Top national storylines to watch: Week 2

Top national storylines to watch: Week 2

By Andrea Adelson

You heard from all the conference bloggers, now let us take a look at the biggest stories to watch around the country in Week 2:

1. Can “Monster Saturday” live up to the hype? With Miami-Ohio State, Notre Dame-Michigan, Florida State-Oklahoma and Penn State-Alabama headlining one enormously huge day, this certainly has the potential to be one of the best college football weekends in recent memory. Here’s hoping each game is competitive and we don’t end up with a bunch of duds.


2. Will the good vibes go sour in Ann Arbor or South Bend? There was much anticipation last week over Brian Kelly’s debut at Notre Dame and Rich Rodriguez starting the season on the hot seat at Michigan. Both coaches won, and hopes shot up higher. Kelly doesn’t have as much on the line as Rodriguez because he is only in his second game at Notre Dame. But you can bet Irish fans want to see a more wide-open offensive attack, while Wolverines fans want all Denard Robinson, all the time. Whoever loses will most certainly face withering scrutiny from a fan base that wants to win now.

DeMarco Murray is fourth in the country with 208 rushing yards.

3. How does the Florida State defense stop DeMarco Murray? Anticipation is high for the Stoops brothers matchup, but the onus is on FSU defensive coordinator Mark to stop DeMarco Murray. Last week against Utah State, Murray ran for 208 yards and two touchdowns. Samford wasn’t much of an early test, so this game is going to be a huge measuring stick to see how far the defense has come in just a few months.





4. How much is revenge really going to be a factor in the Miami-Ohio State game? Revenge has been a big theme among former players, who have talked about nothing but that since the summer. But you can bet the bigger theme for the current team is another R-word: respect. Players see this as a statement game, a way to show the country the Hurricanes program is back.


5. Can the bad snaps be snapped? Several teams across the country struggled with their snaps in Week 1. Woes plagued North Carolina, Oregon State, Virginia Tech but most notably Florida, which had 13 bad exchanges between Mike Pouncey and John Brantley. We’ll see whether the bad snaps were a result of first-week kinks or if this continues to be an issue that plagues teams.


6. Do Alabama fans bite their tongues? We already know about Joe Pa vs. Nick Saban, the history with Bear Bryant, and a freshman quarterback going into Tuscaloosa as the starting quarterback for the Nittany Lions. Will the fans heed Saban’s warning and hold back their boos when Penn State is introduced? Incidentally, Bryant would have turned 97 on Saturday.


7. How do Ole Miss and Kansas rebound from FCS losses? The Rebels have a far better chance of following up their embarrassing overtime loss to Jacksonville State with a win than Kansas does. Ole Miss goes to Tulane, one of the worst teams in the country last season. But Kansas has to play No. 15 Georgia Tech with a new quarterback and revamped offensive line. Coach Turner Gill announced Jordan Webb would start over Kale Pick on Saturday. Both played in the loss to North Dakota State last week.


8. How does Georgia freshman quarterback Aaron Murray handle a tough South Carolina defense? As SEC fans will tell you, the Gamecocks have had one of the best defenses in the league for the last few years. So will they be able to rattle the freshman quarterback making his first start on the road – especially with top target A.J. Green out? The games in this series have been pretty tight -- in the last nine years, seven have been decided by a touchdown or less.


9. Early conference play opens. This can either be good or bad depending on your point of view. Good if you think you can catch your opponent off guard since they don’t know much about you. Bad if you think your opponent can catch you off guard. The ACC, Conference USA, Pac-10 SEC, Mountain West, MAC, Sun Belt all have conference games in Week 2.


10. Can Tennessee slow down the Oregon offense? Putting 72 points up on New Mexico was certainly unexpected for the Ducks. But they also made a statement -- they are much more than just Jeremiah Masoli, who is no longer on the team. What does Oregon do for an encore?

Christians in Gaza Fear for Their Lives as Muslims Burn Bibles and Destroy Crosses

Christians in Gaza Fear for Their Lives as Muslims Burn Bibles and Destroy Crosses

by Kimberly West

After defeating their rivals in Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, Muslim extremists are focusing their attacks on Christians in Gaza City. Christians in Gaza City have issued an appeal to the international community and a plea for protection against the increased attacks by Muslim extremists.

