Seeding to No. 1 Chicago Bulls

Joakim Noah has a pretty good idea what to expect on Thursday night.
The Chicago Bulls host the Boston Celtics in a game that could have a big impact on the race for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, and he anticipates a charged atmosphere at the United Center.
"I think it's going to be a zoo in here on Thursday," he said. "It's very exciting."
These, indeed, are exciting times in Chicago.
With 16 wins in 18 games and the No. 1 seed in reach, the Bulls haven't had it this good since the Michael Jordan championship era.
They were three games ahead of Miami and Boston at 57-20 after hanging on to beat Phoenix on Tuesday. A win over the Celtics would all but eliminate them from the race for the top seed. The Bulls would be four games ahead of Boston four to go in the regular season.
The next tiebreaker if they finished with identical records would be conference play, and at the moment, the Celtics are 35-12 with the Bulls 34-13 against the East.
"It means a lot," veteran forward Luol Deng said. "(The top seed) gives you the homecourt, but also, just having the best record tells a lot about the kind of season you had."
Big things were expected after a major offseason overhaul that came on the heels of back-to-back 41-win seasons and first-round playoff exits.
The Bulls fired coach Vinny Del Negro and replaced him with Tom Thibodeau. They were big spenders in free agency, landing Carlos Boozer and adding depth on their bench after failing to sign LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
Even so, most expected them to finish behind Boston, Miami and Orlando. Well, now look at them.
Derrick Rose is challenging for the MVP award. Thibodeau is a strong coach of the year candidate, and the Bulls are leading the East even though Boozer and Noah have missed significant chunks of the season due to injuries.
"You want to go step by step," said Thibodeau, who broke Phil Jackson's club record for wins by a first-year coach. "You focus on each game. You want to put as many things in your favor as possible. Being the highest seed possible is important. You can't say that it's not, but you have to take it step by step."
Beating Boston would be a big one.
Beyond that, though, the Bulls realize they also need to address some issues.
They were beaten on the boards for the third time in five games Tuesday, although they're still outrebounding opponents by a league-high 5.56 per game, and they let a 22-point lead in the second half dwindle to two before pulling out a 97-94 win over the Suns. Noah was a bit out of sync after missing three games with a sprained right ankle, finishing with 12 points and four rebounds.
"A lot of balls have been coming out of my hands," he said. "I have to do a better job of that."
The Bulls need to do a better job finishing off opponents. Besides the late drama with Phoenix, they had some defensive lapses against Toronto in the previous game and struggled to put away the Raptors.
"It's a lot of things we need to tighten up," Deng said. "We all know that. We're not panicking. The last few games, we've got to do a better job, especially in the second half. ... It's stuff that I'm sure we'll sort it out."
This would be a good time, with Boston coming to town.
Is it a statement game?
"No," Thibodeau, the former Celtics assistant, shot back. It is, however, an important one.
"They're a very talented team, they're well-coached," Thibodeau said. "There's not anything that we're doing that they don't know, and there's not anything that they're doing that we don't know. It'll come down to how well we can execute and how well they can execute. They're the defending Eastern Conference champions. Until someone knocks them off, you've got to be ready to compete with them."
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Yemens Death Toll

