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Related topics The X FactorLittle MixTulisa ContostavlosPerrie EdwardsZayn Malikone direction Advertisement "The X Factor" U.K. judge Tulisa Contostavlos, 24, is a mentor for girl group Little Mix on more than just the group's career. Contostavlos (whose stage name is Tulisa) also advises the members of Little Mix on which famous men to avoid dating, according to an interview that Little Mix did with the Daily Record. In 2011, Little Mix became the first group to win on "The X Factor" U.K. Little Mix's first post-"X Factor" single, a cover version of Damien Rice's "Cannonball," debuted at No. 1 in the U.K., where it was released in December 2011. Little Mix's debut album (title and released...

Last February, while on a recon mission to the Padres spring training camp, Rymer Liriano was asked about his terrible start at Single-A Lake Elsinore at the start of the 2011 season. In 15 games with the Storm, Liriano, who was 19 at the time, went 8-for-25. That's a .127 average. Believing they had advanced their prized prospect a step too far, the Padres re-routed Liriano to low Single-A Fort Wayne where, after another slow start, he finished the season with a .319 batting average, a .383 on-base percentage, 65 steals, 12 homers, 30 doubles, eight triples, 62 RBI and 81 runs scored. Liriano was named both the Most Valuable Player and Prospect of the...

This is desolate, guilt-ridden country-soul and,...

A limited Balkan vamp aside, this aims for...

Aug 19, 2012 4:45 AM EDT The...

Monday morning, Kimberly Marshall will help her sixth-grade daughter, Madison, pack up before she walks out to the bus stop, where she'll head off to class at Franklin Township Middle School - East. Last year, this would still be relatively fresh to Madison. But this year, her first session of coursework is already a third over. Marshall, 41, and her daughter are among many families adjusting to life under a new "balanced'' school calendar that shortens summer break, but adds additional two-week breaks in the fall and spring in dozens of school districts across Central Indiana. The idea was still relatively new when Indianapolis Public Schools, the state's largest school district, moved to...

Hamels' scoreless streak ended at 23 innings once Aramis Ramirez mashed a change-up deep to left in the second inning. His 107th pitch of the night, an ill-fated 91-m.p.h. fastball, landed as a two-run homer for Ryan Braun. That tainted what otherwise was a pristine outing. It still resulted in victory thanks to a four-out Jonathan Papelbon save. There were no bullpen tryouts on this night for Manuel. Hamels (14-6) dazzled even with the final blemish. In four...

TOKYO (AP) — Japan's Coast Guard says a group of Japanese activists have landed on Uotsuri, one of a group of islands at the center of an escalating territorial dispute with China. The Coast Guard in southern Japan's Okinawa prefecture said nine or 10 activists had landed without authorization early Sunday in the small archipelago known in Japan as the Senkakus and in China as the Diaoyu islands. Plans for the visit drew a protest from China's Foreign Ministry. Photos from Japan's Kyodo News Agency showed several men and a woman brandishing the Japanese flag atop rocks on the shore of the uninhabited island. Join the IHT on Facebook for more of the global conversation. East Asia's Sea...

A US drone strike targeting two militant vehicles early Sunday killed at least four rebels in a restive Pakistani tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said. It was the second missile attack in hours in Shawal district of North Waziristan region, considered a bastion of Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked militants. The first strike which targeted a compound had killed at least six militants in Shuwedar village in Shawal district on Saturday. "US drones fired four missiles...

Muslims around the world are celebrating Eid al-Fitr, as the fasting month of Ramadan is over. Many spend the holiday with family, even if that means a difficult journey home. It is also a time for charity. Al Jazeera's Caroline Malone reports. 42 Source: Al Jazeera Share Send Feedback Featured on Al Jazeera...

KABUL, Afghanistan — After months of military leaders’ attempts to curb killings of American and NATO troops by the Afghan forces serving beside them, Gen. John R. Allen, the top commander in Afghanistan, called an urgent meeting of his generals last Wednesday to address the escalating death toll. Related Two Americans Killed by Afghan Recruit (August 18, 2012) Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @nytimesworld for international breaking news and headlines. Twitter List: Reporters and Editors In a room crowded with more than 40 commanders, the general underscored the need to quickly stop the bloodletting that is sapping morale, according to NATO officials, part of a new emphasis to...

