LaNUBlog™

China has been angered by previous meetings between the Dalai Lama (left) and Barack Obama. US President Barack Obama will meet exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Friday, US officials say. China has urged the US to cancel the meeting, saying it will "seriously impair China-US relations". China describes the Dalai Lama as a separatist, while the spiritual leader says he only advocates greater autonomy for Tibet, not independence. Officials say the US does not support Tibetan independence but is concerned about human rights in China. The two men last met in 2011, in talks that

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends mammography screening every two years for women between the ages of 50 and 75. Anyone under 50 should talk to her doctor to assess her individual risk. Both organizations have indicated that they will be reviewing their guidelines this year, taking into account any research that has been published in recent years. The best approach to mammography screening is probably somewhere in the middle, says Brawley, a practicing oncologist

The debate over annual mammogram screenings continues this week, as follow-up data from a long-term study come under fire. Researchers with the Canadian National Breast Screening Study conducted a 25-year follow-up with their participants and concluded that "annual mammography in women aged 40 to 59 does not reduce mortality from breast cancer beyond that of physical examination or usual care when adjuvant therapy for breast cancer is freely available." (Adjuvant therapy is treatment given after surgery; this can include chemotherapy, radiation or hormone treatments, according to the National Cancer Institute.) The results were published Wednesday in the British Medical Journal. But several professional associations and experts have questioned the study authors' conclusions. Results from this study have been reported periodically over the last two decades. The screening data were originally collected in six Canadian provinces between 1980 and 1985. Close to 90,000 women ...

Sid Caesar, whose clever, anarchic comedy on such programs as "Your Show of Shows" & "Caesar's Hour" helped define the 1950s "Golden Age of Television," has died. He was 91yrs. A friend of the family, actor Rudy De Luca, did not know the exact cause of death, but said Caesar had respiratory problems & other health problems for several years. Caesar became famous for "Your Show of Shows," which went on the air in 1950. It lasted 4yrs & was followed by "Caesar's Hour," which combined sketches, musical revues & situation comedy. Both shows featured writers who became famous in their own right, including Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Mel Tolkin, Lucille Kallen & Larry Gelbart. Woody Allen also contributed to Caesar's comedy as a writer for 1 of his specials. Brooks visited Caesar last night to say goodbye. Share your memories of Caesar

Three hours later, she still had miles to go. So, too, did the rest of her family who were stuck in traffic across the region. "My daughter was stranded trying to get from her gymnastics class in Apex. My ex-husband is trying to get her and he got trapped," she said by telephone, referring to a Raleigh suburb. "My husband is in Charlotte and says things are bad. All the gas stations are shutting down, and I had trouble trying to gas up." 'Our own trucks are stuck' There are snowplows on the roads but "unfortunately some of our own trucks are

Get off the roads, and stay off. That was the message in Georgia and the Carolinas as a snow and ice storm swept through Wednesday, bringing some of the Southeast's most populous cities to a standstill. The warnings came as freezing rain brought heavy ice accumulations from Atlanta to Charlotte. Across a large swath of the South, hundreds of thousands of people were without power and thousands of flights were canceled. Calling ice the biggest enemy, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal declared a state of emergency. School districts canceled classes and government offices were shuttered in an attempt to avoid a repeat of the traffic paralysis caused by a storm last month. Up to three-quarters of an inch of ice was expected to accumulate in Atlanta and up to 10 inches of snow and sleet were expected in Raleigh and Charlotte, making travel treacherous. Also in the storm's path were Virginia and Washington, with much of the Northeast to

Living in this multiracial, multicultural world requires a sharper critical eye, says photographer Annu Palakunnathu Matthew. Her project, “An Indian from India,” places attention much more on its onlookers than its photographic subjects, whisking us away from preconceived generalizations and facile truths about minorities. Born in England, raised in India and now an art professor at the University of Rhode Island, Matthew has been widely acclaimed for her discreet blend of activism and experimentation in works such as “Bollywood Satirized” and “Open Wound.” The same thread continues in “An Indian from India,” where Matthew uses Photoshop to manipulate portraits of Native Americans that were taken in the 19thcentury and early 20thcentury by ethno- photographers such as Edward S. Curtis. Her process includes photographing herself mimicking the pose of a Native American, extracting it and pasting it onto the original photo. “I use Photoshop, but

In one of the biggest such recalls ever, Graco has agreed to recall 3.7 million child car seats manufactured in recent years -- even as it officially contests a government request to recall nearly 1.8 million more -- over a buckling issue. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced Tuesday that Graco is voluntarily recalling 11 of 18 model seats that the government agency had asked it to recall. "NHTSA's investigation will remain open pending its evaluation of the Graco recall and until the agency's consideration of the review of the 7 remaining sea models is completed," the department said. The 3.7 million seats alone makes this recall the fourth biggest ever for car seats, according to the federal agency. If all the seats the NHTSA was asking to Graco to recall are added in, it would be the biggest. In a statement, Graco said the

Derek Jeter, who led the Yankees to five World Series titles during his first 19 seasons, announced Wednesday that he will retire at the end of the 2014 major league baseball season. "I could not be more sure. I know it in my heart. The 2014 season will be my last year playing professional baseball," the Yankees captain and shortstop said in a note posted on his Facebook page. Jeter, who is 10th on the all-time hits leader list with 3.316 hits, missed most of the 2013 season because of ankle injury. "I know they say that when you dream you eventually wake up. Well, for some reason, I've never had to wake up. Not just because of my time as a New York Yankee but also because I am living my dream every single day," wrote Jeter, who was a 13-time all-star and the face of America's most famous baseball franchise. USA Today baseball columnist Bob Nightengale said on

The lights go out. You know the drill: Call the utility company. Wait for their trucks. Maybe complain about how long it takes. Outages suck, but you might be surprised to learn how much energy it takes to restore energy during the middle of an ice storm like the one the South is currently enduring. In Georgia, where the greatest number of outages have been reported and are growing, not only are utility trucks on the streets, but a whole cadre of behind-the-scenes players are coordinating housing, food and other logistics for thousands of out-of-state workers who arrived to help restore power. The help from other states is essential to restoring power. "But where are they going to sleep, what food are they going to eat?" asks Steve Lewis, logistics director at Georgia Power. That is the challenge that he and a team at the utility company have to solve on the fly. Georgia Power provides energy to about 2.4 million customers, many of whom awoke to find their streets looking li...