Woman gets life sentence in Md. yoga shop murder (AP)

ROCKVILLE, Md. ? A woman convicted of killing her co-worker at an upscale yoga clothing shop in the Washington suburbs, then spinning an elaborate lie about being attacked by two masked men, was ordered Friday to spend the rest of her life behind bars.

Brittany Norwood choked back tears as she apologized to her family and that of her victim in her first public statements since her arrest in March. A jury in November convicted Norwood of first-degree murder for bludgeoning and stabbing 30-year-old Jayna Murray, a co-worker at the Lululemon Athletica shop in Bethesda. Murray had more than 330 distinct wounds.

The judge was unmoved by Norwood's tears, telling the 29-year-old that her crime "exemplified the worst of human nature." He stoutly rejected defense pleas that she was capable of rehabilitation and deserved an eventual shot at freedom.

"You mutilated this woman. And with every blow, you had a chance to think about what you were doing," said Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Robert Greenberg in imposing a sentence of life without the possibility parole.

The violent nature of the crime, and the initial accounts by Norwood of two murderers and rapists on the run, rattled the community.

Prosecutors said Norwood attacked Murray with at least five weapons, including a knife and a hammer, during a fight March 11 after they closed the shop for the day. They said Norwood lured Murray back to the store by falsely claiming that she has forgotten something inside and needed to be let back in. Norwood savagely beat Murray for at least 20 minutes and then doctored the scene overnight to support her story that intruders had attacked and sexually assaulted them.

Murray was found the next morning in a pool of blood at the back of the store. Her wounds included a knife strike to the head that served as the death blow. Norwood was found nearby, moaning in apparent pain and tied up, with superficial ? and self-imposed ? wounds on her body. Blood was found tracked throughout the store, something police later determined was part of Norwood's attempt to throw them off her trail

The jury didn't hear a motive for the killing, but prosecutor John McCarthy said Murray had confronted Norwood after finding a pair of stolen pants while checking her bag. Norwood feared the discovery would cause her to be fired and derail her planned career as a personal trainer.

"It was more than a pair of pants," McCarthy said. "It was the unraveling of a life that she had set for herself."

Norwood, wiping away tears and speaking softly as a row of family members sobbed, briefly apologized, saying "My hope for your family is that someday you'll be able to find forgiveness in your heart."

Norwood's account of the attack set off panic in Bethesda, an affluent suburb where violent crime is rare. Montgomery County police went on a manhunt and fielded hundreds of tips. Some residents and shoppers who frequented the bustling corridor of high-end shops and trendy restaurants where Lululemon is situated admitted to feeling anxious at night.

"Businesses operated differently," McCarthy said.

Norwood stared to the ground as eight of Murray's friends and family detailed how their once joyful lives have become overcome with nightmares, anxiety, depression and feelings of emptiness. Her father, David Murray, showed the courtroom a series of photographs ? his daughter as a smiling young girl, shooting a bow and arrow, bungee jumping, posing alongside a trophy and in her cap and gown. He said they illustrated his daughter's zest for life and talents as a student, swimmer, dancer and gymnast.

"March 11, 2011 was our family's Sept. 11, 2001," Murray's brother, Hugh, told the judge. "Nothing will ever return to normal. Nothing will ever be the same."

Murray's other brother, Dirk, said his two young sons adored their aunt but were starting to ask difficult questions about her death. When they go to bed at night, he said, the family doesn't check the closets for an anonymous bogeyman. "We check for Brittany Norwood," he said.

The family described how their initial empathy for Murray's surviving co-worker turned ? her father said he even contemplated sending Norwood flowers at the hospital ? transformed into horror and rage when they learned that Norwood was the attacker, not the victim.

"Of the many stages of grief, I have not moved away from rage," David Murray said.

