Pawn Stars's Rick Harrison Sets Wedding Date















01/17/2013 at 08:30 AM EST







Rick Harrison and Deanna Burditt


MJT/AdMedia


Rick Harrison has gone from pawning to planning.

After months of going back and forth, the Pawn Stars ringleader and his fiancée, Deanna Burditt, have finally set a date for their wedding: July 21.

But the date is just the beginning for Harrison, 47, who tells PEOPLE, "She sticking me with all the planning!"

The nuptials – initially planned for Las Vegas – will now take place at the Ritz Carlton in Southern California's Laguna Beach.

"It will be a lot of friends and family," Harrison said while attending Wednesday night's opening of Wynn Las Vegas's Andrea's. "It started off with about 40 people and it's well over 100 people now. You know how those things go."

Aside from the guest count close to being finalized, Harrison said Danny Koker of the History Channel's Counting Cars will become an ordained minister and marry the couple, and Harrison's Pawn Stars costar Chumlee is set to be the ring bearer.

"I can't make that up," he said. "I just had no idea there was so much involved. I just thought you got a cake, had a party, buy a keg. But we're getting it done."

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Large study confirms flu vaccine safe in pregnancy


NEW YORK (AP) — A large study offers reassuring news for pregnant women: It's safe to get a flu shot.


The research found no evidence that the vaccine increases the risk of losing a fetus, and may prevent some deaths. Getting the flu while pregnant makes fetal death more likely, the Norwegian research showed.


The flu vaccine has long been considered safe for pregnant women and their fetus. U.S. health officials began recommending flu shots for them more than five decades ago, following a higher death rate in pregnant women during a flu pandemic in the late 1950s.


But the study is perhaps the largest look at the safety and value of flu vaccination during pregnancy, experts say.


"This is the kind of information we need to provide our patients when discussing that flu vaccine is important for everyone, particularly for pregnant women," said Dr. Geeta Swamy, a researcher who studies vaccines and pregnant women at Duke University Medical Center.


The study was released by the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday as the United States and Europe suffer through an early and intense flu season. A U.S. obstetricians group this week reminded members that it's not too late for their pregnant patients to get vaccinated.


The new study was led by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. It tracked pregnancies in Norway in 2009 and 2010 during an international epidemic of a new swine flu strain.


Before 2009, pregnant women in Norway were not routinely advised to get flu shots. But during the pandemic, vaccinations against the new strain were recommended for those in their second or third trimester.


The study focused on more than 113,000 pregnancies. Of those, 492 ended in the death of the fetus. The researchers calculated that the risk of fetal death was nearly twice as high for women who weren't vaccinated as it was in vaccinated mothers.


U.S. flu vaccination rates for pregnant women grew in the wake of the 2009 swine flu pandemic, from less than 15 percent to about 50 percent. But health officials say those rates need to be higher to protect newborns as well. Infants can't be vaccinated until 6 months, but studies have shown they pick up some protection if their mothers got the annual shot, experts say.


Because some drugs and vaccines can be harmful to a fetus, there is a long-standing concern about giving any medicine to a pregnant woman, experts acknowledged. But this study should ease any worries about the flu shot, said Dr. Denise Jamieson of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


"The vaccine is safe," she said.


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Online:


Medical journal: http://www.nejm.org


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Stock futures dip, Boeing in focus; JPMorgan, Goldman report


NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures slipped on Wednesday with shares of Boeing set to weigh on the market after two Japanese airlines grounded their Dreamliner fleets.


JPMorgan Chase & Co said fourth-quarter net income jumped 53 percent and earnings for 2012 set a record, while earnings at Goldman Sachs nearly tripled. Goldman shares rose 2.2 percent in premarket trading; JPMorgan slipped 0.9 percent in choppy trading.


"Clearly, the near-term focus is on earnings more than anything else, specifically on financials," said Art Hogan, managing director of Lazard Capital Markets in New York.


