Carmelo Anthony's return to Denver is delayed for another year. LeBron James and Dwyane Wade won't be visiting Sacramento anytime soon. Fans in Chicago will only be seeing Kobe Bryant on television this season.
The NBA sought competitive balance. What it got was schedule imbalance.
One of the many consequences of the lockout, besides hundreds of lost games and hundreds of millions of lost dollars, was the tradition that every team plays in every NBA city at least once per season. That's not the case this year.
While teams will visit every other team in their own conference, they will only make trips to play nine clubs from the other side of the league instead of the usual 15.
It's one of many quirks of a 66-game schedule that, in a variety of ways, is not like any other in NBA history.
"In some cases, the team business-type might complain that they didn't get (to host) the Heat or the Lakers," NBA Commissioner David Stern said. "While in the background, the coach is doing cartwheels. So it's kind of an interesting dynamic."
There's no shortage of those.
Reigning scoring king Kevin Durant dropped 66 points in New York earlier this year ? alas, at Rucker Park, the fabled outdoor court and not Madison Square Garden. He and Oklahoma City won't be going to play the Knicks this season.
The NBA champion Dallas Mavericks won't be going to Charlotte, nor will Durant's Thunder, Bryant's Lakers or the Spurs, and that will keep ticket dollars from finding Bobcats owner Michael Jordan's pockets.
Teams won't be playing the same number of divisional games, so get ready for complaining should tiebreakers come into play when determining playoff seeding. And many small market teams will be miss out on some guaranteed sellouts against some elite clubs that might hurt in the standings but help with the bottom line.
"That's what happens when you have a lockout," Durant said.
When Magic coach Stan Van Gundy heard the league was putting together a 66-game slate instead of the usual 82-game run, he figured the breakdown was simple: Play every team in your division four times, then face every other team home and away.
That seemed easy enough.
Instead, it's complicated.
"I'm not being critical of it," Van Gundy said. "They've got a short period of time to play 66 games and there were a lot of factors they had to consider and I'm sure that they did it the best way that they could."
True, but there is some zaniness.
Atlanta takes a trip that has the Hawks going north, then south, then north, then west, then east, then west and then home again, all in the span of nine days. Cleveland has a nine-game February homestand. San Antonio goes nearly four weeks without a home game. The Kings close the first half of their schedule with 20 of 28 away from Sacramento, daunting for a team desperate to keep fans engaged while trying to get a new arena. Denver plays nine in a row at home in one stretch, then immediately hits the road for seven straight.
But there's no Anthony homecoming in Denver.
"Did it bother me? Not really," said Anthony, now with the Knicks. "I mean, I would love to go back and play there. The reaction I would get, who knows? I might get some boos, I might get some claps, but it'd have been fun."
Minnesota coach Rick Adelman was thrilled to see his club opens with six of seven at home. And then he looked who those early opponents are ? the first four clubs to visit the Timberwolves are Oklahoma City, Miami, Dallas and San Antonio.
"It's a challenge for us," Adelman said. "If we come out and we're ready to go, and we can knock some of these people off, it's just going to be better for us."
The Wolves don't host Atlanta, Milwaukee, New Jersey, Orlando, Toronto and Washington, teams that perhaps don't inspire the casual fan to run down on game night to check them out, but could be winnable games. They also don't travel to Boston, Chicago, Miami or New York. From a competitive standpoint, not having to play those teams on the road is great for the Wolves. But from a player experience standpoint, the Wolves don't sound thrilled.
"I think we don't go to Miami and Chicago. ... That's a little sad," eagerly anticipated guard Ricky Rubio said.
With this kind of schedule, youth might be served. Washington is expected to open the year with 10 players on the team age 25 or younger. So on those back-to-back-to-back nights, the Wizards might have a touch more spring in their collective step than some other clubs.
"It reminds me of an AAU season ? playing five games in one day," Wizards guard John Wall said. "It can be tough at times, but I think it can help us."
In past years, playing four games in five nights would be considered the worst of the schedule grind.
It's worse this year.
Not only will every team have at least one stretch of playing three games in three nights, but there will also be times when teams play eight games in 11 days. If a key player rolls an ankle, certainly a common issue in the NBA, at a particularly busy time in the schedule, a team could find itself without a key player for maybe 20 percent of the season. And with all those games in such a short span, this much is guaranteed: There will be nights when some teams will know the odds are stacked very, very highly against them, when they're the weary-legged club against a team that's had a couple of days off to freshen up.
"There will be nights when you'll be like, `OK, well, let's just go try and see what happens,'" Wade said. "It's not going to be easy. For anyone."
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AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney, AP Sports Writers Jon Krawczynski and Howard Fendrich, and AP freelance writer Murray Evans contributed to this report.
___
Follow Tim Reynolds on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ByTimReynolds
Steven Spielberg used his iPhone to help create 'War Horse'.
The Oscar-winning director admits he discovered the importance of working with horses while taking pictures with his cell phone, as it taught him the importance of shooting the equine stars of the film in full to capture their moods.
He said: "When I realised I was about to direct 'War Horse', I actually went out to the stables and I just stood out there with my iPhone and I just started photographing the horses from all angles. I tried to see how many expressions I could get out of these.
"And when I realised I couldn't get expressions, per se, from the eyes and the face of the horse I realised by standing back that the horse expressed himself in his entire bearing. So I spent a lot of time with that iPhone trying to figure out how to shoot the horse."
Steven case relative unknown Jeremy Irvine to play the leading human part of Albert in the World War I-set movie, and he believes he will follow in the footsteps of greats including Christian Bale and Drew Barrymore who he has discovered before.
