The 67th Golden Globe Awards was telecast live from the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, California on Sunday, January 17, 2010 by NBC, from 5:00 PM - 8:00 PM (PST) and 8:00PM - 11:00 PM (EST) (01:00-04:00 Monday January 18 UTC). The ceremonies were hosted by Ricky Gervais,and were broadcast live for the first time.

Nominations were announced on December 15, 2009. Among films, Up in the Air led with six nominations, followed by Nine with five and Avatar and Inglourious Basterds with four each.Matt Damon, Sandra Bullock, Meryl Streep, and Anna Paquin were each nominated twice, Damon as Best Actor in the comedy category and as Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture, Bullock as Best Actress in both the comedy and drama categories, Streep competing against herself as Best Actress in the comedy category, and Paquin as Best Actress in a TV Drama Series and as Best Actress in a Television Film or Miniseries.

Television programs receiving multiple nominations include Glee, Dexter, Damages, Mad Men, House, and 30 Rock.

Martin Scorsese was presented with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement in motion pictures.

Schedule

As of January 17 2009:

Nominations and winners

Winners in bold.

Cecil B. DeMille Award

Martin Scorsese

Film

^[6]

Television

Awards breakdown

Number of nominations

Actors

• 2: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side, The Proposal)
• 2: Matt Damon (The Informant!, Invictus)
• 2: Anna Paquin (The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler, True Blood)
• 2: Meryl Streep (It’s Complicated, Julie & Julia)

Films

• 6: Up in the Air
• 5: Nine
• 4: Avatar, Inglourious Basterds
• 3: The Hurt Locker, It’s Complicated, Invictus, Precious, A Single Man
• 2: (500) Days of Summer, Brothers, Crazy Heart, The Informant!, Julie & Julia, The Last Station, Up

Television

• 4: Glee
• 3: 30 Rock, Big Love, Lost, Damages, Dexter, Georgia O’Keeffe, Grey Gardens, Into the Storm, Mad Men
• 2: Entourage, House, Hung, The Office, Taking Chance, True Blood

Number of wins

Films

• 2: Avatar, Up, Crazy Heart

• 1: Up In The Air, The Hangover, Precious, Julie & Julia, The Blind Side, Inglourious Basterds, Sherlock Holmes, The White Ribbon

Television

• 2: Dexter, Grey Gardens
• 1: Big Love, Taking Chance, 30 Rock, Glee, Mad Men, The Good Wife, The United States of Tara

Presenters

• Amy Adams
• Christina Aguilera
• Jennifer Aniston
• Justin Bartha
• Kristen Bell
• Halle Berry
• Josh Brolin
• Gerard Butler
• Cher
• Bradley Cooper
• Chace Crawford
• Robert De Niro
• Cameron Diaz
• Leonardo DiCaprio
• Colin Farrell
• Harrison Ford
• Jodie Foster
• Matthew Fox
• Jennifer Garner
• Mel Gibson
• Lauren Graham
• Tom Hanks
• Neil Patrick Harris
• Sally Hawkins
• Ed Helms
• Kate Hudson
• Felicity Huffman
• Samuel L. Jackson
• Nicole Kidman
• Jane Krakowski
• Ashton Kutcher
• Taylor Lautner
• Zachary Levi
• Sophia Loren
• Paul McCartney
• Helen Mirren
• Jim Parsons
• Amy Poehler
• Julia Roberts
• Mickey Rourke
• Zoe Saldana
• Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Steven Spielberg
• Kiefer Sutherland
• Mike Tyson
• Sofia Vergara
• Olivia Wilde
• Kate Winslet
• Reese Witherspoon
• Sam Worthington

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Mike Duvall’s second term as a member of the California Assembly was progressing pretty much like his first - in relative obscurity, with few notable legislative accomplishments.

The Orange County Republican is now a YouTube hit after KCAL-TV aired his racy comments about sexual conquests that were caught by an open microphone in a Capitol hearing room. Several media outlets said the comments referred to Duvall’s affairs with a female lobbyist and another woman. He resigned Wednesday.

California’s legislative leaders have been trying to focus on a number high-profile issues - from water policy to prisons to renewable energy - during the waning days of their legislative session. On Wednesday, they instead found themselves answering questions about a lawmaker who bragged about a spanking fetish, the type of underwear worn by a mistress and his apparent ability to carry on two extramarital affairs at once.

