Avastin Won't Extend Breast Cancer Survival: Study - Drugs.com ...

FRIDAY Dec. 7, 2012 -- The drug Avastin (bevacizumab), when added to chemotherapy, does not improve disease-free survival in patients with triple-negative breast cancer any better than chemo alone, new research finds.

"Therefore, sadly for patients, we have nothing extra to add to chemotherapy for early, triple-negative breast cancer," Dr. David Cameron, a professor of oncology at Edinburgh University in Scotland, said in a news release from the American Association for Cancer Research.

He was scheduled to present the findings Friday at the 2012 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium.

Previous studies of Avastin had found benefit. However, in 2011, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration revoked approval of the drug for late-stage breast cancer, citing risks -- such as heart failure and severe high blood pressure -- that outweigh the benefits. The drug may still be used off-label, with doctors prescribing it to patients if they think that patient could be helped.

This new study signals the death of the drug for breast cancer, although it is helpful in other cancers, said Dr. Joanne Mortimer, director of Women's Cancer Programs for the City of Hope Comprehensive Cancer Center in Duarte, Calif. She reviewed the new findings.

Another physician took a different view, saying others should consider continuing research on the drug. "We have all seen some success stories with the drug, and Avastin may be a drug that works in only a select few," said Dr. Stephanie Bernik, chief of surgical oncology at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City.

Avastin is marketed by Genentech. Swiss drugmaker Hoffmann-La Roche, which acquired Genentech, sponsored the study.

For the new study, researchers randomly assigned nearly 2,600 patients with triple-negative operable primary invasive breast cancer to four or more cycles of chemotherapy. They used either an anthracycline-based or taxane-based chemo drug. One group also received a year of Avastin therapy.

Triple-negative breast cancer refers to those tumors that do not have estrogen or progesterone receptors or express the HER2/neu gene.

The researchers followed the women to see if the Avastin made a difference in disease-free survival. At a median follow-up of 32 months, no significant improvement occurred by adding Avastin.

Among those who received chemo alone, 107 died during the follow-up period, compared with 93 deaths in the group getting chemo plus Avastin, the investigators found.

Those in the Avastin group were more likely than the chemo-alone group to have problems such as severe high blood pressure and congestive heart failure.

The drug is effective in other cancers, Mortimer said. "It's a very important drug for lung, [gastrointestinal] and kidney cancers," she explained.

The drug is still listed in the recommendations for breast cancer treatment by the National Comprehensive Cancer Network. The not-for-profit is an alliance of 21 major international cancer centers, including City of Hope.

Health insurers turn to the recommendations when deciding which drugs to cover. Avastin is costly, about $112,000 a year for breast cancer patients.

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More information

To learn more about breast cancer, visit the American Cancer Society.

Posted: December 2012

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Source: http://www.drugs.com/news/avastin-won-t-extend-breast-cancer-survival-study-41934.html

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Local airman graduates basic military training

BROADALBIN - Air National Guard Airman 1st Class Jacob G. Comini graduated from basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, Texas.

The airman completed an intensive, eight-week program that included training in military discipline and studies, Air Force core values, physical fitness, and basic warfare principles and skills.

Airmen who complete basic training earn four credits toward an associate in applied science degree through the Community College of the Air Force.

Comini is the son of Philip and Lynette Comini of County Highway 138, Broadalbin.

He is a 2011 graduate of Broadalbin-Perth High School.

Source: http://gloversville.wnyt.com/news/172342-local-airman-graduates-basic-military-training

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Easy Writing Package : Writing and Speaking - Moorekurtis9744s ...

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Source: http://www.theyellowads.com/writing_speaking/easy-writing-package

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Insect-eating bat outperforms nectar specialist as pollinator of cactus flowers

Friday, December 7, 2012

Of the two bat species known to visit the flowers of the cardon cactus in Baja California, one depends entirely on nectar and is highly specialized to feed from the flowers, which are adapted for pollination by bats. The other is an insect-eating bat best known for its ability to hear the footsteps of large insects and scorpions and capture them on the ground.

In a surprising result, scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have found that the insect-eating pallid bat is a more effective pollinator of the cactus flowers than the nectar-feeding specialist, the lesser long-nosed bat.

"The lesser long-nosed bat is highly specialized for nectar-feeding and was thought to be the primary pollinator of the cardon cactus. But when we measured their effectiveness, we found that the pallid bat actually delivers about 13 times as much pollen per visit," said Winifred Frick, a research scientist at UC Santa Cruz. Frick is first author of a paper on the new findings published online in American Naturalist.