He told Cinemablend.com: "When I found Christian Bale he was so honest, I couldn't deny the fact that there was an actor in this kid. Drew Barrymore, Henry Thomas, there was an honesty with them in 'E.T.'. I just look for authenticity. Are these kids real, and will they convince you lot that they're real? And he was. Jeremy was the most real kid we saw. And also the horse liked him a lot. The horse helped."
Keep up-to-date with the latest movie news by following us on Twitter at @MoviesOnVM or joining our Facebook page
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) ? The U.N. General Assembly granted a request from North Korea and held a few moments of silence on Thursday for Kim Jong-il, the country's former leader who died on Saturday, though Western delegations boycotted it.
Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, president of the 193-nation assembly, called for a "minute of silence" before the start of a routine meeting at 3:00 p.m. EST in the half-empty U.N. General Assembly hall.
"It is my sad duty to pay tribute to the memory of the late Kim Jong-il, Secretary-General of the Workers Party of Korea, Chairman of the National Defense Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and Supreme Commander of the Korean People's Army, who passed away on Saturday, December 17," he said.
The minute of silence lasted for 25 seconds before Nasser proceeded with the scheduled meeting. The United States, European Union member states and Japan were among the countries that boycotted the tribute to Kim Jong-il.
North Korea's U.N. mission made a similar request to the Security Council, but Western diplomats said it was rejected.
"We didn't think it would be appropriate," a diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Several Western diplomats said Pyongyang's request for Kim to be honored was highly unusual. They voiced surprise that Nassir had granted it and added that their delegations would most likely boycott the moment of silence in the assembly.
Speaking at a news conference, Nasser cited "protocol" as the reason for agreeing to the request from North Korea, a full U.N. member. One diplomat said the reason for granting the request was probably because Kim was an acting head of state.
Pyongyang is under Security Council sanctions due to Kim Jong-il's nuclear weapons program, which Western officials say ate up huge sums of money that could have been used to help feed North Korea's starving population.
An official at the Czech Republic's U.N. mission said the Czechs did not request a similar moment of silence for Vaclav Havel, the playwright-turned-dissident who died on Sunday.
The former Czech president was the leader of Czechoslovakia's 1989 "Velvet Revolution," in which he oversaw the peaceful transition from communism to democracy.
(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Eric Walsh)
NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Technology shares slumped on Wednesday and pushed the Nasdaq down 1 percent after Oracle reported results that cast doubts on the sector's health, even as broader markets closed mostly flat in a thinly traded day.
Outside the Nasdaq, the market recovered from early losses as some recent fears over Europe faded. Traders tried to build momentum for a year-end rally and possibly erase the S&P 500's 1.1 percent losses so far in 2011.
After Tuesday's close, Oracle Corp (ORCL.O) reported earnings and sales that missed expectations for the first time in a decade. The software giant joins a growing list of companies, including some of technology's biggest and oldest names, whose results and outlooks have raised alarm bells about business conditions.
The stock plunged 12 percent to $25.77 on heavy volume and was the top decliner in the Nasdaq 100 (.NDX). Shares of other tech companies also fell. IBM (IBM.N) was the biggest drag on the Dow, down 3.1 percent at $181.47. Cisco Systems Inc (CSCO.O) lost 2.6 percent to $17.92 at the close. The Philadelphia semiconductor index (.SOX) fell 1.2 percent.
"Oracle is a tech story, but there's concern it could be a broader economic story," said Brad Sorensen, director of market and sector analysis at Charles Schwab in Denver. "We're not ready to go that far yet, but it does show that businesses are unsure about the economic situation, especially with all the uncertainty about Europe."
Despite that, Sorensen said the light volume ahead of the Christmas and New Year's holidays would exacerbate market volatility, making the moves "a little more dramatic than normal."
The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) rose 4.16 points, or 0.03 percent, to 12,107.74. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) gained 2.42 points, or 0.19 percent, to 1,243.72. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) slid 25.76 points, or 0.99 percent, to 2,577.97.
For the year, the Dow is up 4.6 percent while the Nasdaq is down 2.8 percent.
In Europe, investors worried that cut-rate loans from the European Central Bank's recent funding operation would not be used to buy Italian and Spanish debt, which would help lower elevated yields and reduce the pressure on refinancing for the debt-stricken countries.
European banks took nearly 490 billion euros in three-year cut-price loans from the European Central Bank on Wednesday. While a widening of the yield spread between German and Italian debt initially suggested that money was not flowing where it is most needed, those concerns faded toward the end of the day.
"As investors digest what the ECB is doing, there's some recognition of the fact that European banks are better off having more money on their balance sheets even if it isn't being lent out," said Mike Shea, a managing partner and trader at Direct Access Partners LLC in New York.
An Italian banking group said banks would not increase their exposure to sovereign debt even after the ECB offering because European Bank Authority rules discourage it.
Ryan Larson, head of equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management in Chicago, said unconfirmed talk was circulating in the market that banks would use ECB loans to buy German bonds and not to support the debt of Spain and Italy.
"That kind of spooked the market," he said. "While it is a positive development in terms of the lending facility, there are still a lot of problems out there."
He said he was not able to confirm any of the market speculation.
Tuesday's rally had lifted the S&P 500 above its 50-day moving average. Many investors and traders are looking for a seasonal "Santa rally" through the end of the year and are keen to jump on any signs of momentum.
U.S.-listed shares of Research in Motion Ltd (RIMM.O)(RIM.TO) jumped 10.1 percent to $13.78 and ranked as the Nasdaq 100's top gainer after Reuters reported that Amazon (AMZN.O) and other potential bidders had been looking at making an offer for the BlackBerry maker, although interest had cooled somewhat.
