Honest Luv

Discount Perfume

The Persian Muslim doctor and chemist Avicenna (also known as Ibn Sina) introduced the process of extracting oils from flowers by means of distillation, the procedure most commonly used today. He first experimented with the rose. Until his discovery, liquid perfumes were mixtures of oil and crushed herbs, or petals which made a strong blend. Rose water was more delicate, and immediately became popular. Both of the raw ingredients and distillation technology significantly influenced western perfumery and scientific developments, particularly chemistry.

Although there is no single "correct" technique for the formulation of a perfume, there are general guidelines as to how a perfume can be constructed from a concept. Although many ingredients do not contribute to the smell of a perfume, many perfumes include colorants and anti-oxidants to improve the marketability and shelf life of the perfume, respectively.

WASHINGTON – Thousands of U.S. Marines and hundreds of Afghan troops moved into Taliban-infested villages with armor and helicopters Wednesday evening in the first major operation under President Barack Obama's revamped strategy to stabilize Afghanistan.
The offensive was launched shortly after 1 a.m. Thursday local time in Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold in the southern part of the country. The goal is to clear insurgents from the hotly contested Helmand River Valley before the nation's Aug. 20 presidential election.
Dubbed Operation Khanjar, or "Strike of the Sword," the military push was described by officials as the largest and fastest-moving of the war's new phase. British forces last week led similar missions to fight and clear out insurgents in Helmand and neighboring Kandahar provinces.
"Where we go we will stay, and where we stay, we will hold, build and work toward transition of all security responsibilities to Afghan forces," Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson said in a statement.
Southern Afghanistan is a Taliban stronghold but also a region where Afghan President Hamid Karzai is seeking votes from fellow Pashtun tribesmen.
The Pentagon is deploying 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in time for the elections and expects the total number of U.S. forces there to reach 68,000 by year's end. That is double the number of troops in Afghanistan in 2008, but still half of much as are now in Iraq.
While Marine troops were the bulk of the force, recently arrived U.S. Army helicopters were also taking part in the operation in Helmand province.
In March, Obama unveiled his strategy for Afghanistan, seeking to defeat al-Qaida terrorists there and in Pakistan with a bigger force and a new commander. Taliban and other extremists, including those allied with al-Qaida, routinely cross the two nations' border in Afghanistan's remote south.
The governor of Helmand province predicted the operation would be "very effective."
"The security forces will build bases to provide security for the local people so that they can carry out every activity with this favorable background, and take their lives forward in peace," Gov. Gulab Mangal said in a Pentagon press release.
Obama's strategy aims to boost the size of the Afghan army from 80,000 to 134,000 troops by 2011 — and greatly increase training by U.S. troops accompanying them — so the Afghan military can defeat Taliban insurgents and take control of the war. The White House also is pushing forces to set clear goals for a war gone awry, to get the American people behind them, to provide more resources and to make a better case for international support.
There is no timetable for withdrawal, and the White House has not estimated how many billions of dollars its plan will cost.

When you become late on your mortgage or you are facing foreclosure, dealing with your lender can be much like dealing with Guido and his band of mobsters that think breaking knees in better than working things out where everyone wins.

You must have a verifiable source of income. The key word is verifiable. The bank will ask you for documents to substantiate your income. Pay stubs, income tax returns, w2’s and bank statements just to name a couple.

Oregon Loan Modification

A few companies, including Victor Talking Machine Company and Pathe, produced record players using compressed-air loudspeakers. However, these designs were significantly limited by their poor sound quality and their inability to reproduce sound at low volume. Variants of the system were used for public address applications, and more recently other variations have been used to test space equipment resistance to the very loud sound and vibration levels that launching rockets produce.

To accurately reproduce very low bass notes without unwanted resonances (i.e., from cabinet panels), subwoofer systems must be solidly constructed and properly braced; good ones are typically heavy. Many subwoofer systems include power amplifiers and electronic filters, with additional controls relevant to low frequency reproduction. These variants are known as "active subwoofers". Passive subwoofers require external amplification.

Wireless Outdoor Speakers

LOS ANGELES – A judge ruled Wednesday that Katherine Jackson will retain control of 2,000 items from Neverland Ranch until another hearing is held Monday, despite claims that the Jackson family had moved too quickly to take control of the pop star's $500 million estate.
Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff called for a speedy compromise between attorneys for Katherine Jackson and the two co-executors of Michael Jackson's will — lawyer John Branca and John McClain, a music executive and a family friend.
"I would like the family to sit down and try to make this work so that we don't have a difficult time in court," the judge said.
The decision came after Paul Gordon Hoffman, an attorney for Branca and McClain, told Beckloff his clients were the proper people to take over Jackson's financial affairs.
He said Katherine Jackson's attorneys had already overstepped their authority by sending letters seeking documents and money from people who control Jackson's accounts. Hoffman did not elaborate.
However, he called Jackson's attempt to get limited power over her son's estate on Monday, "a race to the courthouse that is frankly improper."
The judge said he saw no urgency to give the executors authority over the Neverland items this week.
Katherine Jackson's attorney, L. Londell McMillan, said in a statement they were pleased with Beckloff's ruling.
On Monday, Beckloff granted Katherine Jackson "slim" authority to take control of the Neverland items that had been slated for auction earlier this year. The sale was stopped after Jackson sued.
Katherine Jackson, 79, had sought to take control of the singer's financial assets on Monday, but Beckloff refused. Documents filed then by the family said they believed Jackson died without a valid will.
Records show Katherine Jackson's petition was filed just hours before Branca met with the family and presented them with a copy of the will and the trust that is designated to receive all his assets.
Family spokesman Shawn Sachs did not immediately respond to an e-mail seeking comment.
Details of the trust were not revealed.
Katherine Jackson's attorneys wrote in a court filing that the Neverland memorabilia was being held by a former Jackson representative. Beckloff said Wednesday he thought it was valid to be concerned that some of those items might go missing.
Earlier in the day, lawyers for Branca and McClain presented a five-page, typed will signed by Michael Jackson that named his mother as the guardian of her son's three children and their estates.
Control of Michael Jackson's estate — estimated at more than $500 million — goes to Branca and McClain in the will and managed by the trust.
Jackson's mother and children, ranging in ages from 7 to 12, were named as beneficiaries of a trust.
Another attorney for the executors, Jeryll S. Cohen, told Beckloff that Branca and McClain could negotiate a deal this week to minimize a hit to Jackson's estate from the refund of an estimated $85 million in tickets sold for a series of London concerts.

Michael Jackson had been in the late stages of preparing for those concerts when he unexpectedly died in Los Angeles on Thursday.