Shares of Dow component Boeing slumped 4.7 percent in premarket trading on concerns about the safety of its new Dreamliner passenger jets. Japan's two leading airlines grounded their fleets of 787s on Wednesday after one of the aircraft made an emergency landing, adding to safety concerns triggered by a ream of recent incidents.


"It's hard to know if it is a series of coincidences, but it is certainly putting pressure on Boeing this morning," Hogan said.


S&P 500 futures fell 4.6 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 45 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 1 point.


The Dow and S&P 500 rose Tuesday after stronger-than-expected retail data, with the S&P closing at a fresh five-year high of 1,472.34.


Talks to take Dell Inc private were at an advanced stage, with at least four major banks lined up to provide financing, two sources with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Shares fell 3.2 percent in premarket trading, after jumping more than 21 percent over the past two sessions.


On the data front, the Labor Department releases December Real Earnings and Consumer Price Index at 8:30 a.m. ET(1330 GMT). Economists in a Reuters survey expect an unchanged CPI reading, while excluding food and energy items CPI is seen up 0.2 percent.


Real Earnings are seen a 0.3 percent higher, compared with a 0.5 percent rise in November.


A slow economic recovery in developed nations is holding back the global economy, the World Bank said, as it sharply cut its outlook for world growth in 2013. Global gross domestic product will rise 2.4 percent this year, the bank said, down from its June forecast of 3.0 percent growth in 2013.


(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Bernadette Baum)



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Defense Secretary Leon Panetta Meets Pope


Francesco Sforza/Osservatore Romano


Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Wednesday.







ROME — On what is likely his last trip as defense secretary, Leon E. Panetta had an audience on Wednesday morning at the Vatican with Pope Benedict XVI, who told him, Mr. Panetta said, “Thank you for helping to protect the world.” Mr. Panetta said he replied, “Pray for me.”




Mr. Panetta, the son of Italian immigrants who attends Mass every Sunday, is halfway through a weeklong trip to Europe meant as a goodbye tour of American allies. Later on Wednesday he is to meet with the Italian prime minister, Mario Monti, as well as the president of Italy, Giorgio Napolitano.


Mr. Panetta’s audience with the pope was far from private, although he had a close-up view. Mr. Panetta sat in the front row of the Pope Pius VI Audience Hall, where some 7,000 others had gathered for the pope’s weekly audience. After an hour-long service, Mr. Panetta filed up with several dozen people, including a bride, to receive a blessing from the pope, who spoke to him at that time.


Defense officials said that Mr. Panetta previously had an audience with Pope John Paul II when Mr. Panetta, who was a budget director and a chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, accompanied Mr. Clinton to Rome. He also had an audience with Pope John Paul II in Washington.


Mr. Panetta is to be succeeded by Chuck Hagel, who is preparing for Senate confirmation hearings later this month or early next month. After 28 months as defense secretary and many decades in government, Mr. Panetta plans to return to his walnut farm in Carmel Valley, California.


He has also visited Spain and Portugal during the trip. On Tuesday, in Lisbon, Mr. Panetta restated the administration position that the United States would not send ground troops to Mali, where militants were pushing toward one of Mali’s largest cities as France continued with airstrikes and pledged more troops.


“There is no consideration of putting any American boots on the ground at this time,” he said.


Later on Tuesday in Madrid he reiterated that the United States would offer France air and logistical support but declined to be more specific. He said that France faced a difficult task in trying to rout extremists from a vast area in northern Mali and that the Pentagon remained in talks with the French over what kind of military aid the United States would provide.


At a news conference in Madrid, Mr. Panetta deflected a question asking him to assess any progress the French had made against the extremists, who overran a central village on Monday only hours after the French foreign minister said confidently that France had blocked “the advance of the terrorists.” Mr. Panetta said the United States was “still trying to get a read” on French efforts and strategy.


