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Sunday, June 3, 2012

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Saturday, June 2, 2012

Morgan Freeman is 75 ? what's his best role?

Reed Saxon / AP file

Morgan Freeman poses with the Oscar he won for best supporting actor for his work in "Million Dollar Baby" on Feb. 27, 2005.

By Randee Dawn

It's hard to imagine a time when there wasn't a Morgan Freeman on our screens. The Oscar-winning actor, who turns 75 today, has been performing since he was 9 years old and in the ensuing years he's used his sonorous, commanding voice and soulful, charismatic presence to play dozens of roles -- God, the president, a convicted criminal, a chauffeur and an easy-reading hipster, just to name a few.

Freeman has a versatility that can make him menacing, warm, superhero-like and an everyman -- he's never gotten typecast. Sure, he's played his share of sidekicks (sometimes while appearing with Thursday's birthday boy and friend Clint Eastwood in movies like "Unforgiven" and "Million Dollar Baby") but Freeman is the rare actor who can ease straight into the driver's seat of a film (literally in "Driving Miss Daisy"), and no one blinks.

Though he's made some headlines recently -- no, he's not going to marry his step-granddaughter -- there's no question that the Memphis-born Freeman remains one of Hollywood's most beloved actors. In the end, there's no question that you fell in love with his talent and abilities -- the question is only when it happened.?

Happy 75th, Morgan Freeman!

What's your favorite Morgan Freeman role? Vote below and then?head over to Facebook to discuss the man and his movies,?and follow us on Pinterest!

What's your favorite Morgan Freeman role?

Related content:

Ellis Boyd Redding (The Shawshank Redemption)	? 58.2% (8,923 votes)
Hoke Colburn (Driving Miss Daisy)	? 14.6% (2,232 votes)
Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins (Glory)	? 4.5% (685 votes)
Carter (The Bucket List)	? 3.9% (599 votes)
Alex Cross (Along Came a Spider)	? 3.4% (526 votes)
Azeem (Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves)	? 3% (459 votes)
Ned Logan (Unforgiven)	? 2.6% (403 votes)
God (Evan Almighty, Bruce Almighty)	? 2.6% (394 votes)
Nelson Mandela (Invictus)	? 2.1% (321 votes)
Easy Reader (The Electric Company)	? 1.9% (292 votes)
Lucius Fox (The Dark Knight series)	? 1.5% (223 votes)
Eddie Dupris (Million Dollar Baby)	? 1.4% (215 votes)
Fast Black (Street Smart)	? 0.4% (66 votes)

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Timbuktu: In time of chaos, a hometown son returns

This photograph taken Friday May 18, 2012 shows AP reporter Baba Ahmed, left, with Elhadji Sidi Yattabar, of Mali's Islamic council, as they cross the Niger River some 16 kms (10 miles) from Timbuktu, Mali, escorted by fighters of the Ansar Dine. Ahmed made an emotional journey back to his hometown of Timbuktu where two months ago Tuareg rebels declared an independent state in the north amid a power vacuum created by the March 21 coup that ousted Mali's longtime leader. (AP Photo)

Map locates Timbuktu, Mali

TIMBUKTU, Mali (AP) ? The first sign of change came as our convoy of food aid and medicine pulled up to the last northern town held by the Malian army. The atmosphere was tense as the heavily armed troops searched our car and baggage. Even my toothbrush was apparently suspect.

"We're looking for weapons," a soldier snapped.

"But there's only food here," one of the convoy leaders replied lightheartedly. Normally a joke like that would break the tension in Mali, but the soldier just continued his search, stony faced.

The reinforced roadblock was erected in a neighborhood on the outskirts of Mopti, 400 miles (600 kilometers) and a daylong drive from the Malian capital of Bamako. To the north lies my hometown, the fabled city of Timbuktu, now in the hands of two armed rebel groups.

Two months ago Tuareg rebels declared an independent state in the north amid a power vacuum created by the March 21 coup that ousted Mali's longtime leader. The Malian army was forced from the north as the Tuareg fighters descended on Timbuktu.

The first group was secular and claimed to be fighting for an independent homeland for the Tuaregs, a nomadic Muslim people who live in four nations in the region. They were quickly superseded by a group of Islamist fighters known as Ansar Dine, or Defenders of Islam, whose goal is to impose Shariah law in the area they now call the Azawad nation.