Father Manuel Musallem, head of Gaza's Latin church, told the AP that Muslims have ransacked, burned and looted a school and convent that are part of the Gaza Strip's small Romany Catholic community. He told the AP that crosses were broken, damage was done to a statue of Jesus, and at the Rosary Sister School and nearby convent, prayer books were burned.

Gunmen used the roof of the school during the fighting, and the convent was "desecrated," Mussalem told the AP.

"Nothing happens by mistake these days," he said.

Father Musalam additionally told The Jerusalem Post that the Muslim gunmen used rocket-propeled grenades (RPGs) to blow through the doors of the church and school, before burning Bibles and destroying every cross they could get their hands on.

Catholic Online reports that the heads of Christian churches in the Holy Land have urged both sides to put aside their weapons, noting that the infighting diverted international attention from the national goal of Palestinian independence.

"This domestic fighting where brother draws his weapon against brother is detrimental to all the aspirations of achieving security and stability for the Palestinian people," they said. "In the name of the one and only God as well as in the name of each devastated Palestinian, many of whom are still dying, we urge our brothers in the Fatah and Hamas movements to listen to the voice of reason, truth and wisdom."

One young woman told the Catholic News Service that she was concerned the Islamic extremists would "enforce a strict dress code, forcing women to wear veils and robes." One Christian teenager spoke to the Catholic News Service on the condition that her name not be used. She said the days of fighting had been "very difficult" but they were "OK now."

"We all hope it will be better, but it will never ever be good with Hamas," she said.


Approximately 2,500 Christians live in Gaza.


CBN Reports--


Leaders of the Christian community in the Strip expressed deep concern over the fate of the Christians living under Hamas. They said most of them wanted to leave Gaza out of fear for their lives.

[Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud] Abbas condemned the attack as barbaric and despicable and blamed Hamas militiamen.

'The torching of the church is one of the fruits of the bloody coup that Hamas staged in the Gaza Strip,' he said.

Several Christian institutions in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank have been targeted by masked gunmen over the past few months.


Sources:


Gaza's Christians fear for their lives, The Jerusalem Post, June 18, 2007, http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull&cid=1181813061916 (Christians, Muslims, Islam, Palestine, Hamas, Israel, Terror, Terrorism, Jihad, Gaza)


Catholic compound ransacked in Gaza, The Associated Press, June 18, 2007, http://www.mlive.com/newsflash/international/index.ssf?/base/international-38/118216269043620.xml&storylist=international (Christians, Muslims, Islam, Palestine, Hamas, Israel, Terror, Terrorism, Jihad, Gaza)


Israel Today, Hamas turns on Gaza Christians, June 18, 2007, http://www.israeltoday.co.il/default.aspx?tabid=178&nid=13149 (Christians, Muslims, Islam, Palestine, Hamas, Israel, Terror, Terrorism, Jihad, Gaza)


Christians in Gaza Strip express concern about their future, Catholic News Service, June 18, 2007, http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=24422 (Christians, Muslims, Islam, Palestine, Hamas, Israel, Terror, Terrorism, Jihad, Gaza)


Praying for Gaza, CBN News, June 18, 2007, http://www.cbn.com/CBNnews/178934.aspx (Christians, Muslims, Islam, Palestine, Hamas, Israel, Terror, Terrorism, Jihad, Gaza

Al-Jazeera TV & Glenn Beck on "Hezbollah in Mexico"

Al-Jazeera TV & Glenn Beck on "Hezbollah in Mexico"

Glenn Beck on a new type of violence taking place at the Mexico/US border.

A video by Kuwaiti Professor Abdallah Al-Nafisi which aired on Al-Jazeera TV (Qatar), February 2, 2009 is shown halfway through Beck's presentation.

Professor Abdallah Al-Nafisi :

"Four pounds of anthrax in a suitcase this big carried by a fighter through tunnels from Mexico into the US, are guaranteed to kill 330,000 Americans within a single hour, if it is properly spread in population centers there. What a horrifying idea. 9/11 will be small change in comparison. Am I right? There is no need for airplanes, conspiracies, timings, and so on. One person with the courage to carry four pounds of anthrax will go to the White House lawn and will spread this "confetti" all over them and then will do these cries of joy. It will turn into a real "celebration".

