BBC Sports Personality of Year: Mark Cavendish left 'speechless' after win

Mark Cavendish was last night named BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

The cyclist won the Road Race World Championship in Copenhagen in September, the first British champion since Tom Simpson in 1965. He also won five stages of the 2011 Tour de France, taking his total to 20, and this year's green jersey. Open golf champion Darren Clarke finished second with 5,000m world champion Mo Farah in third.

"I'm absolutely speechless really," he said on receiving the prize. "And I think a few of the guys, my team-mates here, will say that's a rare thing. But without those guys this wouldn't be close to possible. I had a group of guys in Copenhagen who rode incredibly, to bring the rainbow jersey back to Britain."

Cavendish was delighted to see the recognition for his sport. "For me it's a landmark in cycling, I think I take this on behalf of cycling," he said. "For cycling to be recognised in a non-Olympic year, a few years ago it would be unheard of. It's incredible to see it."

Five-time Olympic gold medal winner Steve Redgrave, meanwhile, won the Lifetime Achievement Award. He was praised by the Princess Royal for his contribution to British sport, and hopes that it will continue. "It really is a lifetime of achievement," she said.

"Frankly we wouldn't have done as well in our Olympic bid if it wasn't for Sir Steve. His fundraising activities have continued, not only with his own foundation but charities up and down the country. I hope this is a lifetime achievement award ? so far!"

The England cricket team were named team of the year, after a remarkable 2011 in which they became the No1 Test team in the world. The year started with England completing a 3-1 Ashes victory in Australia, their first win in an away Ashes series for 24 years. They rose to first place in the summer, after beating India 4-0 at home.

Captain Andrew Strauss was unsurprisingly delighted with the award. "This is a very special award for us to win," he said. "There are so many great teams who have won this in the past. The team is more important than the individual and we've all bought into that. Thanks to [team director] Andy Flower and the coaching staff, they have pushed us when we didn't want to be pushed."

As a reward for the same achievements, team director Flower won coach of the year. Flower has been in charge since early 2009, and has overseen the radical transformation in England's fortunes which culminated in the successes of 2011.

"This is a very proud moment for me to stand here, I moved from Zimbabwe a few years ago and England has been very good to me and my family," Flower said. "I'm very proud to be part of the England cricket team. They have done some wonderful things over the last couple of years. I think everyone in this room realises it's the players that make the hard decisions, play under pressure and have to deliver. It's great to have a good bunch of players and a good bunch of people to work with."

Teenage golfer Lauren Taylor was named Young Sports Personality of the Year. The 17-year-old won the Ladies' British Open Amateur Championship and Royal Portrush in June, becoming the tournament's youngest winner in its 112-year history. She also competed in the British Open at Carnoustie.

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Gridlock in Congress could hurt 1.1 million unemployed Californians (San Jose Mercury News)

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Exclusive: North Korea's military to share power with Kim's heir (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? North Korea will shift to collective rule from a strongman dictatorship after last week's death of Kim Jong-il, although his untested young son will be at the head of the ruling coterie, a source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing said.

The source added that the military, which is trying to develop a nuclear arsenal, has pledged allegiance to the untested Kim Jong-un, who takes over the family dynasty that has ruled North Korea since it was founded after World War Two.

The source declined to be identified but has correctly predicted events in the past, telling Reuters about the North's first nuclear test in 2006 before it took place.

The comments are the first signal that North Korea is following a course that many analysts have anticipated -- it will be governed by a group of people for the first time since it was founded in 1948.

Both Kim Jong-il and his father Kim Il-sung were all-powerful, authoritarian rulers of the isolated state.

The situation in North Korea appeared stable after the military gave its backing to Kim Jong-un, the source said.

"It's very unlikely," the source said when asked about the possibility of a military coup. "The military has pledged allegiance to Kim Jong-un."

North Korea's collective leadership will include Kim Jong-un, his uncle and the military, the source said.

Jang Song-thaek, 65, brother-in-law of Kim Jong-il and the younger Kim's uncle, is seen as the power behind the throne along with his wife Kim Kyong-hui, Kim Jong-il's sister. So too is Ri Yong-ho, the rising star of the North's military and currently its most senior general.

