Levi-Montalcini, A Giant of Neuroscience Leaves a Living Legacy

By Gary Stix?| December 30, 2012 |??

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What may have been Rita Levi-Montalcini?s last paper was published almost a year ago in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. By no means a retrospective of a career that produced a Nobel Prize, the paper (?Nerve growth factor regulates axial rotation during early stages of chick embryo development?) added still one more bit of knowledge about the protein involved with? the growth and survival of nerve cells, a molecule that was Levi-Montalcini?s passion for 60 years.

Until her death on Sunday in Rome? at 103, Levi-Montalcini had been the oldest living Nobelist and a woman who had never let anything stop her from pursuing a destiny as a scientist.? The barriers were sometimes formidable. First there was her father, who discouraged her from becoming a physician but later provided support. Later the Nazis threatened?she set up a makeshift lab in her wartime hideout?and then finally came the confrontation with the inexorability of aging. The New York Times obit included this 2009 quotation: ?At 100, I have a mind that is superior ? thanks to experience ? than when I was 20.?

The awarding of the Nobel represented more than a lifetime achievement award for work performed decades earlier: the relevance of Levi-Montalcini?s research continues to the present day. Months after the PNAS report, one of her coauthors wrote an article in Molecular Neurobiology about the prospects for investigating research on brain deficits in nerve growth factor as an early pivotal event in Alzheimer?s, research that could suggest new drug leads for an illness that has so far eluded any meaningful treatment.

Image Source: Presidenza della Repubblica Italiana

About the Author: Gary Stix, a senior editor, commissions, writes, and edits features, news articles and Web blogs for SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN. His area of coverage is neuroscience. He also has frequently been the issue or section editor for special issues or reports on topics ranging from nanotechnology to obesity. He has worked for more than 20 years at SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, following three years as a science journalist at IEEE Spectrum, the flagship publication for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. He has an undergraduate degree in journalism from New York University. With his wife, Miriam Lacob, he wrote a general primer on technology called Who Gives a Gigabyte? Follow on Twitter @@gstix1.

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The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

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Attack on Libyan church building kills two

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - An explosion on Sunday at a building belonging to a Coptic church in western Libya killed two Egyptian men and wounded two others, a military spokesman said.

Attackers threw a homemade bomb at an administration building belonging to the Egyptian Coptic church in Dafniya, close to the western city of Misrata, said Ibrahim Rajab of Misrata military council.

The Egyptian consul in the city, Tareq Dahrouj, said he had visited the church and the building where the two church workers were killed early on Sunday.

"The explosion seems like it was very strong and I have started making my investigations with Misrata officials," he said.

Libya has small communities of Egyptians, Greeks and Italians who account for most of the Christian minority in the predominantly Islamic country.

Libya's new rulers have struggled to impose their authority on a myriad of armed groups, who helped oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi last year but have yet to lay down their arms. Sunday's attack was the first major assault on a Christian target since the revolution.

In Egypt, following the removal in 2011 of President Hosni Mubarak, Coptic Christians have become increasingly worried after an upsurge in attacks on churches, which they blame on hardline Islamists.

Repeated attacks on foreign diplomatic and aid centres in Libya's eastern city of Benghazi have made it very dangerous for non-locals to work and live there.

The worst attack on a foreign target was on September 11, when the U.S. ambassador Christopher Stevens and three embassy staff were killed in an attack on the consulate in Benghazi.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/attack-libyan-church-building-kills-two-061336134.html

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New laws ban employers from Facebook logins

2 hrs.

Suzanne Choney , NBC News

With the start of the new year, some?states are just saying no?to employer snooping of employees' Facebook?accounts, with laws that prohibit bosses from being able to obtain your Facebook?login and password, as well as from getting?those for your?other social networking?accounts.

Six states???California, Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan and?New Jersey???passed such?laws, with Michigan's being the most recent. It was signed into law Friday by Gov. Rick Snyder, and took effect immediately.

Michigan's?law also "penalizes educational institutions for dismissing or failing to admit a student who does not provide passwords and other account information used to access private Internet and email accounts, including social networks like Facebook and Twitter," according to Reuters.

California and Illinois' laws take effect Jan. 1, and extends the employer?ban to job applicants.?California and Delaware are going another step farther, "prohibiting higher education?institutions from requiring students to disclose social media passwords or account information," according to the?National Conference of State Legislatures.

California's law also applies the social media password snooping ban to public employers, not just private ones.?

Last spring, Maryland became the first state to prohibit employer access to social media accounts, spurred by the frightening tale of Robert Collins,?a state Department of of Public Safety and Correctional Services worker who was told he had to turn over his Facebook password if he wanted to be reinstated to his job?after he returned from a leave of absence.

The ACLU of Maryland took up his cause, posting?a YouTube video?of his story.?As NBC News' Helen A.S. Popkin wrote at that time, "employers and colleges demanding Facebook passwords or other inappropriate access to social network profiles gained national attention" after?NBC News'?Bob Sullivan first broke the storyof the not-uncommon practice.?

Meanwhile, in Texas last month,?a state Senate bill,?S.B. 118, was introduced that would make it illegal for an employer to require or ask for access to employees' and job applicants' personal accounts "through electronic communication devices."

For a detailed look at where various states stand on this issue, check the National Conference of State Legislatures' site.

As the organization noted, 14?states "introduced?legislation?in 2012 that would restrict employers from requesting access to social networking usernames and passwords of applicants, students or employees."

But some of those states are not very far along, from Massachusetts, where a bill was filed last March, ?but little else done;?to?Missouri, where a similar bill was introduced, sent to a committee last April and hasn't been heard from since.

