Google search gets more personal, raises hackles (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Google is sifting through the photos and commentary on its blossoming social network so its Internet search results can include more personal information.

The additional personal touches that began to roll out Tuesday mark another step toward one of Google's most ambitious goals. The Internet search leader eventually hopes to know enough about each of its users so it can tailor its results to fit the unique interests of each person looking for something.

Different people should start seeing different search results more frequently now that Google Inc. is importing content from its 6-month-old Plus service, a product that the company introduced in an attempt to counter the popularity of Facebook's online hangout and Twitter's short-messaging hub. Google's main search results page also will start highlighting more content from an older online photo service called Picasa.

Other features will recommend additional people and companies to follow on Plus, based on their search requests. Those suggestions will exclude publicly accessible information about accounts on Facebook and Twitter.

The preferential treatment for Plus might amplify concerns about the objectivity of Google's search results _a focal point of broad regulatory investigations in the U.S. and Europe.

The Federal Trade Commission, attorneys general in six states, and the European Commission are looking into complaints alleging Google has been unfairly exploiting its dominance in Internet search to promote its other services while ignoring or downplaying pertinent information about its rivals.

The exclusive Plus recommendations in Google's search results are "exactly the kind of thing that the antitrust people are screaming about," said Danny Sullivan, an industry expert who has been following Google since the 1990s and is now editor of SearchEngineLand.com. "This is very un-Google like. It's unfair to other services and it's unfair to people."

Sullivan's criticism is especially striking because he has generally defended other search features that highlight Google's own services.

Twitter said it's worried the added emphasis on Plus in Google's search results will make it more difficult to find breaking news and other compelling information shared within the 250 million messages, or tweets, posted on its service each day.

"We think that's bad for people, publishers, news organizations and Twitter users," Twitter said in a statement.

Facebook didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Google says its efforts to reel in more information from other sharing services are frequently thwarted by the providers. For instance, Twitter puts explicit instructions in its computer computing telling Google not to index the material, according to Google.

"Ushering in the new era of social and private data search will take close cooperation, and we hope other sites participate so we can provide the best possible experience for our users," Google said in a statement issued after it was asked about its added emphasis on Plus in its search results.

Facebook and Twitter pose a threat to Google because they don't allow Google's search engine to log most of the photos, links and observations cascading through those services. That's troublesome to Google because its search engine could become less useful if its system can't analyze what people are signaling is important to them so those preferences can be factored into the results.

Twitter once gave Google better access to the tweets flowing through its service as part of a 2009 licensing agreement, but that deal expired last summer. Microsoft Corp.'s Bing search engine is still paying to mine into Twitter's service.

Facebook has long cooperated with Bing, partly because Microsoft bought a 1.6 percent stake in the company in 2007. At the same time, Facebook has steadfastly resisted Google's attempts to peer deeper into its social network.

That's one of the reasons Google started Plus, which is now hatching "Search, plus Your World."

The feature will be automatically turned on for all English-language searches made by users logged into Google. Turning off the personal results permanently will require changing a setting in Google's personal preferences. The personal results can also be excluded on a search-by-search basis by clicking on an icon of the globe on the results page (the personal results will be denoted by a button featuring a human's silhouette).

If the new formula works as Google expects, the search results will include pertinent information culled from the requestor's Plus account. For instance, a query about the San Francisco 49ers might include links and comments made about the football team by other people in one of the social circles on the user's Plus account. A search request that includes the name of a dog owned by the user or a friend might turn up photos of the pet that have been posted on Plus and Picasa.

"This is going to open up a whole new avenue in search," said Ben Gomes, a Google fellow.

Google isn't the first to do this. Bing has been mining some of the preferences and other information shared on Facebook since May. But Google's emphasis on more personal results figures to attract more attention because its search engine is so dominant. It handles about two-thirds of the Internet search requests made in the U.S. while Bing processes less than one-third, including the activity that it comes through a partnership with Yahoo Inc.

Facebook, though, has greater insights into personal tastes. That's because its nearly 8-year-old social network boasts more than 800 million users who share more than 1.5 billion photos alone each week. In October, Google said Plus had more than 40 million users. Google hasn't updated the information since then, although some external studies have estimated Plus began the new year with 60 million to 70 million users.

The search changes Some of Google's changes may help prod more people into joining Plus.