Norwood's tale unraveled within days as police identified her as their sole suspect. Workers at an adjacent Apple store told police that they heard two women ? though they were castigated by the judge Friday for failing to call for help. Investigators found only two sets of footprints in the store. An examination did not back up Norwood's claim of being sexually assaulted. And Norwood's DNA was found inside Murray's car, which Norwood had driven away from the store as part of her ruse.

She was arrested a week after the murder.

Norwood's lawyers conceded at the outset of the trial that Norwood had killed Murray, but said she had simply "lost it" in a moment of irrationality and didn't have the required forethought to be convicted of first-degree murder. A jury rejected that argument after about an hour of deliberation.

Her attorney, Doug Wood, urged a judge to grant her the possibility of parole, though he acknowledged that there was a minimal chance of her ever being granted it. Giving her and her family at least a glimmer of hope is part of the community's collective healing, Wood argued.

A sentence of life without parole, he argued, "forecloses hope. It forecloses redemption. It forecloses forgiveness. It allows anger, hatred and fear to win out."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_us/us_yoga_shop_killing

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Hispanics in focus as GOP race intensifies in Fla. (AP)

DORAL, Fla. ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is suggesting that the news media is responsible for tarnishing his party's reputation among immigrants.

Addressing a Hispanic leadership conference near Miami, Romney said Republicans aren't against immigrants or immigration. He said a Romney presidency would expand legal immigration and bring a commitment and conviction that the mainstream media would not be allowed to confuse.

Romney also said that in his first 100 days in office he would name a Latin American envoy to measure and improve relations with those countries. He also wants to create a hemispheric task force to focus on drugs and other threats from Latin America.

He said America needs to work harder at selling democracy in the region.

Newt Gingrich addressed the conference earlier Friday. Florida's presidential primary is Tuesday.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is calling for a measured approach to revising the nation's immigration laws, saying "too many enemies" stand in the way of sweeping change.

The former House speaker says he wants stricter border control, faster deportation proceedings and a guest worker program for certain immigrants.

Gingrich spoke Friday at a conference of influential Hispanic leaders meeting near Miami.

Immigration is a major flashpoint issue among the GOP presidential candidates in Florida. They are trying to strike a balance between sounding compassionate yet firm about stemming the tide of illegal immigration.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was scheduled to address the conference on Friday afternoon.

Florida's presidential primary is Tuesday.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

More than a million Hispanic voters are the prize as Republican presidential rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich campaign hard in Florida after a feisty, final debate that served to heighten political tensions with the state's GOP primary just days away.

Romney was the aggressor Thursday night in the second debate in four days, pressing Gingrich to apologize for an ad labeling him as anti-immigrant and calling the idea "repulsive."

Both men arranged for appearances Friday in Miami with the Hispanic Leadership Network. The state has roughly 1.5 million Hispanic voters, who figure to play prominently in next Tuesday's Florida primary.

Immigration sparked the first clash Thursday night, moments after the debate opened, when Gingrich responded to a question by saying Romney was the most anti-immigrant of all four contenders on stage. "That's simply inexcusable," the former Massachusetts governor responded.

Gingrich fired back that Romney misled voters by running an ad accusing the former House speaker of once referring to Spanish as "the language of the ghetto." Gingrich said he was referring to a multitude of languages, not just Spanish.

Romney initially said of the ad, "I doubt it's mine," but moderator Wolf Blitzer pointed out that Romney, at the ad's conclusion, says he approved the message.

Gingrich rushed out an ad using debate footage that raised questions about Romney's credibility, including his reluctance to own up to the "ghetto" commercial. "If we can't trust Romney in a debate, how can we trust him in the White House," a narrator says in the Gingrich ad.

The debate was the 19th since the race for the Republican nomination began last year, and came five days before the Florida primary. Opinion polls show a close race, with a slight advantage for Romney and two other contenders, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, far behind.

Paul has already made clear his intention to skip Florida in favor of smaller, less-expensive states. And Santorum, who had been campaigning aggressively here, conceded that he's better off sitting at his own kitchen table Saturday doing his taxes instead of campaigning in a state where he simply can't keep up with the GOP front-runners.