“I can’t really give you a full analysis as to just exactly what they’re targeting and how successful or not successful they may be in that effort as of this moment,” Mr. Panetta said at a joint news conference with the Spanish defense minister, Pedro Morenés. But Mr. Panetta added that “any time you confront an enemy that is dispersed and that is not located necessarily in one area makes it challenging, and the ability to go after that enemy and be able to stop them from moving forward represents a difficult task.”


 


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iPhone demand said to be ‘robust,’ recent cuts don’t reflect weak demand







Following recent reports from Nikkei and The Wall Street Journal that suggested Apple (AAPL) slashed iPhone 5 component orders in half due to weak demand,  the company’s stock fell significantly and opened below $ 500 for the first time in nearly a year. The reports have been called into question, however, with many believing they do not represent true consumer interest. Shaw Wu of Sterne Agee wrote in a note to investors on Tuesday, per Apple Insider, that his supply chain checks have indicated that demand for the iPhone 5 “remains robust.” The analyst believes the recent reports are a result of improved yield rates and possibly Apple’s recent supplier changes.


[More from BGR: PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720 could cost just $ 350, expected to launch this fall]






Despite the recent concerns, Wu expects Apple to post better-than-expected earnings for the December quarter led by sales of 47.5 million iPhones with a gross margin of 38.7%. Both estimates are above Wall Street’s expectations of between 46 to 47 million iPhones and a 38.3% gross margin.


[More from BGR: HTC One SV review]


Sterne Agee reiterated its Buy rating on shares of Apple with a price target of $ 840.


Wu’s expectations remain bullish compared to other Wall Street analysts. Stuart Jeffrey of Nomura is the most recent analyst to cut his outlook on Apple stock. Nomura reduced the company’s price target to $ 530 from $ 660 Tuesday morning, citing weak demand for the iPhone 5 and increased pressure on Apple’s margins.


This article was originally published on BGR.com


Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News




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Jessica Simpson: Second Pregnancy Was a Shock, Much Different Than First

Jessica Simpson: Second Pregnancy Was a Shock
Paul Drinkwater/NBC


Jessica Simpson says she was channeling a certain curvaceous reality star when she posted for a bikini bump self-portrait on Twitter during her Christmas holiday in Hawaii.


“I felt really hot, and I thought I deserved a Kim Kardashian moment, you know? I was really feeling it, like, ‘Oh, my bump looks cute. I’m going to share that,’” the Fashion Star mentor quipped during an appearance on Tuesday’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno.


But Simpson, 32, says her second pregnancy has been anything but a feel-good time. She’s been nauseated and not having the same sort of cravings as when she was expecting daughter Maxwell Drew, who’s now 8 months old and beginning to crawl.

“I’ve been really, really sick so I can’t wait to actually be able to crave something like I did in my first pregnancy,” the singer and actress explains. “I’m due in the summer so I still have a ways to go — hopefully I start feeling better.”


That morning sickness may be a good thing for the Weight Watchers spokeswoman. Simpson says she gained “a lot more” than her doctors recommended the first go-round, but this time she hopes to eat healthier and not go too crazy.


“I didn’t really make any healthy, good decisions,” she says of her first pregnancy. “The last time I ate everything in sight. I was really happy to be pregnant and I just didn’t even step on the scale. I was the person who turned around and said, ‘Just don’t tell me, I’m having fun.’”


“I guess I just didn’t realize you could gain that much weight that quickly,” Simpson explains. “I had fun doing it but once I had Maxwell I realized that it all wasn’t water weight and I had to really work hard. In four months I lost over 50 pounds.”


The second pregnancy, she added, was not planned and surprised both her and fiancé Eric Johnson, whom she joked was “really proud” that it happened all over again so quickly.


“Apparently it was a part of God’s plan for my life,” Simpson says with a laugh. “I was extremely shocked. I was shocked because I was going through a lot of hormonal changes trying to get back to the old, vibrant Jessica. And you know, it was kind of like a one-night stand. And it happened … all over again!”