___

Associated Press writer Jacob Adelman in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – State Attorney General Jerry Brown and former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman have raised the most campaign money this year for the 2010 California governor's race.
Brown said he collected $7.3 million through Tuesday, the end of the reporting period for the first half of the year. The Democrat has not formally announced he is running for the office he held from 1975 to 1983.
Whitman, a Republican, said her campaign brought in $6.5 million on top of her own $4 million contribution. San Francisco's Democratic Mayor Gavin Newsom raised $1.6 million.
Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner, a Republican, did not release a figure for the reporting period but said he has raised more than $1.2 million to date.

BEIJING (AFP) –
A senior Chinese sports official expressed disbelief Tuesday following a report that basketball icon Yao Ming may not play next season and could be facing a career-ending injury.

Chinese fans also largely voiced skepticism over the 2.26-metre (seven-foot-six-inch) centre's repeated injuries, speculating it could be a ploy to lower his value as his contract will soon be up for renewal.

Yao's camp had earlier given a pessimistic read-out on the slow recovery of his broken foot to the Chinese Basketball Association, the sports website of major Chinese portal Sina.com said, citing CBA vice head Hu Jiashi.

"But they did not say that he would miss the coming NBA season, nor did they say he would miss the (2010) World Championships," Hu was quoted as saying.

"I believe his injury has not progressed to such a stage."

On Monday, Houston Rockets team doctor Tom Clanton told the Houston Chronicle that Yao's left foot, which was broken in a May post-season game against the Los Angeles Lakers, could be a "career-threatening" injury.

"At this point, the injury has the potential for him missing this next season and could be career-threatening," Clanton told the Chronicle.

"One of the things we are trying to get is a consensus opinion on that, to make certain there is no option we are overlooking that would provide an earlier return or would be an option for treatment that he would prefer rather than doing additional surgery."

Yao has already been given approval to miss this summer's Asian Basketball Championships in the east Chinese city of Tianjin, but the CBA hopes the centre will be able to play for the national team at next year's World Championships in Turkey.

Postings by fans on the Sina.com website expressed suspicions that the Rockets were trying to drive Yao's value down, as he has two years left on his contract and could opt out next year and sign with another team.

"The Rockets don't want Yao to leave, so they hope to sign him early, this is the way to bring his price down," a Sina.com posting said.

"As soon as Yao Ming signs, his doctor will immediately say he can play again, 182 games will be no problem."

Other postings were not so kind to the superstar, with many expressing impatience with his repeated injuries.

"I support Yao retiring from the NBA," said one. "That will save him from making a fool of himself."

WASHINGTON – Animal research facilities will be required to disclosee more information online about their experiments under a court settlement signed Wednesday by the Humane Society of the United States and the Agriculture Department.
According to the Humane Society, the settlement will require the Agriculture Department to post annual reports from those facilities, including what they call "pain and distress information," on its Web site. The two parties settled in a lawsuit filed by the advocacy group four years ago after the group were unable to obtain information they requested.
The settlement will now be submitted to the federal district court for the District of Columbia for final approval.
"While it became apparent during the suit that the USDA might be acting to shield animal research facilities from public scrutiny, we are pleased that the settlement will ensure public access to animal research information, and shed light on whether USDA is doing its job," said Kathleen Conlee of the Humane Society.
The Bush administration stopped posting some animal testing information in 2002, according to the group, and then began posting the annual reports in 2005 in response to the lawsuit. Conlee said the court-approved settlement is important so future administrations don't further abuse the policy.
Caleb Weaver, a spokesman for Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, confirmed the settlement.
The Animal Welfare Act, signed into law in 1966 and enforced by USDA, governs the care and handling of most warm-blooded animals at registered research facilities and licensed animal dealer facilities around the country. Birds, mice and rats bred for research are exempt from the law.
A 1970 amendment to the law requires those facilities to submit annual reports on its activities. According to the Humane Society, these reports should include information on how many and what kind of animals are used in research, whether pain relief was used and a justification if such relief was not provided.
The group's 2005 lawsuit charged that the Department of Agriculture violated the Freedom of Information Act by denying them access to reports and redacting large amounts of information in reports they did provide.

Live Food

Mealworms are the larva form of the mealworm beetle, Tenebrio molitor, a species of darkling beetle. Like all holometabolic insects, they go through four life-stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Larvae typically measure about 2.5 cm or more, whereas adults are generally between 1.25 and 1.8 cm in length.

Mealworm beetles (darkling beetles) are prolific breeders. Mating is a three step process: 1) The male gives chase until the female relents. 2) The male then mounts the female and curls his genitals (aedagus) underneath himself and inserts it into her genital tract. 3) The male then injects a packet of semen into the female. Dependent on incubation temperature, just days after mating the female will burrow into soft ground and lays about 500 eggs.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A man who says he was sickened by a box of raisins donated to a food program by Rhode Island's prison system can proceed with a lawsuit against the agency. The state Supreme Court said Tuesday that a lower court judge erred by dismissing a 2006 lawsuit from Thomas Adams.
Adams alleged that he suffered nausea, vomiting and diarrhea after eating a box of raisins in October 2004. He says he found an insect larva and insect dung near the bottom of the box.
The raisins were stored at the Rhode Island Department of Corrections food distribution center. They were then distributed as part of a federal food program for needy residents. Adams got the raisins in a food giveaway by a Providence church.

http://www.flavocin.com/start.html

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) –
The Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday declared Democrat Al Franken the winner of a tight Senate race over Republican Norm Coleman, effectively giving Democrats a critical 60-seat majority needed to push through President Barack Obama's agenda.

Coleman told reporters in St Paul, Minnesota: "I will abide by (the court's) result."

Under state law, the court's decision gives Franken, a well-known satirist and a former writer and actor for the popular Saturday Night Live television show, the right to occupy the seat.

The vote count was the subject of recounts and legal battles since last November's election.

Minnesota Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty has said he would certify the election winner based on what the state court decides. Pawlenty, considered a possible presidential contender in 2012, said he would not run for governor again next year, which clears an avenue for Coleman to run for governor.

The Minnesota court, in its 32-page ruling, knocked down each of Coleman's five legal arguments that an earlier vote recount had been unfair.

The court said Franken was "entitled" to the certificate of election, which must be signed by Pawlenty and Minnesota's Secretary of State, Democrat Mark Ritchie.

Democrats will now control 60 of the 100 Senate seats -- enough to overcome Republican procedural roadblocks.

However, Senate Democrats may not be able to rely on the votes of some members, including Arlen Specter, the former Republican from Pennsylvania who switched parties in April. Specter has said he will vote his own way and not necessarily along party lines.

SEE-SAW RACE

Coleman, seeking a second term, held a razor-thin 206-vote lead in initial results after the November 4 election.

