Pelosi hints, then denies she has Gingrich secrets (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Does House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi know some dark secrets about GOP presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich? Twice, she offered tantalizing hints that she does. And then said she doesn't. Gingrich said Wednesday that the House Democratic leader should come out with it or shut up.

The latest back-and-forth in the contest of two former House speakers came in a CNN interview Tuesday night, when host John King suggested to Pelosi that she "could come back here next January or next February with a President Gingrich?"

"Let me just say this. That will never happen," Pelosi said.

When King asked, "Why are you so sure?" Pelosi responded: "There's something I know. The Republicans, if they choose to nominate him, that's their prerogative. I don't even think that's going to happen."

On Wednesday, Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said: "The `something' leader Pelosi knows is that Newt Gingrich will not be president of the United States. She made that clear last night."

Hammill's statement, however, acknowledged that this wasn't the first time that Pelosi hinted that she knows something about Gingrich that she hasn't revealed.

In December, Pelosi reminded an interviewer that she served on the ethics panel that investigated Gingrich's use of tax-exempt organizations. That case ended with a reprimand by the House and a $300,000 penalty against the then-speaker for misleading the committee and prolonging its investigation.

Pelosi said last month: "One of these days we'll have a conversation about Newt Gingrich. I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff."

Hammill repeated the explanation provided after those comments.

"Leader Pelosi previously made a reference to the extensive amount of information that is in the public record, including the comprehensive committee report with which the public may not be fully aware," the spokesman said.

Gingrich said Wednesday that Pelosi should come out with her information or stop talking.

"Look, I think if she knows something she ought to say it. If she doesn't know something she ought to quit saying it. But this is baloney. I don't think any Republican is going to be threatened by Nancy Pelosi. Frankly, I'd rather have her threaten me than endorse me. So I feel pretty good about it. If she has something, bring it out," he said.

Mitt Romney, Gingrich's chief rival for the GOP presidential nomination, has asked that all records from Gingrich's ethics investigation be released. In January 1997, when the case ended, the committee did make public its final report as well as exhibits ? which amounted to a comprehensive account of the committee's findings.

The chairman of the ethics committee during the Gingrich investigation, former Republican Rep. Nancy Johnson, said the committee traditionally does not publicly release investigative documents.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_el_pr/us_pelosi_gingrich

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Discovery Communications to Report Fourth Quarter and Full Year ...

(Silver Spring, Md.) Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) will report fourth quarter and full year 2011 results on Thursday, February 16, 2012, at 7:00 a.m. EST. The company will host a conference call at 8:30 a.m. EST to discuss the results. To access the conference call in the U.S.?

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Marine faces 3 months in brig for Iraqi deaths (AP)

CAMP PENDLETON, California ? Military prosecutors worked for more than six years to bring Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich to trial on manslaughter charges that could have sent him away to prison for life.

But only weeks after the long-awaited trial started, they offered Wuterich a deal that stopped the proceedings and could mean little to no jail time for the squad leader who ordered his men to "shoot first, ask questions later," resulting in one of the Iraq War's worst attacks on civilians by U.S. troops.

The 31-year-old Marine, who was originally accused of unpremeditated murder, pleaded guilty Monday to negligent dereliction of duty for leading the squad that killed 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha in 2005 during raids after a roadside bomb exploded, killing a fellow Marine and wounding two others.

Wuterich who was indicted in 19 of the 24 deaths now faces no more than three months in confinement.

It was a stunning outcome for the last defendant in the case once compared to the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. The seven other Marines initially charged were exonerated or had their cases dropped.

Military judge Lt. Col. David Jones will hear arguments from both sides Tuesday at Camp Pendleton, Calif., before sentencing him.

Legal experts say the case was fraught by errors made by investigators and the prosecution that let it drag on for years. The prosecution was also hampered by squad mates who admitted they had lied to investigators initially and later testified in exchange for having their cases dropped, bringing into question their credibility.

In addition, Wuterich was seen as taking the fall for senior leaders and more seasoned combat veterans, analysts say. It was his first time in combat when he led the squad on Nov. 19, 2005.

Brian Rooney, an attorney for another former defendant, said cases like Haditha are difficult to prosecute because a military jury is unlikely to question decisions made in combat unless wrongdoing is clear-cut and egregious, like rape.

"If it's a gray area, fog-of-war, you can't put yourself in a Marine's situation where he's legitimately trying to do the best he can," said Rooney, who represented Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani, the highest-ranking Marine charged in the case. "When you're in a town like Haditha or Fallujah, you've got bad guys trying to kill you and trying to do it in very surreptitious ways. Marines understand it's a crazy environment. You've got to do the best you can with what you've got."

Marine Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Joseph Kloppel said the deal was not a reflection or in any way connected to how the prosecution felt their case was going in the trial.

