Lil Wayne Shoots Back After Pitbull's 'Dade County' Dis Track

'Dam pit bull bro I thought u was kool,' Wayne tweets in response to the Miami rapper's dis.
By Nadeska Alexis

Lil Wayne and Pitbull
Photo: Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702720/lil-wayne-response-pitbull-dade-country.jhtml

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Caterpillar CAT B15 rugged smartphone hands-on

Caterpillar's signature yellow and black CAT branding was definitely spinning heads and getting passerby's attention as it showed off its rugged B15. As far as tough goes the handset's corners are wrapped in rubber with the connections in between covered with anodized aluminum. The B15 is IP67 certified, which means both protected from dust and waterproof up to 3.3 feet for 30 minutes and can be dropped from about six feet and live to tell the tale -- you, however, may not. Other notables include a 4-inch WVGA display, dual-core 1GHz Cortex-A9 and a 5-megapixel camera that'll shoot 720p video and can do continuous pic shooting.

Sadly, we forgot our rubber mallet at home so we couldn't try to beat it to pieces but we did appreciate the housing on the CAT phone it's surprisingly nice to hold and well put together. Sure, there's a wee bit of overkill with the tough machine branding, but we're sure this phone will garner a bit of a following. Our favorite bit? The Caterpillar phone features something called wet finger tracking, so even if you happen to fall into a deep puddle while using your B15, you can finish whatever you were up to before tumbling. The B15 ships in March for a cool $436, though, there's no word on what carrier's planning to scoop this up -- see what we did there? There's a gallery of the B15 in all its tough guy splendor after the break.

Gallery: Caterpillar CAT B15 rugged smartphone hands-on

Filed under: Cellphones

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'Darkest day': Two police officers killed in line of duty

Butler family via NBC Los Angeles

Detective Elizabeth Butler was killed in the line of duty Tuesday. She is survived by a long-time partner and two young sons.

By Erika Conner, Kyle Bonagura and Lisa Fernandez, NBCBayArea.com

Two Santa Cruz, Calif., police officers were shot to death Tuesday afternoon - the first time in city history that officers were killed in the line of duty. One suspect was also killed.

The two officers who died, Det. Sgt. Loran "Butch" Baker and Det. Elizabeth Butler, had a combined 38 years of experience with the Santa Cruz Police Department.

"We at the Santa Cruz Police Department are like family," Santa Cruz police chief Kevin Vogel said. "I've known both of these officers for a long, long time and there just aren't words to describe how I feel personally about this and how our department is reacting to this horrific, horrific tragedy."

Baker had been with the department for 28 years and leaves behind a wife, two daughters and a son, Adam, who works for the department as a community service officer.

Butler leaves her partner, Peter, and two young sons.

"This is the darkest day in the history of the Santa Cruz Police Department," Vogel said.

Baker and Butler went to an address on North Branciforte Avenue as a part of an investigation Tuesday. Details are unclear, but in making contact with the suspect, Santa Cruz resident Jeremy Goulet, 35, an altercation ensued.

Both detectives were killed at the scene.

After going door-to-door in the community authorities say there are no more outstanding suspects or any danger to the community.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel said the investigation was possibly domestic violence related, but Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak could not confirm what the investigation was about.

A Santa Cruz resident, who declined to give his name, said he was sitting in his house in the 800 block of North Branciforte Avenue when he heard gunfire across the street around 3:30 p.m. Police arrived soon, he said.? That's when a suspect fired at police, hitting the two officers.

More news from NBCBayArea.com

A while later, he heard a "multitude of gunfire" coming from an area nearby. He said police told residents to stay inside and not to leave.

Following the incident, schools in the immediate area were placed on lockdown.

"We need to figure out a way to bring our department together and get through this," Vogel said. "It's a horrible, horrible day for the Santa Cruz Police Department and the community of Santa Cruz."

After the police were killed, a second shooting occurred a half-hour later while police were in pursuit of at least the suspect on Doyle Street. A barrage of gunfire erupted that left Goulet dead on Doyle Street, according to the Sentinel.

Police were on a citywide manhunt for several hours after the initial shooting. The FBI joined the investigation just after 4 p.m. as well as law enforcement from the sheriff's office, Capitola, Watsonville and Scotts Valley police departments and the California Highway Patrol.

NBC Bay Area's George Kiriyama and Bay City News contributed to this report.

This story was originally published on Tue Feb 26, 2013 11:08 PM EST

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/26/17108764-darkest-day-two-police-officers-killed-in-line-of-duty?lite

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Kim Kardashian Cashes in on Pregnancy, Blogs About "Amazing" Mommy Jeans

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/02/kim-kardashian-cashes-in-on-pregnancy-blogs-about-amazing-mommy/

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5 Social Media Marketing Strategies for eCommerce Websites in the ...

Social media has revolutionized the way we use the internet, and how we consume information. Consumers are no longer the silent majority, and media companies are no longer the gatekeepers of information.

Small businesses can now engage in back-and-forth communication with consumers without traditional media as an intermediary, and this gives the modern eCommerce site an opportunity it?s never had before. Here?s how you can take your eCommerce site to the next level.

Strategy #1 ? Understand Why People Use Social Media

A recent study suggests that people use social media to:

• Communicate
• Express themselves
• Pass the time
• Entertain themselves

These are roughly the same reasons that people use the internet in general, except that people do not use social networks for a fifth and very important purpose: information seeking. This is important, because it also means that people are not using social networks to find information about companies, products, or services.

The study concluded that the main reasons people use social networks are to pass the time and to entertain themselves. For this reason, companies should focus most of their social media efforts on using entertainment to build customer retention and acquisition.

Companies can also leverage those who use social media to communicate or express themselves by building an online community to keep conversations going.

Strategy #2 ? Build Relationships With Influencers

Since most people use social networks to entertain themselves and a smaller number of people use them to express themselves, it is often these expressive people who are the most influential people online. Many of them also have blogs or personal websites that they further use as an outlet for their expression.

It is these people who you should focus most of your efforts building relationships with. Since it is rather strange for an eCommerce site to try to build a relationship with an influencer, it?s often a better idea to use personal profiles to do the connecting. On Twitter, it?s better to create several individual profiles that link back to the brand account, and use those individual profiles to build relationships.

