So far, London Olympics wins gold medal for gaffes

British soldiers watch gymnast Simona Castro Lazo from Chile perform during the Artistic Gymnastics women's qualification at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 29, 2012, in London. Troops, teachers and students are getting free tickets to fill prime seats that were empty at some Olympic venues on the first full day of competition. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

British soldiers watch gymnast Simona Castro Lazo from Chile perform during the Artistic Gymnastics women's qualification at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 29, 2012, in London. Troops, teachers and students are getting free tickets to fill prime seats that were empty at some Olympic venues on the first full day of competition. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

A lone man sits in an empty section of seats inside Earls Court during during a women's volleyball preliminary match between China and Turkey at the 2012 Summer Olympics Monday, July 30, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)

India's Sushil Kumar carries the flag during the Opening Ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 27, 2012, in London. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

LONDON (AP) ? An appearance by the hapless comic character Mr. Bean was one of the highlights of the London Olympics opening ceremony. Yet a series of Keystone Cops moments has games organizers hoping they don't keep up this slapstick routine in real life.

London police acknowledged Monday that last week they lost a set of keys to Wembley ? one of the most famous soccer stadiums in the world and an Olympic venue in London ? and had been forced to hastily change the stadium locks.

It was the latest unintentionally comic moment to beset the games and has raised fears of what else may be in store.

News of the lock debacle followed a diplomatic tiff with India, triggered when a woman who was not part of the country's athletic delegation marched right beside India's flag bearer at Friday's opening ceremony.

Olympic officials insisted there was no security risk from either incident. Games chief Sebastian Coe said the Indian team's interloper was an accredited cast member from the opening ceremony who "got slightly over-excited."

Police said the Wembley keys appeared to have been lost rather than stolen and "measures were taken immediately to secure all key areas of the venue."

Earlier Olympic glitches ranged from worrying to merely embarrassing.

Security arrangements were thrown into chaos weeks before the opening ceremony when private security contractor G4S acknowledged it would not be able to provide all the guards it had promised. Thousands of soldiers, sailors and air force personnel ? some just back from Afghanistan ? had to be drafted in to plug the Olympic security gaps.

Then last week, as the Olympic soccer competition kicked off, organizers mistakenly displayed the South Korean flag on a jumbo screen while introducing the North Korean women's team. There could hardly have been a worse mix-up ? the two countries are still technically at war.

Britons, at least, are quick to see the humor. Opticians Specsavers ran a full-page ad displaying the two completely different-looking Korean flags and suggesting that anyone who can't tell the difference should stop by for a checkup.

Then Welsh footballer Joe Allen was listed as English in the British team's official program, prompting a wave of mocking commentary across Twitter.

Over the weekend, television shots of so many empty seats at Olympic venues enraged many ordinary Britons, who had struggled for months to get tickets, many unsuccessfully.

Organizers are now scrambling to fill rows of empty seats allocated but not used by members of the "Olympic family" ? national federations, sponsors and the media. Among the remedies: 150 British soldiers were told to stop handling security duties for a few hours Sunday and go watch the Olympic qualifying for women's gymnastics.

"I was told to let the boys come in and enjoy the show," Staff Sgt. Marc Robson of the 29 Commando Regiment Royal Artillery told The Associated Press. "Look at them, they seem to be liking it just fine."

Ellis Cashmore, professor of culture, media and sport at Staffordshire University, said the sheer number of Olympic errors has had a numbing effect.

"It's almost as if we've become anesthetized to them," he said. "It's almost as if we're expecting another gaffe.

"If everything had gone smoothly up till now, (the missing keys) would be a catastrophe. Losing they keys to the stadium! If you lose your house keys, it's a major crisis."

The farcical moments started more than a year before the games, when the official Olympic countdown clock was unveiled in London's Trafalgar Square ? and promptly broke down.

On Friday, during a mass celebratory bell-ringing to mark the start of the games, Olympics Secretary Jeremy Hunt's bell went flying off its handle and narrowly avoided a bystander. No one was hurt, but the incident, captured by a TV camera, drew comparisons to Mr. Bean, the accident-prone Englishman created by comedian Rowan Atkinson.

It's fortunate that the British have knack for laughing at their mistakes. That talent for self-deprecation helps explain the popularity of London Mayor Boris Johnson ? a brainy but gaffe-prone politician once forced to apologized to the entire city of Liverpool after accusing its residents of "wallowing" in victimhood.

Putting a positive spin on things, Johnson listed Hunt's bell-ringing clanger as one of the reasons to be cheerful about the Olympics.

"Jeremy Hunt has introduced a new sport to the games, to go with the discus, shot-put, javelin," Johnson wrote in Monday's Daily Telegraph. "It is bell-whanging. ... The rules have yet to be codified ? there is still a dispute about whether you get extra points for hitting a spectator ? but you can be sure they will be codified in London."

In this new age of social media ? and with the eyes of the world on London ? more blunders are inevitable, Cashmore said.

"I think previous Olympics have been just as marred by security lapses, but now we are so acutely aware of everything that these things are magnified," he said. "We are looking at things microscopically now."

___

Jenna Fryer contributed.

___

Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-07-30-Blunders/id-f4652764ba8f4c23a5ae72aa52ab65b7

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Democratic report blasts for-profit colleges

WASHINGTON (AP) ? For-profit colleges put revenues above education, and charge students high tuition and loan rates that could leave them in debt for years, a Senate Democratic report said Monday.

While students are aggressively recruited, they drop out in high numbers without the degree or certificate initially sought, the report said. It found that 54 percent of students enrolled in 2008-2009 left without a degree or certificate by mid-2010. When two-year associate degree programs were studied, 63 percent left without a degree.

The staff report was issued by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

The report said veterans were among those vulnerable to the tactics by for-profit schools, since these colleges receive the largest share of military educational benefit programs. Eight of the top 10 recipients of GI bill money since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks went to for-profit education companies.

The report said reaching an enrollment quota was found to be the highest priority for recruiters. Publicly traded companies operating these schools had an average profit margin of 19.7 percent. They paid an average of $7.3 million in 2009 to top executives, while the five highest paid leaders of large public universities averaged $1 million and leaders at nonprofit colleges averaged $3 million.

Steve Gunderson, president and chief executive officer of the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities, dismissed the report as inaccurate.

"Unfortunately, Sen. Harkin's report continues in the tradition of ideology overriding reality," said Gunderson, a former Republican congressman from Wisconsin. "The report twists the facts to fit a narrative, proving that this is nothing more than continued political attacks on private sector colleges and universities."

He said some of the report's statistics are misleading and added, "Instead of joining the conversation about ways to expand access to postsecondary education, Sen. Harkin is attacking schools that are currently providing instruction to 3.8 million students. Today's students already face enough challenges accessing postsecondary education without these sorts of distractions."

According to the report, students at for-profit schools faced tuition for bachelor's programs that averaged 20 percent more than for similar programs at flagship public universities. Associated degree programs averaged four times the cost of similar programs at comparable community colleges, and certificate programs averaged four-and-a-half times the cost at comparable community colleges.

"Recruiting materials indicate that at some for-profit colleges, admission representatives were trained to locate and push on the pain in students' lives," the report said.

Once the students were enrolled, 96 percent needed student loans, according to Department of Education information. Fifty-seven percent of bachelor's degree students who graduated from a for-profit college owed $30,000 or more, compared to 25 percent of those earning degrees in the private, nonprofit sector and 12 percent from public colleges.

"Because many students who attend for-profit colleges are unable to get financing through private lending companies, many participate in institutional loan programs operated by for-profit education companies," the report said.

In 2009, seven large for-profit education companies offered institutional loans with interest rates ranging from 11.2 percent to 18 percent. During the same period, the Stafford federal loan rate was 5.6 percent.

In addition to the high loan rates and debt, students leaving private colleges hard a difficult time finding jobs.

The report cited a national study by an education center that found 23 percent of students who attended for-profit schools in 2008-09 were unemployed and seeking work.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/democratic-report-blasts-profit-colleges-161405023.html

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Olympics 2012: Live Report

1910 GMT: A big grin from Lochte as he receives his medal on the podium and the US national anthem plays -- but no sign of the diamond teeth grill. Rapturous applause from the crowds for the American who celebrates his 28th birthday on August 3.

