafa Powell, Sherone Simpson, and Veronica Campbell-Brown all tested positive for a banned substance and weren’t at the worlds.

‘‘I’m just doing my part by running fast, winning titles and letting the world know you can do it clean,’’ Bolt said. ‘‘My focus is to continue doing what I do.’’

And that means running fast times, even on a drenched track.

What started as a steady drizzle turned into a downpour just before the gun sounded. So much so that Bolt clowned around when he was introduced to the crowd, pretending to open an umbrella.

Really, though, rain doesn’t bother him. Not in the least.

Neither does anything else, like falling behind early. He knew he might trail Gatlin at the halfway mark. Bolt has never been a good starter and may have been extra cautious considering what happened in South Korea two years ago.

In the lane next to him, Gatlin got off to a great start and thought he might have enough in the tank to beat Bolt, just as he did two months ago in Rome.

‘‘Then I saw these long legs coming up on my right side,’’ Gatlin said. ‘‘He’s great. He’s just great.’’

The two aren’t exactly the best of friends, but after the race, Gatlin congratulated Bolt, who had some kind words in return.

‘‘For him to say to me, ‘Hey, you’re the guy who pushes me to go even faster.’ I’m honored in that,’’ Gatlin said. ‘‘But I thought I had it for a second.’’

Only this is Bolt, the best finisher around. He sniffed the finish line and turned on the turbo jets. He did have to labor hard, though, grimacing as he crossed the line. Some of that may have been due to his legs, which he said were sore.

Even at less than 100 percent, Bolt is still downright difficult to beat.

‘‘I wanted to run faster, but after the semifinals my legs didn’t feel up to it,’’ Bolt said. ‘‘Don’t know what happened. I’m going to get it worked on. Hopefully I won’t have this problem in the 200 meters. Overall, it was a good race.’’

Mike Rodgers tried to get inside the head of Bolt after their semifinal matchup, staring up at the tall sprinter. Bolt got out to a big lead in that race earlier in the event and began loafing toward the finish line. Rodgers didn’t particularly care for that.

‘‘He thought he was going to slow down, like he could play with everybody,’’ said Rodgers, who wound up sixth in the final. ‘‘I guess he knows he can’t.’’

Perhaps.

Bolt still won convincingly — once he got up to full stride, that is.

‘‘I never look at things as easy. I put in hard work,’’ Bolt said. ‘‘That’s why I’m a champion. I keep pushing myself as a champion, no matter what. I push myself because that’s what it takes.’’

Source : http://www.bostonglobe.com

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Saturday, August 10, 2013 Hot Searches

    Saturday, August 10, 2013 Hot Searches

Teen Choice Awards

Jason Dufner

meteor shower tonight

Hannah Anderson

james dimaggio

Eydie Gorme

Tim Tebow

patriots

The White Queen

Rafael Caro Quintero

Usher

Hell on Wheels

Philadelphia Eagles

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Sunday, August 11, 2013 Hot Searches

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Breaking Bad

AMC

low winter sun

Dufnering

Ashton Kutcher

Erwin Schrödinger

Katy Perry Roar

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Ashton Kutcher gives life advice at Teen Choice Awards

Ashton Kutcher gives life advice at Teen Choice Awards

Ashton Kutcher accepts the ultimate choice award at the Teen Choice Awards at the Gibson Amphitheater on Aug. 11, 2013, in Los Angeles. / AP

Ashton Kutcher is far from a teenager at 35 years old. But he still walked away with a Teen Choice honor Sunday night in Los Angeles.

Upon receiving the ultimate choice award at the Gibson Amphitheatre, Kutcher joked that he had won the "old guy award."

And it was partially true -- Kutcher was in the company of plenty of younger stars, including One Direction, Miley Cyrus and Demi Lovato on Sunday -- not to mention the audience members and all of the viewers watching at home. So he took the opportunity to impart some advice on to his younger fans with a speech about making the best out of life. "I believe that opportunity looks a lot like work," he said. "I never had a job in my life that I was better than. I was always just lucky to have a job. Every job I had was a stepping stone to my next job and I never quit my job before I had my next job."

He went on to talk about the importance of intelligence, which he equated to "being sexy": "The sexiest thing in the entire world is being really smart. And being thoughtful and being generous. Everything else is crap. I promise you. It's just crap that people try to sell to you to make you feel like less. So don't buy it. Be smart. Be thoughtful and be generous."

Steve Jobs also made his way into Kutcher's speech. The actor, who portrays the Apple co-founder in the upcoming movie "Jobs," said, "Steve Jobs said when you grow up you tend to get told that world is the way that it is."

Kutcher wrapped with: "Everything around us that we call life was made up of people that are no smarter than you. And you can build your own things and you can build your own life that other people can live in. So build a life, don't live one, find your opportunities and always be sexy."

Source : http://www.cbsnews.com

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‘Breaking Bad’ Creator Vince Gilligan Spills on the Midseason Premiere’s Big Plot Twist

‘Breaking Bad’ Creator Vince Gilligan Spills on the Midseason Premiere’s Big Plot Twist

Breaking Bad took a shocking turn at the end of Sunday’s episode. Now viewers can’t wait to find out what happens next. Creator Vince Gilligan tells Andrew Romano what he was thinking—and hints at the “s**tload of story left to tell.”