There is also no reason to confine the discussion to social media. Many influencers have email addresses listed on their blogs so that you can contact them directly. As long as you start the discussion off by offering value (not asking them for something), this is often much easier than you may think.

Once you have built relationships with influencers, getting attention on social networks is relatively easy.

Strategy #3 ? Be Shareable

It is unlikely that very many people will voluntarily share product pages on your eCommerce site. They are much more likely to share fun and interesting blog posts, videos, and images. This should reinforce the idea that social media should not be thought of as a sales channel. It is far more useful as a ?first touch? channel and as a customer retention channel.

Since it is rare that a social encounter with your brand will coincide with a need for your product, your primary focus should be on brand image: building trust and familiarity so that you are first on the consumer?s mind when the need does arise.

What is shareable?

• Novel information that is interesting, surprising, and unique
• Anything that makes people laugh
• Anything cute or that gives people ?warm and fuzzy? feelings
• Beautiful images (these do especially well on Pinterest)
• Posts that reinforce a worldview (sometimes this means taking a side)
• Content that comes in bite size chunks that are easy to absorb

Strategy #4 ? Go Where the Community is

All too often, businesses get caught up in social media as a place, instead of social media as an idea. The savvy marketer realizes that Facebook is not necessarily the place to focus all of their efforts, even though it is the largest social network. In the post-television world, marketers need to move past thinking about volume, and consider targeting instead.

The first question online marketers should be asking is where their community is. No matter what industry you are in, there is a place online where a conversation is happening about that subject. Your first job is to find that community. It could be a Facebook discussion group, but it could just as easily be a forum or message board. That may sound old fashioned, but if it is where your target audience is, it?s where you should be.

That?s not to say you should neglect a more general audience. A strong online community consists of a hardcore following that often exists in a more obscure place, like a forum, followed by a mainstream audience on a place like Facebook or Twitter.

Your primary goal as an online community builder should be to figure out how to leverage these communities in order to build a hardcore following of your own, which then spills over into the mainstream outlets. This means interlinking all of your various online presences and transforming your main site into a home base for all of them.

Remember, social media is not a place. It is a revolution in the way that online discourse takes place. The most important thing to understand about social media is that it allows two-way communication. If you are making conversations happen, you are succeeding, no matter where that conversation is happening.

Strategy #5 ? Understand Conversions Directly From Social Media Rarely Happen

Consumers don?t use social media to interact with you. They use it to entertain themselves and interact with their friends. You don?t want to use social media as your primary means of communication with consumers.

Let me say that again. You don?t want to use social media as your primary communication tool with consumers.

Social media is for casual contact. Social networks are noisy and consumers never see every message sent their way. Networks like Facebook actually filter results based on who and what users interact with the most, and so brands rarely show up prominently in their streams.

The advantage of social media is its ability for certain messages to spread virally. People pay more attention to something that has been shared by their friends than they do to an advertisement. Leverage this fact to build new followers, but transition that following over to email. People don?t necessarily read all their email, but most of them at least see every message in their inbox. This isn?t true for social media.

Again: the advantage of social media is the fact that your followers will share messages with their friends. But ultimately, you want those followers to subscribe to your newsletter, go directly to your site, and see you in channels other than social networks.

Social Media is Old News

If there is one thing to understand about social media in the year ahead, it?s the fact that it is no longer just mainstream, it is old news. Businesses who are involved in social media need to understand that it is not shiny and new anymore, and they can?t succeed just by being there. Many consumers are getting fed up with ads and commercial activity on their social networks, and they have very little tolerance for businesses that don?t ?get it.?

Use social media to entertain and build relationships with influencers, and transition that influence over to a channel that you control. Be shareable to expand your reach. Don?t waste time trying to ?sell? on social networks.

Image Credit: Shutterstock / Evgeny Karandaev

Pratik Dholakiya is a Lead SEO Strategist at E2M Solutions, a company that specializes in advanced link building services. Pratik has studied recent Google algorithm changes (Panda & Penguin) very closely and performed insightful research to come up with a legitimate strategy that works in post panda/penguin era. You can contact him on twitter @DholakiyaPratik or by email.

Source: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/5-social-media-marketing-strategies-for-ecommerce-websites-in-the-year-ahead/59757/

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Appoint Internet Activist as Next Chairman of the Federal ...

By Christopher Phipps

Target:?President Barack Obama

Goal:?Appoint activist, professor, and author Susan Crawford as FCC Chairman

The Federal Communications Commission needs new leadership, someone who understands not only the need for regulation that promotes competition and innovation in high-speed internet markets, but also the technical details that would make such regulation possible.?Susan Crawford, a professor at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law and author of ?Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age,? has the appropriate qualifications for the position. She served as Special Assistant to the President in Science, Technology, and Innovation Policy during 2009, and she has been hailed as a champion of net neutrality, open internet, and freedom of speech online.

Early this year, in an op-ed piece for the New York Times, Susan Crawford laid out a plan for a reasonably priced, globally competitive, ubiquitous communications infrastructure that would open the door to innovation and competition. She understands policy and the regulations that are needed to combat incumbents with tremendous market power. More than that, she understands the technology itself, to a degree that has won the respect of industry players like Hunter Newby, CEO of Allied Fiber.

She believes ?internet access is the heart of a democratic society,? and that high-speed internet should be a utility, just like electricity, federally regulated and available to everyone at an affordable price.?Indisputably, a reliable high-speed internet infrastructure is crucial to almost every aspect of our nation?s success and our people?s well-being: education, energy, business, health care, public safety, environmental conservation. Yet that success is being throttled by profit-driven giants and limited to those who can afford it. The FCC has done little in recent years to combat this.

For the majority of us, mention of the FCC likely brings to mind censorship: bleeping out expletives or blurring nudity. But their responsibilities go far beyond enforcement of ?moral decency? in public broadcast stations of television and radio. The FCC is pivotal to the growth of our national telecommunications. As a government agency, the FCC has a responsibility to?support the nation?s economy by ensuring an appropriate competitive framework for the unfolding of the communications revolution.

