KOUROU, French Guiana (Reuters) ? The second Russian-built Soyuz rocket launched from French Guiana blasted off late on Friday carrying six military spy satellites, space officials said.
The rocket blasted off at 11.03 p.m. (0203 GMT Saturday) from a launch pad at the European Space Agency's (ESA) launch centre near Kourou, French Guiana, on the northeast coast of South America.
About one hour after launch, five of the satellites separated from the rocket.
The first was Pleiades, a one-tonne observation satellite to be used extensively by the French defense ministry.
Several minutes later, the rocket released four ELISA (Electronic Intelligence by Satellite) demonstrator satellites to test space-based mapping of radar transmitters globally for France's Defense Procurement Agency (DGA).
A sixth satellite, for Chile's armed forces, is scheduled for separation at 0639 GMT.
The satellites will also have civilian applications.
The launch was controlled by France's Arianespace rocket launch company.
This was the second time that a Soyuz, which first flew in 1966 and traces its roots back even further to the earliest Cold War intercontinental ballistic missiles, was launched from outside its former Soviet bases.
The first French Guiana-launched Soyuz rocket orbited the first two of Europe's Galileo global positioning satellite constellation last October.
(Additional reporting by Alexander Miles, editing by Tim Pearce)
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WASHINGTON (AP) ? Nine states will share $500 million in grant money won in a high-profile competition intended to jump-start improvements in early childhood programs, the Obama administration announced Friday.
California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island and Washington state will see funding for innovative efforts in often-overlooked pre-K schooling.
"Nothing is more important than getting our babies off to a good start," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said Friday at the White House.
The money to aid the nation's youngest learners is part of the administration's cornerstone education initiative ? the "Race to the Top" grant competition. It has states competing for federal dollars to create programs intended to make schools more effective in exchange for education initiatives it favors. Last year, it handed out $4 billion in similar grants focused on K-12 education.
The goal of this competition is to get more children from birth to age 5 ready for kindergarten. Thirty-five states along with the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico applied for the chance to win between about $50 million to $100 million apiece in prize money. The winnings are to help build statewide systems that affect all early learning programs, including child care, Head Start centers and public or private preschools.
Billions are spent annually in America on early education programs, but the quality and availability of those programs varies greatly. Roughly half of all 3-year-olds and about a quarter of 4-year-olds do not attend preschool, said Steve Barnett, director of the National Institute for Early Education Research at Rutgers University.
Kids who attend quality early education programs have been shown to do better in school, be less likely to spend time in prison later and to make more money as adults. But children from low-income families who start kindergarten without any schooling are estimated to start school 18 months behind their peers, a gap that is extremely difficult to overcome.
To win, states were asked to demonstrate a commitment to making such programs more accessible, coordinated and more effective. Providing professional development for teachers and creating ways to assess the education level of kids entering kindergarten were among the areas states were asked to focus on in their applications.
Duncan was joined at the White House by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, whose agency helped run the competition. HHS oversees the federal Head Start program, which provides early education to nearly 1 million low-income children.
Sebelius said the goal is to provide high-profile encouragement to programs that improve teaching skills, encourage healthy eating and exercise and get parents ? especially in low-income neighborhoods ? more directly involved.
"By pushing everyone ... to raise their game, we intend to foster innovation in early education programs around the country," Sibelius said.
Last month, Obama announced new rules that require lower-performing Head Start programs to compete for funding. The Education Department also has proposed creating a new office to oversee the grants and better coordinate early learning programs.
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Online: Education Department: http://www.ed.gov/
Department of Health and Human Services: http://www.hhs.gov/
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Kimberly Hefling can be followed at http://twitter.com/khefling
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CONCORD, N.H. ? The Episcopal Church's first openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, says GOP presidential hopeful Rick Perry has hit a new low with a campaign ad attacking President Barack Obama on gay rights and religion.
The ad, intended to appeal to Christian conservatives who typically dominate the Iowa caucuses, features Perry saying there's something wrong in America when gays can serve openly in the military but kids can't pray in schools.