The Malian soldiers were especially suspicious of me. Unlike the black African inhabitants of southern Mali ? whose members dominate the army ? I am light-skinned. I look Tuareg, even though I am from one of the Arab tribes that long ago settled in Timbuktu. That makes me suspect, since I look like the fighters that took over the north.

I was faced with aggressive and suspicious looks. When I tried to go out for a walk, a colleague quickly stopped me and told me I was better off staying inside until the convoy was moving again.

When dawn came, we headed toward the rebel-controlled zone.

We got our first glimpse of the men who now run northern Mali when two pickup trucks flashed their headlights at us through the morning mist. These were the Islamic fighters of Ansar Dine who were to be our escorts to Timbuktu.

There were around a dozen of them, dressed in sand-colored uniforms with turbans on their heads. Each had a Kalashnikov. One of the trucks had a heavy machine gun mounted on the back.

Despite their fearsome appearance, the men were polite. Later, when some of the cars in the convoy got stuck in sand they helped dig them out.

We headed north and came to the first checkpoint ? manned by the Tuareg rebels, the National Movement for the Liberation of the Azawad. It felt like we were entering another country.

When I was growing up in Timbuktu in the 1990s, the region was for the most part peaceful and open to the outside world. Tourists would picnic under the stars on the sand dunes around the city and visit libraries of ancient manuscripts ? a reminder that Timbuktu was a center of Islamic learning as far back as the 12th century.

Things have changed.

As we approached the city, I was expecting to see the usual crowd of women and children scrambling to meet passing cars to try to sell the goods they produce, like butter, milk and charcoal.

This time no one was there. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled northern Mali in the last few months.

We arrived in Timbuktu at around 10 p.m. and I went straight to my neighborhood. Usually at this time of night, streetlights would be on and the sounds of TV and radio would be heard from streetside stalls, where people gather to watch a film or the latest soap opera.

But there were no lights, the TV signal had been cut and the only radio station still on the air did not have night broadcasts. The area was silent and totally dark.

I was happy to see my family and know they were safe, but the town was not the lively place I had known. Buildings were looted and damaged during the rebel takeover. Banks were closed. Many aid organizations have stopped working. The city felt empty.

At the same time, the Islamist rebel group implemented welfare programs to try to win over the population. They distributed food to the needy, eliminated costly municipal and import taxes and offered free health care at the public hospital, not insignificant measures in a remote desert outpost hundreds of miles from the nearest metropolis.

A large percentage of Timbuktu's population of 54,000 had fled, but the hospital was doing a brisk business, drawing patients from surrounding areas.

"My two children were suffering from malaria. The doctors saw them and gave me the medicine for free. Now my children have been cured," said Fady Yattara, who traveled 80 miles (130 kilometers) from the town of Dire with her two daughters. They were hospitalized for a week.

Ansar Dine is also investing in the hospital's upkeep, attending to details the Malian government frequently ignored.

"Ansar Dine is taking care of the maintenance of the hospital's generator and is providing the diesel to run it. So even when there's a power cut in the city, the hospital can continue to function. They even changed the air conditioners that were broken in some of the rooms," said Seydou Bassaloum, a hospital supervisor.

At the main market, merchants said they no longer pay taxes on imported merchandise.

"I'm happy with Ansar Dine because since they are here, I no longer pay taxes and the customs officers no longer bother me," said Mokhtar Ould Sidi, who sells flour imported from Algeria. "The downside is I don't have any customers since most of the population has left town."

For many residents an even bigger downside is that Ansar Dine has started to enforce Islamic law in Timbuktu, a city that long practiced a moderate form of Islam.

"We are now required to wear veils. I was in the market when a bunch of Islamists started pulling on my sleeves to show me that I should cover my arms," said Madina Dicko, a 25-year-old restaurant worker. "I pretended like I didn't understand them, and I continued with my shopping. But they wouldn't stop, so ? since I didn't have any clothes with which to cover myself ? I was forced to quickly buy a veil."

"Since then, I haven't stopped wearing this veil, despite the heat. I feel like a prisoner," she said as temperatures rose above 109 degrees.

