Flash floods kill more than 500 in Philippines

Residents are rescued by volunteers following a flash flood that inundated Cagayan de Oro city, Philippines, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. A tropical storm triggered flash floods in the southern Philippines, killing scores and missing more. Mayor Lawrence Cruz of nearby Iligan said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off his coastal city for survivors or bodies that may have been swept to the sea by a swollen river. (AP Photo/Erwin Mascarinas)

Residents are rescued by volunteers following a flash flood that inundated Cagayan de Oro city, Philippines, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. A tropical storm triggered flash floods in the southern Philippines, killing scores and missing more. Mayor Lawrence Cruz of nearby Iligan said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off his coastal city for survivors or bodies that may have been swept to the sea by a swollen river. (AP Photo/Erwin Mascarinas)

A resident rummages through debris following a flash flood that inundated Cagayan de Oro city, Philippines, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. A tropical storm triggered flash floods in the southern Philippines, killing scores of people and missing more. Mayor Lawrence Cruz of nearby Iligan said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off his coastal city for survivors or bodies that may have been swept to the sea by a swollen river. (AP Photo/Froilan Gallardo)

Police rescue trapped residents following a flash flood that inundated Cagayan de Oro city, Philippines, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. A tropical storm triggered flash floods in the southern Philippines, killing scores of people and missing more. Mayor Lawrence Cruz of nearby Iligan said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off his coastal city for survivors or bodies that may have been swept to the sea by a swollen river. (AP Photo/Froilan Gallardo)

Police carry the body of a victim by a flash flood that hit Cagayan de Oro city, Philippines, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. A tropical storm triggered flash floods in the southern Philippines, killing scores of people and missing more. Mayor Lawrence Cruz of nearby Iligan said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off his coastal city for survivors or bodies that may have been swept to the sea by a swollen river. (AP Photo/Froilan Gallardo)

Trapped residents, perched on rooftops, are rescued to safety following a flash flood in Cagayan de Oro city, Philippines, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. A tropical storm triggered flash floods in the southern Philippines, killing scores of people and missing more. Mayor Lawrence Cruz of nearby Iligan said the coast guard and other rescuers were scouring the waters off his coastal city for survivors or bodies that may have been swept to the sea by a swollen river. (AP Photo/Froilan Gallardo)

(AP) ? Tropical Storm Washi blew away Sunday after devastating a wide swath of the southern Philippines with flash floods that killed at least 521 people as they slept and turned two coastal cities into a muddy wasteland filled with overturned cars and uprooted trees.

With nearly 500 people missing, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and top military officials were to fly to the worst-hit city of Cagayan de Oro to help oversee search-and-rescue efforts and deal with thousands of displaced villagers, as the weather began to clear and floodwaters receded. Among the items urgently needed are coffins and body bags, said Benito Ramos, who heads the government's disaster-response agency.

"It's overwhelming. We didn't expect these many dead," Ramos said.

Edmund Rubio, a 44-year-old engineer, said he, his wife and two children scrambled to the second floor of their house in Iligan city as raging floodwaters engulfed the first floor, destroying his TV set and other appliances and washing away his car and motorcycle.

Amid the panic, he heard a loud pounding on his door as his neighbors living in nearby one-story houses pleaded with him to allow them into one of his second-floor rooms. He said he brought 30 of his neighbors into the safety of the second floor of his house, which later shook when a huge, floating log slammed into it.

"It's the most important thing, that all of us will still be together this Christmas," Rubio told The Associated Press. "There was a nearby shantytown that was smashed by water. I'm afraid many people there may not have been as lucky as us."

Army officers reported unidentified bodies piled up in morgues in Cagayan de Oro, where electricity was restored in some areas, although the city of more than 500,000 people remained without tap water.

Philippine Red Cross Secretary General Gwendolyn Pang told the AP that at least 521 people had died in the floods, mostly children and women, and that 458 others were reported missing.

The death toll will most likely rise because many villages remain isolated and unreached by overwhelmed disaster-response personnel. The worst-hit cities were Cagayan de Oro, where at least 239 people died, and nearby Iligan, where Red Cross aid workers reported 195 dead, Pang said.

"Our fear is there may have been whole families that perished so there's nobody to report what happened," Pang said. "Many areas remain isolated and strewn with debris and unreached by rescue teams."