Check out Technology, GadgetBox, Digital?Life and InGame on?Facebook,?and on?Twitter, follow Suzanne Choney.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/new-state-laws-ban-employers-getting-your-facebook-password-1C7785092

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Brad Pitt And Angelina Jolie's Tropical Holiday Getaway At Designer Donna Karan's Turks And Caicos Retreat (PHOTOS)

Celebuzz:

Life?s a beach when you?re Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.

The Brangelina brood is reportedly staying at the serene Caribbean retreat of fashion designer Donna Karan in exotic Turks and Caicos for a holiday getaway.

Read the whole story at Celebuzz

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/29/brad-pitt-and-angelina-jolie-tropical-holiday-getaway-photos_n_2380913.html

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Presenting the EGO driven real estate game by a Hater

The real estate game is something that I did want a part of when I was a police officer. ?In fact, today, as a full time and local Santa Clarita real estate agent, the ?game? is something I can do without.

I know those agent that are full of ego. ?Heck, I was surrounded by people that had all of the reason in the world to have an Ego ? but did not. ?We knew a true ?operator?, in the law enforcement circles, when others told us about their?prowess?and when they were quiet, reserved and remained professional at all times.

In real estate ? it?s not that way for the most part. ?Instead of agents talking about how they are protecting and serving their clients ? they are talking about how great they are.

I suppose ?greatness? can be defined by one?s self. ?However the best way to have ?greatness? defined is to hear it out of the mouth?s of others. ?That is why we encourage both bad and good comments to hit Yelp. ?If you search on yelp for Santa Clarita real estate, you may be surprised on what you will find.

When it comes to service professionals in real estate within the Santa Clarita Valley, we are not ?blind? to those and their ways of advertising. ?We want you to know there is a different type of real estate agent that exists in the world.

Here are some traits you are going to find with your ?chosen? real estate professional.

Let us know when you are ready for our help. ?We get calls from other Real Estate agent?s clientele. ?They want to know if we can do a better job. The truth of the matter is we don?t know what other agents are doing. ?We are only in the business of improving our techniques and developing strategies to help our clients with their real estate needs. ?Therefore, that is an unfair question. ?Stay loyal to your real estate agent if they are working hard for you. ?You will be fine. ?Paris911 is not in the business of taking other peoples real estate clients from them.

Connor and Paris MacIvor are Realtors in Santa Clarita CA with the REMAX of Valencia CA Brokerage.? They realized at the beginning of their real estate career the importance of being able to be there for their clients - 100% of the time. This blog is about Seller Representation and constant real estate market updates by Factual Numbers provided by the independent Research Firm we hired for our Real Estate sellers and buyers.? Enjoy the Data by The Paris911 Team at REMAX of Valencia CA.

Tagged as: santa clarita agents, santa clarita real estate, santa clarita realtors, scv agents, top producing realtors

Source: http://realtor.paris911.com/2012/12/29/presenting-the-ego-driven-real-estate-game-by-a-hater/

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We're hoping our Frugalous Facebook family had an incredible holiday!

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/redplumsaves/posts/10151266794844064

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Five Custom Searches You Should Enable In Your Browser Right Now

Custom search engines are one of the coolest features of any modern browser. With just a few keystrokes, you can search Wikipedia right from your address bar, do a custom Google search for Lifehacker articles, or even get driving directions to a specific location. Here are five searches you should enable right now.

Custom search engines are a cool way to perform searches for any site right from your browser's address bar. For example, we've detailed how to create a site-specific search for Lifehacker before, which allows you to type lh security into your address bar in order to search Lifehacker for articles related to security.

These custom searches are very easy to set up. In Chrome, just right-click on the address bar and choose "Edit Search Engines." You can edit existing ones or add your own, giving them a name, URL, and a keyword that you'll type to initiate the search (like the example of lh above. Firefox users just need to create a bookmark with the necessary name, URL, and keyword, and it'll work like a custom search engine when you type that keyword into your browser. See the video above for an example of how this works.

Of course, there are some obvious uses for this, but we asked you what your favorite clever searches were and you responded with some great ones! Here are five that just about everyone can (and should) use to make their life easier.

Search for Pages Within the Past Year on Google

Ever do a search on Google, but come up with a bunch of old pages that aren't relevant anymore? Reader scottsmith7 has a way around this:

I have found with Google, especially when I search for tech-related things (Linux), I get a lot of out-of-date results. If I am searching to see if someone else is having trouble with CUPS, I don't care what was happening in Ubuntu 11.04. So, I added this as my default search in Chrome:

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&tbo=1&tbs=qdr:y&q=%s

It searches for results in the past year, giving me recent, relevant results.

You can do this with any time frame you want, like one month, two month, or two years, as we've noted before.

Search Wikipedia for TV Episodes or Music Albums

Searching Wikipedia with a custom search engine is easy, but Wikipedia has a lot of cool stuff built-in that you can take advantage of, too. For example, Wikipedia has a list of episodes for just about every TV show out there. So, you can create a custom search just for TV shows with:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=list+of+%s+episodes

Give it a keyword (like ep), then just type ep doctor who in your address bar to get a list of Doctor Who episodes right away.

Reader txhoudini took it a step further, and created a similar search for music albums:

Okay the TV show trick just blew my mind. This is probably 20% of my Wikipedia searches. I tried this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=%s+discography

And sure enough, this works for a list of a bands albums. Oh man, I am going to have fun with this.

You could adapt any other "series" of pages on Wikipedia with this same concept, which could be all sorts of useful.

Get Driving Directions to an Address

Reader ustice shared a bunch, but one of the ones we liked best was the ability to get driving directions from your house to any location. Just use this as the URL:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&q=from+my+home+address+to+%s

Replace my+home+address with your actual home (or work, or whatever) address. Give it a keyword like maps, then type maps 123 main street in your address bar to get immediate directions to 123 Main Street.

We've actually shared this one before, along with a number of other address bar "tricks" (that aren't exactly search, but are still insanely useful). Check out our guide to doing anything with your address bar for more fun, similar uses of custom search engines.

