Criminal lawyer courts UK charts in her alter ego as pop star

SYDNEY (Reuters) - An Australian lawyer who for years has traded her staid court robes and wig for fur and lycra to sing pop tunes in her off hours now stands only a step away from every musician's dream - breaking into the top 10 on the music charts.

"Luv Bomb", the debut single by "Bowie Jane", the 27-year-old's musical alter ego, has climbed to No. 11 on the UK Pop Club Charts in the high point of a double life she has kept secret for more than four years.

"Of course my close friends were aware ... but generally it hasn't been too hard to keep the two separate," said Bowie Jane, declining to reveal her real name, in an email to Reuters.

"I dress differently in court and I don't have a fringe. On stage you wouldn't pick it was the same person."

Passionate about music all her life, she originally wanted to pursue it as a career but went to university and became a lawyer to please her parents, who wanted her to have something practical to fall back on.

A typical day involved arriving at court, meeting with clients and preparing a case before racing off in the evening for her shows. Once, she had to leave early to get to her performance on the main stage at the Australian Open tennis.

"I'd perform, then go home with a husky voice, rest and get up and do court the next day," she said.

The hectic double life occasionally has led to her wearing her stage costumes under her legal robes.

"I really have to flick my mind from one mode to the other. I am very serious in court and on stage I am the complete opposite," she said.

(Reporting By Thuy Ong; Editing by Elaine Lies)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/criminal-lawyer-courts-uk-charts-her-alter-ego-065919582.html

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Pakistan's Musharraf flees court as judge orders his arrest

By Matthew Green

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was forced to flee a courtroom on Thursday moments after judges ordered his arrest, dealing a fresh blow to hopes of reviving his political career at next month's general elections.

Musharraf's hasty exit from the Islamabad High Court seemed to symbolize the diminished influence of a former army chief who once dominated Pakistan's political landscape, but whose bid to stage a triumphal comeback has garnered widespread scorn.

The order pushed Pakistan's increasingly audacious judiciary into uncharted territory, challenging a long-standing, unwritten rule that the top ranks of the army, which ruled Pakistan for decades, are untouchable.

"Islamabad High Court has canceled Musharraf's bail and ordered his arrest," Mohammad Amjad, secretary-general of Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League party, told Reuters.

Amjad added that Musharraf's lawyers would lodge an appeal against the arrest order at the Supreme Court later in the day.

Despite Taliban death threats and a host of legal challenges, Musharraf returned from almost four years of self-imposed exile in London and Dubai last month in the hope of winning a seat in the National Assembly at the May 11 polls.

But his arrival has placed him at the mercy of judges whose memories are still raw of a showdown in 2007 when he sacked the chief justice, placed his colleagues under house arrest, and lawyers fought running battles with police.

Musharraf's hopes of standing in the elections were dashed earlier this week when election officers barred him from standing, in part due to the various legal challenges he faces.

On Thursday, a judge ordered he be detained in connection with allegations he committed treason during his 2007 confrontation with the judges when he declared emergency rule, a move which violated the constitution.

HUMILIATING SPECTACLE

Pakistani television repeatedly broadcast footage of Musharraf dashing from the court in a black SUV as several disgruntled lawyers made half-hearted attempts to pursue his vehicle - a scene that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago when Musharraf was at the height of his powers.

Police made no immediate move to arrest Musharraf, who retreated to a farm in an exclusive residential estate on the outskirts of Islamabad.

Some commentators believe it is unlikely Musharraf, who seized power in a 1999 coup and resigned in 2008, will be arrested since the military would be unlikely to tolerate such a humiliating spectacle for a retired chief.

"I don't think the military establishment would support any move against him," said Mehdi Hasan, a newspaper columnist.

Although Musharraf's legal battles have provided an electrifying sideshow in the election race, he commands scant popular support and the outcome of the drama is unlikely to have much impact on the final results.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the man Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999, is seen as the frontrunner to win the premiership.

Pakistan's military has ruled the nation for more than half of its 66-year history, through coups or from behind the scenes. It sets foreign and security policy even when civilian administrations are in power.

Pakistan's judiciary has, however, taken an increasingly assertive stance in recent years in confrontations with both the government and the army, and the arrest order against a former army chief is sure to rankle some in the military.

Musharraf's decision to return has mystified many Pakistanis, with commentators questioning whether he misjudged the degree of popular support he might be able to muster.