Tropical Storm Washi started to blow away toward the South China Sea on Sunday after slamming into the western province of Palawan, allowing the weather to clear and disaster-response contingents to intensify search-and-rescue work.

Most of the victims were asleep Friday night when raging floodwaters cascaded from the mountains with logs and uprooted trees after 12 hours of rain from the late-season tropical storm in Mindanao. The region is unaccustomed to the typhoons that are common to the north of the Philippine archipelago.

Both Iligan, a bustling industrial center about 485 miles (780 kilometers) southeast of Manila, and Cagayan de Oro were filled with scenes of destruction and desperation.

A swollen river sent floodwaters gushing through neighborhoods that do not usually experience flooding. A man floated in an inner tube in muddy water littered with plastic buckets, pieces of wood and other debris. Ten people in one home stood on a sloping roof, waiting for rescuers even as water still flooded the lower floors.

Local television footage showed muddy water rushing in the streets, sweeping away all sorts of debris. Thick layers of mud coated streets where the waters had subsided. One car was thrown over a concrete fence and others were crushed and piled atop each other in a flooded canal.

Benito Ramos, who heads the government's Office of Civil Defense, attributed the high casualties in Mindanao "partly to the complacency of people because they are not in the usual path of storms" despite four days of warnings by officials that one was approaching.

Thousands of soldiers and hundreds of local police, reservists, coast guard officers and civilian volunteers were mobilized for rescue efforts, but they were hampered by the flooded-out roads and lack of electricity.

Authorities recovered bodies from the mud after the water subsided. Parts of concrete walls and roofs, toppled vehicles and other debris littered the streets.

Rescuers in boats rushed offshore to save people swept out to sea. In Misamis Oriental province, 60 people were plucked from the ocean off El Salvador city, about six miles (10 kilometers) northwest of Cagayan de Oro. Coast guard boats and other rescuers were scouring the waters off Iligan for survivors or bodies that may have been swept away to sea.

In just 12 hours, Washi dumped more than a month of average rains on Mindanao. Forecaster Leny Ruiz said records show that storms that follow the same path as Washi come only once in about every 12 years.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement that the Obama administration offered its "deepest condolences" for the devastation in the southern Philippines.

"The U.S. government stands ready to assist Philippine authorities as they respond to this tragedy," the statement said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with all of those affected."

___

Jim Gomez reported from Manila. Associated Press writers Oliver Teves and Hrvoje Hranjski contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-18-AS-Philippines-Storm/id-2ab079a2e87f4d749660435e6caf220e

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Flood victims face higher crop insurance premiums

As if the water damage wasn?t enough, farmers who were flooded out by the Missouri River this summer may now be facing substantial increases in crop insurance premiums. The problem is many of the levees damaged or destroyed by the flood waters have not been repaired or not rebuilt to previous levels. The Army Corps of Engineers says it does not have enough money to make all of the needed repairs so they have been forced to prioritize projects. As a result, cropland protected by the levees is at a higher risk of getting flooded again.

USDA?s Risk Management Agency says $114 million has been paid out to cover damage to 436,000 acres along the river this year.

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Source: http://brownfieldagnews.com/2011/12/15/flood-victims-face-higher-crop-insurance-premiums/

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Cholesterol-lowering drugs may reduce mortality for influenza patients

ScienceDaily (Dec. 16, 2011) ? Statins, traditionally known as cholesterol-lowering drugs, may reduce mortality among patients hospitalized with influenza, according to a new study released online by The Journal of Infectious Diseases.

It is the first published observational study to evaluate the relationship between statin use and mortality in hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza virus infection, according to Vanderbilt's William Schaffner, M.D., professor and chair of Preventive Medicine.

"We may be able to combine statins with antiviral drugs to provide better treatment for patients seriously ill with influenza," said Schaffner, who co-authored the study led by Meredith Vandermeer, MPH, of the Oregon Public Health Division.

Researchers studied adults who were hospitalized with laboratory-confirmed influenza from 2007-2008 to evaluate the association between patients who were prescribed statins and influenza-related deaths.

Among 3,043 hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed influenza, 33 percent were given statin medications prior to or during hospitalization. After adjusting for various factors, researchers found that patients not receiving statins were almost twice as likely to die from influenza as those who received the medication.

