Obama plans to cut tens of thousands of ground troops

WASHINGTON | Thu Jan 5, 2012 2:24pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, rolling out a new defense strategy to shrink the country's armed forces at a time of tight budgets at home, pledged on Thursday to maintain the United States as the world's dominant military power.

"Our military will be leaner but the world must know - the United States is going to maintain our military superiority with armed forces that are agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies and threats," Obama told a news briefing at the Pentagon.

Emphasizing the American presence in the Asia-Pacific region, where there is growing U.S. rivalry with an increasingly assertive China, Obama cautioned the military would remain vigilant in the Middle East.

U.S. troops last month completed their withdrawal from Iraq, which was invaded in 2003 to topple dictator Saddam Hussein, and are winding down their presence in Afghanistan.

Obama, focused on boosting economic growth and curbing stubbornly high U.S. unemployment as he fights for reelection in November, said that ending those two wars was an opportunity to rebalance national spending priorities after a decade of conflict.

Noting the defense budget had witnessed "extraordinary" growth after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, Obama said that pace of spending would slow but continue to grow.

"I firmly believe, and I think the American people understand, that we can keep our military strong - and our nation secure - with a defense budget that continues to be larger than roughly the next 10 countries combined," he said.

Obama has already earmarked defense budget cuts of $489 billion over 10 years. The defense budget faces an additional $600 billion in cuts after Congress failed to agree to broad deficit reduction after an August 2011 debt ceiling deal.

The president's budget proposal for 2013 will be published in early February.

"Some will no doubt say the spending reductions are too big; others will say they're too small," Obama said. "After a decade of war, and as we rebuild the sources of our strength - at home and abroad - it's time to restore that balance."

(Reporting By Matt Spetalnick and Alister Bull; Editing by Paul Simao)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Reuters/PoliticsNews/~3/Gwfq8OyLzxg/us-usa-military-obama-idUSTRE8031Z020120105

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Jim Ross says don?t expect Brock Lesnar to appear in WWE in 2012

Maybe Dana White has nothing to worry about over the next 12 months when it comes to Brock Lesnar's contractual status.

Wrestling guru and friend of Lesnar, Jim Ross says the recently retired MMA fighter won't appear in a wrestling ring this year for several reasons:

[...] Brock dislikes, putting it mildly, traveling. Plus, he doesn't need the money even though he's smart enough to not turn down a big payday if the lay of the land is to his liking. That's why the UFC thing was good for him because he could earn big money by traveling 2-3 times per year to fight.

I could see Brock doing a major, one off WWE appearance ala a Wrestlemania, but not this year, and doing so while not even making the live Raw events that lead into it. I could also see WWE traveling to Brock to shoot vignettes to build whatever match that he might be booked.

Ross absolutely wipes out any thought of Lesnar making a major return to wrestling.

For fans who think that Lesnar will return to make a significant amount of TV dates only and then only work a handful or so of PPV's, I hate to burst your bubble, but in my opinion that simply isn't happening.

White wasn't ready to answer questions about Lesnar's possible return to wrestling, but he sounded amenable to working out something with his biggest PPV star.

When you retire, he retires under contract. I have no idea (how long the contract is). Listen, I've had my moments with Brock Lesnar but I've had a great relationship with him and we'll figure it out, no big deal. Never had a situation with a guy where we haven't done the right thing."

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/Jim-Ross-says-don-t-expect-Brock-Lesnar-to-appea?urn=mma-wp11509

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Dennis Rodman to coach topless team

(WXYZ) - Just when you think you've seen it all from former Detroit Pistons bad boy Dennis Rodman, he has out done himself once again.

Rodman is known for his piercings, tattoos and colorful hairstyles. Now, the NBA Hall of Famer is getting back into basketball-this time as a coach for a topless women's team.

Reports say Rodman is launching a team for New York's Headquarters Gentlemen's Club. He allegedly got the idea from rival strip club Rick's Cabaret, who launched a league of its own with former Atlanta Hawk Spud Webb.

The former Piston told the New York Post he's been a customer of the strip club for years and is currently scouting talent for his team. He is said to be looking for girls over 5-foot-10 to join his squad.

Rodman says team members will wear skimpy shorts and sneakers during games, but obviously no shirts.