Outside advisers are urging him to pack up in Florida completely and not spend another minute in a state where he is cruising toward a loss.

The cash-strapped Santorum said he'll make a handful of Florida campaign stops early in the day, but will finish Friday with his family in Pennsylvania, where he'll spend all day Saturday before returning to Florida.

Still, Santorum stood out at times Thursday night.

He drew applause when he called on the front-runners to stop attacking one another. "Can we set aside that Newt was a member of Congress ... and that Mitt Romney is a wealthy guy?" he said in a tone of exasperation.

On Friday, Santorum said the finger-pointing between the two leaders is obscuring how similar both are to President Barack Obama on issues such as health care ? and making it harder to tell voters about his more conservative views.

"There are important issues in this race," Santorum told Fox News. "How people made money, all legitimately in my mind, should have nothing to do with it."

In the days since Romney's loss in South Carolina, Romney has tried to seize the initiative, playing the aggressor in the Tampa debate and assailing Gingrich in campaign speeches and a TV commercial. An outside group formed to support Romney has spent more than his own campaign's millions on ads, some of them designed to stop Gingrich's campaign momentum before it is too late to deny him the nomination.

With polls suggesting his South Carolina surge is stalling, Gingrich unleashed a particularly strong attack earlier in the day, much as he lashed out in Iowa when he rose in the polls, only to be knocked back by an onslaught of ads he was unable to counter effectively.

But he struggled to find an effective attack in the debate and was more often on the defensive.

Romney pounced when the topic turned to Gingrich's proposal for a permanent American colony on the moon ? an issue of particular interest to engineers and others who live on Florida's famed Space Coast.

A career businessman before he became a politician, Romney said: "If I had a business executive come to me and say I want to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I'd say, `You're fired.'"

Gingrich tried to raise questions about Romney's wealth and his investments. "I don't know of any American president who's had a Swiss bank account," Gingrich said.

Romney replied that his investments were in a blind trust over which he had no control. "There's nothing wrong with that," declared Romney, who has estimated his wealth at as much as $250 million.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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German Angst as U.S. troops bid "Auf Wiedersehen" (Reuters)

GRAFENWOEHR, Germany (Reuters) ? Walter Brunner, a lively 82-year old whose blue baseball cap matches the color of his eyes, leans across a red leather booth at the American-style diner in this southern German town and tries to make light of the looming pullout of U.S. troops.

"We Germans fought for the Russians to go, now we are fighting for the Americans to stay," jokes Brunner, chairman of the German-American contact club in Grafenwoehr, whose lifeblood is its U.S. military base.

He watched a young Elvis Presley arrive here for training in 1958 and still goes tenpin bowling with his American friends every Monday night.

News that the 172nd infantry brigade, with its 3,500 soldiers and 8,000 family members, is being pulled from Grafenwoehr to return to the United States has hit this town hard.

After 67 years of living together, locals in Bavaria say the Americans are not just their employers and customers, but also close friends.

The Pentagon on Thursday announced sweeping defense cuts of $487 billion over the next decade, as it seeks to create a smaller, more agile force with a strategic focus on the Asia-Pacific region and Middle East. The demands of the Cold War, where Russians and Americans faced off across the walls, fences and barbed wire of the Iron Curtain, have receded into history.

Under the new strategy, two combat brigades, one in Grafenwoehr, the other in Baumholder near the French border, will leave Germany, reducing the size of the U.S. army in Europe by almost 10,000 from its present number of 41,000.

That would leave just two brigades remaining in Europe -- one in Vilseck in Germany, close to Grafenwoehr, the other in Vicenza in Italy. The military plans to rotate U.S. based units into Grafenwoehr and Baumholder for training, keeping the sites. Grafenwoehr will also continue its key role training allied troops.

The economic impact however will be severe.

Local businesses say up to 90 percent of their trade comes from Americans. The town of Grafenwoehr receives 2.8 million euros in state subsidies every year largely due to the U.S. presence. Some 2,900 Germans are employed directly or indirectly by the military.

