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NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Six new breeds of dogs, including Mexico's hairless Xoloitzcuintli, the Finnish Lapphund and the Norwegian Lundehund, will be competing in the 2012 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show next month.

They will join other newcomers, the Cesky Terrier, the American English Coonhound and the Entlebucher Mountain Dog, along with 179 other breeds and varieties vying to be named Best in Show on Feb 14 at the annual New York event that started in 1877 with 1,201 dogs.

This year's entries for the 136th show will be limited to 2,000 dogs.

"We will have at least two dogs in every breed, including the new ones," said David Frei, the Westminster Kennel Club's director of communications and USA Network host.

"New breed is a little bit of a misnomer because a lot of these breeds have been around for hundreds, or even thousands of years in some of the cases," he told Reuters.

Before being included in the show, the breed must meet American Kennel Club (AKC) rules including having sufficient numbers in the United States, a certain geographical distribution and a parent club that makes sure they are following responsible breeding practices and meet certain characteristics.

"It is really an AKC decision, not ours," Frei said, adding that in the past 23 years, more than 40 breeds have been added to the show.

Among the more striking newcomers is the Xololitzcuintli, the national dog of Mexico, which was previously known as the Mexican Hairless and comes in three sizes.

"These dogs are descended from hairless dogs prized by the Aztecs and revered as guardians of the dead. Over 400 years later, these dogs were still to be found in the Mexican jungles," according to the Westminster Kennel Club.

Xoloitzcuintli expert Amy Fernandez said the decision to include the breed is long overdue. She has been working to get them included for 28 years.

"It is an ancient dog and probably the oldest breed in North America and its history dates back about 3,000 years," she said. "It has been recognized in almost every country in the world for many years and the U.S. has been the only holdout."

Fernandez, who admitted that the hairless breed is not to everyone's taste, described the dogs as very watchful, sensitive and great with children.

But with such stiff competition Frei said the odds of a rookie taking the top prize are "pretty long."

"The shortest time between a breed competing at Westminster and winning best of show is 27 years," said Frei. "That was the Bichon Frise. It had its first year in 1974 and won best in show in 2001."

Last year's winner was a Scottish Deerhound named Hickory.

(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/pets/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/lf_nm_life/us_westminster_dogshow

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PARK CITY, Utah ? The rap group that created controversy in the early 1990s with songs like "Me So Horny" is reuniting and hitting the road.

Luther Campbell said Saturday that 2 Live Crew is back together and will tour this summer.

The rapper and producer made the announcement at the Sundance Film Festival, where he is promoting his appearance in the short film "The Life and Freaky Times of Uncle Luke."

The 51-year-old entertainer describes the offbeat film as "an art piece" that he did to help young filmmakers who were inspired by his hip-hop work. But his mind was on getting back with the old crew.

"I just can't wait to just start practicing," he said. "That's going to be a blast."

So will they be "As Nasty As They Wanna Be" (the title of the group's 1989 album that a judge deemed obscene, a ruling later overturned by the United States Court of Appeals)?

Not really, Campbell said.

"We're going to perform the songs and everybody's going to be excited," he said. "Some of the older people of our generation will be able to tell their kids, `You're staying home tonight, we're going to see 2 Live Crew and shake our booty!'"

___

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: . www.twitter.com/APSandy

___

Online:

http://www.sundance.org/festival/

Listen to 2 Live Crew's "Me So Horny" if you dare:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/22/2-live-crew-90s-rap-group_n_1222071.html

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CHICAGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Apple Inc (AAPL.O) has been in many ways an unstoppable stock, and that has been even more the case after earnings. Going back eight years, on the day after the release of results, its shares have risen 70 percent of the time.

But with Apple having hit a record high just a few days ago, many in the options market are playing it safe, with some guarding against a mild decline in shares following its release of results on Tuesday after the market close.

Apple shares, which hit a record high of $431.37 on January 19, are up 5.4 percent so far this year. On Monday the shares closed at $427.40, up 1.69 percent on the day.

It's hard not to be an eternal optimist given the stock's performance - the shares have had only one down year since 2003. The average analyst price target is now around $515, and just about 1 percent of the shares are sold short.

But Apple's path has not always been straight up. After streaking to new highs, the stock has been prone to sharp pullbacks.

"If I were a long holder in Apple... you may want to consider protection, as the last three times Apple has made all-time highs, the stock has sold off about 10 percent," said Dan Nathan, a founder of riskreversal.com, a New York-based firm specializing in options trade ideas.

Apple logged new highs in late July, late September and mid-October.

Apple weekly options are pricing in an expected move in the shares of about 4.8 percent in either direction, said Joey Kunkle, a founder of options analytics firm OptionsHawk.com in Boston.

That expected move is above the average 2.80 percent one-day post-earnings move over the past four quarters, according to Bespoke Investment Group of Harrison, New York.

Apple options volume on Monday was just below average daily levels as traders exchanged about 126,000 puts and 208,000 calls, according to options analytics firm Trade Alert.

For the past week, calls have outpaced puts by almost two to one in volume, suggesting bullish sentiment heading into earnings, which is very typical for Apple, Trade Alert President Henry Schwartz said.

But the overall action does not tell the whole story. There is a steep skew - the difference in premium between downside puts and upside calls - headed into results.