But the close vote triggered an automatic recount of the 2.4 million ballots cast for the two men, and Franken edged to a 225-vote lead. That was challenged by Coleman and a judicial panel agreed to add only a few hundred previously rejected absentee ballots. That tally expanded Franken's lead to 312.

Franken would be the 58th Senate Democrat, the most the party has had since 1981. They could muster the 60 votes needed to clear Republican procedural hurdles known as filibusters -- provided all Democrats stick together and are joined by two independents who routinely vote Democratic.

The last time either party had a filibuster-proof 60 was 1979 when Democrats held 61 and Democratic Jimmy Carter was president.

Gaining the 60 Senate votes could help President Barack Obama move his ambitious agenda through the chamber, and thus Congress. Democrats also control the House of Representatives, 256 to 178 with one vacancy.

There is no guarantee Senate Democrats would all fall in line to pass Obama's top initiatives, and the Democratic president knows it.

"I am under no illusions that suddenly I'm going to have a rubber-stamp Senate," Obama said in April after Specter switched parties.

"I've got Democrats who don't agree with me on everything, and that's how it should be," the president said.

The Franken-Coleman duel was the longest contested Senate election since a 1974 New Hampshire race, which was voided 10 months later due to voting irregularities, according to the Senate historian's office.

(Additional reporting by Tom Ferraro in Washington; Writing by Andrew Stern; Editing by David Storey)

Alcohol detoxification is a process by which a heavy drinker's system is brought back to normal after being used to having alcohol in the body on a continual basis. Serious alcohol addiction results in a decrease in production of GABA neuro-inhibitor because alcohol acts to replace it. Precipitous withdrawal from long-term alcohol addiction without medical management can cause severe health problems and can be fatal. Alcohol detox is not a treatment for alcoholism. After detoxification, other treatments must be undergone to deal with the underlying addiction that caused the alcohol use.

Certain approaches in alternative medicine claim to remove toxins from the body through herbal, electrical or electromagnetic treatments (such as the Aqua Detox treatment). These toxins are undefined and have little scientific basis, making the validity of such techniques questionable. There is no evidence for toxic accumulation in these cases, as the liver and kidneys automatically detoxify and excrete many toxic materials including metabolic wastes.

Ion Foot Bath

MOSCOW – Nearly two decades after the Soviet collapse set Russia's roulette wheels spinning again, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is calling in the chips on the gambling industry — a symbol of the glitz and excess of Russia's oil-fueled boom.
It's all part of a Kremlin crusade to clean up a country that has long had a fascination with games of chance — and to rein in an industry seen as a breeding ground for corruption and organized crime.
The government ordered the closure of all casinos and gambling halls Wednesday — confining gambling to four special zones in far-flung regions of Russia, most thousands of miles and half-a-dozen time zones away from Moscow.
There is a downside, though. It deprives the federal budget of billions of dollars a year in taxes, while leaving more than 400,000 people without work amid the country's economic crisis.
"They've killed the industry overnight," said an embittered Michael Boettcher, the British founder of Storm International, a casino group that includes the gaudy Shangri-La in central Moscow.
"It's like closing all the five-star restaurants in London because you're eating too much, and saying that if you do want to have them, you'll have to relocate to North Wales," he said. "Who's going to go? Nobody."
More than once Russia has seen officials announce sweeping reforms, only to later back down. So when the gambling law was introduced in 2006, many wondered whether the Kremlin would actually follow through on its threat to pack the $3.6 billion a year gambling industry off to Siberia and other obscure locations.
Many casinos and hole-in-the wall slot machine parlors stayed open until the last possible moment, while the owners of a few gambling dens took the opportunity to expand their business abroad.
"For Rent" signs are up on Moscow's premier tourist boulevard, the Novy Arbat, where the biggest casinos were open for business just days ago. On glitzy Tverskaya Street — Moscow's Fifth Avenue — the Shangri-La was one of the few casinos still doing a brisk trade as customers placed their final bets.
Gambling has exploded in recent years in Russia. Following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, casinos mushroomed across the country, especially in the capital, drenched in oil wealth. Slot machines quickly spread beyond gaming halls to shops and malls across the country.
As gambling grew, so did the problems. The Russian casino culture quickly became synonymous with ostentatious displays of wealth and organized criminal activity. Compulsive gambling wreaked destruction on players and their families.
The evils of playing the odds are penned into Russia's collective consciousness. Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote "The Gambler" in a desperate race against time to pay off mounting debts run up at the roulette wheel, vividly depicting a gambler's rollercoaster ride from exultation to despair.
When Russian lawmakers signed the casino closure law in 2006, the move was in step with the image Putin wanted to project: that of a clean-living, tee-totaling and workaholic president. But equally, say analysts, the government saw an opportunity to weed out the criminal element in the casino business.
Gambling was also seeping into every corner of Russia's public life, moving Putin to assert that the vice "was as addictive as alcohol in this country," according to the Itar Tass news agency. Slot machines were everywhere: grocery stores, railway stations, bus stations and clinics.
"You could buy slot machines for $100 each. It was ludicrous, and something had to be done," said Boettcher.
Russia's diplomatic relations, meanwhile, soured with neighboring Georgia over a damaging spy scandal. With a large percentage of the gaming industry controlled or overseen by Georgians — much of it rumored to be mafia-linked — the government appeared to be sending a message that it was cracking down on organized crime.
Many casino owners say they'd sooner take their business to nearby Belarus and Kyrgyzstan than relocate to the zones.
Bettors, meanwhile, are expected to turn in their thousands to online gaming or poker, which is classified as a sport.

Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, a prominent critic of the gambling industry, said Tuesday he would now turn his attention to Internet gambling and poker halls.

"We've approached the government for a decision on poker clubs and Internet gambling for cash, which is pretty much the same as the gambling business," Luzhkov told Itar Tass. "Poker clubs — how can you say that's a sport?"

Starting Wednesday, casinos and slot machines will be allowed to operate only in Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea, the Primorsky region on the Pacific coast, the mountainous Altai region in Siberia and near the southern cities of Krasnodar and Rostov, host to the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

It could take five years before some of the outposts are ready to open their doors. In two, not even the location has been settled on.

In the meantime, gambling will go underground, critics fear, creating a breeding ground for corruption and organized crime.

"It could very well turn out to be Russia's Prohibition," said Chris Weafer, a strategist at Uralsib Bank in Moscow, referring to the U.S. drinking ban in the 1920s that rapidly proved unenforceable and ushered in organized crime. "People are not going to give up their gambling fix that easily."