Ten years ago, the United States was at the fore of the Internet revolution, with fast speeds and bargain prices. But now, the broadband and wireless internet landscape is vastly different. Our nation?s high-speed needs are met by a handful of restrictive monopolies that have carved out their territories and jealousy guard their expensive (and limited) fiber infrastructures. Alarmingly, not only do they control how we access information, but they have begun to control what information we have access to. They are waging war on the concept of ?net neutrality,? wherein content is not blocked by service providers, and they are driving deeper the wedge of the ?digital divide,? the gulf between those who can afford service and those who cannot. Already, one-third of Americans cannot afford high-speed internet, and those who can pay higher prices for substandard service. The U.S. lags behind nearly every other industrialized country in terms of speed, price, and broadband penetration.

So what has the FCC done to counteract the will of these giant, entrenched corporations? The answer is surprisingly little, with a few, rare exceptions, such as opposition to the Comcast-NBC merger from former FCC Chairman Michael Copps, or the recently-proposed public super wifi networks by current Chairman Julius Genachowski.

What we need now is new leadership at the FCC.?Susan Crawford is well-qualified and she understands the technology, the players, and the landscape. She knows that with a truly pro-competition agenda, the FCC can unleash American ingenuity. Let?s put her at the helm.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear President Obama,

At the beginning of the year, you said that during your second term, Americans must act together to ?build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores.? If the U.S. is to regain its global competitive edge in business, energy, and education, we need pro-innovation, pro-competition regulation in a high-speed internet market that is dominated by incumbent powerhouses with little desire to see change.

Please appoint Susan Crawford as the next Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC is in dire need of leadership who both understands the need for policy that stimulates competition and growth, and holds the technical knowledge to make those regulations feasible. Susan Crawford is well-qualified and she demonstrates a profound vision for the future of high-speed internet for all.

Sincerely,

[Your Name Here]

Source: http://forcechange.com/60485/appoint-internet-activist-as-next-chairman-of-the-federal-communications-commission/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=appoint-internet-activist-as-next-chairman-of-the-federal-communications-commission

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Jerry Buss Cause of Death -- Prostate Cancer Led to Kidney Failure ...

Jerry Buss Death Certificate
Prostate Cancer
Led to Kidney Failure

Exclusive

Late L.A. Lakers owner Jerry Buss suffered from prostate cancer before ultimately succumbing to kidney failure ... this according to his death certificate.

According to the doc, Buss suffered from metastatic sarcomatoid prostate cancer in the 15 months leading to his death on February 18th. The cancer is listed as the second underlying cause of death.

It was widely reported that Dr. Buss was battling cancer before his death, but the cancer was never specified.

The immediate cause of death is listed as renal (kidney) failure, and the first underlying cause of death is listed as respiratory failure.

Buss was 80. He's survived by his 6 children.

Source: http://www.tmz.com/2013/02/26/jerry-buss-prostate-cancer-kidney-failure-death-certificate/

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U.S. considers sending aid to Syrian rebels: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House is considering a shift in policy toward the nearly two-year-long conflict in Syria, and may send the rebels body armor and armed vehicles, and possibly provide military training, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday, citing U.S. and European officials.

Secretary of State John Kerry was expected to discuss the proposed policy change with officials during his nine-nation tour of European and Arab capitals, the newspaper said. U.S. officials remain opposed to sending weapons to the rebels, it said.

Kerry is to meet Syrian opposition leaders at a "Friends of Syria" conference in Rome on Thursday.

On Monday in London, Kerry said President Barack Obama was evaluating more steps to "fulfill our obligation to innocent people," but did not give details or say whether Washington was reconsidering whether to arm the rebels. "We are determined that the Syrian oppositions is not going to be dangling in the wind," he said.

Kerry also said the continued violence in Syria, which the United Nations estimates has killed 70,000 people, represented further evidence that it was time for Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to relinquish his post. At the same time, Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague called for support for Syria's opposition to be increased significantly in order to help bring the protracted conflict to an end.

The United States has provided millions of dollars for food, medical care and clothing for Syrians and refugees, but has not sent aid directly to the rebels or the political opposition.

(Writing by Jackie Frank; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-considers-sending-aid-syrian-rebels-report-035120597.html

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US urges Egypt opposition to take part in election (The Arizona Republic)

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Sneaky Janet Jackson Married Wissam Al Mana Last Year!

Sneaky Janet Jackson Married Wissam Al Mana Last Year!

Janet Jackson and Wissam Al Mana have confirmed that they secretly married last year. The 46-year-old singer and her 37-year-old billionaire businessman husband reveal they had a “quiet, private, and beautiful ceremony”. Janet Jackson and Wissam spoke about about rumors of a lavish wedding, saying, “The rumors regarding an extravagant wedding are simply not true. ...

Sneaky Janet Jackson Married Wissam Al Mana Last Year! Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2013/02/sneaky-janet-jackson-married-wissam-al-mana-last-year/

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Search Engine Marketing Exclusive Services | CulturaPopulara.ro

Get your site exposed. Are you ruining your own campaign?

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A search advertising and marketing firm is the best way to get your web site some on the internet exposure. There are a fantastic number of tasks to get a internet site ready for search advertising and marketing. Keyword research, placement, and choice are all an important portion of targeting your market place. Search advertising firms have the tools and the technology to choose the greatest keywords and phrases and keyword phrases for your audience. Other important considerations for site consist of overall internet site design and style and theme. There are several factors in style that can impact the way search engines rank a website. search engines marketing san diego

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Source: http://culturapopulara.ro/?p=26322

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Karen Olson taps religious groups to help the homeless

In the early 1980s Karen Olson was in a job she enjoyed, working on marketing projects for a pharmaceutical company.

Then she met Millie.

The 70-something woman was living on the street in New York City when Ms. Olson encountered her on her way to a business luncheon. Olson's awareness of the homeless problem in the city already had been heightened by those she had come across previously. She decided to buy Millie a sandwich and orange juice.

The two began to talk and learn more about each other. In the months that followed, Olson began to prepare sandwiches with her two sons to bring to New York City for the homeless population on alternate Sundays.

RECOMMENDED: Budget cuts: five groups likely to feel the pinch

Fast forward two years, and Olson launched a national organization geared toward taking homeless families off the streets and helping them to achieve self-sufficiency.

Today Olson is founder and president of Family Promise, formerly the National Interfaith Hospitality Network, a volunteer-driven nonprofit organization that works to provide shelter, meals, and support services to homeless families, along with family-mentoring services and job-training programs.

