Video: Bikers shut down freeway for marriage proposal




With the help of his biker friends, a motorcyclist briefly shut down the 10 Freeway in West Covina to propose to his girlfriend amid a cloud of pink smoke. Now the California Highway Patrol is investigating.

Videos of the Sunday afternoon proposal were posted on YouTube and have collected thousands of views.


Now CHP investigators are reviewing the videos, said Officer Jose Barrios. Possible citations include impeding or blocking traffic, he said.


"It's illegal," Barrios said. "They're not allowed to do that."


Barrios said the CHP had no immediate information on any accidents caused by the proposal.


In an interview with Power 106 on Monday, the happy couple — identified by multiple media outlets as Hector Martinez and Paige Hernandez — said they had not yet been contacted by law enforcement.


Martinez said he first got the idea for the proposal in October. After recruiting some help — and asking the couple's families to watch from an overpass — he told his now-fiance the trip was "just another Sunday ride."


"When he got off and took off his helmet, that's when I was confused," Hernandez told the radio station. "I saw everybody on the bridge, so I was like, 'What's going on?'"


It's not the only freeway show gaining attention in California. In Oakland,
CHP officers are looking for the drivers who spun doughnuts in the
northbound lanes of Interstate 880 over the weekend. Videos of that
"sideshow" incident have also gone viral.

For L.A., Barrios said, the motorcycle proposal was a first.



"There's
a lot of odd things that happen on the freeway," Barrios said. "This
doesn't happen every day, obviously, otherwise it'd be a huge issue. We haven't seen something like this."


ALSO:


Doctor shot to death in Newport Beach exam room identified


L.A. County supervisor seeks tighter rules for maternity hotels


Chris Brown, Frank Ocean to be interviewed in brawl investigation


— Kate Mather


Follow Kate Mather on Twitter or Google+.



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The Lede Blog: Syria President's Wife Pregnant, Lebanese Newspaper Says

Just as tens of thousands of Syrians are scrambling to get themselves and their children out of war-ravaged Syria, President Bashar al-Assad and his glamorous wife, Asma, apparently are taking the opposite approach. They are having a baby, according to a Lebanese newspaper sympathetic to the Assad family.

The newspaper, Al Akhbar, dropped this news on Monday as a tangential reference in a fawning article describing a visit with President Assad in Damascus, in which he predicts victory in an increasingly bloody insurgency that is almost two years old. “On a personal level, the man seems calm and in control,” said an English-language version of the article on the newspaper’s Web site. “His confidence stands out. Also, there’s the news of the pregnancy of his wife, Asma, which could not be dealt with as a simple personal matter between a couple.” The Assads already have three young children.

The Al Akhbar account provided no further insight into the pregnancy or due date. But the reference seemed to corroborate rumors that Mrs. Assad had conceived in June, which was reported in November by Al Bawaba, an Amman-based news Web site. Mrs. Assad, a 37-year-old former investment banker who was born in London, has not been seen publicly in months. Rumors have repeatedly surfaced that she has left Syria for personal safety reasons.

If the June conception rumors are correct, the Assads expanded their family during some of the worst mayhem in the country. Mr. Assad said for the first time that month that the country was in a state of war. He further antagonized his former friendly neighbor Turkey when Syrian gunners shot down a Turkish warplane over the Mediterranean. A rash of high-ranking military officers defected in Turkey, and a Syrian Air Force pilot flew his MiG to Jordan and sought asylum. And the United Nations cease-fire monitoring mission in Syria was suspended because of escalating violence.

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Cricket-Australia board play straight bat to Warne twitter rant






Jan 29 (Reuters) – Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland has defended the organisation following a scathing attack aimed at them by spin great Shane Warne, who panned the board in a series of Twitter rants.


Sutherland added that he was prepared to meet with Warne and discuss the 43-year-old’s criticism of CA’s player rotation policy and his claim that “rubbish” decisions were turning Australian cricket into a “big joke”.






After venting his initial anger on Monday, Warne reiterated his views a day later.


“As I said last night we need cricket people running the team & who understand cricket & what’s required at the top level, not muppets,” he tweeted on Tuesday.