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, called it “a very sad day.”

“We have such big issues before the Legislature and to have this become a distraction, he felt his responsibility was to step aside,” she said.

Duvall, 54, lives in Yorba Linda with his wife when he is not in Sacramento, and has two adult children.

He made the comments about the affairs to Assemblyman Jeff Miller during a break in a committee meeting inside the Capitol on July 8, apparently unaware that the microphone at the desk was on.

“I’m getting into spanking her,” Duvall is heard saying on the videotape, which was made as a matter of routine by a legislative office.

Miller asks if she likes it too. Duvall responds: “She goes, ‘I know you like spanking me.’ I said, ‘Yeah, that’s ’cause you’re such a bad girl.’”

Duvall also describes the woman’s “eye-patch underwear” and the age difference between himself and his mistress, identified in some media reports as a lobbyist for an energy company. He tells Miller, a fellow Republican from Corona, that the woman’s birthday was two days earlier.

Duvall said he joked with the woman that she was getting old after turning 36 and told her, “I am going to have to trade you in.”

The lawmaker then brags about an affair he is having with another woman.

“Oh, she is hot! I talked to her yesterday. She goes, ‘So are we finished?’ I go, ‘No, we’re not finished.’ I go, ‘You know about the other one, but she doesn’t know about you!’” Duvall can be heard saying in an apparent reference to his affair with the lobbyist.

The unseemly remarks also raise questions about the relationship between lawmakers and lobbyists. The Assembly Ethics Committee is investigating Duvall’s comments, in part to determine whether the affair might have influenced his votes.

He was vice chairman of the Assembly Utilities Committee.

Several media outlets reported the woman Duvall refers to in his comments works as a lobbyist for Sempra Energy, a San Diego-based energy services company that operates San Diego Gas & Electric Co. and Southern California Gas Co. Sempra issued an e-mail statement saying it was investigating the claims.

“The employee has denied the speculative media reports. Our investigation will be conducted to ensure not only that our policies on employee conduct are strictly adhered to, but also that our employee is treated fairly,” the company said.

Duvall was elected in 2006 to represent an Orange County district that includes Fullerton, Anaheim, Placentia, Orange, Brea and Yorba Linda. Before that, he served six years on the Yorba Linda City Council. He also owns an insurance agency.

In stepping down, Duvall said it would not be fair to his family, constituents or friends to remain in office.

“I am deeply saddened that my inappropriate comments have become a major distraction for my colleagues in the Assembly, who are working hard on the very serious problems facing our state,” he said. “Therefore, I have decided to resign my office, effective immediately, so that the Assembly can get back to work.”

The lawmaker had received a 100 percent rating from Capitol Resource Institute, a conservative advocacy group, for his votes on legislation considered pro-family during the 2007-08 legislative session.

WASHINGTON - The Census Bureau reports that the number of people lacking health insurance rose to 46.3 million in 2008.

That’s up from 45.7 million in 2007, due to a continuing erosion of employer-provided insurance. Still, the level remained just below the peak of 47 million who were uninsured in 2006, because of the growth of government insurance programs such as Medicaid for the poor.

The nation’s poverty rate increased to 13.2 percent, up from the 12.5 percent in 2007. That meant there were 39.8 million people living in poverty. It was the highest rate since 1997.

The statistics released Thursday cover the first full year of the current recession.

The median - or midpoint - household income declined slightly to $50,303.

All eyes were on Barack Obama entering Wednesday night’s address to Congress, but a little-known South Carolina Republican may have done more than the president’s combative speech to unify besieged Democrats around health care reform.The night’s defining moment - which Democrats hope to transform into a turning point - came when Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) shouted “You lie!” as Obama claimed his plan wouldn’t offer free care to illegal immigrants.

Wilson’s boorishness - for which he quickly apologized - enraged audience members on both sides of the aisle.

It also overshadowed a speech that included some of Obama’s harshest attacks on his GOP critics to date, including a denunciation of “death panel” alarmists as liars - a veiled swipe at Sarah Palin - and a warning to Republicans who want to “kill” reform.

“What we have also seen in these last months is the same partisan spectacle that only hardens the disdain many Americans have toward their own government,” Obama said. “Too many have used this as an opportunity to score short-term political points, even if it robs the country of our opportunity to solve a long-term challenge. And out of this blizzard of charges and counter-charges, confusion has reigned.