Iraq is helping its neighbor Iran skirt international sanctions by smuggling oil and letting Tehran secretly move large amounts of cash through bank auctions, The New York Times reported Sunday. Last month, US President Barack Obama singled out the Elaf Islamic Bank in Iraq, saying it had arranged transactions worth tens of millions of dollars with Iranian banks already...

The worst hurricane ever to hit Tampa pretty much drowned the site of the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled for the end of the month — at the very height...

NEW YORK (AP) — Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga and Michelle Obama are giving a helping hand to Beyonce. Obama and the pop stars...

Pierre Hantaï, Skip Sempé (harpsichords) (Mirare)...

share Jazz soulmates Haley Reinhart and Casey Abrams will make the leap from the American Idol stage to the prestigious Carnegie Hall this fall.our editor recommends Haley Reinhart Makes 'American Idol' History at Lollapalooza (Video) 'American Idol's' Casey Abrams' Debut Album: Track-By-Track (Exclusive) 'American Idol's' Siobhan Magnus Takes Cue From Adam Lambert, Rocks to KISS at Cape Cod Concert (Video) 'American Idol' Judge Drama: Coke and Pepsi at War Over Nicki Minaj (Exclusive) PHOTOS: Poll: 79% of 'American Idol' Viewers Want Simon Back The Season 10 finalists were invited to participate in a musical showcase with Grammy-winning artist Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz...

Monday morning, Kimberly Marshall will help her sixth-grade daughter, Madison, pack up before she walks out to the bus stop, where she'll head off to class at Franklin Township Middle School - East. Last year, this would still be relatively fresh to Madison. But this year, her first session of coursework is already a third over. Marshall, 41, and her daughter are among many families adjusting to life under a new "balanced'' school calendar that shortens summer break, but adds additional two-week breaks in the fall and spring in dozens of school districts across Central Indiana. The idea was still relatively new when Indianapolis Public Schools, the state's largest school district, moved to...

Choir of St Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh/Ferguson (Delphian)...

Griselda Gamiz cried while watching Olympic flag ceremonies when American athletes won gold medals. But she cries almost every time she hears "The Star-Spangled Banner." "It's just so beautiful," she said of Francis Scott Key's patriotic hymn. "I love it." Gamiz, 24, arrived in Indiana from California when she was 8 years old. She grew up with Indiana-born cousins who were so close they were almost like her brothers. But something about Gamiz often caused her to be left out. She wasn't born in the U.S. On Saturday, she drove three hours to Indianapolis from Angola. It was the start of a journey she hopes will end in full citizenship. And that,...

Related topics Lynyrd SkynyrdRonnie Van ZantGary RossingtonJohnny Van Zant Advertisement In 1975 Lynyrd Skynyrd released their third album in three years with "Nuthin' Fancy". At the time it was their highest charting album as it reached #9 on the Billboard charts and would later be certified Platinum. This record was the first of Skynyrd's to feature a lineup change as Artimus Pyle took over on the drums. Bob Burns had decided to move on as he found life on the road to be overwhelming and they pegged Pyle for the job to replace him. "Nuthin' Fancy" didn't spawn the same amount of success that the first two records did but it has some nuggets that are very much worth listening to. "Nuthin'...

Madonna condemned a law imposing fines for spreading 'homosexual propaganda' at a St Petersburg show. Photograph: Shamukov Ruslan/ITAR-TASS Photo/Corbis A group of Russian anti-gay activists are suing American pop star Madonna for $10m, saying she had insulted their feelings when she spoke out for gay rights at a concert in St Petersburg last week. Performing in black lingerie with the words "No Fear" scrawled on her back, Madonna attacked a city law adopted in March that imposes fines for spreading homosexual "propaganda". She had earlier called the law a "ridiculous atrocity". Homosexuality, punished with jail terms in the Soviet Union, was decriminalised in Russia...

Loading the player... Pussy Riot have been jailed for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred Link to this video Three members of the Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot are facing two years in a prison colony after they were found guilty of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred, in a case seen as the first salvo in Vladimir Putin's crackdown on opposition to his rule. Maria Alyokhina, 24, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, were calmly defiant as a judge handed down the sentence, to cries of "Shame!" inside and outside court. Judge Marina Syrova said she rejected their arguments that they had not intended to offend religious believers but were protesting...

