Bollywood wax models in Madame Tussauds a hit

Wax models of Bollywood superstars in London's Madame Tussauds have drawn huge crowd, especially the Indian community living abroad.

Video , Music , gallery

TV Personality Kim Kardashian arrives at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards on August 28, 2011, at Nokia Theatre L.A. LIVE in Los Angeles, California. . Photograph: Christopher Polk/Getty Images

MBC fires popular TV host Kurdahi

By Arab News

JEDDAH: The Arabic presenter of the popular television quiz show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? (Man sa yarbah al malyoon), George Kurdahi, was sacked by Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) on Thursday.

"The MBC Group has taken this decision, at the highest level, and are also pulling the new show Enta Tistahil (You Deserve It) hosted by Kurdahi and scheduled to be aired on MBC1 between Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha," MBC said in a statement published on its website.

The TV channel said its decision was made after a large number of Syrian citizens, journalists, and writers launched a campaign against Kurdahi for his views against the Syrian movement.

They all considered Kurdahi's views as biased toward the Syrian government. 

½ A Second before Tsunami

½ A Second before Tsunami  This picture was taken on the banks of Sumatra Island (the height of waves was of approx. 32 m = 105 ft). It was found saved in a salvaged digital camera, 1 ½ years after the disaster. We do not know for sure, but most likely the one who took this picture may not be alive any more. (It was just a matter of seconds and being at the wrong place at the wrong time) Today we can see the last image before his or her life ended tragically!

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Widow accepts Afghanistan mission after 9/11 twist of fate

Sgt. Maj. Larry Strickland was less than a month from retirement when he went to work on Sept. 11, 2001. He already had his retirement speech stored on his office computer. But it was a speech he would never give. He died that day when terrorists crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon.

“We had a middle-aged love story,” his wife, Sgt. Maj. Debra Strickland, says.  It was a second marriage for him and a first for her -- and an extremely happy one, she says, based on friendship, compatibility, and a shared love of the Army. “It had to do with knowing the whole is more important than the individual,” Debra, now 56, says. His death left an “empty space” that the past 10 years have not filled.

“You don’t move on. You adjust your life,” she says. “I have not adjusted my heart to his loss.” But Debra says she has reached a point where she’s calm.

Her husband’s job – serving as the senior enlisted officer advising the Army deputy chief of staff for personnel -- “was about making soldiers look knowledgeable and good,” she says. Hers – as the command sergeant major for the Army’s Installation Management Command -- “was about correcting things.”

Their conflicting missions initially led to some contentious interactions at the Pentagon, Debra laughs, with her investigating alleged mismanagement and Larry standing up for the personnel.

At the suggestion of a female friend and supervisor, however, Debra eventually accepted – with reservations -- Larry’s invitation to try to ease their differences over a round of bowling.

That was followed by more bowling and four years of dating, and they were married on Oct. 6, 1995, in Occoquan State Park, outside of Washington, D.C. She was 36, he was 42.

“Larry had yet to pack up his office, there were so many gifts that I would not let him bring home,” Debra laments. “It was such a mistake. Tons of wonderful photos and everything in the office, was moved to the new section [of the Pentagon that was struck], not a month before.”

Also lost: the speech for his retirement ceremony. Debra says she had so eagerly waited to hear what he would say about her in the speech.

“I knew he was going to say something … important for me to hear,” Debra says. “I spent more energy trying to resurrect it. …. I wanted to know what he was going to say.”

Debra Strickland

When some of Larry’s friends realized Debra was so distraught about the speech, they “flew in, and started telling me stories,” Debra says, about how happy he had been with her.

On Sept. 11, Debra was working not far from the Pentagon at Ft. Belvoir, Va. “We were doing access control exercises on the day he died, looking at what to do if we need to close the gates, practicing that” sort of thing, Debra says, remembering with a break in her voice:  “It was a gorgeous day.”

In shock after Larry was killed, Debra thought she would retire immediately from active duty, but colleagues and commanders encouraged her not to make a sudden change.

“I am not clear how it happened, but I stayed on,” Debra says, serving eight more years active duty before making two tours in Afghanistan.

She says the three years after Sept. 11 —and the constant reminders of the 9/11 terrorist attacks at the Pentagon as the nation entered wars in Afghanistan and Iraq -- were a nightmarish blur. “The imagery, the conferences…. It was an exercise in Groundhog Day. For three years. I prayed every day.”

The agony eased after three years, she says, but it still didn’t get easy.