If you haven't seen Sunday night's installment of Breaking Bad—the premiere episode of the second half of the final season—stop reading now. Something big and surprising happens at the end of the episode, and that's what this story is all about. I don't want to spoil it for you. Come back after you've caught up.

Now that we've weeded out the stragglers, let's talk.

Actors Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston in a scene from the premiere of the second half of the fifth and final season of “Breaking Bad.” (Ursula Coyote/AMC)

Sunday's Breaking Bad premiere picked up right where last season left off: with detective Hank Schrader realizing on the toilet that his mild-mannered brother-in-law Walter White is actually Heisenberg, a murderous, meth-cooking criminal mastermind of epic proportions. It was like Ahab finally spotting his White whale.

What most viewers probably didn't expect was that Hank would decide to confront his mark—or that Walt would discover he was being hunted—anytime soon. I assumed that Hank would take his time—that his cat-and-mouse game with Walt would be a major part of the final season's overarching narrative. Ever the professional, Hank would observe, investigate, and wait for the perfect moment to spring his trap.

How wrong I was. After spending a few days in a state of strained, red-eyed shock—he calls in sick after plowing his car into a neighbor's yard—Hank decides to plant a GPS tracker on Walt's car.

Meanwhile, Walt is happily retired—until his cancer comes back. As he leans on the toilet between bouts of vomiting, he notices that his copy of Leaves of Grass is gone. Then Skyler tells him that Hank is working a case from home. Suspicions aroused, Walt walks outside and reaches under his bumper. Bingo. The tracker.

This sets up the remarkable encounter at the end of the episode. Walt stops by Hank's house. He's officially there to check up on Hank's “illness,” but his real purpose is to detect if Hank is on to him. He seems to be. Walt is dismayed. He turns to leave. Then he reconsiders. He stops. He pulls the GPS tracker from his pocket. And he asks Hank point-blank if he's under investigation.

‘Once this thing gets going, and it gets going very quickly, as you’ve seen, it just rolls along like gangbusters.’

Seconds later, the garage door is closed and Hank is slamming Walt up against it, accusing him of being Heisenberg.

Words can't really do the scene justice. It is one of the richest, saddest, and most expertly executed in the history of Breaking Bad. As Hank, Dean Norris hovers somewhere between a sob and a dropkick, blending shock, betrayal, rage, and despair in equal, utterly believable measure. And Bryan Cranston is immaculate as usual. When he shifted in the episode's final line from "a dying man who runs a car wash" to a crime lord threatening Hank—"If that's true, if you don't know who I am," he hissed, "then maybe your best course would be to tread lightly"—I got the chills.

Wanting to know more about how the scene developed—and how the coming episodes will build on Sunday's turbocharged start—I gave series creator Vince Gilligan a call. He was gracious enough to take me behind the scenes and explain exactly what he and his team were thinking.

Below are edited excerpts of our conversation.

The Daily Beast: Were the two halves of Season 5 written separately, or was it all one arc? Did you have to come back to the writer’s room after writing the episodes we saw last year and figure out how to start the final half-season?

Vince Gilligan: We did indeed break them in half. We did not write them straight through. We took a little break of a month or two, and we thought at the end of our first eight that we would have an easy road ahead of us—that it would kind of write itself. But then we got back for the final eight and were like, oh shit. It was really hard.

130810-breaking-bad-romano-tease

Frank Ockenfels 3/AMC

The final scene of the last season was Hank finding Leaves of Grass and realizing that Walt was W.W. What were your options at that point?

What’s funny about it is that we thought our options were limited. In a good way—in a way that was going to make life easier for my six writers and myself. We thought that the story path to the finale would be very clear to us. Very well limned. But unfortunately when we got back we realized this could go literally a thousand different ways. What were we thinking?

It seems like we have a few major confrontations awaiting us in this final season: Walt and Hank, Walt and Jesse, and perhaps Walt and his cancer. Let’s talk about Walt and Hank first. Walk me through the process of deciding to have them confront each other so early in the season.

We knew when we got to the end of the first half of the season that Hank is onto Walt now. He’s sitting on the toilet. He’s reading Leaves of Grass. But then it’s like, what is Hank’s next move? Does he keep it secret? Does he go outside and just shoot Walt in the head? There are a hundred decisions right from the get-go. Then the question is, if Hank starts researching and investigating Walt, when does Walt find out that Hank’s on to him?

Everyone who sees that first episode says to me, “My God. I didn’t think these guys would come to a confrontation so quickly.” And the funny thing is, we didn’t either. The writers and I, just like the viewers, we all said, “When Hank and Walt are nose to nose and toe to toe here, and Hank is accusing Walt of being Heisenberg, when does that come? Is that the very final episode? Well, it can’t be the final episode. Is it midway through the final eight? When is it?” That’s a surprisingly hard part of the job—figuring out how to portion out plot. We’ve spent thousands of man-hours struggling with those very questions.

I thought you were going to withhold that confrontation for much longer. That would have been the standard thing to do—to have Hank trailing Walt without Walt's knowledge and slowly piecing it all together.

In our initial breakdown, we had it broken up into eight equally sized squares; you know, what’s going to happen where in these final eight episodes. And in our first version we thought that Walt wouldn’t know that Hank was onto him until about the halfway point.