I was assigned a minder by Ansar Dine. While I was at the hospital interviewing a nurse, he told her to cover her head. The 40-year-old woman pretended not to hear him.

He again told her to cover herself. Again she pretended not to hear, until he addressed her a third time. She went and found a veil and wore it in the suffocating heat.

"I'm tired of wearing this scarf. I'm not used to this, and it's giving me a headache because it's so hot," the nurse told me in a local language she thought the Islamist minder wouldn't understand.

Even more worrying, fighters from al-Qaida's North African branch, al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, have moved in too. The group forged a foothold in Mali's remote north in recent years, kidnapping dozens of Westerners for ransom. The kidnap risk has destroyed the tourism industry here, with Western embassies declaring the northern half of Mali a no-go zone.

I was told by Ansar Dine that the al-Qaida fighters are in Timbuktu as members of Ansar Dine. The fact remains, however, that people responsible for dozens of kidnappings and attacks on Western and government targets across the Sahara region of Africa are now in my home town.

After five days, the convoy I came with left Timbuktu. As we rolled out of town, around 50 young people jumped on the back of the trucks, taking advantage of the free ride south.

Another group leaving the place they grew up in, I thought with a heavy heart. Another group deciding they will be better off somewhere else.

Associated Press

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Friday, June 1, 2012

Celebrate National Cancer Survivors Day! : Healthymagination

By Healthymagination | Posted June 1 2012

Statistics show that cancer can affect everyone: young and old, women and men, all around the world. There are over 100 types of cancer that can affect any part of the body. Just in the year 2008, 6,617,844 people were diagnosed with cancer worldwide, according to World Health Organization data. That?s one out of every two men and one out of three women diagnosed with cancer throughout their lifetimes.

A serious disease like cancer is a bombshell, a shock that tells us that no one is invincible. On June 3rd, Cancer Survivors Day will be celebrated worldwide, an event devoted to all cancer patients that have fought and those that are still fighting to overcome the disease and carry on with their lives.

The National Cancer Survivors Day Foundation defines a ?survivor? as anyone living with a history of cancer; from the moment of diagnosis through the remainder of life. This day is a chance for communities around the world to demonstrate that they have an active and productive cancer survivor population.

As part of this initiative, GE Healthcare has created a Twitter hashtag #CancerFreeMe, to encourage survivors to share their stories and achievements. It can also be used to show admiration and support for those who have survived the disease. On Sunday, we will also be making live our first Pinterest board, ?Cancer Pintherapy,? to share visual content about cancer. We want to show support and share what lessons cancer survivors have been able to teach us through their journeys

1. Cancer doesn?t mean ?game over,? It means it?s time to fight for life with every ?healthy? weapon you have, with treatment and care that only you can give your body: positive thinking and determination. This doesn?t mean you can?t be upset, or even angry. Don?t lose sight of what you want: to get better and to beat the disease.

As breast cancer survivor Nelly Gupta moved through treatment, journal writing helped her cope. ?Often, after pages of dark musings, something lighter would break through?today, the sun is shining and I am aware of a feeling of pleasure. Life is fragile and tenacious. Maybe accepting that duality is key to integrating cancer into my life?,? she wrote recently in the healthymagination blog.

2. Exercise to release endorphins. The most traditional forms of treatment for most cancers are surgery, chemotherapy and radiation; which are all invasive and can take their toll on patients, making them tired and weak. During this difficult time, exercise and a good diet is essential. Exercise can be anything from working out in the gym to taking walks in the park; regular exercise releases valuable endorphins that will help you feel stronger and happier. A good diet will help keep energy levels up and give the body an extra push to fight against the disease.

3. Fighting cancer isn?t just about feeding the body. The benefits of having a support group of family and friends that visit regularly and help out with the day to day chores will help boost morale, give everyone involved peace of mind and fire up the will power to overcome the disease. Make a plan and delegate responsibilities; family and work can adapt to your treatment.

4. Communication between doctors and patients is crucial; there is nothing scarier than being in hospital and going through treatment without knowing what?s happening. The treatment might sound scary, but it?s good to know what the steps are and when they will be completed; it makes patients stronger and allows them to have a more positive outlook.