The organization, celebrating its 25th anniversary, now has 182 affiliates in 41 states, with new affiliates joining every year. Its mission, helping those most in need to achieve independence and self-sufficiency, stems from Olson?s personal volunteer work.

?I always had a desire to make a difference in people?s lives,? she says. ?I felt strongly that I should involve the religious community ? not just churches, but churches, synagogues, and mosques.?

After volunteering on her own to help the homeless in New York City and near her home in Union County, N.J., Olson held a conference that drew 200 guests and helped to raise awareness of the issue.

In the process of meeting regularly to find ways to help those in need, Olson says, the idea was hatched to establish a network of congregations in a variety of faith communities to provide shelter to homeless families. Since running a shelter requires extensive resources, a group of faith communities would share the task, rotating on a weekly basis to provide coverage throughout the year.

The 11 congregations rotated to provide shelter and meals. A van was acquired to transport families to a day program at the local YMCA. Within six weeks, Olson says the families wound up finding affordable housing.

The idea has spread ever since, and now involves more than 6,000 congregations.

Olson says the model of rotating congregations makes the program manageable for small faith communities.

?It allows many congregations to participate, and many volunteers to get involved,? she says. ?Families not only feel supported, but many contacts grow out of the involvement.?

And the program has seen results ? 77 percent of families served find affordable housing, many in a matter of weeks.

Over the quarter-century history of Family Promise, Olson says, the root of homelessness ? poverty ? has remained the same.

?Unfortunately, you cannot talk about homelessness without talking about housing,? she says. ?Most of the families who come to our program are spending 50 percent or more of their income on rent.?

One medical bill or car repair, she points out, can put a family on the street.

But what has also remained constant is the group of volunteers ? currently 160,000 strong ? that participate in the organization?s mission through its affiliates.

While it is slightly more challenging now to recruit volunteers ? due in large part to declining membership in some congregations ? the organization?s congregation-based model makes it relatively easy to find a helping hand.

?I think one of the reasons we have been able to grow is because people really do yearn to make a difference,? she says.

Even after 25 years, her job is still incredibly rewarding. And with more than a half-million beneficiaries of Family Promise ? 60 percent of them children ? Olson says that tangible differences are being made.

?I know lives are changed,? she says.

RECOMMENDED: Budget cuts: five groups likely to feel the pinch

And it's not just the lives of those who have regained their independence and found housing. It is also the lives of those who volunteer, the congregants who link faith and social justice together. Every now and then, Olson will hear from a pastor who shares how the spirit of his or her congregation was transformed through the service opportunities.

?The most rewarding part is seeing people caring about people,? Olson says. ?You just have to provide a way for people to get involved and make a difference in peoples? lives.?

Olson sees a very basic lesson in Family Promise: ?It shows that we really do care about one another.?

? For more information, visit www.familypromise.org.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/karen-olson-taps-religious-groups-help-homeless-161529181.html

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City proposes bike parking alternatives (Offthekuff)

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Wall Street edges up after Italy exit polls

Playing off his?pre-Oscars prediction?that everyone would hate him at the Oscars, Seth MacFarlane spent the first 19 minutes of the Academy Awards on Sunday making sure everyone would, in fact, hate him.?After some real stinkers, the main conceit was William Shatner descending on a screen as Captain Kirk, from the future, to tell MacFarlane to do a better job of hosting, in a kind of alternate-reality bit that turned pretty sordid?and pretty fast. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wall-street-edges-italy-exit-polls-144646183--finance.html

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'Argo' wins best picture on scattered Oscar night

Grant Heslov, from left, Ben Affleck, and George Clooney pose with their award for best picture for "Argo" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Grant Heslov, from left, Ben Affleck, and George Clooney pose with their award for best picture for "Argo" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Host Seth MacFarlane performs onstage during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

Ang Lee poses with his award for best directing for "Life of Pi" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Actor Christoph Waltz?poses with his award for best actor in a supporting role for "Django Unchained" during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

Jennifer Lawrence, with her award for best actress in a leading role for "Silver Linings Playbook," and Anne Hathaway with her award for best actress in a supporting role for "Les Miserables," pose during the Oscars at the Dolby Theatre on Sunday Feb. 24, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Just as Oscar host Seth MacFarlane set his sights on a variety of targets with a mixture of hits and misses, the motion picture academy spread the gold around to a varied slate of films. "Argo" won best picture as expected, along with two other prizes. But "Life of Pi" won the most awards with four, including a surprise win for director Ang Lee.

"Les Miserables" also won three Academy Awards, while "Django Unchained" and "Skyfall" each took two.

Among the winners were the front-runners throughout this lengthy awards season: best actor Daniel Day-Lewis for his deeply immersed portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg's epic "Lincoln," best actress Jennifer Lawrence as a troubled young widow in "Silver Linings Playbook" and supporting actress Anne Hathaway as the doomed prostitute Fantine in the musical "Les Miserables." Christoph Waltz was a bit of a surprise for supporting actor as a charismatic bounty hunter in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained," an award he'd won just three years ago for Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds."

The 22-year-old Lawrence, who got to show her lighter side in the oddball romance "Silver Linings Playbook" following serious roles in "Winter's Bone" and "The Hunger Games," gamely laughed at herself as she tripped on the stairs en route to the stage in her poufy, pale pink Dior Haute Couture gown. Backstage in the press room, when a reporter asked what she was thinking, she responded: "A bad word that I can't say that starts with 'F.'" Keeping journalists in hysterics, she explained, "I'm sorry. I did a shot before I ... sorry."

That's the kind of raunchiness MacFarlane himself seemed to be aiming for as host while also balancing the more traditional demands of the job. There was a ton of singing and dancing during the three-and-half-hour broadcast ? no surprise from the musically minded creator of the animated series "Family Guy" ? including a poignant performance from Barbra Streisand of "The Way We Were," written by the late Marvin Hamlisch, during the memorial montage. But MacFarlane also tried to keep the humor edgy with shots at Mel Gibson, George Clooney, Chris Brown and Rihanna.

