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Lady Gaga will have to cancel Indonesia concert

 gucci handbags outletJAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Lady Gaga will have to cancel her sold-out show in Indonesia following protests by Islamic hard-liners and conservative lawmakers, who said her sexy clothes and dance moves will corrupt the youth.National police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar, responding to the pressure, said Tuesday that the permit for her June 3 "Born This Way Ball" concert had been denied.Indonesia, a nation of 240 million people, has more Muslims than any other. Although it is secular and has a long history of religious tolerance, a small extremist fringe has become more vocal in recent years.Hard-liners have loudly criticized Lady Gaga, saying the suggestive nature of her show threatened to undermine the country's moral fiber. Some threatened to use physical force to prevent her from stepping off the plane.Lawmakers and religious leaders, too, have spoken out against her.Worried they could not guarantee security, local police recommended the permit for the show be denied, said Amar, adding that national police decided Tuesday to comply.It was supposed to be the biggest show on Lady Gaga's Asian tour, with fans snapping up every seat in Jakarta's 52,000-seat Gelora Bung Karno stadium — half of them in the first two hours of sales.Permits usually are issued about three weeks before a concert in Jakarta, so it is common to sell tickets well ahead of receiving the permit. It was not immediately clear if the ticket sales would be refunded. The local promoter, Michael Rusli, could not be reached for comment."I'm very disappointed," said Mariska Renata, who had tickets to the Jakarta show.

 gucci outletShe said by bowing to the wishes of "troublemakers," authorities only give them more power. "We are mature enough to be able to separate our own moral values from arts and culture," Renata said.Lady Gaga's Asian tour started late last month and many of the stops have sold out. The South Korean concerts were limited to fans 18 or older because conservatives there raised objections... Spinners and WinnersRep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., became the most powerful woman in American history when she was sworn in as Speaker of the House in 2007. She lost that power four years later and is now hell-bent on winning it back. Spinners and Winners caught up with Pelosi on her early morning power walk by the Potomac River.The 72-year-old grandmother shows no signs of slowing down as she briskly walks along the paved paths of Georgetown's waterfront park and sums up her goal for the year with these words: "Just win, baby.""They have endless money, secret, undisclosed, special interest money that they pour into elections," a slightly out-of-breath Pelosi said of Republican opponents. "But I think we can offset it. We have out-raised them, out-redistricted them, out-recruited them."Pelosi has been a veritable fundraising machine, raising more than $43 million for Democrats in this election cycle and attending nearly 500 fundraisers. The Democratic leader has put her heart and soul into winning back the house for Democrats, but she insists she is motivated by more than winning back the Speaker's gavel."It isn't about me, it is about what is at stake in this election and quite frankly I wish that so much were not at stake in this election."

 gucci shoes outletPelosi also had some harsh words for fellow progressive Russ Feingold, who recently accused her of not doing enough to protect Social Security and Medicare. Check it out on this week's Spinners and Winners... A New York Times/CBS News poll released Monday night shows the possible political perils of President Obama's recent announcement that he supports same-sex marriage.Most of those polled say the president's position will not impact how they vote. But among those who say it will influence their choice, 26 percent said they are less likely to vote for Obama as a result, while 16 percent say they are more likely to.And in what is expected to be a tight race, "even a small shift in swing states could be costly," says the Times.Also troubling for the president is that a majority of voters suspect that his decision was politically motivated.Sixty-seven percent said they thought Obama's announcement was made "mostly for political reasons," while 24 percent said it was "mostly because he thinks it is right."In another potentially damaging sign, 70 percent of Independents attribute the president's move to politics, along with nearly half of Democrats.Overall, Romney now has a three-point edge over Obama — a lead that is within the poll's margin of error — despite improving views of the economy. The Times/CBS poll had the race dead even a month ago. Romney now leads Obama among Independents, and has a 1-point advantage (again within the margin of error) among women.The economy remains by far the most important issue to voters, with 62 percent naming it their top concern, followed by the budget deficit at 11 percent and health care at 9 percent. Just 7 percent pick same-sex marriage as the most important issue in the election.

More deaths as Syria's revolt enters 15th month

 abercrombie and fitch outlet Syria's anti-regime revolt entered its 15th month on Tuesday amid relentless violence that has killed more than 12,000 people and growing fears by Arab countries that a UN-backed peace plan will fail.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said another 12 people were killed Tuesday in violence across the country, including four in the coastal city of Banias, a child in Damascus province and five people in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.The bloodshed comes despite a truce brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan as part of a six-point plan aimed at ending violence that has swept Syria since March 2011, when the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began.The United Nations has accused both sides to the conflict of violating the ceasefire and warned that the country was edging closer to full-blown civil war.The Syrian government maintains that foreign-backed "armed terrorist groups" are behind the unrest aiming to undermine the regime and scuttle attempts at political reform.Officials on Tuesday said slightly more than half of eligible voters had taken part in legislative elections held earlier this month but boycotted by the opposition and described as "ludicrous" by Washington.Khalaf al-Azzawi, head of the electoral commission, said turnout stood at 51.26 percent for the May 7 vote which he described as "transparent and democratic."

