Liam Hemsworth Says The Hunger Games Made Him Hungry For Fast Food

Liam Hemsworth is about to hit the big time when The Hunger Games opens in theaters just past midnight on March 23. But the 22-year-old Australian star's girlfriend, Miley Cyrus, has been getting attention in L.A. clubs lately for all the wrong reasons.


"She gets pretty crazy," a source tells Us Weekly of Cyrus, 19. "She's always out in skimpy outfits and writhing on Liam . . . Sometimes he looks embarrassed for her."
Another insider explains that while Hemsworth loves his girlfriend's "fun-loving side . . . he gets concerned too."


At the New York City screening (attended by the main cast), he said: "There weren't too many stunts or fighting in this one for my character, but my character lives in District 12, which is the poorest district, and I had to lose quite a bit of weight for it. When we were shooting the film, actually, me and Josh went to Kentucky. He's from Kentucky. And we had a few days off from shooting and we decided to get White Castle which I'd never had before, and then we played basketball after eating the White Castle and we threw up a little bit so yeah, that was interesting."


He also praised Lawrence, and said she could win a Man vs Wild type competition. He added: "She's had the most training out of all of us. She could be deadly with a bow and arrow. She could do some damage. ... she's very fierce."


Lawrence, meanwhile, talked about traveling with her co-stars. She said: "We all get really hyper in the beginning, and then we all get tuckered out and fall asleep at the same time, so we're kind of a great group to travel with in a way. I mean, I love traveling with the boys. It's so fun just to get back with them again. It's just been a blast -- all of it."

‘Hunger Games’ star Liam Hemsworth ‘embarrassed’ by girlfriend Miley Cyrus’ behavior

While yesterday, Katniss herself, Jennifer Lawrence, told Ryan Seacrest that she was doing her best to manage her excitement over the biggest thing ever, Liam has found no such balance.


Of course, the nonstop red carpet proposals and ribbing at the hands of his fellow movie star brother, Chris Hemsworth, probably aren't helping matters.


"I'm just running on adrenaline most of the time," Gale's alter ego told Seacrest on his KIIS-FM radio show this morning. "I've been waiting a while for people to see it. The expectation just keeps getting bigger and bigger."


And he assures fans that they won't be disappointed.


"It's a really, really good movie. It's honestly one of the most powerful films I've seen."


No false modesty here. But hey, he's earned it. Particularly when you bear in mind the girl on fire trial by fire it took to get him into fighting form.


When asked appreciatively about his physique in The Hunger Games, Liam admitted that he was told to lose weight and get in shape for the role…albeit not in so many words.


According to Us Weekly, the former Disney star has been garnering the wrong kind of attention these days. Whether it’s her controversial Twitter posts upsetting her religious fans or her penchant to constantly go out in public without wearing a bra, the Hollywood wild child’s actions haven’t been helping Hemsworth’s rising star status.


“She gets pretty crazy,” a source told the magazine of the 19-year-old starlet. “She’s always out in skimpy outfits and writhing on (Liam). Sometimes he looks embarrassed for her.”


Though the 22-year-old Aussie actor reportedly enjoys the “fun-loving side of Miley,” he also “gets concerned too.”


“Liam’s always looking after her,” the insider said.


Though Cyrus’ recent behavior has become more of a hassle for Hemsworth, he recently spoke out in her defense in the March issue of Details.


“The poor girl can't have one night where she can feel safe in her own world. It's ridiculous," he said of Cyrus, who found herself in hot water earlier this year when photos from Hemsworth’s birthday party showed the actress inappropriately posing next to a phallic cake.


Liam and Cyrus have been dating for over two years since they first worked together on the set of "The Last Song."


"She makes me really happy," he has said of Cyrus. "When you start, you want to be professional, but when you're filming those scenes with someone and pretending to love them, you're not human if you don't feel something."

Jim Yong Kim to Be Named to World Bank Post

WASHINGTON — The White House on Friday named Jim Yong Kim, the president of Dartmouth College and a global health expert, as its nominee to lead the World Bank.


That makes Dr. Kim the front-runner to take the helm of the multinational development institution on June 30, when its current president, Robert B. Zoellick, will step down at the end of his five-year term. Tradition has held that Washington selects the head of the World Bank and Europe the leader of its sister institution, the International Monetary Fund, since they were founded during World War II.


Dr. Kim’s name was not among those widely bandied about since Mr. Zoellick announced his plans to move on last month. Highly respected among aid experts, Dr. Kim is an anthropologist and a physician who co-founded Partners in Health, a nonprofit that provides health care for the poor, and a former director of the department of H.I.V./AIDS at the World Health Organization.