Iran Arms Itself and Warns That if Attacked It Will Respond With Global Attack

Iran Arms Itself and Warns That if Attacked It Will Respond With Global Attack

Pressured by the United Nations (UN) and world powers because of its nuclear energy program, the revolutionary government of Iran has put into operation an atomic plant, and showed the world that they have an unmanned long range combat aircraft and warned the United States and Israel that it would trigger a global war should they be attacked by another country.

Using the language of apocalyptic war, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad promised a response "on a planetary scale" if his country is attacked. "Our options will have no limits, and will involve the whole planet," warned the Iranian president.

A day after putting into operation the first atomic plant in Iran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad showed the world their first unmanned long-range combat aircraft, developed and manufactured entirely within the country.

Called the Drone, the unmanned aerial vehicle is able to perform long-distance bombing against targets on the ground flying at high speed, piloted and commanded remotely by the military in distant locations from the aircraft and target to be reached.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended the presentation of the plane a day after inaugurating the Bushehr nuclear plant, built by Russia and aimed at generating energy.

According to Iranian journalists in February, Iran inaugurated a production line of two types of aircraft capable of bombing and reconnaissance. Before showing the Drone, the Iranian defense minister said his country was ready to unveil a project of "great importance" and that Iran's defense capability has reached a point that they do not need any help from other countries.

Unmanned aircraft are resources more and more used by armed forces worldwide, especially by the United States. However, critics of the weapon say that pilots and commanders of the operations, which are thousands of kilometers away while commanding the aircraft by remote control, are unable to correctly judge whether there is a need for a bombing a given target .

One day before presenting to the world the unmanned long range reconnaissance bomber, Iran launched its first atomic plant at Bushehr, in the south of the country on the shores of the Persian Gulf. It was built by Russian engineers, according information from Rosatom, the Russian nuclear company.

The director of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran, Ali Akbar Salehi, and the head of Rosatom, Sergei Kirienko, attended the official opening ceremony of the plant, approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The governments of Iran and Russia ensure that the Bushehr plant will be designed solely to generate electricity, and its facilities may not be used for military purposes. Salehi said that it is "historic" and "unforgettable" for Iran, and thanked Russia for its cooperation in the construction of the the plant and in the transfer of nuclear technology, according to Russian news agencies.

"Despite all the pressures and sanctions imposed by Western countries, we are witnessing the beginning of work on the biggest symbol of Iranian peaceful nuclear activities," Salehi said at the ceremony that put into operation the atomic plant in Iran.

The 82 tons of Russian nuclear fuel were transported to the chamber of the reactor core, which has a thousand megawatts of power. "From now on, the reactor is a nuclear power plant," said the Russian Sergei Kirienko.

Kirienko explained that the uranium fuel rods are loaded into the reactor in the coming weeks, and that the plant will begin generating electricity by the end of this year, several months earlier than planned initially.

The German company Siemens began work on the plant in 1974, but had to suspend the project after the explosion of the Iranian revolution in 1979. The Bushehr project is unique and has no analogues in the world. Its works began in 1974, and experts were able to build a plant on old foundations and equipment used by the German company more than 30 years ago.

The Russian corporation Atom Stroy Export resumed construction after signing a contract with Iran in February 1998, but since then the project suffered numerous delays due to suspicions of the international community about the existence of an Iranian military nuclear program.

Faced with criticism from the United States and Israel, Rosatom insists that the two phases of the nuclear cycle of the power plant, which can be used for both civilian and military purposes, take place on Russian territory.

This is the uranium enrichment and recycling of spent nuclear fuel for the power station, with additional written assurances from Iran that the fuel will be used exclusively in the central location for the generation of electricity. Moreover, Moscow and Tehran signed an additional protocol on the return to Russia of spent nuclear fuel.

Using a language of apocalyptic war, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad promised a response "on a planetary scale" if his country is attacked. "Our options have no limits, and will cover the whole planet," said the Iranian president, in response to a question asked by journalists about what would be the reaction from Tehran to an external attack.

"I believe that some individuals think about attacking Iran, in particular within the Zionist entity (Israel), but they know that Iran is an indestructible wall and I do not think their masters, the Americans, will allow them to do it," said Ahmadinejad. President Ahmadinejad defended, on the other hand, the resumption of the initiative of Brazil and Turkey on an exchange of enriched uranium.

