First Reviews

PARIS – France's biggest rock star, Johnny Hallyday, has been hospitalized in Los Angeles for an infection following back surgery.
A statement from his Paris press office says Hallyday, an entertainment icon for decades, is "under observation" for the infection linked to Nov. 26 surgery on a herniated disc.
The statement late Tuesday says he should be out in a few days but gives no other details.
Hallyday is on a multi-country tour called "Route 66," a reference to his age and homage to the American rock that has inspired his music.
Producer Jean-Claude Camus said on French radio that Hallyday's hospitalization could thwart his plans to spend the holidays at his chalet in Gstaad, Switzerland, where filmmaker Roman Polanski is under house arrest.

Toilet Partitions

Although it was not with hygiene in mind, the first records for the use of baths date back as far as 3000 B.C. At this time water had a strong religious value, being seen as a purifying element for both body and soul, and so it was not uncommon for people to be required to cleanse themselves before entering a sacred area. Baths are recorded as part of a village or town life throughout this period, with a split between steam baths in Europe and America and cold baths in Asia. Communal baths were erected in a distinctly separate area to the living quarters of the village, with a view to preventing evil spirits from entering the domestic quarters of a commune.

The Roman attitudes towards bathing are well documented; they built large purpose-built thermal baths, marking not only an important social development, but also providing a public source of relaxation and rejuvenation. Here was a place where people could meet to discuss the matters of the day and enjoy entertainment. During this period there was a distinction between private and public baths, with many wealthy families having their own thermal baths in their houses. Despite this they still made use of the public baths, showing the value that they had as a public institution. The strength of the Roman Empire was telling in this respect; imports from throughout the world allowed the Roman citizens to enjoy ointments, incense, combs, and mirrors.

Cap Cana is a tourism development with an investment of upwards of two billion dollars in the eastern lands of the Dominican Republic. This area renown for its great hotels and beaches, lacks exclusivity to the high upper class which Cap Cana hopes, in part, to offer. The area was conceived with the backing both financially and publicly of "elites" such as Donald Trump, Jack Nicklaus, and other holders.

Cap Cana's area includes more than one-hundred and twenty millon square meters of land, of which twenty-five million will be developed in its first phase. It also includes 8 kilometers of beach and coasts, 5 of which are considered to be among the most spectacular in the Caribbean, locally considered to be neck-in-neck to the beaches of Bahia de Las Aguilas (literally, Bay of the Eagles) located in the southwestern municipality of Perdernales- often referred by past visitors as some of the most beautiful in the world.

Cap Cana Villa Rental

Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain (Irish pronunciation: [ˈsˠaunʲ]; from the Old Irish samain). The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes regarded as the "Celtic New Year". Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, now known as Halloween, the boundary between the alive and the deceased dissolved, and the dead become dangerous for the living by causing problems such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, where the bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them.

Halloween was perceived as the night during which the division between the world of the living and the otherworld was blurred so spirits of the dead and inhabitants from the underworld were able to walk free on the earth. It was believed necessary to dress as a spirit or otherworldly creature when venturing outdoors to blend in, and this is where dressing in such a manner for Halloween comes from. This gradually evolved into trick-or-treating because children would knock on their neighbours' doors, in order to gather fruit, nuts, and sweets for the Halloween festival. Salt was once sprinkled in the hair of the children to protect against evil spirits.

Adult Halloween Costumes

According to The San Francisco Chronicle in 2005, "Mobile dating is the next big leap in online socializing." More than 3.6 million cell phone users logged into mobile dating sites in March 2007, with most users falling in the under 35 age range.

Social exchange theory interprets relationships in terms of exchanged benefits. It predicts that people regard relationships in terms of rewards obtained from the relationship, as well as potential rewards from alternate relationships. Equity theory stems from a criticism of social exchange theory and suggests that people care about more than just maximizing rewards. They also want fairness and equity in their relationships.

http://www.singlesoffaith.com

MUMBAI (Reuters) –
Jack Sim, founder of the World Toilet Organization, has a theory about why governments and people are so reluctant to talk about hygiene: it isn't cool.

"People demand a TV, not a toilet, because it is not aspirational or charismatic," said Sim, who does not hesitate to talk in graphic detail about the dangers of poor sanitation.

"Governments and people are not very receptive to being told they're dirty, that they need more toilets," said Sim on a visit to Mumbai, where more than half its 18 million residents live in slums and where the average ratio of people to toilets is 81:1.

In Mumbai, where teeming slums sit cheek by jowl with gleaming office blocks and luxury apartments, sanitation is not just a poor person's problem, said Sim, a native of Singapore.

"You are in such close proximity to slums, to people defecating and peeing in the open, that basically, you are walking in someone's poo," Sim said.

But the sight of people defecating by railway tracks or even by the roadside is so common that residents turn a blind eye to the problem and do not give it the seriousness it deserves.

"You see it long enough, and there is a basic acceptance that dirt is normal. But being repulsed by dirt, it's smell and sight is a natural defense against disease," Sim said.

With better sanitation in India, where thousands die of diarrhea and gastro-intestinal disease, people will not fall ill so much, can work better and get out of poverty, Sim said.

In India, Sim's outfit, which he calls the WTO, works with several NGOs that build and maintain public toilets. But they need to think beyond just building more toilets that are seldom maintained and get taken over by encroachers, he said.

WTO, along with consumer goods maker Hindustan Unilever, has launched a pilot programme on some premium Rajdhani Express trains to keep the toilets clean in return for advertising space.