1905 GMT: Sun Yang becomes the first Chinese man to win an Olympic swimming gold medal with a smashing victory in the 400m freestyle in near world record time.

He had a ding-dong battle with defending champion Park Tae-Hwan before hitting the front at the 350m and going on to win the final in a new Olympic record of 3m 40.14. A jubilant celebration as he emerges from the pool.

1900 GMT: CHINA'S SUN YANG WINS 400M FREESTYLE GOLD.

1856 GMT: Onto the women's 100m butterfly now -- American world champion Dana Vollmer has swum just 0.3secs outside the world record as the fastest swimmer in the semi-final. Vollmer clocked 56.36secs and looks a big chance of knocking over Swede Sarah Sjostrom's 56.06 world record in the final.

1854 GMT: Some background on the Lochte-Phelps rivalry... six-time Olympic medalist Locthe beat Phelps at the 400m medley at the US trials in June. Lochte also won five gold medals at the Shanghai World Championships last year -- one more than Phelps.

He promised to sport his famous diamond teeth grill on the podium if he won in London.

1847 GMT: An astonishing defeat for 16x Olympic gold medal winner Phelps. It's the first time since his first Olympics in Sydney 12 years ago that he has missed out on an Olympic medal.

1842 GMT: American world champion Lochte blew away the field to win the 400m individual medley gold medal in 4min 05.18secs with defending Olympic champion Phelps missing out on a medal in fourth place, reports AFP's Robert Smith from the Aquatics Centre. Lochte finished more than four seconds ahead of the struggling Phelps in lane eight.

Brazil's Thiago Pereira took silver while Japan's Kosuke Hagino finished third at the Olympic Park's Aquatics Centre.

1837 GMT: LOCHTE WINS 400M MEDLEY GOLD. Phelps in fourth.

1835 GMT: Lochte in the lead on the backstroke leg. He's worLd champion in this stroke... we're halfway and Lochte is well ahead...

1833 GMT: Lochte turns first after the first 50m, then Phelps...

1831 GMT: SWIMMING: Phelps, Lochte and others gearing up now for the 400m medley... and we're off....

1827 GMT: BASKETBALL: The US team of Women's NBA -- unbeaten since the 1992 Olympic semi-finals -- have defeated Croatia 81-56 in their bid for a fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal. Tina Charles scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Angel McCoughtry added 13 points and Candace Parker contributed 11 points and 13 rebounds to lead a victory in which every American scored.

1820 GMT: JUDO: Some reaction from Menezes after her historic gold in the judo earlier -- the first ever in the sport from a Brazilian woman. She says: "It's really very, very important because it took many years to happen. Now I hope that my medal can open up the way for many more.

"What's changed is that we've developed the belief that we can win because everyone is strong. We've stopped doubting ourselves and now we know we can beat anyone, and that's the key. Now we can aim for the top of the top and all seven fighters can win medals."

1815 GMT: SWIMMING: In case you missed it earlier, US star swimmer Phelps got off to a shaky start after finishing eighth in the 400m medley final which gets under way in just 15 minutes -- a hotly anticipated showdown between Phelps and teammate Ryan Lochte.

Former British Butterfly swimmer Steve Parry tweets: "Lochte v Phelps 730pm... My heart says the Champ Phelps my head tells me the Lochte will be too strong... Watch Lochte v Phelps 730pm... ". Watch this space at 1830 GMT...

1800 GMT: We'll be continuing our live coverage of today's events until 2200 GMT -- including the first swimming medal events -- but here's a quick recap of what's happened so far today:

+ Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan claimed an unexpected but deserved win in the men's cycling road race, wrecking Mark Cavendish's hopes of delivering a first gold of the Games for the hosts. Colombia's Rigoberto Uran won the silver with Norway's Alexander Kristoff taking the bronze.

+ Shooting powerhouse China launched their Olympic campaign in style when Yi Siling took the first gold of the London Games in the women's 10m air rifle competition. Meanwhile South Korea's Jin Jong-Oh survived a late attack of nerves to win in the men's 10m air pistol match.

+ Sarah Menezes made history by becoming the first Brazilian woman to win an Olympic judo gold medal when she triumphed in the under-48kg category, dethroning reigning champion Alina Dumitru of Romania. Hungarian fighter Eva Csernoviczki bounced back from being strangled unconscious to claim bronze.

1745 GMT: SWIMMING: Altogether a disastrous day for Germany in the swimming... world record-holder Paul Biedermann is shut out of the 400m freestyle final after coming 12th, while the women's 4x100m freestyle relay team was eliminated after getting the ninth fastest time -- despite having 100m freestyle world record-holder Britta Steffen on their side.

Germany's performance director Lutz Buschkow admits: "It was a very dark day."

1738 GMT: Italy's archery men's team defeat the United States in the final by 219 to 218 points. Defending champions South Korea, who set a new world record in Friday's qualifying, settle for bronze by beating Mexico.

1730 GMT: ITALY'S MEN'S TEAM WIN ARCHERY GOLD.

1725 GMT: BEACH VOLLEYBALL: More good news for Brazil as their women's team comfortably beats Maritius at London's Horse Guards Parade where huge crowds appeared to be enjoying a party atmosphere at the preliminary matches. Meanwhile Britain's men were defeated by Canada.

Much enthusiasm for the events on Twitter. Spectator Elle Di Emme tweets: "What a venue for a beach! Big crowds enjoying in central London at Horse Guards Parade."

1711 GMT: TENNIS: Serena Williams, who clinched her place in the second round earlier, said seeing Michelle Obama in the crowd gave her an extra boost. The US First saluted Serena's victory with a thumbs-up!

"It was great seeing Michelle there," she said. "It just made me want to play better and I felt even better. We're here for our country and to play well. I love Michelle. She's so cool. I met her several times. I gave her a thumbs up just to acknowledge that I knew she was here."

1705 GMT: CHINA'S WANG WINS WOMEN'S 48kg WEIGHTLIFTING GOLD. Wang Mingjuan, who has an incredible 10-year unbeaten record, made a rushed first snatch at 88kg that saw the barbells come crashing to the ground to gasps from fans at the ExCel arena. But the 26-year-old nailed her second effort with almost military precision.

In the men's competition meanwhile, the IOC kicked Albanian weightlifter Hysen Pulaku out of the Games earlier after testing positive for a banned steroid.

1654 GMT: TENNIS: Kim Clijsters says she's got the Olympic bug after romping to a 6-1, 6-4 win over Italy's Roberta Vinci in round one of the women's tennis at Wimbledon. The former world number one brushed aside world number 27 Vinci in just 61 minutes to secure a clash against Australian fifth seed Sam Stosur or Carla Navarro Suarez of Spain.

Speaking of her first Olympics experience -- having not played at Beijing -- she said: "It's like a virus, it spreads. When you see all the other athletes from your country and the people who follow it, it's hard not to get into it."

1647 GMT: CYCLING: More from Britain's Cavendish after defeat in the road race which he had been widely tipped to win. He writes on Twitter: "Gutted. After 250km, less than a minute to 20guys. My guys were INCREDIBLE and there was nothing more we could do. Victims of our own success."

1637 GMT: BOXING: Along with the Judo, London's ExCel centre has been hosting the first 32 rounds of the Bantam weight and middle weight boxing today. Britain's Anthony Ogogo dedicated his opening victory earlier to his mother, recovering from a brain haemorrhage.

After a 13-6 first round win over Dominican Republic opponent Junior Castillo Martinez, he said: "This one is for my mum. She had a brain haemorrhage six weeks ago and she is still in bed, so I don't think she would have watched the bout but I can't wait to ring her." One of his sisters is also due to go into labour today he added!

1623 GMT: FOOTBALL: Looks like a good day for Brazil's women. After a gold medal from Menezes in the judo, the country's women's football team kept their bid for gold on track as they beat New Zealand 1-0 in Cardiff.

Victory meant the Samba Queens, silver medallists at the last two Olympics, made it two wins out of two after thrashing Cameroon 5-0 -- albeit in a more gruelling match against the Kiwis.

1612 GMT: TENNIS: Roger Federer kicks off his bid for Olympic gold with a hard-fought 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win over Colombia's Alejandro Falla. But it wasn't plain sailing for the world number one.