The latest economic data showed sales of previously owned U.S. homes surged in November, but revisions to data for the last four years gave proof that the housing market's recession was deeper than previously thought.
Contract electronics manufacturer Jabil Circuit Inc (JBL.N) posted first-quarter revenue below estimates and said it sees lower revenue in the second quarter. Shares fell 2.8 percent to $19.40.
Volume was light, with about 6.52 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the American Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, below last year's daily average of 8.47 billion.
About 59 percent of companies traded on the New York Stock Exchange closed in positive territory while about 48 percent of the Nasdaq ended lower.
(Reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Jan Paschal)
Twitter / FOX5Atlanta: WEATHER: Tornado Watch for ...WEATHER: Tornado Watch for Metro Atlanta & most of N. Ga. canceled as front continues southeast track. More at . Il y a environ 13 heuresvia web
INDIANAPOLIS ? A federal judge has sentenced a Chinese national scientist to more than seven years in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to illegally sending trade secrets on a pesticide and a new food product to China and Germany.
Judge William Lawrence announced the sentence Wednesday for 46-year-old Kexue Huang, formerly of Carmel., Ind. He pleaded to one count of economic espionage to benefit the Chinese government and one count of theft of trade secrets.
Court records show Huang from 2007 to 2010 delivered trade secrets on an organic pesticide he helped develop at Dow AgroSciences in Indiana to people in Germany and China.
After joining Minnesota-based Cargill Inc. in 2008, Huang stole a key component to make a new food product and gave it to a university student in China.
Contact: Jennifer Marcus jmarcus@cnsi.ucla.edu 310-267-4839 University of California - Los Angeles
Innovative machine learning method anticipates neurocognitive changes, similar to predictive text-entry for cell phones, Internet search engines
At UCLA's Laboratory of Integrative Neuroimaging Technology, researchers use functional MRI brain scans to observe brain signal changes that take place during mental activity. They then employ computerized machine learning (ML) methods to study these patterns and identify the cognitive state or sometimes the thought process of human subjects. The technique is called "brain reading" or "brain decoding."
In a new study, the UCLA research team describes several crucial advances in this field, using fMRI and machine learning methods to perform "brain reading" on smokers experiencing nicotine cravings.
The research, presented last week at the Neural Information Processing Systems' Machine Learning and Interpretation in Neuroimaging workshop in Spain, was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which is interested in using these method to help people control drug cravings.
In this study on addiction and cravings, the team classified data taken from cigarette smokers who were scanned while watching videos meant to induce nicotine cravings. The aim was to understand in detail which regions of the brain and which neural networks are responsible for resisting nicotine addiction specifically, and cravings in general, said Dr. Ariana Anderson, a postdoctoral fellow in the Integrative Neuroimaging Technology lab and the study's lead author.
"We are interested in exploring the relationships between structure and function in the human brain, particularly as related to higher-level cognition, such as mental imagery," Anderson said. "The lab is engaged in the active exploration of modern data-analysis approaches, such as machine learning, with special attention to methods that reveal systems-level neural organization."
For the study, smokers sometimes watched videos meant to induce cravings, sometimes watched "neutral" videos and at sometimes watched no video at all. They were instructed to attempt to fight nicotine cravings when they arose.
The data from fMRI scans taken of the study participants was then analyzed. Traditional machine learning methods were augmented by Markov processes, which use past history to predict future states. By measuring the brain networks active over time during the scans, the resulting machine learning algorithms were able to anticipate changes in subjects' underlying neurocognitive structure, predicting with a high degree of accuracy (90 percent for some of the models tested) what they were watching and, as far as cravings were concerned, how they were reacting to what they viewed.
"We detected whether people were watching and resisting cravings, indulging in them, or watching videos that were unrelated to smoking or cravings," said Anderson, who completed her Ph.D. in statistics at UCLA. "Essentially, we were predicting and detecting what kind of videos people were watching and whether they were resisting their cravings."
In essence, the algorithm was able to complete or "predict" the subjects' mental states and thought processes in much the same way that Internet search engines or texting programs on cell phones anticipate and complete a sentence or request before the user is finished typing. And this machine learning method based on Markov processes demonstrated a large improvement in accuracy over traditional approaches, the researchers said.
Machine learning methods, in general, create a "decision layer" essentially a boundary separating the different classes one needs to distinguish. For example, values on one side of the boundary might indicate that a subject believes various test statements and, on the other, that a subject disbelieves these statements. Researchers have found they can detect these believedisbelieve differences with high accuracy, in effect creating a lie detector. An innovation described in the new study is a means of making these boundaries interpretable by neuroscientists, rather than an often obscure boundary created by more traditional methods, like support vector machine learning.
"In our study, these boundaries are designed to reflect the contributed activity of a variety of brain sub-systems or networks whose functions are identifiable for example, a visual network, an emotional-regulation network or a conflict-monitoring network," said study co-author Mark S. Cohen, a professor of neurology, psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA's Staglin Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and a researcher at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA.
"By projecting our problem of isolating specific networks associated with cravings into the domain of neurology, the technique does more than classify brain states it actually helps us to better understand the way the brain resists cravings," added Cohen, who also directs UCLA's Neuroengineering Training Program.
Remarkably, by placing this problem into neurological terms, the decoding process becomes significantly more reliable and accurate, the researchers said. This is especially significant, they said, because it is unusual to use prior outcomes and states in order to inform the machine learning algorithms, and it is particularly challenging in the brain because so much is unknown about how the brain works.
Machine learning typically involves two steps: a "training phase" in which the computer evaluates a set of known outcomes say, a bunch of trials in which a subject indicated belief or disbelief and a second, "prediction" phase in which the computer builds a boundary based on that knowledge.
