The moment of truth for vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro was her debate against George H.W. Bush on October 11, 1984. How would she, a three-term member of Congress, stand up against the man who had been ambassador to China and the U.N, headed the CIA, and for the previous four years served as vice president of the United States? The high command at the headquarters of presidential candidate Walter Mondale may have been worried. Her own campaign staff may have been concerned. But one person was utterly self-confident: the candidate herself. I was fortunate to have worked closely with Geraldine Ferraro on this historic debate. In mid-September of 1984, the Mondale campaign asked Anne Wexler (former senior advisor to President Carter) and Bob Barnett (former Mondale Senate staffer and already a leading Washington lawyer) to organize a debate gucci outlet team to work with candidate Ferraro. As a former Department of Health, Education and Welfare assistant secretary for lost causes (planning and evaluation), I was asked to co-head domestic affairs prep with Rob Liberatore, then chief of staff to Minority Leader Robert Byrd. Madeleine Albright, former member of the National Security Council under Zbigniew Brezinski and then at Georgetown University, was the lead on foreign policy. Rarely have so few had so much fun in so short a time under so much pressure (Mondale was behind, but with presidential debates ahead, anything could happen -- unless the vice presidential debate was a Democratic disaster). And, of course, this was because Gerry Ferraro was a tough, smart, savvy, fearless, funny woman who was totally authentic -- there was no difference between the public person and the private person. She knew she was carrying the hopes of women everywhere, and she thrived on the chance to make a powerful statement. My first encounter with the candidate was on a Sunday afternoon about two weeks before the debate when Bob Barnett and I lugged two huge briefing books to her home in Queens. The debate team had vacuumed the universe on all imaginable issues, and we had produced enough indigestible material to choke a PhD candidate preparing for oral exams. Gerry was watching a Jets game, calling out for her husband John to bring us coffee and petting her dog (which as I recall, though I could be wrong, was a large black lab). She greeted us warmly but regarded our briefing materials with appropriate disdain -- a view shared by the dog which, with tail wagging, put his head on our multi-tabbed work product to have his ears rubbed and slobbered all over them. "Perhaps you could reduce this to essential points and responses," the candidate said with an equable smile as we slunk out the door, lugging our rejected offerings. When serious trial debates began a short while later, Gerry Ferraro showed a remarkable ability to assimilate information on a wide variety of subjects and then to articulate her position in a concise form in her own common sense way. She needed grist for her mill, but she didn't need handlers. With each session, we could see her appetite was whetted and that she was savoring the chance to go up against the vice president. But just as memorable as the honing of positions was the bantering, self-deprecating atmosphere. One of Gerry Ferraro's wonderful qualities was to keep everyone loose and not take herself too seriously (even as she knew the importance of the coming confrontation in the Philadelphia Civic Center).Bob Barnett, who played Bush in the mock debates, showed up with a colored cloth preppy wristband for his watch. Ferraro developed her own outrageous mock answers which she would slip into serious practice sessions. She told her team that she planned to walk on stage, kiss the vice president on the lips and call him "Poppy." And during the run-up to the debates, when it came out that the Ferraros had substantial net worth and several houses, Barbara Bush remarked that Geraldine Ferraro was a "four million dollar.... I won't say it but it rhymes with rich." Mrs. Bush later "clarified" that she meant "witch." Inside the studio, Ms. Ferraro did a number of riffs about herself (and others who shall go unnamed) on words that also rhymed with rich, always with great good humor.