Falla, ranked 51st in the world, had Federer on the ropes for a while at the end of the second set and the start of the third before the Swiss great finally found enough momentum to scrape through in one hour and 47 minutes. He now faces France's Julien Benneteau for a place in the last 16.

1557 GMT: CYCLING: More reaction now on the shock result in the men's cycling road race earlier... Britain's Bradley Wiggins voices his disappointment on Twitter after the team failed to make the podium. He writes: "Well we did everything we could as a team, gutted for Cav and sad to see Fabian out."

Cavendish was philosophical in defeat when he spoke to journalists after the race. "There was a group of 22 who got away and we couldn't pull them back," he said, before praising the efforts of his team-mates.

"I can be proud of how the lads rode today. I'm proud of my country as there was incredible support. The guys are sat there, they are spent. They have got nothing left in the tank. It's incredible to see that."

1551 GMT: TENNIS: More disappointment for China as Li Na crashes out of the Olympic tournament in the first round. The world number 11 was beaten 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 by Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova at Wimbledon.

Li, 30, had been China's best hope of taking a medal in the singles, but the ex-French Open champion struggled to find any momentum against big-hitting Hantuchova and was knocked out in one hour and 42 minutes. She made 24 unforced errors and served five double-faults.

1541 GMT: JUDO: Galstyan's win in the under-60g competition was an upset the top two seeds at London's ExCel centre. The fourth seed produced a stunning finale to flatten Japan's second seed Hiroaki Hiraoka just 40 seconds into the final with a sweeping, winding throw.

World champion Rishod Sobirov meanwhile won a second straight bronze medal as he beat France's Sofiane Milous while Brazilian Felipe Kitadai beat Italy's Elio Verde for the other bronze.

1536 GMT: RUSSIA'S GALSTYAN WINS MEN'S UNDER-60kg JUDO GOLD.

1533 GMT: BRAZILIAN MENEZES WINS WOMEN'S JUDO UNDER-48kg GOLD. Reigning champion Alina Dumitru of Romania takes silver.

1530 GMT: JUDO: Hungarian fighter Eva Csernoviczki bounces back from being strangled unconscious to claim an unlikely bronze medal in the women's under-48kg Olympic judo competition.

Csernoviczki was earlier rendered unconscious as she tried to resist a strangle in her quarter-final loss to Belgium's Charline van Snick.

But after a quick recovery she was given a second medal chance in the repechage. She beat China's Wu Shugen and then stunned world number one Tomoko Fukumi with a foot sweep in a sudden death golden score period to earn a podium finish.

1519 GMT: SHOOTING GOLD MEDAL: While the tense road cycling race came to an end in central London the first day of men's shooting action at London's Royal Artillery Barracks yielded a gold medal for South Korean sharpshooter Jin Jong-Oh in the Olympic men's 10m air pistol.

Italy's Luca Tesconi made a brave attempt to close a seemingly impregnable gap to Jin at one stage in the final to secure silver, 2.4 points behind the winner, while Serbia's Andrija Zlatic won bronze.

World number two Jin, 32, came into the afternoon final with a significant gap of two points over China's defending champion Pang Wei -- but Pang immediately lost ground to his Korean rival, making his task even harder.

But after looking a certainty for gold with some consistent shooting, Jin faltered, allowing Tesconi to close the gap and retain an interest in the title going into the final shot.

1509 GMT: I'm handing over to my colleague Ruth Holmes, who will let you know what else has been happening while we were all agog with the men's cycling road race! Stay tuned for events including swimming finals later today.

1506 GMT: Reigning Olympic champion Park Tae-Hwan of South Korea has regained his place in the 400m swimming freestyle.

South Korea had appealed after he was ousted for a false start after finishing first in his heat.

1505 GMT: SOUTH KOREA'S PARK TAE-HWAN REINSTATED IN SWIMMING 400M FREESTYLE

1500 GMT: A spot of background on men's cycling road race gold medallist Alexandre Vinokourov.

He returned to competitive cycling in 2010 after a two-year doping ban, having tested positive for banned substances in the 2007 Tour de France.

He has always insisted he was innocent and at the time said he'd retire from cycling, but returned to play for the Astana team.

After breaking his right femur in the 2011 Tour de France and having surgery, he said once again that he was retiring -- but is probably quite glad right now that he got back on the road.

1459 GMT: Team GB chef de mission Andy Hunt tweets: "Congratulations to Kazakhstan. @TeamGB road cycling team gave everything they had left from #tdf (Tour de France) but wasn't enough to deliver a medal today."

1455 GMT: Alexandre Vinokourov of Kazakhstan says "unbelievable" -- and repeats it several times. He won't be the only one feeling that way.

"Today's race was unbelievable, too much people, dangerous, up, down, up down... I had a good jump with Uran... Unbelievable victory," says Vinokourov, still tearful and no doubt pretty tired as well.

1450 GMT: Tears from Vinokourov after his nail-biting victory.

1449 GMT: So here we have it -- in the men's cycling road race:

Gold: Alexandre Vinokourov, Kazakhstan

Silver: Rigoberto Uran, Colombia

Bronze: Alexander Kristoff, Norway

1446 GMT: Vinokourov won the silver in Sydney in 2000 and now he's gone one better. What a moment for Kazakhstan.

1445 GMT: KAZAKHSTAN'S ALEXANDRE VINOKOUROV WINS GOLD IN MEN'S CYCLING ROAD RACE! A shock result!

1440 GMT: And we're on the Mall and into the finishing sprint. Uran looks over his shoulder and Vinokourov escapes ahead! He's got it!

1445 GMT: One kilometre to go... Uran pulling ahead again.

1443 GMT: Uran inches ahead. Only two kilometres to go.

1439 GMT: Vinokourov pulls ahead as the pair swing into Knightsbridge. For those just joining us now -- it's the concluding stages of the men's road race and we look set for a shock result...

1438 GMT: The two out front are Colombia's Rigoberto Uran and Kazakhstan's Alexandre Vinokourov. The home team fading into the distance. Less than 8km to go.

1436 GMT: "Official time gap is 56 seconds and if that is true then it's game over for Team GB," tweets British Cycling. An admission of defeat!

1435 GMT: Cancellara rides on but seems to be in pain from his injured arm.

Sympathy from many -- British ex-rower and broadcaster Matthew Pinsent tweets: " Every west London cyclist knows that corner by Kingston Gate."

1430 GMT: A crash -- at least one cyclist hits the barriers after Lars-Petter Nordhaug of Norway attacks the lead group.

It looks to have been Switzerland's Fabian Cancellara! His right arm looks injured. He's now being passed by the peloton.

A bad moment for the Olympic champion.

1424 GMT: Our cycling reporter Justin Davis says that fans waiting for a first British cycling gold of the Games are looking despondent on the finish line of The Mall after learning that those late escapees in the men's road race have taken a 53-sec lead on the British team, led by sprint king and gold favourite Mark Cavendish.

The 32-man group attacked after Britain had worked hard to reel in an earlier escape attempt by Belgian Philippe Gilbert.

With 19 km to race in the 249.5 km race the leaders have a lead of 51sec.

1423 GMT: The gap between that breakaway group and the rest is narrowing as they approach Richmond Park -- about 51 seconds now.

1422 GMT: Wayne Rooney is watching the cycling, and tweets: "These cyclists must be super fit. Come on GB".

1418 GMT: There's a 57-second gap between the leading group and the rest.

Switzerland's Michael Schar is at the front of the narrowing line.

1415 GMT: The CYCLING men's road race is getting tense.

"This is really in the balance now. GB are going to have to commit everything to bring this back now," tweets British Cycling, which is trying to win the gold for Mark Cavendish.

"28km to go. Big, powerful group of about 30 riders is 58 seconds clear of bunch. GB and Germany only countries chasing."

1411 GMT: About 300 people have been protesting over the Olympics in east London -- not against the sports, but to oppose corporate sponsorship and security measures like missiles on residential buildings, the BBC reports.

It looks like a peaceful protest, but one unlikely to have a big impact as millions of Britons turn out to watch the show.

1410 GMT: TENNIS: "Very big cheers as Roger Federer strides onto Centre Court in red," reports the official Wimbledon Twitter account.

It is only three weeks after Federer won Wimbledon for a record-equalling seventh time. Now he is favourite to win the Olympic title for Switzerland and faces Colombia's Alejandro Falla in the first round.