That?s also true when the doctor becomes the patient. When James Porter, MD, who specializes in treating men with prostate cancer using robotic surgery, developed the disease himself, he told the Healthy Outlook blog, ?I had a huge insight. I had to trust my doctor and appreciated what an amazing amount of trust my patients had in me. It?s helped me tremendously as a physician to have been in that spot and gave me empathy for what patients feel.?

5. Remember that preventing the onset of the disease is better than treating it. You can reduce your risks of developing cancer up to 40% just by keeping fit, according to CDC data. Also, through early detection, many cancers have been found in early stages and can be treated earlier on.

For some people, cancer might come as a complete surprise. That?s exactly what happened to Gaetano Scroco. He was diagnosed with Papillary Thyroid cancer by chance. Thanks to early detection, he received treatment a lot faster.??I just want to emphasize the importance of early detection and that you need to see a doctor for a regular check-up once a year?, Gaetano said. ?It?s been one year since I had my cancerous Thyroid removed. I am feeling fine. So far I am cancer free.?

CONNECT THE DOTS

Related Information

The Human Impact of Our Work: GE Team Meet Cancer Survivors

Fighting Breast Cancer Together

Questions All Cancer Patients Should Ask

Breast Cancer Mosaic

Is My Cancer Different

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WHO Cancer Sheet Fact

Guidelines Urge Exercise for Cancer Patients, Survivors

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Exercise for Cancer Patients: Fitness After Treatment

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Spain tries to calm investors amid market pressure

A miner throws a firecracker at the Industry Ministry during a demonstration to protest against cuts in Madrid, Thursday, May 31, 2012. Miners coming from all around Spain demonstrate in Madrid amid fear on losing their jobs. Spain is moving closer to the financial tipping-point that could force it to ask for a bailout as the country's borrowing costs neared unsustainable levels Wednesday. The country's economic fortunes have gone from boom to bust over the past decade.(AP Photo/Daniel Ochoa de Olza)

A man rummages through a recycling trash container in front of the Bankia bank headquarters in Madrid, Thursday May 31, 2012. The European Union urged Spain on Thursday to come clean on how it plans to finance the overhaul of its banking sector, warning that uncertainty over this has contributed the recent market turmoil and the country's soaring borrowing costs. A European Commission spokesman, Amadeu Altafaj, told Spanish National Radio that the conservative government in Madrid needed to spell out quickly how it plans to finance the recapitalization of troubled lender Bankia SA and whether there are other banks burdened by toxic real estate assets that might need assistance. (AP Photo/Paul White)

A woman leaves a bank as a piece of cardboard holds on the entrance reading, ''Closed by Cynicism'' during a march against cutback plans by Spain's government in Pamplona, northern Spain, Thursday, May 31, 2012. The European Union urged Spain Thursday to come clean on how it plans to finance the overhaul of its banking sector, warning that uncertainty over this has contributed the recent market turmoil and soaring borrowing costs. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

People protest in front a bank during the protest against cutback plans by Spain's government in Pamplona, northern Spain, Thursday, May 31, 2012. The European Union urged Spain Thursday to come clean on how it plans to finance the overhaul of its banking sector, warning that uncertainty over this has contributed the recent market turmoil and soaring borrowing costs. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

MADRID (AP) ? Spain insisted Friday it is financially stable because its heavily indebted regions are now meeting deficit reduction targets, but investors remained worried about the country's ability to rescue another part of its financial system - the banks - and kept the government's bond yields dangerously high.

The nation's 17 semi-autonomous regions - whose high debts have helped fuel fears about the country's financial future ? will meet a target to get their collective deficits below 1.5 percent this year, Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro told reporters.

The regions, which function much like U.S. states, ran a deficit of 0.45 percent of GDP in the first quarter. When counting ?5 billion ($6.2 billion) they received from the central government, they ran a balanced budget.

"This means that since the beginning of the year the government's plan is working," said Montoro.

Most of Spain's excessive deficits in 2011 ? which at 8.9 percent were almost three times the EU limit of 3 percent ? came from the regions' overspending.

Eight of the regions, including powerful Catalonia in the northeast, saw their credit ratings downgraded this week by the Fitch agency. Those that issue debt are paying high rates. Montoro said the government is close to completing a mechanism that will allow the regions to issue debt through the central government at lower rates.