According to U.S. army data American purchasing power in and around Grafenwoehr, a quaint town of 7,000 not including the U.S. base, is around 35 million euros. Another 30 million euros is spent per year on rent by American families.

"Grafenwoehr lives from the Americans and will die without them. It's as simple as that," said 35-year-old Helmut Dostler, whose family have run Grafenwoehr's Hotel Zur Post for four generations.

"Losing troops would be fatal for the area. They are the biggest employer. Even if troops come here for training for a few months we will barely see them in the town."

At Spahn, a photo studio outside the gates of the base where framed photographs of U.S. servicemen and women and their families line the walls the concern is the same.

"Only a few years ago new houses and facilities were built for soldiers. We'd expected the area to bloom. Now the opposite is happening," said 42-year-old Alexander Kneidl.

Youngsters here grow up as comfortable with American culture as their own, German women marry American soldiers and frequently Americans opt to leave the military and stay in this picturesque region of gentle hills and dense forests just 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the Czech border.

Today, the barbed wire is gone and there remains a simple crossing point from one European Union member state to another. It is because of this transformation that the function of the American military in Germany has had to change.

The Russians left eastern Germany with the reunification of the country two decades ago. No longer needed to counter or deter a Soviet attack, American bases in Germany are today home to units who serve with international partners in Afghanistan and beyond.

Grafenwoehr also provides state of the art training for NATO partners and dozens of other allies, preparing them to work together in overseas conflicts.

"The advantage in Germany is that you are in an allied state with good infrastructure and a comfortable climate. But logistically Europe is not so important anymore," said Henning Riecke, an expert on transatlantic relations at the German Council on Foreign Relations.

"Troops in Germany just don't have the same meaning as during the Cold War when they were a way for the U.S. to show they were serious as an ally and show solidarity ... Now the Americans must do more for their own security, and alter their footprint."

WORLD WARS

Grafenwoehr has a 100 year history as a military and training site base but the troops, threats, and alliances have changed dramatically over the past century.

The Bavarian III Corps, part of the Imperial German Army, first commandeered the site and trained here for World War One after clearing eight villages.

A massive expansion followed under Adolf Hitler in the 1930s, taking the site to its current size of 22,600 hectares and displacing 3,500 people from 58 villages. The Fuehrer came to visit Nazi troops here in 1938. Six years later Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini also visited the base.

The Americans took over the site in the then U.S. occupation zone in 1946 and have remained ever since. Initially viewed with suspicion by the vanquished Germans, they quickly became allies for Germans fearing the influence of Soviet occupiers across the border in Czechoslovakia or East Germany.

The relationship of allies was cemented once West Germany joined NATO in 1955.

As the Cold War escalated the United States had more than a quarter of a million troops in Europe. German civilians complained about the noise of low-flying aircraft, drunken troops or damage to the environment.

The 1960s saw demonstrations across West Germany against the Vietnam war and the 1980s brought large protests outside some U.S. bases against plans to deploy new medium-range nuclear missiles. U.S. forces have always been viewed by some, especially on the political left, with hostility, as occupiers.

"In the 1970s we had more U.S. soldiers in Germany than there were in the entire French army. The size of the deployment was grandiose," said Jack Clarke, a professor of defense planning at the Marshall Center in Germany.

The number of U.S. troops on German soil has been sharply curtailed since then, but their continued presence is a constant reminder here of the close post-war alliance.

"I think at times the Europeans need reminding of this alliance," said Riecke, referring to recent conflicts where the United States has felt let down at the lack of support from its foreign partners.

German opposition to President George W. Bush's war in Iraq, which involved U.S. troops based in Germany, caused particular strain. Most recently Germany surprised its allies by refusing to back a U.N. resolution authorizing military action in Libya.

Unlike British forces which plan to leave Germany entirely by 2020 there is no talk of a complete U.S. pull-out from the country, in part to show newer NATO partners to the east that Washington remains committed to the alliance.