"This is an example of market factors solving a big problem," said Carolyn Jones, global hygiene manager at Unilever.

"It is a sensitive issue, but a serious one that has to be a shared responsibility of the government, companies and people."

(Editing by Alistair Scrutton and Miral Fahmy)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
The head of the largest U.S. labor federation urged President Barack Obama on Tuesday to use the $700 billion Wall Street bailout fund to help cash-starved small businesses as a way to stem rising joblessness.

In a preview of labor's contribution to Obama's December jobs summit, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program could be lent directly to small- and medium-sized businesses at commercial rates.

He said TARP money could also help small community banks that were ignored during the financial rescue effort by having them manage the loans.

The proposal, unusual for a labor organization, is part of a five-point AFL-CIO plan to address rising unemployment that hit 10.2 percent in October, its highest rate in 26-1/2 years.

The AFL-CIO jobs plan also calls for extended unemployment benefits, food assistance and healthcare for the unemployed, more money for infrastructure projects and state and local governments, and job creation aimed at distressed communities.

Trumka will take the plan to the White House next month, when he joins business leaders, economists and others for a December 3 brainstorming session on how to tackle joblessness in the weakest economy since the Great Depression.

Rising unemployment poses a political danger to Obama as his fellow Democrats in Congress approach the 2010 election with voters increasingly dissatisfied with incumbents.

The AFL-CIO and other union groups need to retain the Democratic majority to win reforms that could reverse decades of labor decline. Trumka is also trying to sweeten labor's appeal to businesses, young workers and college students as part of an effort to reverse decades of declining union membership.

"If small businesses can get credit, they will create jobs. And we need jobs now," Trumka said in a speech to the Economic Policy Institute, a left-leaning Washington think tank.

"This is something they can do right now and it would make a critical difference."

The TARP fund was created in the depths of the 2008 financial crisis to shore up banks after investment bank Lehman Brothers failed.

The AFL-CIO's proposal comes as the White House considers whether some of the TARP fund's remaining $210 billion should be used to help debt-burdened families and small businesses.

(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Eric Beech)

MELBOURNE (AFP) –
Australian doctors successfully separated joined-at-the-head Bangladeshi twins after more than 24 hours of surgery on Tuesday, describing the moment as "surreal".

Two-year-old Trishna and Krishna, rescued from certain death in a Dhaka orphanage, were said to be "very well" after leaving the operating theatre in induced comas and unattached for the first time.

"The moment of separation was a rather surreal moment," Leo Donnan, chief of surgery at Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital, told reporters.

"There was relief but I think everyone realised there was still a long way to go and that the girls have a very difficult time ahead of them."

Doctors worked through the night to prise apart the twins' brain tissue at about 11:00 am (0000 GMT) before reconstruction experts closed up their heads using bone and skin tissue, some 32 hours after they were wheeled into the operating room.

"The girls have now come out of the theatre and they're in intensive care," Donnan said.

"Everything's gone very well. They're in great shape which is fantastic... they're both in good condition and healthy. I think they're better than we thought they'd be."

The girls will spend the next few days sedated, on ventilators and under close monitoring before being gradually woken up, Donnan said, adding they faced myriad possible dangers.

"They've got a long process to go through and it will be many days before we know how well it's gone," he said.

Related article: Aid worker tells of Bangladesh twins' miraculous journey "There's still considerable risks they've got to face, like any child who's been through a major procedure. They've got a long recovery ahead of them -- there are many unknowns after this sort of surgery."

Moira Kelly, the girls' legal guardian who brought them to Australia from Bangladesh, was said to be overcome by the day's dramatic developments.

"I think she's overwhelmed this has come to fruition," said Margaret Smith, her colleague at the Children First Foundation charity. "She's just so grateful to the team here that they've been able to pull this off."

Some 16 specialists worked through the night, taking occasional food and rest breaks and listening to pop music in the operating theatre to stay alert, as the operation ran hours past its scheduled midnight finish.

Donnan said there was quiet elation among the surgeons when they finally separated the girls after more than 24 hours of painstaking work.

"The moment of separation was a rather surreal moment ... Everyone has known these girls as one with their individual personalities, so to see them as separate human beings is a pretty amazing moment," he said.

The girls were brought to Australia in November 2007 after aid workers became alarmed at their fading health in Dhaka, where doctors said they were powerless to help.

But they were nursed back to health, developing a unique system of crawling on their backs and a love of Australian children's band "The Wiggles", as they underwent a series of preparatory operations.

"These are once-in-a-lifetime operations that teams would do. For the hospital it's a historic moment, for the girls it's an even more historic moment," Donnan said.

Separating conjoined twins is a notoriously difficult procedure, with attempts in Britain and Bangladesh both failing over the past year, although Saudi doctors successfully divided a pair of Egyptian brothers in February.

In one of the best known cases, Singapore doctors in 2003 made a vain attempt to separate adult twins -- Iranian law graduates Laleh and Ladan Bijani, 29 -- who died from severe blood loss after 52 hours of surgery.

BERLIN – German prosecutors say the 26-year-old man who tried to extort $100,000 (⁈) from former supermodel Cindy Crawford has turned himself in to police.
Prosecutors in the southwestern city of Stuttgart said Tuesday that Edis Kayalar walked into a police station late Monday.
He has been charged with one count of extortion in the U.S. If convicted, he could face up to two years in prison.
Kayalar allegedly threatened to release a photo of Crawford's daughter bound to a chair and gagged when she was 7. According to court papers, the girl says a former nanny took the picture as part of a "cops and robbers" game.
Kayalar is to appear before a judge later Tuesday who will rule on whether he is to remain in detention.