He faces charges of failing to provide adequate security for former prime minister Benazir Bhutto before she was assassinated in late 2007.

Musharraf also faces accusations in connection with the death of a separatist leader in the southwestern province of Baluchistan. He denies any wrongdoing.

(Reporting by Mubasher Bukhari; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-court-orders-arrest-former-president-musharraf-055350712.html

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Poop in paradise: The smell of (environmental) success?

A swanky beach enclave seeks relief from the stench of bird poop, but environmentalists say the guano shows local birds have been brought back from the brink of extinction.

By Julie Watson,?Associated Press / April 9, 2013

Pelicans and cormorants gather on the cliffs above the cove in the affluent La Jolla section of San Diego, April 2. The birds have turned the cliffs white with their droppings and caused a stench in an area full of affluent tourists.

Lenny Ignelzi / AP

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La Jolla's jagged coastline is strictly protected by environmental laws to ensure the San Diego community remains the kind of seaside jewel that has attracted swanky restaurants, top-flight hotels and some of the nation's rich and famous, including billionaire businessman Irwin Jacobs and former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

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Tourists flock to the place. So do birds. Lots of birds. And with those birds comes lots of poop.

So rather than gasping in amazement at the beautiful views, some are holding their noses from the stench coming from the droppings that cake coastal rocks and outcroppings near its business district.

"We've had to relocate tables inside because when people go out to the patio, some are like 'Oh my God. I can't handle the smell,'" said Christina Collignon, a hostess at Eddie V's, a steak and seafood restaurant perched on a cliff straight up from the guano-coated rocks.

On a recent afternoon, tourists on spring break walked along the sea wall. Some scrunched up their faces in disgust.

"It smells like something dead," said Meghan Brummett as she looked at the birds with her husband and children. The family was visiting from Brawley, a farming town two hours east of San Diego.

Biologists say the odor is the smell of success: Environmental protections put in place over the past few decades have brought back endangered species.

Cormorants and brown pelicans nearly became extinct in the 1970s because of the pesticide DDT. The brown pelican was taken off the federal endangered species list in 2010, and its population, including the Caribbean and Latin America, is estimated at more than 650,000. The total U.S. cormorant population is about 2 million.

La Jolla is a state-designated area of "special biological significance." That means California strictly regulates its waters to protect its abundant marine life, which also attracts birds.

"We're kind of a victim of our own success," said Robert Pitman, a marine biologist at the National Marine Fisheries Service in La Jolla. "We've provided a lot of bird protections so now we're getting a lot of birds. I think we're going to be seeing more of these conflicts come about, and I think we'll have to deal with them on a case-by-case basis. I think there'll have to be compromises all around."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/lzeeFgXntYM/Poop-in-paradise-The-smell-of-environmental-success

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China's struggle to measure economy clouds outlook

BEIJING (AP) ? After China reported quarterly economic growth of 7.7 percent this week ? far above anemic U.S. and European performance ? global markets reacted by falling, wiping billions of dollars off stock prices.

The reason? Growth came in under the 8 percent expected by private sector forecasters who relied on Chinese trade and other data.

The market plunge highlighted complaints about the possible inaccuracy of Beijing's official data and the intense, possibly excessive importance traders attach to a handful of Chinese economic indicators.

What matters more than a difference of a few tenths of a percentage point in growth from quarter to quarter is whether Chinese leaders are allowing the private sector to flourish by reducing the role of state industry in the economy, said Ben Simpfendorfer, managing director of Silk Road Associates, a consulting firm in Hong Kong.

"There is an obsession with these GDP numbers, and what really matters at this point is reform," said Simpfendorfer, a former Royal Bank of Scotland economist.

China is watched especially closely because it is a major market for foreign goods from iron ore to smartphones and is relatively healthy, fueling hopes Chinese demand can help offset weakness in the U.S., Europe and Japan.

Confusion about how fast China is growing can hamper foreign and private companies in industries from construction to chemicals to consumer goods as they make plans for business and investment.

Beijing's problems in keeping track of its economy stem in part from the fact that while it is surpassed only by the United States in size, China is growing and changing much faster than any rich country.

An understaffed bureaucracy inherited from the era of central planning is struggling to keep up with changes in trade, finance, manufacturing and city growth. Chinese companies have an incentive to avoid taxes or boost export rebates by misreporting sales and profits. Secrecy surrounding the collection and processing of official statistics leaves open the possibility they might be altered for political reasons.