In an unexpected shift, Microsoft has said that Internet Explorer 9 will support Do Not Track. The consumer privacy feature, developed by Mozilla, transmits a header to any Web site that a user visits, indicating whether the user agrees to have their movements tracked online. But Dean Hachamovitch, corporate vice president for Internet Explorer, said that Do Not Track alone will not sufficiently protect consumers. Accordingly, Microsoft will still include its own feature, Tracking Protection Lists, to forcibly block tracking by unapproved sites. "Tracking Protection is the primary technical method in IE9 to help protect users from tracking," he said in a blog post. "The final release of IE9 will also implement the broadly discussed Do Not Track User Preference (via both a DOM property and an HTTP header, as described in the W3C submission) as a secondary method." Google, meanwhile, gucci outlet has advanced yet another approach: a "Keep My Opt-Outs" extension for Chrome that would alert any companies that are members of the National Advertising Initiative to not track that user. Learn how to reduce the risks posed to sensitive and confidential data contained in the laptops of business travelers. Airport Insecurity: The Case of Lost Laptops The Federal Trade Commission has backed some form of "do not track" as a way to protect consumer privacy against increasingly automated and expansive information-gathering by advertising firms. According to a speech delivered earlier this month by David C. Vladeck, director of the FTC Bureau of Consumer Protection, "the FTC has envisioned Do Not Track as a one-stop-shop where consumers can exercise a choice not to be tracked, and where marketers would have to respect their choice." The FTC's move to directly empowering consumers began with a December 2010 report, in which it slammed advertising and media firms for failing to self-regulate. "Privacy policies have become longer, more complex, and, in too many instances, incomprehensible to consumers," said the report. "Too often, privacy policies appear designed more to limit companies' liability than to inform consumers about how their information will be used. Moreover, while many companies disclose their practices, a smaller number actually offer consumers the ability to control these practices." Media and advertising industry reaction to any form of "do not track," however, has been less than enthusiastic. "The FTC's recent, aggressive support for browser-based solutions has definitely confused the marketplace and threatens to hinder the progress of self-regulation," said Bob Liodice, president and CEO of the Association of National Advertisers, in a statement released earlier this month in response to Vladeck's speech. Instead, Liodice urged browser makers to work directly with advertising trade association. "Let's create a single, workable, universal program that delivers transparency and choice for consumers, instead of four different browser-based solutions," he said. Hachamovitch said Microsoft favored industry self-regulation, given all of the third parties and complexity involved, though he said that any program will need to involve much more than just advertisers. "It is important to note that while tracking and advertising and profiling overlap, they are not the same," he said. "Nothing about Tracking Protection or the broadly discussed Do Not Track User Preference is specific to ads or ad content."

Congress on Thursday pushed a government shutdown back another three weeks then approved taking a vacation next week, leaving the hard work of striking a long-term deal for another day. The Senate voted 87-13 to pass the three-week spending extension, sending the bill to President Obama for his signature, which must come before midnight Friday to avert a government shutdown. Hours later, the Senate agreed to adjourn for 10 days, following the lead of the House, which already had approved closing up shop through March 29. Just before adjourning, the House voted 228-192 to end federal taxpayer funding for NPR, gucci outlet though that measure is unlikely to see action in the Senate. The spending fights on Capitol Hill are growing more testy, and all sides said Thursday’s short-term extension should be the last one. It will mean the government has run for more than half of the fiscal year on stopgap funding, which ties agencies’ hands. “Today’s vote starts the clock again,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, who said the three weeks should put pressure on both sides to negotiate a compromise. The three-week spending bill cuts $4.6 billion from 2010 spending levels and rescinds another $1.4 billion in unused money from previous years, leading to $6 billion in total savings. Nine Republicans, three Democrats and one independent voted against the bill, with the GOP members arguing it doesn’t cut deeply enough and the Democrats saying it goes too far. Some senators grumbled about their upcoming vacation, saying they should stay and negotiate, but nobody objected. In the House, though, the vote was contentious - nearly all Democrats and a handful of Republicans voted against the move, but the Republican majority prevailed on a 232-197 vote earlier this week.