Warne questioned the logic of having former rugby union international Pat Howard as the board’s high performance manager but Sutherland threw his weight behind the former Wallaby back.


“I have every confidence in Pat Howard and his team, and what they’re doing,” Sutherland told local media on Tuesday.


“Personally I find it a little bit disappointing to read about that (Warne’s criticisms) in the fashion that I have.


“Ideally you’d like to be able to sit down with Shane and understand a little bit more deeply his opinions.”


Australia won all three tests in a recent series against Sri Lanka but were held 2-2 in the subsequent one-day internationals after resting skipper Michael Clarke for the first two matches.


The hosts, however, lost both Twenty20 internationals and were left debating the merits of a controversial rotation policy CA has introduced to manage injuries and the workload of their frontline players.


While Warne insisted Australia needed to field their best 11 players every time they stepped out, fast bowling great Dennis Lillee has backed CA’s approach.


“He’s 100 percent in agreement with the selection panel with managing the load and development of players,” Sutherland said of Lillee, who captured 355 wickets in 70 tests.


“Who’s right here?


“You’ve got Shane Warne saying one thing, Dennis Lillee saying another. It’s not a black and white issue.”


Warne retired from test cricket in 2007 after taking 708 wickets in 145 tests. (Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; Editing by John O’Brien)


Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Camila McConaughey Takes Baby Livingston to the Park (Photo)















01/29/2013 at 10:05 AM EST







Camila Alves and baby boy Livingston


FameFlynet


A lovely 80-degree day in Austin, Texas, was just what Livingston McConaughey needed for a nice stroll in the park.

Camila and Matthew McConaughey's newborn son enjoyed an outing with mom on Sunday – the first glimpse of the couple's third child, who was born Dec. 28.

Camila, who celebrated her 30th birthday on Jan. 28, shared her happiness via Twitter, writing, "Today I am 30 years old, Livingston is 30 days old and I'm blessed with 3 healthy children...I am so thankful and full of joy!"

At the park on Sunday, she mostly kept Livingston covered in a light blanket, and was seen kissing the boy on the head.

Camila, meanwhile, was dressed comfortably in a white shirt, black leggings, sneakers and dark sunglasses.

Matthew was also out and about in Austin on Sunday, looking well on his way back from his dramatic weight loss for a movie role.

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Study says leafy greens top food poisoning source


NEW YORK (AP) — A government study has fingered leafy green vegetables as the leading source of food poisoning illnesses.


However, the most food-related deaths were from contaminated chicken and other poultry.


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study Tuesday. It's based on an analysis of food poisoning cases from 1998 through 2008. It's the agency's most comprehensive attempt to identify which foods most often carry germs that make us sick.


The CDC estimates roughly 1 in 6 Americans — or 48 million people— gets sick from food poisoning each year. That includes 128,000 hospitalization and 3,000 deaths.


____


Online:


CDC journal: http://www.cdc.gov/eid/


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Nude woman runs over nude fiance with car, CHP says



Authorities are investigating after a woman in San Bernardino County allegedly struck her fiance with a car. The California Highway Patrol said both were naked at the time of the Thursday incident.


CHP officials told KTLA News that the couple were in the parked car on Phelan Road in Phelan when Alberto Giovanni Bravo got out and walked in front of the vehicle. For reasons that are not clear, the woman, identified as 22-year-old Hesperia woman, got behind the wheel and ran into him.


Bravo was thrown onto the hood of the car and then tossed to the ground as the vehicle preceded to cross the road and run into a chain-link fence and some trees before coming to a stop.


The man was airlifted to a hospital and was said to be in serious condition. The woman, whose name was not released, was treated for non-life-threatening injuries. She was arrested on suspicion of felony DUI.


“Part of this investigation is of a sensitive nature and still under investigation,” a CHP officer told the Daily Press.

-- A Times staff writer



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Toyota Returns to No. 1 in Global Auto Sales








TOKYO — Toyota Motor sold a record 9.75 million vehicles last year, according to an official tally released Monday, roaring past General Motors and Volkswagen to reclaim its title as the world’s top automaker in 2012.