An equity put option grants the right to sell the stock at a fixed price any time up to expiration while a call conveys the right to buy shares at preset price.

Traders with long stock positions are bidding up downside puts to protect gains while a lack of interest for upside calls suggests limited gains on earnings, Kunkle said.

The heaviest activity appears to be among investors recently selling put spreads, which pays them a premium and assumes that the stock will stay above $390 by this Friday.

The clamor for downside protection by shareholders had bid up the price of Apple puts as investors looked to lock in recent all-time highs in the stock.

Put spreads were sold last week and were likely the work of traders taking advantage of the expensive premium environment using this limited risk strategy, hoping any decline in shares is small.

"Option traders last week were utilizing bull put spreads to wager that Apple shares will hold long-term support at $395 if shares were to sell off on earnings," Kunkle said.

Kevin Pleines, equity market analyst at Birinyi Associates in New York, said that Apple's shares since 2004 have gained about 70 percent of the time after earnings, with an average gain of 2.4 percent from the close prior to results to 8 a.m. the next morning.

"Apple shares could be seen overbought, especially after recent highs, but this is a stock that can stay overbought," Pleines said. "It's not a reason to sell the stock."

On Monday, the January weekly $425, $430 and $440 calls were fairly busy, while the February $430 calls also active with a decent size buyer of the February $445 calls, Nathan said.

(Reporting By Doris Frankel and Angela Moon; Editing by David Gaffen and Leslie Adler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/tc_nm/us_apple_options_earnings

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BEIJING ? Two giant pandas have left China to start a new life in France.

A specially chartered plane carrying female panda Huan Huan and male Yuan Zai took off from southwest Chengdu city on Sunday.

The pair will spend 10 years at Beauval zoo in central France under a conservation and research agreement between China and France, according to Xinhua News Agency.

It will be the first time in more than 10 years that giant pandas have resided in France.

Zoo visitors will be able to see the 3-year-old pandas starting Feb. 11.

China has long used "panda diplomacy" to make friends and influence people in other countries. Last month, two pandas from China debuted at Scotland's Edinburgh Zoo.

Pandas are an endangered species.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/pets/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120115/ap_on_re_as/as_china_france_pandas

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brundidgewinnifred41 · ScienceDaily (Jan. 13, 2012)

ScienceDaily (Jan. 13, 2012) ? While the value of friendship has been well established for individuals, little had been known about the impact of married couples' forming and keeping friendships with other couples. These relationships often make for happier marriages and also improve the bonds between adults who are unmarried partners, concludes a new book, "Two Plus Two: Couples and Their Couple Friendships."

Co-authors Geoffrey Greif, DSW, MSW, professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, and Kathleen Holtz Deal, PhD, MSW, associate professor at the School, have found that when couples agree on how they spend their time alone and with others, they are more likely to have a happy marriage or relationship. The book offers language that couples can use to talk with each other to find a balance that works for them.

The findings are based on interviews with 123 couples with both partners present, 122 individuals who were alone when questioned about their relationships, and 58 divorced individuals. To identify and interview subjects for the study, the professors began with the work of 58 master's students in an advanced research course and then interviewed more than 20 couples themselves. The stories of these couples, who remain anonymous, are highlighted in the book.

The research found differing motivations behind couples' friendships, with some people preferring to share emotions while others see the purpose as fun and recreation. The ways the friendships get started also vary, with the majority growing out of a typical friendship between two people that widens to encompass all four. Say the men were pals are work, or the women met at college and decided to see if their spouses might get along, too.

Deal, who has been married 43 years, says she was surprised to find that she and her husband were in the minority because they set out as a pair to make friends with other couples. They established friendships with a group of five other couples that have lasted for over 30 years. They have shared social events and vacations. "We can talk about anything we want to. We have shared sad times, and good times," she says, calling the group of friends, who met one another at church, "a huge influence on my life."

Greif says that he and his wife of 36 years "feel very comfortable" in their friendships with other couples and that work on the book has given him the "language to think about how couple friendships are begun and how they are maintained."

As the author of articles and books on family issues, Greif had previously studied men and their interactions for his 2009 book, "Buddy System: Understanding Male Friendships." He says a look at friendships among married adults seemed a logical next step. From the outset of the project over three years ago, the co-authors found very little had been written. "Regarding adult long-term relationships across the lifespan, this is it," says Greif.

Greif and Deal conclude that healthy couple friendships make a marriage more fulfilling and exciting for several reasons, such as increasing partners' attraction to each other, providing a greater understanding of men and women in general, and allowing partners to observe ways that other couples interact with each other and negotiate differences. However, they found that the topics of sex and money continue to be taboo even among friends.

Couples fall into one of three categories, according to how they approach their friendships with others, the research shows. Readers can ask their partners which one best fits their own profile as a twosome. Seekers? Keepers? Or Nesters? Greif and Deal describe seekers as extroverts who are often looking for another couple with whom to socialize. Keepers have full lives and many friends, and are not necessarily looking for more. Nesters tend to be introverts who have a small number of couple friends and are content with that.

Compromise is required when an introvert marries an extrovert, and a couple's outlook may change as life stages do. The content of "Two Plus Two" is organized across the lifespan, with chapters including, "The Middle Years: Couples Raising Families and Balancing Friendships," and "Older Couples and Their Couple Friendships." The oldest couples are now in their eighties and nineties.

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