Paula Abdul, George Michael, former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger are all being considered, Cowell has said. The Hollywood Reporter broke the news Wednesday that Simon Cowell has hired Antonio "L.A." Reid, Island Def Jam chairman, to be a judge on Fox's The X Factor. Now, the next question: Who should join him on the panel? Reid’s hire is expected to be announced this week, sources tell THR, and Cowell has hinted about others who have made the shortlist, including his former American Idol colleague Paula Abdul. "We've taken it down to a smaller group of people and she's in that panel," he told Access Hollywood earlier this month. "But, you know, it's more than me who makes the decision." He said George Michael, former Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger and Mariah Carey also are being considered. Jessica Simpson also has been in talks, People previously reported. Reid definitely won’t be sitting alongside Elton John. Cowell dismissed rumors that the “Rocket Man” singer was in the running: "Well, he's so grumpy nowadays, I mean, it would be like, he'd just be air yeezy moaning the whole time." A resolution to establish a no-fly zone over Libya in hopes of preventing Gadhafi from using his air force against the rebels appeared stymied before the United Nations Security Council. It wasn't immediately clear if Wednesday's attack in Bahrain involved Saudi troops, who on Monday moved into the island nation over a causeway connecting it to the Saudi mainland as part of a force under the aegis of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a grouping of six Persian Gulf states. The force was intended to help quell the protesters, most of whom are Shiite Muslims who complain of discrimination and lack of rights in the Sunni-ruled kingdom. More than 60 percent of the 550,000 Bahrainis are Shiites. "As they charged at us, we shouted 'peaceful, peaceful;' but they started firing tear gas," said Ahmed Abdullah, 22, who fled the scene. Another protester, Hayat Mohammad, said protesters were paralyzed by the tear gas. "They used a kind of tear gas that I hadn't seen before. It was black," she said. "It made people unable to move." After fleeing Pearl Square, many demonstrators headed toward Salmaniya Hospital, the country's only public hospital. But as they approached the hospital, troops fired on the ground to disperse the crowd. No one was injured, but protesters seeking medical treatment were blocked from reaching it. Witnesses said troops also blocked ambulances from picking up wounded protesters. At the hospital, soldiers, some wearing masks, sealed off entrances and refused to let anyone enter or leave. A tank was parked at the hospital's main gate.

By Jonathan Soble and Michiyo Nakamoto in Tokyo and April Dembosky in San Francisco Published: March 16 2011 06:15 | Last updated: March 17 2011 00:21 A top US nuclear safety official said late on Wednesday that the situation in Japan was worse than officials there had suggested. Gregory Jaczko, head of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission said his organisation believed one of the damaged reactors at the Fukushima plant – number four – had run dry and was emitting “extremely high” radiation levels.The damage, he said, “could possibly impact the ability to take corrective measures”. The Associated Press reported that Japanese officials were disputing the US assessment. The White House urged Americans in Japan to stay outside a 50-mile radius of the reactors. Japanese officials had ordered evacuations within 20 kilometres (12 miles). Helicopter pilots attempting to dump water into the overheated fuel-storage tank of a supra outlet Japanese nuclear reactor were forced to abandon the emergency manoeuvre because of high levels of radiation over the plant – the latest setback in Japan’s battle to avert an atomic disaster. Earlier on Wednesday Tokyo Electric Power ordered its skeleton crew of 50 remaining workers to move away temporarily from reactors inside the plant after radiation levels jumped. Plumes of white vapour were seen pouring from what authorities identified as the station’s No 3 reactor. The workers returned after about 45 minutes. Tepco said late on Wednesday that it had almost completed a new power line that could restore electricity to the complex and help solve the crisis that has threatened a meltdown. Spokesman Naoki Tsunoda said the power line to Fukushima Daiichi was almost complete. Officials plan to try it “as soon as possible” but could not say when. The new line would revive electric-powered pumps, allowing the company to maintain a steady water supply to troubled reactors and spent fuel storage ponds, keeping them cool. The ongoing uncertainty prompted China to “temporarily suspend approval of nuclear power projects, including those in the preliminary stages of development,” according to a statement issued after a meeting of the State Council, or cabinet. Financial markets continued to watch events with nervousness. The yen hit record high levels against the dollar in early Pacific area trading. And the Nikkei fell 2.2 per cent. The Bank of Japan injected Y5,000bn into the banking system on top of a total of Y28,000bn already offered in same-day operations this week. US and European stocks had fallen sharply on Wednesday. Yukiya Amano, the secretary-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency said the situation was “very serious” and that he planned to visit his home country as soon as possible, perhaps leaving on Thursday. He also said that on his return to headquarters in Vienna he could call an extraordinary meeting of the IAEA’s 35-nation governing board But he refused to criticise Japan. “There are too many elements that we do not know so it would be premature to pass judgment,” he told a press conference. Japanese authorities said radiation doses of 6.4 millisieverts per hour – about 10,000 times normal background radiation – had been detected inside the Fukushima plant, though readings soon fell back to about a third of that level. Elevated readings were not recorded outside the government-imposed 20km exclusion zone around the plant.Tepco and nuclear