Video: David's Analysis: Romney wins Florida

A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/46212876#46212876

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Taylor Lautner drops out of "Stretch Armstrong" film (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? The big-screen adaptation of the flexible toy Stretch Armstrong will finally make its way to the big screen thanks to a new partnership between Hasbro and Relativity Media.

However, "Twilight" star Taylor Lautner will no longer be headlining the project due to scheduling conflicts, an individual with knowledge of the project confirmed to TheWrap.

A new cast will be announced shortly.

Lautner has stumbled in launching a post-"Twilight" career. The teen pin-up's recent bid for stardom, last fall's "Abduction," disappointed at the box office, grossing $82 million worldwide on a $35 million budget.

Lautner will next appear in "The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn -- Part 2" and is in pre-production on "Incarceron."

"Stretch Armstrong" was originally in development at Universal, which was eyeing a 2012 release for the film. Lautner was on tap to earn a reported $7.5 million for the movie. He had cleared his dance card to fit the big-budget project into his schedule, dropping out of the superhero film "Max Steel" and the extreme flying story "Northern Lights."

Relativity will be the domestic distributor and will release the film internationally. The film is targeted for an April 11, 2014 release date.

The film will be produced by Relativity's CEO Ryan Kavanaugh ("The Fighter"), Hasbro President and CEO Brian Goldner ("Transformers") and Bennett Schneir, senior vice president and managing director, motion pictures ("Battleship"). Relativity Co-President Tucker Tooley ("Immortals") will serve as executive producer.

"Stretch Armstrong" will draw its inspiration from the action hero figure first launched by Hasbro in 1976 and re-launched in the 90's. The original "Stretch" could be stretched over and over and always returned back to his original size.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/people_nm/us_taylorlautner

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A glass of milk a day could benefit your brain

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Pouring at least one glass of milk each day could not only boost your intake of much-needed key nutrients, but it could also positively impact your brain and mental performance, according to a recent study in the International Dairy Journal. Researchers found that adults with higher intakes of milk and milk products scored significantly higher on memory and other brain function tests than those who drank little to no milk...

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/wsw-ago012712.php

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Romney confident as Florida prepares to vote

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney makes a campaign stop at Ring Power Lift Trucks on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Florida Times-Union, Bruce Lipsky)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney makes a campaign stop at Ring Power Lift Trucks on Monday, Jan. 30, 2012 in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Florida Times-Union, Bruce Lipsky)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns at Lake Sumter Landing, The Villages, Fla., Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

(AP) ? Mitt Romney is starting primary day in Florida leading in statewide polls and already looking to the next round of nomination contests in the Republican presidential race.

Romney is widely expected to do well against chief rival Newt Gingrich in Tuesday's voting.

The Romney who campaigned Monday was dramatically more confident than the candidate who flew here a week ago from South Carolina, where Gingrich won convincingly.

"It feels good at this point," Romney told reporters aboard his campaign plane Monday. "The crowds are good and you can sense that it's coming our way. It's getting better and better every day."

Romney and his allies have pummeled Gingrich on the air in Florida, spending millions on negative ads. Gingrich has complained that the assault is a "carpet-bombing" that has left him unable to retaliate.

Romney has also repeatedly attacked Gingrich in speeches around the state. On Monday he labeled Gingrich an untrustworthy Washington influence peddler. His constant linking of Gingrich with the federally backed mortgage giant Freddie Mac has hurt the former speaker in a state wracked by the foreclosure crisis.

After he left Congress in 1999, Gingrich's consulting firm received more than $1.5 million from Freddie Mac, which Romney calls "the very institution that helped stand behind the huge housing crisis here in Florida."

Romney is preparing to move his campaign to Nevada and, beyond that, Minnesota. While he didn't have any events scheduled before Tuesday evening, he planned a campaign stop in Minnesota before flying to Las Vegas on Wednesday for an evening campaign event.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-31-Romney/id-cdf05bb7602341b194f77d329511c02f

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Ant-like robots create complex glowing patterns

Caitlin Stier, video intern

These glow-in-the-dark robots can hardly be described as intelligent. Called 'Lumibots', they move around by observing two basic rules: 'follow the light' and 'turn after a collision'. Yet, despite this simple behaviour, they manage to follow complex paths that are recorded artistically as their tail lights pass over photoluminescent paper.

The installation was devised by artist Mey Lean Kronemann as a way to demonstrate the concept of emergence: the way complicated systems can arise from simple interactions. Her work is inspired by pheromone paths that ants use to navigate. Army ants, for example, rely on two chemicals to follow a route taken by their colony mates.

A Lumibot's course isn't predictable, but it sometimes displays recognisable characteristics. For example, a robot will sometimes retrace its own trail in a visual feedback loop. Like an ant, it may also venture off to explore new areas or use shortcuts to hone in on a refined route.