___

Associated Press Writer Nataliya Vasilyeva contributed to this report

MOSCOW – Nearly two decades after the Soviet collapse set Russia's roulette wheels spinning again, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is calling in the chips on the gambling industry — a symbol of the glitz and excess of Russia's oil-fueled boom.
It's all part of a Kremlin crusade to clean up a country that has long had a fascination with games of chance — and to rein in an industry seen as a breeding ground for corruption and organized crime.
The government ordered the closure of all casinos and gambling halls Wednesday — confining gambling to four special zones in far-flung regions of Russia, most thousands of miles and half-a-dozen time zones away from Moscow.
There is a downside, though. It deprives the federal budget of billions of dollars a year in taxes, while leaving more than 400,000 people without work amid the country's economic crisis.
"They've killed the industry overnight," said an embittered Michael Boettcher, the British founder of Storm International, a casino group that includes the gaudy Shangri-La in central Moscow.
"It's like closing all the five-star restaurants in London because you're eating too much, and saying that if you do want to have them, you'll have to relocate to North Wales," he said. "Who's going to go? Nobody."
More than once Russia has seen officials announce sweeping reforms, only to later back down. So when the gambling law was introduced in 2006, many wondered whether the Kremlin would actually follow through on its threat to pack the $3.6 billion a year gambling industry off to Siberia and other obscure locations.
Many casinos and hole-in-the wall slot machine parlors stayed open until the last possible moment, while the owners of a few gambling dens took the opportunity to expand their business abroad.
"For Rent" signs are up on Moscow's premier tourist boulevard, the Novy Arbat, where the biggest casinos were open for business just days ago. On glitzy Tverskaya Street — Moscow's Fifth Avenue — the Shangri-La was one of the few casinos still doing a brisk trade as customers placed their final bets.
Gambling has exploded in recent years in Russia. Following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, casinos mushroomed across the country, especially in the capital, drenched in oil wealth. Slot machines quickly spread beyond gaming halls to shops and malls across the country.
As gambling grew, so did the problems. The Russian casino culture quickly became synonymous with ostentatious displays of wealth and organized criminal activity. Compulsive gambling wreaked destruction on players and their families.
The evils of playing the odds are penned into Russia's collective consciousness. Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote "The Gambler" in a desperate race against time to pay off mounting debts run up at the roulette wheel, vividly depicting a gambler's rollercoaster ride from exultation to despair.
When Russian lawmakers signed the casino closure law in 2006, the move was in step with the image Putin wanted to project: that of a clean-living, tee-totaling and workaholic president. But equally, say analysts, the government saw an opportunity to weed out the criminal element in the casino business.
Gambling was also seeping into every corner of Russia's public life, moving Putin to assert that the vice "was as addictive as alcohol in this country," according to the Itar Tass news agency. Slot machines were everywhere: grocery stores, railway stations, bus stations and clinics.
"You could buy slot machines for $100 each. It was ludicrous, and something had to be done," said Boettcher.
Russia's diplomatic relations, meanwhile, soured with neighboring Georgia over a damaging spy scandal. With a large percentage of the gaming industry controlled or overseen by Georgians — much of it rumored to be mafia-linked — the government appeared to be sending a message that it was cracking down on organized crime.
Many casino owners say they'd sooner take their business to nearby Belarus and Kyrgyzstan than relocate to the zones.
Bettors, meanwhile, are expected to turn in their thousands to online gaming or poker, which is classified as a sport.

Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, a prominent critic of the gambling industry, said Tuesday he would now turn his attention to Internet gambling and poker halls.

"We've approached the government for a decision on poker clubs and Internet gambling for cash, which is pretty much the same as the gambling business," Luzhkov told Itar Tass. "Poker clubs — how can you say that's a sport?"

Starting Wednesday, casinos and slot machines will be allowed to operate only in Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea, the Primorsky region on the Pacific coast, the mountainous Altai region in Siberia and near the southern cities of Krasnodar and Rostov, host to the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

It could take five years before some of the outposts are ready to open their doors. In two, not even the location has been settled on.

In the meantime, gambling will go underground, critics fear, creating a breeding ground for corruption and organized crime.

"It could very well turn out to be Russia's Prohibition," said Chris Weafer, a strategist at Uralsib Bank in Moscow, referring to the U.S. drinking ban in the 1920s that rapidly proved unenforceable and ushered in organized crime. "People are not going to give up their gambling fix that easily."

___

Associated Press Writer Nataliya Vasilyeva contributed to this report

Early pacifiers were manufactured with a choice of black, maroon or white rubber, though the white rubber of the day contained a certain amount of lead. One of the best-known brands was the Binki, which became a general name for pacifier in the US. Binky (with a y) was first used as a brand name for pacifiers and other baby products in about 1935.

Dentists recommend brushing infants' teeth as soon as they appear. It is not necessary to wait for the teething process to complete. Dentists may recommend against the use of fluoride toothpaste during teething.

Go

Murals are important in that they bring art into the public sphere. Due to the size, cost, and work involved in creating a mural, muralists must often be commissioned by a sponsor. Often it is the local government or a business, but many murals have been paid for with grants of patronage. For artists, their work gets a wide audience who otherwise might not set foot in an art gallery. A city benefits by the beauty of a work of art. Murals exist where people live and work and they can add to their daily lives.

Murals can be a relatively effective tool of social emancipation or achieving a political goal. Murals have sometimes been created against the law, or have been commissioned by local bars and coffeeshops. Often, the visual effects are an enticement to attract public attention to social issues.

Wall Art

LOS ANGELES – Santa Barbara County officials are in a meeting about Michael Jackson plans, and E! Online reports they are discussing a possible memorial service at his Neverland Ranch.
Lt. Butch Arnoldi, a Sheriff's Department spokesman, told E!: "Our guys are meeting as we speak with the California Highway Patrol to discuss the security issues."
Santa Barbara County Fire spokesman Capt. David Sadecki confirmed to The Associated Press that fire officials, California Highway Patrol and county sheriffs officials were meeting Tuesday morning to discuss "the whole Michael Jackson thing."
"The Santa Barbara County Fire Department is willing to accommodate the Jackson family with whatever request they have regarding a funeral procession should they have one," Sadecki said.
Sadecki said he had not yet talked representatives in the ongoing meeting but expected an update later in the afternoon.
Neverland is located in the rolling hills of central California's wine country, about 150 miles northwest of Los Angeles.
Rick Quintero, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol, said the CHP had not received a request for a motorcade as of Tuesday morning. He said if the motorcade crosses through CHP jurisdiction, as it likely would from Los Angeles to Neverland, they would need to be notified.
"They would definitely need to notify us because it's going to impact the motoring public. At the point they decide it is going to happen we have to be involved because it's going to impact our jurisdiction," Quintero said.
At once a symbol of Jackson's success and excesses, Neverland became the site of a makeshift memorial after his death Thursday. Scores of fans have streamed past the gated entrance to leave handwritten notes, photographs, balloons and flowers.
He was 29 and at the height of his popularity when he bought the ranch, naming it after the mythical land of Peter Pan, where boys never grow up. There, he surrounded himself with animals, rides and children.
Jackson fled the ranch — and the country — after his acquittal on charges that he molested a 13-year-old cancer survivor in 2003 at the estate after getting him drunk.
Jackson moved luxury cars, artwork, jewelry, costumes and other property off the ranch last year for an auction that never occurred.