safety authorities said part of the reactor’s reinforced containment vessel may have been damaged, but technicians were unable to determine first-hand the exact source of the vapour leak. On Tuesday an explosion in a water tank under the containment unit of the neighbouring reactor No 2 also led to vapour escaping. In a televised address, Emperor Akihito, expressed condolences for victims of Friday’s devastating 9.0 magnitude earthquake and tsunami and encouraged workers at Fukushima braving dangerous conditions to contain the emergency. “I strongly hope this situation can be resolved quickly without further deterioration,” he said. The helicopter effort had to be abandoned because radiation doses directly above the No 3 reactor were found to be above the 50 millisievert limit for military pilots. Authorities said they would try again on Thursday. Yuhei Sato, governor of Fukushima prefecture, said people in the district were “uneasy and angry”. “I want this situation resolved as soon as possible, and I want [Tepco and the government] to provide information quickly, accurately.” Tepco also said an estimated 70 per cent of the nuclear fuel rods had been damaged in the No 1 reactor and 33 per cent in the No 2 reactor. In yet another setback earlier on Wednesday a fire broke out for a second time at the building housing the No 4 reactor. Spent uranium fuel stored in a water tank in the building was feared to have been exposed, releasing more radioactive particles into the air. Temperatures remained high inside the spent-fuel tanks of reactors No 5 and No 6; Tepco said water was being poured into them to keep them cool.There were increased reports of injuries among the 50 or so workers remaining at the plant. Tepco evacuated 740 non-essential personnel on Tuesday. “Those 50 will be seriously damaged (by radiation),” a government official said. “Japanese people have to thank them a lot. It’s a kind of sacrifice.” “They’re in a tough situation,” said Elmer Lewis, a nuclear expert at Northwestern University in Chicago. “It gets to [a] point where the radiation gets high, they [the engineers] can only go certain places for short periods of time. There will be a need for more knowledgeable gucci outlet staff willing to go in. That’s a critical management and ethical issue.” Meanwhile the official death toll from Friday’s tsunami continues to rise. On Wednesday afternoon more than 4,340 people had been confirmed dead, with more than 9,000 still missing. Millions of people remain without power and at least 344,000 are being housed in 2,400 emergency shelters. The government has mobilised 100,000 members of the Self Defence Force, while international rescue teams continue to help in the search for survivors.Japanese homes and businesses from the earthquake-ravaged Tohoku region north of Tokyo continued to face power cuts, fuel shortages and reduced train services hampering relief efforts. Yukio Edano, chief cabinet secretary, took steps to limit panic buying of fuel on Wednesday, telling the public that there were sufficient supplies for the country as a whole in spite of shortages in the devastated north-east. At least six oil refineries are operating at reduced capacity having been damaged in the earthquake. On Tuesday concerns had spread over all six of the reactors housed at the Fukushima facility including three, Nos 4, 5 and 6, that were off line during Friday’s earthquake and previously thought to be safe. The damage inflicted on the nuclear power plant has led to rolling power outages, which is affecting not only manufacturing plants but hospitals and railways as well. Tepco said it would begin to impose blackouts on some areas in Tokyo, Chiba and other prefectures, although public transport companies would be exempted. .Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell again has urged the owners and players to go back to mediation toward ending the current labor stoppage. Appearing on NFL Network, Goodell says: "I couldn't get off this show fast enough to get to mediation." But he seems resigned to that not happening until after a U.S. District Court judge in Minneapolis rules on the players' request for an injunction to stop the lockout that began Saturday. Goodell also says "there's unfortunately been very limited contact" with the NFL Players air yeezy Association, which dissolved as a union when talks broke down last Friday. He repeats Tuesday that the owners provided more financial information to the players than ever before, including some data not made available to the 32 clubs.The NRC on Monday also sought to dispel fears about earthquake damage at U.S. nuclear power plants. "We have a strong safety program in place to deal with seismic events that are likely to happen at any nuclear facility in this country," Chairman Gregory Jaczko said at a news conference at the White House, adding that the agency "will continue to take new information and see if there are changes that we need to make with our program." Many in California, however, worry that the dangers could be far greater than operators or the NRC have planned for. "There are many people who are very, very doubtful that they can trust whatever the company says about the plant," said Liz Apfelberg, a spokeswoman for San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace, a group that has opposed Diablo Canyon since the early 1970s. Fears about seismic dangers have also been stoked by the 2008 discovery of a fault line half a mile from Diablo Canyon. California state Senator Sam Blakeslee, a Republican who represents the district in which Diablo Canyon is located, on Monday called for further seismic studies of the area. "The devastating events in Japan underscore the importance of addressing the seismic uncertainty surrounding California's nuclear power plants," Blakeslee said in a statement. "Serious concerns about a newly discovered fault running underneath Diablo Canyon ... have so far gone unaddressed." Shortly after the discovery of the new fault, the California Energy Commission recommended that PG&E conduct 3-D imaging. On Monday, PG&E's Raftery said the utility was still evaluating whether or not to perform the 3-D studies.