Her much-anticipated wedding, she says, just keeps getting pushed back.


“We’ve had two different wedding dates, but he keeps knocking me up,” Simpson wisecracks. “I’m doing it very backwards, I know! I’ll just keep my legs crossed this time.”



– Andrea Billups


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ER visits tied to energy drinks double since 2007


SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A new government survey suggests the number of people seeking emergency treatment after consuming energy drinks has doubled nationwide during the past four years, the same period in which the supercharged drink industry has surged in popularity in convenience stores, bars and on college campuses.


From 2007 to 2011, the government estimates the number of emergency room visits involving the neon-labeled beverages shot up from about 10,000 to more than 20,000. Most of those cases involved teens or young adults, according to a survey of the nation's hospitals released late last week by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.


The report doesn't specify which symptoms brought people to the emergency room but calls energy drink consumption a "rising public health problem" that can cause insomnia, nervousness, headache, fast heartbeat and seizures that are severe enough to require emergency care.


Several emergency physicians said they had seen a clear uptick in the number of patients suffering from irregular heartbeats, anxiety and heart attacks who said they had recently downed an energy drink.


More than half of the patients considered in the survey who wound up in the emergency room told doctors they had downed only energy drinks. In 2011, about 42 percent of the cases involved energy drinks in combination with alcohol or drugs, such as the stimulants Adderall or Ritalin.


"A lot of people don't realize the strength of these things. I had someone come in recently who had drunk three energy drinks in an hour, which is the equivalent of 15 cups of coffee," said Howard Mell, an emergency physician in the suburbs of Cleveland, who serves as a spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians. "Essentially he gave himself a stress test and thankfully he passed. But if he had a weak heart or suffered from coronary disease and didn't know it, this could have precipitated very bad things."


The findings came as concerns over energy drinks have intensified following reports last fall of 18 deaths possibly tied to the drinks — including a 14-year-old Maryland girl who died after drinking two large cans of Monster Energy drinks. Monster does not believe its products were responsible for the death.


Two senators are calling for the Food and Drug Administration to investigate safety concerns about energy drinks and their ingredients.


The energy drink industry says its drinks are safe and there is no proof linking its products to the adverse reactions.


Late last year, the FDA asked the U.S. Health and Human Services to update the figures its substance abuse research arm compiles about emergency room visits tied to energy drinks.


The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's survey was based on responses it receives from about 230 hospitals each year, a representative sample of about 5 percent of emergency departments nationwide. The agency then uses those responses to estimate the number of energy drink-related emergency department visits nationwide.


The more than 20,000 cases estimated for 2011 represent a small portion of the annual 136 million emergency room visits tracked by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


The FDA said it was considering the findings and pressing for more details as it undertakes a broad review of the safety of energy drinks and related ingredients this spring.


"We will examine this additional information ... as a part of our ongoing investigation into potential safety issues surrounding the use of energy-drink products," FDA spokeswoman Shelly Burgess said in a statement.


Beverage manufacturers fired back at the survey, saying the statistics were misleading and taken out of context.


"This report does not share information about the overall health of those who may have consumed energy drinks, or what symptoms brought them to the ER in the first place," the American Beverage Association said in a statement. "There is no basis by which to understand the overall caffeine intake of any of these individuals — from all sources."


Energy drinks remain a small part of the carbonated soft drinks market, representing only 3.3 percent of sales volume, according to the industry tracker Beverage Digest. Even as soda consumption has flagged in recent years, energy drinks sales are growing rapidly.


In 2011, sales volume for energy drinks rose by almost 17 percent, with the top three companies — Monster, Red Bull and Rockstar — each logging double-digit gains, Beverage Digest found. The drinks are often marketed at sporting events that are popular among younger people such as surfing and skateboarding.


From 2007 to 2011, the most recent year for which data was available, people from 18 to 25 were the most common age group seeking emergency treatment for energy drink-related reactions, the report found.