BAGHDAD – The top U.S. military commander in Iraq on Tuesday accused Iran of continuing to support and train militants who are carrying out attacks, including most of the ones in Baghdad.
Gen. Ray Odierno said the attacks have fallen in number but are still a problem. He made the comments just after the U.S. relinquished security for Baghdad and other urban areas to Iraqi forces, part of a security agreement that will see all American soldiers out of the country by the end of 2011.
"Iran is still supporting, funding and training surrogates inside Iraq," Odierno told reporters at his base outside Baghdad. "I think many of the attacks in Baghdad are in fact done by individuals supported by Iran."
Odierno said the attacks were mainly indirect fire — a term usually reserved for mortars, rockets and artillery — and EFP's. That weapon, also known as an explosively formed penetrator, is designed to attack armored vehicles such as Humvees. U.S. officials have said the main component of the EFP is manufactured in Iran.
The weapons are among the main killers of U.S. troops in Iraq.
On Monday, U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill said he was concerned about military reports showing that illegal arms continue to flow into Iraq from Iran, although he could not say if they had been reduced or increased amid the recent security gains.
"Certainly we've seen examples of this which are not consistent with a good neighbor policy," he told The Associated Press.
"The Iraqi government is also very concerned about this and I think the Iraqi government is taking a very tough minded view of some of these insurgent groups that the Iranians have clearly been supporting over the last year or so," he added.
Hill also said that Iran was still trying to exert a "malevolent influence" over neighboring Iraq but said he was hopeful Iraqis aren't responding.
The U.S. military accuses Iran of backing Shiite militias in Iraq with training and weapons and says it remains a major threat to Iraq's stability as American combat troops pull back from cities in a first step toward a full withdrawal by the end of 2011.
Tehran denies allegations that it is supporting violence in Iraq.

LOS ANGELES – The Jackson family is determined to move on in order to protect Michael Jackson's legacy and make sure his three children are well, family friend Al Sharpton said Tuesday.
"They've had challenges before," Sharpton said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "They always rallied."
Jackson's parents wasted little time demanding authority over their son's financially strained empire and guardianship of their fatherless grandchildren. The big question is who, if anyone, will contest them?
Early Monday — just four days after the death of the King of Pop — lawyers for Katherine and Joe Jackson won temporary custody of Michael Jackson's three children and moved to become administrators of his estate.
Judge Mitchell Beckloff granted 79-year-old Katherine Jackson temporary guardianship of the children, who range in age from 7 to 12. He also gave her control over some of her son's personal property that is now in the hands of an unnamed third party. But the judge did not immediately rule on her requests to take charge of the children's and Jackson's estates.
The swiftness of the legal motions underscore the fact that Jackson's death leaves a vacuum if he died without a valid will. If no will is filed, the number of potential claimants that could emerge seeking custody of the children or a piece of his empire are many.
Jackson's parents claimed in documents filed in Superior Court on Monday that there is no will. A person with knowledge of Jackson's business matters, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the material, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday that there is a will. The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that the will splits Jackson's estate between his three children, his mother and some charities.
"No one that I know of has ever seen the will," Jackson family attorney Brian Oxman said on CBS' "The Early Show" on Tuesday. "We simply don't know."
About the same time a judge granted Katherine Jackson authority over at least some of her son's estate Friday, pickup trucks and a large dump truck towing a flatbed were seen entering the 2,500-acre Neverland Ranch, a major piece of the singer's debt-strapped financial empire. It was not clear who had requested the fleet or for what purpose.
Clearly one of his most valuable assets is his recording catalog, which his father could potentially rerelease through his new record company if the family gains control of his assets. There could also be recordings in Jackson's estate that he had never released.
There's also a financial bonanza to be had in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog of which Jackson owned 50 percent. The 750,000-song catalog includes music by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond, Lady Gaga and the Jonas Brothers, and is estimated to be worth as much as $2 billion.
When Jackson died Thursday, he also left behind a 12-year-old son and 11-year-old daughter by his ex-wife Deborah Rowe, as well as a 7-year-old son born to a surrogate mother.
The Jackson family said the children — Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. (known as Prince Michael), Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince Michael II — are living at the Jackson family compound in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.
"They have a long established relationship with paternal grandmother and are comfortable in her care," the family said in court documents.
Family patriarch Joe Jackson, 79, said at a news conference that the children were enjoying playing with other kids — something they do not normally do.
The documents state that although Rowe is the mother of the two older children, her whereabouts are unknown. The document simply listed "none" for the mother of the youngest child, Prince Michael II.
The Jacksons say they have not heard from Rowe since their son's death. Rowe's attorney, Marta Almli, did not respond to an e-mail message seeking comment Monday. She previously said, "Ms. Rowe's only thoughts at this time have been regarding the devastating loss Michael's family has suffered."
Sharpton said on ABC that the Jackson family's status as a longtime show-biz family gives them valuable experience in dealing with the children.

"You must remember, they're going to have to grow up as Michael Jackson's children," he said. "They need someone that understands that culture, that scrutiny, that unusual life they're going to have to live."

The legal steps were taken even as investigators continued their probe into the singer's death. Officials with the Los Angeles County coroner's office returned to the mansion he was renting at the time of his death and left with two large plastic bags of evidence.

Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said the bags contained medication. He declined to elaborate.

Lawyers for Jackson's cardiologist Dr. Conrad Murray, who was with Jackson when he collapsed, said the physician never prescribed the powerful drugs Demerol or Oxycontin for Jackson and did all he could to revive the singer.

Attorney Matt Alford said it took as long as 30 minutes for paramedics to be called after Murray found Jackson with a faint pulse and performed CPR.

The delay was partly because Jackson's room in the rented mansion didn't have a telephone and Murray didn't know Jackson's street address to give to emergency crews, Alford said.

Eventually, Murray found a chef in the house and had him summon a security guard, who called for help while the doctor continued to perform CPR.

Lou Ferrigno, the star of TV's "Incredible Hulk" who was helping Jackson train for a planned concert tour, said that Jackson didn't look like he was in pain the last time they met; he was helping Jackson train for his tour.

"He might have been a little thin because he was under a lot of stress because of the tour," Ferrigno said on "Good Morning America." But he said he believed Jackson would have made it through his concert tour. He said Jackson was a vegetarian who ate only one meal a day.