Women's Wimbledon champion Serena Williams has swept into the second round of the Olympic tournament with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Serbia's Jelena Jankovic.

1405 GMT JUDO: There has been a heart-stopping moment in the women's judo today -- a Hungarian fighter was actually strangled unconscious.

"Belgium's Charline van Snick strangled Hungary's Eva Csernoviski unconscious there," tweeted our reporter, judo black belt Barnaby Chesterman.

Csernoviski was trying to resist a strangle when she passed out and collapsed to the mat.

The referee immediately stopped the bout, awarding it to van Snick, and a medic was called but the Hungarian quickly recovered.

1400 GMT: ROWING: New Zealand's Hamish Bond and Eric Murray have set a new men's pairs rowing world record in the Olympic heats, smashing the mark held by Britain's Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell.

The multiple world champions timed 6min 8.50sec on the first day of competition, almost six seconds quicker than the 10-year-old record set at the 2002 world championships.

"Six seconds, wow," said Bond, after the event held at Eton Dorney to the west of London.

"It's a great confidence boost to the whole team, I mean if they can beat it by six seconds, then everything has the potential to be much closer than we thought."

The duo, who are unbeaten since teaming up in 2009, are now safely into the semi-finals.

1355 GMT: Last lap now for the cyclists! Belgians may be tempted to get excited as Philippe Gilbert opens up a significant gap on the rest of the field.

They have all just passed the top of Box Hill for the final time. Some 45km now back to the Mall in central London.

1350 GMT: CYCLING: Only an hour or so to go in the men's cycling road race, and excitement is building among the huge crowds along the route -- Britain has been struck with cycling fever since Bradley Wiggins' Tour de France triumph less than a week ago.

1345 GMT: FOOTBALL: Japan's women's footballers -- who are bidding to add Olympic gold to their last year's World cup title -- have been held to a goalless draw by Sweden in their second group match.

Both sides came into the Group F clash on the back of wins, with Japan having defeated Canada 2-1 in their opener and Sweden thrashing South Africa 4-1.

Reigning Olympic champions the United States face Colombia later today having had to come from two goals down to beat France 4-2 in their opener.

1340 GMT: Saudi commentators have hailed the inclusion of women in their Olympic team for the first time, after two female Saudi athletes appeared at last night's opening ceremony, reports our Riyadh bureau.

"The kingdom is shining with its sons and daughters in London," tweeted columnist Jamal Khashogg, while female journalist Haifa al-Zahrani said: "Finally, the Saudi team has men and women."

But others lamented the fact that the women had to walk behind the men from the ultra-conservative Islamic kingdom during the opening ceremony.

"Saudi Arabia will remain in the back seat as long as its women are in the back seat," wrote activist Manal al-Sharif.

1330 GMT: CYCLING: Tour de France champion Brad Wiggins continues to play a pivotal role for British teammate Mark Cavendish in the road race as they chased down a breakaway that threatens Cavendish's bid for gold, reports AFP's Justin Davis.

With 80 km and two climbs of Box Hill remaining, Cavendish's British team have a deficit of 1:24 to a leading group of 11 riders, with another counter-attacking group stuck in between.

At the finish line on The Mall, meanwhile, fans from several countries -- some wearing masks of world champion Cavendish and brandishing flags from his native Isle of Man -- were being treated to music played by the military band from the Coldstream Guards.

1327 GMT: Australian world record-holder Stephanie Rice tweets: "So excited to be representing Australia tonight in the 400IM final. Fast swims this morning!! Thanks for the amazing support xxxx much love."

1320 GMT: SWIMMING: German world record-holder Paul Biedermann is downcast after failing to make the 400m freestyle final -- just as his nation's women's relay team was eliminated.

He mustered just the 12th-fastest time in the heats led by China's Sun Yang.

"I'm obviously disappointed and now need some time to collect myself," he said.

"It was not so good. I wanted to lead from the front, which had worked well, but I just could not hold back on to it."

1257 GMT: GYMNASTICS: Hosts Britain may be facing a challenge in the cycling today but they've unexpectedly eclipsed China in gymnastics.

As the artistic gymnastics qualifying began, China's men were below par and finished with a score of 269.985 points to Britain's 272.420.

Guo Weiyang and Zhang Chenglong both fell from the pommel horse and Guo's floor display proved unconvincing, while Britain were solid throughout, with Kristian Thomas and Daniel Purvis topping the individual all-around standings.

Great Britain aren't known for their prowess in this area -- it's the first time their men have qualified for an Olympic final since 1924.

1250 GMT: CYCLING: AFP's Justin Davis reports that a number of determined rivals are testing Britain's determination to deliver Mark Cavendish to a gold medal-winning sprint finish in the men's road race.

Britain earlier had to seek help from rivals Germany as they continued to chase down an early breakaway that built a dangerous lead of six minutes.

But on the fourth of nine climbs of Box Hill the hosts faced more problems as a 10-man counter-attacking group escaped the peloton -- so the Brits have had to redouble their efforts.

With four of the nine laps to race in the 249.5 km race the 12-man morning breakaway had a lead of two minutes on the peloton and 1min 30sec on the counter-attack group.

Here's a rundown of the counter-attackers: they are Philippe Gilbert (Belgium), Vincenzo Nibali (Italy), Gregory Rast (Switzerland), Andriy Grivko (Ukraine), Lars Boom (Netherlands), Luca Paolini (Italy), Sylvain Chavanel (France), Jack Bauer (New Zealand), Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) and Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic).

1240 GMT: Queen Elizabeth II visits athletes from Team GB at the Olympic Park. They applaud and whistle in appreciation -- she has her normal dignified demeanour but has clearly scored a hit with her James Bond cameo in the opening ceremony.

1215 GMT: A bit of a lunchtime lull now -- though not for the cyclists, of course, with hours of the road race yet to go...

Surrey Police have tweeted a request for the wildly enthusiastic crowds to be careful to keep clear of the riders.

"You don't want to be responsible for Mark Cavendish falling off!" they point out.

1148 GMT: The swimming heats are now over, paving the way for finals this evening.

Meanwhile US Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has been spotted among spectators at the Olympic Park -- let's hope he makes more friends than earlier in the week, when Britons were offended by his seeming scepticism about whether they could pull off a successful Olympics. He has since backtracked.

1143 GMT: South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, an amputee who will be running in this Olympics (as well as the Paralympics) on high-tech blades, tells British 400m runner Martyn Rooney on Twitter that the opening ceremony "was amazing bud! You Brits know how to (throw) a ceremony!"

1141 GMT: SWIMMING: Japan's Kosuke Kitajima, going for a third straight Olympic breaststroke double, is pipped by one-hundredth of a second in his opening heat of the 100 metres event.

Australian Christian Sprenger edges Kitajima with a time of 59.62 seconds, becoming the fastest qualifier heading into the semi-finals of the event later on today.

1139 GMT: There's no race radio in this cycling competition, so a heavily biased crowd is shouting to Team GB their time difference from the breakaway group at the front, in a bid to help out.

1135 GMT: Our cycling-watcher Justin Davis reports that Mark Cavendish's bid for Olympic road race gold is still on course, despite pressure on the Tour de France star's British team early in the race as the 12-man breakaway built a lead of nearly six minutes on the peloton, including Cavendish.

Thousands of fans are lining the roads of the hilly Box Hill circuit that will be raced a total of nine times before the peloton brings the 249.5 km race to a climax on flat finish of The Mall within sight of Buckingham Palace.

With 130 km remaining Cavendish's British team, helped by Germany, have a deficit of just over five minutes on the 12 leaders.

1125 GMT: Australia's Michael Rogers sets off in pursuit of the breakaway group in the cycling road race.

Countries that have riders in that group may have an advantage later on as they can help compatriots get ahead.

1120 GMT: "The Queen came to visit us just now at the village. Nice surprise:) mass hysteria in the lunch room!" tweets Indian tennis doubles contender Mahesh Bhupathi.

1115 GMT: CYCLING: A mixed-nationality group of 12 cyclists, not including any from favourites Britain, have broken away from the peloton.

The Britons, trying to help Mark Cavendish claim a home gold, now face a deficit of more than five minutes.