The Haditha incident is considered among the war's defining moments, further tainting America's reputation when it was already at a low point after the release of photos of prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison.

It still fuels anger in Iraq today.

Kamil al-Dulaimi, a Sunni lawmaker from the Anbar provincial capital of Ramadi, called the plea agreement proof that "Americans still deal with Iraqis without any respect."

"It's just another barbaric act of Americans against Iraqis," al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press. "They spill the blood of Iraqis and get this worthless sentence for the savage crime against innocent civilians."

Wuterich, the father of three children, had faced the possibility of life behind bars when he was charged with nine counts of manslaughter, which now will be dropped. Besides now facing a maximum of three months in confinement, he could also lose two-thirds of his pay and see his rank demoted to private when he's sentenced.

.Wuterich, his family and his attorneys declined to comment Monday after he entered the plea. Prosecutors also declined to comment on the plea deal.

During the trial before a jury of combat Marines who served in Iraq, prosecutors argued he lost control after seeing the body of his friend blown apart by the bomb and led his men on a rampage in which they stormed two nearby homes, blasting their way in with gunfire and grenades. Among the dead was a man in a wheelchair.

In the deal, Wuterich admitted that his orders misled his men to believe they could shoot without hesitation and not follow the rules of engagement that required troops to positively identify their targets before they raided the homes.

He told the judge that caused "tragic events."

"I think we all understood what we were doing so I probably just should have said nothing," Wuterich told the judge.

He said his orders were based on the guidance of his platoon commander at the time, and that the squad did not take any gunfire during the 45-minute raid.

Many of his squad mates testified that they do not believe to this day that they did anything wrong because they feared insurgents were inside hiding.

Haditha prompted commanders to demand troops be more careful in distinguishing between civilians and combatants.

Former Navy officer David Glazier said the case shows such rules are essential to helping the United States prevail in an armed conflict.

"The reality is that this incident has had significant consequences for the U.S. in Iraq," said Glazier, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. "It probably fueled the resistance and so it probably ended up costing additional soldiers and Marines their lives later on."

___

Associated Press writers Barbara Surk and Mazin Yahya in Baghdad, and Elliot Spagat in San Diego and Raquel Dillon in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_us/us_marines_haditha

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Blossom's Jenna Von Oy Is Pregnant (omg!)

Blossom star Jenna Von Oy is pregnant.

The actress is due in June with her and husband Brad Bratcher's first child. She broke the news to him on their one-year anniversary in October.

"We agreed on no presents, but I told him that I had something that was very, very small, which it was ? at the time it was the size of an appleseed," Von Oy tells People. "I handed him a handmade card and when he opened it up, it said, 'You're going to be a daddy,' and it had the EPT test underneath. It was the most beautiful evening!"

Blossom's Jenna Von Oy gets married

Von Oy, 34, and Bratcher, a computer data consultant, always thought they were having a girl and learned this week that their intuition was correct.

"Brad is so cute because the other night I said to him, 'She's going to have you wrapped around her finger,'" Von Oy says. "He gave me this wonderfully defeated look and said, 'I think she already does.' I can tell he's looking at me like I'm a little more fragile because there's a girl in there!"

Related Articles on TVGuide.com

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Danica Patrick won't run Indy 500 this year

CONCORD, N.C. (AP) ? Danica Patrick will not run the Indianapolis 500 this season.

Patrick will instead compete in the Coca-Cola 600, which is NASCAR's longest race of the year.

She announced the addition to her 2012 NASCAR schedule Monday.

Patrick has left IndyCar for a full-time move to NASCAR. She's running a full season in the second-tier Nationwide Series for JR Motorsports and 10 races in the elite Sprint Cup Series with Stewart-Haas Racing.

Patrick says she'd like to return to the Indy 500 in the future and would be interested in running both events on the same day. She says she just couldn't make it work this season.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-23-CAR-IndyCar-Indy-500-Patrick/id-7acd7e0c81ce4591b245b7a47fb8ba2d

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Video: NPG CEO: We Are in A Gas Bubble

Discussing why he thinks the demand for natural gas will increase, with Ken Hersh, NGP Energy Capital Management CEO.

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Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

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Helicopter crashes in Venezuela, 5 killed (AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela ? A helicopter has crashed during a tour of the tabletop mountains of southern Venezuela, and an official says five people have been killed.

Col. Julio Fuentes tells Venezuela's state news agency that the helicopter crashed Wednesday into Auyantepui mountain in the Canaima National Park.

Auyantepui is a popular tourist destination. The world's tallest waterfall, Angel Falls, cascades down its sheer rock faces.

Fuentes says a pilot and four passengers were aboard the Bell 206 Long Ranger helicopter. Their nationalities haven't been released.

Fuentes says authorities believe the helicopter may have crashed because of rough weather. He says a team reached the crash site Thursday after it was initially spotted by a plane.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_helicopter_crash

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