The younger Kim, who is in his late 20s, has his own supporters but is not strong enough to consolidate power, analysts said.

"I know that he's been able to build a group of supporters around himself who are of his generation," said Koh Yu-hwan, president of the Korean Association of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

"So it is not entirely elders in their 70s, plus some like Jang in their 60s, who are backing him. These young backers will be emerging fairly soon."

Koh said the coterie was put in place by Kim Jong-il before he died. "The relative calm seen these few days shows it's been effective. If things were not running smoothly, then we'd have seen a longer period of 'rule by mummy', with Kim Jong-il being faked as still being alive."

He said the younger Kim would accept the set-up, for now. "Considering the tradition of strongarm rule by his father and grandfather, things can't be easy for him," he said.

"REGIME SURVIVAL"

Ralph Cossa, an authority on North Korea and president of the U.S. think tank Pacific Forum CSIS, said it made sense that the ruling group would stick together.

"All have a vested interest in regime survival," he said. "Their own personal safety and survival is inextricably tied to regime survival and Kim Jong-un is the manifestation of this. I think the regime will remain stable, at least in the near-term."

He added in a commentary that the new group may be inclined to reform, but stressed this was far from confirmed.

"Over the long term, there appears to be some hope, primarily emanating from Beijing, that Kim Jong-un will take North Korea down the path of Chinese-style reform, apparently based on the belief that Jang is or will be a 'reformer'."

"Who knows, this may be true. While this could relieve the suffering of the North Korean people over time, it will do little to promote the cause of denuclearization, however."

The high-level source also said North Korea test-fired a missile on Monday to warn the United States not to make any moves against it. Pyongyang however had no immediate plans for further tests, barring an escalation of tensions.

"With the missile test, (North) Korea wanted to deliver the message that they have the ability to protect themselves," the source said.

"But (North) Korea is unlikely to conduct a nuclear test in the near future unless provoked" by the United States and South Korea, the source said.

The unpredictable North's nuclear program has been a nagging source of tension for the international community.

Pyongyang carried out nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009, and has quit six-party talks with South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia on abandoning its nuclear program and returning to the Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The high-level source also said Beijing was only notified of Kim's death earlier on Monday, the same day North Korean state television broadcast the news. Kim died on Saturday.

A leading South Korean newspaper reported on Wednesday China learned of Kim's death soon after it occurred.

China has given no official comment or even hints suggesting it was told of Kim's death before the public announcement.

Beijing, the North's closest ally and biggest provider of aid, has pulled out the stops to support the younger Kim.

The government has invited him to visit and, in an unusual gesture, President Hu Jintao and Vice-President Xi Jinping also visited the hermit state's embassy in Beijing to express their condolences. Roads leading to the embassy were blocked.

Mainly, the prospect of instability on its northeastern border worries China and it sees the younger Kim and his coterie as the best prospect for keeping North Korea on an even keel.

North Korea has been pressed by China to denuclearize and is willing to do so on condition that North and South Korea, the United States and China sign an armistice replacing a 1953 ceasefire agreement, the source said.

The two Koreas have been divided for decades and remain technically at war since their 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice but no peace agreement. The United States backed the South, while China supported the North in that conflict.

Pyongyang is also convinced there are U.S. nuclear weapons in South Korea and demands Washington pull them out, the source said.

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim in Seoul; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Jonathan Thatcher)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111222/ts_nm/us_korea_north_exclusive

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Keeping pets safe during the holidays | ViewsHound

Christmas can be a dangerous time for pets, especially when owners are unaware about the hazards that lurk among the food, the decorations and the atmosphere. I advise all you fellow pet owners to take heed of these tips for making your holiday safer for your furry companions.

Secure your Christmas tree to keep your cat or dog from knocking it over. I recommend fastening the tree to the wall.

Make sure your pets don?t play with or chew electric chords. Try hiding them behind furniture or taping them down so your cat or dog won?t be tempted.

Keep breakable ornaments, tinsel and ribbons away from your pets. We all know that disaster can ensue when playtime gets out of control. And unless you want to spend Christmas rushing your pet to the ER, skip the tinsel altogether. Tinsel is a favorite for dogs to chew on, and can be extremely dangerous to their digestive system. Also cats seize any chance they get to bat around something shiny, and may try to consume it as well.