"Most Europeans outside the political and security elite view the US presence over here today as outdated and not particularly useful, and serving to support U.S. foreign and security objectives," Clarke said.

"But the further east you go - the Baltics, Bulgaria, Poland, there the presence of U.S. troops in Europe somehow helps to reassure people that NATO really works."

There is wide political consensus in Germany in support of the troops staying, not least for their economic importance. Only the pacifist Left Party has challenged the 50 million euros a year Germany contributes towards the cost of U.S. bases, and called for all U.S. troops to leave.

EUROPEAN CHARMS

American soldiers past and present and of all ranks express huge enthusiasm for postings in Germany.

"Part of the popularity comes from where the Americans were, we were always in the southern part of Germany in Bavaria, many equate Bavaria with Germany," Clarke said. "I think the British experience in northern Germany was somewhat different."

Brunner said he believed the relationship had worked so well because both Bavarians and Americans are outgoing.

Americans living on Grafenwoehr base, which has a cluster of German timbered houses at its heart, eat typical American food, shop at special stores where they pay in dollars, but can also enjoy Europe's charms as soon as they leave the compound.

"I love being in Europe, it is a great experience there are so many cultural opportunities," said 26-year-old William Webster from Savannah, Georgia, who lives here with his wife and 15-month daughter, and serves with the Second Cavalry Regiment.

"I was ecstatic when I found out we'd be moving to Europe. I'd always wanted to travel. I love the history here, the castles," said 29-year-old Honey Shewbert, from Pensacola, Forida, who works with the American Forces Network broadcast service.

"They offer a little of the United States on base. You find things you wouldn't be able to find elsewhere in Europe."

(Reporting by Alexandra Hudson; Editing by Noah Barkin)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/usmilitary/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/wl_nm/us_germany_us_military

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Pulse News - Updated with bug fixes for tablets, dark mode

Pulse News

If you're a user of Pulse News you'll want to the Android Market and grab the latest update. Getting bumped up to v2.7.4, this releases addresses some issues with dark mode and more importantly takes care of a few bugs for tablet users. It's not a huge update but it's an update either way and we like updates -- especially when they improve the end-user experience. Whether you're looking to give Pulse News a try for the first time or just looking to get updated, you'll find the link past the break.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/kRuN_j6w3g8/story01.htm

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Amazon Web Services Debuts Storage Gateway To Securely Upload Enterprise Data To The Cloud

awsAfter launching distributed database DynamoDB last week, Amazon Web Services is debuting another product?AWS Storage Gateway, which is a service that provides enterprises with a new option to securely upload and backup data to the AWS cloud from on-premises software appliances. Basically, the Gateway connect san on-premises software appliance with Amazon's cloud-based storage for a more secure integration between on-premises IT environments and AWS storage infrastructure. Via the Gateway, data is uploaded to AWS, where it is encrypted and stored in the Amazon's Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). The Gateway provides a solution fir enterprises looking for effective backup and rapid disaster recovery between on-premise applications and the cloud.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/nfHcFxq9XV4/

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Steven Spielberg's Moses: Casting The Biblical Icon

Steven Spielberg is reportedly very close to signing on to direct a biopic of the biblical hero Moses, and that makes this Good Jewish Girl very happy. Of course Mr. Spielberg, VIJ (Very Important Jew), can be trusted to tell the story of Moses with his usual brilliance. But who will be the lucky fella [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/01/26/steven-spielberg-moses/

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Prenatal testosterone linked to increased risk of language delay for male infants, study shows

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Ben Norman
Scholarlynews@wiley.com
44-124-377-0375
Wiley-Blackwell

Males at greater than twice the risk of language delay than females

New research by Australian scientists reveals that males who are exposed to high levels of testosterone before birth are twice as likely to experience delays in language development compared to females. The research, published in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, focused on umbilical cord blood to explore the presence of testosterone when the language-related regions of a fetus' brain are undergoing a critical period of growth.