As part of Tuesday's expansion, the profile pictures of Plus accountholders will appear in the drop-down suggestions on Google's search box. So when typing in "Mary," you may see those named Mary in your circle along with those Google believes you'd find interesting.

Searches on general topics such as "music" and "sports," will generate suggestions on people and companies that have Plus accounts. Sullivan considers this be unfair because some people might not have Plus accounts, or share more interesting information on their Twitter page.

While Google is hoping the addition of more personal results will make its search engine even more useful, the changes also could spook some people as they realize how much information is being compiled about them. Google tried to minimize privacy concerns by recently switching to technology that encrypts all its search results to protect the information from slipping out.

Previous privacy missteps by both Google and Facebook resulted in both companies entering into settlements with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. The FTC agreements require Google and Facebook to submit to external audits of their privacy practices every other year.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120110/ap_on_hi_te/us_tec_google_personal_search

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Video: Matthews: Romney gave a ?restoration? speech in N.H.

See a national park for free this weekend

The National Park Service (NPS) is putting out the welcome mat. In an effort to introduce more people to America?s national parks ? and to commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. ? NPS is waiving admission fees at parks that typically charge them Jan. 14?16.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45963752#45963752

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Is West waging 'covert war' against Iran?

The Obama administration is denying any role in the killing of an Iranian university professor working at a key nuclear facility. NBC's Richard Engel reports.

By msnbc.com staff

Story updated 3 a.m. ET:

The Obama administration denied any role in the assassination on Wednesday of an Iranian nuclear scientist, in response to suspicion that Israel or the United States were involved in the attack - and similar previous incidents.

Nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, 32,?was killed?Wednesday by a magnetic bomb reportedly attached to his car by two assailants on a motorcycle in traffic. The cars of three other Iranian scientists, at least two of whom were working on nuclear activities,?were?blown up in 2010 and 2011 in similar circumstances.


Iran, and many analysts in the region, suspect outside involvement in the incidents.

"Instead of actually fighting a conventional war, Western powers and their allies appear to be relying on covert war tactics to try to delay and degrade Iran's nuclear advancement," said Theodore Karasik, a security expert at the Dubai-based Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis.

But the U.S. has insisted it had nothing to do with Wednesday's killing.

Iranian Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, in charge while President?Mahmoud Ahmadinejad travels in Latin America, told state television that?"this terrorist act was carried out by agents of the Zionist regime (Israel) and by those who claim to be combating terrorism (the United States) with the aim of stopping our scientists from serving" Iran.

He said Iran's nuclear program would go on.

Iran has said it is?developing nuclear capabilities only?for energy and other peaceful purposes, but the United States and its allies accuse it of wanting to create a nuclear weapon. Four rounds of sanctions have been imposed on Iran.?On Jan. 23, European Union foreign ministers plan to discuss a possible oil export embargo, adding further pressure.

Iran urged the U.N. Security Council and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon?to condemn the assassinations of scientists, calling the killings?"cruel, inhumane and criminal acts of terrorism." Iran's U.N. Ambassador Mohammad Khazaee appealed to Ban and the 15-nation council,?"Any kind of political and economic pressures or terrorist attacks targeting the Iranian nuclear scientists, could not prevent our nation in exercising this right" to pursue its nuclear program, Khazaee said in a letter obtained by Reuters.

'Unnatural' happenings
The Obama administration denied any U.S. involvement. Israel did not deny involvement, and there are hints that the Jewish state at least had advance knowledge.?

The Associated Press reported that??Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz told a closed meeting of Israel's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Tuesday that "2012 is expected to be a critical year for Iran." He cited "the confluence of efforts to advance the nuclear program, internal leadership changes, continued international pressure and things that happen to it unnaturally."

Gantz's testimony was leaked by a meeting participant who spoke on condition of anonymity.

On Wednesday, Israel's chief military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, posted on Facebook: "I don't know who settled the score with the Iranian scientist, but I certainly am not shedding a tear," according to a Reuters report.

Hazhir Teimourian, an Iran expert at the Limehouse Group of Analysts in London, stressed to Reuters that it was impossible to be certain who carried out the attack. But he said Israel was a logical candidate.

"The Israelis really have the ability and the incentive," he said.