Keep toxic holiday plants out of their reach. A simple Google search can help you find out which plants are poisonous to house pets. If you plan on buying holly, mistletoe or other such seasonal plants, do your homework first and make sure they?re safe. Not only that, some of the chemicals that tree-sellers use to sustain the lives of their trees are poisonous. If you?re planning on buying a real tree as opposed to an artificial one, make sure to ask the salesperson what kind of chemicals went into it.

Avoid giving your pet table scraps. Pork can upset your pet?s digestive system, and poultry bones are dangerous for them to chew. Instead of table scraps, give them some of their favorite pet treats during family feasts or parties.

Do not share candy with your pets. Keep a close eye on your children and make sure they?re not giving your cat or dog any candy. Human candy, especially chocolate, is extremely toxic to animals and can cause vomiting, heart disturbances and death.

Soothe your pet?s holiday anxiety. Some pets can get anxious when the house fills up with unfamiliar people. If your dog feels threatened by strangers, they could become aggressive and start biting them. Before your guests arrive, place your pet in a quiet room by themselves, where they can be comfortable for a time. Surround them with familiar toys so they don?t get bored, and while you?re entertaining guests, go check on them from time to time.

For many of us, pets are part of the family, so we want to involve them in the holidays we celebrate. If you take all the necessary precautions, Christmas can be a wonderful time for everyone involved, cats and dogs included.

Article category: Pets
Article tags: season, toxic, holiday, tree, plants, christmas, pets, safety

Disclaimer: the views of the author are not those of ViewsHound or Publisha Limited.
Copyright ? S?rah Nour, all rights reserved.

Source: http://www.viewshound.com/pets/2011/12/21/keeping-pets-safe-during-the-holidays

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Romney begins making closing argument to voters (AP)

BEDFORD, N.H. ? Sharpening his message ahead of voting in Iowa and New Hampshire, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney argued Tuesday that President Barack Obama is pushing to make the United States more like Europe. Romney's allies, meanwhile, continued to aggressively criticize his chief rival for the GOP nomination.

Romney, a former businessman, was expected to tell voters in an evening speech that his policies would turn the U.S. into an "opportunity society" while Obama's would create an "entitlement society" with more people dependent on government welfare.

Romney's message contrasts with the argument the Democratic president has begun to articulate for his re-election, in which he calls for an economy that offers "fair play, a fair shot and a fair share."

Romney planned to remain focused on the campaign here in New Hampshire as his allies aggressively go after his chief rival, Newt Gingrich, on the Iowa airwaves.

Restore Our Future, a special political action committee, or "super PAC," that backs Romney on Tuesday launched a caustic new ad tying Gingrich to Freddie Mac, the quasi-government mortgage company, and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi.

The spot also hits Gingrich for ethics violations and criticizes his record on abortion.

Campaigning in Iowa, Gingrich lashed out and accused Romney of allowing a "negative smear campaign" fueled by a PAC. He called on Romney to demand that ads run on his behalf by such groups be positive. Gingrich said Romney's comments aimed at distancing himself from the anti-Gingrich PAC ads were misleading and false.

Romney refused earlier Tuesday to disavow the group's ads, saying it would be illegal for him to coordinate with the PAC. He did say that such groups are a "disaster" and have made a "mockery" of the presidential campaign.

"Campaign finance law has made a mockery of our political campaign season," Romney said Tuesday on MSNBC. "We really ought to let campaigns raise the money they need and just get rid of these super PACs."

A 2010 Supreme Court decision paved the way for such groups to accept unlimited amounts of money from donors. The political campaigns are limited to accepting $2,500 per donor.

Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, was using Tuesday's speech to open four straight days of campaigning in New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first primary on Jan. 10. He must win the state if he hopes to become the Republican nominee.

Two weeks remain until voting begins Jan. 3 with the leadoff caucuses in Iowa, though Romney will campaign in New Hampshire through Christmas in a sign of the state's importance to his political strategy.

Romney laid out his basic principles in an opinion piece published Tuesday in USA Today.