Her two tours in Kabul were “the most fulfilling experience I ever had, in all my years. I got to serve with the soldiers, with what I associated with the work my husband did before his death,” Debra says.

Debra finally retired last year after serving 35 years. Recently, she has been helping her mother in Florida deal with a health crisis and is finally getting a chance to consider what she will do next do in her career. Debra also serves on the board of advisors to the National 9/11 Pentagon Memorial Fund.

Debra says the country and its elected leaders have lost sight of their sense of national focus in the 10 years since 9/11, and she urges a restoration of balance and accountability.

“Someone needs to hold the process accountable,” she says.

But Debra has not lost her sense of optimism and hope in the past 10 years.

“I certainly believe we can get the nation back on track, and we can do it fast,” Debra says. “We need to cooperate. When things are so hopeless and are so desperate for so many people, we need to find common ground.” And the tone of her voice makes it clear she believes we can.

---

Larry Strickland’s parents, Lee and Olga Strickland, of Puget Sound, Washington State, died in 2008, eight months apart. Besides his wife Debra, he is also survived by his younger sister Donna Marie, by his three grown children: Julia, Matthew and Chris, and three grandchildren: Brendan, Sammy and Levi. 

Upgrade Your Life: Revive a dying laptop battery

Laptop battery wearing down? In this week's episode of Upgrade Your Life, Yahoo! News' Becky Worley shows us how to help batteries last longer ... and what to do when they run out!

First, the basics

Most laptops use batteries that can last for 3-5 years, or about 1000 charges. (A premium laptop's battery might last longer.) Every time you charge your battery, the total capacity of the battery is diminished. Originally it may have had a run time of 3.5 hours, but after a year it'll run out of juice at 3 hours, even on a full charge.

If your battery capacity has diminished, there are a few things you can do about it. First, you have to correctly gauge how much capacity has been lost. There are free downloads to do this job, likeBattery Bar (for Windows PCs) or Coconut Battery (for Macs). These will compare your battery's current maximum capacity to how long it lasted when it was new.
(UPDATE- we originally recommended Battery Eater and while the program works great, their download site has been compromised and we are recommending an alternate program, Battery Bar downloadable from CNET.)

Calibrating your Battery

You can't miraculously reconstitute your battery's capacity. It loses power over time due to chemical reactions taking place in the battery, as it chugs along powering your laptop. You can't undo those changes, but there is one common battery issue you can fix: In many laptops, the operating system's battery meter gets out of sync with how much juice the battery actually has.

Imagine if the gas gauge on your car dashboard was misreading how much gas you actually had in the tank. You'd either run out of gas when you thought you had a quarter of a tank left, or you'd be filling up too frequently. In your laptop, this can mean your laptop shuts down abruptly when the meter says you have 30 minutes left. Or else the meter might warn that you only have 2 minutes of battery life left and shut your laptop down, when it really has another 20 minutes remaining.

Recalibrating gets the battery meter to correctly read the current state of the battery, so you and the operating system know where you stand with existing battery life.

How to recalibrate

First, charge your laptop's battery to full, and leave it that way for at least two hours. Then unplug your laptop, and set its power management settings to never turn off or lower the monitor brightness. (HP has instructions for how do to this on Windows 7 and Vista, as well as Windows XP, while Apple has instructions for Mac laptops on their site.)

You want to drain the battery completely, then let your laptop sit for at least five hours this way -- like, say, overnight. (Just be careful and mute the volume, since some laptops make a warning sound when they're about to run out.) Afterwards, charge it up again, and you should notice a more accurate portrayal of your battery capacity. In some cases, you may even get more life out of it.

Best practices to maintain battery life

You'd think that the best way to keep your laptop's battery from wearing out is to not use it. Right?

As it turns out, batteries are like muscles; they need to be worked out regularly to stay healthy. Ideally, you'd use your laptop unplugged at least once a day, like on a train or bus commute or on the couch in front of the TV. If you're not going to use it, constantly charging your battery is a bad idea;HP recommends on their website that if you're going to leave your laptop plugged in or put up in storage for more than two weeks, you should take the battery out of your laptop.

Past the expiration date

So when is it time to throw out that old battery? The answer, surprisingly, is "never." Laptop batteries contain lots of toxic chemicals, and should never end up in landfills. Fortunately, e-stewards.org has a list of environmentally responsible recyclers that will take your old battery with no fuss.