The White House's pick is nearly certain to become the next World Bank president after its current leader, Robert Zoellick, steps down as planned in late June after a five-year term.


The White House has selected the World Bank president since the institution was created in 1944 under an informal agreement with European nations, who pick the head of the International Monetary Fund. The combined shares of U.S. and European nations in each organization make it nearly impossible for a candidate from other nationalities to break the unwritten compact.


The World Bank's board, which represents its 187 member nations, plans to meet next week to consider nominations and issue a shortlist of three people to interview. It plans to make a final decision ahead of the bank's spring meeting next month.
The White House announcement came as the nominations window was set to close on Friday. The decision to wait until late in the process allowed other nations to discuss their own candidates, creating the first competitive race in the bank's history. But the delay also stoked criticism of the U.S. based on early reports of whom the White House was considering.


The U.S. shortlist included Lawrence Summers, a former World Bank chief economist who served as a top economic adviser to Mr. Obama, and Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Both officials are considered potential appointees in a second Obama administration, an administration official said Friday.


Dr. Kim, before heading to Dartmouth, led the global-health and social-medicine department at Harvard Medical School. At the World Health Organization, he focused on helping developing countries improve AIDS treatment and prevention programs. He has also worked on tuberculosis, including efforts to cut the cost of treatment and finding treatments for drug-resistant strains.

Top Baylor Lady Bears to Follow on Twitter: A Fan’s View

ATLANTA — As soon as the NCAA women's bracket was announced, Sasha Goodlett started getting a flood of texts from her friends.
"They were all saying, 'Ohhh, you have to go against Brittney Griner,'" the Georgia Tech center recalled. "I was like, 'Hey, we have two games before that. Let's not get too caught up in ourselves.'"
Well, those two games are out of the way.
Fourth-seeded Georgia Tech has reached the regional semifinals for the first time in school history, but there wasn't much time to celebrate.
Next up Saturday in the Des Moines Regional: top-ranked Baylor (36-0) and the nation's most dominant player.
The Yellow jackets (26-8) are a huge underdog, like just about everyone who goes against Griner and her supporting cast. Baylor romped through the first two rounds, beating UC Santa Barbara by 41 points, then easing to a 19-point win over Florida that was punctuated by a dunk from the 6-foot-8 phenom — only the second woman to pull off a slam in the NCAA tournament.
While Griner relies on those sort of plays to intimidate her opponents, Georgia Tech talked bravely before boarding the plane to Iowa.


Brittney Griner


On March 22, Griner tweeted "Sorry tweeps won't be tweeting a lot the next couple weeks. Gotta stay focused #RoadToTheFinalFour."


Baylor hasn't lost since falling in the quarterfinals of last year's NCAA tournament, and much of its success has to do with Griner's veteran presence. Griner ranked No. 7 in the country this year in Division I action with 23.1 PPG in 36 appearances.


Follow Griner on Twitter @grinerbrittney.


Odyssey Sims


On March 20, Sims tweeted "36-0, We Headed To The Sweet 16!!!!!!"


Sims, a sophomore guard at Baylor, racked up 526 points and added 162 assists in 36 games this season. Follow Sims on Twitter @simshoops0.


Makenzie Robertson


On March 20, Robertson tweeted "Ready to get this game going and head home! 2 hours…need another W #unfinishedbusiness #BUvsFLORIDA."


Shortly after her tweet, Robertson and the Lady Bears topped Florida, 76-59.


The following day, Robertson tweeted "You don't actually realize how long basketball season is until this time of year…we've been going since last summer #unfinishedbusiness."


Is weariness finally starting to settle in, or will Baylor have enough to finish out the season as a champion?

Baylor's Brittney Griner is the biggest star on a big stage

DES MOINES — As McNeese State of Louisiana prepared to face top-ranked Baylor and its 6-foot-8 center, Brittney Griner, in December, the Cowgirls had no way to simulate Griner’s height and reach on a basketball court. So their coach took a kayak paddle to practice.


“We duct-taped a pad around the paddle to swat shots,” Coach Brooks Donald-Williams said.


Never has a collegiate women’s player possessed the combination of Griner’s size, mobility, soft shooting touch, effortless dunking and elegant obstructiveness, which allows her to block shots while hardly ever drifting into foul trouble.


As men’s teams did in the 1960s for U.C.L.A. and the 7-footer Lew Alcindor, who later became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, women’s teams have resorted to exotic preparation and props to mimic Griner’s intimidating 88-inch wingspan. Success has been modest against a player whose standing reach is 9 feet 2 inches, only 10 inches below the rim.