"We were really concerned to find that in four years the number of emergency department visits almost doubled, and these drinks are largely marketed to younger people," said Al Woodward, a senior statistical analyst with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration who worked on the report.


Emergency physician Steve Sun said he had seen an increase in such cases at the Catholic hospital where he works on the edge of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.


"I saw one young man who had mixed energy drinks with alcohol and we had to admit him to the hospital because he was so dehydrated he had renal failure," Sun said. "Because he was young he did well in the hospital, but if another patient had had underlying coronary artery disease, it could have led to a heart attack."


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Follow Garance Burke on Twitter at http://twitter.com/garanceburke


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Stock futures fall amid debt limit, profit worries


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures slipped on Tuesday as investors fretted over the debate brewing in Washington over raising the U.S. borrowing limit as well as what is expected to be a lackluster earnings season.


Economic reports include U.S. retail sales and producer prices for December as well as manufacturing activity in New York state for January, all due at 8:30 a.m. Business inventories for November will be released at 10 a.m.


On Monday, President Barack Obama rejected any negotiations with Republicans over raising the U.S. debt ceiling. The United States could default on its debt if Congress does not increase the borrowing limit.


Resolving the debt ceiling debate is more a question of how than if. Investors are wary of another last-minute agreement like the one in August 2011, said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.


"Of course people expect the government will not default on its debt ... but there could be damage done in how it's resolved," said Meckler. "A long, dragged out fight over this damages the credibility of the government and can weaken the global market for U.S. debt."


Speaking separately on Monday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke urged lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling. The central bank chairman also gave a cautiously optimistic outlook for U.S. growth but no clear hints on when the Fed would curb its aggressive bond purchases.


Corporate earnings season picks up the pace this week and investors are bracing for disappointment. Analyst estimates for the quarter have fallen sharply since October. S&P 500 earnings growth is now seen up just 1.9 percent from a year ago, Thomson Reuters data showed.


Homebuilder Lennar on Tuesday reported profit that beat expectations amid a jump in new home orders. The stock edged down 0.9 percent to $40.66 in premarket trading.


S&P 500 futures fell 6.5 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures were down 31 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 9.25 points.


Shares of Dell rose 3.7 percent to $12.75 in premarket trade the day after sources said the company is in talks with private equity firms on a potential buyout.


Facebook added 1.2 percent to $31.32 ahead of a major news event at its headquarters. The secretive nature of the event has triggered a guessing game about what the company could unveil.


ConocoPhillips said it would sell its properties in the Cedar Creek Anticline in Montana and North Dakota to Denbury Resources Inc for $1.05 billion in cash.


QLogic , the networking products maker, surged 7.1 percent to $10.90 after it gave a third-quarter outlook.


(Editing by Kenneth Barry)



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IHT Rendezvous: And Now, via Google, Time Travel Through the Streets of Segovia

PARIS — Last month, Google and the Network of Jewish Quarters in Madrid announced an online pilot project that offers an expansive street-level tour of Spain’s long-ignored medieval neighborhoods that were emptied by the Spanish Inquisition. As I explored the site, to my surprise, the photographs of ancient, sand-colored stone walls in Segovia connected me with my own ancestors: my 16th great-grandparents.

The project is designed to offer a digital stroll through 1,000 years of history that was long buried and ignored: the legacy of the expulsion of Jews in 1492 by the Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella. The platform offers historical timelines, maps and photographs of ancient landmarks of Jewish life. Among them are the butcher shop at the entrance to Barcelona’s Jewish quarter at Sant Domènec street and my personal favorite, the 14th-century Tower of Love, in Palma on the island of Majorca. The tower figured in a clash between two prominent Jews over the affections of a woman, allowing one of them to spy on the other in the narrow lane of the quarter until a king intervened.