“Well, the time for bickering is over. The time for games has passed,” he added, to Democratic cheers.

The president’s combativeness, coupled with Wilson’s behavior, clearly energized Democrats - to the point where few were in a mood to criticize Obama’s lack of specifics or the fact that he offered no ironclad commitment to inserting a robust public option in the final legislation.

Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), one of the upper-chamber Democrats most skeptical of the White House reform efforts, was impressed by Obama’s speech.

“I think it was a bit of a game changer,” he said.

“The speech galvanized support along the Democratic caucus across the political spectrum, from the progressive caucus to the Blue Dogs, and everybody left determined to get something done this year,” Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told POLITICO Wednesday night.

Republicans - some of whom expressed open contempt for Obama by scanning their BlackBerrys or holding up copies of GOP bills during the speech - saw the president’s remarks as a Democratic call to arms that belied the president’s oft-repeated calls for bipartisanship.

“I was incredibly disappointed in the tone of his speech,” said Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).”At times, I found his tone to be overly combative and believe he behaved in a manner beneath the dignity of the office. I fear his speech tonight has made it more difficult - not less - to find common ground.

“He appeared to be angry at his critics and disappointed the American people were not buying the proposals he has been selling… If the Obama administration and congressional Democrats go down this path and push a bill on the American people they do not want, it could be the beginning of the end of the Obama presidency.”

Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), who is running for Obama’s old Senate seat, said, “He talked at us. He didn’t listen to us… It was a missed opportunity.”

Added Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.): “I sat there tonight wondering what the purpose of this evening was. I was hoping to hear the president flesh out a middle ground, but instead we heard platitudes and campaign rhetoric.”

But Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), one of Obama’s most consistent critics, saw some room for compromise. “It was a good speech, the problem is that what he wants and what they’ve written are two totally different things,” said Coburn, an OB-GYN. “I’m willing to compromise to get things fixed. But I’m not willing to put the government in charge because we don’t have a good track record.”

Despite the energized tone, Obama offered cold comforts to liberals, no detailed road map for reform and an endorsement of the public option that fell far short of a guarantee.

“It is only one part of my plan,” he said of the option. “To my progressive friends, I would remind you that for decades, the driving idea behind reform has been to end insurance company abuses and make coverage affordable for those without it. The public option is only a means to that end - and we should remain open to other ideas that accomplish our ultimate goal.”

But the fight over the public plan was eclipsed by Wilson’s outburst halfway through Obama’s address.

Wilson was quickly shouted down by Democrats, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shot a withering glance at the GOP side of the room. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel demanded an apology from Wilson - as did Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.).

A chastened Wilson quickly obliged, issuing a public apology and calling Emanuel personally after the speech, according to a White House source.

“This evening, I let my emotions get the best of me when listening to the president’s remarks regarding the coverage of illegal immigrants in the health care bill,” he wrote in an email to reporters.. “While I disagree with the president’s statement, my comments were inappropriate and regrettable. I extend sincere apologies to the President for this lack of civility.”

House Majority Whip James Clyburn, a South Carolina Democrat, said the remark was the latest in a long line of political attacks by Wilson.

“Joe Wilson took our state’s reputation to a new low. I thought Mark Sanford had taken it as low as it could go, but this is beyond the pale,” Clyburn said.

“Joe is very confrontational,” he added. “He held his first town hall meeting three blocks from my house at my kid’s high school. Now why would he have this town hall meeting in my congressional district, three blocks from my house in my kid’s high school? It’s not in his district.

That’s the kind of guy Joe Wilson is. He loves confronting people. So he was confronting the president, just as he was confronting me.”

Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, predicted that Wilson’s outburst would have consequences.

“The person who said it will pay a price,” Durbin said. “I think the average American thinks that the president and the office deserve respect and that was a disrespectful comment. They’ll pay a price in the court of public opinion.”

Alex Isenstadt, Ben Smith, Jonathan Martin, Manu Raju, Patrick O’Connor and Lisa Lerer contributed to this report.

NEW YORK - Gary Sheffield joined the 500-homer club, and Luis Castillo drove in the winning run with a two-out single in the ninth inning that gave the New York Mets a 5-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night.