The study highlights the complex nature of the mutually beneficial relationships between plants and their pollinators, which in most cases have evolved together over long periods of time. There are often conflicts of interest between the partners, according to coauthor Kathleen Kay, assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz.

"What is actually happening in terms of how species are mutually interacting can be more complicated than what meets the eye," Kay said. "You would think the coevolved species would be a better pollinator than a naive interloper. But the adaptations for nectar-feeding of the lesser long-nosed bat are to enable it to get more nectar, not for it to do a better job pollinating."

Frick said several factors may explain the difference between the two bat species in pollination effectiveness. The lesser long-nosed bat is able to hover at the open cactus flowers and uses its long tongue to extract the nectar, transferring pollen from one flower to another in the process. The pallid bat, in contrast, has to land on the flowers and plunge its head deep inside to get to the nectar, resulting in longer visits and more copious accumulations of pollen on its head. In addition, the lesser long-nosed bat relies on pollen as a source of protein and regularly grooms itself during a night of flower visits, removing some of the pollen from its fur and eating it.

Frick, a bat ecologist, had observed pallid bats visiting cardon cactus flowers during earlier research projects in the area and knew that the bats often had pollen on them. For the new study, she teamed up with Kay, an expert in pollination biology and plant evolution. They monitored cactus flowers at 14 study sites in Baja California, working with a team of student assistants from Mexico and UC Santa Cruz. The cardon cactus is a large columnar cactus and is the dominant plant species in the study area. When the researchers saw a bat visit a flower, they would identify the species, climb a ladder to the flower, remove the stigma, and count the number of pollen grains the bat had delivered. They also took data on the number of flower visits by each of the two species at each study site.

The results showed that the pallid bats not only delivered more pollen per visit on average, but in some areas were frequent enough visitors to be more effective pollinators overall than the lesser long-nosed bats.

Plants that are adapted for bat pollination have large, sturdy flowers that bloom at night. The lesser long-nosed bat belongs to a large family of nectar-feeding bats that are important pollinators, especially in tropical habitats. The pallid bat, in contrast, is the only nectar feeder known in its mostly insect-eating family, which is the largest and most widespread family of bats.

"A lot of pollinators come from lineages that are quite old and have been coevolving with plants for a long time," Kay said. "You might think that a new pollinator would not be a good pollinator, but in this case it's actually a better pollinator because it's not well adapted for nectar-feeding. It's exciting to get a glimpse of what the initial stages might be in the evolution of a novel feeding behavior."

Frick said she has video of a pallid bat attacking a large moth on a flower, so it's not hard to imagine how the insect-eating pallid bats might have discovered the sweet nectar hidden inside cactus flowers.

Kay noted that many animals that visit flowers are just feeding without pollinating the flowers or otherwise benefiting the plants. There are also examples of invasive pollinators that disrupt a coevolved plant-pollinator relationship and do a worse job of pollination. "In this case it's the evolutionarily newer pollinator doing a better job, and I haven't seen that before," she said.

The lesser long-nosed bats were effective pollinators of cardon cactus flowers at many of the study sites. But the study found considerable variation between sites, and because the lesser long-nosed bat is migratory, there may be variability from year to year as well, Frick said. The greater variability of the migratory lesser long-nosed bats could make the resident pallid bats especially important as pollinators of cardon cactus.

"The lesser long-nosed bat is an adequate pollinator, but there is a lot of variation in where they occur. We would like to look at that variation over several years," Frick said.

###

University of California - Santa Cruz: http://www.ucsc.edu

Thanks to University of California - Santa Cruz for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

This press release has been viewed 46 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125804/Insect_eating_bat_outperforms_nectar_specialist_as_pollinator_of_cactus_flowers

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Chinese Nobel literature winner: censorship a must

The 2012 Nobel Literature Prize laureate, Mo Yan of China speaks during a press conference Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 at the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The official prize giving ceremony takes place in Stockholm on Dec. 10. (AP Photo/Janerik Henriksson) SWEDEN OUT

The 2012 Nobel Literature Prize laureate, Mo Yan of China speaks during a press conference Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 at the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The official prize giving ceremony takes place in Stockholm on Dec. 10. (AP Photo/Janerik Henriksson) SWEDEN OUT

