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Men should no longer receive a routine blood test to check for prostate cancer because the test does more harm than good, a top-level government task force has concluded in a final recommendation that immediately became controversial. Many middle-aged men regularly get the PSA test. But for years, some experts have questioned whether such screening really saves lives. Monday's statement finalizes a draft recommendation made by the task force last fall. PSA tests do not directly detect cancer -- mulberry bags they detect a protein made by the prostate. Conditions other than cancer, including benign growth of the prostate, can raise PSA readings, leading to painful biopsies and other invasive tests.

BEIRUT, Lebanon — marc jacobs Explosions in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo struck two targets associated with the military and police early on Friday, Syrian state television reported, as the central city of Homs was reported to still be under siege with sporadic tank fire ripping into contested neighborhoods, pinning down residents in their homes. He blamed the government itself for carrying out the attacks against what he said were two heavily guarded security compounds that it would have been difficult for civilians to approach. “This regime is playing a well-known game, seeking to distract the world’s attention from the massacres in Homs,” Captain Wawi said. Another Free Syria Army commander said the rebels had carried out an operation against security headquarters before the bombings, but that they had nothing to do with the blasts- marc jacobs bags . Much of the government effort to quash revolt has centered on Homs where activists said another 17 people had died Friday in shelling, including five who had been wounded in previous violence. The deaths followed what appeared to be a particularly bloody crackdown Thursday that activists said killed at least 50 people and possibly scores more- marc jacobs bags cheap

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The Pentagon will maintain bans on women serving in most ground combat units, defense officials said Thursday, despite pressure from lawmakers and female veterans who called the restrictions outdated after a decade a war- marc jacobs . Advocates for women in the military, however, accused the Pentagon of dragging its feet and only belatedly recognizing the critical role that female troops have played in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. They said many of the job openings announced by the Pentagon merely codify the reality on the battlefield, where commanders have stretched rules for years to allow women to bear arms and support ground combat units- marc jacobs bags . Since 2001, about 280,000 women have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Defense Department statistics; 144 have been killed and 865 have been wounded. Congress separately ordered the Defense Department to review the ban and submit recommendations. That review was due last April, but the Pentagon took an extra 10 months to complete it- marc jacobs bags cheap

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United Nations (CNN) -- marc jacobs The Syrian assault on the city of Homs is "a grim harbinger of worse to come" without united pressure on the government in Damascus, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday. Ban said Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby plans to send a renewed Arab League monitoring mission back into Syria after it was suspended when the violence escalated in late January. He said Elaraby asked for U.N. help and suggested beefing up the mission with U.N. observers -- marc jacobs bags a suggestion Ban said he raised in the Security Council and will discuss further "in the coming days." "I fear that the appalling brutality we are witnessing in Homs, with heavy weapons firing into civilian neighborhoods, is a grim harbinger of worse to come," he said- marc jacobs bags cheap

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ATHENS, Feb 7 (Reuters) - marc jacobs Greek political parties delayed yet again on Tuesday making the tough choice of accepting painful reforms in return for a new international bailout to avoid a chaotic default, seemingly deaf to EU warnings that the euro zone can live without Athens. This is to allow time for complex legal procedures involved in a bond swap deal - under which the value of private investors' holdings of Greek debt will be cut radically in value - so Athens can get rescue funds before March 20 when it has to meet heavy debt repayments or suffer a chaotic default- marc jacobs bags . After days of negotiations, officials said sticking points on cutting the minimum wage and scrapping holiday bonuses appeared to have been largely resolved but the level of cuts on top-up, supplementary pensions still remained. "I wouldn't mind paying for the next two years if I knew austerity would take us somewhere," said 32-year-old Leto Papadopoulou. "But this crisis seems endless. In 10 years from now, I will be a lost case for the labour market- marc jacobs bags cheap ."