Foreign and private companies look at government data with skepticism. Many rely on watching their own industries and markets more closely. The government still is the only source for most nationwide data, but a growing number of banks and research firms are developing their own based on surveys of companies and consumers.

"I think everyone doing business in China is skeptical of the data," said analyst Alistair Thornton of IHS Global Insight.

Thornton said three of China's most closely watched yardsticks are rife with potential problems ? exports, real estate sales and credit.

Export data have gotten the most attention lately after some analysts suggested companies might be inflating values on customs declarations. That might be intended to let them evade currency controls and move money into China. Reporting rising prices while exporting the same amount of goods might give a false impression of higher production.

The customs agency defended itself this month, saying its reports were based on goods that really were exported. However, that would not prevent exporters from submitting inflated values for them.

March exports were "substantially lower than reported numbers," which might have helped lead to the discrepancy between GDP forecasts and the government report, said RBS economists Louis Kuijs and Tiffany Qiu in a report.

Monday's unexpected decline in reported growth from 7.9 percent in the final quarter of 2012 was severe enough that economists responded by cutting their growth outlook for China this year.

JP Morgan economist Hongbin Qu scaled back his forecast from 8.2 percent to a still-healthy 7.8 percent, while Kuijs and Qiu at RBS reduced theirs from 8.4 percent to 7.8 percent.

Data showing rising bank loans and other credit, another key indicator, also might be inflated, according to Thornton. He said official figures might mistakenly count the same money two, three or more times as credit is extended from one company to another and then to a third.

Government figures on home sales also might give a false picture of the strength of the housing market because they rely on seller-reported prices without independent measurement.

Chinese economic growth figures are, like those of other countries, estimates that are often revised later.

Unlike other countries, though, China's revisions can be huge. In 2009, Beijing raised its official 2007 growth rate from an already eye-popping 11.9 percent to 13 percent. That suggested its earlier estimate failed to take account of tens of billions of dollars in economic activity.

Economists also note that even where Chinese data are reliable, they can be pumped up by investment or government spending that might do little for long-term prosperity.

Chinese leaders are trying to nurture more self-sustaining growth based on domestic consumption rather than exports and investment. That will drag down the overall growth rate in the short run.

The World Bank and other advisers have warned that to keep growth strong, Beijing needs to curb the dominance of state industry and encourage free-market competition ? a factor that isn't reflected in the headline numbers.

On Monday, China's surprise growth hiccup triggered selling in Western and Asian stock markets. The Dow ended at 14,648, a drop of 1.4 percent and the Standard & Poor's 500 slumped 1.9 percent to 1,559.

Thornton noted that last week, global stocks rose after China's report of stronger March trade, even though analysts said the data probably were inaccurate and exports weaker than they appeared.

"We all know markets are not particularly rational and overshoot or undershoot and wipe billions of dollars off market cap off indices over what we think is a misreading of various data points," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinas-struggle-measure-economy-clouds-outlook-103639051--finance.html

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Appeals court to hear challenge to gay therapy ban

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? A federal appeals court is to hear arguments Wednesday on whether a first-of-its-kind law that prohibits licensed mental health professionals in California from offering therapies aimed at making gay and lesbian teenagers straight violates the civil rights of practitioners and parents.

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is considering two legal challenges to the ban on "sexual orientation change efforts" that was passed by the California Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown last fall.

The ban, which was scheduled to take effect Jan. 1, was put on hold by the 9th Circuit pending resolution of the closely watched cases. It spurred similar legislation still being considered by lawmakers in New Jersey,

The law states that therapists and counselors who treat minors with methods designed to eliminate or reduce their same-sex attractions would be engaging in unprofessional conduct and subject to discipline by state licensing boards. The activities of pastors and lay counselors who are unlicensed but provide such therapy through church programs would not be covered.

The cases before the appeals court ? brought by professionals who practice sexual orientation change therapy, two families who say their teenage sons benefited from it and a national association of Christian mental health counselors ? argue that the ban infringes on their free speech, freedom of association and religious rights, and in the case of the counselors, jeopardizes their livelihoods.