Copyright 2011 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Source: http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/former-detroit-piston-to-coach-topless-womens-basketball-team

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Amber Portwood Commemorates New Year's Eve in Crowded Jail Cell

Young stars such as Selena Gomez, Lady Gaga, Demi Lovato and Justin Bieber rang in 2012 with terrific live performances last night. Countless others partied.

Amber Portwood crashed on the floor of a jail cell.

According to law enforcement sources, Indiana's Madison County Jail did not do anything to mark NYE. Visiting hours were 7:00-7:30 p.m. Amber had none.

At least she wasn't alone. Due to overcrowding, Amber has been transferred out of the cell she shared with one other inmate and into a room with several others!

Portwood's prison pals' convictions range from probation violations - which is what's keeping Amber in jail for a month - to dealing a controlled substance. Nice.

The accommodations were less than luxurious. As part of moving into that large room, instead of a bed, she slept on a vinyl mattress on the concrete floor.

This is what happens when you're arrested AND fail to comply with terms of your probation, kids ... onerous tasks such as passing drug tests and obeying laws.

As we look ahead to a new year:

• Glass half full: Things can only get better in 2012!
• Glass half empty: Maybe not. We said that a year ago after she spent Christmas in jail in 2010. She and Jenelle Evans often find a way to lower the bar.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/amber-portwood-commemorates-new-years-eve-in-crowded-jail-cell/

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The U.S. presidential race on Facebook [infographic]

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Source: http://holykaw.alltop.com/the-us-presidential-race-on-facebook-infograp

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Gray wolf crosses into California, first seen in state in 88 years

By Lisa M. Krieger lkrieger@mercurynews.com

A lone gray wolf has crossed the border into California, marking the return of a fabled creature that vanished from the state 88 years ago.

The young male, known as OR7, trotted from southern Oregon into the wilds of Siskiyou County on Wednesday night, California Department of Fish and Game officials said, citing satellite tracking data.

No one knows if he'll stay there in the forested buttes west of Lower Klamath Lake, or be joined by others. Perhaps he'll simply turn around and return north.

But his entry suggests that it may be just a matter of time before re-establishment in California of a species that has been revered, reviled and once hunted to near extinction. Wildlife officials already are preparing for how to handle the return of wild wolves, an event sure to inspire dread among ranchers fearful of losing stock to the predators.

"Whether one is for it or against it, the entry of this lone wolf into California is a historic event and result of much work by the wildlife agencies of the West," said fish and game Director Charlton H. Bonham. "If the gray wolf does establish a population in California, there will be much more work to do here."

The last confirmed wild gray wolf in California was killed in Lassen County in 1924. While they were widely distributed, they were never abundant. Any California wolf would be protected under the state's endangered species law.

OR7 -- a code that identifies the wolf's GPS

transmitter -- is a member of the so-called Imnaha pack, Oregon's oldest and largest. Wolves re-established in Oregon in 1999, and there is evidence that they are spreading across the state, possibly to start new packs elsewhere. Others have been seen in the region near Walla Walla, Wash., and Pendleton, Ore. His mother, in 2008, returned to Oregon after migrating from Idaho.

Wearing a GPS collar, OR7's wanderings have been closely tracked by biologists. He migrated 730 miles across Oregon over two months beginning last September. Over the past month, he's been in the Siskiyou National Forest, northeast of Medford. This week, he wandered south of the Oregon town of Keno, just 10 miles from the California border.

"He's doing what young males typically do -- they outgrow their pack and go out to find their own mate, to try to make a pack," said fish and game spokeswoman Jordan Traverso.

Wolves have proved to be a resilient species, after nearly being extinguished by poisoning, trapping and shooting.

The re-emergence of wolves in the Rocky Mountain West has been an unexpected success. They started to move back into northern Montana from Canada in the 1980s. Then, in a re-establishment program, the U.S. government introduced 65 Canadian wolves to Yellowstone National Park in 1995, after elk herds were destroying large tracts of vegetation.

To the surprise of federal experts, the wolves hit population targets in just seven years -- and spread. Wolf population has now reached about 1,600 across the Rocky Mountain region, with about a hundred breeding pairs. Legal wolf hunts began in Idaho and Montana.

But the wolf hunts have been controversial. In Oregon, which permits wolves to be killed if they attack livestock, two wolves from OR7's pack were killed this year. Kill orders for two more were issued after they were blamed for killing a calf, but were stayed after challenges from wildlife advocates.