An extended bit in which William Shatner came back from the future as his "Star Trek" character, Capt. James T. Kirk, had its moments while a joke about the drama "Flight" being restaged entirely with sock puppets was a scream. A John Wilkes Booth gag in reference to "Lincoln" was a bit of a groaner, perhaps intentionally, while MacFarlane relied on his alter ego, the cuddly teddy bear from his directorial debut "Ted," to make a crack about a post-Oscar orgy at Jack Nicholson's house. (MacFarlane already has indicated he's one-and-done with Academy Awards hosting.)

But it was Day-Lewis who came up with the kind of pop-culture riffing that's MacFarlane's specialty. In accepting his record third best-actor award from presenter Meryl Streep, he deadpanned that before they'd swapped roles, he originally was set to play Margaret Thatcher "and Meryl was Steven's first choice for 'Lincoln,' and I'd like to see that version."

Besides best picture, "Argo" won for Chris Terrio's adapted screenplay and for William Goldenberg's film editing. Affleck famously (and strangely) wasn't included in the best-director category for his thrilling and surprisingly funny depiction of a daring rescue during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. But as a producer on the film alongside George Clooney and Grant Heslov, he got to take home the top prize of the night.

"I never thought I'd be back here, and I am because of so many of you in this academy," said Affleck, who shared a screenplay Oscar with pal Matt Damon 15 years earlier for their breakout film "Good Will Hunting."

Among the wisdom he's acquired since then: "You can't hold grudges ? it's hard but you can't hold grudges."

Lee, who previously won best director in 2006 for "Brokeback Mountain" (which also didn't win best picture), was typically low-key and self-deprecating in victory. His "Life of Pi" is a fable set in glorious 3-D, but Spielberg looked like the favorite for "Lincoln." The film also won for its cinematography, original score and visual effects.

"Thank you, movie god," the Taiwanese director said on stage. Later, he thanked his agents and said: "I have to do that," with a little shrug and a smile.

"Les Miserables" also won for sound mixing and makeup and hairstyling. The other Oscar for "Django Unchained" came for Tarantino's original screenplay. Asked about his international appeal backstage, Tarantino was enthusiastic as usual in saying: "I'm an American, and a filmmaker, but I make movies for the planet Earth."

Speaking of global hits, the James Bond action thriller "Skyfall" won for its original song by the unstoppable Adele (with Paul Epworth). It also tied for sound editing with "Zero Dark Thirty," the only win of the night for Kathryn Bigelow's detailed saga about the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

Among the other winners, "Searching for Sugar Man," about a forgotten musician's rediscovery, took the prize for best documentary feature. Pixar's fairy tale "Brave" won best animated feature.

One of the biggest moments of the night came at the end, as first lady Michelle Obama announced the winner of the best picture prize. Backstage, Affleck described how surreal it was when he heard her say the word: "Argo."

"I was sort of hallucinating when that was happening," he explained. "In the course of a hallucination it doesn't seem that odd: 'Oh look, a purple elephant. Oh look, Michelle Obama.'"

___

Contact AP Movie Critic Christy Lemire through Twitter: http://twitter.com/christylemire

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-02-25-US-Oscars/id-0c80d6e939bc4f10acf0fd22db70304b

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Group: Syrian regime missiles kill 140 in Aleppo

BEIRUT (AP) ? At least 141 people, half of them children, were killed when the Syrian military fired at least four missiles into the northern city of Aleppo last week, Human Rights Watch confirmed Tuesday after a researcher visited the area.

The international rights group said the strikes hit residential areas and called them an "escalation of unlawful attacks against Syria's civilian population."

Aleppo, Syria's largest city, has been the scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the civil war pitting President Bashar Assad's regime against rebels fighting to oust him.

Rebels quickly seized several neighborhoods in an offensive on the city in July, but the government still controls some districts and the battle has developed into a bloody stalemate, with heavy street fighting that has ruined neighborhoods and forced thousands to flee.

A Human Rights Watch researcher who visited Aleppo last week to inspect the targeted sites, said up to 20 buildings were destroyed in each area hit by a missile. There were no signs of any military targets in the residential districts, located in rebel-held parts of Aleppo, said Ole Solvang, the HRW's researcher.

"Just when you think things can't get any worse, the Syrian government finds ways to escalate its killing tactics," Solvang said.

Human rights watch said 71 children were among the 141 people killed in the four missile strikes on three opposition-controlled neighborhoods in eastern Aleppo. It listed the names of the targeted neighborhoods as Jabal Badro, Tariq al-Bab and Ard al-Hamra. The fourth strike documented by the group was in Tel Rifat, north of Aleppo.

"The extent of the damage from a single strike, the lack of (military) aircraft in the area at the time, and reports of ballistic missiles being launched from a military base near Damascus overwhelmingly suggest that government forces struck these areas with ballistic missiles," the report said.

Syrian anti-regime activists first reported the attacks last week, saying they involved ground-to-ground missiles, and killed dozens of people. The reports could not be independently confirmed because Syrian authorities severely restrict access to media.

Human Rights Watch said it compiled a list of those killed in the missile strikes from cemetery burial records, interviews with relatives and neighbors, and information from the Aleppo Media Center and the Violations Documentation Center, a network of local activists.

The rebels control large swaths of land in northeastern Syria. In recent weeks, Assad's regime has lost control of several sites with key infrastructure in that part of the country, including a hydroelectric dam, a major oil field and two army bases along the road linking Aleppo with the airport to its east.

A key focus for the rebels in the Aleppo area is to capture the city's international airport, which the opposition fighters have been attacking for weeks.

Opposition forces have also been hitting the heart of Damascus with occasional mortars shells or bombings, posing a stiff challenge to the regime in its seat of power.

U.S. and NATO officials have previously said that Syria has a significant ballistic missile capability and is believed to have a few hundred missiles with a range of some 700 kilometers (440 miles) that could hit targets deep inside Turkey, a NATO member and one of the harshest critics of the Assad regime.

NATO has in recent weeks deployed Patriot missile systems along Turkey's border with Syria.

The missile attacks have outraged the leaders of the exiled opposition who have accused their Western backers of indifference to the suffering of the Syrian people.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/group-syrian-regime-missiles-kill-140-aleppo-052548844.html

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Les Nipplerables? Hathaway's dress draws attention

Jason Merritt / Getty Images

A little too suggestive? Actress Anne Hathaway arrives at the Oscars on Feb. 24, 2013 in Hollywood, California.

By Rina Raphael, TODAY

Is it getting chilly in L.A.?