When is it time to replace your battery, then? Use the free utility apps Becky mentioned, and when they say that your battery can only hold around 25% of its original capacity it's probably time for a new one. You can buy a replacement battery from the original laptop manufacturer, and there are plenty of places online that sell discounted PC laptop batteries, like Laptops for Less andBatteries.com. Owners of newer Mac laptops can get their laptop's non-removable battery swapped out at any Apple store, with a scheduled appointment.

States Where No One Wants To Buy A New Home

by Douglas A. McIntyre and Charles Stockdale

There is a strong indication that home builders have almost ceased activity in several states as demand for newly built homes has dwindled. The slowdown in new home permits is particularly stark when compared to the total number of existing homes in each state. 24/7 Wall St. examined the number of building permits to find the states where no one wants to buy a new home.

Building permits are among the carefully watched statistics issues by the real estate industry each month. Permits are needed in most jurisdictions before individuals or contractor can begin physical work. Therefore, they are a reasonable indicator of future home construction. The data on permits is issued by the Commerce Department.

Building permit activity has fallen in most months since the 2007 housing crash — one that continues today. In the first half of 2005, slightly over one million permits were issued. By contrast, the number was the just below 300,000 for the first six months of this year. The decline in new permits in some states is over 80% for the same period.

Building permits are not enough in and of themselves to demonstrate a slowdown. Their size in relation to the total existing homes is also an indication of the state of the housing market. Consider that in a large state like California, across all towns and cities, just over 20,000 permits were issued during the first six months of this year. The number of permits may seem like a lot for a weak housing market, but is negligible when compared to the 13.6 million existing homes in the state.

24/7 Wall St. looked at the total number of building permits issued by each state for the first half of the year. We then identified the states that had the lowest percentage of new housing permits as compared to the total number of housing units.

Surprisingly, our list of states where few permits have been issued recently is different from the typical list of the worst housing markets. California, Nevada and Florida are always on those lists because homes are vacant and home values continue to drop. But the three are not on this list. It may be that prices have dropped so low in these markets that home inventory has begun to move, even if only tentatively. Instead, markets where housing permits are very small in relation to total homes are markets in which builders have abandoned any hope of near-term sales.

The 24/7 Wall St. analysis is another look through the prism that is the collapsing residential real estate market. Most data the public sees is based on home prices, number of homes sold or foreclosures. Housing permits are a way to look ahead at what is likely to happen in the markets in the next year. Once a permit is issued, the builder has no obligation to begin or complete the construction. This additional risk has a compounding effect.

These are the states where no one wants to buy a new home:

1. Rhode Island
Building permits/total housing units: 0.07%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -70.81% (22nd largest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 312
Total housing units: 463,388

Foreclosure filings increased 4% in Rhode Island from the first six months of 2010 to the first six months of 2011, according to RealtyTrac. Foreclosures dropped by 29% for that same period on the national level. Rhode Island home sales decreased 20% from one year ago in the second-quarter, according to the Rhode Island Association of Realtors. Additionally, median home prices have dropped 2%. These numbers indicate that Rhode Island's housing market is not recovering at the same pace as the majority of the country. For the first six months of this year, the state has issued a mere 312 building permits, the smallest number in the country.

2. West Virginia
Building permits/total housing units: 0.09%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -72.71% (17th largest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 774
Total housing units: 881,917

West Virginia's decline in building permits has slowed to almost a crawl. In the first six months of 2005, the state issued almost 3,000 permits. For the first half of 2011, that amount decreased to 774. If every permit were to result in a new housing structure, those homes would represent less than 0.1% of the total housing units in the state. Despite all this, construction is one area that is benefiting the state. According to the organization, WorkForce West Virginia, 700 construction jobs were added in-state this past July — the largest amount of jobs added in the private sector.

3. Illinois
Building permits/total housing units: 0.09%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -84.18% (3rd largest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 4,897
Total housing units: 5,296,715

Illinois has seen an almost 85% decrease in new housing permits since 2005. This is the third largest drop in the country. There are a number of initiatives being made across the state to improve the housing markets. In Chicago, for instance, Mayor Emanuel has made a number of changes to increase the speed with which building permits are issued. Additionally, a “Micro-Market Recovery Program has been introduced to slow the city's foreclosure rate.

4. Michigan
Building permits/total housing units: 0.09
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -82.19% (7th largest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 4,250
Total housing units: 4,532,233

Michigan is one of the states that has suffered the most from the recession. The state's unemployment rate peaked around 15% in 2010. It is now at 10.5%, which is still significantlyhigher than the national average of 9.2%. The state has a vacancy rate of just under 15%, which is one of the highest in the country. New building permits have also decreased by over 80% since 2005, also one of the highest rates in the country. The state may now be more focused on tearing down old buildings than building new ones.