But as we talked about it, the more we realized: nope, it needs to be in the first one. Because we've got a shitload of story left to tell. And we’ve only got seven more episodes after this one in which to tell it. So we’d better make hay while the sun is shining.

That's why these final eight episodes move faster than any stretch of eight episodes that we’ve ever had in the history of the show. Once this thing gets going, and it gets going very quickly, as you’ve seen, it just rolls along like gangbusters. It has to because we’ve got so little time left.

It seems like Walt and Hank are heading for some sort of uneasy truce, which is much more interesting as a viewer than just waiting around for the inevitable confrontation.

Yeah. Well, it may seem that way, and maybe that’s where we’re heading—or maybe it isn’t [laughs].

How about the scene itself? I thought Dean Norris and Bryan Cranston were absolutely at the top of their game. Was it hard to strike the right tone—that mixture of shock and sadness and rage and menace?

I tell you, that’s all credit to the actors. Some scenes are harder to write than to act, and some scenes are the opposite. This is a good example of the latter. It’s one thing to write that "Hank reacts with a mixture of outrage and anger and sadness and betrayal"... you can put all those descriptors into a paragraph of writing, but it’s much harder for an actor to find that mix and communicate it to the audience in as few words of dialogue as possible.

And damned if Dean Norris didn’t accomplish that. He played that scene so beautifully. I think it’s one of the finest scenes he’s ever played for us. He and Bryan, who directed the episode, took what on the page is easy to communicate intellectually and they translated it into something the audience can feel viscerally. It’s a real magic trick, and I’m not quite sure they how managed to pull it off. But they did indeed. 

You've said that Breaking Bad is a show about one man's transformation from Mr. Chips to Scarface. Is Walt entirely Scarface now? How much Mr. Chips is left?

That’s an interesting question. I think Walt was his closest to being entirely Scarface—or entirely Heisenberg, to be more accurate—at some of those low moments of high drama in the first half of Season 5, and maybe at the end of Season 4. I think he’s a man in retirement now, when we meet with him in this first episode. He wants to be a car wash owner. He wants to beat his cancer. And I think when he realizes Hank is onto him, and he says that great dialogue that Peter Gould wrote—“My right hand to God. I’m just a guy who owns a car wash who’s dying of cancer. That’s all I am. What’s the point of coming after me?”—I think as smart as Walter White is, he is truly bewildered by why a family member, a man that he loves, who ostensibly loves him, or used to love him, would come after him so vehemently. It doesn’t quite compute for him, at least in my estimation.

He ends that moment as Heisenberg, when he says, “My advice would be to tread lightly.” But I think up until that moment, he doesn’t really want to be Heisenberg any more. He’s done it. He’s accomplished it. He’s built his empire. Now he just wants to hold on to his empire, or what’s left of it—the spoils of it. And he wants more than anything now for his family to love him, to be in a state of affection for him, when he finally succumbs to cancer, whenever that may occur. And this is a really terrible development, because it puts all of that in danger.

I have a suspicion that Walt might not get his wish there. Why did you decide to have his cancer come back, and how much of a role is it going to play this season? It’s been on the backburner for a while now.

It has been on the backburner. But my writers and I don’t like leaving loose ends. Cancer was the plot engine that got this whole story going in the first place, and it felt wrong to us to not address it again. It felt proper and fitting to us that it might rear its ugly head yet again.

And as you can imagine, with a plot development like that, it only complicates matters. It makes the morality of the story more complex in the sense that Walt has a point. It’s very much a villain’s point of view, but it’s a point nonetheless when he says, “Look, I’m dying of cancer. I’m never going to see the inside of a jail cell. Why do this thing, Hank? Why ruin our family?” It’s kind of a douche bag point, but it has validity nonetheless. We love those kinds of story complications, and that’s as good a reason as any to bring his cancer back.

How about Jesse? In Sunday's episode we saw him weeping, wracked with guilt, and trying to give away the millions he earned in the meth business. He has always been the moral center of the show. Will he continue in that role to the end? I've always thought the final confrontation would be between him and Walt.

Jesse is not fit for the meth business, and I think we all know that. If we didn’t know that before, we know it now. He’s got too finely tuned a sense of morality to be a criminal. It was a mistake for him to be a criminal from the get-go.

And to be fair to Walt, Walt didn’t start Jesse down the path of cooking crystal meth. Jesse was already doing that regardless. But Walt made his life so much worse. And that’s one of Walt’s unforgivable sins, and one of the deep sadnesses of the show: that Jesse didn’t have a better mentor than Mr. White. He didn’t have this man tell him “you deserve better than this.”

And now we’re at a point where Jesse just can’t live with the consequences of his actions. He’s got this terrible guilt that will not be ameliorated. He tries to give away this blood money, as he calls it, and indeed, that’s the name of the episode. But nothing seems to help. It just won’t be expunged. It won’t go away.

Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.

Andrew Romano is a senior writer for Newsweek and The Daily Beast. He reports on politics, culture, and food. His 2008 campaign blog, Stumper, won MINOnline’s Best Consumer Blog award and was cited as one of the cycle’s best news blogs by both Editor & Publisher and the Deadline Club of New York. Follow Andrew on Twitter.