1100 GMT: Here's a recap of the day's main events so far:

+ Swimming legend Michael Phelps suffered a nervy start to the Games, scraping into Saturday's 400m individual medley final in eighth and last spot in his heat in a leisurely 4min 13.33sec.

+ Chinese world number one shooter Yi Siling claimed the first of the Games' 302 golds at the Royal Artillery Barracks in the women's 10m air rifle.

+ The men's 250km road race got underway, with Britain's Mark Cavendish the favourite. Stay tuned for the sprint finish around 1430 GMT.

+ Reigning Olympic champion Park Tae-Hwan of South Korea was disqualified in the 400m swimming freestyle for a false start after finishing first in his heat.

+ Albanian weightlifter Hysen Pulaku became the Games' first doping casualty, testing positive for the banned steroid stanozolol. He has been suspended from the contest.

1059 GMT: More news from poolside, this time on the women's swimming. AFP's Rob Smith reports that American world champion Elizabeth Beisel topped the qualifiers into the women's 400m individual medley final with a best time of 4min 31.68 secs. Australia's defending Olympic champion Stephanie Rice was seventh best.

1050 GMT: SWIMMING: South Korea's Olympic and world champion Park Tae-Hwan speaks briefly to reporters from his home country after his disqualification.

Sounding stunned, he says: " I don't know what happened -- I need to speak to my coach to find out."

Hannah Miley meanwhile sends the British home crowd wild when she downs Australian defending Olympic champion Stephanie Rice in her heat of the womens 400m individual medley.

Miley clocked 4min 34.98 secs and finished a comfortable 0.78secs ahead of the Aussie.

1035 GMT: WEIGHTLIFTING: Albanian lifter Hysen Pulaku has been excluded from the Games for doping, says the International Olympic Committee.

"Hysen Pulaku, 20, tested positive on 23 July for stanozolol," their statement said.

That's a synthetic anabolic steroid that has cropped up in numerous doping cases.

1034 GMT: Yi's triumph will warm Chinese hearts, although the team has played down suggestions they may top the gold medal tally again this year.

Still in the women's 10m air rifle shooting, Malaysian mum-to-be Nur Suryani Mohamad Taibi earlier failed to make the final.

She's due to give birth in September, but said her baby's kicks hadn't distracted her.

"It's a dream come true taking part in the Olympics," said the Malaysian.

1029 GMT: A nice moment for the Chinese! Yi Siling takes gold in the women's 10m air rifle, coming in ahead of Poland's Sylwia Bogacka, who takes silver.

Another Chinese shooter, Yu Dan, takes the bronze.

1025 GMT: SHOOTING: CHINA'S YU SILING WINS FIRST GOLD OF OLYMPICS IN WOMEN'S 10M AIR RIFLE

1019 GMT: Park's disqualification leaves China's Sun Yang leading the way into the final.

Dismay from South Korean fans on Twitter (they had a much better day yesterday with their archer's world record).

"I am really depressed," tweets one fan, using the name sunskyivee.

1014 GMT: A shocking start to the opening day of swimming at the Olympics as Park Tae-Hwan is disqualified from the 400 metres freestyle.

A spokesman for swimming's governing body FINA says he was disqualified for a false start, reports Rob Smith, our man at the aquatic stadium.

1011 GMT: South Korea's Olympic and world champion Park Tae-Hwan has been sensationally disqualified after winning his heat of the 400 metres freestyle, says our reporter Rob Smith.

More on that shortly...

1010 GMT: After narrowly making it into the 400m medley final, SWIMMING superstar Michael Phelps tells reporters: "I was slower here this morning than I was four years ago, but you can't win the medal from the heats."

0955 GMT: Over at the JUDO, world champion Rishod Sobirov is in impressive form, beginning his Olympic quest in the men's under-60kg, reports our own Barnaby Chesterman -- himself a judo black belt!

The Uzbek, a bronze medallist in Beijing, dominated ex-European champion Ludwig Paischer of Austria in his opening bout, says Barnaby.

Sobirov felled the former world and Olympic finallist with a dropping shoulder throw, scoring a waza-ari half point, before finishing him off by pinning him to the mat.

His main rival, the world number two from Japan Hiroaki Hiraoka, was also in fine form as he beat Britain's Ashley McKenzie with a similar dropping shoulder throw (seoi-nage).

0950 GMT: American world champion Dana Vollmer clocked an Olympic record of 56.25 seconds in finishing the fastest heat qualifier in the women's 100 metres butterfly.

0948 GMT: British swimming medal hope Francesca Halsall got a huge roar from her home crowd when she finished second to Australian Alicia Coutts in her heat of the 100 metres butterfly, our correspondent Rob Smith reports.

0945 GMT: SWIMMING: More details now on that men's 400m individual medley heat, in which reigning Olympic champion Michael Phelps reached the final by the skin of his teeth -- nabbing the eighth and last spot.

Phelps won his heat in 4min 13.33sec, but the leisurely pace of that race saw second-place finisher Laszlo Cseh of Hungary -- a medallist at the last two Games, shut out of the final.

Japan's Kosuke Hagino led the way into the final with a time of 4:10.01, followed by South African Chad le Clos and American Ryan Lochte, who was runner-up to le Clos in the final heat.

0939 GMT: Queen Elizabeth II has arrived at the Olympic Park, while her son Prince Charles -- the heir to the throne -- was at the start of the men's cycling road race to greet the peloton with his wife Camilla earlier.

The queen is being greeted by London 2012 chief Sebastian Coe and a cheering crowd.

Her appearance in the opening ceremony last night -- acting in a spoof James Bond sequence -- was a huge hit with locals.

The 86-year-old monarch stopped short of performing her own stunts -- it's believed a double performed her parachute sequence into the Olympic stadium.

Today she's arrived, more sedately, by car. Dressed in bright blue, she's now visiting the Orbit tower on the Olympic site.

0930 GMT: Team USA's other big swimming hope, Ryan Lochte, is also into the final although he didn't win his heat, the team says on Twitter.

"Lochte and Phelps both make it into finals -- Lochte is the third seed in 4:12.35; Phelps 8th in 4:13.33," USA Swimming says.

Lochte also came in ahead of Phelps -- who has 16 career medals including 14 golds -- in the US trials.

0925 GMT: "Phelps does just enough to get his hand on the wall first in his heat," says the US swimming team's official Twitter feed.

0920 GMT: And Phelps is in the water!

Michael Phelps touched out Hungarian rival Laszlo Cseh by seven-hundredths of a second in his first swim at the London Olympics in the heats of the 400 metres individual medley, reports Rob Smith.

The 14-time Olympic gold medallist reeled in Cseh in the final freestyle lap in a leisurely time of 4 minutes 13.33 seconds.

0906 GMT: Over to the SWIMMING for a moment, and our reporter Rebecca Bryan reports a "festival of camera-phone photography" from excited spectators flooding into the Olympic venues.

"Lively crowd on the way into the Aquatics Centre this morning for the first day of swimming competition," she says.

"Countdown on for Michael Phelps!"

In the opening heat of the men's 400 metres individual medley at the Aquatic Centre, reports our sports correspondent Robert Smith, Qatari Ahmed Atari got the biggest cheer from the crowd when he trailed in a full minute behind the winner.

0902 GMT: Honks and cheers from the crowds as the men's cycling road race gets going at a steady pace.

The home favourite, Isle of Man rider Mark Cavendish, is supported by David Millar, Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Ian Stannard, the national champion.

But a host of other cyclists are plotting to stop Britain getting its dream Olympic start.

Australia's Matt Goss and Peter Sagan of Slovakia are among them, along with German sprinter Andre Greipel.

But teams like Spain and Italy will be looking to avoid a bunch sprint, while the US team is said to be looking to break the race up on Box Hill.

"Britain have an incredibly strong team, with one of the strongest (riders) in the race," said American sprint specialist Tyler Farrar ahead of today's race.

"(But) I don't think the medals have been decided just yet."

0900 GMT: And after a loud ten-second countdown by the crowd, we're off! Cyclists are speeding past Buckingham Palace, cheered on by crowds of thousands.

0856 GMT: CYCLING: The riders are massed on the Mall in central London for the start of the men's road race. A nervous moment.

0850 GMT: The BBC is reporting that almost 27 million people watched last night's opening ceremony. That's almost half the population of Britain.