According to Kronemann, the robots' inherent variability challenged her work as an artist. "The difficult thing about building in unexpected behaviour was letting go of control," she says.

The work has been well received by viewers who enjoy trying to guide the robots with a flashlight or attempting to right their course as they veer off the paper. Kronemann hopes to develop a kit that people can buy to create their own swarm experience.?

The installation will be on display at the Art of Engineering show in Gummersbach, Germany from February 7.

If you enjoyed this video, check out a robotic rover that uses its tail to land like a lizard or a body-sharing robot lets you experience another place.

Subscribe to New Scientist Magazine

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/1c4334d8/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cnstv0C20A120C0A10Cant0Elike0Erobots0Ecreate0Ecomplex0Eglowing0Epatterns0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

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Kentucky still easy No. 1 in AP poll (AP)

Kentucky starts it second straight week ? and fourth this season ? as the No. 1 team in The Associated Press' college basketball poll.

The Wildcats were again a runaway choice, receiving 63 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel on Monday.

Syracuse, which got the other No. 1 votes, and Ohio State both moved up one place to second and third. Missouri, which had been No. 2, dropped to fourth after its loss to Oklahoma State.

North Carolina, Baylor, Duke, Kansas, Michigan State and undefeated Murray State round out the top 10. The Racers, the lone remaining unbeaten team in Division I, cracked the top 10 for the first time in school history.

Gonzaga and Vanderbilt return to the rankings at 24th and 25th. The Bulldogs, who have won 12 of 13, were out the last two weeks, while the Commodores, winners of 10 of 11, were out the last six.

Kansas State dropped out from 22nd after a four-week run, while Connecticut, which has lost three straight and five of seven, fell from 24th. Connecticut had been ranked for the last 28 polls, the sixth-longest current streak. The longest current run is Duke at 90 consecutive polls, a streak that started with the preseason poll of 2007-08.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_sp_co_ap_po/bkc_t25_college_bkb_poll

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Freddie Mac hired Gingrich as it reshaped strategy (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Within months after taking over as chief lobbyist at mortgage lender Freddie Mac in 1999, Mitchell Delk hired a prominent Washington insider to advise him on how to build support among conservatives on Capitol Hill: Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of Representatives.

A key part of Delk's strategy, as outlined in Federal Election Commission records, was to build goodwill in Congress by holding fundraising events for influential members of House and Senate committees that had oversight of Freddie Mac.

Gingrich had experience in such matters as an architect of GOPAC, one of the Republican Party's most important political action committees.

Gingrich's activity at Freddie Mac has been under scrutiny during his run for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, as rivals have accused him of lobbying for Freddie Mac.

The former speaker has rejected such allegations, and his first $300,000-a-year contract with Freddie Mac, released this week by his campaign, states that he would not "engage in lobbying services of any kind."

But the contract, together with the FEC records describing Delk's revamping of Freddie Mac's lobbying shop, sheds light on how Gingrich could avoid the lobbyist label and still be valuable to the mortgage lender as a strategist.

Gingrich's contract says the former House speaker would work with Delk and other Freddie Mac officials on "strategic planning and public policy."

And, it calls on Gingrich to contribute to the lender's "corporate planning and business goals."

"He was a consultant for us, and ... not a lobbyist," Freddie Mac spokesman Doug Duvall said, declining to comment further on the lender's arrangement with Gingrich.

Gingrich's campaign has offered few specifics about his work for Freddie Mac, for which he earned as much as $1.8 million during two contract periods. It said late last year that part of his job was to help Freddie Mac build bridges to conservatives.

He has called himself a "historian" who advised the mortgage lender on issues such as its lending policies.

Gingrich joined Delk's government affairs shop at a time when the former Freddie Mac senior vice president was hiring several former members of Congress and congressional aides for his lobbying team.

At the time, conservative Republicans on Capitol Hill were seeking regulations to rein in the profits of government-sponsored lenders such as Freddie Mac.

Delk, who did not respond to phone calls seeking comment, successfully fought back against such legislation by hiring dozens of outside consultants and spending as much on lobbying as many major corporations.

FEC INVESTIGATION

However, his lobbying team came under investigation by the FEC in 2003.

The FEC probe found that under Delk's guidance, Freddie Mac improperly used corporate resources to put on 85 fundraising events that raised about $1.7 million for federal candidates.

The majority of the events were for Republicans, the FEC found.

FEC investigators concluded that at least one major contribution to a Republican entity came directly from Freddie Mac funds and that some fundraisers were held in Freddie Mac's offices - both violations of FEC rules.

In 2006, Freddie Mac agreed to a $3.8 million settlement for violating federal election rules, the largest civil fine the FEC had ever levied.