Schaffner stressed that receiving the influenza vaccine each year is still the best defense against influenza. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that between 5 percent and 20 percent of U.S. residents get the flu each year, and more than 20,000 persons are hospitalized for flu-related complications.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. M. L. Vandermeer, A. R. Thomas, L. Kamimoto, A. Reingold, K. Gershman, J. Meek, M. M. Farley, P. Ryan, R. Lynfield, J. Baumbach, W. Schaffner, N. Bennett, S. Zansky. Association Between Use of Statins and Mortality Among Patients Hospitalized With Laboratory-Confirmed Influenza Virus Infections: A Multistate Study. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2011; 205 (1): 13 DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jir695

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/A7tSYJSbHps/111216112907.htm

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From Napoleon to Liz Taylor: perfect pearl?s $11 million journey

Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images

"La Peregrina," the pearl, diamond and ruby necklace owned by Elizabeth Taylor on display during a preview of The Collection of Elizabeth Taylor at Christie's in New York on Dec. 1.

By Olga Luna and Eduardo Sunol, Telemundo News

MIAMI?? If there?s any woman in the world envied for her jewels and exceptional beauty, it?s Elizabeth Taylor. And this week the world was reminded of her wealth, her power and her ability to get the best out of men, including love and gems.

Christie?s sold a 55-carat pearl known as ?La Peregrina,? a tear-shaped gem that Richard Burton gave Taylor in early 1969, for $11.8 million at auction on Tuesday evening.

By the time Burton bought it, ?La Peregrina? had already spent centuries traveling from the hands of a slave to Spain, France and the United States in an intense bidding war between Spain?s Royals, France?s emperor?s family and America?s millionaires.

?It has become the most expensive pearl ever sold at auction,? Rahul Kadakia, head of Christie?s New York Jewelry Department, told Telemundo News.


?

From Spanish royalty to Napoleon
La Peregrina was discovered in the early 1500s by an African slave at the Pearl Islands in the Gulf of Panama. Its name means ?rare,? or ?special,? and it was offered to King Phillip II of Spain, becoming part of the crown jewels of the Spanish Crown.

At the time it was valued at 714,000 maraved?, a gold and silver coin currency brought to Spain by the Moorish Almoravids, which would be the equivalent of $8,000 U.S. dollars today.

La Peregrina was inherited by Phillip III of Spain and it passed from generation to generation of Spain?s royals.? But in 1808, when Jose Napoleon was named king of Spain by his brother Emperor Napoleon, the jewels of the Spanish Crown fell into his hands, and La Peregrina was one of them.

Jose Napoleon stole them all and gave La Peregrina to his wife, Julie Clary, who proudly showed it until the day the marriage ended. Napoleon then took the jewel with him to the United States, where he lived in New York City and Philadelphia.

Napoleon bequeathed the jewel onto Napoleon III, the ruler of the second French empire, who, after his deposition in 1815 - and later arrest in France - was sent to England were he sold La Peregrina to James Hamilton, later the Duke of Abercorn.

The late actress's legendary jewelry was auctioned off at Christie's in New York. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

The Duke bought the pearl for his wife, Louisa Hamilton, the Duchess of Abercorn, who lost it twice because the heavy jewel fell out of its necklace?s setting, but on both occasions the pearl was recovered.

According to Christie?s records, La Peregrina remained in the hands of the Abercorn until 1914.

Fast-forward to 1969, when it showed up at auction in Sotheby?s. Richard Burton and Taylor, who had married for the first time five years earlier, were both still enjoying the success of their movie ?Who?s Afraid of Virginia Wolf,? which Taylor won her second Academy Award for.?

Burton, evidently still in love during that first marriage (the pair later divorced in 1974, remarried 16 months later in 1976 and divorced again), went to Parke-Bernet galleries, one of the largest auctioneers of fine art in the U.S, on Jan. 23, 1969. The auctioneer had already acquired by the rare pearl from Sotheby?s, and Burton wanted it for his bride.

But Burton had a strong opponent to bid against: Alfonso de Borb?n Dampierre, an envoy of the Spanish royal family whose mission was to get the jewel back to Madrid?s Royal Palace.

