Italian Nanni Moretti to head Cannes jury (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) ? Acclaimed Italian actor and director Nanni Moretti will head the jury at the 2012 Cannes film festival in May, organizers said on Friday.

The 58-year-old has had a long association with the world's most important cinema showcase, appearing in competition in 1978 with "Ecce Bombo."

He was back in 1994 with "Caro Diario" (Dear Diary), for which he won the best director award, and in 2001 with "La Stanza del figlio" (The Son's Room), which won the coveted Palme d'Or for best picture.

Five years later came "Il Caimano" (The Caiman), a film that criticized aspects of Italian political life in the era of Silvio Berlusconi.

"This is a real joy, an honor and a tremendous responsibility to preside over the jury of the most prestigious festival of cinematography in the world," said Moretti, who served on the Cannes jury in 1997.

"As a spectator, fortunately I still have the same curiosity that I had in my youth and so it is a great privilege for me to embark on this voyage into the world of contemporary international film," he added in a statement.

The 2012 festival runs from May 16-27.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/media_nm/us_cannes_moretti

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Ice storm blankets Washington day after snowstorm (AP)

SEATTLE ? A monster Pacific Northwest storm coated Washington with freezing rain on Thursday and brought much of the state to a standstill as the Seattle airport temporarily shut down, tens of thousands of people lost power and hundreds of cars slid off roads a day after the region was hit with a major snowfall.

The storm claimed at least two lives ? a child whose body was pulled from an Oregon creek where a car was swept away from a grocery store parking lot and a person killed by a falling tree east of Seattle.

Rescuers also searched Thursday for the Oregon child's mother, who is missing in the creek in the Willamette Valley community of Albany, about 70 miles south of Portland, said fire department spokeswoman Wanda Omdahl.

Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire declared a state of emergency, authorizing the use of National Guard troops if necessary.

On the icy interstate north of Seattle, a transportation department worker responding to an accident was injured in crash. He was taken to a Seattle hospital; no details were available on his condition or how he was injured.

Freezing rain and ice pellets caused numerous accidents in the Seattle area, where drivers are mostly inexperienced with driving in snow or ice. The last widespread freezing rain in Seattle was in December 1996, said meteorologist Jeff Michalski at the Weather Service office in Seattle.

The National Weather Service used the Emergency Alert System to break into Thursday morning broadcasts with an ice storm warning until noon for the Seattle area and southwest Washington. Among the concerns were widespread power outages and the threat that structures could collapse under the weight of ice. The Washington State Patrol said some if its troopers brought chain saws to work Thursday, so they could quickly remove downed trees on highways and roads.

Authorities are also worried about flooding in the coming days as temperatures warm up.

"It's a very dangerous situation," with a major impact on roads, said Brad Colman, the meteorologist in charge of the Weather Service office in Seattle. "We're expecting a significant impact on power."

Ice closed Sea-Tac Airport completely in the early morning before one runway was reopened, but taxiways remain a problem even as runways were deiced.

Reader-boards showed the vast majority of flights canceled or delayed, leaving lines hundreds of people long snaking around nearly every ticket counter and many would-be passengers on their cell phones trying furiously to rebook their flights.

Brandon Pederson, the chief financial officer of Alaska Airlines, loaded a sport-utility vehicle with bottles of water at a nearby grocery store and joined others from the company's headquarters in passing them out to stranded travelers.

Forecasters expect up to 0.4 inch of ice before temperatures rise above freezing by afternoon.

The state Transportation Department closed one highway because of falling trees that also took out power lines. Puget Sound Energy reported 90,000 outages at about 9:30 Thursday, after crews had already brought 46,000 customers back on line since Wednesday.

"It's like a storm in slow motion that keeps happening again and again," said PSE spokesman Roger Thompson.

The ice follows a huge snowfall on Wednesday. Nearly a foot of new snow fell in Olympia, Wash., where 11 inches was measured at the airport. The record is 14.2 inches on Jan. 24, 1972.

Oregon didn't receive the snowfall that Washington did ? but got plenty of rain.

Rising water from heavy rains swept a car carrying four people into an overflowing creek in Albany. Two people ? a father and his 5-year-old son ? escaped, but the body of 20-month-old Aiden McLaughlin was recovered and his mother, Catherine McLaughlin, was still missing.

"The water just got high so fast," Omdahl said. "It's a big tragedy."

Near Issaquah, Wash., a person backing an all-terrain vehicle out of a shed was killed by a falling tree, King County sheriff's Sgt. Cindi West said.Other details about the incident weren't immediately available.

Washington State University in Pullman was closed. The University of Washington also cancelled Thursday classes at three campuses, including Seattle. Seattle schools were also closed again Thursday, as were schools in Bellingham in northwest Washington, and in southeast Washington's Pasco, Kennewick and Richland.