Delk, who resigned from Freddie Mac in 2004, was not charged in the case. Delk's lawyer in the case, Ken Gross, said Gingrich's name "never came up in connection with (the FEC) case."

Vin Weber, a former Republican representative from Minnesota who also was hired as a Freddie Mac consultant, said he never worked directly with Gingrich on Freddie Mac matters.

He said the mortgage lender did not want congressional arm-twisting but hoped to "create a positive buzz for Freddie Mac."

Weber said someone like Gingrich could provide an important service without lobbying.

"I wouldn't ask him to pick up the phone (to call a member of Congress), because that is really not necessary. He is circulating all the time with members of Congress," said Weber, who is supporting Mitt Romney in this year's race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Former New York Representative Susan Molinari, another Romney supporter, also was hired by Freddie Mac during Delk's tenure. She did not return phone calls or emails.

Republican Michael Oxley, who was House Financial Services Committee chairman and attended at least 19 Delk fundraisers, said that at the time he did not know Gingrich worked for Freddie Mac.

Oxley "may have seen him from time to time at a social thing," said Peggy Peterson, a spokeswoman for Oxley.

Gingrich signed a second contract with Freddie Mac in 2006. The lender ended its relationship with outside consultants in 2008, when the U.S. Treasury placed Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in conservatorship.

Republicans have blamed the government-sponsored lenders, which sustained $14.9 billion in losses when the U.S. housing market crashed, for a major role in the subprime lending crisis.

(Additional reporting by Margaret Chadbourne; editing by David Lindsey and Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/ts_nm/us_usa_campaign_gingrich_freddiemac

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[OOC] Location Ideas? (LAST SURVIVIORS)

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Afghans blast French plan to withdraw troops early

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, center, France's Defence and Veterans Minister Gerard Longuet, left, and French General and Paris military governor Bruno Dary, right, pay tribute to the Unknown soldier's tomb, at the Arc of Triomphe, in Paris, Friday Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Lionel Bonaventure, Pool)

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, center, France's Defence and Veterans Minister Gerard Longuet, left, and French General and Paris military governor Bruno Dary, right, pay tribute to the Unknown soldier's tomb, at the Arc of Triomphe, in Paris, Friday Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Lionel Bonaventure, Pool)

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai arrives prior to laying a wreath on the Unknown soldier's tomb, at the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris, Friday Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Lionel Bonaventure, Pool)

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, second from right, France's Defence and Veterans Minister Gerard Longuet, third from right, and French General and Paris military governor Bruno Dary, fourth from right, pay tribute to the Unknown soldier's tomb, at the Arc of Triomphe, in Paris, Friday Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Lionel Bonaventure, Pool)

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy, front right, and Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, second from left, sign a friendship and cooperation treaty at the Elysee Palace in Paris, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Philippe Wojazer, Pool)

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? France's plans to withdraw its combat troops from Afghanistan a year early drew harsh words Saturday in the Afghan capital, with critics accusing French President Nicolas Sarkozy of putting his re-election campaign ahead of Afghans' safety.

A wider proposal by Sarkozy for NATO to hand over all security to Afghans by the end of next year also came under fire, with one Afghan lawmaker saying it would be "a big mistake" that would leave security forces unprepared to fight the Taliban insurgency and threaten a new descent into violence in the 10-year-old war.

Sarkozy's decision, which came a week after four French troops were shot dead by an Afghan army trainee suspected of being a Taliban infiltrator, raises new questions about the unity of the U.S.-led military coalition.

It also reopens the debate over whether setting a deadline for troop withdrawals will allow the Taliban to run out the clock and seize more territory once foreign forces are gone.

"Afghan forces are not self-sufficient yet. They still need more training, more equipment and they need to be stronger," said military analyst Abdul Hadi Khalid, Afghanistan's former minister of interior.

Khalid said the decision by Sarkozy was clearly political. The French president is facing a tough election this year, and the population's already deep discontent with the Afghan war only intensified when unarmed French troops were gunned down by a supposed ally Jan. 20 at a joint base in the eastern province of Kapisa.

Sarkozy announced France's new timetable on Friday alongside Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who was in Paris for a previously planned visit. He also said Karzai had agreed with him to ask for all international forces to hand security over to the Afghan army and police in 2013, a plan he would present it at a Feb. 2-3 meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels. He said he would call President Barack Obama about his plan on Saturday.

Afghan lawmaker Tahira Mujadedi said Afghan security forces will not be ready in time for any early NATO withdrawal, saying the current timetable already is rushing the training of national forces.

"That would be a big mistake by the Afghan government if they accept it," she said of Sarkozy's plan. "In my view, they should extend 2014 by more years instead of cutting it short to 2013."

She said she sympathizes in the matter of the French soldiers' deaths, but argued that they present no logical reason for France to deviate from the U.S. timetable for NATO to hand over security by 2014.

