97 mph! Santa Ana winds batter LA

Mark J. Terrill / AP

Los Angeles City firefighters look over a eucalyptus tree that fell on a house and knocked down power lines, Wednesday.

By Ashley Gordon, nbclosangeles.com

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Updated at 6:00 a.m. ET

Power outages and downed trees were reported in several regions of Los Angeles County Wednesday night due to strong winds, NBC LA reported.

A major change in the weather pattern is expected to bring powerful gusts of up to 85 miles per hour and possible hurricane force winds into the Los Angeles region for two days.?

The National Weather Service issued warnings that the high winds and low humidy could cause wildfires.

On Wednesday night,?a wind gust of 97 mph was recorded at Whitaker Peak in Los Angeles County, according to the weather service.

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Los Angeles International Airport was affected with power going in and out at the airport Wednesday.

Some containers and equipment that were unsecured rolled onto runways, LAX spokesperson Nancy Castles told KCAL9.

Castles was told by the Federal Aviation Administration that the some arrival flights would be delayed for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Some flights, including three international flights, were diverted to other airports.

Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said about 20 diverted flights were sent to Ontario Intgernational Airport in Riverside County Wednesday because of severe crosswinds and two runways were closed due to strewn debris.

Marina Peninsula and beach areas of Venice suffered power outages as well, some of which have since been restored.

Several areas incurred damage from fallen trees.

A large Eucalyptus tree fell on a power line and a house in Beverly Hills, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

In addition, traffic was backed up through most of Marina del Rey along westbound Admiralty Way because of downed trees.

The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning for Wednesday night through to late Friday afternoon over Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

Watch NBCLosAngeles.com forecast video

The wind was forecasted to be so powerful, it could be ?the strongest offshore wind event we have seen in the past few years,? according to an advisory by the National Weather Service.

Fears of a possible brush fire guided the decision to suspend the Metro Green Line service between the Redondo Beach and El Segundo stations, according to Metro.

?Residents in the warning area are advised to take precautions now before the winds reach their peak,? the NWS said. ?Close all windows and secure all outdoor objects such as lawn furniture.?

For the latest weather conditions, click here.

The Santa Ana winds are generated during cooler months when westward flowing currents reach fierce speeds as they squeeze through mountain ranges of Southern California, lowering humidity and making vegetation susceptible to fire.

Follow NBC LA for the latest LA news, events and entertainment: Twitter: @NBCLA// Facebook: NBCLA

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/30/9122369-85-mph-winds-fire-danger-forecast-for-los-angeles

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Iran diplomats return from UK to heroes' welcome (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) -Iranian diplomats expelled from Britain after radical youths stormed the British embassy in Tehran arrived home on Saturday to supporters bearing flowers and chanting "Death to England."

"Spy embassy closed for good," read one of the many placards carried by the crowd of some 100 men and women, most of whom appeared to be members of the hardline Basij militia, congregated at Imam Khomeini Airport.

Britain evacuated all diplomatic staff and closed its embassy in Tehran after it was stormed and ransacked on Tuesday. France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands withdrew their ambassadors from Tehran in protest.

With swift condemnation from around the world, the embassy storming risks further isolating Iran which is already under several rounds of sanctions over the nuclear program that many countries fear is aimed at developing atomic bombs, a charge Tehran denies.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has yet to comment on the incident, an indication, some analysts say, that it was organized by rival hardliners within the faction-riven establishment.

Iran's Foreign Ministry has expressed regret over the embassy invasion, which it said was a spontaneous overflowing of anger during a student protest. Britain says there must have been at least tacit approval by the ruling establishment.

Speaking to reporters at the airport, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast warned Britain's European Union partners not to allow the diplomatic row to worsen their own ties with the Islamic Republic.

"The British government is trying to extend to other European countries the problem between the two of us, but of course we have told European countries not to subject their ties with us with the kind of problems that existed between Iran and Britain," he was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.

(Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111203/wl_nm/us_iran_britain_embassy

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NY judge: Expect trial in Internet poker case (Providence Journal)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/168733851?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Portraits of Delhi's Water Crisis

Anna da Costa, contributor

This area will be submerged if the Renuka Dam is built as planned (Image: Neeraj Doshi )

Over the last few months there have been increasingly loud murmurs of discontent over Delhi's proposed Renuka Dam. Planned for construction 300 kilometres outside the capital in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, the dam will be designed to meet a third of the city's burgeoning water demand and provide 40 megawatts of power to Himachal. But not everyone is firmly behind the ?480 million project. With the dam in place, the homes of 750 families in 37 villages, 1,700,000 trees, a diverse range of wildlife and 1630 hectares of agricultural land will all be under water. And the kicker: Delhi doesn't need it.

This contradiction was the subject of Delhi's Might, Renuka's Plight, a photography exhibition held at the Jai Bharat Centre this week. A social investor turned photographer, Neeraj Doshi believes in meeting environmental and social challenges of our times with novel solutions, and hopes photography will help him make his case. "Sometimes pictures can be far more powerful than words", he says.

Tara Devi, a dalit farmer, looks at the land she will lose to the dam (Image: Neeraj Doshi )

Doshi's pictures sketch life on both sides of the dam. In the green areas of Himachal, a woman cooks dinner over an outdoor stove, as grassy hills "notified for submergence" stretch into the distance behind her. Farmers tend their doomed fields with sober expressions - perhaps looking towards a future as city construction workers. Yet as the images shift to the city, one sees dripping pipelines, disused and sullied water bodies, polluted riverways, and overflowing tanks - portraits of waste.

"People in Delhi need to realize that dams are short-term solutions," explained Doshi. "This is not a problem of supply, but of wastage and poor management."

Close to half of Delhi's public water supply is lost in leaky distribution and non-metered connections. Further supplies (an estimated 15-20 billion litres) could also be captured by improving the city's 900 storage structures. City-based rainwater harvesting, for example, has tremendous potential to improve supply, Doshi argues, pointing to recent efforts in Bangalore, and even at a few sites in Delhi.

In addition to improving efficiency, Doshi is eager to address the issue of inequity as well. "At 200 liters per day, Delhi has the highest per capita usage of water in the country, yet many - particularly in the slum areas - remain without access."

Tales of India's looming water crisis are not new, nor is Renuka the first controversial dam or Delhi the only wasteful city. 2010 estimates suggest demand will exceed supply by 50 percent in just 20 years. Yet Doshi, along with the organizers at the Jai Bharat Centre, believes facts and figures on their own aren't enough to get the point across.

"Pictures are, many times, far more accessible than words," said Dipanwita Das, one of the Jai Bharat founders.

And indeed, while this exhibition is about the Renuka Dam, it also serves, more broadly, to highlight contradictions around resource supply and demand across much of India. Doshi hopes the images will make visitors think about how they are connected to these larger problems.

"This is not about assigning blame," he said. "We are all a part of the problem, but we can all be part of the solution too."

"So many such stories have gone untold in the past," said Doshi, "but with the media and internet revolutions we are seeing today, this is no longer possible. Those without voices can be heard in a way that was never possible before."

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/1a77f45c/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cculturelab0C20A110C110Cportraits0Eof0Edelhis0Ewater0Ecrisis0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

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S&P's lowers sovereign credit rating on Belgium (AP)

BRUSSELS ? Standard & Poor's lowered its long-term sovereign credit rating for Belgium on Friday, citing the country's lack of a permanent government and a looming European recession that threatens the country's exports.

In a sign that financial contagion is spreading across Europe, the agency cut Belgium's credit rating from AA+ to AA, a moved that sent shocked politicians immediately back into new negotiations Friday night.

Belgium has been without a permanent government for 530 days, as a series of negotiators has struggled without success to bridge the country's divide between its French-speakers and its Dutch-speakers.

"In our opinion, protracted political uncertainty remains a risk to its creditworthiness," the ratings agency said.