5. Connecticut
Building permits/total housing units: 0.09%
Decline in building permits(2005-2011): -74.06% (14th largest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 1,403
Total housing units: 1,487,891

Connecticut has had one of the greatest declines in the number of new building permits in the country. This trend saw a small turnaround in June — the first monthly year-over-year gain in 2011 in new construction, according to the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development. However, the Hartford Courant reports that for the first six months of the year, residential construction was down 30 percent compared with the same period in 2010. June was also the first increase in home construction in five years.

6. Ohio
Building permits/total housing units: 0.12%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -76.61% (12th largest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 6,184
Total housing units: 5,127,508

Ohio has suffered, and continues to suffer, greatly from the housing crisis. Over 8,000 homes were foreclosed in July 2011, the ninth-largest amount in the country, according to real estate company RealtyTrac. With such a high foreclosure rate, currently at one in every 608 housing units, housing is already too inexpensive for people to want to build. Ohio has therefore had one of the greatest decreases in building permits in the country over the past six years. Median existing home sales are also down in many areas of the state, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. In Toledo, prices are down 17% from one year ago, the third largest rate in the country.

7. Massachusetts
Building permits/total housing units: 0.12%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): 69.55% (24th smallest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 3,402
Total housing units: 2,808,254

Despite having a healthy economy compared to much of the country, Massachusetts' housing market is beginning to face serious troubles. In June 2011, sales of single-family homes in the state decreased 23.5% from the year before, reaching the lowest level since 1991, according to the Warren Group, a New England real estate research firm. With so few home sales, it follows that not many new homes are being built. Year-to-date, building permits for 2011 are about one quarter of what they were in 2005.

8. New York
Building permits/total housing units: 0.14%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -61.85% (12th smallest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 11,033
Total housing units: 8,108,103

New York State's housing market is among the largest in the country. As a result, the number of permits is minuscule when compared to the state's total housing units. Although new home sales decreased in the first half of 2011 from 2010, the number of permits actually increased slightly during that period, from 10,189 in 2010. This is significantly lower than 2005's 28,921 permits.

9. Maine
Building permits/total housing units: 0.14%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -77.09% (11th largest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 1,000
Total housing units: 721,830

Maine has seen one of the largest decreases in building permits in the past six years. This is not surprising as home sales in general declined substantially. Home sales for June 2011 decreased 21.39% from June 2010, according to the Maine Association of Realtors. The state's median sales price also decreased 1.37% over this same period. According to numbers from the Census Bureau, Maine has the highest vacancy rate in the country, reaching 22.8% in 2010. However, this number also includes empty vacation houses.

10. Pennsylvania
Building permits/total housing units: 0.15%
Decline in building permits (2005-2011): -60.29% (11th smallest)
Building permits 2011 YTD: 8,136
Total housing units: 5,567,315

At the beginning of 2011, a number of new, restrictive building codes went into effect in Pennsylvania. This caused a rush among builders to secure permits, with housing permits increasing a massive 117.8% between November and December 2010, according to the Philadelphia Federal Reserve. The state's housing market has not been doing well since. Permits issued from January to June 2011 fell 16% compared to the same six-month period one year earlier. The national average for permits issued in the first six months of 2011 compared to the first six months of 2011 is a decrease of 6%.

___ 

Parents sue retailers and photographer over provocative shots of daughter used on t-shirt

This photo of Hailey Clauson, then 15, shows her carrying a six-pack of beer. Her parents claim it has been used without permission on t-shirts.

Urban Outfitters and other retailers are being sued for the unauthorized use of photos of a young model that her parents deemed risqué.

According to the New York Post, the pictures of Hailey Clauson were taken by photographer Jason Lee Parry in March 2010, when she was 15 years old. According to the lawsuit by Clauson's parents, Ford Models, her agency at the time, complained about their suggestive nature and Parry agreed to never release the photos. But somehow one image of Clauson straddling a motorcycle in leather hot pants has appeared on a t-shirt at Urban Outfitters. Other images from the photo shoot have popped up on tees at a Los Angeles boutique called Blood Is The New Black and a NYC store called Brandy & Melville. The suit says the shirts "force" Clauson "to be the object of prurient interests and provides wallpaper for the likes of pedophiles," according to the New York Post. Now Clauson's parents are suing all three retailers and the photographer for a total of $28 million in damages. 