Approaching the semifinals of the Des Moines Region on Saturday, Baylor (36-0) is four victories from becoming the first N.C.A.A. basketball team to win 40 games in a season.


Just her standing in the middle of the paint, you see her, and going at her is a hard thing to do.”


And when Griner has the ball, it can be a humbling experience.


“It’s really tough, but you’ve just got to be able to hold your ground and keep her from burying you,” Iowa State forward Chelsea Poppens said. “I mean, no one wants to get dunked on.”


Griner’s ability to play above the rim as a high schooler made her a YouTube sensation. Her evolving skills as a shooter and shot blocker leave WNBA teams wondering just how good she can become.


“Every time Brittney Griner gets a repetition, whether it’s in practice or it’s in a game, she’s growing in her understanding,” Burke said. “And that’s probably the most important piece to the puzzle.”


In some ways, Griner is an extension of past greats.


“For me, the first truly dominant center that I ever watched on television was Anne Donovan,” Burke said of the Old Dominion all-American from the early 1980s. “Brittney sort of combines the size of an Ann Donovan with the athleticism and mobility of a Lisa Leslie.”


When Sports Illustrated previewed this year’s NCAA Tournament, the magazine devoted three pages to Griner — the only player in history, male or female, to score 2,000 points and record more than 500 blocks.

Jim Yong Kim, Dartmouth College president, tapped by Obama to head World Bank

President Barack Obama’s decision to pick Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim took many by surprise, considering that Kim isn’t a regular in Washington circles.


“Dr. Kim’s name was closely held and not among those widely bandied about since Mr. Zoellick announced his plans to move on,” the New York Times wrote in its story on nomination.


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”At this moment, across Washington, hundreds of surprised reporters and gov’t aides are Googling ‘Jim Yong Kim’ to find out who he is,” joked Washingtonian magazine editor Garrett Graff on Twitter.


Kim’s been president at Dartmouth since 2009 and is a former director at the World Health Organization and the co-founder of Partners in Health, which provides health services to the poor. But career accomplishments aside, what about his lighter side? In a “Greenroom” online-only video interview he did during an appearance on “The Charlie Rose Show” in March, Kim opened up about less weighty matters.


Kim did not speak at the announcement. But in a letter to Dartmouth alumni and others, he called the bank “one of the most critical institutions fighting poverty and providing assistance to developing countries in the world today,” and said that he would accept Obama’s nomination.


He was a surprising choice. The focus at first was on nominating a major political figure such as Clinton and former Treasury secretary Lawrence H. Summers.


But Kim drew quick support, and one other candidate for the job, Columbia University professor Jeffrey Sachs, withdrew from contention in praise of Obama’s choice.


Kim “is a superb nominee,” Sachs said, a “world-class development leader.” Sachs had campaigned openly for the job, arguing that the bank’s next leader should be a development expert rather than someone who had spent a career in finance.


Still, Kim may be the first American World Bank nominee to face competition. Ni­ger­ian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala has been nominated by a member of the bank’s executive board. Under the bank’s procedures, if three or fewer people are nominated, each will be interviewed. A decision on the new president is expected before upcoming bank meetings in mid-April.


Kim, Dartmouth’s leader since July 2009, is a physician by training and an anthropologist. His background is in global health, and he has worked extensively on health issues in the developing world.

Obama says shooting death of Fla. teen a 'tragedy'

President Barack Obama called the shooting death of an unarmed black teenager in a Florida suburb a "tragedy" on Friday and said that "every aspect" of the case that has rallied civil rights activists should be investigated.Speaking in personal terms, Obama expressed sympathy for the parents of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was shot on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., a suburb of Orlando, by a neighborhood watch volunteer who said he was acting in self-defense."I can only imagine what these parents are going through and when I think about this boy I think about my own kids," Obama said. He aimed his message at Martin's parents, saying, "If I had a son he'd look like Trayvon. I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans take this with the seriousness that it deserves and we're going to get to the bottom of what happened.