In future research, the neuroscientists said, they will be using these machine learning methods in a biofeedback context, showing subjects real-time brain readouts to let them know when they are experiencing cravings and how intense those cravings are, in the hopes of training them to control and suppress those cravings.
But since this clearly changes the process and cognitive state for the subject, the researchers said, they may face special challenges in trying to decode a "moving target" and in separating the "training" phase from the "prediction" phase.
###
The California NanoSystems Institute is an integrated research facility located at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. Its mission is to foster interdisciplinary collaborations in nanoscience and nanotechnology; to train a new generation of scientists, educators and technology leaders; to generate partnerships with industry; and to contribute to the economic development and the social well-being of California, the United States and the world. The CNSI was established in 2000 with $100 million from the state of California. The total amount of research funding in nanoscience and nanotechnology awarded to CNSI members has risen to over $900 million. UCLA CNSI members are drawn from UCLA's College of Letters and Science, the David Geffen School of Medicine, the School of Dentistry, the School of Public Health and the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. They are engaged in measuring, modifying and manipulating atoms and molecules the building blocks of our world. Their work is carried out in an integrated laboratory environment. This dynamic research setting has enhanced understanding of phenomena at the nanoscale and promises to produce important discoveries in health, energy, the environment and information technology.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Contact: Jennifer Marcus jmarcus@cnsi.ucla.edu 310-267-4839 University of California - Los Angeles
Innovative machine learning method anticipates neurocognitive changes, similar to predictive text-entry for cell phones, Internet search engines
At UCLA's Laboratory of Integrative Neuroimaging Technology, researchers use functional MRI brain scans to observe brain signal changes that take place during mental activity. They then employ computerized machine learning (ML) methods to study these patterns and identify the cognitive state or sometimes the thought process of human subjects. The technique is called "brain reading" or "brain decoding."
In a new study, the UCLA research team describes several crucial advances in this field, using fMRI and machine learning methods to perform "brain reading" on smokers experiencing nicotine cravings.
The research, presented last week at the Neural Information Processing Systems' Machine Learning and Interpretation in Neuroimaging workshop in Spain, was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, which is interested in using these method to help people control drug cravings.
In this study on addiction and cravings, the team classified data taken from cigarette smokers who were scanned while watching videos meant to induce nicotine cravings. The aim was to understand in detail which regions of the brain and which neural networks are responsible for resisting nicotine addiction specifically, and cravings in general, said Dr. Ariana Anderson, a postdoctoral fellow in the Integrative Neuroimaging Technology lab and the study's lead author.
"We are interested in exploring the relationships between structure and function in the human brain, particularly as related to higher-level cognition, such as mental imagery," Anderson said. "The lab is engaged in the active exploration of modern data-analysis approaches, such as machine learning, with special attention to methods that reveal systems-level neural organization."
For the study, smokers sometimes watched videos meant to induce cravings, sometimes watched "neutral" videos and at sometimes watched no video at all. They were instructed to attempt to fight nicotine cravings when they arose.
The data from fMRI scans taken of the study participants was then analyzed. Traditional machine learning methods were augmented by Markov processes, which use past history to predict future states. By measuring the brain networks active over time during the scans, the resulting machine learning algorithms were able to anticipate changes in subjects' underlying neurocognitive structure, predicting with a high degree of accuracy (90 percent for some of the models tested) what they were watching and, as far as cravings were concerned, how they were reacting to what they viewed.
"We detected whether people were watching and resisting cravings, indulging in them, or watching videos that were unrelated to smoking or cravings," said Anderson, who completed her Ph.D. in statistics at UCLA. "Essentially, we were predicting and detecting what kind of videos people were watching and whether they were resisting their cravings."
In essence, the algorithm was able to complete or "predict" the subjects' mental states and thought processes in much the same way that Internet search engines or texting programs on cell phones anticipate and complete a sentence or request before the user is finished typing. And this machine learning method based on Markov processes demonstrated a large improvement in accuracy over traditional approaches, the researchers said.
Machine learning methods, in general, create a "decision layer" essentially a boundary separating the different classes one needs to distinguish. For example, values on one side of the boundary might indicate that a subject believes various test statements and, on the other, that a subject disbelieves these statements. Researchers have found they can detect these believedisbelieve differences with high accuracy, in effect creating a lie detector. An innovation described in the new study is a means of making these boundaries interpretable by neuroscientists, rather than an often obscure boundary created by more traditional methods, like support vector machine learning.
"In our study, these boundaries are designed to reflect the contributed activity of a variety of brain sub-systems or networks whose functions are identifiable for example, a visual network, an emotional-regulation network or a conflict-monitoring network," said study co-author Mark S. Cohen, a professor of neurology, psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA's Staglin Center for Cognitive Neuroscience and a researcher at the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA.
"By projecting our problem of isolating specific networks associated with cravings into the domain of neurology, the technique does more than classify brain states it actually helps us to better understand the way the brain resists cravings," added Cohen, who also directs UCLA's Neuroengineering Training Program.
Remarkably, by placing this problem into neurological terms, the decoding process becomes significantly more reliable and accurate, the researchers said. This is especially significant, they said, because it is unusual to use prior outcomes and states in order to inform the machine learning algorithms, and it is particularly challenging in the brain because so much is unknown about how the brain works.
Machine learning typically involves two steps: a "training phase" in which the computer evaluates a set of known outcomes say, a bunch of trials in which a subject indicated belief or disbelief and a second, "prediction" phase in which the computer builds a boundary based on that knowledge.