List of attacks
Iran has accused the Mossad, the CIA and Britain's spy agency of engaging in an underground campaign against nuclear-related targets, including at least four killings since early 2007. They include:

  • In January 2010, a physics professor, Massoud Ali Mohammadi, was killed by a bomb in a motorcycle?that blew up near his car as he left his Tehran home?for work.
  • In November 2010,?scientist Majid Shahriari, who managed a "major project" for Iran's Atomic Energy Organization was killed and?colleague?Fereydoon Abbasi, on the U.N. Security Council?s sanctions list for ties to the Iranian nuclear effort, was wounded when motorcyclists attached magnetized bombs to?their cars in separate parts of Tehran.
  • In July 2011, Darioush Rezaeinejad, who allegedly was working on a nuclear detonator, was shot in the neck outside his daughter's Tehran kindergarten.
  • In 2007, nuclear scientist Ardeshir Hosseinpour died of gas poisoning.

Another key attack was the release of a malicious computer virus known as Stuxnet in 2010 that temporarily disrupted controls of some Iranian centrifuges ? a key component in nuclear fuel production.

Ronen Bergman, an investigative journalist with the Yediot Ahronot daily and expert on Israeli intelligence affairs, said the Mossad has "for years" targeted enemies that include "nuclear proliferators."

"The outcome of such assassinations are the actual neutralization of the main scientists and the intimidation of those left behind," he said.

Israel measures the gains in terms of the delays they cause Iranians.

"They are not keeping to the schedules they would like to keep to," former Mossad spymaster Meir Dagan said in a recent television interview, smilingly crediting the apparent sabotage spree to "God, who controls everything."

It also provokes panic in surviving colleagues, said an Israel official, generating a phenomenon that Mossad veterans dub "virtual defection."

"It's not that we've been seeing mass resignations, but rather a sense of spreading paranoia given the degree to which their security has been compromised," the official, who has extensive Iran expertise, told Reuters.

"It means they have to take more precautions, including, perhaps, being a little less keen to stand out for excellence in their nuclear work. That slows things down."

Israeli attacks
Israel has an admitted history of state-sponsored assassination and intimidation, from letter-bombs it sent German scientists serving Egypt's missile program in the 1960s to the Mossad hunt, using guns and booby-traps, for Palestinians involved in killing 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Olympics.

More recently, Israeli air-launched missiles and special forces picked off Palestinian uprising leaders. In 1995, motorbike-borne gunmen killed Islamic Jihad chief Fathi Shiqaqi in Malta, and another suspected Mossad team smothered Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in his Dubai hotel in 2010.

Proponents of such tactics say they stave off more ruinous open war and few voices are raised in Israel in condemnation. Mabhouh had helped smuggle rockets to Palestinians, a threat Israel cited in justifying its 2008-2009 offensive on the Gaza Strip, amid international outcry at the high civilian toll.

Also on Wednesday:

Clinton cites danger:?Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, reiterating that the U.S. played no role in the killing of Roshan, said the United States is looking for an international understanding with Iran that ends its uranium enrichment program.called recent Iranian threats to close off the Persian Gulf "provocative and dangerous." She said the U.S. was committed to keeping the international waterway open. She called it "part of the lifeline that keeps oil and gas moving around the world." About 35 percent of the world's seaborne traded oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz.?

Slammed at the U.N.: France, Britain, Germany and the United States on Wednesday took advantage of a closed-door meeting of the U.N. Security Council to condemn Iran's decision to begin enriching uranium at an underground bunker.?"It's a worrying development," French Deputy Ambassador Martin Briens told reporters. He added that Tehran's new move was a violation of multiple resolutions of the U.N. Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Agency's board of governors.?"We see this as a step of escalation by ... Iran," Deputy German Ambassador Miguel Berger said.

Cuba visit:????Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Havana for a one-day visit. Reuters reported that Ahmadinejad was greeted by one of Cuba's vice presidents, Esteban Lazo, and was driven away in a black Mercedes ahead of a meeting with President Raul Castro.?Cuba was his third stop on a Latin American tour meant to show support from four leftist-led nations - Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador -- as Iran is increasingly isolated by tightening Western economic sanctions over its uclear program.

Reuters, The Associated Press, The New York Times and msnbc.com's Jim Gold contributed to this article.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

?

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/11/10118910-nuclear-killing-is-west-waging-covert-war-against-iran

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Australia eases sanctions against Myanmar (AP)

YANGON, Myanmar ? Australia says it is easing some restrictions on members of Myanmar's ruling elite in response to political reforms by the military-backed government.