World anger over bloodshed in Yemen and pressure on President Ali Abdullah Saleh to stand down mounted on Wednesday after at least 24 people were killed in as many hours.
Strong statements from the United States, United Nations, European Union, Britain and Italy came as Saleh's foes cautiously welcomed a proposal by Gulf states to mediate in their demands for the veteran president to step down.
Five people were killed on Tuesday in a firefight in Sanaa between troops of an army division that has sided with anti-regime protesters and tribesmen close to Saleh, security officials said.
The deaths came as dissident General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar accused forces loyal to Saleh of trying to kill him in an ambush in which an unspecified number of other people lost their lives.
Members of the presidential guard, who had masqueraded as part of a delegation of tribal envoys visiting the headquarters of Ahmar's rebel division, pulled out weapons and opened fire on the general, his office said.
Tuesday's clashes near the Sanaa University base of youth protesters came a day after 19 demonstrators were gunned down in clashes with security forces in the southern city of Taez and in Hudaydah on the Red Sea.
Security forces in Taez, among them rooftop snipers, shot dead 17 people after protesters demanding Saleh's ouster marched on the provincial headquarters in the city.
That prompted the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to condemn the "disproportionate and excessive" use of force in Taez.
"We are very alarmed by reports of disproportionate and excessive use of force, including machine guns, against peaceful protesters by government security forces," said Navi Pillay's spokesman.
In Washington, White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement: "The United States strongly condemns the use of violence by Yemeni government forces against demonstrators in Sanaa, Taiz, and Hodeida in the past several days".
"The Yemeni people have a right to demonstrate peacefully, and we remind President Ali Abdullah Saleh of his responsibility to ensure the safety and security of Yemenis who are exercising their universal right to engage in political expression."
"We call upon the Government of Yemen to conduct full investigations into these events and to hold those responsible accountable for their actions," Carney said.
In a further sign of ebbing support for Saleh, the statement called on him to resolve the political impasse with the opposition so that "meaningful" political change could take place in an orderly and peaceful manner.
In London, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he was appalled by the bloodshed and condemned the "indiscriminate violence" of security forces.
"In early March, President Saleh promised to maintain maximum restraint in the use of the Yemeni security forces in controlling peaceful demonstrations. We strongly urge him to keep that promise," he said.
And Italy urged Sanaa to "cease all forms of violence" against demonstrators and to open the way for "a constructive dialogue as soon as possible with those who are peacefully calling for a new season of reforms".
On the political front, opposition spokesman Mohammed Qahtan said "we have welcomed (a Gulf Cooperation Council invitation) and said we will attend, but to discuss a transfer of power only".
An official source said the government was also in favour of talks, which would be held in the Saudi capital Riyadh at a date to be determined.
But other figures in the opposition remained cautious.
"We welcome any effort that would lead to (Saleh's) immediate departure, but we haven't received anything to discuss yet," said Mohammed al-Sabri, another top opposition official.
The European Union urged Saleh to begin a political transition "without delay", a day after Washington pressed him to negotiate a peaceful handover, warning that Al-Qaeda stood ready to benefit from a power vacuum.
According to medics and witnesses, about 125 people have now been killed in Yemen's crackdown on protesters, who launched nationwide demonstrations in late January to unseat Saleh, in power since 1978.
Washington, which has considered Saleh a key ally in its "war on terror" but expressed fears of Al-Qaeda taking advantage of a prolonged crisis, is now pressing him to negotiate a transition of power.
"We are obviously concerned that in this period of political unrest that Al-Qaeda and other groups will attempt to take advantage of that power vacuum," White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Monday.
But the Pentagon said there were no plans to suspend US military aid to Yemen.
"As far as I know, it has not been," press secretary Geoff Morrell said when asked at a news conference if the US administration was considering withholding military aid due to the unrest and violence.
"Obviously, we are monitoring the situation closely. It's fluid," Morrell said.
Amnesty International warned on Wednesday against any immunity deal for those responsible for the deaths of dozens of anti-regime demonstrators in Yemen, especially the "Black Friday" bloodbath.
"The international community must play a more active role if Yemenis are to get accountability for the bloody killings of recent weeks," the London-based human rights organisation said.
In the Bloody Friday bloodbath of March 18, 52 people were gunned down in what the rights group called "an apparently coordinated sniper attack on a protest camp in Sanaa".