___

Associated Press writer Shannon McCaffrey in Ottumwa, Iowa, contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111220/ap_on_el_pr/us_romney

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House GOP leaders want new payroll tax cut bill (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Top House Republicans said Sunday they oppose a bipartisan, Senate-approved bill that extends a payroll tax cut and jobless benefits for just two months and said congressional bargainers need to write a new version lasting a longer time.

Their comments, along with a House GOP conference call Saturday in which lawmakers voiced strenuous objections to the Senate bill, made clear that House Republicans were intent on changing the measure and left its ultimate fate uncertain.

The Senate used a 89-10 vote Saturday to approve the legislation, which was negotiated by Senate GOP and Democratic leaders and backed by strong majorities of senators from both parties. The House planned to vote on the measure Monday.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said Sunday that the bill ? which includes the payroll tax cut, unemployment benefits and a halt to scheduled Medicare reimbursement cuts for doctors ? needs to last an entire year. That was the original goal of President Barack Obama and congressional leaders as they worked on the legislation in recent weeks.

As if to suggest other changes he would like in the legislation, Boehner mentioned a provision that would block Obama administration anti-pollution rules and "reasonable reductions in spending" that were in a House-passed version of the payroll tax bill that the Senate ignored.

"It's pretty clear I and our members oppose the Senate bill," Boehner said on "Meet the Press" on NBC. He added, "I believe two months is just kicking the can down the road."

House Republicans dislike the Senate bill for many reasons, including its lack of what they consider real spending cuts and its removal of restrictions on Obama administration rules. Others are unhappy about extending unemployment benefits or cutting the payroll tax, which is used to finance the Social Security system.

Laena Fallon, a spokeswoman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said when the House votes on the bill Monday, it would either formally request negotiations with the Senate or approve changes "so that it is responsible and in line with the needs of hard-working taxpayers and middle-class families."

Her emailed statement did not specify what those changes might be.

The White House and Democrats, who were initially the driving force for the legislation over some GOP reluctance, sought to blame Republicans for any delay the House demands might create. Unless Congress acts by Jan. 1, the payroll tax cut and jobless benefits expire and the Medicare cut in doctors' payments will take effect.

"Instead of threatening middle-class families with a thousand-dollar tax hike, Speaker Boehner should bring up the bipartisan compromise that Senator McConnell and I negotiated," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a written statement.

Keeping this year's 2 percentage point payroll tax cut in effect through 2012 would produce $1,000 in savings for a family earning $50,000 a year.

Reid said Boehner had asked him and McConnell to work out a compromise. House Republicans have said they played no role in last week's talks between the two Senate leaders.

"I really think it is very unlikely that the House would disrupt this overwhelming compromise six days before Christmas," said Gene Sperling, director of the White House's National Economic Council.

The Senate bill would force Obama to make a decision in the next two months on whether to build the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The president had initially said he would postpone a decision on the 1,700-mile-long pipeline until after next year's elections and threatened to kill the payroll tax bill if it included the pipeline provision. But he backed off this week as the Senate payroll compromise took shape.

Republicans strongly support the pipeline, which is supposed to pump oil from Alberta, Canada, to Texas, for the thousands of jobs it is expected to create. Unions favor the plan but environmentalists oppose it, forcing Obama to choose between two Democratic constituencies.

The Senate bill says Obama can reject the pipeline only if he decides building it would not be in the national interest.

Congressional leaders had hoped that approval of the tax measure would end their work and let them send lawmakers home for the year. It is unclear how long it would take House and Senate leaders to work out any new compromise on the legislation, but Boehner suggested it could done in the next two weeks.

The Senate bill would extend this year's 4.2 payroll tax rate through February. Without congressional action, that rate would return to 6.2 percent on Jan. 1, costing 160 million workers a two-month tax break. A $50,000-a-year wage earner would save about $170.

The bill would continue extra unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed, which would also expire Jan. 1. It would also prevent a 27 percent cut in doctors' Medicare reimbursements from occurring on New Year's Day, a cut that could discourage some physicians from treating Medicare-covered patients.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111218/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_rdp

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Arabs may take Syria peace plan to United Nations (Reuters)

BEIRUT (Reuters) ? Arab states may take their proposals for ending Syria's crackdown on protests to the U.N. Security Council next week unless Damascus agrees to implement the initiative, Qatar's foreign minister said on Saturday.