Some of Clauson's photos may raise eyebrows—in addition to a shot that focuses on her crotch, there is also a picture of the then-15-year-old carrying a six-pack of beer, and one of her wearing an open leather jacket with nothing underneath. But one must wonder why Clauson posed for the provocative shots in the first place. Sometimes photographers push young models beyond their comfort zone, but Parry claims her parents were present at the photo shoot and gave him permission to publish the pictures. Parry told the Post, "The images got stole (sic) from me" and showed up on t-shirts after they were accessible on numerous blogs.

Related: French Vogue's questionable use of child models.

Fashion photography has been known to over-sexualize young women. Some brands, such as American Apparel, often come under fire for their suggestive photos, but when models sign release forms they often waive rights to legally complain.

And there's another questionable element to this story. Earlier this year, Hailey Clauson walked in Diane von Furstenberg's show at age 15, even though the Council of Fashion Designers of America guidelines state that no models under the age of 16 should be hired. Furstenberg herself is the CFDA president, and while she apologized for not verifying Clauson's age on her ID, we wonder why Clauson's parents agreed to let the underage teen walk the runway. After turning 16, Clauson has walked other runway shows for designers like Gucci, Elie Saab, and Giambattista Valli.

We understand why Clauson's parents would be upset about the photos appearing (and making money for retailers) without permission, but who is to blame for the pictures being taken in the first place? And are they really all that racy?

Photo by: jasonleeparry.com

Seven ways Rick Perry wants to change the Constitution

(Kelly West/AP)

Rick Perry has many ideas about how to change the American government's founding document. From ending lifetime tenure for federal judges to completely scrapping two whole amendments, the Constitution would see a major overhaul if the Texas governor and Republican presidential candidate had his druthers.

Perry laid out these proposed innovations to the founding document in his book, Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington. He has occasionally mentioned them on the campaign trail. Several of his ideas fall within the realm of mainstream conservative thinking today, but, as you will see, there are also a few surprises.

1. Abolish lifetime tenure for federal judges by amending Article III, Section I of the Constitution.

The nation's framers established a federal court system whereby judges with "good behavior" would be secure in their job for life. Perry believes that provision is ready for an overhaul.

"The Judges," reads Article III, "both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behavior, and shall, at stated Times, receive for their Services a Compensation which shall not be diminished during their Continuance in Office."

Perry makes it no secret that he believes the judges on the bench over the past century have acted beyond their constitutional bounds. The problem, Perry reasons, is that members of the judiciary are "unaccountable" to the people, and their lifetime tenure gives them free license to act however they want. In his book, the governor speaks highly of plans to limit their tenure and offers proposals about how to accomplish it.

"'[W]e should take steps to restrict the unlimited power of the courts to rule over us with no accountability," he writes in Fed Up! "There are a number of ideas about how to do this . . . . One such reform would be to institute term limits on what are now lifetime appointments for federal judges, particularly those on the Supreme Court or the circuit courts, which have so much power. One proposal, for example, would have judges roll off every two years based on seniority."

2. Congress should have the power to override Supreme Court decisions with a two-thirds vote.

Ending lifetime tenure for federal justices isn't the only way Perry has proposed suppressing the power of the courts. His book excoriates at length what he sees as overreach from the judicial branch. (The title of Chapter Six is "Nine Unelected Judges Tell Us How to Live.")

Giving Congress the ability to veto their decisions would be another way to take the Court down a notch, Perry says.

"[A]llow Congress to override the Supreme Court with a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, which risks increased politicization of judicial decisions, but also has the benefit of letting the people stop the Court from unilaterally deciding policy," he writes.

3. Scrap the federal income tax by repealing the Sixteenth Amendment.

The Sixteenth Amendment gives Congress the "power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration." It should be abolished immediately, Perry says.

Calling the Sixteenth Amendment "the great milestone on the road to serfdom," Perry's writes that it provides a virtually blank check to the federal government to use for projects with little or no consultation from the states.

4. End the direct election of senators by repealing the Seventeenth Amendment.

Overturning this amendment would restore the original language of the Constitution, which gave state legislators the power to appoint the members of the Senate.

Ratified during the Progressive Era in 1913 , the same year as the Sixteenth Amendment, the Seventeenth Amendment gives citizens the ability to elect senators on their own. Perry writes that supporters of the amendment at the time were "mistakenly" propelled by "a fit of populist rage."