But several bookmakers, who had been taking bets for the past seven years on who would light the Olympic cauldron, are now refunding them all after it was lit by seven little-known young athletes, teamed up with some of the country's top Olympians.

There had been a flurry of earlier bets on the likes of David Beckham, Steve Redgrave and Roger Bannister.

"What happened, no-one could have predicted," said Graham Sharpe, of bookmakers William Hill.

0840 GMT: If he's successful today, Mark Cavendish will succeed Spain's Samuel Sanchez to become Britain's first Olympic men's road race champion.

Among his big challengers will be Slovakian Peter Sagan, Australian Matt Goss, Belgians Philippe Gilbert and Tom Boonen, Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez, Swiss Fabian Cancellara and German Andre Greipel.

The nine stages of the circuit include a climb up Box Hill. There are glimmers of sunshine emerging through the cloud that blanketed London this morning, but the cyclists are probably hoping cooler temperatures continue.

0820 GMT: Crowds are massing outside Buckingham Palace in central London ahead of the start of the 250km men's cycling road race.

An audience of a million is expected for the race between 150 riders, culminating in a sprint finish around 1430 GMT.

"En route to the Mall... In less than 2 hours we'll be riding the Olympic Road Race," tweeted home favourite Mark Cavendish earlier, complete with a photo of anxious-looking athletes in a minibus.

0815 GMT: Some upcoming highlights for today:

+ Michael Phelps chases a 17th career medal in the 400m individual medley (swimming heats start 0900 GMT, finals 1830 GMT)

+ Mark Cavendish aims to give hosts first gold of the Games in the men's road race (starts 0900 GMT)

+ China could secure first gold of the Games when shooter Yi Siling starts as favourite in the women's 10m Air Rifle (starts 0715 GMT)

+ Roger Federer and Serena Williams start their tennis campaigns at the All England Club (starts 1030 GMT)

+ Legally blind archer Im Dong-Hyun, who set the first world record of the Olympics on Friday, targets gold (starts 0800 GMT)

0805 GMT: The first 12 gold medals of the Games are available today, with Britain's Mark Cavendish the favourite in the men's cycling road race starting at 0900 GMT.

Home fans are hoping he'll bring Britain more cycling glory after Bradley Wiggins' unprecedented Tour de France victory.

Stand by for a run-down of today's main events...

0800 GMT: Last night's opening ceremony, put together by the "Slumdog Millionaire" director Danny Boyle, seems to be getting rave reviews -- even if some parts of it met with incomprehension outside Britain.

The New York Times calls it "a wild jumble of the celebratory and the fanciful" while French sports daily L'Equipe thought it was "unusually bold, poetic and funny".

Britain's press reacted ecstatically. "Brilliant, breathtaking, bonkers and utterly British," said the Daily Telegraph this morning.

The acting debut of the 86-year-old queen, who greeted James Bond in her palace with the words "Good evening, Mr Bond," has met with special acclaim.

WELCOME TO AFP's LIVE REPORT on the first full day of action at the London 2012 Olympics, after an eccentric opening ceremony that displayed Britain's rich history, music and sense of fun, starring James Bond, David Beckham and Queen Elizabeth II.

Today's events have already begun, with shooting at the Royal Artillery Barracks from 0715 GMT. The highlight of the day is set to be the men's cycling road race, while tennis begins in Wimbledon and there's also a full programme of swimming and volleyball. We'll give you a run-down of upcoming events to look out for shortly.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/olympics-2012-live-report-075642669--oly.html

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You can now 'handwrite' your Google searches

2 hrs.

Rosa Golijan

Google has a knack for coming up with features that you never even realized you need until they exist.

Google Handwrite is one of those features.

As Google software engineer Rui Ueyama explains on the official Google blog,?Handwrite is simply?another way to conduct Web searches from your smartphone or tablet.?It means that you can now?write out search terms with your finger instead of tapping them out the good old-fashioned way. (You can still also search using your voice or an image, of course.)

It sounds like a silly feature at first, but?you'll likely fall in love with it after a couple of tries. I most certainly did.

As someone with handwriting so atrocious that I should be a medical professional, I expected that Handwrite would fail to recognize any query I tried. But instead, it flawlessly transcribed three out of every five words, no matter how long or bizarre they were. I tried to trip the feature up by mixing?cursive and block letters, but no dice?? Handwrite still did pretty well. It even worked like a charm when I wrote with my eyes closed and one of my hands?metaphorically?tied behind my back.

I have a hunch that once one gets used to writing things out on a mobile device's screen, it could become a faster to search than good ol' typing.

To try Handwrite yourself, you'll need?an Apple device running iOS 5 or higher, an Android smartphone running Android 2.3 or higher, or an Android tablet running Android 4.0 or higher. If you've got one of those around, open your browser, go to the Google search page and look for the "Settings" button. There you can enable Handwrite.

Once you've done that, you can just tap the new?Handwrite icon any?time you want to scrawl out?your search query. And don't worry, you can still continue using auto-complete in conjunction with Handwrite. Here's how the two work together:

Want more tech news?or interesting?links? You'll get plenty of both if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts,?or circling her?on?Google+.

Source: http://www.gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/technology/gadgetbox/you-can-now-handwrite-your-google-searches-913606

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Syrian rebels say gain ground as grip of army weakens

REYHANLI, Turkey (Reuters) - Since he joined a poorly armed, ragtag rebel group, Syrian fighter Radwan al-Saaour has been mostly on the run, hiding in the woods of Idlib province near Turkey as loyalist forces overran town after town killing people at will.

But his fortunes, and those of the armed resistance movement against President Bashar al-Assad's rule, have changed dramatically in the last few weeks. Last month, Saaour celebrated repelling an army attack on the town of Kafr Karmin by setting a Russian-made army tank on fire.

"We took their anti-aircraft guns, the booty and left a dozen of their men dead," said Saaour, 26, a former laborer who once earned a living in the port of Latakia.

Sixteen months after the uprising against Assad began, the battle between lightly armed rebels and the awesome firepower of the Syrian military - one of the largest standing armies in the Middle East - has become a war of attrition as defections weaken Assad's forces and the rebels' combat skills improve.

Saaour's successes have been matched by broader rebel gains across the country in the last two weeks, as fighters seized several border posts and took the fight against Assad to the capital, Damascus, and to Aleppo, Syria's biggest city.

It hasn't all gone the rebels' way though - government troops have since regained control over most of Damascus and were poised on Friday to launch a counter-attack in Aleppo after bringing in reinforcements from nearby provinces.

But while intense army shelling in the last few weeks has forced hundreds of Saaour's comrades to retreat from towns within Idlib province and rural areas north of Aleppo, most of the countryside in northwest Syria is now outside the control of the overstretched military.

"We are now in control of most of the countryside around Idlib and the countryside north of Aleppo," Saaour, one of hundreds of fighters who go back and forth across the border, told Reuters in a flat in the Turkish border city of Reyhanli.

Almost 70 percent of the large countryside towns in northwestern Syria that border Turkey - towns such as Maarat al-Nuaman, Sarmada, Maarat Nisreen, Kafar Takharim, Teftanaz and Binish - are in rebel hands, several Free Army commanders say.

In northern and western rural areas near Aleppo, the country's largest city and commercial hub, the larger towns of Atareb, Darat Azeh, Anadan, Tel Rifat and scores of smaller villages have also fallen under rebel control.

That has left only the southern and eastern rural outskirts of the city of Aleppo still under the control of Assad's forces.

"If it had not been for the shelling he would have no control at all over the countryside. The more losses on the ground, the more defections that weaken the army," said Abu Omar, a young fighter from Idlib.

ARMY ON BACKFOOT

Only Harem, a pro-Assad Sunni Muslim border town, and the Shi'ite Muslim villages of Foua and Kfrya, 25 km (15 miles) from the border with Turkey, as well as parts of Jisr Shughur, now remain as isolated pro-army territory in the predominantly Sunni-populated Idlib province that borders Turkey, rebels say.

Subjected to more frequent attacks and roadside bombs, Assad's battalions in the northwest have been increasingly confined to several large bases, including the main Mastuma army base, 4 km (2 miles) south of Idlib city.