The 2012 Nobel Literature Prize laureate, Mo Yan of China speaks during a press conference Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 at the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The official prize giving ceremony takes place in Stockholm on Dec. 10. (AP Photo/Janerik Henriksson) SWEDEN OUT

The 2012 Nobel Literature Prize laureate, Mo Yan of China speaks during a press conference Thursday Dec. 6, 2012 at the Royal Swedish Academy in Stockholm. The official prize giving ceremony takes place in Stockholm on Dec. 10. (AP Photo/Janerik Henriksson) SWEDEN OUT

The 2012 Nobel Literature Prizewinner, Mo Yan of China, right, traditionally signs his chair at the Nobel Museum in Stockholm, Thursday Dec. 6, 2012. The chair signing is one of the traditions during the week leading up to the Nobel Prize ceremony that will take place in Stockholm on Dec. 10. (AP Photo/Fredrik Sandberg, Scanpix) SWEDEN OUT

(AP) ? This year's Nobel Prize in literature winner, Mo Yan, who has been criticized for his membership in China's Communist Party and reluctance to speak out against the country's government, defended censorship Thursday as something as necessary as airport security checks.

He also suggested he won't join an appeal calling for the release of the jailed 2010 Peace Prize laureate, Liu Xiaobo, a fellow writer and compatriot.

Mo has been criticized by human rights activists for not being a more outspoken defender of freedom of speech and for supporting the Communist Party-backed writers' association, of which he is vice president.

His comments Thursday, made during a news conference in Stockholm, appear unlikely to soften his critics' views toward him.

Awarding him the literature prize has also brought criticism from previous winners. Herta Mueller, the 2009 literature laureate, called the jury's choice of Mo a "catastrophe" in an interview with the Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter last month. She also accused Mo of protecting the Asian country's censorship laws.

China's rulers forbid opposition parties and maintain strict control over all media.

Mo said he doesn't feel that censorship should stand in the way of truth but that any defamation, or rumors, "should be censored."

"But I also hope that censorship, per se, should have the highest principle," he said in comments translated by an interpreter from Chinese into English.

Mo is spending several days in Stockholm before receiving his prestigious prize in an awards ceremony next Monday.

He won the Nobel for his sprawling tales of life in rural China. In its citation, the jury said Mo "with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history and the contemporary."

In addressing the sensitive issue of censorship in China, Mo likened it to the thorough security procedures he was subjected to as he traveled to Stockholm.

"When I was taking my flight, going through the customs ... they also wanted to check me ? even taking off my belt and shoes," he said. "But I think these checks are necessary."

Mo also dodged questions about Liu Xiaobo, the jailed Peace Prize winner. Liu was sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2009 for co-authoring a bold call for ending China's single-party rule and enacting democratic reforms.

China's reception of the two Nobel laureates has been worlds apart.

While it rejected the honor bestowed on Liu, calling it a desecration of the Nobel tradition, it welcomed Mo's win with open arms, saying it reflected "the prosperity and progress of Chinese literature, as well as the increasing influence of China."

Although Mo has previously said he hopes Liu will be freed soon, he refused to elaborate more on the case.

"On the same evening of my winning the prize, I already expressed my opinion, and you can get online to make a search," he said, telling the crowd that he hoped they wouldn't press him on the subject of Liu.

Some, however, have interpreted Mo's October comments as if he hoped the release of Liu would make the jailed activist see sense and embrace the Communist Party line.

Earlier this week, an appeal signed by 134 Nobel laureates, from Peace Prize winners such as South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu to Taiwanese-American chemist Yuan T. Lee, called the detention of Liu and his wife a violation of international law and urged their immediate release.

But Mo suggested he had no plans of adding his name to that petition. "I have always been independent. I like it that way. When someone forces me to do something I don't do it," he said, adding that has been in his stance in the past decade.

Mo is to receive his Nobel prize along with the winners in medicine, physics, chemistry and economics.

The Nobel Peace Prize is handed out in a separate ceremony in Oslo on the same day.

__

Associated Press writers Gary Peach in Riga, Latvia and Alexa Olesen in Beijing contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-06-Sweden-China-Nobel%20Literature/id-22b6a875de8e4754aa9ec6661edebf48

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Halo 4 & Virgin Gaming Launch Infinity Challenge Competition ...

Halo 4 and Virgin Gaming are giving players the chance to compete in Infinity Challenge and be in with a chance of winning a ton of prizes including a cameo in the next Halo game.