But worries about Spain in recent weeks have centered mainly on its banks, which are sitting on massive amounts of soured real estate investments. Rescuing the banks could overwhelm public finances, pushing the government to need international aid itself.

Those concerns remained as strong as ever on Friday and one senior bank executive said that if the amounts of money needed to rescue the country's banking sector kept on getting bigger there would be no alternative to a European bailout, the first time the head of a bank has acknowledged such a possibility.

"The banking sector is now in an absolutely critical situation," said Maria Dolores Dancausa, chief executive of Bankinter SA, Spain's seventh-largest bank by market value. "With the figures needed to clean up the banks going each time higher it gets to look like there will be no choice," Dancausa said.

The interest rate on 10-year Spanish bonds was up another 0.02 percentage points to 6.47 percent, close to the 7 percent rate that forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to ask for bailouts.

Despite the rise in borrowing rates, Montoro insisted the country can meet its debt obligations: "Spain has the ability to make good on that debt in its entirety."

Concern about Spain and the wider 17-country eurozone has shaken financial markets in recent weeks, pushing the euro to a 2-year low on Friday.

Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said this week that Spain and Europe were at a crossroads as speculation mounts over whether the country will need a bailout. The danger is that Spain's ?1 trillion ($1.24 trillion) economy is too big for Europe to save ? far larger than the economies of Greece, Ireland and Portugal combined.

Spain's banking sector is laden with soured investments on real estate and the government needs ?19 billion to rescue just one lender, Bankia SA, at a time of recession and crushing unemployment of 24.4 percent.

"I don't know if we are on the edge of a cliff, but we are in a very, very difficult position," de Guindos said Thursday evening in a speech to business leaders in Sitges, a resort town near Barcelona. "The future of the euro is going to play out in the next few weeks in Spain and Italy."

Bond yields ? a measure of investor confidence in a country's debt ? were also very high in Italy, which has big debts and is in recession. Its 10-year bond yield rose stood at 5.73 percent late Friday afternoon after rising to 5.93 percent earlier in the day on fears that it could be affected by Spain's instability.

UBS Investment Research said there is no consensus that the Spanish banking sector in general needs a big recapitalization. It estimated the sector needs between ?80 billion and ?100 billion in new funds.

"The Spanish State should be able to sustain the recapitalization costs without losing control of its finances," UBS analysts said in a note to clients. "We recognize however that financing this intervention in current market conditions will be difficult."

De Guindos supported the recent proposal by the European Commission for a centralized banking authority with the financial capacity to inject capital directly into troubled banks without having to go through governments first.

He also said Europe needs a regional bank deposit insurance plan like the United States has and a "banking union" to coordinate regulation among countries.

Germany, however, opposes the idea of a centralized authority that can spend money ? much of which Berlin supplies ? directly on shaky banks.

"We don't see now how such ideas are supposed to help with the short-term management of the current questions," said German Finance Ministry spokesman Johannes Blankenheim. "The fiscal compact is the beginning of the fiscal union and, as a perspective, one can imagine stronger (banking) supervision."

Top financial officials, however, have been warning European leaders they must take action before it is too late.

European Central Bank head Mario Draghi said this week that the setup of the eurozone was unsustainable and called for measures, such as a banking union, as proposed by the European Commission.

World Bank chief Robert Zoellick made similar points in an opinion piece published Friday in the Financial Times.

"Eurozone leaders may be nearing a 'break the glass' moment: when one smashes the pane protecting the emergency fire alarm," Zoellick wrote. He also supported the idea of having a central European authority that can put money into ailing banks.

Despite its resistance to such a move, Germany did back the European Commission's proposal to give Spain more time to reduce its deficit. It stood at 8.9 percent of GDP last year, and the goal is to get it down to 5.3 percent by the end of 2012.

Blankenheim noted that Spain has stated its intention of cutting the deficit to 3 percent by next year, "but we also see that, because of unfavorable economic developments, it could be difficult to reach these targets."

"Spain is fulfilling its commitments in the deficit proceedings and so there is no reason to escalate the proceedings against Spain," Blankenheim told reporters in Berlin. "The Spanish government is tackling with determination the necessary reform measures, and the German government is convinced that this determination will be mirrored on the markets."