Jackson's father told reporters at the family compound that his son's funeral was still in the planning stages but added that his son would not be buried at Neverland.

___

Associated Press writers Gregory Katz in London, AP Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody in Los Angeles, business writers Ryan Nakashima and Alex Veiga in Los Angeles and writers Stevenson Jacobs and David Bauder in New York contributed to this story.

Event planning includes budgeting, establishing dates and alternate dates, selecting and reserving the event site, acquiring permits, and coordinating transportation and parking.

Event planners work is considered either stressful or energizing. This line of work is also considered fast paced and demanding. Planners face deadlines and communicating with multiple people at one time. Planners spend most of their time in offices, but when meeting with clients the work is usually on-site at the location where the event is taking place .

Event Planners

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Amazon.com has cut ties with Rhode Island Web sites that make referrals to the online retailer because a law designed to collect sales taxes on these transactions will soon come into force, the Providence Journal reported Tuesday.
Seattle-based Amazon wrote to Rhode Island Web site operators, telling them its "Associates program" ended Monday. Web sites that posted links to the company about its products have received up to a 15 percent cut on sales.
On June 17, the Rhode Island legislature passed a budget provision that would force Amazon to collect 7 percent in sales taxes on these so-called "click-through" transactions.
Amazon argues the law is unconstitutional, so eliminating the commission would prevent the company from having to collect the sales tax most consumers pay on purchases at in-state stores.
Rhode Island taxpayers currently must pay sales taxes for out-of-state purchases on their annual tax return, but it's an honor system.
Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith did not immediately respond to an Associated Press e-mail seeking comment Tuesday.
She, however, told the Providence Journal on Monday that "The government in Rhode Island is attempting to go about tax collection in what we feel is an unconstitutional manner."
Amazon's decision will have no immediate effect on Rhode Island's revenues because the state didn't project any new tax income immediately, according to House Finance Committee chairman Steven M. Costantino.
Amazon's announcement is the latest in a legal fight involving states trying to get out-of-state companies that perform commerce largely online with their residents but have little or no physical presence in the state to collect taxes.
The stakes are large. Governments could generate $3 billion in new revenues if Web retailers had to collect taxes on all sales to consumers, according to Forrester Research.
Amazon sued New York in 2008 over a law similar to what Rhode Island lawmakers passed because it argued it unlawfully imposes tax-collection obligations on out-of-state entities. A trial court judge dismissed the case in January.
"It should be noted that while Amazon is fighting this measure in New York, they have not stopped doing business with the affiliates in New York state," Gov. Don Carcieri's spokeswoman, Amy Kempe, said.
On Friday, Amazon pulled the plug on commissions for North Carolina Web sites because a similar law could soon be enacted.
The company currently collects sales taxes from customers in states in which Amazon has a bona fide physical presence, including Washington, Kentucky and Kansas.

BIRMINGHAM (AFP) –
Former England captain Michael Vaughan announced his retirement from all professional cricket with immediate effect here at Edgbaston on Tuesday.

Vaughan, England's most successful Test captain, has not played for his country since tearfully resigning the captaincy in August during the home series loss to South Africa.

His career has been blighted in recent years by a knee injury and speculation about the 34-year-old's future intensified after Vaughan failed to win a place in England's squad for the Ashes series against Australia which starts next week in Cardiff.

Yorkshire batsman Vaughan, in a statement issued by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), said: "After a great deal of consideration, I've decided that now is the right time to retire from cricket.

"It has been an enormous privilege to have played for and captained my country and this is one of the hardest decisions I have had to make.

"Having played almost non-stop for sixteen seasons, I feel that the time is right for the focus to shift to the next generation.

"We have some fantastic talent coming through the English counties and, with the next Ashes series upon us, now is the time for the younger players to rise to the challenge of building on the success achieved in English cricket in the last few years.

"I'd like to record my sincere thanks to the England fans and the ECB and the members and supporters of Yorkshire County Cricket Club for their unstinting backing throughout my career as well as my wife Nicola and the rest of my family who have been equally supportive.

"I'm also extremely grateful to all of the players, managers, coaches, media and administrators I've worked with, who have all contributed to making my career so enjoyable and fulfilling.

"I'd also like to wish Andrew Strauss and the current England team success in this Ashes series. I know they have the drive, ambition and abilities to repeat the success from 2005. Winning that series was most definitely the highpoint of my career."

Current England captain Strauss said: "I count Michael as a good friend as well as a team-mate and I know what a tough decision this will have been for him as he took so much pleasure and pride in representing his country.

"I learned a great deal from watching him captain the side for five years at close hand and his ability to identify a new strategy for outwitting the opposition or bring the best out of his own players was a priceless asset.

"But more than anything we as players will miss the enormous sense of fun and enjoyment that Michael brought to the dressing room," the opening batsman added.

"He will be missed by everyone connected with the team and we wish him every success in his future career."

ECB chairman Giles Clarke said: "Everyone associated with cricket in England and Wales will be forever grateful to Michael Vaughan for his immense contribution to the England team?s success.

"His achievement in leading England to victory against the number one ranked team in the world, Australia in 2005, was arguably the finest by any England captain in the modern era."

Vaughan's record as captain during his five year spell in charge from 2003-2008 of 26 victories, 11 defeats and 14 draws, make him England's most successful skipper in terms of overall wins.

England's 2005 Ashes series win - which included a nailbiting two-run win at Edgbaston - was the crowning achievement of Vaughan's time in charge of England, with his knee problem leaving him sidelined for months at a time.

Unsurprisingly, his form as a batsman - which had seen him touch the realms of greatness during the 2002/03 tour of Australia when he made 633 runs at just over 63 apiece with three hundreds - also began to decline.

Desperate for one last series against Australia, Vaughan vowed to regain his place through sheer weight of runs but so far this season he has managed just 147 runs in seven County Championship innings for Yorkshire.

Meanwhile the emergence of Ravi Bopara, who this year has made hundreds in three successive Tests against the West Indies, at No 3, also dented Vaughan's hopes of a recall.

Vaughan scored 5,719 Test runs in 82 matches at an average of 41.44 with 18 hundreds and a best of 197 against India at Trent Bridge in 2002.

In North America, Native Americans used shells, wood, turquoise, and soapstone, almost unavailable in South and Central America. The turquoise was used in necklaces and to be placed in earrings. Native Americans with access to oyster shells, often located in only one location in America, traded the shells with other tribes, showing the great importance of the body adornment trade in Northern America.

Among the Aztecs, only nobility wore gold jewelry, as it showed their rank, power and wealth. Gold jewelry was most common in the Aztec Empire and was often decorated with feathers from birds. The main purpose of Aztec jewelry was to draw attention, with richer and more powerful Aztecs wearing brighter, more expensive jewelry and clothes.