A hole is classified by its par, the number of strokes a skilled golfer should require to complete play to the hole. For example, a skilled golfer expects to reach the green on a par-four hole in two strokes, one from the tee (the "drive") and another, second, stroke to the green (the "approach") and then roll the ball into the hole with two putts. Traditionally, a golf hole is either a par-three, -four or -five; some par-six holes exist, but are not usually found on traditional golf courses.

These distances are not absolute rules; for example, it is possible that a 450 metre (492 yd) hole could be classed as a par-four hole, since the par for a hole is determined by its 'effective playing length'. If the tee-to-green distance on a hole is predominantly downhill, it will play shorter than its physical length and may be given a lower par rating. Par ratings are also affected by factors affecting difficulty; the placement of hazards or the shape of the hole for example can sometimes affect the play of a hole such that it requires an extra stroke to avoid playing into the hazard or out-of-bounds.

Putting Contests

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is hosting a summit with European Union leaders on a range of issues, including climate change, economic management and the NATO operation in Afghanistan.
Vice President Joe Biden will hold a welcoming lunch Tuesday for the European leaders ahead of the meetings with Obama.
The EU will be represented by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso as well as the prime minister and foreign minister of Sweden.
The two sides are expected to reveal a new EU-US Energy Council to explore cooperation on energy security and efficiency.
The gathering comes a month ahead of a global meeting on climate change as world leaders negotiate a follow-on agreement to the Kyoto Protocol.

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Bug spray that produces a fog to kill insects is likely to blame for the death of a 10-month-old South Carolina boy, and his 2-year-old brother was critically injured by the fumes, authorities said Monday.
Anderson County Deputy Coroner Don McCown said the boys' mother had been using foggers in their single-wide mobile home in Williamston, in the northwest part of the state, because of an insect problem. Elizabeth Whitfield, 25, called 911 on Sunday afternoon to report her youngest son was having trouble breathing.
Paramedics took all three to a hospital, and Jacob Whitfield was pronounced dead. His brother, Kenneth, was flown to another hospital about 20 minutes north to Greenville, where he remained Monday on a respirator, but was starting to stabilize, McCown said.
Elizabeth Whitfield was coated in chemicals when she first arrived to the hospital and had to remove her clothes and take a shower. She was released Sunday, but was re-admitted to the ER on Monday with breathing problems, McCown said.
Investigators found seven fogger containers. She told authorities she set off three when she began renting a month ago, then continued using them when the insects wouldn't die.
"Most people put these foggers in — they do it one time a month or every couple of months. She was using two to three a week," McCown said. "She said she followed the directions, but you have to wonder. We can't attribute it to anything else."
A single fogger is typically used to treat 6,000 cubic feet and can leave an oily residue on furniture and floors. Directions call for residents to cover all furniture, vacate the home for four hours, then open windows and doors for an hour before returning, he said.
While the pesticides appear to be the cause of death, confirmation through toxicology reports could take eight weeks. Other air quality tests turned up nothing. The baby was otherwise healthy with no signs of abuse or neglect, McCown said.
He said the home was located in a rural area and "pretty infested with insects, roaches. It was her goal to get rid of all of them."
"The stuff didn't seem to have too much effect on the bugs," he said. "They're still running everywhere."
The scent at the home was so strong authorities called in a hazardous materials team before entering. One deputy complained of headaches, McCown said.
Investigators initially focused on a grease fire, but tests showed that didn't play any role in the illnesses, McCown said.
"Right now, we're just concerned about them. We're hoping the 2-year-old can make a recovery and hope the mom will be OK," said Sheriff's Sgt. Steve Reeves.

TEL AVIV (Reuters) –
Coffee drinkers at a popular Israeli chain can have their fortunes told for free if they buy a cup of the brew that leaves grounds at the bottom.

"A surprise is waiting for you when you finish your coffee," say waitresses at branches of Ilan's Coffee House in Tel Aviv, where marketing manager Michal Steg has hired a "gypsy" soothsayer to teach staff how to interpret the residue.

The free service is meant to boost sales in Israel's highly competitive coffee market.

(Writing by Elana Ringler and Douglas Hamilton; Editing by Steve Addison)