"An estimated 12% of toddlers experience significant delays in their language development," said lead author Professor Andrew Whitehouse from the University of Western Australia. "While language development varies between individuals, males tend to develop later and at a slower rate than females."

The team believed this may be due to prenatal exposure to sex-steroids such as testosterone. Male fetuses are known to have 10 times the circulating levels of testosterone compared to females. The team proposed that higher levels of exposure to prenatal testosterone may increase the likelihood of language development delays.

Professor Whitehouse's team measured levels of testosterone in the umbilical cord blood of 767 newborns before examining their language ability at 1, 2 and 3-years of age.

The results showed male infants with high levels of testosterone in cord blood were between two-and-three times more likely to experience language delay. However, the opposite effect was found in female infants, where high-levels of testosterone in cord blood were associated with a decreased risk of language delay.

Previous smaller studies have explored the link between testosterone levels in amniotic fluid and language development. However, this is the first large population-based study to explore the relationship between umbilical cord blood and language delay in the first three years of life.

"Language delay is one of the most common reasons children are taken to a Paediatrician," concluded Professor Whitehouse. "Now these findings can help us to understand the biological mechanisms that may underpin language delay, as well as language development more generally."

###


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 25-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Ben Norman
Scholarlynews@wiley.com
44-124-377-0375
Wiley-Blackwell

Males at greater than twice the risk of language delay than females

New research by Australian scientists reveals that males who are exposed to high levels of testosterone before birth are twice as likely to experience delays in language development compared to females. The research, published in Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, focused on umbilical cord blood to explore the presence of testosterone when the language-related regions of a fetus' brain are undergoing a critical period of growth.

"An estimated 12% of toddlers experience significant delays in their language development," said lead author Professor Andrew Whitehouse from the University of Western Australia. "While language development varies between individuals, males tend to develop later and at a slower rate than females."

The team believed this may be due to prenatal exposure to sex-steroids such as testosterone. Male fetuses are known to have 10 times the circulating levels of testosterone compared to females. The team proposed that higher levels of exposure to prenatal testosterone may increase the likelihood of language development delays.

Professor Whitehouse's team measured levels of testosterone in the umbilical cord blood of 767 newborns before examining their language ability at 1, 2 and 3-years of age.

The results showed male infants with high levels of testosterone in cord blood were between two-and-three times more likely to experience language delay. However, the opposite effect was found in female infants, where high-levels of testosterone in cord blood were associated with a decreased risk of language delay.

Previous smaller studies have explored the link between testosterone levels in amniotic fluid and language development. However, this is the first large population-based study to explore the relationship between umbilical cord blood and language delay in the first three years of life.

"Language delay is one of the most common reasons children are taken to a Paediatrician," concluded Professor Whitehouse. "Now these findings can help us to understand the biological mechanisms that may underpin language delay, as well as language development more generally."

###


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/w-ptl012312.php

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Testimony to begin in trial of financier Stanford (AP)

HOUSTON ? Texas financier R. Allen Stanford built a vast fortune through his network of banks and other businesses in the U.S., Latin America the Caribbean, and he led a lifestyle befitting a billionaire business magnate.

Once considered one of the U.S.'s wealthiest people, with an estimated net worth of more than $2 billion, Stanford snatched up luxury homes and cars, private jets and yachts, and became so prominent in his adopted country of Antigua, where he took on dual citizenship, that he was knighted by the Caribbean island's government and became known as "Sir Allen."

On Tuesday, after much delay, federal prosecutors in Houston were due to begin laying out their case against Stanford, telling jurors that the 61-year-old's business empire was built on smoke and mirrors and that he bilked investors out of more than $7 billion over 20 years as part of a massive Ponzi scheme. Jury selection in Stanford's trial resumed Tuesday, after starting a day earlier, and was anticipated to conclude with opening statements expected later in the day

Stanford, who denies the claims and says his businesses were legitimate, is charged with 14 counts, including wire and mail fraud, and faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted. He is expected to testify during the trial, which will likely last at least six weeks.