Robinson responded Tuesday with an op-ed in The Washington Post in which he says Perry would be pathetic if he weren't so infuriating. Robinson says someone who aspires to be commander in chief shouldn't denigrate the gay and lesbian soldiers he would lead.
Robinson is the Episcopal bishop in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary Jan. 10.
KARACHI, Pakistan ? Pakistani police say they have discovered drug addicts held in chains at an Islamic seminary that offered rehabilitation services.
Police officer Akram Naeem said Tuesday that the parents of the 60 young men held at the seminary paid it to cure their children, or simply to take them off their hands.
He says some patients were chained after they tried to escape, or if they were caught dealing in drugs.
Policeman Rao Anwar Ahmed says some children as young as eight were also taking regular Islamic instruction at the seminary in the southern city of Karachi. He says they too were sometimes chained, if they were disobedient.
Pakistan has thousands of unregulated seminaries offering free or cheap education, food and lodging for poor children.
Reports of abuse occasionally surface.
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PARIS ? French President Nicolas Sarkozy says a jointly issued bond by all the countries that use the euro is not the solution to the continent's debt crisis.
Many analysts have said that only by issuing bonds backed by the whole eurozone will Europe be able to save its shared currency.
Stronger countries, like Germany and France, have resisted those calls, but some thought that as the crisis worsens they might be forced to relent. Sarkozy reiterated Monday, however, that a common bond was "in no way" the solution to the crisis.
He spoke after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the start of a crucial week for the eurozone. Markets cheered their comments, with the euro and stocks and bond yields edging lower.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
PARIS (AP) ? The leaders of Germany and France are calling for a new European Union treaty to ensure that the region's debt crisis never happens again.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy said Monday after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel that they would prefer a treaty agreed by all 27 members of the European Union but would also accept a treaty among just the 17 countries that use the euro.
The new treaty should include automatic sanctions for countries that violate rules meant to keep government deficits in check.
The meeting comes at the start of a crucial week for the eurozone, as it struggles to convince markets that it is able to solve its debt crisis.
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In her fourth and final blog for the iVillage blog series CelebVillage, multiplatinum-selling singer Alanis Morissette writes about why power struggles are pointless -- and how we can stop trying to one-up each other. oakland strike new gmail new gmail oakland general strike oakland general strike houshmandzadeh houshmandzadeh
Festive red velvet cookies add a colorful touch to holiday cookie plates.
Red Velvet Cake is a real childhood memory for me. I have an aunt who makes a great one. But it was definitely not trendy or cool or in. Red Velvet was seriously down-home, real country food. It wasn?t even a standard on diner menus. But that all seems to have changed.
Skip to next paragraph Perre Coleman MagnessPerre Magness has studied food and cooking around the world, mostly by eating, but also through serious study. Coursework at Le Cordon Bleu London and intensive courses in Morocco, Thailand and France has broadened her own culinary skill and palate. The kitchen of choice is at home, cooking like most people, experimenting with unique but practical ideas.
I am dubious about this hipsterfied version. I have had some really, really bad red velvet made by places that charge huge amounts for small cupcakes, and advertise that it?s the best-selling flavor. I even had a red velvet cupcake in London, but it was an abomination. In fact, it seems that anything with a little red food coloring in it is now called ?red velvet? and earns a premium and a lot of attention. No, I don?t like this trend at all.
But Christmas is different. We all love fun and whimsical at Christmas, and bright red sweets just fit the bill perfectly. These cookies with their chocolate-y richness, ruby color and festive white snowdrops will delight kids, but they will also make an impression at a cookie swap.
Red Velvet Polka Dot Cookies
Makes 30 cookies
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (1-ounce) bottle red food coloring
1 (11-ounce) white chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light-colored.? Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy and light.