abercrombie outlet The elections marked the first "multi-party" vote in five decades and followed the adoption in February of a new constitution. Nine parties were created, and seven had candidates vying for a parliamentary seat.In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister warned Monday that confidence in Annan's peace mission was fading fast because of the bloodshed."Confidence in the efforts of the international envoy is falling rapidly because fighting and bloodshed continue," Prince Saud al-Faisal told reporters after Riyadh hosted a summit of Arab leaders of the Gulf.Part of Annan's six-point plan includes the deployment in flashpoint areas of around 300 UN military observers. By Sunday, 189 observers were on the ground, the UN mission in Syria said.Although the number of casualties has decreased since the deployment of the observers, the violence has not stopped.According to the Britain-based Observatory, more than 12,000 people, the majority of them civilians, have died since the uprising began on March 15 last year, including more than 900 killed since the April 12 truce.A source in the Syrian National Council, Syria's main exiled opposition umbrella group, said meanwhile that Burhan Ghalioun was elected as the coalition's chief in a vote held in Rome on Tuesday.Ghalioun garnered 21 votes in the leadership battle while another opposition figure, Georges Sabra, won 11 of the 40 votes cast by members of the general secretariat, the source said.

 cheap abercrombie uk Ghalioun has led the coalition since it was founded in October 2011 by the consensus of its members, rather than through election.Unrest spilled over into neighbouring Lebanon at the weekend, where political parties are divided, with one side backing the Syrian opposition and the other Assad's regime.Nine people were killed in the mainly Sunni Muslim northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli after sectarian clashes erupted on Saturday between residents of rival neighbourhoods.Calm was restored by early Tuesday after the army deployed and gunmen withdrew from the majority Sunni Muslim district of Bab el-Tebbaneh, and Jabal Mohsen, where the majority of residents are from the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam and loyal to Assad's regime.burs/bpz.. ..NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc has increased the price range in Silicon Valley's biggest-ever initial public offering to raise more than $12 billion, giving the No.1 social network a valuation potentially exceeding $100 billion.The company founded in a Harvard dorm room by Mark Zuckerberg raised the price target range to between $34 and $38 per share in response to strong demand, from $28 to $35, the company said in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday.

abercrombie and fitch uk That would value Facebook at roughly $93 billion to $104 billion, rivaling the market capitalization of Internet powerhouses like Amazon.com Inc and exceeding that of Hewlett-Packard Co and Dell Inc combined.At the mid-point of $36, Facebook would raise $12.1 billion, eclipsing Google Inc's debut in 2004.Wall Street had expected the company to increase the price range, with investors keen to get a slice of a strong consumer brand. The IPO roadshow began last week and has drawn crowds of investors from coast to coast.Facebook plans to close the books on its IPO later on Tuesday, two days ahead of schedule, and in a signal that the landmark initial share sale is drumming up strong demand, a source familiar with the deal told Reuters on Monday.The social network is scheduled to price its shares on Thursday and begin trading on Friday.The IPO is already "well oversubscribed," which is why the company is closing its books earlier than anticipated, the source said.

 abercrombie uk WHAT NEXT?Facebook plans to sell 337.4 million shares, or 12.3 percent of the company. The capital-raising target far outstrips other big Internet IPOs. Google raised just shy of $2 billion in 2004, while last year Groupon Inc tapped investors for $700 million and Zynga Inc raked in $1 billion.The higher price range marks an increase of 21 percent on the lower end.The IPO comes amid concerns from some investors that Facebook hasn't yet figured out a way to make money from an increasing number of users who access the social network on mobile devices such as smartphones.Company executives met with prospective investors in Chicago on Monday and are slated to travel to Kansas City and Denver, before returning to Menlo Park, California, where Facebook is headquartered.A host of Wall Street banks are underwriting Facebook's offering, with Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs serving as leads. Facebook will trade on Nasdaq under the symbol FB.(Reporting By Olivia Oran and Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Edwin Chan, Bernard Orr, Ryan Woo and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

EU force strikes Somali pirate land base

 abercrombie and fitch uk A helicopter gunship swooped over the Somali coast to strike at a pirate stronghold Tuesday in a major escalation of an international effort to protect vital shipping lanes.The helicopter lifted off from one of several ships in an EU armada offshore, blasting a stockpile of pirate skiffs on a beach in Somalia's central Galmudug region in the dead of night, officials said.It marks the first time an international naval force sent to protect the approaches to the Red Sea have struck at pirate assets on land after years of trying to prevent attacks at sea."We believe this action by the EU Naval Force will further increase the pressure on, and disrupt pirates' efforts to get out to sea to attack merchant shipping and dhows," said the EU force's commander, Rear Admiral Duncan Potts.NATO and European Union warships has battled pirates at sea since 2008, but the EU decided to step up the fight in March by authorising strikes on assets stored on land.They police an area 1.5 times the size of Europe, highlighting the challenge to stop pirates using small fast skiffs, grappling hooks and rocket-propelled grenades to hijack ships and take hostages for ransom.The new EU mandate allows warships or aircraft to fire at fuel barrels, boats, trucks or other equipment stowed on beaches, but it is not aimed at hitting the pirates themselves. It also bars the deployment of land troops.