TRENTON, N.J. – U.S. regulators have refused to accept drugmaker Merck & Co.'s application for a new, combination cholesterol pill that includes rival Pfizer's Lipitor, the world's top-selling drug.
Merck disclosed the rare move by the Food and Drug Administration in a regulatory filing Monday.
The company 2 1/2 years ago said it planned to make a dual cholesterol pill that at the time looked sure to be a blockbuster: a combination of Pfizer Inc.'s Lipitor — which generates nearly $13 billion in annual sales — and Zetia, a cholesterol pill Merck sells with Schering-Plough Corp. The two drugmakers have been partners on cholesterol medicines since 2000 and are about to merge.
Merck, of Whitehouse Station, N.J., applied to the FDA in September for approval of the combo pill. But Merck said the FDA refused to file the application and instead is requiring more data on the manufacturing and stability of the drug.
"For a company this size, this is not the norm," said analyst Steve Brozak, president of WBB Securities.
Normally, when companies seek approval of an experimental drug, the FDA accepts the application and spends months reviewing it. Most contain thousands of pages of data on testing of the drug in people and animals, details about the manufacturing process and information about how long the drug remains stable and effective.
After a thorough review by FDA staff, if the data is deemed inadequate or otherwise problematic, they usually require further information and sometimes additional patient studies.
In this case, the FDA would not file the application.
Merck's filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission states the FDA "has identified additional manufacturing and stability data that are needed."
"We do intend to refile" with additional data, said Merck spokesman Ron Rogers.
Brozak said the agency, which has become increasingly cautious and unpredictable in its decisions, might only have minor questions on the details.
"Or, it could mean that they've found something they don't like," he said.
One possibility, he added, is that Merck and Schering-Plough took a common shortcut on stability testing by heating the combo pills to a high temperature, rather than monitoring them at room temperature for the standard two or three years of shelf life.
Because Pfizer holds patents on Lipitor, Merck and Schering-Plough would not be able to sell their combo pill — assuming it does get approved — until those patents expire. That happens as early as next year in some countries. In the U.S., generic competition is expected starting on Nov. 30, 2011.
FDA spokespeople could not immediately say how often applications are rejected upfront.
Merck is about to acquire Schering-Plough for $41.1 billion in a deal expected to close shortly. U.S. and other antitrust regulators have recently approved it.
The two New Jersey companies already sell a cholesterol combo pill, Vytorin. It contains Zetia, which limits the cholesterol absorbed from food, and Merck's older cholesterol drug Zocor, which reduces how much cholesterol the body produces due to family history.
Lipitor works the same way as Zocor, but research shows it's more effective at preventing heart attacks, strokes and death. That could make a Lipitor-Zetia pill very popular.

Still, any sales likely will be less than what Merck and Schering-Plough once envisioned, Brozak said, with health care reform imminent and cheap generic Zocor grabbing a growing share of the cholesterol market.

Merck shares rose 33 cents, or 1.1 percent, to close at $31.26 Monday. Schering-Plough gained 20 cents to end at $28.40, while Pfizer shares shed 8 cents to $16.95.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) –
Awards season might have an originality issue.

Since it was introduced 70 years ago, the Academy Awards' original screenplay category has been a breeding ground for fresh new voices, launching careers and solidifying the legacy of writers as diverse as Orson Welles, Billy Wilder and Paddy Chayefsky.

But this year the category looks as thin as a supermodel on a crash diet.

The Coen brothers' "A Serious Man," Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" and Bob Peterson's and Tom McCarthy's "Up" are likely near-locks for noms. That leaves two slots, one of which could go to Scott Neustadter and Michael Weber for their quirky breakup story "(500) Days of Summer."

Beyond that, the voters are going to have to look farther afield. Almost certainly vying for attention are the duo behind the "Star Trek" update, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who also count cinematic tour de force "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" among their 2009 credits, though the Academy could qualify it as adapted. (The writers branch will meet in the coming weeks to make rule determinations.)

The field has changed pretty dramatically during the past several decades. The last time Tarantino was nominated (in 1994), he went up against Woody Allen, Richard Curtis and Peter Jackson; this go-round he could end up pitted against "The Hangover" scribe Scott Moore (most recent credit: "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past"), who's also jockeying for a spot.

If this were just a down year, that would be one thing. But the lack of established writers is catching the eye of many in the development community as something more permanent.

"I think you can look at the state of the category as a direct result of studios' reliance on known brands and the death of the spec market," says one agent.

Original screenplays used to comprise the bulk of what Hollywood did. But ever since the studios became obsessed with remakes and sequels, there's been a depletion of new plot ideas that might have populated the category.

About the only fresh material these days comes from purely personal stories such as "A Serious Man" and "(500) Days" -- movies that come together only through an alignment of the planets and despite a highly unreceptive climate.

When execs at Sony passed on "(500) Days" -- joining nearly every other studio in doing so -- they asked Neustadter if he and Weber could pen "The Pink Panther 2" instead.

"I was like, really? Have you read our script?" Neustadter recalls (though the pair did end up doing a draft for the "Panther" sequel).

All this would be troubling enough if the Oscars existed independently of the realpolitik of Hollywood. But the current lack of original screenplays might reinforce the negative trend: Studios don't produce many, the Academy doesn't have many to choose from, and then the category loses stature, further disincentivizing studios from greenlighting those types of movies.

Because the category is relatively free of the politics of the acting categories and depends upon a more defined group of voters for its first-round selection than does best picture, original screenplay has an uncanny way of reflecting the movie zeitgeist.

When socially realistic, auteur-driven pictures such as "Chinatown" and "Network" were being cultivated by the studios in the 1970s, they won original screenplay Oscars. When such indie pics as "The Crying Game" and "Fargo" were taking the film world by storm in the 1990s, they won the prizes, signaling and fueling the renaissance of offbeat fare.

This year could see the same. If movies such as "Star Trek" and "Hangover" are in the mix, the current vogue for big-budget remakes and low-budget broad comedies will be reflected. The Welleses and Wilders of today just might be Kurtzman and Orci.