Anne Hathaway's 2013 Oscars gown went viral the moment she stepped on the red carpet, but probably not for the reason she intended. The Best Supporting Actress nominee wore a pale pink Prada dress which featured rather, well, unfortunate darts.

"My mom says it's business in front, party in the back," Hathaway joked on the red carpet on Sunday.

(More like the other way around?)

Of course, it wasn't long before the unique dress was the talk of the Twitterverse, even inspiring a mock Twitter account (sample posts include: "I'm cold. Would anyone mind if Anne wore the red carpet?"). Others called the dress "perky," "Paltrow-esque" and "leaving little to the imagination," all things which can be viewed as either good ... or bad.

What do you think of Anne Hathaway's fashion choice? Are you a fan? Let us know!

Getty Images, Reuters

Oscar nominees and presenters show off their stunning outfits as they arrive to celebrate the best movies of the year.

More from TODAY:
'Argo,' Day-Lewis, Lawrence are winners on sluggish Oscar night
Who wore it best? Vote on the best Oscar looks
Helen Hunt opts for H&M on the red carpet
What is the 'Vampire Facelift' in Oscar goody bag?

See the styles Jessica Chastain and other stars wore on the red carpet at the 2013 red carpet.

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Source: http://thelook.today.com/_news/2013/02/24/17078768-les-nipplerables-hathaways-dress-draws-attention?lite

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More Choices, Less Commitment ? The Gospel Coalition Blog

"If I lived in Iowa, I'd be married with four children by now." Gregg Blatt is the CEO of Match.com's parent company. He's a 40-something bachelor living in Manhattan, and it's not entirely clear whether his wry comment aims to slight Iowa or New York.

Either way, it's clear that overwhelming choice can cripple commitment. Blatt himself wonders whether the glittering promise of online dating?your perfect match is only a click away?encourages us to become never-satisfied consumers of relationships, always looking to upgrade. And if we suspect we can easily find a superior choice on the Internet, how might that knowledge negatively affect the desire to invest in our current relationship, or even marriage? Assuming we one day get tired of compulsive consumption and decide to stop playing the field, will we be able to? Might the intoxication of choice lead to the death of commitment?and contentment?

Dan Slater thinks so. His recent article in The Atlantic implies that online dating, far from making marriage easier, is actually making it harder?by making commitment less likely:

The positive aspects of online dating are clear: the Internet makes it easier for single people to meet other single people with whom they might be compatible, raising the bar for what they consider a good relationship. But what if online dating makes it too easy to meet someone new? What if it raises the bar for a good relationship too high? What if the prospect of finding an ever-more-compatible mate with the click of a mouse means a future of relationship instability, in which we keep chasing the elusive rabbit around the dating track?

Slater's dog-track metaphor is strikingly apt. The rabbit isn't real, it's never caught, yet the greyhound still obsessively chases it. And the multiplying "rabbits" (as provided by the proliferation of online dating services) deceive us into believing that the odds of catching one have improved exponentially. In reality, as our expectations of relational satisfaction have risen, so has the likelihood of disappointment?and with it, the chances that we will keep on compulsively chasing. Of course, this process suits the online dating companies. "[T]he profit models of many online-dating sites are at cross-purposes with clients who are trying to develop long-term commitments," Slater observes.?"A permanently paired-off dater, after all, means a lost revenue stream." That's why most of the users on Match.com?are return customers, coaxed back into activity by plaintive "How could you leave us?" emails, and the consumer's own relational restlessness.?

Lowering the Bar

Evidence also suggests that even if we do finally commit to someone, the multiplicity of options makes it less likely we'll stay committed. Psychologist Barry Schwarz, author of The Paradox of Choice, argues that "a large array of options may diminish the attractiveness of what people actually choose, the reason being that thinking about the attractions of some of the unchosen options detracts from the pleasure derived from the chosen one."

In 2011, Mark Brooks, a consultant to online dating companies, published the results of an industry survey titled "How Has Internet Dating Changed Society?" The survey responses, from 39 executives, produced the following conclusions:

• "Internet dating may be partly responsible for a rise in the divorce rates."
• "Above all, Internet dating has helped people of all ages realize that there's no need to settle for a mediocre relationship."
• "Low quality, unhappy, and unsatisfying marriages are being destroyed as people drift to Internet dating sites."
• "The market is hugely more efficient. . . . People expect to?and this will be increasingly the case over time?access people anywhere, anytime, based on complex search requests. . . . Such a feeling of access affects our pursuit of love. . . . [T]he whole world (versus, say, the city we live in) will, increasingly, feel like the market for our partner(s). Our pickiness will probably increase."
• "Internet dating has made people more disposable."

That's frightening. But online dating is surely not the only cause of commitment-phobia. As Slater points out, gender may also play a role, though "researchers are divided on the question of whether men pursue more 'short-term mates' than women do." Certainly, with young women in the United States much more likely to graduate from college than their male peers, and college graduates much more likely to date other college graduates, men seem to have the luxury (or rather, the curse) of choice.

Then there is the pornography epidemic. It raises (or rather, lowers) the bar on what we expect of a prospective spouse because of its unremitting insistence on physical performance and cosmetic beauty, over and against mental and moral qualities. As Christian men, we may pray unctuously for the Lord to provide a wife of noble character (Proverbs 31:10-31), but our hearts are being continually conditioned to lust after the wife of maximal hotness. "Charm is deceitful," God protests, "and beauty is vain!" But we dismiss him like one of those impertinent pop-ups that gets in the way of what we really want to see.

Devastating Results

The devastating societal results are already being ruefully catalogued. The sexually graphic film?Shame (2011) sees a porn-addicted Michael Fassbender sloping from one brief encounter to another. Together in a hotel room with a beautiful woman who believes in monogamy, he is unable to perform. Because his only commitment is to an endless, open-ended lack of commitment, real intimacy eludes him. And by the time the film ends, we're not sure it will ever be regained.

?

Or take George Clooney in Up in the Air (2009). He plays a character whose aversion to emotional commitment means that, according to his own family, he has essentially ceased to exist. Taken in by the false promises of sexual "freedom," he has withheld commitment for years. And now that he wishes to give it, he's no longer free to do so.