Justin Bieber's Swoosh Bangs Immortalized in Wax Figure 1 CommentsBy Tracey Harrington McCoy Posted Mar 15th 2011 08:10PM ---- Justin Bieber attended the unveiling of his new wax figure at Madame Tussauds in London on Tuesday, PEOPLE reports. The pop star's built-to-scale figure sported a red and black flannel, black pants, and signature black shoes--and looked eerily similar to the real thing. "TWINS! lol," Bieber Tweeted with a photo from the unveiling ceremony on Tuesday. "knew [my mom] had more kids!" The wax likeness features Bieber's famous swoosh bangs so it's not an identical match to the pop star since he just recently cut his famous locks. gucci outlet However, the face and outfit were pretty dead on.Egypt's civil aviation minister says the country's airline industry has lost more than 1 billion Egyptian pounds ($170 million) as a result of the unrest that led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. Ibrahim Manaa told reporters Tuesday that over 60 percent of the losses were from to national carrier, EgyptAir, while the remainder came in losses at the country's various airports. More than 150,000 foreign tourists fled the country during the 18-day uprising that began on Jan. 25. EgyptAir was hard hit, canceling at as many as 75 percent of its flights and most recently offering to lease some of its newest planes, along with crew, to offset projected losses.

It begins in 2011 where it ended in 2009. On Tuesday night, at a sold-out Qwest Field in Seattle, the Galaxy launches its 16th Major League Soccer season, still seeking the championship that has eluded the club since 2005. Coach Bruce Arena's team has come close in the last two seasons, losing the final to Real Salt Lake in Seattle in 2009 and falling to FC Dallas in the Western Conference title game in Carson in 2010.There is a sense around the team that this could be the year, supra outlet that this should be the year, and the reasons are many. ? Arena has made some key off-season moves that have added depth to the team across the board — Frankie Hejduk in defense, Paolo Cardozo and Miguel Lopez in midfield, Juan Pablo Angel and Chad Barrett up top, to name only five of 11 newcomers. ? It could be David Beckham's final season in MLS, his last chance to add some North American silverware to his collection before the demands of age — he will be 36 on May 2 — and his expected role in the 2012 London Olympic Games take their toll. There will also be an addition to the Beckham household this summer, a fourth child and a first daughter, due to arrive in July. Beckham made the announcement at the Galaxy's kickoff luncheon. "Obviously, having three boys, you kind of expect another one, so finding out a little girl is in there is surprising, but, obviously, we are over the moon," he said. ? It has been six years since Landon Donovan won the most recent of his three MLS titles, the first two coming with the San Jose Earthquakes in 2001 and 2003. Donovan, who turned 29 on March 4, and defender Todd Dunivant are the only remaining members of the Galaxy's 2005 championship side still on the roster. ? There are hints that the Home Depot Center might be chosen as the site of November's MLS Cup championship game, providing added incentive for Los Angeles to reach the final. First, of course, there is the not-so-small matter of the 34 games that make up the regular season, a season that will see the Galaxy also competing in the CONCACAF Champions League and in the U.S. Open Cup. That adds up to a minimum of 41 games, something the Galaxy is making far too much noise about considering, for instance, that in Spain, Barcelona already has played 41 games and still has 21/2 months left in its season. "We want to win championships; we want to win trophies," Arena said. "I think from August of 2008, when I came in, to where we are now, in March of 2011, we've made some progress. "In this league, it's difficult from year to year. It's never easy … [but] I think we're positioned to do well this year." It has been four months since the Galaxy played a competitive match, and it could take several games to get back the rhythm and flow, not to mention having to adapt to its new players. In goal, the Galaxy has no worries, with starter Donovan Ricketts and backup Josh Saunders as solid a pair as any in MLS. The defense has the usual mixture of young and old, experience and inexperience, but aside from the old-timers being a shade injury-prone and the youngsters prone to mental mistakes, it should be up to the challenge. The midfield is greatly enhanced by the addition of the lively Cardozo, and Arena's problem will be whom to leave out from among Beckham, Donovan, Chris Birchall and the greatly improved Juninho in order to get Cardozo on the field. Arena already has stated that Beckham will not play every game. Up front, Angel and Barrett are being counted on to make up for the loss of Edson Buddle, who opted to play in Germany. Mike Magee and Adam Cristman are ready to step in if they fail. The bottom line, though, remains Donovan. As he goes, so goes the Galaxy, and Hejduk, Donovan's former U.S. World Cup teammate, has put the 2011 expectations in stark terms. "Anything less than a championship would be a disappointment, to be honest," he said.