Iran has put its nuclear power station in operation and says it needs enriched uranium to fuel future power plants and is counting on one day being able to produce 20,000 megawatts of electricity from nuclear sources. Meanwhile, world powers suspect Iran wants to equip itself with the atomic bomb, hiding behind its civilian nuclear program, despite their repeated denials.

The United States and Israel regularly say that they do not exclude a possible attack against Iran to put an end to its controversial nuclear program. The West suspects that Iran, despite repeated denials, is trying to produce an atomic bomb, making use of its civilian nuclear program.


ANTONIO CARLOS LACERDA

Pravda Ru BRAZIL


Translated from the Portuguese version by:

Lisa KARPOVA


PRAVDA.Ru

Lisa Karpova

50 Cent Calls In Hot 97 & Speaks On New Album, Jay-Z, Kanye, Shyne, Etc.

50 Cent Calls In Hot 97 & Speaks On New Album, Jay-Z, Kanye, Shyne, Etc.

 

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Russian Spy Anna Chapman Finds Celebrity at Home

Russian Spy Anna Chapman Finds Celebrity at Home

By Matthias Schepp in Moscow

Back to Russia, With Love

Former Russian spy Anna Chapman, arrested in the United States and sent back to her home country as part of an exchange of agents, is cashing in on her sex appeal. Ex-spook Vladimir Putin welcomed her home with open arms and she is on her way to becoming a star.

The Starlite is in a small park in downtown Moscow, a two-minute walk from the monument to legendary poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. The restaurant serves steak and french fries, and the wall is decorated with Life magazine covers from the 1960s and a license plate from the US state of Michigan. CNN flickers on a TV screen.

Anna Chapman, the spy with the Bond-girl image, has selected a restaurant for lunch that reminds her of her former life, of the four exciting years she spent in the United States before the FBI arrested her in June and exchanged her for American spies in Russia.

The Starlite is a little bit of Americana in the middle of Moscow, and a popular meeting point for people who are at home in more than one world. A Syrian with an American passport is ordering a hamburger at one of the tables. Western intelligence agencies believe he is the right-hand man of Viktor Bout, a notorious arms dealer. The Starlite has the reputation, not unjustifiably, of having been thoroughly bugged by Russian intelligence.


Hands Off Our Anna


Chapman is sitting in the far corner of the terrace. She is wearing a tight-fitting dress, and her face looks pale in contrast to her red hair. She sits with her back to the room. "I wear sunglasses and a hat on the street," she says.

And with good reason. Russia has been consumed by a Chapman cult since her return. The tabloids print page after page of love confessions by her previous boyfriends. In her hometown of Volgograd, known as the "City of Heroes" for its role in World War II, members of the city council have proposed making the 28-year-old an honorable citizen.

The local newspaper is sponsoring a contest for the most beautiful song written for Anna. The lyrics of the frontrunner are: "America is spying on everyone, and its enemies cannot sleep in peace. They're looking for bin Laden, but what does our girl have to do with it? Hands off our Anna."


A Face for Anti-American Sentiment


Chapman has become a fetish for a resentful nation, embodying most Russians' deep dislike of the United States. Most of all, the Anna cult helps to gloss over the severely battered reputation of Russia's intelligence agencies, which are infected by the same ailments afflicting the entire country: nepotism, corruption and greed.

The head of Russian foreign intelligence, for example, spends his weekends relaxing at a country house on a 10,000-square-meter (roughly two-acre) property. His annual salary of €140,000 ($178,000) is hardly sufficient to pay for the estate or, for that matter, for his 587-square-meter (6,300-square-foot) apartment in Moscow. Russians are very familiar with these figures, because President Dmitry Medvedev has forced the heads of the intelligence agencies to disclose their assets.

Anna, looking self-conscious as she sits in the Starlite, personifies the country's misery. She is no master spy, no creation of the KGB, feared, in part, for its efficiency. She is an attractive intern, not a warrior.


A New Mata Hari?


"My website will be up and running soon," she says. "The contact information for my PR people will be listed there. I am not permitted to talk about my time in America." Her handlers are probably the ones who issued the instructions.