Silver Jewelry

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Monday confirmed that it has found E. coli O157:H7 bacteria in a sample of Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough.

The contaminated sample was collected at Nestle's facility in Danville, Va. on Thursday, the FDA said in a statement.

Nestle SA earlier on Monday announced a recall of Toll House refrigerated cookie dough, saying the FDA had found evidence of E. Coli in a production sample of a refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough bar.

Nestle's USA's baking division said the recall did not include other Nestle toll house products or any Nestle professional cookie dough products destined for foodservice use.

On June 19, the FDA and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned consumers not to eat pre-packaged Nestle Toll House refrigerated cookie dough, citing the risk of E. Coli contamination.

The warning was based on an epidemiological study conducted by the CDC and local health departments, the FDA said.

As of last Thursday, the CDC reported that 69 people in 29 states had been infected with a strain of E. Coli. Thirty-four people have been hospitalized.

The FDA said more tests were needed to conclusively link the E. Coli strain found in the cookie dough to the strain that is causing the outbreak.

E. coli O157:H7 can cause diarrhea and dehydration. Children, the elderly and people with weak immune systems are the most susceptible.

(Reporting by Joanne Allen, editing by Dhara Ranasinghe)

NEW YORK – Media coverage of Michael Jackson's death began receding following an extraordinary worldwide outpouring, with the shock wearing off and the pace of new developments slowing.
The Bernie Madoff sentencing, a presidential speech on energy, U.S. combat troops withdrawing from Iraqi cities and a cable news staple in Dallas — a high-speed car chase — took time away from the drumbeat of speculation Monday on the cause of Jackson's death and the future of his children.
Still, producers at CBS News were hurriedly putting together another prime-time special for Tuesday night on Jackson. NBC News bought the rights to journalist Martin Bashir's lengthy 2003 interview with Jackson for a Monday-night show, after MSNBC showed it several times over the weekend.
"We had a lot of viewers over the last three or four days and that suggests to us there's a tremendous amount of interest," said Bart Fader, senior vice president of current programming at CNN. "Journalistically, it's a fascinating story. He was one of the most famous people on the planet, and there are a lot of tentacles to the story."
Fader said he expected interest to remain high at least until there's a funeral for Jackson, which was still unscheduled.
CNN was one of the biggest beneficiaries of interest in the story, both right after it broke and throughout the weekend, when its audience remained at twice its normal level, he said. More than 2,200 viewers had also sent in their own video reports to the network, most offering personal recollections about the pop star.
More than 20 million people appeared to watch television in the United States specifically to find out about Jackson's death in the hours after the story broke last Thursday, according to Nielsen Media Research.
NBC had 5.8 million viewers for its two-hour prime-time special on the deaths of Jackson and actress Farrah Fawcett, according to Nielsen Media Research. A CBS News special at 10 p.m. on Jackson had 7.5 million viewers and an ABC Jackson recap had 5.7 million viewers at 9 p.m. (ABC's 10 p.m. hour on Fawcett, which had more advance notice, had 8.2 million viewers Thursday.)
The three biggest cable news networks — CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC — averaged 8.2 million viewers in prime-time Thursday. That compares with almost 4.7 million on a typical weeknight, Nielsen said. The vast majority of those new viewers turned to CNN, which had 3.9 million viewers compared with its 1.1 million average.
CBS News producer Susan Zirinsky said she initially expected to be done with the story after last Thursday's prime-time special.
"Every place I turned to (over the weekend), it was all anybody was talking about," she said. The network's upcoming special will deal with several aspects of the story, she said.
The news was equally big overseas, where the BBC saw a record 2.5 million users for its service providing headlines to mobile phone users Friday, a network spokesman said. The network's Web site had a volume of visitors second only to the night Barack Obama was elected president of the United States.
"The BBC's coverage of Michael Jackson depends on the news agenda so while coverage has reduced, it may well increase again," said the spokesman, who declined to be identified in line with BBC policy.
News channels and major newspapers in Germany continued to devote much of their attention to the Jackson story Monday, with TV showing clips of Janet Jackson's tribute to her brother on Sunday night's BET Awards in the U.S.
Meanwhile, news coverage of the death slipped in Asia and, in South America, Sunday's coup in Honduras took the story off newspaper front pages in much of South America. Colombia's El Tiempo newspaper found the space for a photo of a Jackson likeness being painted on a topless model in Cali, Colombia.
Mexican TV and newspaper reports tracked angry reactions to Mexican President Felipe Calderon's claim that Jackson had died because of an "excessive use of drugs."
"With all due respect for our beloved president, I think he should limit himself to governing the country," said Marcos Renteria, bassist for the Mexican rock group Jaguares.

Drug detoxification varies depending on the location of treatment, but most detox centers provide treatment to avoid the symptoms of physical withdrawal to alcohol & other drugs. Most also incorporate counseling and therapy during detox to help with the consequences of withdrawal.

Under this theory if toxins are too rapidly released without being safely eliminated (such as burning fat that stores toxins) they can damage the body and cause malaise. Therapies include contrast showers, detoxification foot pads, the Master Cleanse diet, oil pulling, Gerson therapy, snake-stones, body cleansing, Scientology's Purification Rundown, water fasting, and metabolic therapy.

Detoxification

Acute pain, such pain resulting from trauma, often has a reversible cause and may require only transient measures and correction of the underlying problem. In contrast, chronic pain often results from conditions that are difficult to diagnose and treat, and that may take a long time to reverse. Some examples include cancer, neuropathy, and referred pain. Often, pain pathways (nociceptors) are set up that continue to transmit the sensation of pain even though the underlying condition or injury that originally caused pain has been healed. In such situations, the pain itself is frequently managed separately from the underlying condition of which it is a symptom, or the goal of treatment is to manage the pain with no treatment of any underlying condition (e.g. if the underlying condition has resolved or if no identifiable source of the pain can be found).

Pain management practitioners come from all fields of medicine. Most often, pain fellowship trained physicians are anesthesiologists, neurologists, physiatrists or psychiatrists. Palliative Care doctors are also specialists in pain management. Some practitioners have not been fellowship trained and have opted for certification by the American Board of Pain Medicine which is not recognized by the American Board of Medical Specialties and does not indicate fellowship training. Some practitioners focus more on the pharmacologic management of the patient, while others are very proficient at the interventional management of pain. Interventional procedures - typically used for chronic back pain - include: epidural steroid injections, facet joint injections, neurolytic blocks, Spinal Cord Stimulators and intrathecal drug delivery system implants, etc. Over the last several years the number of interventional procedures done for pain has grown to a very large number.