ROME – The Volturi have invaded the red carpet.
The actors playing the vampire "royal class" in the highly anticipated second installment of the "Twilight" series were greeted Friday by a crowd of screaming fans at the Rome Film Festival, where scenes from "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" were screened.
Actors Cameron Bright, Charlie Bewley and Jamie Campbell Bower met fans and signed autographs as they walked the red carpet after a team of flag weavers from Volterra, a Tuscan village that serves as the fictitious home of the Volturi clan.
The tale, based on four novels by Stephanie Meyers, is a modern-day love story between a sensitive schoolgirl and a century-old vampire and has especially been popular with teen audiences.
The "New Moon" scenes shown Thursday marked the appearance in the saga of the Volturi, a powerful class of vampires who enforce the rules in the vampire underworld.
The clips shown included an early scene in which the main characters Edward Cullen (played by Robert Pattinson) and Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) tearfully leave each other as he goes away in an effort to protect her life.
"You don't belong to my world, Bella," he tells her.
Other clips show Bella with a man who morphs into a gigantic wolf, and Bella running through Italy to save Edward from the Volturi.
Behind the scenes footage from the film was also screened Thursday, explaining how the Volturi actors took on their sadistic roles.
"Nothing could have prepared me. When we put on the costumes and the red lens, that was a defining moment for me. I felt like a vampire," Campbell Bower, who plays Caius of the Volturi clan, told reporters.
The movie, which opens Nov. 20, was shot in Vancouver and the medieval Italian town of Montepulciano, meant to represent Volterra.

Cap Cana is a tourism development with an investment of upwards of two billion dollars in the eastern lands of the Dominican Republic. This area renown for its great hotels and beaches, lacks exclusivity to the high upper class which Cap Cana hopes, in part, to offer. The area was conceived with the backing both financially and publicly of "elites" such as Donald Trump, Jack Nicklaus, and other holders.

Cap Cana's area includes more than one-hundred and twenty millon square meters of land, of which twenty-five million will be developed in its first phase. It also includes 8 kilometers of beach and coasts, 5 of which are considered to be among the most spectacular in the Caribbean, locally considered to be neck-in-neck to the beaches of Bahia de Las Aguilas (literally, Bay of the Eagles) located in the southwestern municipality of Perdernales- often referred by past visitors as some of the most beautiful in the world.

Cap Cana Villa Rental

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Almost a decade later, Donald Driver isn't sure what would have come of his then-fledgling career had he gotten serious about a different sport.
"I don't know," Driver said Friday.
Driver was coming off his rookie season as a wide receiver with the Green Bay Packers in 1999 when he considered trying out for the U.S. track and field team in the high jump for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
He had qualified for the U.S. Olympic trials in 1996 with a national-best high jump of 7 feet, 6 1/2 inches but didn't make the Olympic team that year while he was an underclassman at Alcorn State.
"He had incredible leaping ability," said fourth-year Packers coach Mike McCarthy, who was Green Bay's quarterbacks coach in 1999. "That's the thing that just really stuck out."
Fortunately for the Packers, Driver dropped his pursuit of another shot at the Olympics and stuck with football.
From late-round afterthought to a Pro Bowler, Driver has had quite a career.
Driver goes into Sunday's game against the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field needing only one reception to become the Packers' career leader for catching passes.
He is tied with Sterling Sharpe with 595 catches.
"I think it's surprising," Driver said. "I never would've expected it to happen, but it's an honor. It's one of those things you get excited about it but you get to a point where you kind of just have to put it behind you."
On the brink of a milestone, Driver said he hasn't been asking the coaches to have the first pass thrown to him Sunday.
"It could be the last ball of the game," Driver said. "It doesn't matter."
McCarthy, who calls the plays for the offense, wouldn't say whether he plans to get the record-breaking catch out of the way early.
"Donald is going to have opportunities to catch the ball in this game. I'm pretty confident in that," McCarthy said.
Driver could do without the hoopla. He said the only family members who will be at the game are his wife Betina and their two young children.
"I'm not making a big deal out of it, and no one else in my family is making a big deal out of it," Driver said. "You're happy to be that close, but once you get that close, you've just got to deal with it."
Driver's ascension to the top of the Packers' receptions list is quite impressive.
The Packers selected him from Alcorn State with the last of their 12 draft picks in 1999 in the seventh round, No. 213 overall.

"We talk about those days," McCarthy said. "He's a lot bigger. That's what I remember, how light he was when he came in, but, boy, was he gifted. The thing I remember about Donald in '99 was his ability to go get the football."

Thankful for then-general manager Ron Wolf for drafting him, Driver said hard work made the difference in being able to stick out among a deep group of 13 receivers and earn a roster spot as a rookie.

"Ron Wolf gave me the opportunity," Driver said. "That's the best thing you can ever ask for. He didn't have to do it, but he did it. He took a gamble on me, and it worked out."

Driver didn't make his pro debut until late in the 1999 season, and his first home game as a Packer at Lambeau Field was against the Lions.

Driver's first catch a few weeks later was a memorable one. He was summoned from the sideline to replace Antonio Freeman, and Brett Favre proceeded to throw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Driver at home against Carolina.

"It just happened that I was wide open, nobody was covering me," Driver said.

Although Driver didn't become a full-time starter until 2002, when he had the first of his team-record six 1,000-yard seasons and earned the first of three Pro Bowl berths, Wolf was behind him from the beginning.

That helped Driver to pass on competing for a spot in the 2000 Olympics and continue pursuing his NFL career.

"I made that decision to stay here and play football, and I think I made the right decision," Driver said. "I knew I had an opportunity to be here for a long time."

Driver could become the Packers' record holder for receiving yards in 2010. He ranks second with 8,277 yards, behind Hall of Famer James Lofton's 9,656.

Driver is humbled by his accomplishments.

"I feel very blessed," Driver said. "From where I came from, I never expected it. To have these opportunities to do exactly what you dreamed as a kid, it's a blessing."