It is those kinds of intangible memories that the Spanish Network of Jewish Quarters, a nonprofit association founded in 1995, is hoping to pass on to a broader global audience. Google, which financed the project, has grand ambitions to create a platform that other institutions can use to mix information and history with a mapping system, according to William Echikson, a Google spokesman in Europe.

The project’s release comes within weeks of the Spanish government’s offer of citizenship to descendants of expelled Sephardic Jews with current religious ties. In Córdoba, local officials in Andalusia have also struck an agreement with the catering industry to open up the14th-century Córdoba synagogue for weddings in a bid to boost Jewish tourism. The new site allows visitors a glimpse of its neighborhood, Calle Judío.

“Maybe this will help people to trace their family roots from around the world so that they can figure out connections,” said Assumpció Hosta, general secretary of the network. “And maybe this will also give the citizens of Spain knowledge about their own history that has been neglected for years.”

In my own case, I made the acquaintance of my 16th great-grandparents only recently, while poring through genealogy records to trace the lines of my grandmother, Ángela Chacón. Her family lived in Costa Rica for generations and intermarried with other Catholic converso families like the Carvajals, who guarded their secret Sephardic Jewish identity for centuries.

Two weeks of exploring my grandmother’s line led me to distant great-grandfathers who were conquistadors in New Spain, one who searched fruitlessly for El Dorado. Others led me to ancestors in the south of Spain and in Segovia, home of Diego Arías Dávila, my distant great-grandfather, who was the wealthy royal treasurer for Enrique IV, the king of Castile and León and the half-brother of Queen Isabella, who succeeded him.

Diego Arías Dávila and his wife and my ancestor, Elvira González, were Jews whose families converted to Christianity in the tense decades leading up to the start of the Inquisition in 1478. After their deaths, they were posthumously tried in 1486 by the Inquisition for heresy for secretly maintaining Jewish rituals despite their conversions. Their son, Juan, the Catholic bishop of Segovia, was also accused of heresy, and retreated in exile to Rome, where he died trying to clear the family’s name.

I have never been to Segovia, but the new Web site took me on a haunting stroll to a street framed by stone walls called Martínez Campos. It was the site of the Campo synagogue – built and paid for in 1456 by Elvira González, although she was then a convert. Nothing remains of the building.  Another page took me on a tour of Merced Square, with a splashing fountain and towering monastery. It was there that Diego Arías Dávila
built a hospital with a chapel that existed until 1946. At one point, according to Inquisition records, Diego joked about being buried in a monastery there, prayed over by the monks and for good measure by the prayers of Jews at a neighboring synagogue.

But today, as I scroll through photos of Merced Square, I’m well aware that the remains of my ancestors have disappeared from Segovia – secretly removed from their tomb by their son, the bishop, who feared that the Inquisition would seize them and burn them in effigy as punishment for heresy.

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The Golden Globes, Starring Tina Fey and Amy Poehler and Nobody Else






We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:  


RELATED: The Way the World Could Have Ended






Now, we know what you’re thinking. Forget the rest of the show. And the red carpet. And the after-parties. And Lena Dunham, and maybe even Unimpressed Tommy Lee Jones. Now if only someone could just put together all the Tina Fey and Amy Poehler bits from last night’s Golden Globes — what little their was after that fantastic monologue, anyway. Well, you’re in luck. Don’t thank us, thank Flavorwire. Oh, fine, thank us a little bit:


RELATED: The Only ‘Kiss From a Rose’ Cover You’ll Ever Need


RELATED: Let’s Get Honest with ‘The Avengers’


If you were wondering, we were totally rooting for the fish: 


RELATED: ‘Roseanne’ Predicted Internet Addiction; A Weather Alert from Hell


RELATED: Yes, Someone Turned Their Dead Cat Into a Helicopter


As you may have heard, it is very cold in Los Angeles. As you also may have heard, cold in Los Angeles is very different than cold anywhere else, and, well, it’s quite funny watching them squirm:


And, finally, here is a cat using its feline agility to maneuver itself into a hammock. Yes, we are jealous: 


Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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