Ryan Braun hit a three-run homer to give Milwaukee a 4-3 lead in the sixth before Sheffield tied it the next inning off Mitch Stetter, who was facing his first batter in relief of starter Dave Bush.

Sheffield, a nine-time All-Star, was on as a pinch hitter and sent a full-count pitch an estimated 385 feet for his first hit of the season.

“Now that I’m in the club it’s like getting your degree. Nobody can take that away from you,” Sheffield said.

After squandering a bases-loaded opportunity in the eighth, Carlos Delgado doubled off Seth McClung (0-1) to start the ninth. Delgado scored on Castillo’s single to short, when a diving J.J. Hardy couldn’t deliver the throw to first in time to get Castillo.

Castillo was mobbed by his teammates after he touched first base.

New York’s revamped bullpen gave up just one hit over the final four innings, with J.J. Putz (1-0) pitching a perfect ninth for his first win with the Mets.

At 40 years, 143 days, Sheffield became the fourth-oldest player to hit 500 home runs behind Willie McCovey (40 years, 171 days), Eddie Murray (40, 194) and Ted Williams (41, 291).

Sheffield pumped both arms in the air as he began to round the bases, with cameras flashing throughout Citi Field. He touched home plate and pointed to the sky with both arms before hugging on-deck batter Jose Reyes.

He then received congratulatory hugs and high-fives from his new teammates, who came out of the dugout as fans gave Sheffield a prolonged ovation. He raced up the dugout steps for a curtain call, waving his helmet to the crowd of 36,436.

“That was just a great reception,” Sheffield said. “I was so numb at that time.”

The homer, the second as a pinch-hitter, tied the score at 4-all. It was caught by Chris Matcovich, a 22-year-old Mets fan from Suffern, N.Y., wearing a Keith Hernandez jersey.

Known as much for his outspoken personality as he is for a vicious swing that made him one of the most feared hitters in the game, Sheffield joined Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, Frank Robinson and Reggie Jackson as the only players with 500 homers and at least 2,500 hits, 1,500 RBIs and 200 stolen bases.

Sheffield was 0-for-4 with three walks for the Mets before the home run. He made his first start of the season Wednesday after signing with New York on April 4, a few days after the Detroit Tigers suddenly released him.

New York was coming off its first series loss at Citi Field, but went ahead 3-0 in the first inning behind a sacrifice fly from Delgado, a walk to Ramon Castro with the bases loaded and an RBI single by Castillo.

Livan Hernandez couldn’t hold the lead, though, and gave up seven hits and four runs in five-plus innings, including Braun’s first homer of the season.

Notes: Sheffield’s first pinch-hit homer came on July 20, 1994, for Florida. … The Mets placed C Brian Schneider on the 15-day DL because of a muscle strain in his back. They purchased the contract of Omir Santos from Triple-A Buffalo to fill his spot. … The Mets gave the city’s new archbishop, Timothy Dolan, a jersey before the game. Dolan was at the game with his predecessor, Cardinal Edward Egan.

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama challenged the nation’s vested interests to a legislative duel Saturday, saying he will fight to change health care, energy and education in dramatic ways that will upset the status quo.

“The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long,” Obama said in his weekly radio and video address. “But I don’t. I work for the American people.”

He said his ambitious budget plan, unveiled Thursday, will help millions of Americans, but only if Congress overcomes resistance from deep-pocket lobbies.

“I know these steps won’t sit well with the special interests and lobbyists who are invested in the old way of doing business, and I know they’re gearing up for a fight,” Obama said, using tough-guy language reminiscent of his predecessor, George W. Bush. “My message to them is this: So am I.”

Some analysts say Obama’s proposals are almost radical. But he said all of them were included in his campaign promises. “It is the change the American people voted for in November,” he said.

Nonetheless, he said, well-financed interest groups will fight back furiously.

Insurance companies will dislike having “to bid competitively to continue offering Medicare coverage, but that’s how we’ll help preserve and protect Medicare and lower health care costs,” the president said. “I know that banks and big student lenders won’t like the idea that we’re ending their huge taxpayer subsidies, but that’s how we’ll save taxpayers nearly $50 billion and make college more affordable. I know that oil and gas companies won’t like us ending nearly $30 billion in tax breaks, but that’s how we’ll help fund a renewable energy economy.”

Passing the budget, even with a Democratic-controlled Congress, “won’t be easy,” Obama said. “Because it represents real and dramatic change, it also represents a threat to the status quo in Washington.”