Australia's Foreign Affairs Department says Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd announced the move Monday during a visit to Indonesia.

Australia bars visits by senior Myanmar officials and bans financial transactions with them. Like other Western nations, it imposed the sanctions due to abuses by the previous military government.

The new policy removes former Cabinet ministers who have left politics and tourism officials from the sanctions list.

Recent reforms such as legalization of labor unions have also won the support of the pro-democracy movement of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party plans to contest by-elections in April.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120109/ap_on_re_as/as_myanmar_politics

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Glam Slam: Globes Makeup Trends (omg!)

Angelina Jolie attends the 'Inglourious Basterds' Premiere at the Grand Theatre Lumiere during the 62nd Annual Cannes Film Festival on May 20, 2009 in Cannes, France -- WireImage

The countdown is on for this Sunday's star-studded Golden Globes. Yay -- can't wait to check out all the stars...from their gowns to the hair and their makeup.

"On the red carpet, everyone wants to look new and relevant in today's hottest fashion and beauty trends with a glamorous twist, says celebrity makeup maven Sonia Kashuk, "so a lot of what we are going to see this year will be a variation on this season's biggest trends."

PLAY IT NOW: Access Hollywood Live: Sofia Vergara Talks Getting Ready For The 2012 Golden Globes

Sonia shares her beauty forecast for the Globes and how you can achieve the look with her affordable makeup, which is available at Target.

"Lips will take center stage and with the retro trend in full swing, there will be a lot of rich bordeaux and deep bright reds (like Angelina's!) reminiscent of the '70s and '80s. Color and sparkle will be big this year with the focus on metallic and jewel tones. Of course there will be many starlets sporting the timeless look of a beautiful nude face as well.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Golden Globes 2012: And The TV Nominees Are...

I love a cleaner, more natural face on the red carpet because it is fresh, modern and universally flattering. The first step to getting this look is creating flawless skin. Once your 'canvas' is smooth and primed, cover imperfections and even out tone with a luminous foundation. I am a big believer that dewy radiance is always better than matte, flat skin. Use a highlighter, such as my Super Sheer Shimmering Highlighter, along the top of the cheekbones to catch the light and create a beautiful glow. There are two directions you can take with this look: a strong mouth with a soft eye or natural face with a delicate smokey eye. If you decide to focus on the mouth, keep the eye subtle by using a wash of shimmering color, such as any of the shades in my Eye Shadow Quad in Showstoppers, over lids, keeping application light and sheer. Flush out cheeks, applying blush to the apples in a circular motion, working your way back towards the hairline. Then choose a bright red or pink lip color to make the face pop--I personally love a matte red like my Velvety Matte Lip Crayon in Rosey Nude. The trick with a bold lip color is to make sure it is not overly defined which will look dated. Avoid this by using your fingertips to blur the lip line. If you opt for the subtle smokey eye, use a coral-peach blush on the cheeks for some healthy color and apply a soft nude lip color, such as my Luxury Lip Color in Truffle. Next, turn your attention to the eye. Using shades of tan and taupe create a gradation of color over the lid, with the lightest tone at the center, medium hue in the crease, and darkest shade at the lash line for definition. Make sure everything is buffed and smudged -- you never want to see where one color ends or begins.

While every celebrity will have their own customized look from head to toe, you can bet on one thing for them all to have in common is lashes! No red carpet face is complete without the extra drama of false eyelashes and no matter what aesthetic you are trying to achieve, throwing on a pair of lashes is sure to wow."

For more info on Sonia, head to www.target.com and if you are in the Los Angeles area this weekend, you can meet Sonia and her team in person at free pop-up makeover events. On Saturday January 14, she will be at the Target in Thousand Oaks and at Target in Upland on Sunday January 15.

VIEW THE PHOTOS: Golden Globes 2012: And The Movie Nominees Are...

Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_glam_slam_globes_makeup_trends195149825/44147272/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/glam-slam-globes-makeup-trends-195149825.html

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Rep: Nick Cannon released from the hospital

(AP) ? Nick Cannon is out of the hospital after battling what wife Mariah Carey called "mild kidney failure."