Older women who are diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer can expect to live just as long as peers without breast cancer, according to a new study. That's "a very encouraging message," said Dr. Elena Elkin, a breast cancer researcher at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center who was not involved with the study. "More of the breast cancers we find are very small and diagnosed at an early stage. For older women especially these cancers generally have a favorable diagnosis," she told Reuters Health. More than 200,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year in the U.S., and a woman's risk of getting the disease increases as she gets older. There is ongoing debate in the medical community, however, over whether routine screening for certain cancers will actually extend lives, particularly in older people whose life expectancy is likely to be influenced by other health issues, such as heart disease. In the current study, researchers compared the life expectancy and causes of death in women age 67 and older who were diagnosed with breast cancer and in a similar group of women without breast cancer. By consulting a register of cancer diagnoses in Medicare patients, the authors, led by Dr. Mara Schonberg of the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Brookline, Massachusetts, were able to identify almost 65,000 older women who were diagnosed with breast cancer of any stage between 1992 and 2003. For comparison, they collected information for a group of about 170,000 women of similar age, also on Medicare, who were not diagnosed with breast cancer. The researchers tracked women in both groups through 2006 - close to 8 years of follow-up on average - to determine how many of them died, and from what cause. Women diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) - the earliest stage of breast air yeezy cancer - and stage I cancer were just as likely to survive through the end of the study period as women who were never diagnosed with cancer. Women under 80 who were diagnosed with DCIS were actually slightly more likely to survive for at least 5 years than women who were not diagnosed with breast cancer. That could be because of the "healthy user effect," the authors say - women who are diagnosed with breast cancer are more likely to have been screened for cancer than women who aren't diagnosed, and may also be more health-conscious in other ways. Women with stage I breast cancer and those over 80 with DCIS had the same rate of survival over the course of the study as women without breast cancer. In women under 80 years old, 89 percent survived 5 years after a diagnosis of DCIS and 87 percent after being diagnosed with stage I cancer. In women age 80 and older, 70 percent were still alive 5 years after being diagnosed with DCIS, compared to 66 percent who were diagnosed with stage I breast cancer. Between 6 and 18 percent of women with early stage cancer that died within 5 years died from breast cancer. Heart disease was the most common cause of death for women with early stage breast cancer.Survival chances were higher in women with early-stage breast cancer when they had a mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery and radiation together, rather than when they just had breast-conserving surgery or had no surgery at all. When older women were diagnosed with stage II or higher breast cancer, they did not survive as long as the non-cancer group. A stage II diagnosis, for example, meant women were 1.5 times less likely to survive the study period than women without breast cancer, and a stage III diagnosis meant they were three times less likely to survive. The findings, the authors say, suggest that doctors should be talking with older women about the risks and benefits of being screened for breast cancer. Screening might pick up an early stage cancer that is advancing - in which case treatment could prevent the cancer from becoming worse. In some cases, however, screening might pick up cancers that would not end up cutting a woman's life short, especially if she was at risk of dying from another condition, such as heart disease. In that sense, a woman is at risk of being treated with invasive procedures unnecessarily since they would not extend her expected lifespan. "I suspect that a lot of these cancers are cancers that never would have affected someone's life expectancy" had they not been caught, Schonberg told Reuters Health. However, she said, it's very hard to know which cancers are going to progress and which are not likely to cause a woman's death. "This is the fundamental problem in screening for cancer in general," Elkin added. She said that each woman's decision about whether or not to get screened should depend on how much she would benefit from doctors catching an early-stage cancer. Every older woman "should not just get a mammogram routinely, but have a discussion with her doctor," she said. The main message is that "screening can be effective even in older women," Elkin said. "What's important is not necessarily a woman's age but her general health and her life expectancy ... and that's true for any age."