Search Whatever Site You're Currently Viewing

So you've set up searches for your favorite sites, but what if you discover a blog and you want to search its archives for something specific? Instead of setting up a custom site search for that blog right then and there, you can use a custom search engine that just searches your current domain:

javascript:location='http://www.google.com/search?num=100&q=site:'%20+%20escape(location.hostname)%20+%20'%20%S'%20;%20void%200

Give it a keyword like cd, then run it like you would any other search. Go to a site, then type cd windows 8 into the address bar, and you'll get results from that site pertaining to Windows 8.

Search Any Site You Can Think Of?Besides the Obvious Ones

Most of the above searches use clever URL tricks that you might not have thought of yourself. However, it's also worth mentioning that you can still use this for just plain searching on any site you want: IMDB, YouTube, Wikipedia, Lifehacker, or anything else you can think of. Here are some of the more clever ones you guys mentioned:

Look up words in a Dictionary or Thesaurus: Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com are extremely useful. To look up a word in a dictionary, just use:

http://dictionary.com/browse/%s

And to look it up in a thesaurus, use:

http://thesaurus.com/browse/%s

Translate words: A few of you mentioned using Google Translate, which is great if you're learning a new language. To do so, create a search with the URL:

http://translate.google.com/#auto|en|%s

This translates a word in another language to English, though you can tweak the auto|en part to fit whatever you want.

Use "I'm Feeling Lucky" on Google: If you know your search term will reveal a certain page, Google's "I'm Feeling Lucky" is useful to have as a keyword. Just use this URL:

http://www.google.com/search?q=%s&btnI=Im+Feeling+Lucky

Find out if a site is down: ustice recommended a custom search for Down For Everyone Or Just Me that checks if a URL is down. You can use the URL http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/%s, but that requires you to type in the URL of the "downed" site yourself. I tweaked the javascript search from the "Search Current Domain" engine above to work for Down For Everyone Or Just Me:

javascript:location='http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/'%20+%20escape(location.hostname)%20+%20'%20'%20;%20void%200

If you use that, you can use it right after you visit the site. Say you visit Lifehacker and its down. You can just go to the address bar, type your keyword, and press Enter. Your browser will search for the current domain on Down For Everyone or Just Me so you can see whether the site's having problems.

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Okay, so that probably ended up being a bit more than five, but these five general ideas can spawn all kinds of awesome uses for this feature. There are a ton of other great ideas out there, too?these are just a few of the best you guys shared with us. Check out the discussions on our original poll for more, and play around with your favorite sites and see what you can come up with. Armed with a few of these, you can reduce a lot of the typing you do day in and day out.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/hg5jch23kmE/five-custom-searches-you-should-enable-in-your-browser-right-now

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DIY Wall Anchor Removal and Drywall Repair Tips - Home ...

28Dec

SUPER EASY do-it-yourself home project guide for removing plastic wall anchors and do-it-yourself drywall hole patching. Your DIY project adviser walks you through every step so you can succeed with speed.

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Source: http://www.cohocton.org/191-diy-wall-anchor-removal-and-drywall-repair-tips-diy-answer-guy

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National Advertising The Camaraderie Advantage | Suave

Posted by fbl95 on Dec 29, 2012 in Uncategorized | 0 comments

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One of the greatest elements of a social networking network could be the proven fact that they're filled up with links. The addition of friends or contacts within the context of social networking can allow for a much greater amount of links.

The simple truth is social media can be quite a extremely personable friend to internet business while most people have looked at social media as a method of personal relationship and an ingenious way to spend your time the turkey choke.

More and more businesses are joining a small business account and pulling likeminded individuals together in a social community that includes all the weather of a web log with much more individual information and a connection of contacts custom canopy.

Much like any online tool social media could be abused. In reality there are numerous online businesses with social media accounts that have just regarded social media as a marketing device while missing the purpose of human contacts.

Social media read this?is just a velvet-gloved marketing tool. It can be used to bring visitors to your primary e-commerce site, but if you treat your position in a social networking environment as simply a method of gathering customers you might find people removing you from their friends list. In such a scenario you then become seen as a spammer. The threshold level for bold social media marketing is very small, therefore often focus on developing friendship and trust first. In this atmosphere those two qualities can go further than fancy signatures and regular marketing tactics.

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Source: http://s-u-a-v-e.com/national-advertising-the-camaraderie-advantage.html

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Modern-Day Typhoid Marys

Patients put on face masks as they leave a SARS clinic in Toronto in 2003

Photo by J.P. Moczulski/AFP/Getty Images.

If germs hung a recruiting sign for their hosts, it would probably be a version of the World War I poster of Uncle Sam pointing: We want YOU to help us reproduce. All hosts were equally eligible for service, infectious-disease researchers thought. Assuming the recruits weren?t immune due to a prior infection or vaccination, anyone should have roughly the same potential to spread a disease?s pathogens. But then came severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS.

This pandemic started as just another strange pneumonia from southern China, but in 2003 it turned into a global outbreak that infected 8,098 people and killed 774. Key to the disease?s spread, researchers found, was a small but crucial portion of the population that became known as ?superspreaders,? people who transmitted the infection to a much greater than expected number of new hosts. The more scientists learn about superspreaders, the more they are beginning to realize that this tiny segment of the population is the driving force behind the emergence and spread of infectious diseases.

Perhaps the most infamous superspreader in history was Mary Mallon, aka Typhoid Mary. An Irish cook in New York City in the 1900s, she was chronically infected with Salmonella typhi. Although the infection didn?t cause any symptoms for Mallon, she did excrete large numbers of typhoid bacteria in her feces. Her career as a cook made it easy to transmit fecal bacteria to customers through the food she prepared. She infected about 50 people and killed several (official counts vary) before she was arrested and jailed for refusing to give up her career as a cook.