The Justice Department and FBI have opened a civil rights investigation, and a grand jury is considering whether to charge George Zimmerman, who acknowledged shooting the teen but said it was in self-defense. Martin's parents, civil rights activists and others who have rallied to the cause say they won't be satisfied until Zimmerman is arrested.
Police Chief Bill Lee stepped down temporarily this week to try to cool the building anger that his department had not arrested Zimmerman. Hours later, Gov. Rick Scott announced that the local state attorney, Norman Wolfinger, had recused himself from the case in hopes of "toning down the rhetoric" surrounding it.
Martin was returning from a trip to a convenience store when Zimmerman started following him, telling police dispatchers he looked suspicious. At some point, the two got into a fight, and Zimmerman pulled out his gun.
Zimmerman told police Martin attacked him after he had given up on chasing the teenager and was returning to his sport utility vehicle.
Obama cautioned before speaking that he must "be careful so we're not impairing any investigation." But he said he was glad the Justice Department was investigating and that Florida officials had formed the task force.
"I think all of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how did something like this happen, and that means we examine the laws and the context for what happened as well as the specifics of the incident," Obama said.
Obama brought his voice to an issue that is sensitive in Florida, a large and diverse state that plays an influential role in presidential elections. The Orlando area in central Florida is particularly important, acting as a bellwether for statewide elections.
Republican hopeful Mitt Romney weighed in after Obama spoke, saying, "What happened to Trayvon Martin is a tragedy. There needs to be a thorough investigation that reassures the public that justice is carried out with impartiality and integrity."
The case resonates with many black Americans, a key voting group during Obama's 2008 election, who see it as yet another example of bias toward blacks. Civil rights groups have held rallies in Florida and New York, saying the shooting was unjustified. Of Sanford's 53,000 residents, 57 percent are white and 30 percent are black.

Giant asteroid Vesta 'resembles planet

NASA spacecraft orbiting the huge asteroid Vesta has snapped amazing new photos of the colossal space rock, images that reveal strange features never-before-seen on an asteroid, scientists say.
The new photos of Vesta from NASA's Dawn spacecraft highlight odd, shiny spots that are nearly twice as bright as other parts of the asteroid — suggesting it is original material left over from the space rock's birth 4 billion years ago, NASA officials said today (March 21).


With a width of about 330 miles (530 km), asteroid Vesta is one of the largest and brightest objects in the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. NASA's Dawn probe has been orbiting Vesta since 2011 to study the space rock in unprecedented detail.


Dawn's principal investigator, Christopher T Russell, told the meeting that the science team found it hard not to refer to the object as a planet.


He said the rounded asteroid showed evidence of geological processes that characterise rocky worlds like Earth and the Moon.


Vesta is the second most massive of the asteroids, measuring some 530km (330mi) in diameter. It is dominated by a huge crater called Rheasilvia and bears many other scars left by the hammering it has received at the hands of other asteroid belt denizens.


One important transitional feature of Vesta can be found in its topography, or elevation. Vertical elevation on the Moon or Mars might reach tens of kilometres, but these objects are also very large.


"This means the topography is about 1% of the radius," Dr Ralf Jaumann, from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), told BBC News. If you go to Vesta, it is 15%, and if you go to the largest outer asteroid - Lutetia - it is 40%."


In short, this mathematical relationship between topography and radius (half an object's diameter), puts Vesta in an intermediate position between small asteroids and rocky planets.

Allen Stanford loses bid for new trial

HOUSTON — A federal judge has denied a request by convicted former Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford for a new trial.


Stanford’s attorneys had argued the financier didn’t get a fair trial due to pretrial publicity and because jurors might have seen tweets from reporters covering the trial.


But U.S. District Judge David Hittner denied the motion on Thursday in a brief order.


Stanford was convicted earlier this month on 13 fraud-related charges for misusing money from investors who bought certificates of deposit from his Caribbean bank to pay for his businesses and his lavish lifestyle.


Prosecutors said he bilked investors out of more than $7 billion. His attorneys said he was a legitimate businessman.


Stanford, who turns 62 on Saturday, was convicted on March 6 by a Houston federal jury on 13 of 14 counts related to what prosecutors called the sale of bogus certificates of deposit from his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank Ltd.


The decision came one day after Stanford's lawyers said their client had been deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial.


Among the reasons they cited was a lack of time to prepare a defense, extensive prejudicial pretrial publicity, and the potential that messages sent by reporters from the courtroom via Twitter might have reached jurors during the six-week trial.


Ali Fazel, a lawyer for Stanford, in an interview declined to comment specifically on Hittner's order, but said: "Motions for new trials are filed for many reasons, including making sure we articulate everything so that in an appeal, the appellate court would have a complete record."


Stanford is being held at a Houston federal detention center following his conviction on charges of fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.

Drowning killed Houston, but drugs took high toll

News that drowning, cocaine and heart disease caused Whitney Houston's death generated frustration and sadness. But not surprise.


"We are saddened to learn of the toxicology results, although we are glad to now have closure," Patricia Houston, the singer's sister-in-law and manager, said in a statement.
The Los Angeles County coroner's preliminary report Thursday also noted that marijuana, the anti-anxiety drug Xanax, the muscle relaxant Flexeril and the allergy medication Benadryl were found in the 48-year-old singer's blood but did not contribute to her death.