Toe Socks

EDITOR'S NOTE: Iranian authorities have barred journalists for international news organizations from reporting on the streets and ordered them to stay in their offices. This report is based on the accounts of witnesses reached in Iran and official statements carried on Iranian media.
___
A body of 12 clerics declared Iran's disputed presidential vote valid and free of major fraud, paving the way for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to be sworn in next month despite claims of vote manipulation that sparked weeks of massive protest.
The Guardian Council, an electoral authority the opposition accuses of favoring Ahmadinejad, said Monday that it had found only "slight irregularities" after randomly selecting and recounting 10 percent of nearly 40 million ballots.
"From today on, the file on the presidential election has been closed," Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei said on state-run Press TV.
Opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has said Ahmadinejad stole re-election through fraud and demanded a new election. Western analysts have described Ahmadinejad's roughly 2-1 margin of victory as suspicious and improbable.
Conservative Ayatollah Ahmed Jannati, who heads the Guardian Council, said that "meticulous and comprehensive examination" revealed only "slight irregularities that are common to any election and needless of attention," according to the state TV channel IRIB.
The decision ruling out the possibility of a new vote was expected after the country's supreme leader endorsed the vote on June 19. The government had delayed a formal declaration as Mousavi supporters flooded in the streets in protests that were put down through a show of force by riot police and pro-government militiamen.
Mousavi has made few public appearances since then and said he would seek official approval for rallies.
The cleric-led government has said Ahmadinejad will be sworn in for a second term as early as July 26.
Asked if the United States would recognize Ahmadinejad as Iran's legitimate president, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said "We're going to take this a day at a time."
Monday's recount appeared to be an attempt to cultivate the image that Iran was seriously addressing fraud claims, while giving no ground in the clampdown on opposition.
Ahmadinejad would still have beat Mousavi if errors were found in nearly every one of the votes in the recount, according to the government.
"They have a huge credibility gap with their own people as to the election process. And I don't think that's going to disappear by any finding of a limited review of a relatively small number of ballots," Clinton told reporters in Washington.
Ahmadinejad also said he had ordered an investigation of the killing of a young woman on the fringes of a protest. Widely circulated video footage of Neda Agha Soltan bleeding to death on a Tehran street sparked outrage worldwide over authorities' harsh response to demonstrations.
Iran's leaders have been trying to blame the election unrest on foreign conspirators, a longtime staple of government rhetoric about internal dissent.
Ahmadinejad's Web site said Soltan was slain by "unknown agents and in a suspicious" way, convincing him that "enemies of the nation" were responsible.
An Iranian doctor who said he tried to save her told the BBC last week she apparently was shot by a member of the volunteer Basij militia. Protesters spotted an armed member of the militia on a motorcycle, and stopped and disarmed him, Dr. Arash Hejazi said.

Basij commander Hossein Taeb on Monday alleged that armed impostors were posing as militia members, Iran's state-run English-language satellite channel Press TV reported.

Tensions with the West rose Sunday when Iran announced it had detained nine local employees of the British Embassy on suspicion of fomenting or aiding protests. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hasan Qashqavi said Monday that five of the Iranian embassy staffers had been released and the remaining four were being interrogated.

Intelligence Minister Gholam Hossein Mohseini Ejehi claimed he had videotape showing some of the employees mingling with protesters. He said the fate of those who remain in custody rests with the court system. Ejehi boasted that Iran had overcome attempts at an uprising like the Velvet Revolution, the peaceful 1989 mass demonstrations that brought down Czechoslovakia's Communist regime.

Qashqavi said officials were in written and verbal contact with British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and that Iran had dismissed the idea of downgrading relations with Britain and other countries.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said Group of Eight leaders meeting next week in Italy will discuss possible sanctions against Iran.

Riot police clashed Sunday with up to 3,000 protesters near the Ghoba Mosque in north Tehran, the first major post-election unrest in four days.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that police used tear gas and clubs to break up the crowd, and said some demonstrators suffered broken bones. They alleged that security forces beat an elderly woman, prompting a screaming match with young demonstrators who then fought back. North Tehran is a base of support for Mousavi.

The reports could not be independently verified because of tight restrictions imposed on journalists in Iran.

___

Associated Press Writers Jim Heintz and Shaya Tayefe Mohajer in Cairo contributed to this report.

SEOUL (Reuters) –
North Korea appears to be enriching uranium, potentially giving the state that has twice tested a plutonium-based nuclear device another path to making atomic weapons, South Korea's defense minister said on Tuesday.

"It is clear that they are moving forward with it," Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee told a parliamentary hearing, adding such a programme was far easier to hide than the North's current plutonium-based activities.

North Korea earlier this month responded to U.N. punishment for its most recent nuclear test in May by saying it would start enriching uranium for a light-water reactor.

Experts said destitute North Korea lacks the technology and resources to build such a costly civilian reactor but may use the programme as a cover to enrich uranium for weapons.

North Korea, which has ample supplies of natural uranium, would be able to conduct an enrichment programme in underground or undisclosed facilities and away from the prying eyes of U.S. spy satellites.

The North's plutonium programme uses an aging reactor and is centred at its Soviet-era Yongbyon nuclear plant, which has been watched by U.S. aerial reconnaissance for years.

EXPERT DOUBTS

Proliferation experts said the North has purchased equipment needed for uranium enrichment including centrifuges and high-strength aluminum tubes, but they doubt that Pyongyang has seriously pursued the project.

"It seems unlikely that North Korea will succeed in establishing a substantial enrichment capability ... in the near term," nuclear expert Hui Zhang wrote in an article this month in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, adding outside help from the likes of Pyongyang's ally Iran could speed up the process.

A U.S. accusation that Pyongyang was clandestinely operating a uranium enrichment plan led to the breakdown of a 1994 disarmament deal and the start of new, six-way nuclear talks in 2003. Those talks are now dormant.

South Korean officials said the North's recent military moves, which also included missile tests and threats to attack the South, were likely aimed at building internal support for leader Kim Jong-il, 67, as he prepares the ground for his youngest son to take over Asia's only communist dynasty.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said there was no basis to reports in Japan's Asahi newspaper and Financial Times that Kim's son Jong-un had visited Beijing as a way of informing the North's biggest benefactor that he is the heir apparent.

The U.S. point man for sanctions on North Korea aimed to stamp out its arms sales, which are one of the few sources of hard currency for the cash-short North, will arrive in Beijing on Thursday for discussion, spokesman Qin Gang told a briefing.

Investors used to the North's military rumblings said the developments have not had any major impact on trading but have raised concern among market players.

North Korea is also preparing to test a long-range missile that could hit U.S. territory and mid-range missiles that could hit all of South Korea, which could further rattle regional security, a South Korean presidential Blue House official said last week.

(Additional reporting by Christine Kim in Seoul and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Alex Richardson)