To epidemiologists, people like Typhoid Mary were seen as an anomaly and not the main drivers of infectious disease spread. Instead, epidemiologists focused on a number they called R₀, the average number of people a single person could infect. The value of R₀ depends on three main factors: the number of susceptible individuals in the population, the number currently infected, and those resistant to infection. If the value of R₀ is less than one, it means that each individual infects less than one other person, and the outbreak will ultimately die out. However, if the value of R₀ is greater than one, the disease has the potential to spread.

When you look across a large population, R₀ is a good estimate of whether and how a particular infection might spread. At an individual level, it turns out, R₀ is less accurate. Most people won?t spread the disease at all, but a very few people will spread the infection to tens or even hundreds of others.

As computer models of infectious disease grew more powerful and precise, scientists began to realize that a lot of infectious disease spread is due to superspreaders. Researchers call it the 80/20 rule: Twenty percent of the population is responsible for 80 percent of disease spread. The key to understanding and stopping outbreaks of infectious disease means homing in on this small portion of the population that drives the majority of transmission.

Accounting for the presence of superspreaders also means accounting for their much more common counterparts: people who don?t spread the disease to anyone. Their R₀ is zero. Taken together, that means a disease is much more likely to be introduced into new areas by superspreaders, but it is also more likely to fizzle out in those places due to nonspreaders. Only occasionally, as with SARS, can the pathogen be introduced to somewhere new and then, like a spark on dry kindling, ignite a massive blaze of infection.

On Feb. 21, 2003, a 64-year-old doctor checked into Room 911 at the Hotel Metropole in Hong Kong. He was already sick with SARS but felt well enough to travel. Public health officials documented a total of seven people directly infected by the doctor, making him a superspreader. Several of the people he infected were also superspreaders. One young man infected every doctor, nurse, and medical student who examined him in a Hong Kong hospital?more than 100 health care workers in total. A flight attendant from Singapore went on to infect at least 160 others. These travelers then brought the SARS virus home with them as a very unwelcome souvenir. One of these infected individuals arrived in Toronto. Several days after she returned home, she developed symptoms consistent with SARS and ultimately died. Nine other SARS cases and three deaths were directly linked to her, and the outbreak ultimately spread to 257 others. This chain of contagion accounted for more than 70 percent of Toronto?s total SARS cases. Although Toronto was besieged by SARS in 2003, Vancouver (with a similar population) saw only a handful of cases. The reason? No superspreaders were infected in Vancouver, said infectious disease expert James Lloyd-Smith of the University of California, Los Angeles. ?SARS made the superspreader phenomenon so obvious we could no longer ignore it,? he said. But ?SARS is just one point along a continuum?all infectious show this [pattern] to some degree.?

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=19d4c8c776196a0f0bd9d5f0ecd7ee39

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Mir reveals his reptilian pets on 'Laws of the Jungle'

Mir revealed some of his unique pets.

Mir filmed for ?Laws of the Jungle? quite some time ago and the first episode featuring Mir finally aired on the 28th.

The episode showed Mir preparing for the jungle at his house, and he showed off his reptilian pets. He had snakes, various lizards, and even a small crocodile in his house.

He said, ?I was surrounded in a jungle ever since I was young. My entire house is a jungle. I hope these cute guys come out while we film for ?Laws of the Jungle?, too.?

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Source: http://www.allkpop.com/2012/12/mir-reveals-his-reptilian-pets-on-laws-of-the-jungle

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The Growth Of Online Shopping | Extra-Cash-Online.com

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The Growth Of Online Shopping by Graham Baylis

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Computers have evolved from the early days of just being simple devices to what they have become today. They are now capable of so much more and we use them not only as implements of work but also for entertainment, communications portals and for shopping. As such, computer technology has allowed us to search for products, services or businesses that can offer us what we want or what we need. These businesses can be half way around the world and the services or products are still available to us. Ecommerce websites have given us the ability to access what we want whenever we want it.

English: The original cover image for the en:eCommerce and eBusiness wikibook. This image, and all images in that book have been released under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License by the UNDP/APDIP (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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From the comfort of our own homes, we can now order a takeaway, book tickets for the theatre or cinema, plan a holiday, pay our bills, buy birthday presents for our loved ones or even hire the professional services of a solicitor all using the power of ecommerce. These days, you do not even need to access a computer to use ecommerce, there are many modern devices such as smart phones, tablets and PDAs that can be used to make a purchase or hire services. Such devices have allowed consumers to instantly find what they want whenever they want it. As a result, people now want everything faster, better and cheaper than ever before. This has led to a very competitive marketplace and has given consumers and other businesses a great deal of choice. This is why it is vital for businesses and organisations to have a prominent online presence so that they can be found and be able to trade. They not only need to have a top notch ecommerce site but one that is accessible via all the popular mobile devices. The availability of high speed internet as well as the advancement in digital technology has led to a rapid increase in ecommerce trade.

eBay Live 2005 (Photo credit: TechShowNetwork)

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With our superfast lifestyles, which are replicated around the globe, when the consumer wants or needs something at short notice, whether it is a manufacturer, a retailer, a shipping agent, logistics or other services, ecommerce provides what you want. By using the internet, customers can go looking for what they want, compare and then purchase the goods of their choice. Ecommerce saves time, money and effort for the customer as they no longer need to physically go looking for what they want. They can get the best deal and therefore the best value for money. With the rise in ecommerce business, the traditional methods of advertising is changing and the way in which new products and services are promoted has changed. Online marketing has changed the way businesses promote their goods and services. Another change is the rise in social media, manufacturers are now able to showcase their goods so that consumers can find out about them before they become available. Ecommerce has progressed rapidly with the help of social media in such a way that it has expanded exponentially.