Lewis County, south of Olympia, had the highest snowfall amounts, ranging from 12 to 17 inches.

"It's unusual to get this much snow for western Washington," said Dennis D'Amico, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Seattle.

Forecasters warned that heavy rain combined with snowmelt could lead to some Washington river flooding.

In Oregon, high winds hammered parts of the coast and caused power outages that initially affected tens of thousands of customers, with reports of gusts as high as 113 mph.

Karina Shagren, a spokeswoman for Gregoire, said even though an emergency declaration has been issued, the National Guard has not been called up.

"This is purely a precautionary move," she said. "At this point, we have not received any requests from cities or counties for state help, but we know weather conditions are changing rapidly so we want to be prepared."

Shagren said that what sparked the proclamation was concern over truck drivers carrying dairy products not being able to drive more than 12 hours a day due to federal regulations.

"In order to supersede that, the governor need to order an emergency," she said.

___

Associated Press writers Doug Esser and Gene Johnson in Seattle, Ted Warren in Tacoma, Wash., and Jonathan J. Cooper in Portland, Ore., contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_us/us_washington_snow

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Apple offers software for interactive textbooks

[unable to retrieve full-text content]NEW YORK (AP) ? Apple is launching a new version of its iBooks software, tailored to present vivid, interactive textbooks for elementary and high school students on the iPads.

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-19-US-TEC-Apple-Textbooks-1st-Ld-Writethru/id-4b3416566b2347ddadd529258652a322

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US wants effective Alzheimer's treatment by 2025 (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Effective treatments for Alzheimer's by 2025? That's the target the government is eyeing as it develops a national strategy to tackle what could become the defining disease of a rapidly aging population.

It's an ambitious goal ? and on Tuesday, advisers to the government stressed that millions of families need better help now to care for their loved ones.

"What's really important here is a comprehensive plan that deals with the needs of people who already have the disease," said Alzheimer's Association president Harry Johns, one of the advisers.

Already families approach the advisory committee "reminding us of the enormity of our task," said Dr. Ron Petersen, an Alzheimer's specialist at the Mayo Clinic who chairs the panel.

The Obama administration is developing the first National Alzheimer's Plan to address the medical and social problems of dementia ? not just better treatments but better day-to-day care for dementia patients and their overwhelmed caregivers, too.

The plan still is being written, with the advisory panel's input. But a draft of its overall goals sets 2025 as a target date to have effective treatments and ways to delay if not completely prevent the illness.

Some advisory members said that's not aggressive enough, and 2020 would be a better target date.

"We want to be bold," said Dr. Jennifer Manly of Columbia University. "We think the difference of five years is incredibly meaningful."

Regardless, an estimated 5.4 million Americans already have Alzheimer's or similar dementias ? and how to help their families cope with day-to-day care is a priority, the advisory committee made clear Tuesday.

The disease is growing steadily as the population ages: By 2050, 13 million to 16 million Americans are projected to have Alzheimer's, costing $1 trillion in medical and nursing home expenditures. That doesn't count the billions of dollars in unpaid care provided by relatives and friends.

Today's treatments only temporarily ease some dementia symptoms, and work to find better ones has been frustratingly slow. Scientists now know that Alzheimer's is brewing for years before symptoms appear, and they're hunting ways to stall the disease, maybe long enough that potential sufferers will die of something else first. But it's still early-stage work.

Meanwhile, as many as half of today's Alzheimer's sufferers haven't been formally diagnosed, a recent report found. That's in part because of stigma and the belief that nothing can be done. Symptomatic treatment aside, a diagnosis lets families plan, and catching Alzheimer's earlier would be crucial if scientists ever find a way to stall it, the advisory panel noted.

Among the goals being debated for the national plan:

_Begin a national public awareness campaign of dementia's early warning signs, to improve timely diagnosis.

_Give primary care doctors the tools to assess signs of dementia as part of Medicare's annual check-up.

_Have caregivers' health, physical and mental, regularly checked.

_Improve care-planning and training for families so they know what resources are available for their loved one and themselves.

A training program in New York, for instance, has proved that caregivers who are taught how to handle common dementia problems, and given support, are able to keep their loved ones at home for longer.

Such programs "are dirt cheap compared to paying for nursing home care," said David Hoffman, who oversees Alzheimer's programs for the New York State Department of Health.

But hanging over the meeting was the reality of a budget crunch. The government hasn't said how much money it will be able to devote to the Alzheimer's plan, and states have seen their own Alzheimer's budgets cut.

"We're not going to fix this without substantial resources," Hoffman said. "In New York, we're hanging on by our nails," he added.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/seniors/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120117/ap_on_he_me/us_med_alzheimer_s_plan

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Iran says in touch with powers on new talks, EU denies it (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iran said on Wednesday it was in touch with big powers to hold fresh talks soon but the European Union denied it, with Britain saying Tehran had yet to show willingness for negotiations addressing suspicions that it trying to develop atom bombs.