In future research, the neuroscientists said, they will be using these machine learning methods in a biofeedback context, showing subjects real-time brain readouts to let them know when they are experiencing cravings and how intense those cravings are, in the hopes of training them to control and suppress those cravings.
But since this clearly changes the process and cognitive state for the subject, the researchers said, they may face special challenges in trying to decode a "moving target" and in separating the "training" phase from the "prediction" phase.
###
The California NanoSystems Institute is an integrated research facility located at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. Its mission is to foster interdisciplinary collaborations in nanoscience and nanotechnology; to train a new generation of scientists, educators and technology leaders; to generate partnerships with industry; and to contribute to the economic development and the social well-being of California, the United States and the world. The CNSI was established in 2000 with $100 million from the state of California. The total amount of research funding in nanoscience and nanotechnology awarded to CNSI members has risen to over $900 million. UCLA CNSI members are drawn from UCLA's College of Letters and Science, the David Geffen School of Medicine, the School of Dentistry, the School of Public Health and the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science. They are engaged in measuring, modifying and manipulating atoms and molecules the building blocks of our world. Their work is carried out in an integrated laboratory environment. This dynamic research setting has enhanced understanding of phenomena at the nanoscale and promises to produce important discoveries in health, energy, the environment and information technology.
For more news, visit the UCLA Newsroom and follow us on Twitter.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands ? Thousands of children suffered sexual abuse in Dutch Catholic institutions, and church officials failed to adequately address the abuse or help the victims, according to a long-awaited investigation released Friday.
The report by the an independent commission said Catholic officials failed to tackle the widespread abuse "to prevent scandals." The suspected number of abuse victims who spent some of their youth in church institutions likely lies somewhere between 10,000 and 20,000, according to a summary of the report.
Based on a survey among more than 34,000 people, the commission estimated that one in 10 Dutch children suffered some form of abuse. The number doubled to 20 percent of children who spent part of their youth in an institution ? whether Catholic or not.
The commission said it received some 1,800 complaints of abuse at Catholic schools, seminaries and orphanages and that the institutions suffered from "a failure of oversight." It then conducted the broader survey of the general population for a more comprehensive analysis of the scale and nature of sexual abuse of minors.
The commission was set up last year under the leadership of former government minister Wim Deetman to investigate allegations of abuse dating from 1945.
Deetman said that the problem of abuse continued in part because the Catholic church organization in the Netherlands was splintered, so bishops and religious orders sometimes worked autonomously to deal with abuse and "did not hang out their dirty laundry."
However, he said that the commission concluded that "it is wrong to talk of a culture of silence" by the church as a whole.
The Dutch Bishops Conference scheduled a press conference for Friday afternoon to respond to the report.
The investigation followed allegations of repeated incidents of abuse at one cloister that quickly spread to claims from Catholic institutions across the country, echoing similar scandals around the world.
The commission identified about 800 priests, brothers, pastors or lay people working for the church who had been named in the complaints. About 105 of them were still alive, although it was not known if they remained in church positions, the report said. It identified them as "perpetrators" rather than "offenders," meaning they had not been proven to have committed a crime.
The Dutch branch of the Catholic church agreed last month to launch a compensation system that clears the way for victims of abuse by priests and other church workers to receive payments.
The new compensation system has a scale starting at euro5,000 ($6,500) and rising to a maximum of euro100,000 ($130,000) depending on the nature of the abuse.
According to the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics, 29 percent of the Dutch population of 16 million identified themselves as Catholics in 2008, making it the largest religion in the country.
HARRISBURG, Pa. ? A graduate student waited a day after allegedly seeing a child being sexually assaulted on Penn State's campus before telling his supervisor, football coach Joe Paterno.
Paterno waited another day before calling the university's athletic director, who looped in a school vice president.
"It was a Saturday morning and I didn't want to interfere with their weekends," Paterno told a grand jury this year, recalling the unusual visit from graduate assistant Mike McQueary.
McQueary said he had seen former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky doing something "extremely sexual" with a young boy in a locker room shower.
On Friday, McQueary testified at a preliminary hearing for two Penn State officials ? athletic director Tim Curley and vice president Gary Schultz ? accused of covering up the story. He offered the most detailed public account yet of the child sex abuse allegations that have upended the university's football program and the entire central Pennsylvania campus.
Curley and Schultz are headed to trial on perjury charges after Friday's preliminary hearing, accused of lying to a grand jury about what McQueary told them.
Curly and Schultz waited another 10 days before meeting with McQueary to get more facts. Instead of calling police, they talked to two people: Sandusky and the executive director of his children's charity.
"I think it's a sad, sad, sad day, when you think about all of these victims, and you saw the inaction by a number of supposedly important, responsible adults. And there's a lot of inaction in this case," Marc Costanzo, a senior deputy attorney general, said after the preliminary hearing.
Besides the perjury charges, and the dozens of sex assault charges pending against Sandusky, Paterno and university president Graham Spanier have lost their jobs over the scandal.
Defense lawyers argued that McQueary "minimized" the alleged sexual assault when he talked to Paterno, ultimately leading their clients to believe that Sandusky's behavior was "inappropriate," but not criminal.
They say McQueary never relayed the seriousness of what he saw, leading them to think Sandusky was merely "horsing around."
"I didn't see any reason because I didn't think at the time it was a crime," Curley told the grand jury, according to testimony read into the record on Friday.
Curley, Schultz and Paterno have been criticized for not telling law enforcement about the 2002 charges. Prosecutors say Sandusky continued to abuse boys for six more years.
In about two hours on the witness stand, McQueary said again and again that what he saw was a sexual act, although he stopped short of saying he was sure that Sandusky, now 67, had raped the boy.