"The state has determined that the only permissible message (is that) same-sex attractions, behavior or identity are to be accepted, supported and understood, thus suppressing all other viewpoints to the detriment of licensed professionals and their vulnerable minor clients," lawyers for the families, several practitioners and the professional group said.

"The viewpoint of counselors who in their professional judgment determine that same-sex attractions conflict with the religious and moral beliefs of clients and are not desired, is silenced by SB 1172. This raises a serious constitutional question."

Supporters, including the governor and Attorney General Kamala Harris, say the prohibition on "reparative" and "conversion" therapy is necessary to protect children from a coercive practice that can put them at increased risk of suicide and whose efficacy has been questioned or rejected by every major mental health professional association.

Harris has argued that the law "is based on a scientific and professional consensus reached decades ago that homosexuality is a normal expression of human sexuality and not a disease, condition, or disorder in need of a 'cure.'"

Reflecting the competing issues before the appeals court, the two Sacramento-based trial judges who handled the lawsuits in December reached differing conclusions on whether the ban violates the U.S. Constitution.

One refused to block the law after ruling that the plaintiffs were unlikely to prove the prohibition unfairly tramples on their civil rights and should therefore be overturned. The other said he found the First Amendment issues presented by the ban to be compelling and ordered the state to temporarily exempt the three people named in the case before him.

The panel hearing the cases Wednesday consists of Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, who was appointed by Ronald Reagan in 1985, Judge Susan Graber, a 1998 appointee of Bill Clinton's, and Judge Morgan Christen, a 2012 appointee of President Barack Obama. The judges do not have a deadline for issuing a decision.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/appeals-court-hear-challenge-gay-therapy-ban-073913241.html

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Kerry: China must do more to resolve North Korean missile crisis

Wrapping up his six-nation tour, Secretary of State John Kerry told NBC's Andrea Mitchell he's open to direct talks between the U.S. and North Korea, if Pyongyang stops testing nuclear weapons and issuing threats.

By Andrea Mitchell and Ian Johnston, NBC News

TOKYO -- Secretary of State John Kerry has called on China to do more to help resolve the North Korean missile crisis, saying the country provided the Pyongyang regime with a ?lifeline.?

In an interview with NBC's TODAY that aired on Monday, Kerry also said any deal with the rogue state would need to be structured so that Pyongyang could not later renege on its terms.

In Beijing, John Kerry tried to persuade China's President Xi Jinping to lean on his ally, North Korea - arguing that Pyongyang's erratic young leader is now threatening the stability of the entire region. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

The crisis developed after North Korea threatened to carry out a pre-emptive nuclear strike against its enemies in response to United Nations sanctions imposed because of an underground nuclear test in February and a rocket test in December.

In recent days the North Koreans have readied missiles for launch and some speculated this would happen on Monday, when the nation celebrates the birth of founder Kim Il Sung, current leader Kim Jong Un?s grandfather.

In an interview in Tokyo before flying back to the U.S. on Monday, Kerry said that if the missiles were not fired ?that would mean perhaps we're turning a corner and there's a possibility of moving in a better direction.?

?Everybody understands the negative side of what happens if there is a shoot.? And my hope is that we can move in a different direction here. China, I think, is serious about this,? he said. ?They understand the instability this is creating.?

Kerry said it was ?very important? for the United States to make clear to North Korea that there would be ?consequences for their action? and to reaffirm its security agreements with its allies in the region.

?That done, I think it is very important to the Chinese to focus on the fact that ... if they're not prepared to put the pressure on the North -- and they have the greatest ability to have an impact on the North -- then this can become more destabilizing,? he said. ?And that instability is not in China's interest, certainly. It's not in anybody's interest in the region.?

?So if we're going to operate according to what's in people's interest, China's and everybody else's, I believe China needs to become more engaged in this effort,? he said.

Secretary of State John Kerry opened the door to direct disarmament talks with North Korea, but there is still no sign Kim Jong Un is prepared to stop testing nuclear weapons. NBC's Andrea Mitchell reports.

?It is obvious that China is the lifeline to North Korea. Everybody knows that China provides the vast majority of the fuel to North Korea.? China is their biggest trading party, their biggest food donor and so forth,? he added.

When asked about a comment by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., that North Korea had a history of breaking diplomatic deals, Kerry replied: "John is absolutely correct, that has been the pattern. And I have raised that issue with the Chinese ? There has been a history of ... just playing this game and then ultimately there's cheating or a complete reneging. We are determined, I am determined to try to find if there is a different formula.? And that is a ? conversation that I specifically had with the Chinese.?