Caretaker Prime Minister Yves Leterme said Friday "we really need strong signals now" from the six political parties trying to resolve the 2012 budget. He said the six parties needed a deal "tonight, the coming days ? but preferably before we hit the market again" on Monday.

After negotiators reached a constitutional deal two month ago giving regions more autonomy, talks are now stuck over how to contain Belgium's high debt and deficit.

In a statement, Standard & Poor's said Leterme's caretaker government "lacks a mandate to implement deeper fiscal and structural reforms."

The country's yields on long-term bonds are closing in on 6 percent ? getting closer to the 7 percent financial danger zone that has pushed other European nations into international bailouts.

The negotiators need to find euro11 billion ($14.8 billion) more in austerity measures.

Leterme aims to get the budget deficit down to 2.8 percent of GDP in 2012, but the European Union is far from convinced, forecasting a wider shortfall of 4.6 percent for the country. It is also forecasting that Belgium's debt-to-GDP ratio will break through the 100 percent barrier in 2013 without big budget reforms.

The record-long negotiations since the June 13, 2010 election have been hobbled by fundamental differences over Belgium's future. Some pundits have predicted the split of the kingdom of 6.5 million Dutch-speakers in Flanders and 4.5 million French-speakers in Wallonia.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111125/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_belgium_downgrade

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PFT: Ejected Suh tries to defend stomp on Packer

Getty Images

In the past, when Lions defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh has supplied his version of an on-field incident that resulted in a penalty or a fine, he seemed persuasive.

After Thursday?s Haynesworthy performance against the Packers, Suh?s effort to talk his way out of trouble comes off as pathetic.

?What I did was remove myself from the situation the best way that I felt in me being held down in the situation that I was in,? Suh said, via NFL.com.? ?My intentions were not to kick anybody, as I did not.? [I was] removing myself, as you see, I?m walking away from the situation.? And with that I apologize to my teammates, and my fans and my coaches for putting myself to be in position to be misinterpreted and taken out of the game.?

It gets better.? Or, for Suh, worse.

?I was on top of a guy being pulled down and trying to get up off the ground, which is why you see me pushing his helmet down,? Suh said.? ?As I?m getting up, I?m getting pushed so I?m getting myself unbalanced. . . .? With that a lot of people are going to interpret it as or create their own storylines, . . . but I know what I did, and the man upstairs knows what I did.?

What Suh did requires no interpretation.? He aggressively pushed the head of Evan Dietrich-Smith into the ground, and Suh stomped on Dietrich-Smith?s arm as Suh started to walk away.

?I understand in this world because of the type of player and type of person I am, all eyes are on me,? Suh said.? ?So why would I do something to jeopardize myself, jeopardize my team, first and foremost?? I don?t do bad things.? I have no intentions to hurt someone.? If I want to hurt him, I?m going to hit his quarterback as I did throughout that game.?

He needs to quit while he?s not ahead.

?If I see a guy stepping on somebody I feel like they?re going to lean into it and forcefully step on that person or stand over that person,? Suh said.? ?I?m going in the opposite direction to where he?s at.?

It?s an amazingly flimsy, and perhaps delusional, effort to explain what was obvious to anyone with eyes.? Apart from the ultimate penalty that will be imposed on Suh by the league office ? and plenty of people believe a suspension is coming ? Suh needs to be concerned about the impact of his behavior and his lame explanation of it on his marketability.? From Subway to Chrysler to any other company that has chosen to give Suh a lot of money to endorse its products, that money could be drying up, quickly.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/24/suh-tries-to-defend-his-stomp/related

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Rogers shows us what happens when you fire a Motorola RAZR out of an air cannon

YouTube link for mobile viewing

While we could argue that the Verizon Droid RAZR commercials are kind of over the top and really have nothing to do with the phone, Rogers at least stuck to the whole 'RAZR's are sharp' idea. Poor cake -- I could have eaten that.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/S-nUhZFChIA/story01.htm

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