Pointedly, The Velveteen Rabbit appears briefly in the film. It's a children's story about a stuffed toy rabbit who becomes real when he is loved. At one point, the rabbit asks the wise Skin Horse how the process happens.

"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

It's a mesmerizing, sad story about how real love?real commitment?inevitably unmakes us. Perhaps that's partly why we're so afraid of it. But the story also explains why that "unmaking" is such a desirable thing.

It's how you become "real."

Our Undoing

Truly committing to another human being will certainly be our undoing. It requires substitutionary sacrifice: your life is subsumed in the quest for the other's contentment. In the case of marriage it means each person forsaking all others, which to the world looks like a very shabby prospect.

But this selfless giving of oneself to another human being holds unique power to make both the lover and the beloved truly beautiful. By losing their lives, they have gained them. But we can only taste this if we commit?and allow other to commit to us.

Committing to love at great cost to ourselves is the most desirable choice we can make in God's universe. He demonstrated this love for us on a tiny hill outside Jerusalem. He made the choice to love self-sacrificially. Forsaking all others, he committed himself to a particular people, at a particular time, in a particular place. Even the living God?powerful, sovereign, utterly free, whose triune nature means that he does not depend on others in order to love and be loved?nevertheless committed himself to love one bride.

Will we trade the deceptive and ever-declining thrills of choice-idolatry for the unique pleasures of commitment? We should do it, and soon. Because even if, by God's grace, our chains fall off, even if our dungeon flames with light, we may be powerless to get up and leave, because our hearts have been crippled. We put off commitment and venerate choice, idly believing that we will commit when we are ready. But when that day finally arrives, we may realize with widening eyes that we're no longer choosing sin. Sin is choosing us. We will have become imprisoned by choice.

And for those of us who have experienced this prison first-hand, isn't it strange when the world describes us as "butterflies"? That is too delicate, too lovely. Brothers and sisters, let me propose a more fitting insect: the moth. Drawn to the light but finally unable to enjoy it. Dulled. Restless. All-consuming.

Barry Cooper studied English at Oxford University and theology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He is the author of Discipleship Explored, and is co-author of the Christianity Explored evangelistic program. He writes the blog Future Perfect, Present Tense, and is currently helping to plant Trinity West Church in Shepherd's Bush, London.

Copyright ? 2013 by the author listed above. Used by permission.

Source: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/02/25/more-choices-less-commitment/

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Future evidence for extraterrestrial life might come from dying stars

Feb. 25, 2013 ? Even dying stars could host planets with life -- and if such life exists, we might be able to detect it within the next decade. This encouraging result comes from a new theoretical study of Earth-like planets orbiting white dwarf stars. Researchers found that we could detect oxygen in the atmosphere of a white dwarf's planet much more easily than for an Earth-like planet orbiting a Sun-like star.

"In the quest for extraterrestrial biological signatures, the first stars we study should be white dwarfs," said Avi Loeb, theorist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) and director of the Institute for Theory and Computation.

When a star like the Sun dies, it puffs off its outer layers, leaving behind a hot core called a white dwarf. A typical white dwarf is about the size of Earth. It slowly cools and fades over time, but it can retain heat long enough to warm a nearby world for billions of years.

Since a white dwarf is much smaller and fainter than the Sun, a planet would have to be much closer in to be habitable with liquid water on its surface. A habitable planet would circle the white dwarf once every 10 hours at a distance of about a million miles.

Before a star becomes a white dwarf it swells into a red giant, engulfing and destroying any nearby planets. Therefore, a planet would have to arrive in the habitable zone after the star evolved into a white dwarf. A planet could form from leftover dust and gas (making it a second-generation world), or migrate inward from a larger distance.

If planets exist in the habitable zones of white dwarfs, we would need to find them before we could study them. The abundance of heavy elements on the surface of white dwarfs suggests that a significant fraction of them have rocky planets. Loeb and his colleague Dan Maoz (Tel Aviv University) estimate that a survey of the 500 closest white dwarfs could spot one or more habitable Earths.

The best method for finding such planets is a transit search -- looking for a star that dims as an orbiting planet crosses in front of it. Since a white dwarf is about the same size as Earth, an Earth-sized planet would block a large fraction of its light and create an obvious signal.

More importantly, we can only study the atmospheres of transiting planets. When the white dwarf's light shines through the ring of air that surrounds the planet's silhouetted disk, the atmosphere absorbs some starlight. This leaves chemical fingerprints showing whether that air contains water vapor, or even signatures of life, such as oxygen.

Astronomers are particularly interested in finding oxygen because the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere is continuously replenished, through photosynthesis, by plant life. Were all life to cease on Earth, our atmosphere would quickly become devoid of oxygen, which would dissolve in the oceans and oxidize the surface. Thus, the presence of large quantities of oxygen in the atmosphere of a distant planet would signal the likely presence of life there.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled for launch by the end of this decade, promises to sniff out the gases of these alien worlds. Loeb and Maoz created a synthetic spectrum, replicating what JWST would see if it examined a habitable planet orbiting a white dwarf. They found that both oxygen and water vapor would be detectable with only a few hours of total observation time.

"JWST offers the best hope of finding an inhabited planet in the near future," said Maoz.

Recent research by CfA astronomers Courtney Dressing and David Charbonneau showed that the closest habitable planet is likely to orbit a red dwarf star (a cool, low-mass star undergoing nuclear fusion). Since a red dwarf, although smaller and fainter than the Sun, is much larger and brighter than a white dwarf, its glare would overwhelm the faint signal from an orbiting planet's atmosphere. JWST would have to observe hundreds of hours of transits to have any hope of analyzing the atmosphere's composition.

"Although the closest habitable planet might orbit a red dwarf star, the closest one we can easily prove to be life-bearing might orbit a white dwarf," said Loeb.

Their paper has been accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) is a joint collaboration between the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Harvard College Observatory. CfA scientists, organized into six research divisions, study the origin, evolution and ultimate fate of the universe.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Abraham Loeb, Dan Maoz. Detecting bio-markers in habitable-zone earths transiting white dwarfs. Arxiv, 2013 [link]

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/N7HMdoJEg3U/130225131618.htm

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Stocks down sharply over Fed minutes

NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks are closing lower on Wall Street following news that several top Federal Reserve officials are doubtful about continuing the central bank's economic stimulus.