But they apparently did not bar her from capitalizing on her story. She has already posed for the men's magazine Zhara ("Heat") in Moscow's Baltschug Kempinski Hotel.

The publisher characterizes the photos as "revealing," and promises that "Anna's mysterious eyes will drive men to distraction. Next to Mata Hari, Anna is simply the spy with the greatest sex appeal."

Zhara is owned by News Media Russia, the country's most successful tabloid publisher. An associate of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin holds the majority stake in the company.


Welcomed by Putin With Open Arms


Putin, himself a former agent, warmly welcomed Chapman and the other nine spies expelled from the United States, and even sang old fighting songs with them. There is speculation in the media over whether Chapman will run for office in next year's elections.

She wouldn't be the first agent to land a seat in the Russian parliament, the Duma. Andrey Lugovoy made it to second place on ultra-nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky's list of candidates for the parliamentary elections. Lugovoy is believed to be one of the suspects in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, a former Russian agent who defected to the United Kingdom and was poisoned with radioactive polonium-210 -- charges that Lugovoy, of course, denies.

Anatoly Korendyasev, the deputy who represents Chapman's native Volgograd in Putin's United Russia party, is about to retire. Chapman, it seems, would be an ideal replacement, because the seat would remain in the family, so to speak. Korendyasev was also an intelligence agent; in fact, he even held the rank of general.

Political scientist Andrey Mironov has proposed establishing a Chapman museum at her former school. Tatyana Badyeshko, the principal of High School No. 11, remembers her most prominent former student well. She says that she was a respectable girl, but -- as one would expect -- with a thirst for adventure. "Perhaps that's what drove her to get involved in these spy games," says the principal. "But everything Anna did was out of love for her fatherland."


Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan

Ochocinco's coach calls his tweets "nonsense"

Lewis: Ochocinco's tweets are 'nonsense'

CINCINNATI (AP)

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis doesn't care about Chad Ochocinco's dinner plans or anything else in his personal life.

Follow him on Twitter? Not a chance.

''I don't follow him because it's just a bunch of nonsense,'' Lewis said Wednesday. ''I don't really care where he goes to eat and so forth, or who he buys dinner for. But I guess (for) a lot of people, that gives them something to do during the day. I have no problem filling my day up.''

A lot of Ochocino's tweets involve teammate Terrell Owens, who signed with the Bengals at the start of training camp. The tandem has dubbed themselves ''Batman and Robin,'' and keep a conversation going through their social media networks.

Both have a reality show on VH-1. They're getting a weekly talk show on the Versus cable network - ''The T.Ocho Show'' - that will run for a half hour starting Oct. 12. They'll discuss their views on the NFL, Twitter and their other reality shows.

Ochocinco was fined $25,000 by the NFL for tweeting during a preseason game, a violation of the league's restrictions on players using social media. The receiver apologized and has followed the guidelines since.

The Bengals open the season Sunday at New England. Patriots coach Bill Belichick befriended Ochocinco at a Pro Bowl and enjoys his interactions with the receiver.

Asked by media in New England whether he follows Ochocinco's tweets, Belichick smiled and said, ''I don't do Twitter or MyFace or any of that stuff,'' a takeoff on MySpace and Facebook.

It's not the first time that Belichick has joked about the social networking sites. Former Patriot Heath Evans wrote in a blog leading up to the Super Bowl last season that Belichick is one of the funniest people he knows.

''When MySpace and Facebook first came out, coach Bill warned us to stay off 'Yearbook and MyFace,''' Evans wrote. ''Hopefully, that gives you guys a little insight into New England's favorite coach.''

America's Real Most Wanted : Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah

America's Real Most Wanted : Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah

by Jean-Philippe Gibson

Adnan G. El Shukrijumah must be found

Or else he'll redefine the word hellhound

And truly shake disbelief down to the ground.

Adnan aims to cause much more than bloodshed.

The carnage that his hostility treads

Seeks to make nine eleven a watershed.

America this nuclear technician

Will use his knowledge with evil precision.

Large scale mass murder is his profession.

Finding Jafar the Pilot is a must.

We can't let him indulge in his bloody lust.

He has two choices: Mass Murderer or bust.

In our search for Osama we must remain undaunted,

But Adnan has become America's real most wanted.