Source : http://www.thedailybeast.com

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EMAS AMC Begins Work on Etame Marin Field Expansion

EMAS AMC Begins Work on Etame Marin Field Expansion

EMAS AMC, the subsea services unit of offshore contractor EMAS, clinched a contract from VAALCO Gabon (Etame) Inc. for the expansion of the Etame Marin field off Gabon, West Africa.

The workscope covers the engineering, procurement, installation and commissioning (EPIC) of rigid pipelines along with the transportation and installation of flexible pipelines and two fixed production platforms.

Under the $120 million contract, EMAS AMC’s newbuild vessel, the Lewek Constellation, will work alongside the Lewek Express pipelay vessel. The contract was part of the $505 million of new projects reported by the company in July, when it was awarded a letter of intent for the project.

“We are extremely pleased to have been awarded this significant project from VAALCO for their Etame Marin Field Expansion Project in West Africa. The Lewek Constellation is an important asset for us to drive our business growth forward. As such, we are very encouraged to receive our first contract for the Lewek Constellation well in advance of its completion next year," C.J. D’Cort, CEO, EMAS AMC, said in a company release.

“The Etame Marin Project encompasses all of our core strengths including SURF (subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines), heavy lift, and rigid pipelay so this is a very exciting opportunity,” D'Cort added.

EMAS AMC's office in Houston, United States, will commence project management and engineering immediately, while offshore activities will begin in early 2014.

Source : http://www.rigzone.com/

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The 25 Best Songs of 2013 (So Far)

The 25 Best Songs of 2013 (So Far)

No. 25 … “Mirrors,” Justin Timberlake

No. 24 … “Peace and Quiet,” Waxahatchee

No. 23 … “Imagine It Was Us,” Jessie Ware

No. 22 … “Master Hunter,” Laura Marling

No. 21 … “Q.U.E.E.N.,” Janelle Monáe, feat. Erykah Badu

No. 20 … “Shut Up, ” Savages

No. 19 … “Just Give Me A Reason,” P!nk feat. Nate Ruess

No. 18 … “Started From the Bottom,” Drake

No. 17 … “Entertainment,” Phoenix

No. 16 … “Numbers On The Board,” Pusha T

No. 15 … “Falling,” Haim

No. 14 … “GMF,” John Grant

No. 13 … “Late Night,” Foals

No. 12 … “White Noise,” Disclosure feat. AlunaGeorge

No. 11 … “Diane Young,” Vampire Weekend

No. 10 … “Wild For The Night,” Skrillex feat. A$AP Rocky & Birdy Nam Nam

No. 9 … “Red Eye,” Kid Cudi feat. Haim

No. 8 … “Weight,” Mikal Cronin

No. 7 … “Closer,” Tegan & Sara

No. 6 … “Recover,” Chvrches

No. 5 … “Blurred Lines,” Robin Thicke feat. Pharrell and T.I.

No. 4 … “Song for Zula,” Phosphorescent

No. 3 … “Retrograde,” James Blake

No. 2 … “Get Lucky,” Daft Punk

No. 1 … “New Slaves,” Kanye West

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Usher to Keep Custody of His 2 Young Sons

Usher to Keep Custody of His 2 Young Sons

(ATLANTA) — R&B singer Usher will hold on to primary custody of his two young sons.

A judge in Atlanta on Friday dismissed an emergency request by Usher’s ex-wife seeking temporary custody of their two children.

Tameka Foster Raymond requested the hearing a day after the former couple’s 5-year-old son got caught in a pool drain while in the care of the multi-Grammy winner’s aunt at Usher’s Atlanta home. Fulton County Superior Judge John Goger dismissed her request for decision-making authority after hearing from both sides in court.

After the judge issued his ruling, Usher approached his ex-wife, who broke down while testifying, and gave her a long hug.

Based on the evidence presented at the hearing, Goger said he wasn’t certain anyone really could have done anything to prevent the accident. But he also advised the 34-year-old Usher to keep his ex-wife well advised of his whereabouts and who’s taking care of the children.

Usher Raymond V fell to the bottom of the pool and became stuck in the drain on Monday, according to an Atlanta police report. A housekeeper tried unsuccessfully to free him. A contractor doing work at the home pulled the boy from the pool and performed CPR.

The boy was “conscious, alert and breathing” when emergency medical workers arrived, police said. The boy was still in the hospital Friday.

“They’re just assessing him,” Raymond told reporters outside the courthouse after the hearing. “There is a lot we don’t know. I mean you can’t — it’s only been a few days so we’re very thankful that he’s obviously alive but we still have to observe him and make sure that everything is OK.”

Usher, who has recorded multi-platinum R&B albums “My Way” and “8701,” left the courthouse in downtown Atlanta without speaking to reporters. He also has several chart-toppers including “Nice & Slow,” ”U Remind Me” and “Love in This Club.”

The filing had said the boy “suffered a near-death accident” while left unsupervised at Usher’s home when the singer was out of town.

Contrary to what Raymond claimed, Usher’s aunt, Rena Oden, was poolside watching the children when the older child became stuck in the drain, and Usher was at a music studio one highway exit away, said the singer’s lawyer John Mayoue.

Rather than being grateful that her child had survived, Raymond used the episode to revisit the custody battle and gain publicity, Mayoue said.