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Journalists Page on Facebook

Facebook has launched a media resource page to help journalists use the social network as a reporting tool and better connect with their audience.
The "Journalists on Facebook" page is intended to be "an ongoing resource for the growing number of reporters using Facebook to find sources, interact with readers, and advance stories," Justin Osofsky, Facebook's director of media partnerships, said in a blog post.
"The page will provide journalists with best practices for integrating the latest Facebook products with their work and connecting with the Facebook audience of more than 500 million people," Osofsky said.
Facebook has been working with journalists since early 2010 to help make their content more social and Osofsky said the average media organization has seen referral traffic from Facebook soar over 300 percent since then.
Facebook also said it was launching a "Facebook Journalism Meetup" program with workshops on how to use Facebook as a reporting tool.
It said the first one will be held on April 27 at Facebook headquarters in Palo Alto, California.
Within hours of going up, the Journalists on Facebook page had received nearly 2,300 "likes."
Among those friending the page were CBS television news anchor Katie Couric, ABC's evening news anchor Diane Sawyer and ABC Sunday talk show host Christiane Amanpour, formerly of CNN.

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Worlds Billionaire

CARLOS SLIM HELU

$74 B

* Age: 71
* Title: Chairman
* Organization: Telmex
* Source: telecom, self-made
* Residence: Mexico City, Mexico
* Country of citizenship: Mexico
* Education: BA/BS, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
* Marital Status: Widow
* Children: 6



BILL GATES

$56 B

* Age: 55
* Title: Co-Chair
* Organization: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
* Source: Microsoft, self-made
* Residence: Medina, WA
* Country of citizenship: United States
* Education: Dropout, Harvard University
* Marital Status: Married
* Children: 3



WARREN BUFFETT

$50 B

* Age: 80
* Title: CEO
* Organization: Berkshire Hathaway
* Source: Berkshire Hathaway, self-made
* Residence: Omaha, NE
* Country of citizenship: United States
* Education: MS, Columbia University; BA/BS, University of Nebraska Lincoln
* Marital Status: Widowed, Remarried
* Children: 3

Samsung GT-e2652w Champ

The New Samsung Champ

The Samsung Champ Duos aka GT-E2652W. What then is new to this Champ model? Well basically, all the specs in the previous model of Champ and in addition, it has dual-SIM capability and WiFi.

Samsung announced this in February this year and it hit local stores just last April 1. Last night I saw it in one of the stores in SM Mall of Asia (MOA). Price is very reasonable for an entry level phone and even more for one with dual-SIM capability and WiFi enabled. It retails for about Php5,800.

GSM Arena says the battery life have improved as against the old Champ that can only last up to 12 hours talk time, the Champ Duos can make it up to 14 hours of talk time.
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Richest Celebrity Couples

Question: Beyonce and Jay-Z: Each of this husband-and-wife team is a music icon in their own right, but who out-earns the other?

Answer: Beyonce does.

According to Forbes, in 2010 Beyonce made $87 million from a combination of touring, endorsements and her clothing line, House of Dereon. Meanwhile, her husband, former Def Jam Recordings CEO and winner of 13 Grammy Awards, Jay-Z, earned $63 million from his newest album, Blueprint III and its subsequent tour, as well as from investments in the 40/40 Club, the New Jersey Nets and the Broadway show "Fela!"

Question: Tom Brady or Gisele Bundchen: Does football or professional modeling bring in the bigger bucks?

Answer: Tom does.

As the world's highest-paid supermodel, Bundchen earns about $25 million per year, which beat out her hubby's $3.5 million football paycheck for the past several years. But in 2010, Brady signed a new four-year deal, complete with a $16 million signing bonus, that will garner him about $36.5 million this season alone. While this is the first time he has surpassed Bundchen in income, she can look forward to being tackled monetarily for years to come as his salary is set to increase throughout the term of the contract. However, the NFL lockout at the end of this year may hit Brady in the wallet because if there are no games, there will be little-to-no pay.

Question: Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt: Passionate about their children and human rights, the acting careers of this supercouple have catapulted them into A-list stars. But who do you think makes more?

Answer: They both are equal.