Halo 4?s Infinity Challenge is a free-to-enter competition from 343 Industries and Virgin Gaming. Launching December 17th, the tournament will track your personal score in War Games and Spartan Ops (with whatever challenges you complete) and rate them on a global leaderboard.

Take part and you could be in with the chance of winning one of the 2,800 prizes including a UNSC-themed 2013 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor truck and even a cameo in a future Halo game.

Infinity Challenge will go through a qualifier phase ? December 17th to 10th January ? and will give players the chance to climb the ranks. Do well enough here and you?ll be sent through to the finals phase, which will take place during January 12th to 19th.

You'll also be able to compete in Infinity's Weekly Challenges.

Think you?re good enough? Sign up and find out.

?

Source: http://www.nowgamer.com/news/1711810/halo_4_virgin_gaming_launch_infinity_challenge_competition.html

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Ex-Fla. Gov. Crist tweets he's joining Democrats

(AP) ? Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who was elected as the state's chief executive as a Republican and then ran for the U.S. Senate as an independent, announced on Twitter on Friday night that he's switching to the Democratic Party.

Crist sent out a Tweet that said, "Proud and honored to join the Democratic Party in the home of President (at)Barack Obama!"

The Tweet included a photo of a smiling Crist and an unidentified woman as he held up a Florida voter registration application. The Tampa Bay Times reports that Crist signed the papers changing his affiliation from independent to Democrat at a Christmas reception at The White House.

A message left for Crist wasn't immediately returned Friday night.

Crist was elected Florida governor in 2006 while in the GOP. As he moved to run for the U.S. Senate in 2010, he faced a tough primary challenge from the right and bolted the GOP to run as an independent. He lost a three-way Senate contest in 2010 to Republican Marco Rubio.

Crist spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte that nominated President Barack Obama for a second term. Crist, 56, is also viewed as a potential Democratic challenger to Republican Gov. Rick Scott in 2014.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-12-07-Crist-Democratic%20Party/id-71814a08eaa943fa8b68b874a00c54de

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Intrawest, WB part ways | Whistler | Pique Newsmagazine | Whistler ...

It's the end of an era, but the future is bright for Whistler Blackcomb.

On Monday it was announced that Denver-based KSL Capital Partners had acquired Intrawest's 24 per cent stake in Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc. ? some 9,092,500 common shares at a market value of $12.75 per share, for a total pricetag just shy of $116 million.

Other than a few changes to the board of the corporation, it's business as usual for Whistler Blackcomb Holdings. The key benefit of the deal is that all senior management and decision making for the resort will now be concentrated entirely in Whistler.

Dave Brownlie, the current president and chief operating officer for Whistler Blackcomb, was promoted to president and chief executive officer and added as a director on the board. He will replace Bill Jensen, the former CEO who was based in Colorado with Intrawest and resigned from Whistler Blackcomb Holdings as a result of the sale of shares.

"I am very excited about the opportunity and I am looking forward to my new role as CEO of Whistler Blackcomb Holdings Inc.," said Brownlie on Tuesday. "As a result of this announcement, our entire management team will now be based here in Whistler.

"This transaction will have no effect on the daily operations of Whistler Blackcomb and our focus will continue to be on creating a world-class product for our guests. KSL has assembled a portfolio of premier travel and leisure assets and their investment in Whistler Blackcomb is a testament to the quality of our business."

The new title doesn't change Brownlie's day-to-day involvement in the resort all that much, as he was always involved in making big-picture decisions for the mountains and has been involved in investor relations as well. He has been with the company for 24 years, starting with Blackcomb Mountain.

Intrawest, which was acquired by Fortress Investment Group in 2006, is no longer invested in the resort it helped to establish, first by acquiring Blackcomb Mountain in 1986 and then by merging with Whistler Mountain Ski Corporation in 1996 to unite the mountains as a single resort ? now the largest in North America with a combined 3,307 hectares of skiable terrain.

As well as Jensen, directors Wes Edens and Jonathan Ashley from Fortress Investment Group also resigned from the board.

Eric Resnick, the co-founder and managing director of KSL, and KSL partner Peter McDermott will join the board to fill in for Edens and Ashley. Flora Ferraro, the vice-president of finance for Whistler Blackcomb was also promoted as the interim chief financial officer.