"The American people mistakenly empowered the federal government during a fit of populist rage in the early twentieth century by giving it an unlimited source of income (the Sixteenth Amendment) and by changing the way senators are elected (the Seventeenth Amendment)," he writes.

5. Require the federal government to balance its budget every year.

Of all his proposed ideas, Perry calls this one "the most important," and of all the plans, a balanced budget amendment likely has the best chance of passage.

"The most important thing we could do is amend the Constitution--now--to restrict federal spending," Perry writes in his book. "There are generally thought to be two options: the traditional 'balanced budget amendment' or a straightforward 'spending limit amendment,' either of which would be a significant improvement. I prefer the latter . . . . Let's use the people's document--the Constitution--to put an actual spending limit in place to control the beast in Washington."

A campaign to pass a balanced budget amendment through Congress fell short by just one vote in the Senate in the 1990s.

Last year, House Republicans proposed a spending-limit amendment that would limit federal spending to 20 percent of the economy. According to the amendment's language, the restriction could be overridden by a two-thirds vote in both Houses of Congress or by a declaration of war.

6. The federal Constitution should define marriage as between one man and one woman in all 50 states.

Despite saying last month that he was "fine with" states like New York allowing gay marriage, Perry has now said he supports a constitutional amendment that would permanently ban gay marriage throughout the country and overturn any state laws that define marriage beyond a relationship between one man and one woman.

"I do respect a state's right to have a different opinion and take a different tack if you will, California did that," Perry told the Christian Broadcasting Network in August. "I respect that right, but our founding fathers also said, 'Listen, if you all in the future think things are so important that you need to change the Constitution here's the way you do it'.

In an interview with The Ticket earlier this month, Perry spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said that even though it would overturn laws in several states, the amendment still fits into Perry's broader philosophy because amendments require the ratification of three-fourths of the states to be added to the Constitution.

7. Abortion should be made illegal throughout the country.

Like the gay marriage issue, Perry at one time believed that abortion policy should be left to the states, as was the case before the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade. But in the same Christian Broadcasting Network interview, Perry said that he would support a federal amendment outlawing abortion because it was "so important...to the soul of this country and to the traditional values [of] our founding fathers."

What is Boyhood?

What is Boyhood?

Woman swept over Niagara Falls, presumed drowned

NIAGARA FALLS, Ontario (AP) — Authorities say a woman is presumed to have drowned after being swept over Niagara Falls when she fell from a railing along the Canadian side of the Niagara River.

Niagara Parks Police in Ontario say two female students in their 20s from the Toronto area were visiting the falls Sunday night when one of them climbed onto a railing near the river's edge and sat on a block pillar, with her legs straddling the railing.

Police say the woman stood up and apparently lost her footing, falling into the river about 80 feet upstream from the brink of the falls. Officials say the river's swift current swept her over the falls.

Police say foul play isn't suspected.

The search for the woman's body is expected to resume Monday morning.

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Google to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Google Inc will buy phone hardware maker Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc for $12.5 billion to bolster adoption of its Android mobile software and compete with smartphone rival Apple Inc.

In its biggest deal to date, Google said it would pay $40 per share in cash, a 63 percent premium to Motorola Mobility's Friday closing price on the New York Stock Exchange.

"What it says is that Google wants to provide a total experience that's hardware and software (like Apple)," said BGC Partners analyst Colin Gillis.

Shares of Motorola Mobility, which focuses on smartphone and TV set-top boxes, jumped 59 percent on Monday.

Google, maker of the Android mobile phone operating system software, has been forging ahead in the smartphone market but has been hampered by a lack of intellectual property in wireless telephony.

Earlier this month, fresh from losing a bid to buy thousands of patents from bankrupt Nortel, Google Chief Legal Officer David Drummond blasted Microsoft, Apple, Oracle and "other companies," accusing them of colluding to hamper the increasingly popular Android software by buying up patents.

A source close to the deal said Google swooped in to buy Motorola Mobility after losing out on Nortel's patents.

"It is much more than just a patent sale. It is obviously more than a strategy shift for Google that is very significant," the source said.

The Motorola Mobility deal may represent a victory for activist investor Carl Icahn, Motorola's biggest shareholder. He has urged Motorola to consider splitting off its patent portfolio to cash in on surging interest in wireless technology. As of July, Icahn held an 11.36 percent stake in the company.

In a statement, Icahn said the deal is "a great outcome for all shareholders of Motorola Mobility."