"When military forces are present in a war zone, anything can happen," Mujadedi said. The French troops "are not here for a holiday," she added.

France now has about 3,600 soldiers in the international force, which is mostly made up of American troops.

Afghan forces started taking the lead for security in certain areas of the country last year and the plan has been to add more areas, as Afghan police and soldiers were deemed ready to take over from foreign forces.

According to drawdown plans already announced by the U.S. and more than a dozen other nations, the foreign military footprint in Afghanistan will shrink by an estimated 40,000 troops at the close of this year. Washington is pulling out the most ? 33,000 by the end of the year. That's one-third of 101,000 U.S. troops that were in Afghanistan in June, the peak of the U.S. military presence in the war, Pentagon figures show.

Sarkozy also said France would hand over authority in the province of Kapisa, where the French troops were killed this month, by the end of March. Karzai's office confirmed that decision Saturday, saying it was made at the French president's request.

The NATO coalition has started to hand over security in several areas of Afghanistan, aiming to transfer about half of the country in the coming months. But Kapisa was not one of the provinces earmarked for handover, according to U.S. Navy Lt. James McCue, a coalition spokesman.

Kapisa lawmaker Mujadedi argued that Afghan forces in her province particularly are not ready to go it alone in fighting the Taliban insurgency, which is especially strong in several of the province's districts. She warned that if NATO forces do pull back from Kapisa, it could also destabilize nearby Kabul.

"We have had so many attacks, ambushes and also suicide attacks in Kapisa," Mujadedi said. "Unfortunately, our national police and army, while present in Kapisa, are unable to provide good security for people."

France's early withdrawal announcement could step up pressure on other European governments like Britain, Italy and Germany, which also have important roles in Afghanistan ? even if the U.S. has the lion's share by far.

Karzai, who praised the role of France and other NATO allies, didn't object at Friday's joint news conference when Sarkozy said the 2013 NATO withdrawal timetable was sought by both France and Afghanistan.

However, the Afghan leader appeared to suggest that it was a high-end target.

"We hope to finish the transition ... by the end of 2013 at the earliest ? or by the latest as has been agreed upon ? by the end of 2014," Karzai said.

Nick Witney, a senior policy fellow at the Paris-based European Council on Foreign Relations, said public support of the war in Europe started sliding fast after the coalition agreed to end the combat mission in 2014.

"It has become more and more difficult to justify every single casualty, since it's now clear that these are wasted lives," said Witney, a former head of the European Defense Agency.

"Most European policymakers realize that on a purely cost-benefit assessment, we would all leave Afghanistan tomorrow," Witney said.

___

Associated Press writers Kay Johnson in Kabul and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-28-AS-Afghanistan/id-5a8d5770fe4e419fb5f8e9e53b958cca

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Rate on 30-year fixed mortgage rises to 3.98 pct. (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage rose this week for the first time this month, though it remained below 4 percent for the eighth straight week.

The low rates may be contributing to a slow turnaround in the depressed housing market. Still, many who can afford to buy or refinance a home have already done so.

Freddie Mac said Thursday the average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 3.98 percent this week. That's up from 3.88 percent the previous week, which was the lowest level on record.

The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage also rose to 3.24 percent, from 3.17 percent the previous week. The 15-year mortgage hit a record low of 3.16 percent two weeks ago.

Mortgage rates are low because they tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which fell below 2 percent this week.

For the past three months, the 30-year fixed mortgage rate has hovered near 4 percent. Historically low mortgage rates are among the signs that point to a pickup in the housing market this year.

Sales of previously occupied homes rose in December for a third straight month. Homebuilders are slightly more hopeful because more people are saying they might consider buying this year. And home construction picked up in the final quarter of last year.

Still, new homes fell in December, the Commerce Department said Thursday. About 302,000 new homes were sold last year, making 2011 the worst year for new home sales on records dating back to 1963.

High unemployment and scant wage gains have made it harder for many people to qualify for loans. Many don't want to sink money into a home that they fear could lose value over the next few years.

Builders are hopeful that the low rates could boost sales next year. Low mortgage rates were cited as a key reason the National Association of Home Builders survey of builder sentiment rose strongly in December and January.

To calculate the average rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country Monday through Wednesday of each week.

The average rates don't include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for the 30-year loan dipped to 0.7 from 0.8; the average on the 15-year fixed mortgage was unchanged at 0.8.

For the five-year adjustable loan, the average rate rose to 2.85 percent from 2.82 percent. The average on the one-year adjustable loan was unchanged at 2.74 percent.

The average fee on the five-year adjustable loan rose was unchanged at 0.7; the average on the one-year adjustable-rate loan was unchanged at 0.6.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personalfinance/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_mortgage_rates

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