Believe it or not, according to Forbes in 2010 they each brought home a $20 million paycheck. Talk about equals.

Question: Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart: This dynamic duo of Edward and Bella from the "Twilight" movie saga has also earned the love of teens worldwide. So who has a bigger bite?

Answer: Kristen does.

According to Vanity Fair, even with his smoldering vampire eyes, Pattinson sank just below his love, drawing in $27.5 million to Stewart's $28.5 million. But for those taking sides in the Team Edward-Team Jacob plotline, Team Jacob takes a win overall -- even if he doesn't get Bella's heart -- as Taylor Lautner out-earned Pattinson and Stewart, grossing $33.5 million last year.

Question: Cameron Diaz and Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod): She's the actress with the legs that never stop and he's baseball's stud third baseman for the New York Yankees. Together they make a winning combination of looks and athleticism. When not feeding each other popcorn at the Super Bowl, who outruns the other in the paycheck department?

Answer: Alex does.

A-Rod is just a little outside with $33 million to Cameron's $32 million. Talk about a close call

Air France Atlantic Jet Crash

Salvage workers will soon start pulling up from the ocean floor the bodies of passengers and wreckage found almost two years after an Air France jet plunged into the Atlantic, officials said Monday.
The discovery of the wreckage, described by relatives of the victims as "very encouraging", has raised hopes that the plane's black box flight recorders will be located and that investigators will finally be able to uncover the cause of the mysterious crash that claimed 228 lives in June 2009.
"It's very encouraging for us who have been without news and and now have hope of retrieving the bodies. We can finally bury them," said Nelson Marinho, president of the association of relatives of the victims.
Investigators announced on Sunday that a fourth and final attempt to find the remains of the Airbus A330 that crashed en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris had been successful.
French Transport Minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said some bodies had been seen in the remains of the cabin, photographed by three Remus autonomous submarines.
"There are still some bodies in the section that has been found," Kosciuscko-Morizet told France Inter radio on Monday, adding that "some identifications" could be possible.
Salvage operations could begin within a month to recover the bodies and the wreckage.
Investigators now hope to find the the twin-engine plane's black box flight data recorders, said the head of France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA) Jean-Paul Troadec.

• Enlarge Photo

  The Brazilian Navy recovers part of the tail section from the Air France A330 aircraft …

• Enlarge Photo

  New wreckage found after a search is resumed at site where Air France plane crashed …

"The favourable news is that the debris area is relatively concentrated. And this gives us hope of finding the black boxes," he said, adding that the latest find consisted of "engines and certain elements of the wings".
Previous searches recovered a limited amount of wreckage and about 50 bodies.
The new search was launched on March 25 with the help of the Alucia, an exploration vessel of the US-based Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, and included a much larger area of a 46-mile (75-kilometre) radius around the last known position of Flight 447.
A source close to the investigation said the wreckage was found "near the (plane's) last known position, in a limited area a few hundred metres (yards) to the west of this position.
"The fact that the debris is concentrated in a relatively small area favours the hypothesis that the plane did not break up in flight. The plane was intact when it hit the sea," the source said.
The official cause remains undetermined, but the crash has been partly blamed on malfunctioning speed sensors used by Airbus, with Air France accused of not responding quickly enough to reports that they might be faulty.
"Studying the breaks, how the pieces are bent, will show whether the plane hit the water flat, on its side, etc. It will perhaps give some indication of the speed of the impact," the source said.
But investigators and Airbus remain cautious, stressing that without the black boxes the riddle of the plane's last moments may never be solved.
"We do hope that this discovery will lead to the retrieval and the reading of the two recorders because these data are essential for the understanding of this accident," said Airbus boss Tom Enders.
Air France and Airbus -- who are being probed for alleged manslaughter in connection with the crash, the deadliest in the carrier's history -- are paying the estimated $12.7 million (nine million euro) cost of the search.