"I believe Jerry was sexually molesting him and having some type of sexual intercourse with him," McQueary said on Friday. He said later he "can't say 100 percent" that Sandusky and the boy were having intercourse because he was seeing Sandusky from behind.
He said after talking to his father, he went over to Paterno's home the next morning and said that what he had seen "was way over the lines, it was extremely sexual in nature." He said he would not have used words like sodomy or intercourse with Paterno, out of respect for the coach.
Paterno told the grand jury that McQueary said he saw Sandusky doing something of a "sexual nature" with the youngster but that he didn't press for details.
"I didn't push Mike ... because he was very upset," Paterno said. "I knew Mike was upset, and I knew some kind of inappropriate action was being taken by Jerry Sandusky with a youngster."
Paterno told McQueary he would talk to others about what he'd reported.
McQueary said he met about 10 days later with Curley and Schultz and told them he'd seen Sandusky and a boy, both naked, in the shower after hearing skin-on-skin slapping sounds.
"I would have described that it was extremely sexual and I thought that some kind of intercourse was going on," said McQueary.
McQueary said he was left with the impression both men took his report seriously. When asked why he didn't go to police, he referenced Schultz's position as a vice president at the university who had overseen the campus police
"I thought I was talking to the head of the police, to be frank with you," he said. "In my mind it was like speaking to a (district attorney). It was someone who police reported to and would know what to do with it."
The square-jawed, red-haired assistant coach spoke in a steady voice in his first public account of the alleged abuse, sometimes turning his seat and leaning in toward defense lawyers to answer questions. His voice rose a few times and he blushed once when describing the sexual encounter in the shower.
Defense lawyers for Curley and Schultz argued that a perjury charge in Pennsylvania cannot be based solely on one person's oath versus another's. The defense said uncorroborated testimony from McQueary is not enough, and sought to pick apart the ways he described the shower scene differently to different people.
The defense noted that McQueary admitted changing his description of the shower encounter when speaking with Paterno.
McQueary said he had stopped by a campus football locker room to drop off a pair of sneakers the Friday night before spring break, a quiet night on campus, when he saw Sandusky with a boy who looked to be 10 or 12 years old.
McQueary, 37, said he has never described what he saw as anal rape or anal intercourse and couldn't see Sandusky's genitals, but that "it was very clear that it looked like there was intercourse going on."
In its report last month, the grand jury summarized McQueary's testimony as saying he "saw a naked boy ... with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky."
McQueary said he peeked into the shower three times ? the first via a mirror, the other two times directly. The last time he looked in, Sandusky and the boy had separated, he said. He said he didn't say anything, but "I know they saw me. They looked directly in my eye, both of them."
McQueary said the entire encounter ? from when he first entered the locker room to when he retreated to his office ? lasted about 45 seconds.
Curley told the grand jury that he couldn't recall his specific conversation with McQueary, but said McQueary never reported seeing anal intercourse or other sexual conduct. He said he spoke to Sandusky about it, who first denied having been in the shower with a boy, but later changed his story.
Schultz said he remembered McQueary and Paterno describing what the younger coach saw only in a very general way.
"I had the impression it was inappropriate," Schultz told the grand jury. "I had the feeling it was some king of wrestling activity and maybe Jerry might have grabbed a young boy's genitals."
Under cross-examination, McQueary said he considered what he saw a crime but didn't call police because "it was delicate in nature."
"I tried to use my best judgment," he said. "I was sure the act was over." He said he never tried to find the boy.
Paterno, Schultz and Curley didn't testify, but their entire grand jury testimony from January was read at the Dauphin County hearing.
Curley's attorney, Caroline Roberto, said prosecutors "will never be able to reach their burden of proof at a trial," in part because McQueary "minimized" the alleged assault to Paterno.
Schultz's attorney, Tom Farrell, predicted his client would be acquitted.
He also took a shot at Paterno, saying, "I'm an Italian from Brooklyn, and he may not have called the police but he may have done what I would have done, which is get the boys in the car with a few baseball bats and crowbars and take it to the fellow."
Sandusky says he is innocent of 52 criminal charges stemming from what authorities say were sexual assaults over 12 years on 10 boys in his home, on Penn State property and elsewhere.
Curley, 57, was placed on leave by the university after his arrest. Schultz, 62, returned to retirement after spending about four decades at the school, most recently as senior vice president for business and finance, and treasurer.
New York ? M.I.T. scientists have created an imaging system capable of reducing the movement of light into slow-motion movies
The video: Slow-motion video is everywhere, but this is something new entirely. Scientists at M.I.T's Media lab have created a complex imaging system capable of tracking a small sliver of light in video at 1 trillion frames per second. The researchers used over 500 camera sensors, mirrors, and "streak tubes" to meticulously document light's movement through objects and liquids, filming for hours on end to splice together short slow-motion movies. (Watch it below.) Despite the obvious wow-factor, the creators of this technology say it has applications far beyond YouTube, such as in medical imaging devices using light-based ultrasound.
The reaction: Since nothing moves faster than the speed of light, the fact that researchers were able to capture its progress in slow motion is "nothing short of miraculous," says Peter Pachal at Mashable. This just blows the fastest frame rates on the fastest cameras out of the water. If "your mind's not already blown," says Jared Newman at TIME, consider the fact that you would "need an entire lifetime to watch one tenth of a second of footage on this camera" before the end-result is cobbled together. This camera's no point and shoot. See for yourself:
SEE ALSO: Spotify apps: An 'underwhelming' new direction?