The S&P 500 index had its biggest loss of the year.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 108 points to close at 13,927 points Wednesday.

The Standard & Poor's 500 lost nearly 19 points, or 1.2 percent, to 1,511.

The Nasdaq composite fell 49 points to 3,164. Apple fell 2 percent on reports of a hiring freeze at its main supplier in China, Foxconn.

Caterpillar fell after reporting weaker sales in North America and Asia, dragging the Dow lower.

Three stocks fell for every one that rose on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was 4.1 billion shares, slightly heavier than usual.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-drop-following-federal-minutes-205952101--finance.html

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Oscar Pistorius, suspecting an intruder, shot girlfriend through bathroom door

Oscar Pistorius, in an affidavit read by his lawyer, says that he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, thinking she was a robber. Two sponsors, Oakley and Nike, distanced themselves from Pistorius.

By Gerald Imray and Jon Gambrell,?Associated Press / February 19, 2013

Olympian Oscar Pistorius stands following his bail hearing in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013. Pistorius fired into the door of a small bathroom where his girlfriend was cowering after a shouting match on Valentine's Day. He was charged with premeditated murder.

(AP Photo)

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Johnannesburg and Pretoria, South Africa

Oscar Pistorius says he shot his girlfriend to death by mistake, thinking she was a robber.

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The double amputee said in an affidavit read by his lawyer at his bail hearing Tuesday that he felt vulnerable because he did not have on his prosthetic legs when he pumped bullets into the locked bathroom door.

Then he realized that model Reeva Steenkamp was not in his bed. He says "It filled me with horror and fear ..."

He put on his legs, tried to kick down the door, then bashed it in with a cricket bat to find Steenkamp, 29, shot inside. He said he ran downstairs with her, but "She died in my arms."

Meanwhile, the family of Oscar Pistorius' slain girlfriend wants answers, her mother told a Johannesburg newspaper, as South Africans braced to hear why prosecutors believe a national hero murdered the model who was shot multiple times.

June Steenkamp, Reeva Steenkamp's mother, told The Times in a front page interview published Monday: "Why? Why my little girl? Why did this happen? Why did he do this?"

"Just like that she is gone," the newspaper quoted her as saying in what it described as an emotional telephone interview. "In the blink of an eye and a single breath, the most beautiful person who ever lived is no longer here."

Pistorius, who remains in custody in a red-brick, one-story police station in Pretoria, returned to court Tuesday for the start of his bail hearing. It is the first opportunity for the prosecution to describe evidence police gathered against the 26-year-old double-amputee runner and the reasons why he was charged with murder. Prosecutors allege the killing was premeditated.

Pistorius' family denies he committed murder.

In an email to The Associated Press on Monday, Pistorius' longtime track coach ? who was yet to comment ? said he believes the killing was an accident.

"I pray that we can all, in time, come through this challenging situation following the accident and I am looking forward to the day I can get my boy back on the track," Ampie Louw wrote in his statement. "I am still in shock following the heart-breaking events that occurred last week and my thoughts and prayers are with both of the families involved."

Two major sponsors, Oakley and Nike, distanced themselves from Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius on Monday.

Oakley, the eyewear maker, suspended its contract with Pistorius. And Nike, which sells shoes and other athletic gear, said it has no plans to use him in future ad campaigns.

While Pistorius was in court, Steenkamp's funeral was also held Tuesday in her hometown of Port Elizabeth on South Africa's southern coast, her family said. It was a private ceremony at a local crematorium, closed to the public and media.

"We're just taking things one day at a time," Reeva Steenkamp's brother Adam Steenkamp said outside the family home. "But at the moment it's family coming together and the one person who would be the strongest, who held us all together, is unfortunately not here anymore ? and that's my sister."

A 29-year-old blonde model, law graduate and reality TV contestant, Reeva Steenkamp died last week of multiple gunshot wounds inside Pistorius' upscale house in a gated community in the eastern suburbs of the capital, Pretoria.

Police said they arrived in the predawn hours of Thursday ? Valentine's Day ? to find paramedics trying to revive Steenkamp and said that she had been shot four times. A 9 mm pistol was recovered from the scene. Pistorius was arrested and charged with murder the same day.

Prosecutors said in Pistorius' first court appearance Friday that they would pursue a more serious premeditated murder charge against the Olympian and world's most high-profile disabled athlete.

In a statement initially given only to the AP and two South African reporters over the weekend, Arnold Pistorius, Oscar's uncle, said the prosecution's own case would show there was no murder.

"We have no doubt there is no substance to the allegation," he said, "and that the state's own case, including its own forensic evidence, strongly refutes any possibility of a premeditated murder or indeed any murder at all."

The bail hearing, scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday, will be the first time both the prosecutors and defense will show their hands about the evidence involved in the killing, said Stephen Tuson, an adjunct law professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

"There will kind of be a little trial within a trial," Tuson said of the start of a court case that will likely grip South Africa and much of the world ? possibly for years.

Due to the gravity of the charges, Pistorius' defense lawyers presented their case first, arguing that their client was not a danger to the public and wouldn't try to flee to avoid trial, Tuson said. They'll also have to show that he won't try to intimidate witnesses, nor pose a risk of sparking public unrest, the professor said.

The defense does have the opportunity to put Pistorius ? who broke down and wept in his first appearance in court ? on the stand to offer testimony on his own behalf. That likely won't happen, as prosecutors would then be allowed to ask him potentially incriminating questions, Tuson said.

Typically, defense lawyers read a prepared statement in court instead.

From there, prosecutors will offer their own version of events, likely bolstered by testimony from the lead investigator in the killing, Tuson said.

Pistorius has been in custody in Brooklyn police station in Pretoria since Friday. His agent told the AP that there is no way to predict if he will ever run track again.

"For me it's too early to comment," Peet Van Zyl said. "I think it's still a huge shock and tragedy that took the world by surprise so I can't comment on that one (Pistorius' future career) or give any timeline to that at this point in time."

Coach Louw, who is significant for convincing Pistorius to take up track a decade ago and starting him on his journey to worldwide fame, said he had been around Pistorius and Steenkamp, and she often accompanied the athlete to training.

"I found her to be delightful, very friendly ... and I found the two of them to be very happy in each other's company," Louw said.

___

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