General Motors, which held the top spot in 2011, mustered 9.29 million vehicles in global sales last year. The U.S. company had been the top-selling automaker for decades before losing its lead to Toyota in 2008.


Volkswagen sold 9.1 million vehicles last year, a record for the German automaker, which has expanded its presence in emerging markets. VW also outsold Toyota in 2011.


Toyota estimated last month that it sold 9.7 million vehicles for the year, and final figures released Monday were slightly higher.


By confirming its No. 1 title, Toyota cements a strong comeback from several years of tumbles.


A sharp slowdown in exports during the global economic crisis led to the automaker’s biggest loss in decades, while controversy over its handling of recalls greatly tarnished its image for quality and reliability.


In 2011, the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, as well as widespread flooding in Thailand later that year, severely disrupted production, weighing on sales in important markets like the United States and pushing Toyota to No. 3 in global sales.


Toyota had a bumper year in 2012, however, as production rebounded and the automaker went on an offensive to win back market share. Toyota sales in the United States surged 27 percent, to 2.08 million vehicles. In Japan, sales rose 35 percent, to 2.41 million units, helped by government incentives for fuel-efficient cars.


Those increases were enough to offset a decline in sales in China, where Japanese businesses have been hurt by consumer boycotts amid a bitter territorial dispute between the two countries. In Europe, sales of Toyota cars rose by 2 percent. Toyota’s sales figures include deliveries from its subsidiaries Hino Motors and Daihatsu Motor.


The other automakers among Japan’s big three also sold more cars in 2012 and are set for even higher sales this year on the back of a weaker yen, which makes Japanese-made cars and parts more price competitive. Honda Motor said global sales jumped 19 percent to 3.82 million vehicles, while Nissan Motor logged a 5.8 percent sales growth to 4.94 million vehicles.


This year, Toyota aims to improve on its record for this year to sell 9.91 million cars worldwide.


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3 Bite-Size Tips for Using Twitter in a Job Search






Advice abounds on how to use social media to advance your career and job search. Beyond reading the volumes of great books, breaking down advice into manageable bites is a smart way to venture into the often-rough social networking waters. Also, choosing one site and really getting your feet wet is helpful to prevent social media overwhelm and scattershot behavior. The following are three snack-size tips to help you get started using the niche-networking site, Twitter.


Tip No. 1: Create a Twitter handle that articulates your value. This may simply mean using your name, particularly if your personal brand and unique value are highly connected to your name. So, @JaneDDoe may just be the perfect draw to brand you. However, if your brand is better exuded through a descriptive representation of what you do, whom you serve, how you serve, and so forth, then consider drawing a visual word picture. The challenge: Creating this handle to represent your brand in just a 15-character limit. But you can meet that challenge. It just takes thought and brainstorming.






Check out these eight examples of personally branded, value-focused and/or descriptive Twitter handles to get your juices flowing:


1. Showing your unique value: @WorkIntegrity (A career transition consultant with integrity)


2. Showing what you do: @bizshrink (A leadership psychologist who grows psychologically savvy leaders)


3. Describing how you help others: @AuntieStress (She undresses your stress by getting to the heart of the cause)


4. Using your name brand: @lizadonnelly (A New York-based cartoonist and writer)


5. Creating a hybrid handle: @RedBaronUSA (A turnaround management and growth strategy expert who uses a company name, RedBaron, and first name, Baron, in the handle)


6. Describing what you do while concurrently using your company name: @Brainzooming (Strategy, innovation, creativity, and social media ideas)


7. Incorporating your name brand plus credential (niche area of focus): @tracystewartcpa (A CPA PFS CFF CFP CDFA, collaborative neutral financial advisor)


8. Emphasizing your personal brand tagline: @ValueIntoWords (A certified master resume writer translating value into words. @Glassdoor career and workplace expert)


Tip No. 2: Follow a couple dozen people and begin sharing their content. This can start as simply as researching four or five of your favorite colleagues on Twitter and then following them. Tag along a few of the people they follow. Read through their tweets. Select a resonating tweet and share it using the “retweet” button. Or, better yet, create a personal introduction to the tweet and customize your share.