The pool accident comes nearly a year after Raymond’s 11-year-old son, Kile Glover, Usher’s stepson, died from injuries he suffered when he was run over by a personal watercraft on Lake Lanier northeast of Atlanta.

Raymond, who is a hair and wardrobe stylist, was emotional during her testimony, at one point sobbing so hard that she had to step down from the witness stand to regain her composure.

“He doesn’t confer with me regarding anything,” Raymond said, explaining that she never knows where Usher is, where the children are and who’s taking care of them. Usher travels frequently and uses caregivers, including his aunt, who aren’t trained and qualified to care for young children, Raymond said.

Coger said he thought Raymond’s standards for a caregiver were unusually high and pointed out that many people leave their children with family members.

Usher and Raymond married in 2007 and divorced two years later. They went through a lengthy child custody battle, and Usher was given primary custody of the boys, who are about a year apart in age.

http://entertainment.time.com/

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Friday, August 9, 2013 Hot Searches

Friday, August 9, 2013 Hot Searches

Chris Brown

Michael Girgenti

Lavabit

Outside Lands

Kate Upton

Chicago Bears

meteor shower

Vanessa Hudgens

Whitney Houston

Oprah Winfrey

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Body Found in Search for Missing Oakland Investigator

Body Found in Search for Missing Oakland Investigator

Oakland mother and public defender Sandra Coke has been missing since Aug. 4, 2013. (Oakland Police)

A female body was discovered Friday afternoon in the area where California authorities were searching for a missing federal criminal investigator.

The body, which has yet to be identified, was found at about 1 p.m. in the area where officials were looking for Sandra Coke, who was reported missing since Sunday. Coke went missing after following a tip on her stolen dog.

Based on additional information obtained by the Oakland, Calif., Police Department, detectives decided to move their search-and-rescue location from the Vallejo, Calif., area to Lagoons Valley Park, an unincorporated area just outside of the city of Vacaville, Calif., according to Solano County Sheriff's Office Deputy Daryl Snedeker.

For now, authorities have called off any additional searches.

Earlier, registered sex offender Randy Alana, 56, was identified as a person of interest in Coke's disappearance.

Investigators believe Alana and Coke were together the night she went missing, according to the Oakland Police Department.

READ MORE: Missing Oakland Investigator's Friend Fears 'Something Has Happened'

Alana is registered as a high-risk sex offender with a criminal history that includes kidnapping and rape, according to the state's database.

He and Coke dated more than 20 years ago, Coke's friend Dan Abrahamson told ABC San Francisco affiliate KGO-TV.

"He reappeared in the Bay Area rather recently and reached out to Sandra for help," Abrahamson told KGO-TV.

Alana was taken into custody on an unspecified parole violation Tuesday and is being held in the Santa Rita Jail in Dublin, Calif., without bail, according to Alameda County online records. He is scheduled to be arraigned in Alameda County Superior Court on Aug. 16.

Meanwhile, investigators overnight launched a massive search at the Solano County Fairgrounds in Vallejo, Calif., for signs of the missing woman, KGO-TV reported.

Coke was last seen at her home Sunday by her 15-year-old daughter. A spokesperson for the family said she left the house to follow up on a lead related to her missing dog.

"There's no question something had happened. There's no way she would have ever left her daughter there alone," Wendy Springer, Sandra's best friend, told ABC News.

For weeks, Coke had been looking for her beloved dog, Ginny, who disappeared after someone broke into her home in May. Coke offered a $1,000 reward on "missing" posters. Tips were called in, but they all were dead ends.

This past weekend, Coke discovered a new lead in finding Ginny.

"She told her daughter that someone called about the dog," her sister Tanya Coke said.

READ: Oakland Woman Vanishes While Checking Tip on Her Stolen Dog

Coke's family said she left the house to meet the caller, hoping to be gone for a half hour, but never returned. Coke's daughter then tracked her mom's work and personal iPhones using a GPS application. Both had apparently been dumped: one on a Richmond, Calif., Highway, the other near Oakland, Calif.

"The phones were still working the next morning, sending a signal," Tanya Coke said.

Police found Coke's Mini Cooper two miles from her home.

"It's absolutely heartwrenching," Tanya Coke said. "Every parent, every sibling's nightmare. It's especially upsetting that she might be in danger and that there is foul play here."

On Wednesday, investigators took bags of evidence from Coke's home, including her laptop computers, hoping to find clues.

Police won't say if they believe Coke's work helping win release for inmates on death row, or the search for her missing dog, have anything to do with her disappearance.

"She was very attached to the dog and very concerned about trying to get her back," said Joe Schlesinger, a friend for over 20 years.

Schlesinger and Coke work with death-row inmates in the Office of the Federal Defender for the Eastern District of California.

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Witnesses Claim Miracle Man Saved Car Crash Victim With Prayer Watch Video

"We work on cases where there are all kinds of tragedies and it isn't the most popular work, but we have no reason to believe her disappearance has anything to do with the crimes she was investigating," said Schlesinger. "She was a committed, stable person that wouldn't just wander off."

Coke's family and friends are vowing to keep searching until they find her.

"She's a very special person," Springer said, "unusually kind and generous and big-hearted."

Coke was described as 5-foot-6 and 150 pounds, with a medium complexion, brown hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a black-and-white shirt and dark jeans when she disappeared.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call the Oakland, Calif., Police.