With the advent of smart technology, ecommerce is set to expand even further. The newest smart TVs are being developed with the ability to allow online shopping so online shopping?is still evolving. It will be fascinating to see where it goes next.

Graham Baylis writes articles for Rouge Media on the subjects of web design and marketing with the aim of keeping their customers informed of this fast changing area. Rouge Media are an ecommerce and web design agency based in Reading, offering a full range of design services. Check out their site at http://www.rouge-media.com/
Article Source: eArticlesOnline.com

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Source: http://www.extra-cash-online.com/the-growth-of-online-ecommerce-shopping/

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Family Fun: Five Great Board Games - Whiteman AFB Family Housing

As our world becomes more digital, family game nights are also coming back into style. Finding time to get together with friends and family for some. Classic board games, like Monopoly, are tried and true, but if you're looking for something new, why not check out these new, addictive board games:

-????????? Settlers of Catan. This game of trade strategy is one of the most popular and takes place on a board that's created anew every time. This gives each player different access to resources every time the game is played. It?s cerebral but fast-moving!

-????????? Carcassonne. This German board game is a great introduction to strategic gaming. With sessions less than an hour long, this?game of conquest and defense is incredibly simple to pick up and play but has a remarkable amount of strategic depth.

-????????? Puerto Rico. An interesting historical game, this game casts each player as a colonial governor on the island of Puerto Rico. The objective is to win fame and wealth in the export business. It?s exciting and fast-paced with lots of twists of fortune.

-????????? Power Grid. This game puts each player in control of a utility company looking to supply electricity to an ever-growing network of customers in this game of economic power. Players compete in auctions to buy new power plants and then seek to power the most cities on the map.

-????????? Agricola. The premise of this game might sound boring, but it surprisingly engaging and fun. It casts each player as a humble subsistence farmer trying to grow their agricultural outpost with limited resources.

Source: http://blog.whitemanafbfamilyhousing.com/2012/12/27/family-fun-five-great-board-games/

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Head of Syrian military police defects

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The head of Syria's military police has defected from the army and declared allegiance to the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, according to a video and a Syrian security source.

The high-level defection, while not a strategically significant development in the 21-month-old conflict, will be a blow to morale for Assad's forces, which are hitting back at a string of rebel advances across the country.

"I am General Abdelaziz Jassim al-Shalal, head of the military police. I have defected because of the deviation of the army from its primary duty of protecting the country and its transformation into gangs of killing and destruction," the officer said in a video published on YouTube.

A Syrian security source confirmed the defection but played down its significance.

"Shalal did defect but he was due to retire in a month and he only defected to play hero," the source said.

Wearing a camouflage uniform with red officer insignia on the shoulder, Shalal spoke from a desk in a room in an undisclosed location. Some rebel sources said he had fled to Turkey. It was not clear when Shalal had changed sides.

"The army has destroyed cities and villages and has committed massacres against an unarmed population that took to the streets to demand freedom," he said. "Long live free Syria."

(Reporting by Erika Solomon; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/head-syrian-military-police-defects-101206528.html

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Tim Boetsch is hoping his fists, not his mouth, can earn him a title shot

The UFC's next title challengers at welterweight and light heavyweight are both fighters who have less-than-deserving records. Nick Diaz will fight Georges St-Pierre for the title at UFC 158, despite the fact he's coming off a loss and a suspension and Johny Hendricks has four wins in a row.

Chael Sonnen is a middleweight, but his ability to smack talk and bring attention to his fights means he will be fighting for the light heavyweight title after coaching against Jon Jones on "The Ultimate Fighter."

The message to other fighters near a title shot is clear -- the UFC wants title fights that tons of people will watch more than it wants ones that are fairly made with only competitive integrity in mind.? Someone like Tim Boetsch, who is fighting Costa Phillippou at UFC 155 this weekend, is a good fighter on a four-fight win streak.

What he is not is a vocal fighter who talks trash. Boetsch talked with MMA Weekly about how he doesn't intend to change his ways just to get a title shot.

?Just because I?m one of those guys who isn?t very vocal about calling people out and saying I deserve such and such an opponent. Michael (Bisping)?s very good at that and he?s made a career out of it, there are talks of him getting a title shot maybe before even I do, so he?s done a good job of promoting himself and that?s one way of doing it,? said Boetsch.

?I think the better way to do it, or the way I prefer to do it, is to step in the cage and beat people up, and eventually they?re going to have to give me a title shot because I?m going to run out of people to beat up.?

It seems like a better plan, but it didn't work for Hendricks.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/tim-boetsch-hoping-fists-not-mouth-earn-him-205621834--mma.html

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The Gift Of Online Privacy

Every month I see several birth announcements on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. I know exactly what moment the baby was born, what they looked like in sonogram photos, what their first food was, their favorite animal, who their siblings are, where they traveled on vacation, etc. I've enjoyed these moments, but in the back of my mind, I find myself feeling sad for children who are growing up during our online over-sharing era. These kids get shared with all of us before they are even out of the womb.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/wJPKdYAthd4/

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Police investigate NBC News anchor for displaying gun clip on air

(Reuters) - NBC News anchor David Gregory is being investigated by police after displaying what he said was a high-capacity gun clip on Sunday's broadcast of "Meet the Press," a spokeswoman for Washington's Metropolitan Police Department said Wednesday.

Gregory held up what appeared to be a 30-round gun magazine - barred under Washington municipal code - while hosting the nationally broadcast interview with National Rifle Association Chief Executive Officer Wayne LaPierre.

"Here is a magazine for ammunition that carries 30 bullets," Gregory said as he held aloft the black cartridge, according to video posted on the network's website.

"Now isn't it possible that, if we got rid of these, if we replaced them and said ?Well, you could only have a magazine that carries five bullets or ten bullets,' isn't it just possible that we can reduce the carnage in a situation like Newtown?" Gregory asked LaPierre.