The entertainer was hospitalized in Aspen, Colo., last week after he fell ill while the couple was on vacation there. He was transferred to a Los Angeles hospital a few days later. Carey said he was suffering from a form of kidney failure but no further details were released.

In a statement Monday, Cannon's publicist Tracy Nguyen (WIHN) said he's now "resting and recovering at home" and thanks everyone who was concerned about him.

She says he'll return to his live morning radio show, "Rollin' with Nick Cannon," on Jan. 17.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-09-US-People-Nick-Cannon/id-630ee15fa39346d2b823ce0851b495cb

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The Research Works Act would deny taxpayers access to federally funded research.

The short of it (covered in depth by Michael Eisen, and Razib tipped me off to the issue) is that Carolyn Maloney, a congresswoman funded by Elsevier, which is a major for-profit publishing company, is trying to pass the Research Works Act, which would deny Americans free access to research funded by taxpayer money. Currently, any research funded by the National Institute of Health must be made freely available to the public 12 months after publication. You can see why for-profit publishing companies do not like this policy. After 12 months, they can no longer turn a profit on any research they publish that was funded by the NIH. From Eisen?s post:

The policy has provided access for physicians and their patients, teachers and their students, policymakers and the public?to hundreds of thousands of taxpayer-funded studies that would otherwise have been locked behind expensive publisher paywalls, accessible only to a small fraction of researchers at elite and wealthy universities.

The policy has been popular ? especially among disease and patient advocacy groups fighting to empower the people they represent to make wise healthcare decision, and teachers educating the next generation of researchers and caregivers.

But the policy has been quite unpopular with a powerful publishing cartels that are hellbent on denying US taxpayers access to and benefits from research they paid to produce.

[...]

So I urge you to call/write/email/tweet Representative Maloney today, and tell her you support taxpayer access to biomedical research results. Ask her why she wants cancer patients to pay Elsevier $25 to access articles they?ve already paid for. And demand that she withdraw H.R. 3699.

Representative Maloney:

Twitter: @RepMaloney @CarolynBMaloney

Phone: 202-225-7944

FAX: 202-225-4709

Email: Use this?form

EDIT: Thanks to commenter Cogitari for pointing out something I originally meant to put in this post, which is that writing to your OWN congressperson may be your best bet at getting a response. You can find your congresspeople by going to house.gov and senate.gov and using the search tool in the top right corner of each.

My fellow SciAm-blogger Janet has a post up discussing the ethical issues involved in the proposed act:

Let?s take this at the most basic level. If public money is used to fund scientific research, does the public have a legitimate expectation that the knowledge produced by that research will be shared with the public? If not, why not?

Kevin Zelnio has a good discussion of the topic up on his blog, and there?s also a roundup of blog posts on the topic here.Site Meter

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=6bec7d98a3a0870bb4694baf9df3d59f

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Dual debates a chance to throw Romney off stride (AP)

MANCHESTER, N.H. ? Republican rivals for the presidential nomination have a chance to knock front-runner Mitt Romney, who has a commanding lead in New Hampshire polls, off his perch in back-to-back weekend debates that could help define the contest.

In a race largely driven by 13 previous sparring matches, Romney has emerged mostly unscathed by the six or seven opponents who have flanked his debate position on center stage.

That could change with Saturday night's debate or the one scheduled Sunday morning, as rivals Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum seek to stop Romney's march to the GOP nomination. In particular, Gingrich is looking to keep his candidacy afloat while Santorum hopes to capitalize on his neck-and-neck performance against Romney in Iowa's caucuses.

There are fewer than 12 hours between an ABC News/WMUR debate Saturday and an NBC News/Facebook debate on Sunday's "Meet the Press."

"Two debates! One tomorrow night, one the next morning. Why even stop?" Romney declared Friday at a campaign stop in Tilton. "Why don't we just go right through? It's nonstop!"

Debates can have unforeseen impact. Just days before the New Hampshire primary in 2008, Democratic candidate Barack Obama used that venue to call rival Hillary Rodham Clinton "likable enough" ? a dismissive comment that didn't sit well with her supporters. Obama, who had a significant lead in polls, lost the New Hampshire primary.

Romney's rivals have a serious gap to close in New Hampshire ? and, recent polls show, in upcoming South Carolina. Two surveys out Friday show Romney up at least 20 percentage points over Texas Rep. Ron Paul, his next-closest opponent.