On Sunday, Kerry said the United States was prepared to ?reach out? to North Korea?s leadership.

The United States has offered talks, but on the precondition that North Korea abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions. North Korea deems its nuclear arms a "treasured sword" and has vowed never to give them up.

On Monday, North Korean state media made hardly a mention of conflict in contrast to weeks of tirades against its enemies in what some saw as good sign.

"South Korea and the United States have sent a message for dialogue, so for now the North is switching to that mode," Yang Moo-jin, of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul, told Reuters. "The North's strategic intention has been to try to get some kind of response from the United States and South Korea and now they have that. They won't be brushing away the suggestions to enter dialogue lightly."?

'Bright faces'
In Pyongyang on Monday, residents spilled into the streets in apparent celebration, The Associated Press reported. Girls in red and pink jackets skipped along streets festooned with celebratory banners and flags and parents pushed strollers with babies bundled up against the chill.

"Although the situation is tense, people have got bright faces and are very happy," Han Kyong Sim, a drink stand worker, told the AP.?

The youngest son of Kim Jong Il succeeded his late father in 2011, becoming the third member of his family to rule the unpredictable and reclusive communist state.

North Korea's state-controlled KCNA news agency reported that Kim Jong Un had received a letter from the Central Committee of the Anti-Imperialist National Democratic Front that praised his grandfather.

?The life of Kim Il Sung was an epic-like one of an invincible hero who clarified the truth that arms are a lifeline of the nation and guarantees the victory of revolution, restored the country by leading to victory the hard-fought battles against the Japanese and the U.S. imperialists,? the letter said.

The letter ?pledged to join the all-people resistance to frustrate the frantic moves of the hostile forces for a nuclear war and make positive contribution to bringing about a fresh turn in the efforts for national reunification,? KCNA said.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said it remained on guard against any missile launch to coincide with Kim Il Sung?s birth, Reuters reported.

"The military is not easing up on its vigilance on the activities of the North's military with the view that they can conduct a provocation at any time," a ministry spokesman said.?

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Related:

Kerry in Japan: US ready to 'reach out' to North Korea

China urges peaceful resolution of North Korea nuclear standoff

Full North Korea coverage from NBC News

This story was originally published on Mon Apr 15, 2013 7:01 AM EDT

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653387/s/2abb7348/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A40C150C177577420Ekerry0Echina0Emust0Edo0Emore0Eto0Eresolve0Enorth0Ekorean0Emissile0Ecrisis0Dlite/story01.htm

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Three Questions for Roosevelt U Grad Student & Midwest Real ...

Last weekend an imaginative group of Roosevelt University students from the school's Marshall Bennett Institute of Real Estate beat out competitors from other nearby colleges like DePaul, Marquette, and University of Illinois in this year's Harold E. Eisenberg Foundation Midwest Real Estate Challenge. Their first-place plan addressed this year's assignment to reimagine the 38-acre Sears Holdings Corporation site at 62nd and Western. The proposal was built around provision of retail, health facilities, educational facilities, and community sports spaces in a development they called the Marquette Park Promenade. Second-year graduate student and team leader Chase Morris told us about the winning experience:

Curbed: Where did your team get the idea for the Park Promenade proposal?

The idea evolved from several interviews with the City of Chicago Department of Housing and Economic Development, Greater Southwest Development Corporation, Chicago Lawn business owners, and various real estate professionals. In addition, we performed a thorough real estate market analysis which also heavily influenced our final development proposal.

Curbed: What would you say you and your team learned from this challenge?

As a team we learned the value in addressing the needs of community stakeholders coupled with strong research and analytical methods. We also gained practical experience with every stage in the real estate development process, from zoning to site selection/assemblage, architecture, market analysis, and public-private financing.

Curbed: How did you and your team celebrate your victory?

With Chicago pizza and local beer while discussing graduation, new employment opportunities, summer plans, and our victory.
?Roosevelt students win Eisenberg Foundation Midwest Real Estate Challenge [RU]
?Three Questions [Curbed Chicago]

Source: http://chicago.curbed.com/archives/2013/04/15/three-questions-for-roosevelt-u-grad-student-midwest-real-estate-challenge-winner-chase-morris.php

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