Coroner's officials did not reveal how much cocaine was found in Houston's system, but said there were signs of recent and chronic use. It was unclear whether she suffered a heart attack before drowning, Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter said.


"We are saddened to learn of the toxicology results, although we are glad to now have closure," Patricia Houston, the singer's sister-in-law and manager, said in a statement.


Houston's death the night before the Grammys altered the awards ceremony and brought back immediate memories of the singer in her better days, belting out hits and starring in the feature films such as "The Bodyguard" and "Waiting to Exhale." Years later, Houston's drug use had robbed her of her ability to hit high notes and left her once clean image tarnished.


"The biggest devil is me. I'm either my best friend or my worst enemy," Houston told ABC's Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 television interview with then-husband Bobby Brown by her side.


In 2009, after she had divorced Brown, she told Oprah Winfrey that her cocaine and marijuana use took over her life. Both drugs were found in Houston's system after she died, though the marijuana and several other prescription drugs played no role in her death, coroner's officials said.


"I had so much money and so much access to what I wanted," Houston told Winfrey. "I didn't think about the singing part anymore. I was looking for my young womanhood."

Whitney Houston drowned, but how

Drugs took many things from Whitney Houston — her pristine voice, clean image and her career — and coroner's officials revealed Thursday that cocaine also played a role in the Grammy winner's death in the bathtub of a luxury hotel nearly six weeks ago.


Houston drowned accidentally at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Feb. 11, and autopsy results revealed heart disease and her recent and chronic cocaine use were contributing factors.


The results ended weeks of speculation about what killed the singer-actress at age 48 on the eve of the Grammy Awards and a planned comeback. Instead, Houston now joins the long list of entertainers who have died early with drugs at least partly to blame.


Houston died Feb. 11 at the Beverly Hilton, where she was discovered unresponsive and submerged in a bathtub.


The coroner's report points to chronic cocaine use, says chief investigator Craig Harvey.


"We feel that the cocaine coupled with the …heart disease complicated her condition," Harvey says. "Chances are if she did not have preexisting heart disease and cocaine use, she might not have drowned."


The amount of chemicals found in Houston's body will be revealed in the final report expected in about two weeks.


Long-term cocaine use can cause inflammation and chronic damage to the blood vessels around the heart, which can lead to hardening of the arteries, says Cam Patterson, chief of cardiology at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.


In the short term, a hit of cocaine can cause abnormal heart rhythms that can lead to sudden cardiac death.

Judge denies new trial for convicted fraudster Stanford, who says tweets prevented fair trial

TWO years before Carol Lovil’s life savings disappeared in R. Allen Stanford’s Ponzi scheme, she lost her husband, John, to cancer. While grieving, she asked her financial adviser at the Stanford Financial Group in Houston what she should do.


Two things still haunt her, Mrs. Lovil said in an interview this month.


She said she asked if the money she had in certificates of deposit issued by Stanford International Bank was guaranteed. It was, she said he told her.


She said she also asked whether she should pay off the mortgage on the lake home in the Texas hill country that she and her husband bought in 1999. He advised against that, she said.


When she turned on the television news on Feb. 17, 2009, and saw the offices of the Stanford Financial Group being raided, Mrs. Lovil said she did not worry. Her money was insured, she thought.


But as it became clear that the $7 billion firm, which had been based in Antigua, was running a Ponzi scheme, she began calling and sending e-mails to her adviser to find out how to get her money back. At first, she was told everything was fine and not to worry. But within a week the responses stopped.


“I was lied to about the safety of this investment,” she wrote in one e-mail to the company. In another, she wrote, “I haven’t worked in 12 years, and in my small community jobs for someone my age are scarce.”


U.S. District Judge David Hittner denied the motion Thursday in a brief order.


Stanford was convicted this month on 13 fraud-related charges for misusing money from investors who bought certificates of deposit from his Caribbean bank.


Prosecutors said he orchestrated the scheme to fund his businesses and lavish lifestyle. His attorneys said he was a legitimate businessman.


The 61-year-old is set to be sentenced June 14 and could spend the rest of his life behind bars.


Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Financier Allen Stanford loses bid for new trial

HOUSTON — A federal judge has denied a request by convicted former Texas tycoon R. Allen Stanford for a new trial.


Stanford’s attorneys had argued the financier didn’t get a fair trial due to pretrial publicity and because jurors might have seen tweets from reporters covering the trial.


But U.S. District Judge David Hittner denied the motion on Thursday in a brief order.


Stanford was convicted earlier this month on 13 fraud-related charges for misusing money from investors who bought certificates of deposit from his Caribbean bank to pay for his businesses and his lavish lifestyle.