Payroll growth in the U.S. beat forecasts in December and the unemployment rate dropped to the lowest level in almost three years as the economy gained strength heading into 2012.The 200,000 increase followed a revised 100,000 gain in November that was smaller than first estimated, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. The jobless rate unexpectedly fell to 8.5 percent, while hours worked and earnings climbed. “You got the trifecta -- more people working, wages up and the average work week up,” said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc. in Pittsburgh, who accurately forecast the December payrolls gain. marc jacobs“You can’t really argue that that isn’t a sign of significant improvement in the job market.”Sustained hiring is needed to support the household spending that accounts for about 70 percent of the world’s largest economy. Today’s report follows gains in manufacturing and consumer sentiment that suggest the U.S. is withstanding the economic crisis in Europe. Stocks and Treasury yields fell after William C. Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said the outlook for unemployment remains “unacceptably high” relative to the Fed’s goals. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index declined 0.3 percent to 1,277.77 at 1:15 p.m. in New York. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.96 percent from 2 percent late yesterday.Payrolls were forecast to rise by 155,000 in December, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists. Regular monthly revisions subtracted a total of 8,000 jobs from payrolls in October and November. Average hourly earnings rose 0.2 percent to $23.24, today’s report showed. The average workweek for all workers increased six minutes to 34.4 hours.marc jacobs bagsThe so-called underemployment rate -- which includes part- time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking -- decreased to 15.2 percent from 15.6 percent. Annual benchmark revisions to the household survey showed the unemployment rate averaged 8.9 percent in 2011, down from 9.6 percent and 9.3 percent in the previous two years. It still marked the worst three-year period since 1939 to 1941.marc jacobs bags cheapThe report also showed a decrease in long-term unemployed Americans. The number of people unemployed for 27 weeks or more fell as a percentage of all jobless, to 42.5 percent from 43.1 percent.

Pushed by strategic and budgetary concerns, President Barack Obama on Thursday outlined a new direction for a smaller American military with heavier emphasis in the Pacific.Offering few specifics, the president promised that the military will stay focused on countering terrorism, keeping its nuclear deterrent and building cyberwar defenses. “As we end today’s wars and reshape our armed forces, we will ensure that our military is agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies,” said Obama’s preamble to his “Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense.marc jacobs”The statements by Obama and his Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta are interpreted as leaving behind the strategic requirement of being able to fight two major ground wars at once in different corners of the globe. Rep. Howard McKeon, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, called it a “retreat from the world in the guise of a new strategy.” Taking up a phrase leveled against Obama earlier in the Libya conflict, the California Republican said that “this is a lead-from-behind strategy for a left-behind America.”Specific cuts won’t be detailed until Obama’s budget proposal is released next month, but U.S. ground forces, with Iraq behind them and draw downs in Afghanistan in sight, already are on track for serious downsizing beginning in 2015. Fort Riley in Kansas and Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri probably will feel the Army-wide shedding of at least 50,000 soldiers.marc jacobs bagsSo far, an ongoing trimming of hundreds of civilian jobs at installations in the two states is the only concrete evidence in the region so far of the U.S. military’s titanic struggle to beat down its own budget. “If we allow the current trend to continue,” Pentagon adviser Arnold Punaro told The Washington Post, “we’re going to turn the Department of Defense into a benefits company that occasionally kills a terrorist.”To encourage enlistment in the voluntary services and reward the 1 percent of our society that goes to war for us, Congress has been generous with pay raises and benefits for military personnel, retirees and their dependents.Two years ago, Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments told the House oversight panel that military compensation was out of whack. Health care benefits and pensions, he noted, normally make up about 29 percent of total compensation in the private sector. General Motors was driven into bankruptcy in part because these costs had swollen to 46 percent.For the Department of Defense, he testified, it’s 52 percent and growing.The exploding Tricare health program for retired military, expected to hit $65 billion over the next five years, has been targeted by the administration. Its premiums — nudged upward this year for the first time since the 1990s — are a fraction of those in the private sector, deductibles are low and co-pays limited.The Pentagon also is mulling traditional retirements, in which 20 years of military service can mean a pension of half pay for life beginning at age 38.Officials have warned of damage to morale and recruiting. “I’ve got to put everything on the table and take a look at it,” Panetta has said. “And compensation in the retirement area is one of those… But at the same time, I’ve made very clear that we can’t break faith with those in the service.marc jacobs bags cheap”Such deficit-cutting ideas arose last year to the fury and frantic letter-to-Congress writing of retirees. The Veterans of Foreign Wars is against any cut to retiree benefits, said Joe Davis, Washington spokesman.“They’re trying to recapture saving from people who have sacrificed 20 or more years of their lives. We’re relegated to just an expense item now.”The New York Times and The Associated Press contributed to this article.