A year after the last talks fell apart, confrontation is brewing as the EU prepare to dramatically intensify international sanctions against Iran with an embargo on its economically vital oil exports.

Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, used for a third of the world's seaborne oil exports, if it cannot sell its own crude, fanning fears of a descent into war in the Gulf that could inflame the Middle East.

Iranian politicians said U.S. President Barack Obama had expressed readiness to negotiate in a letter to Tehran, a step that might relieve tensions behind recent oil price spikes.

"Negotiations are going on about venue and date. We would like to have these negotiations," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters during a visit to Turkey.

"Most probably, I am not sure yet, the venue will be Istanbul. The day is not yet settled, but it will be soon."

A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, representing the six powers, denied there were any fresh discussions with the Islamic Republic to organize a meeting.

"There are no negotiations under way on new talks," he said in Brussels. "We are still waiting for Iran to respond to the substantive proposals the High Representative (Ashton) made in her letter from October." Iran has yet to formally respond.

Ashton wrote to Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili to stress that the West still wanted to resume talks but Iran must be ready to engage "seriously in meaningful discussions" about ways to ensure its nuclear work would be wholly peaceful in nature.

The Islamic Republic has in sporadic meetings over the past five years insisted that talks focus on broader international security issues, not its nuclear energy program.

Britain also dismissed Salehi's remarks. "There are no dates or concrete plans because Iran has yet to demonstrate clearly it is willing to respond to Baroness Ashton's letter and negotiate without preconditions," a Foreign Office spokesman said.

"Until it does so, the international community will only increase pressure on it through further peaceful and legitimate sanctions," he said.

Iran denies wanting nuclear bombs, saying its enrichment work is for power generation and medical applications.

PROTRACTED IMPASSE

The last talks between Iran and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China -- along with Germany stalled in Istanbul a year ago, with the parties unable to agree even on an agenda.

Since then, a U.N. nuclear watchdog report has lent weight to concern that Iran has worked on designing a nuclear weapon and Washington and the EU have turned to extending hitherto modest sanctions in place since 2006 to target Iranian oil.

EU foreign ministers are expected to approve a phased ban on imports of Iranian oil at a meeting on January 23 - three weeks after the United States passed a law that would freeze out any institution dealing with Iran's central bank, effectively making it impossible for most countries to buy Iranian oil.

"Ahead of (that meeting) Iran is chasing headlines and pretending that it is ready to engage," a Western diplomat said in reference to Salehi's remarks. "If it really is ready to sit down without preconditions the (six powers) would do so. Sadly, at the moment, it seems more interested in propaganda."

Iran has said it is ready to talk but has also started shifting uranium enrichment to a deep bunker where it would be less vulnerable to the air strikes Israel says it could launch if diplomacy fails to curb Tehran's nuclear drive.

Western diplomats say Tehran must show willingness to change its course in any new talks. Crucially, Tehran says other countries must respect its right to enrich uranium, the nuclear fuel which, if enriched to much higher levels than that suitable for power plants, can provide material for atomic bombs.

Russia, a member of the six power group that has criticized the new EU and U.S. sanctions, said the last-ditch military option mooted by the United States and Israel would ignite a disastrous, widespread Middle East war.

"On the chances of whether this catastrophe will happen or not you should ask those who repeatedly talk about this," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow.

"I have no doubt that it would pour fuel on a fire which is already smoldering, the hidden smoldering fire of Sunni-Shi'ite (Muslim) confrontation, and beyond that (it would cause) a chain reaction. I don't know where it would stop."

Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said on Wednesday any decision about an Israeli attack on Iran was "very far off."

THREATS, FRIENDSHIP

China, which shares Russia's dislike of the new Western moves to stop Iran exporting oil, said U.S. sanctions that Obama signed into law on December 31 had no basis in international law.

"As for some countries imposing unilateral sanctions on Iran, that is not international law and other countries are under no obligation to participate," Li Song, a deputy director-general of the Foreign Ministry's Department of Arms Control and Disarmament, told an online question-and-answer session.

Iranian politicians said that in reply to Tehran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz, if sanctions prevent it selling oil, Obama has written to the senior cleric who sits atop the Islamic Republic's power structure.

While Washington has yet to comment on the reported letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, several members of Iran's parliament who discussed the matter on Wednesday said it included the offer of talks.

"In this letter it was said that closing the Strait of Hormuz is our (U.S.) 'red line' and also asked for direct negotiations," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted lawmaker Ali Mottahari as saying.

"The first part of letter has a threatening stance and the second part has a stance of negotiation and friendship."