Prosecutors said he bilked investors out of more than $7 billion. His attorneys said he was a legitimate businessman.


Stanford, who turns 62 on Saturday, was convicted on March 6 by a Houston federal jury on 13 of 14 counts related to what prosecutors called the sale of bogus certificates of deposit from his Antigua-based Stanford International Bank Ltd.


The decision came one day after Stanford's lawyers said their client had been deprived of his Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial.


Among the reasons they cited was a lack of time to prepare a defense, extensive prejudicial pretrial publicity, and the potential that messages sent by reporters from the courtroom via Twitter might have reached jurors during the six-week trial.


Ali Fazel, a lawyer for Stanford, in an interview declined to comment specifically on Hittner's order, but said: "Motions for new trials are filed for many reasons, including making sure we articulate everything so that in an appeal, the appellate court would have a complete record."


Stanford is being held at a Houston federal detention center following his conviction on charges of fraud, conspiracy and obstruction of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation.


He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 14, and could spend the rest of his life in prison. The jury also found that federal authorities should try to seize $330 million of frozen funds that Stanford stashed in 29 foreign bank accounts.

Exxon Valdez to Be Junked Years After Worst U.S. Ship Spill

More than 20 years later, a ship best known for causing an environmental catastrophe is finally being put to rest.


The Exxon Valdez, which spilled 11 million gallons of oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989, is being bought for $16 million by Global Systems Marketing Inc., a firm that purchases ships for demolition, Bloomberg reports. The vessel, now known as the Oriental Nicety, has changed names and owners four times since the infamous disaster.


At the time, the Exxon Valdez spill was the largest in U.S. history and resulted in Exxon having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to avoid criminal prosecution, as well as to resolve civil claims made by federal and state governments, according to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Office. In addition, the company paid nearly $4 billion in cleanup costs.


Still, Exxon avoided a larger punishment. In 1994, an Anchorage jury awarded victims of the spill $5 billion, but after a 15-year legal battle the case made it to the U.S. Supreme Court where the justices awarded the victims just $507 million, according to CBS.


“The accident pointed out that the biggest risk involved in oil transport is the impact an accident can have on the environment,” Thomas Zwick, an analyst at Oslo-based shipping consultant Lorentzen & Stemoco AS, said in an e-mail today. “Large companies can go under as a consequence of the financial liabilities bestowed upon them following an accident.”
Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), the largest U.S. oil company, still faces litigation from the spill. The Irving, Texas-based company spent three years and $3.86 billion to clean up the spill, which damaged 700 miles of coastline and killed more than 36,000 birds, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

Notorious oil tanker Exxon Valdez headed to India

NEW DELHI — The notorious Exxon Valdez tanker, responsible for one of the worst oil spills in U.S. history two decades ago, has been bought by an Indian company almost certainly to be scrapped for its steel and spare parts.


Best Oasis Ltd. would not disclose the price or purpose of its purchase, but it buys old ships solely to dismantle them, reuse salvageable material and discard the rest.


On March 24, 1989, millions of gallons of crude oil spewed into Alaska’s ecologically sensitive Prince William Sound when the Exxon Valdez dashed against rocks, coating the shoreline with petroleum sludge and killing nearly 40,000 birds. The spill caused incalculable environmental damage and demolished the fishing industry in the area.


Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp., spent $900 million in restitution in a 1991 settlement and is battling more litigation from the spill.


The tanker moved on, with five name changes since the spill and ownership changing repeatedly, apparently to keep the ship in use while distancing it from the disaster.


The tanker moved on, with five name changes since the spill and ownership changing repeatedly, apparently to keep the ship in use while distancing it from the disaster.
Best Oasis official Gaurav Mehta said his company bought the ship. It's now a converted ore carrier known as the Oriental Nicety, but he did not disclose its current location and status.
"I can confirm that Best Oasis has bought the tanker, but can give no details till we take delivery of it," Mehta said.
The ship is 26 years old, not significantly aged for a tanker, but it has been considerably damaged. It was split by rocks in the Alaska spill and was damaged in a collision in the South China Sea in 2010.
Hong Kong-based Best Oasis is a wholly owned subsidiary of Priya Blue Industries in the western state of Gujarat.
India has one of the world's largest industries for breaking down old ships and oil tankers in the town of Alang, along the Gulf of Cambay in Gujarat.

Tim Tebow Traded To New York Jets

DENVER -- Fourteen months ago, amid skepticism over a hire that looked like somebody sticking a shiny hood ornament on a beat-up Fiat, Denver Broncos president Joe Ellis told me that his new executive vice president of football operations, John Elway, carried a "clear vision of where we need to go."