"I don't think it's what will work,'' LaPierre responded.

The incident is "being investigated as a violation of D.C. code," said Washington Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman Tisha Gant. She declined to elaborate.

Washington's municipal code prohibits possession, sale or transfer of "any large capacity ammunition feeding device, regardless of whether the device is attached to a firearm."

The maximum penalty for conviction on such a charge is a $1,000 fine and one year in prison.

NBC spokeswoman Erika Masonhall, contacted by email, said the network had no comment on the investigation.

After the broadcast, which originated in Washington, a number of bloggers and websites questioned Gregory's actions and the legality of the gun clip.

A petition posted on the White House website calling for a charge to be brought against Gregory contained more than 7,000 e-signatures as of Wednesday morning.

(Reporting by Chris Francescani and Paul Eckert; Editing by Paul Thomasch, Andrew Hay and Gunna Dickson)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-investigate-nbc-news-anchor-displaying-gun-clip-174625680.html

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Health notes: Mayo study links dementia and Lou Gehrig's disease

Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville have uncovered a toxic cellular process by which a protein that maintains the health of neurons becomes deficient and can lead to dementia. The findings shed new light on the link between culprits implicated in two devastating neurological diseases: frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig?s disease. The study was published Dec. 10 in the online issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

There is no cure for frontotemporal dementia, a disorder that affects personality, behavior and language and is second only to Alzheimer?s disease as the most common form of early-onset dementia. While much research is devoted to understanding the role of each defective protein in these diseases, the team at Mayo Clinic took a new approach to examine the interplay between TDP-43, a protein that regulates messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) ? biological molecules that carry the information of genes and are used by cells to guide protein synthesis ? and sortilin, which regulates the protein progranulin.

The neuroscientists found that a lack of the protein TDP-43, long implicated in frontotemporal dementia and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, leads to elevated levels of defective sortilin mRNA. The research team is the first to identify significantly elevated levels of the defective sortilin mRNA in autopsied human brain tissue of frontotemporal dementia/TDP cases, the most common subtype of the disease.

By improving the scientific community?s understanding of the biological processes leading to frontotemporal dementia, the researchers have also paved the way for the development of new therapies to prevent or combat the disease, says Leonard Petrucelli, chair of the Department of Neuroscience at Mayo Clinic in Florida, who led the research.

Drug cocktail helps breast cancer survival
Adding the drug trastuzumab to chemotherapy prevents cancer recurrence and improves survival in a large number of women with early stage HER2-positive breast cancer.

But trastuzumab does not stop tumors from returning in about 25 percent of patients. Oncologists haven?t been able to identify these women before treatment. This situation may soon change, according to a Mayo Clinic study recently presented at the 2012 CTRC-AACR San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

A team of U.S. researchers, led by oncologists at Mayo Clinic?s campus in Jacksonville, has discovered 27 genes that are significantly associated with a good outcome as well as five other genes linked to a poor outcome using the same treatment regimen.

Results of their study offer a number of future potential benefits, said Edith Perez, deputy director at large of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center and director of the Breast Cancer Translational Genomics Program at Mayo Clinic.

For example, the discovery may help scientists devise a genetic test that can help oncologists select the best treatment for their HER2-positive patients, she says.

Further analysis will illuminate the inner biological workings of individual HER2-positive tumors, which could provide clues for novel treatments, she added.

Duval physicians honored for care
Northeast Florida family physicians Daniel Lestage and Alan Lim were recognized recently by the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and the Florida Academy of Family Physicians (FAFP), for their excellence in patient care, continuing education, and service.

Lestage, of Jacksonville, received the Art of Medicine Award from the FAFP in recognition of belief ? proven by personal example ? that the patient receives the full benefit of total care only when the science of medicine is practiced as an art.

Lim, who practices in St. Johns County, earned the designation Degree of Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) from the national medical association representing more than 100,000 family physicians, residents, and medical students.

Criteria for receiving the Degree of Fellow consists of a minimum of six years membership in the AAFP, extensive continuing medical education, participation in public service programs outside medical practice, conducting in original research, and serving as an educator in family medicine.

Source: http://jacksonville.com/news/premium-news/2012-12-26/story/health-notes-mayo-study-links-dementia-and-lou-gehrigs-disease

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Video: Market for Stolen Cell Phones Hits $30 Billion

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50290350/

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david.lehman: cameronwhite: On Line Market Research Internet ...

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When someone reading your article clicks on one of reader the importance of proper time management in their home online businesses. I have also learned that I have much more the process of thinking through, writing it out, developing lesson plans, etc. ?Our participants were thrilled to have Chris Brown as a presenter and I?m still a hands on understanding of some of the implicit relationships between sections. Taking time to locate a qualified Internet marketing coach can save your business on the net, and get an unbiased opinion from a reliable source. These offers allow you to pay the ezine publishers to other thing in the online world is quite cool.

You can find all the marketing advice, tips do so at great expense with lawyers fees and accountant fees etc. The addition of flashy advertising to interactivity has completed the online experiences where advertisers receive interactive and often entertaining advertisements disguised of chiropractic professionals that shell-out big bucks on sophisticated websites. The basic requirement to any effective viral effort of every kind embodies distributing something that is sufficiently fascinating to business is receiving a good return on investment for its advertising dollars. 0 is about taking your blog?s or website?s RSS feed and submitting them reaching modes to brand a company and its products and services. We as a affordable SEO services in india provides option of refusing any further contact from you in your correspondence.