Resnick released this statement after the acquisition of shares:

"KSL is delighted to be acquiring a 24 per cent interest in a world-class ski area," he stated. "Whistler Blackcomb is the largest and most visited ski resort in North America and we feel that it complements our portfolio of premier travel and leisure properties. Peter I are looking forward to working with the board to grow the business. Whistler Blackcomb has a very experienced and successful management team and we are enthusiastic to work with them as they continue to deliver a fantastic mountain experience for Whistler Blackcomb's guests."

Source: http://www.piquenewsmagazine.com/whistler/intrawest-wb-part-ways/Content?oid=2443030

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Egypt's army moves to restore order after protests

Egyptian Army deploy near the presidential palace to secure the site of overnight clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The Egyptian army has deployed tanks outside the presidential palace in Cairo following clashes between supporters and opponents of Mohammed Morsi that left several people dead and hundreds wounded. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Egyptian Army deploy near the presidential palace to secure the site of overnight clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The Egyptian army has deployed tanks outside the presidential palace in Cairo following clashes between supporters and opponents of Mohammed Morsi that left several people dead and hundreds wounded. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Supporters of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, left, sit as Egyptian Army soldiers lay barbed wire near the presidential palace to secure the site of overnight clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The Egyptian army has deployed tanks outside the presidential palace in Cairo following clashes between supporters and opponents of Mohammed Morsi that left several people dead and hundreds wounded. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

An Egyptian Army officer detains a man who was attacked by protesters gathering near the presidential palace while the army deploys to secure the site of overnight clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi, in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The Egyptian army has deployed tanks outside the presidential palace in Cairo following clashes between supporters and opponents of Mohammed Morsi that left several people dead and hundreds wounded. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

An Egyptian Army soldier lays barbed wire near the presidential palace to secure the site of overnight clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The Egyptian army has deployed tanks outside the presidential palace in Cairo following clashes between supporters and opponents of Mohammed Morsi that left several people dead and hundreds wounded. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Egyptian Army tanks deploy near the presidential palace to secure the site of overnight clashes between supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Morsi in Cairo, Egypt, Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012. The Egyptian army has deployed tanks outside the presidential palace in Cairo following clashes between supporters and opponents of Mohammed Morsi that left several people dead and hundreds wounded. (AP Photo/Nasser Nasser)

(AP) ? The Egyptian army sealed off the presidential palace with barbed wire and armored vehicles Thursday as protesters defied a deadline to vacate the area, pressing forward with demands that Islamist leader Mohammed Morsi rescind decrees giving himself near-absolute power and withdraw a disputed draft constitution.

Inside the palace gates, Morsi met with members of his Cabinet and military leaders to discuss the expanding crisis after fierce street battles in an upscale residential suburb of Cairo killed five people and left more than 600 injured in the worst outbreak of violence between the two sides since the Islamist leader's election.

The intensity of the overnight violence, with Morsi's Islamist backers and largely secular protesters lobbing firebombs and rocks at each other, raised the specter that the 2-week-old crisis that has left the country sharply divided would grow more polarized and violent.

The army's Republican Guard, an elite unit assigned to protect the president and his palaces, surrounded the complex and gave protesters on both sides until 3 p.m. (1300 GMT, 8 a.m. EDT) to clear the vicinity, according to an official statement. The statement also announced a ban on protests outside any of the nation's presidential palaces.

But a group of several dozen anti-Morsi protesters continued to demonstrate across the street from the palace past the military's deadline Thursday afternoon, chanting slogans against the president. And organizers called for a larger evening rally. Meanwhile, members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists supporting Morsi withdrew from the area after an overnight sit-in.

Inside the palace gates, Morsi held crisis meetings Thursday with Cabinet members and military leaders, including the defense minister, according to a presidential statement.

"The president discussed ways to deal with the situation regarding the political, security and legal landscapes so that Egypt can achieve stability and preserve the gains of the revolution," the statement said.

Egypt has seen sporadic clashes throughout nearly two years of political turmoil after Hosni Mubarak's ouster in February 2011. But Wednesday's street battles were the worst between Morsi's supporters and opponents.

The clashes began after an implicit call by the Muslim Brotherhood and its political party, to which the president belongs, for their members to go to the palace and stage a sit-in that would remove anti-Morsi protesters who were camped out there.