NOTES: McCarthy thinks LT Chad Clifton and S Atari Bigby will be ready to play Sunday after they missed extended time for ankle and knee injuries, respectively. Both players are probable for the game.

WASHINGTON – The swine flu is causing an unprecedented amount of illness for so early in the fall — and federal health officials said Friday that 11 more children have died in the past week.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says about half of the child deaths since September have been among teenagers.
And overall for the country, deaths from pneumonia and flu-like illnesses have passed what CDC considers an epidemic level. About 6 percent of all doctor visits are for flu-like illnesses, levels not normally seen until later in the fall.
The CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat (SHU'-kit) says, "These are very sobering statistics."

PARIS – French farmers struggling with slumping grain prices blanketed the Champs-Elysees with bales of hay and set them ablaze Friday, and blocked highways around the country as they demanded government help.
About 150 farmers blocked traffic and unloaded hay and tires onto the most famous shopping street in Paris. The protesters set the hay on fire before firefighters quickly extinguished the flames.
Grain farmers were staging nationwide protests to call attention to their debts and other difficulties that have mounted as food prices have fallen from record highs in 2007.
Protesters disrupted traffic on several highways, from Toulouse in southern France to Calais on the English Channel and Moselle in the northeast.
"Mr. Sarkozy, agriculture merits as much as the banking or automobile sectors," the FNSEA union said on its Web site, referring to emergency aid the French government offered banks and carmakers to help them weather the global economic crisis.
Agriculture is still one of the most shielded economic sectors in the 27-nation European Union, but it has not been able to protect farmers from the global financial crisis that caused demand to crash. EU officials insist they still intend to gradually create freer markets for European farm products.
French farmers receive subsidies under the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy, which in 2008 gave out euro50 billion, or $71 billion, mostly to large companies.
FNSEA chief Jean-Michel Lemetayer appealed to the government for a "major emergency plan" including tax cuts to help French farmers compete with European rivals. Lemetayer also wants euro1 billion ($1.5 billion) in loans for farmers, with the interest and fees paid by the government.
Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire appeared ready to meet some of the demands, saying he would urge President Nicolas Sarkozy to reduce the tax burden on farmers this year.
Le Maire predicted overall agricultural revenue would drop by up to 20 percent in 2009 after a 20 percent drop in 2008, though farmers say the decline this year is the worst in decades.
After the Champs-Elysees action, farmers gathered in front of the gold-domed Invalides, home to Napoleon's tomb. Some wore signs with a picture of a drowning person, with the caption: "Sarkozy: Agriculture, should it pay such a price?"
Fabien Pigeon, a wheat farmer from the Paris region, said he is euro230,000 ($341,872) in debt.
"We sell at less than 30 percent the cost of production. The cost to produce a ton of wheat is euro134, but the price of a ton is less than euro100. Two years ago, the production cost was euro110 and the price was euro200," he said.
Gerone Porthault, a 27-year-old who works with his father and brother on their wheat farm near Rambouillet, southwest of Paris, said he was not asking for more subsidies but for globally regulated prices.
The grain farmers' fiery protest comes after dairy farmers dumped rivers of milk across fields in France, Belgium and other countries to protest collapsing milk prices. Dairy farmers had urged the EU to limit production through quotas to drive up prices and shield them from market fluctuations.

A folding bicycle is a type of bicycle that incorporates hinges or joints in the frame that permit it to be broken down into a more compact size. Most 'folders' have 20 inch (51 cm) diameter wheels, or less. Folding bikes can be taken on public transport and into apartment buildings or workplaces where conventional bicycles are not allowed. This facilitates mixed-mode commuting, because a folding bike can be carried on any available transport, and ridden when there is none. Folding bikes are also easier to transport in a car.

The A-bike is similar to the Strida but has tiny wheels and compacts a bit smaller. Bikes smaller than a Brompton are often called portable bicycles. They forgo the performance and easy ride benefits of their larger counterparts, acquiring characteristics similar to those of an adult folding kick scooter. Regardless of how each folds, the result is easier to transport and store than a traditional bicycle.

Folding Tandem Bike

MANILA, Philippines – Officials told residents still reeling from mudslides that recently buried hundreds in the northern Philippine mountains to be ready to abandon their homes again if a storm approaching Friday becomes the third typhoon in a month to hit the country.
The warning came after back-to-back storms since Sept. 26 caused the worst flooding in 40 years in and around the capital Manila and unleashed landslides in the Cordillera mountains in the north of the country, killing 773 people and affecting more than 7 million.
Tropical Storm Lupit may intensify into a super typhoon by the time it makes landfall next week with winds up to 143 miles (230 kilometers) per hour, forecasters said. It was expected to enter Philippine waters late Friday.
"We are still retrieving our dead and here comes (Lupit)," Gov. Nestor Fongwan of Benguet province said in a radio interview. "I hope it does not hit us."
At least 288 people were killed in last week's landslides in Benguet province.
The new storm may spare the saturated northern Philippines and veer toward Taiwan early next week, or may track the same devastating path as Typhoon Parma, which made landfall Oct. 3 then lingered for a week while battering the main northern island of Luzon, said chief weather forecaster Nathaniel Cruz.
Disaster-relief officials in the Cordillera region advised thousands of residents to be prepared to move to safer ground to avoid the threat of mudslides that last week buried dozens of mountainside houses with entire families, blocked roads and isolated towns for days.
"We are informing them that there's an incoming typhoon and that we must be aware of the necessity for pre-emptive evacuation once we know that we will be hit," said Olive Luces, head of the Office of Civil Defense in Baguio city, 130 miles (210 kilometers) north of Manila.
With the jagged terrain in the region of more than 1.2 million people, Luces said that large swathes of land may be considered danger zones. Residents living in low-lying areas, near cliffs and mountain slopes will be priority targets for evacuation, she said.
The Joint Typhoon Warning Center, operated by the U.S. Navy in Hawaii, projected the storm may make landfall Wednesday in northeastern Isabela or Cagayan provinces and exit the Philippines through northwestern Illocos provinces the same day.
Health officials warned there has been an upsurge in leptospirosis, a disease spread through exposure to water contaminated with the urine of infected animals, in parts of the country still submerged in floodwater.
Health Secretary Francisco Duque said 1,027 leptospirosis cases and 89 deaths were recorded in Manila alone from Oct. 1-15.
More cases were expected because up to 1.7 million people were still exposed to floods, he said. Last year, about 800 cases were treated nationwide and about 60 people died.