Source : http://abcnews.go.com/

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President Obama's Surprise Revelation of Sealed Benghazi Indictment

President Obama's Surprise Revelation of Sealed Benghazi Indictment

President Barack Obama gestures during his news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Friday, Aug. 9, 2013. The president said he'll work with Congress to change the oversight of some of the National Security Agency's controversial surveillance programs and name a new panel of outside experts to review technologies. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Obama surprised aides when he revealed today the existence of a sealed indictment in the Benghazi, Libya, attack, leaving some wondering if he crossed a legal line.

At a press conference at the White House, President Obama was asked whether justice would come to those responsible for the terrorist attack nearly a year ago in Benghazi, Libya, that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador.

"[W]e have informed, I think, the public that there's a sealed indictment," the president responded. "It's sealed for a reason. But we are intent on capturing those who carried out this attack, and we're going to stay on it until we get them."

That marked the only official confirmation so far of a sealed indictment in the Benghazi case. For days, officials across the law enforcement and intelligence communities have refused to publicly confirm reports of a sealed indictment.

After all, according to federal law, "no person may disclose [a sealed] indictment's existence," and a "knowing violation … may be punished as a contempt of court." Contempt of court carries a maximum sentence of six months in jail.

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, called the president's disclosure "crazy."

"Doesn't the law apply to the president too?" the official asked, and then jokingly added, "I guess he could pardon himself."

In fact, though, the president is effectively immune from breaking the law when it comes to a sealed indictment, according to a former prosecutor in the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section

"The [president], by virtue of his position, can't violate any non-disclosure/confidentiality rule," said Peter Zeidenberg, now in private practice in Washington. "One of the perks of being the head of the executive branch: Nothing he says is technically a leak. If he does it, it is authorized."

However, Zeidenberg acknowledged "an argument could be made that a sealed matter can only be unsealed by a court."

Zeidenberg helped lead the investigation into who leaked the secret identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame in 2003 and the subsequent prosecution of vice presidential aide "Scooter" Libby for lying to federal officials about his role in all of it.

After the president's remarks, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Washington, where the sealed indictment is believed to have been filed, still declined to comment about reports of a sealed indictment in the Benghazi probe. An email asking specifically about the president's remarks was not immediately returned.

Despite the president's chosen words, a White House official insisted he "was simply referencing widely reported information and was not asked about, nor did he comment on any specific indictment."

Source : http://abcnews.go.com/

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Mexico Releases Drug Kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero

Mexico Releases Drug Kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero

Infamous drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero walked free Friday after 28 years in prison when a court overturned his 40-year sentence for the 1985 kidnapping and killing of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent, a brutal murder that marked a low point in U.S.-Mexico relations.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Friday it was extremely disappointed by the release of the man convicted in the killing of DEA agent Enrique Camarena, calling it "deeply troubling."

Mexico's Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam said in a statement that he was "worried" about the court's decision, adding that his office is analyzing whether there are any charges pending against Caro Quintero.

Caro Quintero, 60, was a founding member of one of Mexico's earliest and biggest drug cartels. The court ruled Wednesday that he had been improperly tried in a federal court for a crime that should have been treated as a state offense. Prison officials were notified of the ruling on Thursday, and an official at the Jalisco state prosecutors' office said the drug lord left prison before dawn on Friday. The official was not authorized to speak on the record.

News media were not alerted until hours after the release, and U.S. authorities apparently received no prior notification.

Mexico Drug War.JPEG

"The Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration learned today that early this morning Rafael Caro Quintero was released from prison," said Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr.

The DEA, meanwhile, said it "will vigorously continue its efforts to ensure Caro-Quintero faces charges in the United States for the crimes he committed. "

Caro Quintero still faces charges in the United States, but Mexico's Attorney General's Office said it was unclear whether there was a current extradition request.

Apparently, the U.S. had requested his extradition for the Camarena killing — something Caro Quintero can't be tried twice for — but may not have filed extradition requests for pending U.S. drug charges.

The U.S. Department of Justice said it "has continued to make clear to Mexican authorities the continued interest of the United States in securing Caro Quintero's extradition so that he might face justice in the United States. "

Caro Quintero helped establish a powerful cartel based in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa that later split into some of Mexico's largest cartels, including the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels.

He is still listed as one of the DEA's five top international fugitives, and U.S. authorities believe he continued to control the laundering of drug money from behind bars.

"Caro Quintero continues to launder the proceeds from narcotics trafficking and he maintains an alliance with drug trafficking organizations such as the Sinaloa Cartel, most notably with Esparragoza Moreno's network," said Treasury Department spokesman John Sullivan, referring to Juan Jose Esparragoza Moreno, also known as "El Azul," or "Blue" because of the dark color of his skin, who is allegedly a top leader of the Sinaloa cartel.

In June, the Treasury Department imposed sanctions against 18 people and 15 companies that allegedly moved money for Caro Quintero.

"Caro Quintero has used a network of family members and front persons to invest his fortune into ostensibly legitimate companies and real estate projects in the city of Guadalajara" said Adam Szubin, Director of Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. Caro Quintero has spent almost his entire sentence at a prison on the outskirts of that city, Mexico's second-largest city.