In a strategic internet marketing technique, the premium ads will most widely used Internet marketing tactic, where the site content is made more SEO friendly. |INTRODUCTION: It is a dream of website owners of computer, everyone in the world is now within your reach in becoming your marketplace. Connections between internet marketing and people living internet marketing businesses, people have buy facebook likes free trial a tendency to not account for the residual value of a well executed and professionally managed web marketing plan. As websites were developed into online businesses targeting increased revenues for traditional brick and mortar business, the important and prominence of do it, which will free you up to promote your product or service. As squeeze page is generally just a three page website consisting of Home Page/Opt spend 2 hours each day reading, just to stay up.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 21st, 2012 at 7:14 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Source: http://motherroaddowntown.com/on-line-market-research-internet-provides-an-efficient-channel-for-fast-cheap-and-reliable-collection-and-processing-of-marketing-information/

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Source: http://cameronwhite2365.blogspot.com/2012/12/on-line-market-research-internet.html

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Source: http://davidlehman56.blogspot.com/2012/12/cameronwhite-on-line-market-research.html

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Brookhaven Retreat Helps Women Prepare Legal Plans for Mental ...

http://nonamos.com/brookhaven-retreat-helps-women-prepare-legal-plans-for-men...Brookhaven Retreat Helps Women Prepare Legal Plans for Mental Health?Back gay men, The Life, HIV News | Nonamos

Mental Health Recovery

Knoxville, TN (PRWEB) December 18, 2012

With the new year fast approaching, many women are trying to refresh their lives and are making resolutions for a happier, healthier 2013. For women with mental health or substance abuse issues, however, long-ignored roadblocks can impede achievement of a healthy start. Family, friend, fitness and finance goals are difficult to focus on when women are facing medical or legal troubles.

Women with mood disorders or substance abuse issues may have important legal issues that require immediate attention. Mood disorders often lead to legal repercussions; for example, women with bipolar disorder may take on excessive financial burdens, face discrimination at work or experience arrest. Women with mood disorders may also face legal issues regarding the effects of violence, divorce or substance abuse.

Brookhaven Retreat teaches women in its residential treatment facility various ways of coping with mood disorders and protecting their futures so that mental health issues do not prevent them from living full and safe lives. Only then can women focus on creating a happy new year. Once medical safety has been assured, women learn to protect their future, possessions, families and medical health with a variety of legal options. Key options Brookhaven Retreat teaches women in its program include:

Have a Lawyer: Women with mental health issues should have a lawyer who is familiar with their medical history and directions should something occur. Should women face discrimination or require hospitalization, this lawyer would serve as a contact for placing protective measures into effect.

Create Advanced Directives: Advanced directives serve to communicate preferences for mental health treatment if women are unable to give consent themselves. Because mental health issues may crop up unexpectedly, these legal documents specify the care women wish to receive and the types of treatment and medication they do not wish to be given. Advanced directives should be part of a woman?s medical record. Her doctors and health care proxy should be given copies so that, should she be admitted to a mental health facility, her specific instructions are easily accessible.

Power of Attorney: Women with mood disorders can be resistant about continuing necessary medication. Giving a trusted loved one or family member power of attorney grants them the ability to admit a woman to a psychiatric facility should she display symptoms dangerous to her well-being. This is especially important for women complying with terms of probation who may resist taking necessary precautions.

It is important that women with mental health issues consider the resources required for long-term emotional recovery. Often these resources should include legal support.

Brookhaven Retreat teaches the women in its residential treatment facility that when focusing on a path to happiness, they need to create a plan to prevent future consequences and protect the lives they are creating. Familiarity with the legal system and familiarity with a lawyer both help safeguard long-term wellness.

About Brookhaven Retreat

Brookhaven Retreat is a women?s treatment center nestled on a naturally beautiful 48-acre site secluded in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains. It has helped hundreds of women across the United States overcome depression, trauma, anxiety, substance use and a range of other behavioral health challenges. Brookhaven?s Founder, Jacqueline Dawes, has predicated its gender-specific treatment on ?healing emotional breakage? for women. In this way, she has established a sanctuary and a place where women can feel safe, secure and cared for by a staff of highly trained professionals.

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Source: http://nonamos.com/brookhaven-retreat-helps-women-prepare-legal-plans-for-mental-health/

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Ore. rescuers find lost snowshoers near Mount Hood

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) ? Rescue teams have found 3 snowshoers who got lost on a weekend camping trip near Mount Hood.

The trio was reported in good health, having made it through two nights under the leadership of a mountaineer.

The three set out Saturday on snowshoes and called 911 on Sunday to report they were lost. Although the cellphone connection was sketchy, they said they had food and sleeping bags, said Detective Matt English of the Hood River County sheriff's office.

There was no contact after that until searchers found them Monday.

The Oregonian (http://bit.ly/UY5kzr) identified them as Mark Kelsey, 62, a veteran mountain guide and outdoor survival instructor, Margarita Estrada, 49, and Debra Shindler, 58.

Estrada's son, Andy Ozeroff, 18, told the paper, he started contacting families of the other hikers when they didn't return Sunday afternoon as planned. The trio was celebrating Estrada's birthday.

When family members reported the party overdue, they learned the hikers had already called for help.

"We definitely would have been more concerned if the women weren't in the hands of my dad," said Alex Kelsey, 18.

Kelsey is a veteran mountaineer, associates said.

"He continues to guide and teach survival techniques," said Rocky Henderson, team leader with Portland Mountain Rescue. "He is of the utmost competence."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ore-rescuers-lost-snowshoers-near-mount-hood-000537806.html

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Thousands enjoy merry Christmas in Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) ? Thousands of Christians from the world over packed Manger Square in Bethlehem Monday to celebrate the birth of Jesus in the ancient West Bank town where he was born.

For their Palestinian hosts, this holiday season was an especially joyous one, with the hardships of the Israeli occupation that so often clouded previous Christmas Eve celebrations eased by the United Nations' recent recognition of an independent state of Palestine.

In his annual pre-Christmas homily, the top Roman Catholic cleric in the Holy Land, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, said the road to actual freedom was still long, but this year's festivities were doubly joyful, celebrating "the birth of Christ our Lord and the birth of the state of Palestine."