If wolves gain a foothold in California, "We are concerned about a clash between wolves and livestock," said Jack King of the California Farm Bureau Federation. "We've been watching the advance very closely. Now it's come to our door stoop."

"It is a matter of numbers, and how aggressive the wolves become, that determines how much of a problem it becomes," he continued. "What forms of relief will be available to livestock producers, as restitution for losses?"

But Patrick Valentino of the San Francisco-based California Wolf Center called the wolf's arrival "great news" and "an opportunity for California to recover a top predator."

"The question is: What happens next?" Valentino asked. "Will they return? If it's up to wolves, the answer is yes. But it's up to people. Will we accept them?"

Contact Lisa M. Krieger at 408-920-5565.

Species At a glance
Gray wolves are the largest member of the canine family that includes domestic dogs, and can be gray, black or white in color.
Height: 26-32 inches at shoulder
Length: 4.5 to 6.5 feet, nose to tail
Weight: 55 to 130 pounds; males are larger than females
Life span: 7-8 years in the wild; captives have lived 10 years or more

Source: http://www.contracostatimes.com/education/ci_19643821?source=rss

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World rings in 2012 and bids adieu to a tough year

Fireworks burst over the Sydney Opera House, rigfht, as New Year's celebrations begin in Sydney, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Fireworks burst over the Sydney Opera House, rigfht, as New Year's celebrations begin in Sydney, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Fireworks burst over Sydney Harbour as New Year's celebrations begin in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Fireworks burst over Sydney Opera House as New Year's celebrations begin in Sydney, Saturday, Dec. 31, 2011. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

In this Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011 photo, a post office official shows memorial postage stamps featuring the phrase "into the future," marking the date line switch in Apia, Samoa. When the clock struck midnight Thursday, the country skipped over Friday and moved 24 hours ahead, straight into Saturday, Dec. 31. Samoa aimed to align its time zone with key trading partners in the Asia-Pacific region by shifting west of the international date line. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT, NO LICENSING IN CHINA, FRANCE, HONG KONG, JAPAN AND SOUTH KOREA

People gather along Beach Road in Apia, Samoa, and celebrate as the time approaches 12 midnight on Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. At midnight the country will jump forward in time, crossing westward over the international date line and effectively erasing Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, from the country's calendar. (AP Photo/Samoa Observer)

NEW YORK (AP) ? With glittering fireworks and star-studded celebrations from New Zealand to Times Square, the world eagerly welcomed a new year and hope for a better future Saturday, saying goodbye to a year of hurricanes, tsunamis and economic turmoil that many would rather forget.

Revelers in Australia, Asia, Europe and the South Pacific island nation of Samoa, which jumped across the international dateline to be the first to celebrate, welcomed 2012 with booming pyrotechnic displays. Fireworks soared and sparked over Moscow's Red Square, crowds on Paris' Champs-Elysees boulevard popped Champagne corks at midnight, and up to a million revelers were expected to jam New York's Times Square for the famed crystal-paneled ball drop.

But many approached the new year with more relief than joy, as people battered by weather disasters, joblessness and economic uncertainty hoped the stroke of midnight would change their fortunes.

"Once the ball drops, I won't give 2011 another thought," said Kyralee Scott, 16, of Jackson, New Jersey, whose father spent most of the year out of work. "It was a pretty tough year, but God was looking after us and I know 2012 has got to be better."

Some New York revelers, wearing party hats and "2012" glasses, began camping out Saturday morning, even as workers readied bags stuffed with hundreds of balloons and technicians put colored filters on klieg lights. The crowds cheered as workers lit the crystal-paneled ball that drops at midnight Saturday and put it through a test run, 400 feet (120 meters) above the street. The sphere, now decorated with 3,000 Waterford crystal triangles, has been dropping to mark the new year since 1907, long before television made it a U.S. tradition.

As the country prepared for the celebration, glum wasn't on the agenda for many, even those that had a sour year.

"We're hoping the next year will be better," said Becky Martin, a former elementary school teacher who drove from Rockford, Illinois, to Times Square after spending a fruitless year trying to find a job. "We're starting off optimistic and hoping it lasts."

Many expressed cautious hope that better times were ahead after a year in which Japan was ravaged by an earthquake and tsunami triggering a nuclear disaster, hurricanes wreaked havoc across the U.S. and a debt crisis threatened Europe's economy.