You can do this by copying/pasting the original tweet into a new tweet window and then typing in additional, value-add language to introduce the tweet. This will test your writing precision and editing skills because you likely will need to trim the original tweet (without changing the meaning), and have to create a brief, three- or four-word value-add remark, all while fitting into the 140-character limitations.


The following is an example of a tailored retweet of a blog post where the poster pulled out the takeaway message that she found most compelling.


Example of original tweet: “4 tips for better negotiations http://www.stumbleupon.com/to/s/73xwDS”


Example of tailored retweet: “‘Watch where you set your anchor’ + 3 more tips for better negotiations: http://bit.ly/VtqfOr by @twilli2861″


Tip No. 3. Tweet your own content. Once you get the hang of tweeting, consider developing your own original tweets. If you author a blog or guest post on other blogs, then it would be natural to share that content. If this isn’t the case, then create 140-character tips that apply to your area of expertise. So, for example, if you are a sales professional, you may want to prepare a sales tip to help your followers sell better, or you could share one thing not to do when trying to close a deal. In other words, consider what’s in it for the follower before composing a tweet, then offer practical advice they can immediately implement.


While Twitter can be a noisy playground with lots of equipment with which to experiment; e.g., TweetDeck, HootSuite, hashtags, Twitter chats, and such, don’t let that bog you down. Instead, target in on one area of that playground and start swinging. Let your legs fly, throw your head back. At the same time, play safely and courteously. You will find yourself exhilarated and playful, at the same time, growing your career muscle in communication and collaboration.


Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter is a Glassdoor career and workplace expert, chief career writer and partner with CareerTrend, and is one of only 28 Master Resume Writers (MRW) globally. Jacqui and her husband, “Sailor Rob,” host a lively careers-focused blog at http://careertrend.net/blog. Jacqui is a power Twitter user (@ValueIntoWords), listed on several “Best People to Follow” lists for job seekers.


Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Michelle Williams Says Reports of Destiny's Child Super Bowl Reunion Are Not True















01/28/2013 at 10:15 AM EST







Destiny's Child (from left) Beyoncé Knowles, Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland


Anthony Harvey/PA/Abaca


Are they or aren't they?

Fans of Destiny's Child may be wondering where Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams will be at the Super Bowl halftime show.

While Beyoncé has posted photos of her rehearsals for the big performance, Williams says reports of a reunion for the pop group are merely unconfirmed rumors – and that they're "not true."

"I'm going to be in the musical Fela!," she told WRUG Media in a recent interview. "I hate to disappoint the people and tell them that it's not true."

Williams is headlining a world tour of the Tony Award-winning show, which kicks off Tuesday in Washington, D.C. According to the show's website, there are two performances of Fela! at D.C.'s Sidney Harman Hall, at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Super Bowl Sunday, which would make it difficult to be in New Orleans for the game without help from an understudy.

"I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry," Williams said of the reunion rumors. "But we did record a song with each other before the holidays."

Destiny's Child – Love Songs, a greatest hits compilation of the group's most romantic recordings set for release Tuesday, will feature a new song, "Nuclear," their first in eight years.

But Williams did hint that a reunion outside the recording studio may still happen.

"We have talked about it," she said. "You know, one day soon."

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Wounded soldier gets double-arm transplant in Md.


BALTIMORE (AP) — A soldier who lost all four limbs in a roadside bomb attack in 2009 in Iraq has received a double-arm transplant in Baltimore.


Johns Hopkins Hospital surgeons plan to discuss the transplant Tuesday at a news conference with the infantryman.


Johns Hopkins says the soldier is one of seven in the United States who have undergone successful double-arm transplants.


Hospital officials say the transplant last month is the first for the hospital and involved an innovative treatment to prevent rejection of the new limbs. Johns Hopkins officials say the treatment used the dead donor's bone marrow cells and so far has prevented rejection and reduced the need for anti-rejection drugs. Those drugs can cause complications including infection and organ damage.


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