Google, which plans to run Motorola Mobility as a separate business, said the deal will close by the end of 2011 or early in 2012, and requires regulatory approvals in the U.S., European Union and other areas, as well as the blessing of Motorola Mobility's shareholders.

Lazard advised Google on the deal, while Motorola used Centerview Partners and Frank Quattrone's Qatalyst Partners, sources told Reuters.

(Reporting by Franklin Paul in New York and Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; additional reporting by Nadia Damouni and Phil Wahba in New York; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty, John Wallace, Dave Zimmerman)

56 killed as wave of violence rolls across Iraq

KUT, Iraq (AP) — Bomb blasts ripped through more than a dozen Iraqi cities Monday morning, killing 56 people — most of them in the southern city of Kut — in a wave of violence that shattered what had been a relatively peaceful holy month of Ramadan.

The violence struck from the northern city of Kirkuk to the capital of Baghdad to the southern Shiite cities of Najaf, Kut and Karbala, and emphasized the persistent ability of insurgents to wreak havoc at a time when Iraqi officials are weighing whether they are able to protect the country without the assistance of American troops.

The blasts were coordinated to go off in the morning and included a combination of parked car bombs, roadside bombs and a suicide bomber driving a vehicle that rammed into a police station.

The scope of the violence — seven explosions went off in different towns in Diyala province alone — emphasized the still dangerous ability of insurgents to coordinate and carry out attacks despite repeated crackdowns by Iraqi and U.S. forces.

The worst violence came in the southern city of Kut, 100 miles (160 kilometers) southeast of Baghdad, where twin explosions went off as construction workers were gathered in a market selling generators and other appliances.

Police spokesman Lt. Col. Dhurgam Mohammed Hassan said the first bomb went off in a freezer used to keep drinks cold. Then as rescuers and onlookers gathered, a parked car bomb exploded.

The head of the provincial security committee in Wasit province, Shamil Mansour, said 35 people were killed; another official put the number of injured at 64.

Mansour blamed the security breach on a political system that appoints people to government offices based on their sectarian and political affiliation inside of their ability or experience.

In Diyala province, seven bombs went off in the capital of Baquba and towns nearby, said Faris al-Azawi, the spokesman for the Diyala health directorate. Five soldiers were killed in Baquba while five people were killed in other attacks around the province.

Just outside the holy city of Najaf, a suicide car bomber plowed his vehicle into a checkpoint outside a police building, said Luay al-Yassiri, head of the Najaf province security committee.

Police opened fire on the vehicle when the driver refused to stop at the checkpoint, and then the vehicle exploded. Al-Yassiri said four people were killed and 32 injured; among the dead were two policemen and two civilians. Firefighters sprayed water on burning cars while a body covered with a red sheet was loaded into a police vehicle.

Just outside Karbala, a parked car bomb targeting a police station killed three policemen and injured 14 others, according to two police officers. Neither wanted to be identified because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

In the northern city of Tikrit, two men wearing explosives belts drove into a heavily guarded government compound wearing military uniforms which helped them avoid notice by the guards, said Mohammed al-Asi, the provincial spokesman.

The men parked their vehicle and then walked to a building housing the anti-terrorism police. When the men approached the building, the guards ordered them to stop and then opened fire. One bomber was immediately killed but the other managed to get inside the building before blowing himself up and killed three people, al-Asi said. Ten people were also injured in the attack.

It was another embarrassing security breach for security officials at the compound. Earlier this year, insurgents managed to penetrate the compound's security and attack a mosque where many prominent officials were at prayer.

Al-Asi said 16 people were also injured in the city of Balad when a roadside bomb went off near a fuel truck.

In the northern city of Kirkuk, a car bomb exploded next to a police patrol Monday morning, injuring four police officers. Then about thirty minutes later one person was killed when a motorcycle with a bomb planted inside it exploded. Late Sunday, four bombs also blew up near a Syrian Orthodox Church in Kirkuk. No one was injured in the attack but the walls of the church were damaged.

In Baghdad, a parked car bomb exploded near a convoy carrying officials from the Ministry of Higher Education, said police and health officials. Eight people were wounded, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media. The minister was not inside the convoy.

Violence has dropped considerably in Iraq from the heyday of the war when such bloody bombings were an almost daily occurrence. But the persistence of the violence in Iraq, albeit at a lower level, underscores the ability of insurgents to undermine the country's security.