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Egyptian VS Algerian Riot

The violent madness that engulfs Egyptian and Algerian footballing relations exploded yet again, this time during Saturday's African Champions League match between Egpyt's Zamalek and Tunisia's Club Africain. With Zamalek leading 2-1 in the second leg but still down 5-4 on aggregate, they had a vital late goal disallowed after being ruled offside. The home fans decided to blame the match's Algerian referee and in stoppage time, hundreds of them stormed the pitch.

The match was abandoned as the officials fled the scene and the crazies on the pitch threw stones, lit flares and attacked both the players and each other.

From Reuters:

An Egyptian official in the ministry of health said nine people were injured in the incident, according to the state news agency MENA. He did not give their nationalities.

The incident revived the soccer tension between Egypt and Algeria of the recent past.

Algeria and Egypt had a diplomatic row late in 2009 over an ill-tempered qualification match for the World Cup.

Both sides traded accusations about crowd violence and intimidation and Cairo withdrew its ambassador from Algiers.

Africain will likely be awarded the victory once this mess is sorted out and Zamalek should be in for some kind of sanctions against them (key word there being "should"). Also, note how the video above ends with a creepy horror movie type cut out, making it just that much more disturbing. We don't know for sure, but there's a good chance that's when Godzilla attacked.

UPDATE: Egypt prime minister Essam Sharaf has apologized to Tunisia, the Africain players and the Algerian referee for what he described as "an act of thuggery" at Cairo Stadium. He has ordered the interior ministry to launch an investigation and called for the African Champions League to be suspended.

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41 Dead in Pakistan Suicide Blasts at Sufi Shrine

MULTAN, Pakistan (Reuters) - Two Taliban suicide bombers caused carnage on Sunday at a Sufi shrine in eastern Pakistan, killing at least 41 people and wounding scores in the latest bloody attack on minority religious groups.
"These were suicide bombings and we arrested an attacker who could not completely detonate the explosives on his body. He was wounded," Zahid Ali, a police officer in Dera Ghazi Khan city where the blasts took place, told Reuters by telephone.
Police said some 65 people were wounded. They said the attackers struck during an annual ceremony for the Sufi saint to whom the shrine is dedicated.
"I was just a few yards away from the place where the blast happened," said witness Faisal Iqbal.
"People started running outside the shrine. Women and children were crying and screaming. It was like hell."
Taliban militants, who follow an austere interpretation of Sunni Islam, condemn other interpretations of Islam as heretical and have launched repeated attacks on the country's Shi'ite, Sufi and Christian minorities. They claimed responsibility for Sunday's suicide bombings.
"Our men carried out these attacks and we will carry out more in retaliation for government operations against our people in the northwest," Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.
Last October, a bomb blast at a Sufi shrine in another eastern city, Pak Pattan, killed six people. In July, 42 people were killed in a bomb attack in Pakistan's most important Sufi shrine, in Lahore, the capital of eastern Punjab province.
Many analysts say the attacks are motivated by more than religious hatred, and that militant groups hope by inflaming sectarian tensions they can further destabilise Pakistan and weaken the government's tenuous grip on the country.
(Additional reporting by Kamran Haider and Mubasher Bokhari, writing by Andrew Marshall, editing by Daniel Magnowski)
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WWE Morrison Got new Look

-- WWE Hall of Famer Jimmy Hart said yesterday on Hillbilly Jim's "Moonshine Matinee" show on SIRIUS that actor Jim Carrey would be attending WrestleMania XXVII.
-- As noted earlier here on the website, TNA Wrestling talent Tommy Dreamer and former WWE star Ernest Miller were among those visiting the WWE crew at their hotel this weekend.

-- John Morrison announced today that he is debuting a 'new look' tonight at WrestleMania XXVII.



WWE posted a video of Morrison showing off a pair of bedazzled pants. You can view it at the end of this post.

"Sports entertainment is all about evolution," he said. "You've got to evolve, constantly keep yourself fresh, and I think this is one of the ways I'm going to do that."