 abercrombie uk outlet "The local Somali people and fishermen -- many of whom have suffered so much because of piracy in the region, can be reassured that our focus was on known pirate supplies and will remain so in the future," Potts said.The EU naval force said no Somalis were injured in Tuesday's strike and that the helicopter returned safely after the operation."This kind of action is very carefully considered," said Timo Lange, a spokesman for the EU mission.The EU's Operation Atalanta has deployed between five and 10 warships off the Somali coast since 2008 to escort humanitarian aid shipments and thwart pirate raids on commercial vessels using the busy sea route.A spokesman refused to disclose the nationality of the helicopter used in the attack, but nine EU warships are currently deployed by France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy and The Netherlands.Several other nations, including Russia and China, also provide protection for their ships as they pass through the busy shipping route through the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.The EU says eight vessels and 235 sailors are currently still held hostage."The EU is working with Somali, regional and international partners to combat the scourge of piracy in the oceans off the coast of East Africa," said a spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton.

 cheap abercrombie outlet uk "Piracy continues to adversely affect shipping in the region, threatening peaceful commerce, weakening and undermining the economy of neighbouring countries," the spokesman said.Somali attacks cost the world nearly $7 billion (5.5 billion euros) in 2011, including more than $2 billion for military operations, armed guards and equipment to protect ships, according to the US-based Oceans Beyond Piracy monitoring group... ..CROWN KING, Ariz. (AP) — Smoke from one of several Arizona wildfires that has shrouded the Phoenix area was expected to be cleared by winds Tuesday as firefighters worked to contain another blaze in the northern part of the state that has forced residents from their homes in a historic mining town.The fire near Crown King began on private land Sunday and burned about 2 square miles by late Monday, with zero containment. The 1,300-acre, human-caused blaze already has destroyed two buildings and one trailer, Prescott National Forest spokeswoman Debbie Maneely said.The Crown King area remained under a mandatory evacuation order, though authorities said most of the town's 350 residents had chosen to stay in the community of mostly summer homes.Maneely said most residents likely were staying with family and friends. An American Red Cross shelter in Mayer, which is about 24 miles north, had several evacuees, but they had left.

 abercrombie outlet Meanwhile, a fire south of Payson was 5 percent contained by Monday evening after charring nearly 5 square miles in the Tonto National Forest. Smoke from that fire drifted into Phoenix over the weekend. Authorities have yet to determine a cause.The fire, and several others burning in Arizona, follow a warning from state land managers that hot temperatures and dry vegetation have created a very high fire risk in some areas.Crown King is a popular destination for all-terrain vehicles because of its numerous hills and gorges. It is located in the mountains more than 85 miles north of Phoenix.Expected hot and windy weather could make containment on that fire difficult, Maneely said.Greg Flores, owner of The Prospector shopping center and president of the Crown King Chamber of Commerce, said he helped a couple and their pug dog flee during a house fire.It wasn't immediately clear if the house was the one where authorities say the wildfire began."The whole house was fully engulfed," Flores said, adding, "There were flames over 100 feet tall when we got up there."Flores said that the fire had turned a ridge black, destroying much of the forest there."It's just horrible," Flores said.Flores and his wife had to leave their home around 2 a.m. Monday after ash began raining down. They spent the night on the floor in the store and have since been able to return home.

 abercrombie and fitch outlet The fire overtook a portion of Crown King Road, making the road to the mountain town inaccessible, a sheriff's office statement said.Flores said most residents own four-wheel-drive vehicles and many were using them to access back roads due to the main road's closure.With more than 400 cabins that draw weekend visitors, Flores said, he's glad this fire didn't break out during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend. ..GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — The eldest daughter of John Edwards is set to take the stand in her father's defense.Cate Edwards is a 30-year-old lawyer who has sat behind the former presidential contender nearly every day of his corruption trial, now in its fourth week. She's expected to testify Tuesday.Edwards has pleaded not guilty to six counts related to campaign finance violations over nearly $1 million from two wealthy donors used to help hide the Democrat's pregnant mistress as he sought the White House in 2008.Cate Edwards fled the courtroom in tears earlier this month during testimony about her mother's reaction to her father's affair with Rielle Hunter. It is not clear what she knows about the cover-up that may help his defense.Edwards faces up to 30 years in prison.