Congressional Republicans continued to bash Obama’s spending proposals and his projection of a $1.75 trillion deficit this year.

Almost every day brings another “multibillion-dollar government spending plan being proposed or even worse, passed,” said Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C., who gave the GOP’s weekly address.

He said Obama is pushing “the single largest increase in federal spending in the history of the United States, while driving the deficit to levels that were once thought impossible.”

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is using her second overseas trip as the nation’s top diplomat to assess peace prospects in the Middle East, reconnect with European allies and remind her Russian counterpart that U.S. efforts to rebuild relations with Moscow has its limits.

The former first lady and former U.S. senator from New York is kicking off a weeklong journey by attending an international conference in Egypt where she will announce on Monday a U.S. government pledge of up to $900 million in humanitarian assistance for the rebuilding of the war-shaken Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians are seeking $2.8 billion dollars for Gaza. A key complication is that the United States does not recognize the Hamas movement that rules Gaza and will not allow aid money to flow through Hamas.

The pledge conference for Gaza reflects in part a U.S. effort to move quickly to influence events there, where the Islamic militants of Hamas are aligned with Iran and opposed to peace talks with Israel. Hamas is at odds with the other key Palestinian faction, Fatah, which takes a more moderate approach to Israel.

Clinton also will visit Israel to underscore President Barack Obama’s commitment to finding a “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that establishes a sovereign Palestinian state at peace with Israel.

After its elections Feb. 10, Israel is operating under a caretaker government. The hawkish Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to form a coalition government but the timing and outcome are in doubt.

Among leaders Clinton would be expected to visit in Israel are Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, leader of the centrist Kadima Party, which won one more seat in the election than Netanyahu’s Likud. Netanyahu, who opposes moving forward in peace talks with the Palestinians, was asked to put together the next government because he has the support of a majority of the elected lawmakers.

Clinton also will venture into the West Bank to meet with leaders of the Palestinian Authority, including Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas.

After focusing her first foreign trip on the Pacific Rim of Asia, Clinton is going to the Middle East and to Europe to try to build on what the Obama administration believes is early enthusiasm in those regions for changing the dynamic of relations with America after years of disconnect on many key issues.

Daniel Fried, the assistant secretary of state for European affairs, said Friday the main theme of Clinton’s visit to Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday will be “the reconnection of the United States to Europe and a sense of consolidating some of the enormous political goodwill on both sides of the Atlantic, and harnessing it to a common agenda - not an American agenda but a common trans-Atlantic agenda.”

On Friday, Clinton is scheduled to meet in Geneva with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who had a sometimes rocky relationship with Clinton’s predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, a Russian affairs specialist.

Lavrov was quoted by Russian news agencies on Friday as saying he expected the Geneva meeting to focus on arms control. That was an issue of great frustration for the Russians during the administration of former President George W. Bush, which abandoned the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty early in his first term in order to accelerate the development of a missile defense opposed by Moscow.

Clinton has said the Obama administration is willing to move ahead quickly on a replacement for the START arms treaty that is due to expire in December, and to consider deeper cuts in nuclear weapons.

Fried said that although the Obama administration is interested in improving relations with Russia, Lavrov will be reminded that the U.S. does not accept the Russian argument that it has a sphere of influence in Central Asia and Eastern Europe that gives Moscow special say on issues like missile defense.

The Obama administration’s interest in engaging Russia is tempered by “cautionary notes,” Fried said. That includes a concern that Moscow has gone too far in flexing its muscles in places like the former Soviet republic of Georgia, where Russian troops fought a brief war last summer, and in opposing the NATO membership aspirations of countries like Ukraine, which also is a former Soviet republic on Russia’s border.

“The most productive way (to move forward with Russia) is to do so building on areas where we have common interests, but also mindful of our differences - not shying away from them, nor abandoning our values and our friends,” Fried said. “That makes for a complicated relationship with Russia.”

Clinton is scheduled to wind up her trip with a stop in Ankara, Turkey, to discuss a range of topics with senior Turkish government officials, including the Obama review of its strategy for the war in Afghanistan. The Turks think the U.S. should put more focus on expanding and improving the Afghan security forces and on pressing Afghan authorities to reconcile with elements of the Islamic insurgency, rather than on putting tens of thousands more U.S. troops.

WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is using her second overseas trip as the nation’s top diplomat to assess peace prospects in the Middle East, reconnect with European allies and remind her Russian counterpart that U.S. efforts to rebuild relations with Moscow has its limits.

The former first lady and former U.S. senator from New York is kicking off a weeklong journey by attending an international conference in Egypt where she will announce on Monday a U.S. government pledge of up to $900 million in humanitarian assistance for the rebuilding of the war-shaken Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians are seeking $2.8 billion dollars for Gaza. A key complication is that the United States does not recognize the Hamas movement that rules Gaza and will not allow aid money to flow through Hamas.

The pledge conference for Gaza reflects in part a U.S. effort to move quickly to influence events there, where the Islamic militants of Hamas are aligned with Iran and opposed to peace talks with Israel. Hamas is at odds with the other key Palestinian faction, Fatah, which takes a more moderate approach to Israel.

Clinton also will visit Israel to underscore President Barack Obama’s commitment to finding a “two-state solution” to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that establishes a sovereign Palestinian state at peace with Israel.

After its elections Feb. 10, Israel is operating under a caretaker government. The hawkish Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to form a coalition government but the timing and outcome are in doubt.

Among leaders Clinton would be expected to visit in Israel are Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, leader of the centrist Kadima Party, which won one more seat in the election than Netanyahu’s Likud. Netanyahu, who opposes moving forward in peace talks with the Palestinians, was asked to put together the next government because he has the support of a majority of the elected lawmakers.

Clinton also will venture into the West Bank to meet with leaders of the Palestinian Authority, including Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and President Mahmoud Abbas.

After focusing her first foreign trip on the Pacific Rim of Asia, Clinton is going to the Middle East and to Europe to try to build on what the Obama administration believes is early enthusiasm in those regions for changing the dynamic of relations with America after years of disconnect on many key issues.

Daniel Fried, the assistant secretary of state for European affairs, said Friday the main theme of Clinton’s visit to Brussels, Belgium, on Thursday will be “the reconnection of the United States to Europe and a sense of consolidating some of the enormous political goodwill on both sides of the Atlantic, and harnessing it to a common agenda - not an American agenda but a common trans-Atlantic agenda.”

On Friday, Clinton is scheduled to meet in Geneva with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who had a sometimes rocky relationship with Clinton’s predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, a Russian affairs specialist.

Lavrov was quoted by Russian news agencies on Friday as saying he expected the Geneva meeting to focus on arms control. That was an issue of great frustration for the Russians during the administration of former President George W. Bush, which abandoned the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile treaty early in his first term in order to accelerate the development of a missile defense opposed by Moscow.

Clinton has said the Obama administration is willing to move ahead quickly on a replacement for the START arms treaty that is due to expire in December, and to consider deeper cuts in nuclear weapons.

Fried said that although the Obama administration is interested in improving relations with Russia, Lavrov will be reminded that the U.S. does not accept the Russian argument that it has a sphere of influence in Central Asia and Eastern Europe that gives Moscow special say on issues like missile defense.

The Obama administration’s interest in engaging Russia is tempered by “cautionary notes,” Fried said. That includes a concern that Moscow has gone too far in flexing its muscles in places like the former Soviet republic of Georgia, where Russian troops fought a brief war last summer, and in opposing the NATO membership aspirations of countries like Ukraine, which also is a former Soviet republic on Russia’s border.

“The most productive way (to move forward with Russia) is to do so building on areas where we have common interests, but also mindful of our differences - not shying away from them, nor abandoning our values and our friends,” Fried said. “That makes for a complicated relationship with Russia.”

Clinton is scheduled to wind up her trip with a stop in Ankara, Turkey, to discuss a range of topics with senior Turkish government officials, including the Obama review of its strategy for the war in Afghanistan. The Turks think the U.S. should put more focus on expanding and improving the Afghan security forces and on pressing Afghan authorities to reconcile with elements of the Islamic insurgency, rather than on putting tens of thousands more U.S. troops.

LOS ANGELES - The fertility doctor who helped a California woman have 14 children, including octuplets born last month, is now facing a state investigation on top of harsh criticism from medical ethicists.

The Medical Board of California did not identify the doctor who helped Nadya Suleman, 33, of Whittier, become pregnant with the six boys and two girls born on Jan. 26. Suleman has six other children.