The headquarters of the feared 46th battalion of the Republican Guard south of the restive town of Atareb, 15 km (10 miles) west of the Turkish border post of Reyhanli, has been the source of some of the heaviest artillery barrages, rebels say.

In the last two months, the army has even deserted checkpoints that used to seal off one county town from another after suffering losses from ambushes and landmines targeting army convoys on supply routes to Aleppo, Idlib and Homs.

One sophisticated operation last month saw the rebels briefly capture the strategic air base of Ghanto near the restive town of Rastan where they destroyed surface-to-air missiles.

Around the same time, a daring raid on the Jebel Sheikh Barakat mountain, almost 20 km (12 miles) northeast of Aleppo, saw rebels overrun a radar station, loot its contents, and kill its defenders. Last week, rebels also overran the main Bab al-Hawa crossing with Turkey, and two other border posts.

"The state's authority has almost disappeared on the main international highway, all the way from Turkey to Homs," said one Syrian business traveler who entered the crossing from Aleppo and gave his name as Barakat.

In the town of Anadan, 20 km (12 miles) north of Aleppo, fighters say they return at night to engage the army in hit-and-run attacks on checkpoints and nearby security compounds, even after the army forced them to retreat to nearby mountains.

"They don't have control during the night and even during the day they cannot stay too long," said Ibrahim Maatouk, 35, a local rebel commander, brought by rebels to a Turkish ambulance at the border and rushed to surgery for bullet wounds in the chest and left leg.

"They are shelling rebel-held countryside towns randomly as far as 30 km (20 miles) away from their bases. Their aim is to terrify locals and make people hate us and turn them against us but the effect is the opposite. The more they bombard us the more people get closer together and hate them," he added.

BOLDER ATTACKS

Young fighters, many suffering shrapnel wounds and broken limbs, say months of gun battles have honed their combat skills.

"We did not have experience to lay explosives, or any coherent leadership ... but this is now changing," said Khaldoun al-Omar who arrived from Sarmada, 5 km (3 miles) from the Turkish border.

"The battles are looking more like warfare between two armies, even though they far outgun us," he added.

Higher ranking officers who joined the rebels in June with rocket-propelled launchers looted from army depots in the village of Khan Sobol and Jabal al-Zawya helped bring much needed expertise to the poorly equipped force.

"Two months ago we would not be able to confront a tank. Now, we are able to and the captured ones have been hidden in the mountains for when the time comes to use them," said Omar, who underwent six hours of surgery in Turkey for a leg wound.

Omar said hundreds of youths, many of whom already had military training as conscripts, were now getting more rigorous training in woodland areas along the long porous border in makeshift camps.

Young rebels were now also using more sophisticated improvised explosive devices against armored vehicles that the Syrian army has used in battle against them.

Syrian official media have shown munitions they say have been confiscated from "armed terrorists", in displays which officials say are further proof that foreign financed weapons are getting into the hands of rebels.

Although they are becoming bolder and more effective across large swathes of the countryside, fighters say a lack of anti-tank weapons, bullets and rocket-propelled grenades puts them at a disadvantage when attacking heavily fortified army bases.

Several months ago, rebels retreated from the city of Idlib, where attacks against the army by youths shouldering AK-47 rifles did little damage and resulted in massive tank and artillery retaliation, rebels say.

"We ran out of ammunition and we had to pull back, even though we could have held them back for weeks if we had had more," said Abdul Rahman al-Sheikh, a brigade commander now operating in the plantations near Taftanaz, a restive town in Idlib province.

The army's use of sophisticated transceivers in helicopters to track rebel communications has also helped pinpoint many rebel hideouts for aerial bombardment, said Anas Haj Hassan, a rebel fighter.

"They are getting the location from mobiles and walkie talkies we use to communicate to hit the building we are taking cover in," said Hassan, who only survived an attack that killed five of his group by leaving the location half an hour before.

A young wounded fighter, who goes by the name of Abu Abdullah, 27, who had just arrived from the town of Saraqib, said lack of sufficient anti-tank weapons and RPGs was hindering further gains.

"Our weapons are still weak, we need much more, at least RPGs and anti-tank missiles that we are now mostly using. The Russian AK-47 no longer has a role in the fiercest battles we are now waging against Assad's forces," said Abu Abdullah, lying in a Turkish hospital bed a few kilometers away from the battleground inside Syria.

(Reporting by Suleiman Al-Khalidi; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-gain-ground-grip-army-weakens-140300797.html

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San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee Knows A Useful Tragedy When He Sees One (Theagitator)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/238351448?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Having A New Website Built Can Really Help To Promote Your ...

New start-ups should consider the benefits of having their own website.

If you have just set up your business, if you are looking the ways to provide your company more audience and get people to get interested in the products you sell, why not get a website designed.
By logging onto internet and searching for an item, you will come across websites, some designed in bad ways and some designed in great ways that will attract you buy from that business.

Question is, if you have a business do you need a website to show of your product? The answer is YES you do, because people are using internet more and more now, as the time is going by, everything is turning digital and more and more people will start using internet to shop around and purchase online.

If you want to succeed in your line of business you will want a great website, which will not only get the people to look at it but also get them interested in buying your product. Now a day most businesses that sell online would have an ecommerce website because there, this means that the customer can buy online and pay online. Web is a worldwide network and people all over the world can see your product and if you can deliver your product around the world the best way to do this is to have ecommerce set up on your website.
If you have set up your business search for a web designer that will develop a nice website for you, make it catchy that will attract people to it. There are thousands of web developers offering this for businesses and you can search to find the right one for your business.

Always ask the web developer he has any websites of his own clients so you can browse through to see if they are well designed.

If you are happy with the developer, have them develop the website for you, but in the meantime, register your website name as your domain name so it exists online.

When everything has been done and the developer has finished the website, your next step is to optimise your website in the right way that you will be recognised for the products you sell, so anybody searching for the product will find your website showing up first. This will drive the customer to enter the website and buy from you.

Think of your business and what the website can do for you.

Claire Warrol shares her interest on the benefits of haing your own website on behalf of W1 Design t/a one productions

Source: http://thesuccess4life.com/website-built-promote-products/

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Madonna Defends Controversial Nazi Tour Imagery

Queen of Pop says her use of swastikas is a commentary on 'growing intolerance' around the world.
By Jocelyn Vena

Madonna performs on her MDNA tour
Photo: Dave J. Hogan/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1690571/madonna-nazi-tour-imagery.jhtml

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Romney goes to Europe, causes international stir

LONDON (AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney caused a stir in Britain on Thursday by questioning whether the country is prepared to pull off the Olympic Games without a hitch and scheduling a fundraiser with the former leader of a troubled bank.

On the first full day of his trip abroad, the former Massachusetts governor visited British political leaders as part of a larger effort to show he has what it takes to represent the U.S. on the world stage. But instead of highlighting ties with the America's staunchest ally, Romney may have embarrassed the Brits instead.

Romney launched a three-nation tour this week designed to bolster his foreign policy credentials and highlight his personal Olympic experience. Romney led the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah, and used the games to launch his political career.

But the trip got off to a shaky start.

Romney openly doubted whether Britain could handle the games, saying it was unclear whether issues that have dogged the final preparations could be overcome.

"It's hard to know just how well it will turn out," Romney told NBC News in an interview on Wednesday, two days before the opening ceremonies.

Romney later met with Prime Minister David Cameron, and they discussed the Olympic Games in addition to alliances in Afghanistan and Syria.

"I expect the games to be highly successful," Romney declared after the meeting.

Earlier Thursday, Romney and Cameron seemed to address each other through the media. After Romney suggested it's impossible for any Olympic Games to go off without a hitch, Cameron said Romney and others will "see beyond doubt that Britain can deliver."

At the same time, Romney faced scrutiny for a London fundraiser Thursday night that's expected to attract employees of Barclays, which has been in the spotlight after becoming the first bank to admit its employees were involved in manipulating a key market index.

Last month, U.S. and British agencies fined Barclays a total of $453 million. In the wake of that shock, chief executive Bob Diamond resigned. Diamond had been scheduled to attend the fundraiser at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in the tony Knightsbridge district, but has pulled out. He already had sent Romney a check for $2,500.

Romney sought to steer the conversation away from the controversies.

"The world is a tumultuous and dangerous place," Romney said Thursday. "And certainly in many of the regions around the world we have great interests in having a common effort in seeing greater peace and prosperity."