Expressing frustration that Syria had not carried out the plan, six weeks after it was first agreed, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani said the window for an Arab solution to the crisis was closing.

"If this matter is not solved in the weeks ahead, or couple of months, it will no longer be in Arab control," he told journalists after an Arab ministerial committee meeting in Qatar. "That is what we told the Syrians from the beginning."

Arab ministers would vote on Wednesday on whether to ask the Security Council to approve the initiative. "I believe that December 21 will be decisive, and we hope that the brothers in Syria will sign (the deal) before this date," Sheikh Hamad said.

Syria has conditionally approved a plan to send monitors to oversee implementation of the November 2 Arab League initiative, which calls on Assad to withdraw the army from urban areas, release political prisoners and hold talks with opponents.

But Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby said Damascus was objecting to the League's call for protection of Syrian civilians, saying members of the security forces were also being killed in the turmoil.

The United Nations says Assad's crackdown on the protests, inspired by uprisings across the Arab world this year, has killed more than 5,000 people. Authorities blame armed gangs for the violence and say 1,100 soldiers and police have been killed.

The Arab League suspended Syria and declared economic sanctions against Damascus over its failure to implement the initiative, joining the United States, European Union and neighbouring Turkey who have also imposed sanctions.

Long-time Syrian ally and arms supplier Russia took a step closer to the Western position on Thursday when it presented a surprise draft resolution at the United Nations which stepped up its criticism of the bloodshed in Syria.

Sheikh Hamad said that, in response to Moscow's move, the Arab League would meet on Wednesday to decide whether "to ask the Security Council to adopt the Arab initiative and Arab resolutions instead of resolutions from other states."

"We are not talking about military action but we will ask the Security Council to adopt the Arab initiative," Sheikh Hamad said, adding Syria should take heed of events in the Arab world where three leaders have been overthrown this year.

"Procrastination and banking on things quieting down or being controlled by security methods will not work," he said.

Any referral of the Arab plan to the United Nations would be likely to anger Damascus, which has accused unnamed Arab countries of trying to set the stage for foreign intervention.

GROWING INSURGENCY

The unrest is the most serious challenge to the 11-year rule of Assad, 46, whose family is from the minority Alawite sect - an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam - and has dominated majority Sunni Muslim Syria since 1970.

An armed insurgency has begun to eclipse civilian protests, raising fears Syria could descend into civil war.

Two days ago army deserters killed 27 soldiers and security personnel in the southern province of Deraa, an activist group said. On Saturday at least 24 people were killed, half of them in the province of Homs, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

It said another eight people were killed in the southern province of Deraa after army deserters clashed with Assad's forces carrying out raids in the region.

A delegation from Shi'ite-led Iraq, which opposed the Arab League sanctions and fears unrest in Syria will spill across the border and upset its own delicate sectarian balance, stopped in Damascus on Saturday before travelling on to Cairo.

Assad met the Iraqi delegation, which included National Security Adviser Faleh al-Fayad, and "affirmed that Syria dealt positively with all proposals submitted to it," the official news agency SANA reported.

"The delegation will present details of the Iraqi initiative to League officials on solving the Syrian crisis after positive discussions which we had with President Bashar al-Assad during our visit to Syria," a member of the team said on arrival in the Egyptian capital, the Arab League headquarters.

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's media adviser, Ali al-Moussawi, earlier told Reuters in Baghdad that the meeting in Damascus was "very good."

The main exile opposition Syrian National Council was meeting in Tunisia on the first anniversary of the self-immolation of a jobless Tunisian graduate Mohamed Bouazizi, the incident that set off a wave of revolts around the Arab world.

Syrian protesters have expressed growing frustration that the Arab League, which surprised many when it suspended Syria and subsequently announced sanctions against Damascus, has since then extended the deadline for Syrian compliance several times.

Hundreds of thousands demonstrated on Friday, according to the British-based Observatory, under the slogan of "The Arab League is killing us."

(Additional reporting by Waleed Ibrahim in Baghdad and Sami Aboudi in Dubai; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111217/wl_nm/us_syria

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