The blasts were the first major act of violence since Iraq's political leaders earlier this month announced that they would begin negotiations with the United States over whether to keep a small number of American forces in the country past Dec. 31. The last such single large bombing came on July 5, when 37 people died during an explosion in Taji, north of Baghdad.

All American forces are to leave the country by the end of this year but both Iraqi and U.S. officials have expressed concern about the ability of Iraqi forces to protect the country.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Monday's attacks.

Tainted beef leads to grocery recalls

DODGE CITY, Kan. (AP) — At least three major grocery store chains have recalled some of their ground beef packages because they could be contaminated with E. coli bacteria.

Winn-Dixie Stores Inc., Publix Super Markets Inc. and Kroger Co. announced the recalls mainly in the southeastern U.S. and said they stem from problems at the National Beef Packaging Co. of Dodge City, Kan.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Friday that National Beef was recalling more than 60,000 pounds of beef after the Ohio Department of Agriculture found the bacteria during routine testing.

The recalls affect products sold mainly in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennessee, but the meat was sent to several distributors and could have been repackaged for consumers and sold nationwide.

The agriculture department says there have been no reports of illnesses. A spokesman for National Beef said the company has never had a problem with E. coli. It is checking processes and procedures in an effort to find the cause and prevent it from happening again, the spokesman said.

E. coli can be deadly and can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration and other problems. The agriculture department cautioned people to cook ground beef to a temperature of at least 160 degrees. The temperature should be checked with a food thermometer that measures internal temperature, the agency said.

The meat also was distributed to meat packing companies in Detroit and Indianapolis and to Wal-Mart operations in Indiana, Pennsylvania and Wyoming, National Beef said.

At Kroger, the nation's largest traditional grocery store chain, the recalled products include ground chuck, ground beef patties, and meatballs and meat loaf made in the stores. Packages have "sell by" dates of July 29 through Aug. 12. At Publix, the products include meatballs, meat loaf, ground chuck patties, stuffed peppers, seasoned salisbury steak and others with "sell by" dates of July 25 through Aug. 12. Winn-Dixie products include ground chuck and patties with "sell-by" label dates from July 31 to Aug. 12.

The companies said people should return the beef to their stores for a full refund.

Pregnant Flight 93 victim honored by husband's lasting tribute

Ten years after her death on Sept. 11, 2001, Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas still inspires people. That's not an accident. Her husband, Jack, insists that her legacy be a living one.

Lauren -- along with 39 other passengers and the flight crew -- died when United Flight 93, having been hijacked by terrorists, went down in a field near Shanksville, Pa. It was the flight that fought back against the attackers, preventing the plane from reaching its target in Washington, D.C. The heroism of those passengers -- and their battle cry, "Let's Roll"-- lives on as part of the tragic story of 9/11.

For Jack, the sudden death of his wife carried additional grief. Lauren, 38, was pregnant, and Jack, suddenly without his family, was thrust into a world of pain and loneliness, engulfed by a dark depression. It was Lauren's spirit, in many ways, that gave him the strength he needed to fight his way out of it.

When Lauren turned 30, Jack remembers, she wanted to do something adventurous: skydiving. Jack says Lauren encouraged him to try it as well. And he did.

Jack and Lauren Grandcolas.

That was Lauren, celebrating through doing -- and inviting someone along for the ride. To honor her spirit, Jack and Lauren's family started the Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas Foundation, a philanthropic organization that helps people attain their life goals. One of the foundation's key acts is financially supporting a state-of-the-art birthing room at Marin General Hospital in Greenbrae, Calif.

For Jack, helping hundreds of babies come into the world transformed what had been a personal tragedy into something truly life affirming. Today, he proudly looks back at the families the foundation has helped start off on the right foot.

But he didn't stop there. Jack and Lauren's sisters decided to finish a book project Lauren had dreamed of completing. The book, "You Can Do It!: The Merit Badge Handbook for Grown-Up Girls," was published in 2005 by Chronicle Books. It's targeted at women who want to learn new skills or try new things such as photography, scuba diving or training for a triathlon.

As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, Jack understands the importance of remembering and memorializing the tragic events surrounding 9/11. For him, what stood out the most about Lauren was her way of rejecting passivity and taking hold of life.

Even as she faced death, Jack believes, Lauren must have taken action on tragic Flight 93. Lauren, a trained emergency medical technician, would certainly have aided someone in need, Jack says. For him, the life story of Lauren Catuzzi Grandcolas is one of jumping in and acting on her beliefs. It's a legacy that he, along with Lauren's family, hopes to continue to share with as many people as possible.