Front pocket wallet (or money clip): a case with no currency compartment and very few pockets for cards. Usually bills are folded and held to the wallet with a metal clip.

Other types of small bags can also serve as wallets, such as this golf tee bag which is used to hold credit cards and money.

Wallets

WASHINGTON – Fed minutes: With economy on mend in Aug., officials felt comfortable slowing revival program.

WHITE RIVER JUNCTION, Vt. – A Vermont man admitted stealing electricity from his neighbor. Louis Martinez, 29, pleaded guilty Tuesday to misdemeanor theft of services and was ordered to pay $429 in fines and surcharges. The Rutland Herald reported police learned about the matter in July. Police spoke with a representative from Central Vermont Public Service, who said Martinez's power had been disconnected in June for nonpayment.
The landlord showed police a yellow extension cord plugged into the electrical box of Martinez's neighbor, leading up to Martinez's apartment. The neighbor said she noticed her electric bill was really high.
Martinez said he had no power in his apartment, yet his refrigerator was cool and there were ice cubes in the freezer.
___
Information from: Rutland Herald, http://www.rutlandherald.com/

BERLIN (AFP) –
Climate change is killing valuable coral reef systems, a United Nations-backed report published on Wednesday warned.

The report -- entitled "The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity" -- unveiled in Berlin, concluded: "We face the imminent loss of coral reefs due to climate change, with all the serious ecological, social and economic consequences this will entail."

It said coral reef systems were worth up to 172 billion dollars per year in terms of economic activity.

The research, hosted by the UN's Environment Programme and sponsored by the European Commission, Germany and Britain, is intended to inform policymakers' thinking ahead of a crunch climate change summit in Copenhagen in December.

Presenting the report, the project's head, Pavan Sukhdev, stressed the importance of coral reefs to the global environment, saying: "The existence of half a billion people depends on them."

"Over a quarter of all fish species are also dependent on the coral reefs," he added.

To secure the survival of the coral reefs, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels need to be "significantly below 350 parts per million (ppm)" but current levels are 387 ppm.

The report recommended increased investment in "ecological infrastructure" -- conservation of forests, mangroves, river basins and wetlands -- as a means of adapting to climate change.

The report is a draft version of a fuller document that will be presented to world leaders in November ahead of the Copenhagen conference in December that aims to agree a new global climate pact to succeed the expiring Kyoto Protocol.

A second study published earlier Wednesday in Sydney found that Australia's Great Barrier Reef is in serious jeopardy as global warming and chemical runoff threatened to kill marine species and cause serious outbreaks of disease.

The inspiration for the report is the landmark 2006 assessment by British economist Sir Nicholas Stern that sparked awareness about the economic cost of global warming.

Stern said that climate change could shrink the global economy by as much as 20 percent, but if action were taken immediately, the bill would be only one percent of global gross domestic product (GDP).

TOKYO (Reuters) –
Japan's incoming government sought to reassure security ally Washington on Wednesday that no upheaval was in store for U.S.-Japan relations, as the country groped toward a rare handover of power.

The Democratic Party is preparing to take over after trouncing the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in an election on Sunday. Parliament is due to vote in Democratic Party leader Yukio Hatoyama as prime minister in two weeks.

Managing ties with the United States is high on the agenda after the party said it wanted to chart a course more independent of Washington.

But Hatoyama is not expected to damage an alliance long at the core of Japan's diplomacy and a senior Democratic Party lawmaker sought on Wednesday to allay any simmering concerns, including among investors, over the relationship.

"We have repeatedly said Japan-U.S. relations are most important as a basic principle in diplomacy and stressed the importance of continuity in diplomacy," Kohei Otsuka said in an interview with Reuters.

The Democrats have said they want to reexamine an agreement governing U.S. military forces in Japan and a deal under which about 8,000 Marines will leave for the U.S. territory of Guam and a Marine Corps air base shifted to a less-populated part of the southern island of Okinawa.

New U.S. ambassador to Japan John Roos said in an interview with U.S. National Public Radio the deals were not negotiable.

"Just to make it abundantly clear, both the United States and Japan, at the government-to-government level, have made it absolutely clear that these agreements have been signed, agreed to, and are going forward," Roos said.

The Democrats have said they want the air base moved off Okinawa, where many residents feel they shoulder an unfair share of the burden for the U.S.-Japan security alliance.

Hatoyama will head to the United States soon after forming his cabinet to make his diplomatic debut at a U.N. General Assembly meeting and a G20 summit in Pittsburgh. Japanese media said he would also hold talks with U.S. President Barack Obama.