Back then, that vision was blurred by the disastrous autumn of 2010 that the once-proud franchise had endured.


In a Tuesday press conference, followed by a Wednesday night trade of Tim Tebow, Elway ushered in the next step in restoring what he built in the 1980s and '90s as a player. At the press conference, Elway was joined by coach John Fox, GM Brian Xanders and owner Pat Bowlen, all wearing a bright orange tie and the kind of grin that shouts, "Yeah, that's right, we pulled it off." And next to them, another famous quarterback: Peyton Manning.


Careful to credit all involved, Fox conceded, "No doubt, (Elway's presence) was huge," in landing Manning. And Fox expounded on why: "John's understanding of what it means to be a great quarterback, his involvement, the position he's in to help make Peyton's career here a success."


Over at ESPN New York, Rich Cimini's gut reaction is that this move makes no sense for the Jets.


Specifically, he says, it undermines Sanchez just at the time that the team should be trying to come together.


"The Jets just gave Sanchez a three-year contract extension, affirming their faith in a quarterback whose stature in the locker room took a hit last season," Cimini writes. "The Tebow acquisition is counter-productive because all it does is re-open a can of worms that should've been buried."


As soon as Sanchez has a bad game, writes Cimini, the Tebow fans will clammer for a QB change.


"It will become the soundtrack of the Jets' season," Cimini writes.




The short answer seems to be that the New York Jets will leave Mark Sanchez as their starting quarterback. The Washington Post says that even though the incumbent is "embattled," the Jets will likely "experiment with Tebow at other positions, including running the Wildcat."

Jets' Ryan reiterates Sanchez is starter, not Tebow

When it comes to QB Tim Tebow, critics are still pulling apart his passing mechanics and saying he will never become a great NFL QB. While that may be true, Tebow is much more than just an NFL QB for his fans. As a mother, I know children look up to athletes as role models. Unlike many professional NFL players, Tebow is a role model that any parent can feel comfortable with their child looking up to.


While his playing ability may be in question, there is no doubt regarding Tebow's leadership skills. He has the ability to get teammates inspired and believing in themselves. Despite being down, Tebow was able to rally his team together to come back and win game after game. He shows children that, despite the critics, he will always come out determined to improve and do what needs to be done.


But the Broncos signed Peyton Manning on Tuesday. Sanchez and the Jets finished 8-8 and out of the playoffs last season after Sanchez helped take them to AFC title games in 2009 and 2010.
Ryan was asked if there would be competition between Tebow and Sanchez considering what Tebow did last season and the mania he created in Denver and throughout the country.
"Well, I look at it this way," he said. "We're incredibly fortunate to have a couple of young quarterbacks with playoff experience and playoff wins. Mark's been to two AFC championship games in three years and has four road playoff wins. I think that speaks volumes. I think the young man is just hitting his stride. I think he's going to be a tremendous quarterback. He is our quarterback. I think what Tim gives us is another great competitor in the things that we can do with him — that Wildcat in particular."

Why Etch A Sketch gibe will be hard for Romney to shake

LOS ANGELES, - Mitt Romney is going for laughs next week -- intentional laughs, this time.


The former Massachusetts governor and current GOP presidential candidate will appear on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" next week as the lead guest on Tuesday's episode, NBC said Thursday.


The announcement comes on the heels of a major gaffe on the part of Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom, who told CNN that Romney's campaign would "hit a reset button" in the general election against President Barack Obama should Romney win the GOP nomination, comparing the proposed campaign tactic to a popular children's toy.


"It's almost like an Etch A Sketch -- you can kind of shake it up, and we start all over again," Fehrnstrom said.


Since then, Romney has become the butt of many jokes in the public, not least of all from his rivals in the campaign, who've used the gaffe to paint Romney as a flip-flopper a la John Kerry.


Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum brandished an Etch a Sketch during a campaign event in Texas on Thursday, hinting that America might be better off re-electing Obama if Romney wins the nomination.


Fehrnstrom has accidentally stumbled on something profound. He may not have much experience with Etch A Sketch technology. With all due respect to that iconic American toy, its legendary reset abilities have never been quite up to scratch. Dark smudges tend to mar the perimeter of its silvery slate, and no matter how vigorously you shake the thing, you can never quite obliterate the residue. Even so, the real-life Etch A Sketch in all its splotchy glory actually offers a better metaphor for American politics than the fantasy of a clean post-primary slate.
It's not that Fehrnstrom's contempt for the cognitive capabilities of the voters is entirely off the mark. The collective memory of the American electorate is notoriously short.
Think you're smarter than the average voter? Identify the authors of these political promises:
• "He won't streamline the federal government and change the way it works, cut 100,000 bureaucrats and put 100,000 new police officers on the streets of American cities, but I will."
• "And after we fund important priorities in the ongoing operations of our government, I believe we ought to pay down national debt. And so my budget pays down a record $2 trillion in debt over the next 10 years."
• "My plan requires both major party candidates to agree on a fundraising truce, return excess money from donors and stay within the public financing system for the general election."