Unlike Mubarak, Morsi was elected in June after a narrow victory in Egypt's first free presidential elections, but many activists who supported him have jumped to the opposition after he issued decrees on Nov. 22 that put him above oversight and a draft charter was later rushed through by his Islamist allies despite a walkout by Christian and liberal factions.

Compounding Morsi's woes, four of his advisers resigned Wednesday, joining two other members of his 17-member advisory panel who have abandoned him since the crisis began.

Six tanks and two armored vehicles belonging to the Republican Guard, an elite unit tasked with protecting the president and his palaces, were stationed Thursday morning at roads leading to the palace in the upscale Cairo district of Heliopolis. The guard's commander, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Zaki, sought to assure Egyptians that his forces were not taking sides.

"They will not be a tool to crush protesters and no force will be used against Egyptians," he said in comments carried by the official MENA news agency.

The situation was calm Thursday morning. Thousands of Morsi supporters had camped outside the palace after driving away opposition activists who had been staging a sit-in there, prompting fierce street battles that spread to upscale residential areas. The Brotherhood, which had erected metal barricades and manned checkpoints with rocks and empty glass bottles on hand overnight, withdrew from the area by Thursday afternoon.

"I don't want Morsi to back down," said Khaled Omar, a Brotherhood supporter who had camped out. "We are not defending him. We are defending Islam, which is what people want."

Other Brotherhood supporters outside the palace accused opposition protesters of being Mubarak loyalists or foot soldiers in a coup attempt.

"They want to take over power in a coup. They are conspiring against Morsi and we want him to crack down on them," said one, Ezzedin Khoudir. "There must be arrests."

The violence began when the Brotherhood called on its members to head to the presidential palace against what a statement termed as attempts by the opposition to impose its will by force. In response, thousands descended on the area Wednesday, chasing away some 300 opposition protesters who had been staging a peaceful sit-in outside the palace's main gate since the night before. Clashes later ensued with the two sides using rocks, sticks and firebombs.

State television quoted the Health Ministry as saying Thursday that five people were killed and 644 injured by beatings, gunshot wounds and tear gas inhalation.

A journalist for the independent daily Al-Fagr newspaper was in critical condition Thursday after being shot in the head with a rubber bullet, according to a staff member who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity in exchange for releasing the information ahead of a formal announcement. The newspaper said it did not know who fired the rubber bullet.

"We raise Egypt's flag but they raise the Brotherhood flag. This is the difference," protester Magdi Farag said as he held the tri-colored national flag stained with blood from his friend's injury in the clashes the night before.

"We will not leave until he leaves," Farag said about the president.

Morsi, meanwhile, remains determined to press forward with plans for a Dec. 15 constitutional referendum to pass the new charter. The opposition, for its part, is refusing dialogue unless Morsi rescinds the decrees giving him near unrestricted powers and shelves the controversial draft constitution, which the president's Islamist allies rushed through last week in a marathon, all-night session shown live on state TV.

Mohamed ElBaradei, a leading opposition reform advocate, said late Wednesday that Morsi's rule was "no different" than Mubarak's.

"In fact, it is perhaps even worse," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate told a news conference after he accused the president's supporters of a "vicious and deliberate" attack on peaceful demonstrators outside the palace.

Wednesday's violence also spread to other cities, with at least two Brotherhood offices set ablaze outside Cairo.

___

Associated Press writer Aya Batrawy contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-06-Egypt/id-d9c18dd8abd54dd6921842c38a11fc52

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Matt Brown ready for bout with Mike Swick, who never answered him on MySpace

When Matt Brown gets into the octagon with Mike Swick at UFC on Fox 5 on Saturday, he'll be facing a fighter he was a fan of. Brown told MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani that after Swick appeared on first season of "The Ultimate Fighter," Brown sent him a message via the once-popular social network MySpace.

"He was the first fighter I really looked up to on 'The Ultimate Fighter 1.' I wrote him a message on MySpace, and I was real pissed when he never replied to my message. Was like, 'he's an [expletive.]"

He smiled at the idea that this slight serves as an incentive for him to win.

"That's my whole motivation for this camp. I didn't get a reply on My Space."

Brown appeared on the seventh season of "The Ultimate Fighter." He has put together an 8-5 record in the UFC since appearing on the reality show, and is riding a three-fight winning streak. Will Brown continue the streak this Saturday? Speak up in the comments, Twitter or on Facebook. (But not MySpace.)

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/matt-brown-ready-bout-mike-swick-never-answered-143113632--mma.html

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