"Everybody's suffering. That's why it's so beautiful to be here celebrating something with everybody," said Lisa Nicol, 47, of Melbourne, Australia, who was in Times Square.

For all of the holiday's bittersweet potential, New York City always treats it like a big party ? albeit one that now takes place under the watchful eye of a massive security force, including more than 1,500 police officers.

Dick Clark, who suffered a stroke in 2004, will be back to help host his namesake New Year's Eve celebration with Ryan Seacrest, featuring performances by Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber. Gaga will then join Mayor Michael Bloomberg to lead the 60-second countdown to the New Year.

In Las Vegas, police planned to shut down a four-mile (6.4-kilometer) section of the Strip to vehicle traffic six hours before midnight, letting revelers party in the street. Casino nightclubs touted pricey, exclusive bashes hosted by celebrities including Kim Kardashian and Fergie, and fireworks were expected to shoot from the rooftops of eight of the city's most famous casinos.

Atlanta was welcoming thousands to its downtown, where a giant peach is dropped every New Year's Eve at midnight. Fireworks were to be launched from the top of the Space Needle in Seattle; in Houston, tens of thousands were celebrating at a party with country singer Delbert McClinton.

Miami has its own fruit, The Big Orange, a neon citrus with a new animated face that will rise up the side of a downtown hotel as fireworks go off nearby. The town of Eastport, Maine, will lower an 8-foot (2.4-meter)-long wooden sardine from a downtown building at midnight, in celebration of its sardine canning and fishing history.

The first worldwide celebrations started in the island nation of Samoa, which hopped across the international date line at midnight on Thursday, skipping Friday and moving instantly to Saturday.

Samoa and the neighboring nation of Tokelau lie near the dateline that zigzags vertically through the Pacific Ocean; both sets of islands decided to realign themselves this year from the Americas side of the line to the Asia side to be more in tune with key trading partners.

In Sydney, more than 1.5 million people watched the shimmering pyrotechnic display designed around the theme "Time to Dream". In London, some 250,000 people gathered to listen to Big Ben chime at the stroke of midnight. Fireworks were set off from the London Eye, the giant wheel on the south bank of the River Thames.

Hundreds of thousands of people took to Berlin's landmark Brandenburg Gate for a massive party complete with live performances from the Scorpions and other bands and a spectacular fireworks display.

Revelers in Spain greeted 2012 by eating 12 grapes in time with Madrid's central Puerta del Sol clock, a national tradition observed by millions who stop parties to follow the chimes on television.

Tens of thousands of young people in the Spanish capital gathered at six indoor "macro-parties" the city council had authorized in big venues such as the city's main sports hall.

Milena Quiroga was to be among the many there happy to move on. "I am glad to see 2011 go because it was a tough year; my restaurant laid off almost half of the staff," said the 25-year-old waitress.

World leaders evoked 2011's struggles in their New Year's messages with some ambivalence.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy warned Europe's crisis is not finished and "that 2012 will be the year full of risks, but also of possibilities."

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin wished well being and prosperity to all Russians "regardless of their political persuasion" after large-scale protests against him.

At the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI marked the end of 2011 with prayers of thanks and said humanity awaits the new year with apprehension but also with hope for a better future.

"We prepare to cross the threshold of 2012, remembering that the Lord watches over us and takes care of us," Benedict said. "In him this evening we want to entrust the entire world. We put into his hands the tragedies of this world of ours and we also offer him the hopes for a better future."

Several people preparing to celebrate the holiday told the AP that they would usher in the New Year hoping the U.S. Congress would become a more cooperative place. Some talked about their hopes for the presidential election. Others said they hoped to hold on to their job, or find a new one to replace one they'd lost.

An Associated Press-GfK poll conducted Dec. 8-12 found that 62 percent of Americans are optimistic that the nation's fortunes would improve in 2012, and 78 percent hopeful that their own family would have a better year. Most wrote off 2011 as a dud.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Chris Hawley and David B. Caruso in New York, Oskar Garcia in Las Vegas, Bruce Shipkowski in Jackson, New Jersey, Dorie Turner in Atlanta, Greg Keller in Paris, Harold Heckle in Madrid, Kristen Gelineau in Sydney, Ray Lilley in Wellington, New Zealand, Frances D'Emilio in Vatican City, Meera Selva in London and Melissa Eddy in Berlin.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-31-New%20Year's%20Eve/id-5aefec0634d24b3bb12abb2a22765881

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