How was this even possible? Wasn’t the result pre-ordained? Color-coded? I mean, seriously. It was the Orange Bowl Classic. In a stadium whose interior is an endless carpet of orange seats. In an event whose original stadium was named after an orange. marc jacobsIn a state where oranges grow on trees. So … you really thought the team dressed helmets-to-cleats in all orange would somehow lose?Well, Geno Smith and West Virginia thought so.Nothing else mattered. The favored Clemson Tigers had the right color in Wednesday night’s 78th annual Orange Bowl Classic here, but West Virginia’s Mountaineers had the right everything else including the right team, the one with the Cub Scout colors of dark blue and gold and the unstoppable, locomotive offense powered by Smith. He is the West Virginia quarterback leading a team of Mountaineers with a decidedly South Florida flavor, and what a homecoming he fashioned. Smith schooled at nearby Miramar High and grew up just across the Turnpike from Dolphins stadium — so close he used to sit on the hood of his mom’s car in the front yard where the family still lives and watch replays and highlights on the stadium’s Jumbotron. Wednesday night, Smith was the highlight up there.He had topped 300 yards passing by two minutes into the second half, marc jacobs bagsand would reach 401 yards with six touchdown passes to break Orange Bowl records in both categories. Smith also scored TD running, for good measure. I was a bit uneasy with Smith still throwing late in the game, but that quibble is with his coach, not with the player.Poor Clemson coach Dabo Swinney didn’t know the half of it when he said before the game, of the expected high scoring: “I don’t think it’ll be a 6-3 game, you know?” It was 49-20 after the first half — WVU’s 49 points the most scored in any half by any team in any bowl, ever. That’s all. marc jacobs bags cheapI think Clemson’s defensive coordinator was the guy leaving the field wearing the blond wig in an effort to disguise himself. It didn’t work. Clemson fans were chasing him with torches and pitchforks. The 69 combined first-half points also were the most in any one half in the history of the Orange Bowl Classic, and WVU’s total of 70 were the most by any team in any bowl.Mull that one over for a second.This is not the Carquest Bowl, folks. This is not a bowl whose history dates to a year ago Thursday.The OB — one of the four most-major bowls in the NCAA’s Bowl Championship Series — is the South Florida tradition born in the mid-1930s, dating to the year of Amelia Earhart, the Dust Bowl, Babe Ruth’s final season.