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The Euro sculpture stands in front of the European Central Bank, right, in Frankfurt, Germany, on Friday, Dec.16, 2011.(AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The Euro sculpture stands in front of the European Central Bank, right, in Frankfurt, Germany, on Friday, Dec.16, 2011.(AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The Euro sculpture stands in front of the European Central Bank, right, in Frankfurt, Germany, on Friday, Dec.16, 2011.(AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The Euro sculpture stands in front of the European Central Bank, in Frankfurt, Germany, on Friday, Dec.16, 2011. Poster underneath the Euro sign reads: Let's talk about Future. At left tents of the occupy movement still remain. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi, left, and and Charles Wyplosz, director of the International Center of Money and Banking at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, arrive for a commemoration of late economist Tommaso Padoa Schioppa, in Rome, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. The Italian government faces a confidence vote over a package of austerity measures while a transport strike to protest the cuts is causing havoc for commuters across the country. Premier Mario Monti is putting his package of new and higher taxes and pension reforms to a confidence vote in the lower Chamber of Deputies to speed up its passage. The vote, which is expected by early evening Friday, will likely clear the measures, paving the way for final approval in the Senate within days. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
A man walks across tram rails in Milan, Italy, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. The Italian government faces a confidence vote over a package of austerity measures while a transport strike to protest the cuts is causing Friday havoc for commuters across the country. Premier Mario Monti is putting his package of new and higher taxes and pension reforms to a confidence vote in the lower Chamber of Deputies to speed up its passage. The vote, which is expected by early evening Friday, will likely clear the measures, paving the way for final approval in the Senate within days.(AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
DUBLIN (AP) ? Alarming financial news flowed out of Europe in a torrent Friday, just a week after the EU leaders struck a deal they thought would contain the continent's debt crisis.
The bombardment shredded hopes of a lasting solution to the turmoil that is endangering the euro ? the currency used by 17 European nations ? and threatening the entire global economy.
In quick succession:
? The Fitch Ratings agency announced it was considering further cuts to the credit scores of six eurozone nations ? heavyweights Italy and Spain, as well as Belgium, Cyprus, Ireland and Slovenia. It said all six could face downgrades of one or two notches.
? Ireland's economy shrunk again much deeper than had been expected, with its third-quarter gross domestic product falling 1.9 percent. Ireland is one of three eurozone nations kept solvent only by an international bailout.
? Bankers and hedge funds were balking in talks about forgiving 50 percent of Greece's massive debts, a key issue in the debate over Greece's second rescue bailout.
? The red ink in Spain's regional governments surged 22 percent in the last year, endangering the central government's efforts to cut overall Spanish debt.
? France, the second-largest eurozone economy after Germany, warned that it faced at least a temporary recession next year.
? The euro hovered Friday just above $1.30, a cent higher than its 11-month low.
On the positive side, Fitch said France should keep its top AAA credit rating even though the country's debt load is projected to rise through 2014. Italian lawmakers overwhelmingly passed Premier Mario Monti's new austerity package in a confidence vote, even though many still objected to its pension reforms.
French officials and investors had feared that France could get downgraded, which would have immediate repercussions for the entire eurozone. France and Germany's AAA credit ratings underpin the rating for the eurozone's bailout fund.
European Union leaders confirmed Friday they have distributed the text of their proposed new budget-stability treaty, a pact designed to deter runaway deficits and supposed to become EU law by March. But as growth prospects fade across the continent, governments are facing the likelihood that Europe's debt crisis will prove longer and tougher to overcome than even their most recently revised forecasts.
Until this week, EU leaders held up Ireland as the model for how a debt-struck nation should behave ? defying economic gravity by simultaneously growing its economy while sucking billions out of that same economy in Europe's longest austerity drive.
But on Friday, Ireland announced its third-quarter gross domestic product fell 1.9 percent, its national product 2.2 percent. Economists had expected only an 0.5 percent fall for GDP and none at all for GNP. The latter figure is considered a better measure of Ireland's economic vitality because it excludes the largely exported profits of about 600 American companies based in the country.
Ireland has been cutting spending and hiking taxes since late 2008 and has plans to keep doing so through 2015. Next year's target is ?2.2 billion ($2.9 billion) in cuts and ?1.6 billion ($2.1 billion) in extra charges, including a hike in national sales tax to 23 percent and introduction of a new ?100 ($131) tax on every property.
But the country's finances this year are seriously out of whack: It is spending ?57 billion ($74.5 billion), including ?10 billion ($13 billion) to keep its five nationalized banks afloat, but collecting just ?34 billion ($44 billion) in taxes.
Labor union leaders say the unexpected slump confirmed Friday is irrefutable evidence that Ireland's 4.5 million citizens already have been squeezed too much, too quickly.
"Current policies are making recovery almost impossible," said David Begg, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. "No economy can sustain the sort of ongoing damage that is being inflicted on us."
"We need growth and we need it quickly," he added.
Ireland's year-old international bailout requires the Irish to reduce their annual deficits from an EU record 32 percent of GDP in 2010 to the traditional eurozone limit of 3 percent by 2015. But analysts agree that Ireland cannot hope to meet the 2015 goal if its economy doesn't grow sufficiently.
Ireland's recovery plan now presumes 1.6 percent growth in 2012 and 2.8 percent growth in each of the next three years ? figures many consider way too optimistic.
Alan McQuaid, chief economist at Bloxham Stockbrokers in Dublin, said Ireland would "do well" to reach 0.5 percent growth this year "given the deteriorating world economic backdrop and the fall-off in global demand." He said he doubted Ireland could top 1 percent growth next year.
In other developments:
ITALY:
The new premier's austerity package passed 495-88 Friday, but lawmakers on both the left and right criticized the pension reforms as too harsh. The plan raises ?30 billion ($39 billion) in extra taxes and pension reforms and plows about ?10 billion ($13 billion) of that back into growth measures.