Despite Dampierre?s credentials, he was outbid by Burton, who offered $17,000 over what the royal family was ready to offer and took it home at the final price of $37,000.

An unexpected thief
Burton gave it to his wife on Valentine?s Day, and as had happened a century before, one day the pearl went missing from the couples? suite at Caesar?s Palace in Las Vegas.

?I reached down to touch La Peregrina and it wasn?t there,? Elizabeth Taylor wrote in her book ?Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair With Jewelry.?

?I glanced over at Richard and thank God he wasn?t looking at me, and I went into the bedroom and threw myself on the bed, buried my head into the pillow and screamed. Very slowly and very carefully, I retraced all my steps in the bedroom. I took my slippers off, took my socks off, and got down on my hands and knees, looking everywhere for the pearl. Nothing.?

And then, she thought not her husband but someone else in the suite may have it.

?I just casually opened the puppy?s mouth and inside his mouth was the most perfect pearl in the world. It was ? thank God - not scratched.?

Perfect and not scratched it was, indeed. And today, after years traveling from one continent to another, from slave, to kings, to emperors and millionaires, it lives in the hand of an unknown bidder who at $11.8 million has bought not only a pearl, but history in the shape of a tear.??
?

Read this story in Spanish from Telemundo

See more news?from Telemundo

Source: http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/15/9476411-from-napoleon-to-liz-taylor-perfect-pearls-11-million-journey

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Prosecutor injured in Minn. courthouse shooting (AP)

GRAND MARAIS, Minn. ? A gunman opened fire in a small northern Minnesota courthouse on Thursday, wounding the local prosecutor and two other people, authorities said.

The shootings began around 4 p.m. at the Cook County Courthouse in Grand Marais, a remote town near the Canadian border, and a suspect was quickly taken into custody, State Public Safety spokesman Doug Neville said. The agency later identified the suspect as 42-year-old Daniel Schlienz, who had been on trial earlier Thursday on sexual misconduct charges. Schlienz was being held in the county jail.

Cook County prosecutor Timothy Scannell was undergoing surgery for multiple gunshot wounds Thursday night at Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth, spokeswoman Beth Johnson said. Scannell and another hospitalized victim were conscious and talking before being taken to the hospital, while the third victim was treated and released, Neville said.

A county official said the courthouse doesn't have metal detectors and visitors aren't usually searched.

Scannell was handling the only case on Thursday's court calendar, a jury trial that began Monday for Schlienz, who had been charged with criminal sexual conduct and nonconsensual sex contact.

Schlienz's father told the Duluth News Tribune that he went to the courthouse and was told that his son was the shooter. He said his son had recently threatened suicide.

"He hated the prosecuting attorney that did this," Gary Schlienz told the newspaper. "I don't want to make excuses for him, but they prosecuted him pretty bad. He had no job, no money, nothing."

Phone messages left at both of the men's homes by The Associated Press were not returned.

Online state court records listed several cases involving Daniel Schlienz in the past two decades, but most were minor traffic cases. More serious charges included fleeing a peace officer and the criminal sexual conduct case, which was first filed in 2006.

The Duluth News Tribune reported that Schlienz had entered an Alford plea in that case in 2007 on charges that he sexually assaulted two 15-year-old girls and one 17-year-old girl. His father told the newspaper that his son later decided to withdraw the plea and fight the charges.

The county's two-story courthouse, which has just one courtroom, has no metal detectors and visitors aren't searched when they enter the building, Cook County Commissioner Fritz Sobanja said.

"As far as I know, there's no checking for knives or any of that stuff," Sobanja said.

Grand Marais, home to about 1,300 residents, is about 110 miles northeast of Duluth and sits along the shore of Lake Superior in Minnesota's far northeastern tip.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_re_us/us_courthouse_shooting_minnesota

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Get Better Customer Service by Sandwiching in a Few Compliments [Customer Service]

Get Better Customer Service by Sandwiching in a Few ComplimentsGetting good customer service can sometimes feel like a crapshoot, but weblog Consumerism Commentary offers a few suggestions for improving your experience, including "sandwiching" your criticism between two positive statements.