'I think if we can understand who we really are then we can reach a much ­better world' … Harvard biologist Professor Edward Wilson. Photograph: Rick Friedman for the Guardian It's not every day, or even every few decades, that a scientist tears up the dominant interpretation of Darwin's theory of evolution, but two years ago that's what the eminent biologist Edward Wilson and two of his Harvard colleagues did. In a controversial paper that made the cover of the journal Nature, they dismissed the widely accepted, half-century-old theory of "kin selection" and proposed a different explanation of the advanced social behaviour of insects to take its place – a revamped version of something...

By Associated Press Comments Justin Allgaier, driver of the No. 31 Chevrolet, takes the checkered flag after winning the Nationwide Series race in Montreal on Saturday. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images) Montreal â€" Jacques Villeneuve was in the driver's seat heading to the white flag, more than 20 car lengths ahead and his first victory in NASCAR just a lap away on the track named for his dad. Then, in the blink of an eye, Justin Allgaier bumped past him for the victory Saturday in a Nationwide race as a stunned crowd at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve recoiled in disbelief. "It's tough when you have a driver who has his last name on the race track," Allgaier said after his second victory of the...

SHARE AND DISCUSS Tweet Marine scientists have for the first time worked out a systematic way of scoring the health of the world's oceans, in an attempt to assess how well they are coping with the pressures of overfishing , pollution and anything else that affects the well-being of the sea. The overall global score for the Earth's coastal seas is 60 points out of a possible maximum of 100, showing there is still plenty of "room for improvement" , they concluded....

SHARE AND DISCUSS Tweet The opera?" the main character of Kenneth Lonergan's recent film, "Margaret ," sourly asks her mother. "Why are you going to the opera?" The character is just a teenager being sullen, but her question unintentionally gets to the heart of the matter. Why do we go to the opera? What are we hoping to get from it? These are crucial questions as opera companies across America, fighting the same economic headwinds...

Inside a local warehouse, people took turns pretending to take care of injured youngsters in an ER built from thick cardboard. The scenario: Two brothers, ages 16 and 10, were seriously injured in a car crash in the middle of the night. One was brought to the hospital by helicopter, the other by ambulance. Wearing signs on lanyards displaying their roles, the participants wheeled the “patients” on hospital beds through the mock emergency department, tended to their injuries and comforted their distraught mother. It was all just make-believe, but this was no child’s play. The workshop was part of an unusual planning process to create the recently announced $200 million...

By Associated Press Comments Bears star Julius Peppers confirmed that the transcript posted on the UNC website was his. (Garrett Ellwood/Getty Images) Chapel Hill, N.C. â€" Former North Carolina football star Julius Peppers confirmed it was his academic transcript that was posted on the university's website and insists there was "no academic fraud" with it. The Bears defensive end released a statement through his agent Saturday, nearly a week after a link to the transcript surfaced. "This week has been an upsetting and challenging week for me, as one of my most private academic documents appeared on the university's website for public examination," Peppers said. "I'm terribly disappointed in...

Related topics bipolar disorderMental Healthmental illnessdepression Advertisement Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder, a severe and long-term mental illness of which there are four different types. MayoClinic.com explains that the exact cause or causes are unknown, but hormonal imbalances, imbalances in brain chemicals known as neurotransmitters, familial tendencies toward having the illness and episodes of high stress are thought to be involved. Who Gets Bipolar Disorder? This disorder does not discriminate between the sexes; it affects men and women just about equally. The usual age range when bipolar disorder is likely to occur is between 15 years and 25 years of age, but it is not...

By Associated Press Comments Sergio Garcia walks off the green on the 18th hole during the third round of the Wyndham Championship on Saturday in Greensboro, N.C. (Hunter Martin/Getty Images) Greensboro, N.C. â€" No lead is ever really safe at birdie-friendly Sedgefield Country Club. The last time Sergio Garcia played here, he learned that the hard way. Garcia shot a 4-under 66 on Saturday to take the lead at 14-under 196 after three rounds at the Wyndham Championship. It's a familiar spot for the Spaniard, who shared the third-round lead in 2009 but wound up finishing fourth after falling a stroke shy of a three-man playoff. "Eighteen pars are not going to win it," Garcia said. "You have to...