Prosecutors in the southern region of Calabria, meanwhile, said they were investigating 10 envelopes with bullets inside found in a post office in the town of Lamezia Terme. The envelopes were addressed to the new leader Monti, his labor minister, former Premier Silvio Berlusconi and other top political or media figures, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.
Reports said the envelopes contained notes threatening those named if the austerity package wasn't changed.
GREECE:
European officials told The Associated Press that private holders of Greek bonds were resisting EU efforts to persuade them to take a voluntary 50 percent cut in the value of their holdings. The talks in Paris between EU and Greek leaders against representatives of global banks and hedge funds have been very difficult, they said.
The proposed ?100 billion ($130.6 billion) write-off of privately held Greek bonds is supposed to be agreed upon by early next year ? and it's central to Greece's second bailout deal. Without it, Greece's debt is forecast to escalate to nearly 200 percent of GDP.
SPAIN:
A new conservative government committed to increased austerity is coming into office next week, but it faces a rapidly deteriorating financial outlook.
The Bank of Spain announced a 22 percent surge over the past year in the debts of the country's 17 regional governments to ?135.2 billion ($176.6 billion). Spain's central government debt rose 15 percent to above ?706 billion ($922.3 billion).
PORTUGAL:
The main opposition party refused Friday to support the government's plan to amend the constitution to include a budget-deficit limit. All 17 members of the eurozone are supposed to make such commitments as part of the bloc's week-old plan to enshrine spending controls in a new treaty.
In a further worrying development, ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Friday downgraded the credit rating of six leading Portuguese banks to junk status.
Portugal received its own ?80 billion ($104.5 billion) international bailout deal in April.
___
Associated Press writers Angela Charlton in Paris, Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels, Barry Hatton in Lisbon and Ciaran Giles in Madrid contributed to this report.
Celebrities may always look perfectly groomed out on the red-carpet, but behind the scenes they have an entourage that ensures flyways are smoothed away, lip gloss is touched up and false eye lashes aren't awry.
PHOTOS: How the stars get red carpet ready
But luckily with these tips, you can still be on your style A game, sans the professionally-trained hair and makeup team.
PHOTOS: 7 camera-ready hair and makeup tricks
For a flawless face, smooth on a makeup primer like Make Up For Ever's HD Microperfecting Primer ($32, sephora.com). "If you're going to be in photos, applying primer before makeup is essential -- it reflects light, creating the illusion of invisible pores and airbrushed makeup," Kristen Stewart's makeup artist tells Us Weekly.
PHOTOS: Celebrities and their favorite beauty products
When it comes to hair, many stars fake the super-shiny, light capturing effect with a shine spray. "Luster and fullness make any hairstyle pop in a photo," says Hilary Duff's hairstylist, Marcus Francis. (Try Kerastase Chroma Cristal Shine Perfecting Mist, $39 at kerastase-use.com.)
Click here for more camera-ready tricks developed by Hollywood's top beauty pros.
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Republican Party chairman says Herman Cain provided an important voice in the presidential race, but candidates "come and go" during every primary and the field inevitably narrows.
Reince Priebus (ryns PREE'-bus) says Cain's polling numbers were falling and he was having trouble raising money, so the GOP chairman thinks it's "only natural" that the candidate pulled out about a month before the first vote.
But Priebus says the decision was up to Cain, who was battling allegations of sexual harassment and a claim that he had an extramarital affair. The Georgia businessman has denied the accusations.
Priebus says Cain might have a big role to play yet. But Priebus tells NBC's "Meet the Press" that depends on a politician having money and being to get out into the public.
Wisconsin's Nick Toon runs against Michigan State's Trenton Robinson during the second half of the Big Ten conference championship NCAA college football game on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011 in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
Wisconsin's Nick Toon runs against Michigan State's Trenton Robinson during the second half of the Big Ten conference championship NCAA college football game on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011 in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
Wisconsin's Aaron Henry (7) laterals the football to B.J. Cunningham as Wisconsin's Antonio Fenelus defends during the first half of the Big Ten conference championship NCAA college football game Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011 in Indianapolis. Cunningham scored a touchdown on the play. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
Wisconsin's Jared Abbrederis is tackled by Michigan State's Brad Sonntag during the first half of the Big Ten conference championship NCAA college football game Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011 in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
Michigan State's Keshawn Martin is tackled by Wisconsin's Marcus Cromartie during the first half of the Big Ten conference championship NCAA college football game Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011 in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
Michigan State's Le'Veon Bell goes in to the end zone for a touchdown ahead of Wisconsin's Ethan Hemer during the first half of the Big Ten conference championship NCAA college football game on Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011 in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Montee Ball ran for three touchdowns including the decisive 7-yard score with 3:45 to go, leading No. 15 Wisconsin past No. 11 Michigan State 42-39 in the inaugural Big Ten championship game.
Wisconsin (11-2) is now headed to its second straight Rose Bowl.
Ball ran 27 times for 137 yards and caught a TD pass, giving him 38 touchdowns this season. That's one short of Barry Sanders' single-season record.
Russell Wilson was 17 of 24 for 187 yards with three TDs and no interceptions. He set a new NCAA record with a TD pass in his 37th straight game. Texas Tech's Graham Harrell had the previous mark of 36.
The Big Ten's first championship game made the idea of a conference title tilt seem like a good one.
Michigan State (10-3) rallied from a 21-7 first-quarter deficit to take a 29-21 halftime lead and still led 39-34 after Dan Conway's 25-yard field midway through the fourth quarter.
But Wilson and Ball answered with a score and a 2-point conversion.
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Public release date: 21-Dec-2011
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