As he met with British leaders past and present, the Republican also praised "the unique relationship that exists between our nations, our commitment to common values, our commitment to peace in the world and a desire to see a stronger and growing economy."

Romney, whose decades in private business gave him ample exposure to international affairs, is a former one-term governor untested on the world's political stage. He hopes to convince voters back home that he is no novice on foreign affairs and that they should feel confident electing him as president in a complex world and with the U.S. facing a myriad of security threats.

During the public portion of his meeting with Cameron, Romney weighed in again after his comment about the Olympics drew attention across Britain. "It is impossible for absolutely no mistakes to occur," he said. "Of course there will be errors from time to time, but those are all overshadowed by the extraordinary demonstrations of courage, character and determination by the athletes."

Meeting with British officials is typically one of the first priorities of any new president, and establishing those relationships beforehand can help smooth any transition. It's not unusual for American presidential candidates to meet with British leaders during the campaign; Obama did so when he took a trip abroad as the likely Democratic nominee in 2008.

Romney's weeklong trip also will take him to Israel and Poland.

On Thursday, Romney also met with former Prime Minister Tony Blair; Ed Miliband, the current leader of the Labour Party ? the opposition to Cameron's Conservative Party; and Foreign Secretary William Hague. The candidate also met with Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, Britain's top financial official.

On Friday, Romney is scheduled to attend the opening ceremonies of the London Games.

This wasn't Romney's first meeting with Cameron; the two talked when Romney visited London in 2011. Cameron visited the U.S. earlier this year to meet with Obama and attended a White House state dinner, but he did not meet with Romney.

The meetings come a day after the Daily Telegraph published a story quoting an unidentified Romney campaign adviser saying the Republican believes the U.S. relationship with Britain is special because of shared "Anglo-Saxon heritage" that the adviser said the White House doesn't appreciate.

Romney, however, quickly distanced himself from any such view.

"I don't agree with whoever that adviser might be," Romney told NBC News, "but do agree that we have a very common bond between ourselves and Great Britain."

Nonetheless, Vice President Joe Biden and top Obama aides criticized Romney. "The comments reported this morning are a disturbing start to a trip designed to demonstrate Gov. Romney's readiness to represent the United States on the world's stage," Biden said.

Accompanying Romney to some of his meetings Thursday were former Missouri Sen. Jim Talent, an adviser, and Kerry Healey, who served as lieutenant governor when Romney was governor of Massachusetts. Three of Romney's sons ? Tagg, Josh and Craig ? also have joined him in London.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/romney-goes-europe-causes-international-stir-143822733.html

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Real Life Biggest Loser: This Is My Way of Life Now - FU Diet

Welcome to the Real Life Biggest Loser series, where I interview real people who lose weight and get healthy using good old-fashioned blood, sweat and tears.? At 5?3? and 230 pounds, Cherie had the audacity to believe that she could RUN.? How did she start? By running for 10 seconds at a time.? That was 2 years ago, now she?s running 20 miles a week.? What did that audacity cost her?? About 85 pounds and counting?

?

Name: ?Cherie Steffen

Age: 34

Occupation: Certified Fitness Trainer

All time high weight: 230 pounds

Current weight and height: 145 pounds, 5?3?

Total weight loss: 85 pounds

How did you gain the weight??Eating too much and being sedentary packed on the majority of the pounds, but some personal life changes added to it in a short time. My mother was diagnosed with cancer in March 2009 and she died soon after on June 8, 2009. I was totally a Mommy?s Girl, so I was DEVASTATED. Two weeks after she passed away, I herniated my lumbar disc and couldn?t move for some time. I was very limited in movement for about two months. During that time, Whole Foods Market fired me because they had no light duty for me and I couldn?t do anything else there. So the mom, the back, and the job sent me into a depressed eating frenzy.

When did you begin your weight loss journey??January 2010

How long have you kept the weight off? Since I began

What motivated you to lose weight?? Did you have an A-HA moment?? I went back to school for a second degree in January 2010. I needed to take a different career path and needed a fresh start. One of my teachers called me Precious {the fat Black girl from the movie of the same name} in front of a bunch of students. Instead of getting angry, I vowed to use those hurtful, embarrassing comments as motivation to lose the weight so no one would ever, ever call me that again. I always knew I needed to lose it?had even promised my mother on her deathbed that I would?but that one name-calling incident sparked a fire in me.

To what extent had your weight affected your physical health? I was very sluggish?easily became out of breath. It was difficult to even bend over to paint my toenails! Any type of physical movement was just that much harder with the extra weight on my frame.

How did you lose the weight?? Tell us about your diet and exercise regimen.?First I began walking. I started in small increments. At first, all I could do was run for 10 SECONDS!! But I had to start somewhere, so that was it. I did little intervals: Run 10 secs, walk 50 seconds and I?d repeat that for 30 mins. Then the next week, I?d run 20 secs, walk 40 secs?the next week, run 30secs, walk 30 secs?and so forth until I COULD run for a whole minute. Believe me when I say I really had to take baby steps! Once I could do a full minute, I repeated that same system, but in 10 minute increments. Run 1 min, walk 9. Run 2 mins, walk 8. Run 3 mins, walk 7. Eventually, I got to the point where I could run a full mile without stopping, and then after a while, my endurance built up to where I am now which is running for about 6 miles or so without needing a walk break. It was definitely something I had to train myself to do. I?m not saying everyone has to take baby steps like this, but it certainly helped me get used to running. I used to hate it and now I love it.?The hardcore running started in April 2011 because I was training to go into the police academy. I ran too far, too fast, too hard, didn?t listen to my body and got a stress fracture in my right tibia in May 2011. I was not able to try out for the academy, couldn?t run for five months and decided to study personal training while I was benched! The rest is history and I?m not a cop but I can run and the weight kept coming off. ?Ha!?My diet is to eat clean about 90% of time. If it?s processed or filled with a lot of artificial stuff, I do my best to avoid it.

Who was the most influential person/people to you during the process of losing weight? I suppose it was the name-calling teacher.

Have you ever lost weight and then gained it back?? If so, how was this time different? I had been on a cycle of losing again since grade school. This time was different because I was so very hurt and embarrassed. No one had ever called me out like that.

It?s easy to let your diet drift or slowly stop exercising. What do you find to be the key to STICKING TO IT? I don?t ever want to look like my ?before? picture or have someone liken me to Precious. That?s enough motivation right there.

Just starting off, losing weight is hard.? Tell us, did it get easier or harder for you over time? Definitely easier?once the habits formed and I saw weight coming off my body, this just became my way of life.

What is the hardest part for you now? There really isn?t a hard part now. I did most of the uphill, hard work already! Again, it?s just my way of life now and it?s just what I do. I don?t always HAVE time to work out; I MAKE time.

If you could tell your former self anything, knowing what you know now, what would you say? Keep that beautiful turquoise sweater Mommy gave you right before she passed away. You?ll fit it in about two years. I know you don?t believe me, but I promise. Really.

Do you worry about gaining weight back?? How do you prevent yourself from gaining it back??No I don?t. Again, I look at my ?before? picture often. Works like a charm.

Can you tell us how your participation in social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, blogs (reading them and writing your own) has impacted your weight loss journey? It?s helped tremendously. I could never have dreamed of the support from people that I?ve never even met. They?re amazing!

What is different (if anything) about your life (and/or health) now that you have lost the weight? My self esteem has improved. I?m more self confident. I love shopping now. I don?t worry if someone has a camera and wants to take pictures of me. I?m still me, but the best version I could ever have imagined. I?ve become an inspiration to people and it humbles me every time someone tells me so. Haha, in fact, it usually makes me cry. So I?m a lot more emotional now too!

If we want to follow you, where do we find you? @cherielianne on Twitter,?http://www.facebook.com/cherierunsthisblog on my FB blog page, http://www.cherierunsthis.com is my blog, @cherierunsthis on Instagram,?http://pinterest.com/cherielianne/ on Pinterest,?http://www.youtube.com/user/ztagrrl on YouTube

Cherie and her unstoppable audacity live in Mebane, North Carolina with her husband, Mark.

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Source: http://www.fudiet.com/2012/07/real-life-biggest-loser-this-is-my-way-of-life-now/

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