Derrick Rose had Jeff Teague all sized up. We all know the aw-shucks attitude is for off the court. He's a predator between the lines.So with the game there for the taking, Rose went to work. It was a sight to see.Two between-the-leg crossovers, a hesitation dribble to freeze the point guard, and then an explosion to the hole. marc jacobsAfter he picked up the dribble, Rose carried the basketball -- though it wasn't a carry -- coasting toward the rim where Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Smith lay in wait. Smith had already blocked Rose at the rim twice in the quarter, but this time Rose timed his shot perfectly, a teardrop high over Smith's extended hand. It kissed in off the glass.The basket gave the Bulls a one-point lead with 9.9 seconds left.It wasn't the winning points. Al Horford tied the game with a free throw on the other end, necessitating another winning play -- a fabulous Joakim Noah backdoor pass to Luol Deng a few seconds later on a set play. But still, to watch Rose move so economically and so decisively is a welcome sight."That's the beauty with Derrick," Noah said. "He just keeps attacking." The way Rose sees it, he's just getting warmed up. This was only his second home game of the season and the sixth overall. marc jacobs bagsThe Bulls are 5-1, but far from a polished product."I'm still getting back into my rhythm of driving," Rose said. "Just trying to get fouled, and it's coming back to me slowly. But the more I'm playing games like this and the more I play, it's definitely coming back."That's bad news for the rest of the league.Rose scored 17 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter as the Bulls erased a 19-point third-quarter deficit to beat Atlanta 76-74 before a star-studded crowd at the United Center. Besides teen heartthrob David Axelrod, there was that other teen heartthrob Chad Michael Murray, "Da Mare" Rahm Emanuel, and Chicago Bears Julius Peppers and Matt Forte.The fans, bold-faced and otherwise, were treated to three pretty lousy quarters of basketball, which is not exactly abnormal in the NBA, truncated season or not. The Bulls shot just 33.8 percent for the game, with a 2-for-21 second quarter. Atlanta led 38-26 at the half, and the game was every bit as ugly as that score indicates. Rose, with his eyes fixed on making the NBA Finals, had reason to be upset with his team's effort, at least offensively. There was a lot of bad ballhandling, awkward passes. Thibodeau said the Bulls were playing backward for much of the game, passing when they should be shooting, shooting when they should be passing. That happens in the NBA.marc jacobs bags cheapThere are bad nights for every team. But as Rose said, this win says something about the makeup of the team. Even with their shots not falling, the Bulls' defense stayed mostly on point, a few lapses notwithstanding.Rose did his job on Teague, who went 2-for-8 and missed three free throws. Atlanta shooting guard "Iso Joe" Johnson went 3-for-17. It's unfair to put all the responsibility on Rose -- the last play went to Deng after all -- but it's clear he's not taking a night off this season."I was saying something the game, the whole entire game, cursing, saying everything," he said. "But we got things together at the right time."

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich wept Friday as he recalled his late mother's end-of-life illnesses, a moment of poignancy in a notably negative Republican presidential Iowa caucus campaign with four unpredictable days yet to run."I do policy much easier than I do personal," Gingrich told an audience of women as he tried to regain his composure. marc jacobsThe tears flowed as the former speaker was responding to questions about his mother from a pollster and longtime political ally. Gingrich's emotional moment came as his rivals engaged in traditional campaign tactics, and as polls suggested large numbers of Iowa Republicans could change their minds before caucuses Tuesday night provide the first test of the 2012 campaign.Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney sought to marginalize his closest pursuer in most polls, saying, "I don't think Ron Paul represents the mainstream of Republican thought with regards to issues, particularly in foreign policy." Paul gave no ground. "I really can't conceive" of intervening militarily to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, he said, unequivocally restating his position on an issue on which he differs with Romney and his other rivals.Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, claiming momentum based on recent polls, marc jacobs bagstold reporters he recently had the best fundraising day of his candidacy. Yet he also drew criticism from Texas Gov. Rick Perry for advocating earmarks during two terms in the Senate. A pair of surveys in the last five days suggested upwards of a third of all potential caucus-goers had not firmly settled on a candidate of choice.The same polls made Romney the front-runner, and his decision to leave for a quick trip to New Hampshire and then return to Iowa and stay through caucus night projected optimism.Paul views on Iran have been called into question this week by numerous other contenders, and Gingrich went so far as to say he would not vote for the Texan. To some extent, Paul stands alone in the field because of his libertarian-leaning views. He does not want the government to have the power to ban abortions, for example, and has called for the legalization of some drugs that are now outlawed.That has left Santorum, Gingrich, Perry and Bachmann to vie for standing as Romney's chief opponent in the competition for evangelical voters and other conservatives.marc jacobs bags cheapEven before the caucuses, Romney and the rest of the field were looking ahead to New Hampshire's primary on Jan. 10 and the first two Southern contests later in the month, in South Carolina and Florida. But there was maneuvering yet to come in the state that precedes them all.Allies of Gingrich announced they were airing a 30-minute program in Iowa produced by Newsmax, a conservative media outlet. It features Michael Reagan, son of the former president, who calls the former speaker "a person who we believe will help continue my father's legacy."