Military forces loyal to Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi advanced Sunday on this anxious town, a strategic linchpin on the doorstep of the opposition capital of Benghazi and within grasp of a highway crucial to recapturing the eastern border and encircling the rebellion with heavy armor and artillery. After another day of headlong retreat, this time from the refinery and port at Brega, one town west of here, the rebels prepared for what some called a last stand at Ajdabiya, taking refuge in military barracks where they stacked ammunition boxes six deep, positioned a handful of tanks and tried to bring order to a jumble of small artillery and anti-aircraft guns. Bulldozers built berms three feet high near a pair of green, metal arches that mark the town’s entrance. The fate of Ajdabiya, an eastern town of 120,000 near the Mediterranean coast, may prove decisive in the most violent and chaotic of the uprisings gucci outlet that have upended the Arab world. Under a sky turned gray by a menacing sandstorm, the rebels valiantly vowed victory but acknowledged the deficit posed by their weapons and pleaded for a no-flight zone that seemed a metaphor for any kind of international help. “Our retreat is a tactic,” said Said Zway, 29, a civil engineer-turned-fighter, at Ajdabiya’s entrance. “We can wait until they impose a no-fly zone. If they don’t, what can we do, my friend? We fight and die. God is with us, God willing.” From its ecstatic beginning, Libya’s uprising has taken a darker turn, as Colonel Qaddafi’s forces have recaptured Zawiyah, near Tripoli, and are now besieging Misurata, a commercial capital and an oasis of rebel control in the west. Officials in Tripoli talk with bluster, and a more sullen mood has settled over Benghazi, where reports of lawlessness grow. The United Nations Security Council may take up this week an Arab League call for a no-flight zone over Libya, a decision that Colonel Qaddafi’s government deemed Sunday an “unexpected departure” from the league’s charter. The foreign ministers of major industrial nations are expected to consider the topic at a meeting in Paris on Monday. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is to fly on to Egypt and Tunisia afterward, and is expected to meet with Libyan opposition leaders. But a front line that shifted eastward by the day and plunging morale here threatened to outpace a decision that still faces opposition from Russia and China and lacks the clear support of the United States and Europe. The debate abroad overshadowed the stark reality on the ground — planes alone have not defeated the rebels, but rather a relentless onslaught of tanks, artillery, helicopters and ships at sea has sent rebels hurtling back the past several days from a series of oil towns along Libya’s flat, virtually indefensible coastal plain. At the front, pleas for foreign help have grown by the day, from demands for a no-flight zone to growing calls for bombing of Libyan ships at sea, military bases and Bab al-Aziziya, the compound in Tripoli that serves as Colonel Qaddafi’s headquarters. “We demand intervention from America, from Britain, from France!” shouted Wanis Kayhani, 42, a fighter waiting in a parked Toyota pickup near the front. “I personally want them to send troops from abroad to stop this dictator. I swear to God almighty!” “No, no, that won’t work!” another fighter shouted. “Whatever it takes,” Mr. Kayhani replied.