Washington has often said it has a dual-track approach to Iran, leaving open the offer of talks while seeking ever tighter sanctions as long as Tehran does not rein in its nuclear work.

But any fresh opening to Tehran might be a risky strategy for Obama in an election year as aspiring Republican presidential challengers compete over who is toughest on a country Washington has long considered a pariah state.

Ray Takeyh, senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said in a Washington Post column that there were doubts about Tehran's sincerity in wishing to return to negotiations.

"By threatening the disruption of global oil supplies, yet dangling the prospect of entering talks, Iran can press actors such as Russia and China to be more accommodating in an effort to avoid a crisis that they fear," Takeyh wrote.

"Any concessions that Iran may make at the negotiating table are bound to be symbolic and reversible."

(Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara, Chris Buckley in Beijing, Alexei Anishchuk in Moscow, Justyna Pawlak in Brussels, Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem, Fredrik Dahl in Vienna and Estelle Shirbon in London; Writing by Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120118/wl_nm/us_iran

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Championship pedigree shows for Brady, Eli (AP)

The playoffs have a way of bringing out the pedigree in NFL quarterbacks. Simply take a look at the fingers of Tom Brady and Eli Manning to recognize it.

Brady has three Super Bowl rings, with another taken away by Manning and the Giants in 2008. Both have their teams on course for a reprise of that memorable title game.

Standing in their way are two inconsistent QBs seeking to fill out their own championship resumes: Joe Flacco of Baltimore and Alex Smith of San Francisco.

Based on their histories and the way they have performed this season, Brady and Manning overmatch Flacco and Smith. When things have gotten tight for New England or New York, the quarterback often has provided the winning edge.

"The team revolves around him," Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez said of Brady. "When he comes to play, which he mostly does every game, then we're going to be on fire, and when he's ready, we're all ready."

Ditto for Manning. Even when the Giants hit a four-game slide that jeopardized making the playoffs, he stood out.

"He's just been great," said receiver Victor Cruz, who had a breakout season with Manning throwing to him. "He understands the defense, he understands what we can see on every single down and every single coverage and he's just making the right reads and really hitting people when the time is right."

The time certainly is right. For a decade, it's been Brady time once New Year's Day hits. In early 2008, it also was Manning time.

It is again.

Brady was as good as ever in Saturday's romp past outmanned Denver. His six TD passes tied Steve Young and Daryle Lamonica for the NFL record. His five in one half were the most ever.

Sure, he's got superb targets in All-Pros Wes Welker at wideout and Rob Gronkowski at tight end, plus Hernandez and Deion Branch, who is something of a security blanket for Brady. He also makes them outstanding with his precise passes, leadership and competitiveness.

It rubs off.

"We never look at the individual. We all try and do our job," defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said. "If (Brady) plays well, everyone else plays well. When he has an off day, we try to rally around him as a team to help Tom and the offense. We aren't going to get 20-30 points all the time."

Thirty certainly could be difficult against Baltimore's staunch defense. But 20 might be enough if Flacco doesn't come through.

Something of a surprise first-round draft choice in 2008 out of Delaware, he's helped the Ravens make the playoffs in all four of his NFL seasons. In great part, Flacco has been along for the ride as opposed to driving the vehicle the way Brady does.

He also doesn't have nearly the talent to throw to, with the exception of running back Ray Rice, who led the NFL with 2,068 total yards. His offensive line is spotty.

For Baltimore to reach its first Super Bowl since 2001 ? oh, yeah, the QB then was Trent Dilfer, and Flacco is a far better player than Dilfer was ? some of Brady has to rub off on Flacco.

Smith finally has become comfortable in San Francisco thanks to new coach Jim Harbaugh's guidance and confidence in the seven-year veteran. The 49ers are efficient on offense with a strong running game behind Frank Gore, and a tight end, Vernon Davis, who displayed all his skills in a sensational playoff debut against New Orleans.

To expect Smith to trade throws with Saints star Drew Brees was unthinkable, yet there he was, making clutch pass after clutch pass in the late stages of Saturday's thrilling win. If he's capable of a similar performance against the Giants, it would enhance San Francisco's chances immeasurably.

"He deserves all this," Gore said of Smith's revival. "He's had some tough times. But I always believed he could play at this level. We have the right people leading us. And he's got the right people leading him."

Leading the 49ers to the Super Bowl means beating Manning and the Giants. The Niners did it in November when Smith made just enough key plays. That's been his style this season, a style Manning once adhered to.

Now, Manning is as much a playmaker as his older brother, Peyton, has been. Or as Brady is.

Indeed, another title will give him the championship lead in his family, adding yet another shiny achievement to Eli's resume. But he'd still be behind Brady.

For now, Smith and Flacco can only wonder if they have what it takes to grab the ring.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120116/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_on_football_qb_pedigree

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