Most of their suggestions we've covered in our step-by-step guide to getting better customer service, but they add a clever way to keep the conversation positive and make reps more likely to hear you out:

Offer a "complaint sandwich." This is a psychological manipulation tactic, and it works. If you start your discussion with a positive comment, move to a discussion of the issue you'd like to resolve, and end again with a positive comment, you're more likely to receive the results you want. In my experience, this strategy is called praise-suggestion-praise. You could start a discussion by saying how much you love being a customer of the company. It's important to be sincere and genuine, and to quickly get to the core of the matter so you don't waste the representative's time. After explaining your issue, offer praise again, thanking the representative and remaining positive that the two parties can agree about a resolution.

It isn't a guarantee, of course, but it's certainly easy enough that it's worth a shot. We've mentioned a similar technique before when giving constructive criticism to your coworkers, but it's a good tip for customer service-specific situations. Hit the link to read more.

Photo by Emily Hildebrand.

How to Receive Great Customer Service | Consumerism Commentary via Wise Bread

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/HX73bK0cDgk/get-better-customer-service-by-sandwiching-in-a-few-compliments

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What Is Esophageal Cancer, and Who Gets It? (ContributorNetwork)

Author and atheist Christopher Hitchens, 62, died Dec. 15 from esophageal cancer. Hitchens was famously atheistic, even in the face of his own mortality. His final piece was written even as he succumbed to pain and the cancer took all of his strength.

The New York Times reports Hitchens' cause of death was complications from esophageal cancer. Here's a look at the disease from a statistical standpoint.

What is esophageal cancer?

The esophagus is the organ that delivers food from the throat to the stomach. The National Cancer Institute states esophageal cancer forms in the lining of the esophagus. There are two types of esophageal cancer--one that forms in the flat cells that line the organ and the type that forms in specialized cells that naturally secrete mucus in the throat.

Who gets esophageal cancer?

The American Cancer Society states cancer of the esophagus can occur anywhere along the lining of the organ. Although rare, more and more people are getting this type of cancer in the United States.

Around 17,000 new cases of esophageal cancer were diagnosed in 2011. Around 14,700 people will die of the disease in 2011. The most common risk factors for esophageal cancer are smoking and frequent alcohol use.

A new factor being observed in America is obesity. Acid reflux disease can also lead to esophageal cancer. Diets low in fruits and vegetables can also be a risk factor.

Men have a three times greater risk for getting esophageal cancer than women. The reason is that men use alcohol and tobacco more than women. Age is also a factor. People older than 55 are responsible for 85 percent of esophageal cancer cases.

Five-year survival rates for esophageal cancer are 37 percent if the cancer is localized. The rate drops to 17 percent for all stages of the cancer.

Which famous people have had the disease?

MSNBC reported Ron Silver died of esophageal cancer in March of 2009. Silver was a regular on the television show "The West Wing" and was 62 at the time of his death. Japanese actor Mako, an Academy Award nominee in 1966, also passed away from complications of esophageal cancer. He was 72 when he died.

The Oral Cancer Foundation states one of the most prominent actors in Hollywood died from esophageal cancer. Humphrey Bogart succumbed to the disease at age 58. The underlying cause of his cancer was smoking cigarettes.

The New York Times reported Robert Kardashian, Sr. died of esophageal in 2003. He was O.J. Simpson's lawyer shortly after Simpson's ex-wife's murder. He was also the biological father of famous reality television stars Kim, Khloe and Kourtnery Kardashian.

William Browning is a research librarian.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111216/hl_ac/10695163_what_is_esophageal_cancer_and_who_gets_it

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The Bachelor Spoilers 2012: Scandals, Final Four, Winner Revealed!


It's that time of year again. Ben Flajnik is gearing up to dole out the roses beginning January 2, and like clockwork, The Bachelor spoilers are already swirling.

Get ready for another wild season of skinny dipping, cat fighting, cursing (more than usual in that area) and people coming on the show for the wrong reasons.

Pour the wine (a California varietal, if you please) and grab the tissues, because this is going to be the most intense, talked-about season of The Bachelor EVER!

Ben Flajnik: Bachelor Pic

No fewer than 25 women are waiting to throw themselves at Ben, but who will advance to the coveted hometown dates, and who is he engaged to at the end?

Thanks to Reality Steve, Bachelor soothsayer extraordinaire, a man who comes through even in the face of potential litigation, we can likely these questions.