Stanford's business empire was run through the Houston-based Stanford Financial Group, but at its heart was Antiguan-based Stanford International Bank. The bank mainly sold certificates of deposit, or CDs, that promised substantially higher rates of return than U.S. banks and promised investors their money was safe.

Prosecutors say Stanford used money from the sale of the CDs, which were sold to clients from more than 100 countries, to pay off those purchased earlier once they matured and to support his other businesses, which included other banks, a brokerage firm that sold the CDs, an airline, cricket grounds and restaurants. They say Stanford used up to $2 billion of investor funds as personal loans to support his lavish lifestyle, and that he and three former executives at his companies who also face charges covered up their misdeeds by fabricating the bank's records and bribing Antiguan regulators.

"It's a bait and switch," prosecutor William Stellmach said at a court hearing last week.

But in court documents filed earlier this month, Stanford's attorneys argued that he intended to pay CD investors through his other companies if authorities hadn't seized them and begun selling them off.

"This fraud (theory by the government) is just wrong," Ali Fazel, one of Stanford's attorneys, said at that hearing. "Our defense is we didn't do anything wrong."

A gag order bars lawyers from publicly discussing the case.

Stanford has been in jail since his arrest 2 1/2 years ago because he was deemed a flight risk. His trial was delayed after he was declared incompetent due to an addiction he developed in jail to an anti-anxiety drug and underwent treatment for eight months last year. He was also evaluated for any long-term effects from being injured in a September 2009 jail fight.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner declared Stanford fit for trial last month.

Once Antigua's richest citizen, primary banker and its largest private employer, Stanford had his assets seized and now has court appointed attorneys after an insurance policy that had been paying for his defense was revoked.

Stanford is on his fifth set of lawyers since being indicted. Previous attorneys accused him of being difficult.

The three other indicted former executives are to be tried in June. A former Antiguan financial regulator was also indicted and he awaits extradition to the U.S.

Stanford and the former executives are also fighting a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit filed in Dallas that makes similar allegations.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_us/us_stanford_trial

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It's guys, not ladies, who splurge on lunch

Getty Images / Getty Images file

A man eats his lunch at a Burger King in London.

By Allison Linn

The next time you stop in for a morning latte or head out for a restaurant lunch, take a look around ? and don?t be surprised if you see a lot of young men standing in line.

A new survey of workers finds that men spend significantly more on coffee and lunch than women.

The survey, from staffing firm Accounting Principals, also found that younger workers spend more than older workers on lunch and coffee during the workday.

Overall, those lunches out and coffee breaks are costing workers a bundle.? American workers who buy coffee and lunch spend an average of $1,000 a year on coffee and $2,000 a year on lunch, based on the survey of 1,000 workers.

About two-thirds of workers buy lunch and half buy coffee during the week.

Men were slightly more likely than women to go out to eat, but they spent a lot more. The men who buy their lunches spend an average of $46.30 on lunch each week, compared with $26.50 for women who go out to eat.

Men who buy coffee spend an average of $25.70 vs. $15 for women.

The caffeine fix is a bigger hit on the wallets of 18- to 34-year-old workers. Younger workers who buy coffee spend an average of $24.74 a week on coffee, compared with $14.15 for workers 45 and older who buy coffee during the work week. Younger workers also spend far more on lunch than older workers: about $45 a week vs. $32.

Not surprisingly, a third of those surveyed said one of their goals for 2012 was to bring their own lunch more often.

Accounting Principals, a unit of Adecco, commissioned the survey in December.

Tip of the hat to Consumerist, which first reported on the study.

Related:

Frugal food: Brown bag options that won't break the bank

Starbucks raising prices in Northeast, Sunbelt

Do you bring your lunch or buy it?

?

Source: http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/23/10201172-its-guys-not-ladies-who-splurge-on-lunch

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