Paul visited the Windmill Restaurant in Concord Saturday morning where he shook hands and chatted with voters. He had planned to have breakfast there but was whisked out by staff who said they didn't want patrons' meals disrupted by the crush of reporters and camera crews.

Paul had no other events until Saturday's debate. Instead his son, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, will campaign on his behalf in Concord and Windham.

So far, Romney's rivals have been looking past the first-in-the-nation primary state. Santorum has campaigned here but has been peppered with hostile questions about his opposition to gay marriage and comments about homosexuality.

Gingrich has been talking of merely holding Romney's winning total under 50 percent in New Hampshire while Paul, who arrived in the state on Friday, has focused his criticism on Santorum.

"He brags about being for a balanced budget amendment but never did anything about it," Paul said of Santorum's time in the Senate. "He voted four or five times to raise the debt ceiling. He voted to double the size of the Department of Education."

Gingrich, who has made his mark during debates, has aggressively criticized Romney in recent days. He called Romney a "liar" and also said President Barack Obama would laugh at Romney if he were the nominee.

Santorum has also gone after Romney, seeking to undercut the former venture capitalist's record as a turnaround expert.

"Americans don't want someone to manage Washington," he said Saturday while campaigning in Goffstown, N.H. "They want someone who can fundamentally change Washington."

The former senator from Pennsylvania finished a surprisingly strong second in the Iowa caucuses, coming within eight votes of victory. But he has little time to try to convert that near-victory into a campaign organization in New Hampshire.

Recognizing he is unlikely to topple Romney here, Santorum instead cast himself as a strong challenger to Obama for November.

"Who are you, who are you to say that every child in America should go to college?" Santorum said of Obama during a forum at St. Anselm College near Manchester. "If one of my kids wants to go and be an auto mechanic, good for him. ... It's the kind of snobbery from those who think they know how to run our lives."

As of last month, New Hampshire had about 232,000 registered Republicans, 223,000 Democrats and 313,000 undeclared voters, who can vote in either primary. The state also allows same-day voter registration at the polls.

New Hampshire Secretary of State Bill Gardner says he expects 250,000 ballots to be cast in Tuesday's highly contested Republican presidential primary. In 2008, when both sides had contested races, just over 241,000 ballots were cast in the GOP primary and 289,000 in the Democratic primary.

Looking ahead, a Time/CNN poll in South Carolina showed Romney leading Santorum with 37 percent of the vote.

Santorum is set to leave Sunday for South Carolina for a half-day of campaigning. Romney has events planned in New Hampshire through primary day on Tuesday.

___

Associated Press writer Beth Fouhy in Concord and Philip Elliott in Goffstown contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120107/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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Israel charges five settlers with army base rampage (Reuters)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) ? Israel charged five Jewish settlers on Sunday with orchestrating a riot in an army base in the West Bank in a bid to foil plans to dismantle illegal settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.

The December 13 rampage sparked outrage in Israel where the conscript military is a revered institution and a symbol of unity. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged a swift crackdown against the perpetrators.

Israel continues to expand larger settlements in land Palestinians seek for a state, but has taken steps to evacuate smaller outposts built without government authorization.

The four-page charge document said the men, who had been arrested shortly after the attack, had sought to thwart the eviction of unauthorized settlements. It listed seven counts including conspiring to riot, illegally entering a military base and tracking army movement in the West Bank.

"For a long period they planned ways to foil the evacuation of outposts in Samaria (northern West Bank)," the Justice Ministry said in a statement.

The prosecutors accused the men of organizing dozens of activists who broke into the army base, damaged property and threw stones at military vehicles, injuring a senior officer.

The document said the men were in possession of classified military documents and had received information from Israeli soldiers about a planned eviction.

Adi Keidar, a lawyer for three of the suspects, told Israel's Army Radio that "one cannot make any connection between the defendants and the incidents at the base."

Most countries regard as illegal all settlements Israel has constructed on land captured in a 1967 war. The United States has said settlement building harms the prospects of peace with the Palestinians.

The charges carried a maximum five-year prison term, Keidar said. According to the document, four of the settlers were issued restraining orders last year, keeping them away from the West Bank.

(Writing by Maayan Lubell; Editing by Alessandra Rizzo)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/usmilitary/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120108/wl_nm/us_palestinians_israel_settlers

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