The U.S.-educated Hatoyama raised eyebrows in Washington with a recent essay in which he attacked the "unrestrained market fundamentalism" of U.S.-led globalization. He sought to play down those comments on Monday, saying he was not anti-American.

TRANSITION IN PROGRESS

Other party executives pushed ahead with process of handing over power in Japan.

Democrat Secretary-General Katsuya Okada met the top aide to outgoing Prime Minister Taro Aso and requested that government ministries help ensure a smooth transition. It is only the second time the LDP has lost power since its founding in 1955.

"For the sake of the country, I think we should cooperate fully with the new administration," the aide, Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura, told reporters before the meeting.

The Democrats made curbing the clout of bureaucrats who have long controlled policy-making a key election promise, but also need their cooperation to implement programs such as putting more money in the hands of households.

Reviving the economy is a key challenge, with unemployment at a record high and investors worried whether the new government will raise spending and further increase Japan's soaring public debt, already at 170 percent of GDP.

Otsuka said the next government would not meddle in the Bank of Japan's policy and market operations, shrugging off speculation it might pressure the central bank to print money to buy government debt.

"The incoming government and the central bank got off to a smooth start," Otsuka said, a day after Bank of Japan Governor Masaaki Shirakawa met with Hatoyama.

Hatoyama suggested it might be necessary eventually to raise the 5 percent sales tax in the future to fund growing social security costs as more Japanese become pensioners.

Japan is aging more rapidly than any other rich country. Over a quarter of Japanese will be 65 or older by 2015.

For a graphic tracking Japanese demographics, click:

http:/graphics.thomsonreuters.com/079/JP_POPDCL0709.jpg

The Democratic Party has pledged not to raise the sales tax for at least four years, prompting questions about where it will get the money for its spending plans. The Democrats say they can fund the programs by cutting waste and redirecting spending.

The Democrats also need to firm up a proposed coalition with two tiny partners on the left and the right, whose cooperation is needed to keep control of parliament's less powerful upper house.

The three agreed some policies before the election, but have shied away from talks on security matters, where large gaps loom.

(Additional reporting by Colin Parrott, Yoko Nishikawa and Yoko Kubota; Writing by Linda Sieg and Isabel Reynolds, Editing by Dean Yates and Hugh Lawson)

LOS ANGELES – The $4.6 million bid for the crypt above Marilyn Monroe has fallen through.
Attorney David Camel says the bidder declined. Camel represents Elsie Poncher, who was auctioning off her late husband's crypt at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery on eBay.com.
Camel says he's working with eBay to resolve the outcome of the auction. He also says there are no plans to move Poncher's husband until a new occupant is found.
Bidding for the auction started at $500,000 on Aug 14. The final bid was $4,602,100 on Monday.

LOS ANGELES – The $4.6 million bid for the crypt above Marilyn Monroe has fallen through.
Attorney David Camel says the bidder declined. Camel represents Elsie Poncher, who was auctioning off her late husband's crypt at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery on eBay.com.
Camel says he's working with eBay to resolve the outcome of the auction. He also says there are no plans to move Poncher's husband until a new occupant is found.
Bidding for the auction started at $500,000 on Aug 14. The final bid was $4,602,100 on Monday.

TEHRAN, Iran – Thousands of mourners offered prayers and wept Thursday during a memorial for the Iraqi Shiite leader Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim, who spent nearly two decades in Iran during Saddam Hussein's rule before returning to his homeland to become a key political power broker.
The ceremony for al-Hakim, who died Wednesday in Tehran of lung cancer, was attended by many Iranian officials including Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki in a sign of his deep ties to Iran.
Hundreds of Iraqi expatriates joined the procession, as al-Hakim's coffin was carried from the Iraqi Embassy to begin a trip for burial in the holy Shiite city of Najaf in Iraq. Many women wept and waved posters of al-Hakim.
Al-Hakim's political bloc, the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, became the most influential Shiite political force following Saddam's collapse through its broad connections — able to work with American forces in Iraq while keeping its ties to Iran as the Islamic regime expanded its influence with Iraq's Shiite majority.
The Supreme Council suffered setbacks in provincial elections in January, but has sought to shore up its foundations with new alliances that include some Sunni groups that had been highly suspicious of al-Hakim's Iranian links.
In recent months, the 59-year-old al-Hakim had turned over most political duties to his son and political heir, Ammar.
According to al-Hakim's political party, his body will be flown from the Iranian city of Qom, a seat of Shiite learning about 60 miles (100 kilometers) south of Tehran, to Iraq where he will be buried in Najaf.
There was no official public mourning announced in Iran, but his deep connections to Iran were widely noted.
In Iraq, the top two U.S. officials in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno and Ambassador Christopher Hill, offered condolences in a joint statement Wednesday, praising al-Hakim for "contributing to the building of a new Iraq."
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said "his death at this sensitive stage that we are undergoing represents a big loss to Iraq." Parliament elections in Iraq are scheduled for January.
Al-Hakim was diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2007 after tests at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He chose to receive his chemotherapy treatment in Iran.
Al-Hakim's father, Grand Ayatollah Muhsin al-Hakim, was among the most influential Shiite scholars of his generation.
The family fled to Iran in 1980 following a crackdown by Saddam on the Shiite opposition. Al-Hakim and his brother, Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, returned to Iraq soon after Saddam's fall. A bombing on Aug. 29, 2003, in Najaf killed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim and more than 80 others. Abdul-Aziz then stepped into the leadership of the Supreme Council.