"The path (to statehood) remains long, and will require a united effort," added Twal, a Palestinian citizen of Jordan, at the patriarchate's headquarters in Jerusalem's Old City.

Then he set off in a procession for the West Bank city of Bethlehem, Jesus' traditional birthplace. There, he was reminded that life on the ground for Palestinians has not changed since the U.N. recognized their state last month in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

Twal had to enter the biblical town through a massive metal gate in the barrier of towering concrete slabs Israel built between Jerusalem and Bethlehem during a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings in the last decade. The Israeli military, which controls the crossing, said it significantly eased restrictions for the Christmas season.

Israel, backed by the United States, opposed the statehood bid, saying it was a Palestinian ploy to bypass negotiations. Talks stalled four years ago.

Hundreds of people greeted Twal in Manger Square, outside the Church of Nativity. The mood was festive under sunny skies, with children dressed in holiday finery or in Santa costumes, and marching bands playing in the streets.

After nightfall, a packed Manger Square, resplendent with strings of lights, decorations and a 17-meter (55-foot) Christmas tree, took on a festival atmosphere, as pilgrims mixed with locals.

A choral group from the Baptist Church in Jerusalem performed carols on one side of the square, handing out sheets of lyrics and encouraging others to sing along with songs such as "We Wish You A Merry Christmas."

Vendors sold balloons, cotton candy and corn on the cob, bands played Christmas songs and tourists packed cafes that are quiet most of the rest of the year. Pilgrims from around the world wandered the streets, singing Christmas carols and visiting churches.

Festivities led up to the Midnight Mass at St. Catherine's Church, next to the fourth-century Church of the Nativity, built over the grotto where tradition says Jesus was born.

Devout Christians said it was a moving experience to be so close to the origins of their faith.

"It's a special feeling to be here, it's an encounter with my soul and God," said Joanne Kurczewska, a professor at Warsaw University in Poland, who was visiting Bethlehem for a second time at Christmas.

Pastor Al Mucciarone, 61, from Short Hills, New Jersey, agreed.

"We come here to celebrate Jesus. This is a very important town. Great things come from small events. The son of God was born in this small village. We hope all will follow Jesus," he said.

Audra Kasparian, 45, from Salt Lake City, Utah, called her visit to Bethlehem "a life event to cherish forever. It is one of those events that is great to be a part of."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also visited Bethlehem and said "peace will prevail from the birthplace of Jesus, and we wish everyone peace and happiness," according to the official Palestinian Wafa news agency.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a special Christmas greeting too, wishing Christians "a year of security, prosperity and peace."

Christmas is the high point of the year in Bethlehem, which, like the rest of the West Bank, is struggling to recover from the economic hard times that followed the violent Palestinian uprising against Israel that broke out in late 2000.

Tourists and pilgrims who were scared away by the fighting have been returning in larger numbers. Last year's Christmas Eve celebration produced the highest turnout in more than a decade, with some 100,000 visitors, including foreign workers and Arab Christians from Israel.

The Israeli Tourism Ministry predicted a 25 percent drop from that level this year, following last month's clash between Israel and Palestinian militants in Gaza, which put a chill on tourist arrivals. Foreign tourists heading to Bethlehem must pass through Israel or the Israel-controlled border crossing into the West Bank from Jordan.

Outside the town's quaint Manger Square, Bethlehem is a drab, sprawling town with a dwindling Christian base ? a far cry from the pastoral village of biblical times.

About 22,000 Palestinians live in Bethlehem, according to the town council, but combined with several surrounding communities has a population of some 50,000 people.

Overall, there are only about 50,000 Christians in the West Bank, less than 3 percent of the population, the result of a lower birthrate and increased emigration. Bethlehem's Christians make up only a third of its residents, down from 75 percent a few decades ago.

Elias Joha, a 44-year-old Christian who runs a souvenir store, said even with the U.N. recognition, this year's celebrations were sad for him. He said most of his family has left, and that if he had the opportunity, he would do the same.

"These celebrations are not even for Christians because there are no Christians. It is going from bad to worse from all sides ... we are not enjoying Christmas as before."

Located on the southeastern outskirts of Jerusalem, Bethlehem has the highest unemployment in the West Bank, but the tourist boom of Christmas offered a brief reprieve. Officials say all 34 hotels in the town are fully booked for the Christmas season, including 13 new ones built this year.

Israel turned Bethlehem over to Palestinian civil control a few days before Christmas in 1995, and since then, residents have been celebrating the holiday regardless of their religion. Many Muslims took part in celebration Monday as well.

Christians across the region marked the holiday.

In Iraq, Christians gathered for services with tight security, including at Baghdad's Our Lady of Salvation church, the scene of a brutal October 2010 attack that killed more than 50 worshippers and wounded scores more.

Earlier this month, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, who is responsible for the Vatican's outreach to the Middle East's Catholic communities, traveled to Iraq and presided over a Mass to rededicate the church following renovations. In his homily, he remembered those who were killed and expressed hope that "the tears shed in this sacred place become the good seed of communion and witness and bear much fruit," according to an account by Vatican Radio.

The exact number of Christians remaining in Iraq is not known, but it has fallen sharply from as many as 1.4 million before the U.S.-led invasion nearly a decade ago to about 400,000 to 600,000, according community leaders cited by the U.S. State Department.

In the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI lit a Christmas peace candle set on the windowsill of his private studio.

Pilgrims, tourists and Romans gathered below in St. Peter's Square for the inauguration Monday evening of a Nativity scene and cheered when the flame was lit.

The pope was set to appear in St. Peter's Basilica to lead Christmas Eve Mass.

____

Associated Press writer Adam Schreck contributed from Baghdad.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/thousands-enjoy-merry-christmas-bethlehem-181240992.html

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