“We’re looking into the matter to see if we can substantiate if there was a violation of the standard of care,” board spokeswoman Candis Cohen said Friday. She did not elaborate.

Suleman, a divorced single mother, told NBC’s “Today” show that the same fertility specialist provided in vitro fertilization for all 14 children using sperm donated by a friend.

In the interview broadcast Friday, Suleman also said six embryos were implanted for each of her pregnancies. In her latest, two of Suleman’s embryos split, resulting in two sets of twins among the octuplets.

When asked why so many embryos were implanted, Suleman said: “Those are my children, and that’s what was available and I used them. So, I took a risk. It’s a gamble. It always is.”

In the United States, there is no law dictating the number of embryos that can be placed in a mother’s womb. Doctors say the norm is to implant two or three embryos, at most, in women Suleman’s age.

“The revelation about one center treating her makes the treatment even harder to understand,” said Arthur Caplan, bioethics chairman at the University of Pennsylvania. “They went ahead when she had six kids, knowing that she was a single mom … and put embryos into her anyway.”

Suleman’s infants were born prematurely and are expected to remain in the hospital for several more weeks. Her six other children are between ages 2 and 7.

Suleman said she had never been on welfare and would find a way to get by with the help of family, friends and her church. She said she planned to return to school in the fall.

The births have raised questions about how the woman will be able to care for all of her children. Los Angeles County child welfare spokesman Stu Riskin said the agency doesn’t respond unless there has been a complaint, and such complaints are confidential.

“All I wanted was children. I wanted to be a mom. That’s all I ever wanted in my life,” Suleman said in the portion of the interview that aired Friday. “I love my children.”

She said she struggled for seven years before finally giving birth to her first child.

According to state documents, Suleman told a doctor she had three miscarriages. Another doctor disputed that number, saying she had two ectopic pregnancies, a dangerous condition in which a fertilized egg implants somewhere other than in the uterus.

The state documents describe Suleman becoming pregnant with her first child after a 1999 injury during a riot at a state mental hospital where she worked. Suleman feared she would lose the child and sunk into an intense depression, according to a psychological evaluation in her workers’ compensation case.

“When you have a history of miscarriages, you think it will take a miracle,” she told Dr. Dennis Nehamen. “I just wanted to die. I suspected I was pregnant but I thought, ‘That’s ridiculous.’”

But the 2001 birth of the baby “helped my spirits,” Suleman said.

More than 300 pages of documents were disclosed to The Associated Press following a public records request to the state Division of Workers’ Compensation. Among other things, they reveal that Suleman collected more than $165,000 in disability payments between 2002 and 2008 for the work injury, which she said left her in near-constant pain and helped end her marriage.

Source:yahoo

The ‘Oprah Found Dead’ rumor has been spreading around the internet like a house on fire. Read about it below.What a world we live in!

Now, someone somewhere has put the news out there that Oprah was found dead in her apartment. It was written in an official manner so that blogs started picking it up and it went from there to viral.

“Oprah Winfrey, age 54, was found dead in her home residing in Chicago, Illinois at 8:21 AM on September 20, 2008. Local Police and the FBI are trying to keep it on the down low for now until further notice. From what has been reported thus far, she appears to have a bloody area around her eye, a bullet wound in her stomach and some cuts and bruises”

Oh, and some are saying that she was murdered by Dr. Phil. That’s starting to sound like the game ‘Clue’. Oprah was found dead in the library, by a gun, by Dr. Phil. The rumors are gathering steam and are now reporting that Chicago is shutting down out of grief over Oprah’s death and out of respect for her.

It goes to show the power of the internet, actually. As some have pointed out, if we could harness this power for good …. or chaos …. just think of what could be accomplished.

As it is right now Oprah is, by all accounts, alive and well and probably will do a show on this in the next few weeks.

I highly doubt that Oprah Winfrey has been found dead in her Chicago apartment. However, that doesn’t put out the rumors that are running rampant around the internet. Its like the rumor of a couple of weeks ago that Miley Cyrus had died in a car crash. Regardless of how many people wrote that the rumor wasn’t true, people still cried and gnashed their teeth over the untimely death of the teenage superstar.

What a world we live in!

Now, someone somewhere has put the news out there that Oprah was found dead in her apartment. It was written in an official manner so that blogs started picking it up and it went from there to viral.

Source: rightpundits