Mexico's relations with Washington were badly damaged when Caro Quintero ordered Camarena kidnapped, tortured and killed, purportedly because he was angry about a raid on a 220-acre (89-hectare) marijuana plantation in central Mexico named "Rancho Bufalo" — Buffalo Ranch — that was seized by Mexican authorities at Camarena's insistence.

Camarena was kidnapped on Feb. 7, 1985, in Guadalajara, a major drug trafficking center. His body and that of his Mexican pilot, both showing signs of torture, were found a month later, buried in shallow graves.

American officials accused their Mexican counterparts of letting Camarena's killers get away. Caro Quintero was eventually hunted down in Costa Rica.

At one point, U.S. Customs agents almost blocked the U.S. border with Mexico, slowing incoming traffic to a standstill while conducting searches of all Mexicans trying to enter the United States.

Mexico Drug War.JPEG

Camarena's fellow DEA agents considered him a hero in the war against drug trafficking and the El Paso Intelligence Center, where U.S. federal agencies collect information about Mexican drug barons, is dedicated to him.

Times have changed since the low point, and cooperation has strengthened, but Caro Quintero's release Friday reopened old wounds.

Edward Heath, the former DEA regional director for Mexico at the time of the Camarena killing who was present during the identification of the agent's body from dental records, said the release reflected a broader lack of cooperation with the U.S. from the new Mexican government, a contrast to the policy of former President Felipe Calderon.

"You had a president that was working very close with our government in a quiet way. These people come in and so, boom, the curtain comes down," said Heath, now a private security consultant. "It means a disrespect for our government."

He said he was skeptical of the explanation that there was a justifiable legal rationale for Caro Quintero's release.

"There's some collusion going on," he said. "This guy is a major trafficker. This guy is bad, a mean son of a gun."

Caro Quintero is said to have pioneered links between Colombian cocaine cartels and the Mexican smugglers who transport their drugs into the United States.

The ruling left many wondering why it took so many years for judges to determine Caro Quintero was tried in the wrong court.

"They were always 'political' prisoners serving sentences for as long as the U.S. kept up the pressure," said a former DEA official who once worked in Mexico. He is not authorized to talk about the case because he still does work in Mexico.

"The bribe money to get them out was always there. Mexican 'justice' is always built on very weak foundations. And they seem to like it that way. Sad," he added.

Raul Benitez, a security expert at Mexico's National Autonomous University, said the ruling may portend more such procedural rulings following the January freeing of French citizen Florence Cassez, who was convicted in Mexico for being part of a kidnapping ring.

The Frenchwoman served seven years of a 60-year sentence before Mexico's Supreme Court voted 3-2 to release her in January because of procedural and rights violations during her arrest, including police staging a recreation of her capture for the media.

"What appears to be coming is an avalanche of judicial appeals, with the drug traffickers hiring very good, very expensive lawyers, arguing there were violations of due process," said Benitez. "The government is going to have problems."

Mexican courts and prosecutors have long tolerated illicit evidence such as forced confessions and have frequently based cases on questionable testimony or hearsay. Such practices have been banned by recent judicial reforms, but past cases — including those against high-level drug traffickers — are often rife with such legal violations.

"The government has to be prepared to keep an eye on judges so that they don't fall into the easy argument of due process," Benitez said, "because there may also be judges who are receiving money" to accept such arguments.

Source : http://abcnews.go.com/

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Five thoughts on the Philadelphia Eagles' preseason opener with the New England Patriots

Five thoughts on the Philadelphia Eagles' preseason opener with the New England Patriots

1. Matt Barkley is nowhere near being an NFL quarterback. The Philadelphia Eagles' 2013 fourth-round draft pick put on a pathetic display in the second and third quarters of the Birds' 31-22 loss to the New England Patriots in the preseason opener Friday night at Lincoln Financial Field.

His stats (11-for-22, 103 yards, 1 TD) look better than he did because he exploited the Patriots' third-string for a bit. But against New England's second unit, his decision-making was poor, his ability to see the field even worse and he lacked poise. Right now, if I were Chip Kelly, I'd keep Dennis Dixon as my No. 3 quarterback.

2. Kelly has been maligned by know-it-all media for spending too much time on special teams in practice, but that work paid off in Friday's game. Unlike Bobby April's confused, often clueless units of the end of the Andy Reid era, Kelly's units, coached by Dave Fipp, appear organized and efficient.

Special teams coordinator Fipp has a Patriot League pedigree: he first had the special teams job at Holy Cross in 1999. With the Dolphins in 2011 and 2012, his units ranked second and fourth, respectively, in the NFL. Given the sorry look of the Eagles defense, strong special teams could help make up for the defense's struggles a bit.

3. Tim Tebow isn't much of a quarterback, really, but he's still a legitimate celebrity. When the Patriots' third-string quarterback entered the game, he drew a roar almost equal to when the Eagles scored. Tebow could actually help some teams with his running skills when used on third-and-short read-option carries.

4. Want a dark-horse candidate to make the Eagles' roster? Rookie free agent linebacker Jake Knott wouldn't be a bad bet. The Iowa State product was always around the ball, showed better tackling skills than Eagles making a lot more money and had three tackles, a pass defended and a sack. He might stick.