In a small bowl, use a fork to mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Use the fork to break up lumps of cocoa powder. Add the dry ingredients to the butter in the mixer a little at a time, mixing well after each addition and occasionally scraping down the sides of the bowl. When the dough is thoroughly mixed, add the food coloring, beating until the dough is a dark red color. If you have some place important to be or just had a manicure, I?d recommend wearing gloves. That red food coloring will show up in the oddest places. When the dough is evenly colored, stir in all but about 1/2 cup of the white chocolate chips until mixed in.
Scoop the dough onto the lined baking sheets using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop or spoon. Place the cookies apart from each other to allow room for spreading. You will have enough dough to use on a third pan of cookies after these have cooked. Wet your fingers and lightly press down the top of each cookie mound, then press the remaining white chips into each cookie to create the polka dots. The cookies spread, so press a lot of chips into the cookies.
Bake the cookies for 10?12 minutes until firm in the center. Cool on the pans for a few minutes until firm, then remove to wire racks to cool completely.? When one pan has cooled, repeat with the rest of the cookie dough. Stored in an airtight container, the cookies will keep for several days.
Related post: Caramel Apple Cookies
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ROME (Reuters) ? Prime Minister Mario Monti will present a 30 billion euro package of austerity measures to parliament Monday designed to shore up Italy's strained public finances and help to stem a debt crisis threatening to overwhelm the euro zone.
Cabinet approved the mix of tax hikes, pension reforms and incentives to boost growth in a three-hour meeting Sunday, opening one of the most crucial weeks since the launch of the euro more than a decade ago.
The package, dubbed a "Save Italy" decree by Monti, aims to raise more than 10 billion euros from a new property tax, impose a new tax on luxury items like yachts, raise value added tax, crack down on tax evasion and bring forward measures to increase the pension age.
The measures come before one of the most crucial weeks since the creation of the single currency more than a decade ago, with European leaders due to meet Thursday and Friday in Brussels to try to agree a broader rescue plan for the bloc.
Italy, the euro zone's third-largest economy, has been at the center of the crisis since mid-year, when its borrowing costs began to approach the levels which forced Ireland, Greece and Portugal to seek an international bailout.
Packed into a single emergency decree, the measures take effect immediately, before formal parliamentary approval, but Monti will have to secure the backing of legislators within 60 days for them to remain in force.
Monti, appointed at the head of a technocrat government to replace former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi last month, had been under growing pressure to come up with concrete measures to address fears about Italy's towering debt mountain.
He has held to Berlusconi's pledge of a balanced budget by 2013, despite growing signs that Italy is heading into a recession that will make it extremely difficult to make inroads into a public debt of 120 percent of gross domestic product.
Deputy Economy Minister Vittorio Grilli said the measures outlined Sunday would allow the goal to be met despite a forecast that GDP would contract by 0.4-0.5 percent in 2012.
TEARS
Monti, who brought forward cabinet approval of the measures by a day to Sunday, is due to give a briefing to the foreign press at 1100 GMT before presenting the measures to parliament in the afternoon.
The package is divided into 20 billion euros of budget tightening and an additional 10 billion euros that will be pumped back into the economy in the form of measures to help companies and boost growth.
European Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn welcomed the "timely and ambitious" measures and said the Commission would carry out a detailed assessment once it had received full details of the package.
Caught between the competing needs of boosting growth and ensuring that cuts do not further depress an already fragile economy, Monti's technocrat government risks growing opposition after an initial honeymoon period with a public fed up with the scandals of the Berlusconi era.
"A package to cry over," the daily Il Secolo XIX headlined its front page Monday, over a picture of Welfare Minister Elsa Fornero, who broke down in tears while presenting measures that will mean an effective cut in income for many pensioners.
Unions criticised the package and in an early sign of possible opposition to the Monti government, FIM-CISL, a union representing metal workers, said it would call a two-hour strike Wednesday.
"Yet again, the sacrifices demanded fall mainly on salaried workers and pensioners and on the weaker sections of society," the union said in a statement.
(Reporting By James Mackenzie; Editing by Ralph Gowling)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111205/bs_nm/us_italy
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