Mitt Romney win over Louisiana conservatives

Mitt Romney may have won the Illinois primary by a wide margin Tuesday night, but it was not a knockout, and Rick Santorum will live to fight another day. Even so, the conventional wisdom is that this contest was the beginning of the end.


The Illinois results underlined the clear trend emerging around Romney voters: They are less religious, they are college-educated and economically better off than the average Republican primary voter.


Romney won because there are more voters that fit this profile in Illinois than there were in the Southern states where Santorum prevailed. But those high-wealth voters have come with a high price tag.


On top of that, conservative kingmaker Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) told reporters Thursday that he’s “excited” about the idea of Romney winning the Republican nod. That bodes well for the former Massachusetts governor’s campaign. The comment by DeMint – who hasn’t endorsed -- hasn’t gotten the kind of play that Etch A Sketch-gate has. But it’s arguably of greater importance in the GOP primary campaign.


For Rick Santorum, Louisiana represents the last chance until May of having a big win in a southern state.


Santorum’s camp itself acknowledges that April is not a great month for them – five northeastern states as well as D.C., Maryland and Wisconsin hold their contests. So if Santorum is looking to deflate Romney’s hopes, Louisiana would be the best place to do so.


For Newt Gingrich, who hasn’t had a good day in quite some time, Saturday’s primary will be an indication of whether things are going from bad to worse. The former House speaker’s campaign is $1.6 million in debt, and he was bested by Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) for third place in this week’s Illinois primary. Will Louisiana give him a lift?


And for Paul, Louisiana is the latest chance to, well, not finish in last place. The Texas congressman faces the same problem here as elsewhere – namely, that the big crowds that come to support him at rallies are nowhere to be found when it comes time to vote.


Adding to Louisiana’s import is the fact that there’s a 10-day lull in the calendar after Saturday.


Stay tuned here at Election 2012 and at The Fix for the latest from Louisiana and elsewhere on the trail.

Trayvon Martin case: More protests Friday in Florida

If Sanford city officials thought the police chief's departure would calm tempers arising from the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, Thursday night's rally in the teenager's honor proved them wrong.


As speaker after speaker took the stage at a downtown park, they made one thing clear: They want George Zimmerman, the man who said he shot the 17-year-old, arrested, and they won't settle for anything less.


"I pledge I will not let my son die in vain!" Martin's father, Tracy Martin, told a cheering crowd of several thousand after being introduced by the Rev. Al Sharpton.


"We want to see Zimmerman in court with handcuffs behind his back, charged with the death of this young man, Trayvon Martin!" said Sharpton, who organized the rally and flew to Sanford earlier in the day despite learning of his mother's death that morning in Alabama. Sharpton said his mother, who was 89 and suffered from Alzheimer's, would have wanted him to be there.


Police Chief Bill Lee said earlier in the day that he was stepping down temporarily to try to cool the building anger that his department did not arrest neighborhood watch volunteer Zimmerman, who has said he shot Martin on Feb. 26 in self-defense. Hours later, the governor announced that the local state attorney, Norman Wolfinger, had recused himself from the case.


Martin's parents, Tracy Martin and Sybrina Fulton, believe Zimmerman should have been arrested. They claim he was profiling their son and acted like a vigilante.


Tracy Martin told the thousands at the rally to keep his son in their minds.


"If Trayvon were here, he would have been here tonight," he said. "He was a people person. Let's get justice for your son."


The signs, chants and sentiments all came down to a demand for justice in the case. Another rally was set for the state capitol Friday morning and students at Martin's Miami high school planned to walk out in protest in the afternoon.


At Thursday's protest, some people carried signs that said: "100 years of lynching, justifiable homicide. Same thing." Others sold T-shirts that read: "Arrest Zimmerman."


"It's the norm around here, where anything involving black culture, they want to wipe their hands of it," said Shella Moore, who is black and grew up in Sanford.


The Justice Department and FBI have opened a civil rights investigation, and the local prosecutor before he quit the case convened a grand jury April 10 to determine whether to charge Zimmerman.


Martin was returning from a trip to a convenience store when Zimmerman started following him, telling police dispatchers he looked suspicious. At some point, the two got into a fight and Zimmerman pulled out his gun.