Ready to learn the identities (with photos!) of the alleged final four women this season, as well as the winner of Ben Flajnik's heart and a Neil Lane ring?

Follow the jump for The Bachelor spoilers galore ...

Nicky Sterling Picture

Nicky Sterling: A divorced dental hygienist "who likes to drink Coors Light and get her party on," she brings Ben back to her hometown of Hurst, Texas.

Lindzi Cox Picture

Lindzi Cox: A native of Ocala, Fla., she makes quite a first impression on Ben. Like Puss in Boots and the Old Spice Guy, she's on a horse! First impression rose? Hers.

Courtney Robertson Picture

Courtney Robertson: The Scottsdale, Ariz., product is an international model with pictures all over the Internet, and even has a national ad for Caesar's Palace on TV.

In addition, Court is reportedly disliked by the others in the house from the get-go, swears like a sailor and went skinny dipping with Ben in Puerto Rico. Hot stuff!

Kacie Boguskie Picture

Kacie Boguskie: Got to show off her baton twirling skills when she had the first date of the season in Sonoma, then took Ben home to beautiful Clarksville, Tenn.

Sadly for Kacie, she gets bounced after the hometown dates. Rough.

The final three - Nicky, Lindzi, and Courtney - jet off to Switzerland for overnight dates. The trip to Europe is depicted, along with much more, in this preview:

Nicky is eliminated after the overnights, leaving Lindzi and Courtney.

The final rose ceremony took place Wednesday, November 16 at a Swiss mountain location so remote, both girls arrived at the rose ceremony via helicopter.

So with Lindzi Cox and Courtney Robertson to choose from, Ben Flajnik had his pick of polar opposites ... and naturally chose the often-controversial model.

Yes, Ben Flajnik is engaged to Courtney Robertson. As of right now.

Will it last? That remains to be seen, although we don't have to tell you about this franchise's abysmal track record. Congratulations in any case, you kids!

Some other highlights of the coming season, according to Steve:

  • Shawntel ('memba her?) returns for one night only!
  • Casey Shteamer, one of the contestants, had a boyfriend back home in Michael Patak, who was reportedly not pleased about her going on the show. What resulted from this is unclear, but there are rumors that producers found out.
  • Samantha Leavy, Miss Pacific Palisades 2011, fell for married producer Bennett Graebner. Nothing happened during filming, but she fell for him, asked off the program, was talked into staying, and later eliminated in Utah.

That's it for now! We'll update this page as more info becomes available throughout the season, and/or if anything changes. Check back with us early and often.

What do you think of The Bachelor spoilers above? Discuss!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/the-bachelor-spoilers-2012-scandals-final-four-winner-revealed/

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Military hearing resumes in Manning leak case

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, right, is escorted into a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, for a military hearing that will determine if he should face court-martial for his alleged role in the WikiLeaks classified leaks case. Manning is suspected of being the source in one of the largest unauthorized disclosures of classified information in U.S. history. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, right, is escorted into a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, for a military hearing that will determine if he should face court-martial for his alleged role in the WikiLeaks classified leaks case. Manning is suspected of being the source in one of the largest unauthorized disclosures of classified information in U.S. history. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, right, is escorted into a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, for a military hearing that will determine if he should face court-martial for his alleged role in the WikiLeaks classified leaks case. Manning is suspected of being the source in one of the largest unauthorized disclosures of classified information in U.S. history. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, at center wearing glasses, is escorted into a courthouse in Fort Meade, Md., Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011, for a military hearing that will determine if he should face court-martial for his alleged role in the WikiLeaks classified leaks case. Manning is suspected of being the source in one of the largest unauthorized disclosures of classified information in U.S. history. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

FILE - This is a Thursday, Dec. 1, 2011 file photo of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as he talks during a news conference in central London. As the suspected source for the biggest leak of intelligence material in American history faces his first hearing Friday Dec. 15 ,2011, U.S. prosecutors have their eye on another prize: The man who disclosed the documents to the world. When WikiLeaks' spectacular disclosures of U.S. secrets exploded onto the scene last year, much of Washington's anger coalesced around Julian Assange, the silver-haired globe-trotting figure whose outspoken defiance of the Pentagon and the State Department riled politicians on both sides of the aisle. Pfc. Bradley Manning, long under lock and key, hasn't attracted the same level of ire. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)

Supporters of US soldier Private Bradley Manning protest outside the US Embassy in London calling for his release, Saturday, Dec. 17, 2011. Private Manning is facing charges of obtaining and distributing government secrets which he allegedly leaked to anti-secrecy web site WikiLeaks in a pre-trial hearing in a military court at US army base Fort Meade, Maryland. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)

(AP) ? The military court case against the young soldier blamed for the largest leak of classified material in American history resumed Saturday after an Army appeals court rejected a defense effort to remove the presiding officer.

Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was back in a military courtroom Saturday, his 24th birthday, to hear prosecutors begin presenting their case against him as the source for the WikiLeaks website's collection of U.S. military and diplomatic secrets.

The purpose of the hearing is to determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to bring Manning to trial. Manning's lawyers tried to oust Lt. Col. Paul Almanza as the presiding officer because of alleged bias, but an Army appeals court rejected their request late Friday.

Separately, lawyers for WikiLeaks and founder Julian Assange are asking the Army Court of Criminal Appeals to guarantee them two seats in the courtroom at Fort Meade.

Manning, a one-time intelligence analyst stationed in Baghdad, is accused of leaking hundreds of thousands of sensitive items including Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, State Department cables and a classified military video of a 2007 American helicopter attack in Iraq that killed 11 men, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver.

The Obama administration says the released information has threatened valuable military and diplomatic sources and strained America's relations with other governments.

Friday was Manning's first appearance in public after 19 months in detention. He appeared slight but serious in his Army camouflage fatigues and dark-rimmed glasses, taking notes during the proceedings and answering straightforwardly when called upon by Almanza.

Manning, a native of Crescent, Okla., is relying on a defense that will argue much of the classified information posed no risk.

In addition to claims of partiality, his lawyer, David Coombs, argued that Almanza wrongly denied the defense's request to call as witnesses the officials who marked as secret the material WikiLeaks later published. Instead, the officer accepted unsworn statements from those people, Coombs said.

Friday's tangling, however, centered primarily on Almanza's Justice Department job. "I don't believe I'm biased," Almanza said, explaining that his government work concerns child exploitation and obscenity. He said he hasn't talked about WikiLeaks or Manning with anyone in the department or FBI.

The Justice Department has a separate criminal investigation into Assange. A U.S. grand jury is weighing whether to indict Assange on espionage charges, even as he is in Britain fighting a Swedish request that he be extradited because of rape allegations.

Manning's hearing at this Army post outside Washington is open to the public, with limited seating. Assange's lawyer filed a request Friday with the Army appeals court seeking two guaranteed seats in the Fort Meade courtroom, one for the attorney representing the Wikileaks organization and the other for Assange's non-U.S. attorney.

Inside the courtroom, no civilian recording equipment is allowed. Instead of a judge, a presiding officer delivers a recommendation as to whether prosecutors have enough evidence to bring a suspect to trial. A military commander then makes the final decision.

The case has spawned an international support network of people who believe the U.S. government has gone too far in seeking to punish Manning.

In London, several dozen protesters from gay organizations, the Occupy London protest camp and other groups rallied outside the U.S. Embassy Saturday calling for Manning's release. Some held placards declaring "Free Bradley Manning" and "Happy Birthday Bradley."

A protest outside Fort Meade was planned for later Saturday. On Friday, a few dozen Manning supporters showed up at Fort Meade to rally on Manning's behalf.

"I plan to march all night tonight and bring as much attention as I can to put the entire country on notice that we have a hero who's standing trial for nothing more than telling the truth," said Dan Choi, a gay West Point graduate discharged from the military for revealing his sexual orientation. He wore a bright orange "Bradley Manning Support Network" sticker on the lapel of his uniform jacket.

Others were less supportive.

"That man did something very wrong," said Mandie Stanley, a 19-year-old who lives on the Army post with her husband, a member of the Air Force. She spotted the protesters and decided to come out with a sign that said: "Don't leak classified information, stupid!"

___

Associated Press writers Sarah Brumfield, Mark Sherman in Washington and Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-17-Manning-WikiLeaks/id-786a04ec428f4092950a6555d78c081e

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