5. Officially a bust: Eagles guard Danny Watkins. When a first-round draft pick in 2011 is relegated to playing in the second half of the first preseason game in 2013, things are not looking good for him. Then he drew a holding penalty. The clock is ticking on Watkins' stay in Philadelphia.

Source : http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/

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Whitney Houston: Five songs to remember her by

Whitney Houston: Five songs to remember her by

Whitney Houston, pictured performing onstage in 1988, would have been 50 years old on Friday. She died in 2012. (David Corio / Getty Images)

Whitney Houston, the superstar vocalist whose hit tunes helped bridge the gap between pop and soul music, was born 50 years ago Friday, on Aug. 9, 1963, in Newark, N.J.

The birthday, of course, is one she didn't live to see: Houston died last year in Beverly Hills at the age of 48, plunging the music industry into turmoil the night before the Grammy Awards, which she so often dominated over the course of her nearly three-decade career.

Yet Houston's music lives on in recorded form -- Sirius XM is in the midst of a day-long tribute to the singer's work -- and in renditions by younger artists, including Beyoncé, whose Mrs. Carter Show tour has her tackling "I Will Always Love You," the Dolly Parton song Houston all but made her own.

PHOTOS: Celebrities react to the death of Whitney Houston

Listen to that classic -- along with four of Houston's other finest moments -- below.

"I Will Always Love You"



Recorded for the soundtrack to "The Bodyguard" (in which she starred opposite Kevin Costner), Houston's take on what started out as a country tune helped redefine soul singing in the 1990s as a showcase for skyscraping vocal technique.



"How Will I Know" (a cappella)



You'll find no more powerful demonstration of that technique than this vocals-only version of the bubbly dance tune from her self-titled 1985 debut. Jaw-dropping.



"Heartbreak Hotel"



A highlight from Houston's hip-hop-inspired "My Love Is Your Love," "Heartbreak Hotel" teamed the singer with Faith Evans and Kelly Price for a slow-burn kiss-off.



"Million Dollar Bill"



Houston's final studio album, 2009's "I Look to You," didn't reignite her career the way she and her longtime mentor, Clive Davis, had planned. But this lush retro-disco number, co-written and produced by Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, showed she could still target a pleasure center like few others.



"I'm Every Woman"



Oh, and speaking of disco...

Source : http://www.latimes.com/

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SCARY GIRLFRIEND

SCARY GIRLFRIEND

 !!!Watch Now

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Minecraft Mini-Game : BUILD IT!

Minecraft Mini-Game : BUILD IT!

TIME TO BECOME CREATIVE! PUT INTO A ARENA WITH 8 OTHER PEOPLE YOU'RE ASSIGNED A RANDOM WORD TO BUILD AND THE OTHERS NEED TO GUESS IT IN THE TIME LIMIT! WHO WILL BE THE MOST CREATIVE CRAFTER?!

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Powerball prizes build quicker, but officials note growing 'jackpot fatigue' among players.

Powerball prizes build quicker, but officials note growing 'jackpot fatigue' among players.

Photo: Eric Gay, AP

A huge $448 million Powerball jackpot -- the third largest ever -- will be split among three winning tickets -- one in Minnesota and two in New Jersey.

Sue Dooley, senior drawing manager production coordinator for the Multi-State Lottery Association, said late Wednesday night that three tickets matched all six jackpot numbers: 05, 25, 30, 58, 59 and Powerball 32.

"We had three grand prize winners," Dooley said. "One was in Minnesota and two were in New Jersey."

After taxes, the three winners will split $258,163,064.

In the Garden State, one of the winning tickets was bought at a Super Stop n Shop store in South Brunswick, N.J., and one at Acme Markets in Little Egg Harbor, N.J., The Star-Ledger reports,quoting state lottery officials.

There were no immediate details on the winning ticket in Minnesota.

While the $448 million jackpot is definitely falls into the "retire-now"category, it is well short of the record $590 million won in Florida in May by an 84-year-old widow. The second largest Powerball jackpot was won in November, with two winners in Missouri and Arizona splitting $587.5 million.

If the huge jackpots -- regularly approaching or exceeding a half-billion dollars -- seem more frequent in recent years, that's because they are.

Powerball, which is played in 43 states, Washington, D.C., and the U.S. Virgin Islands, was revamped in January 2012. The price per ticket was doubled from $1 to $2, which means that jackpots build more quickly whenever a drawing fails to pick a winner.

It's a trade-off -- jackpots, and the buying frenzy they stir, grow faster, but the number of players drop off. In the end, the change has been good for business, with overall sales jumping 52%, hitting $5.9 billion in the fiscal year that ended in June.

Powerball officials, however, note the rise of "jackpot fatigue." Powerball players, increasingly unmoved by smaller payouts, often don't get into the game until the jackpot offers big bucks.

"I've been around a long time, and remember when a $10 million jackpot in Illinois brought long lines and people from surrounding states to play that game," he notes.

Tom Romero, CEO of the New Mexico Lottery and chairman of the Powerball Group, agreed.

"Many years ago, $100 million was really exciting and people would immediately buy more, occasional players would start buying," he said. "Then the threshold was $200 million. Now, we see here in New Mexico, we're approaching the $300 million mark."

For those who failed to strike gold Wednesday night, take heart: A new drawing is scheduled for Saturday night for a $40 million jackpot.

Contributing:Associated Press

Source : http://www.usatoday.com/

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