Beijing releases pollution data; US figures higher (AP)

BEIJING ? Caving to public pressure, Beijing environmental authorities started releasing more detailed air quality data Saturday that may better reflect how bad the Chinese capital's air pollution is. But one expert says measurements from the first day were low compared with data U.S. officials have been collecting for years.

The initial measurements were low on a day where you could see blue sky. After a week of smothering smog, the skies over the city were being cleared by a north wind.

The readings of PM2.5 ? particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in size or about 1/30th the average width of a human hair ? were being posted on Beijing's environmental monitoring center's website. Such small particulates can penetrate deep into the lungs, so measuring them is considered a more accurate reflection of air quality than other methods.

It is the first time Beijing has publicly revealed PM2.5 data and follows a clamor of calls by citizens on social networking sites tired of breathing in gray and yellow air. The U.S. Embassy measures PM2.5 from a device on its rooftop and releases the results, and some residents have even tested the air around their neighborhoods and posted the results online.

Beijing is releasing hourly readings of PM2.5 that are taken from one monitoring site about 4 miles (7 kilometers) west of Tiananmen Square, the monitoring center's website said Saturday. It said the data was for research purposes and the public should only use it as a reference.

The reading at noon Saturday was 0.015 milligrams per cubic meter, which would be classed as "good" for a 24-hour exposure at that level, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. The U.S. Embassy reading taken from its site on the eastern edge of downtown Beijing said its noon reading was "moderate." Its readings are posted on Twitter.

Steven Andrews, an environmental consultant who has studied Beijing's pollution data since 2006, said he was "already a bit suspicious" of Beijing's PM2.5 data. Within the 24-hour period to noon Saturday, Beijing reported seven hourly figures "at the very low level" of 0.003 milligrams per cubic meter.

"In all of 2010 and 2011, the U.S. Embassy reported values at or below that level only 18 times out of over 15,000 hourly values or about 0.1 percent of the time," said Andrews. "PM2.5 concentrations vary by area so a direct comparison between sites isn't possible, but the numbers being reported during some hours seem surpisingly low."

The Beijing center had promised to release PM2.5 data by the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year on Monday. It has six sites that can test for PM2.5 and 27 that can test for the larger, coarser PM10 particles that are considered less hazardous. The center is expected to buy equipment and build more monitoring sites to enable PM2.5 testing.

Beijing wasn't expected to include PM2.5 in its daily roundups of the air quality anytime soon. Those disclosures, for example "light" or "serious," are based on the amount of PM10, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air.

Beijing interprets air quality using less stringent standards than the U.S. Embassy, so often when the government says pollution is "light," the embassy terms it "hazardous."

"There has been tremendous amounts of attention in the Chinese media ? whichever newspaper you pick up, whichever radio station you listen to, channel you watch ? they are all talking about PM2.5 and how levels are so high," said Andrews.

"What has been so powerful is that people are skeptical, and I think rightly skeptical," about the government's descriptions of data, he said.

___

Online:

Beijing center's readings (in Chinese): http://zx.bjmemc.com.cn/

The U.S. Embassy's Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/beijingair

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_as/as_china_air_quality

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English Is an Optimistic Language, Study Suggests (LiveScience.com)

When a team of scientists set out to evaluate the emotional significance of English words, they expected most would fall at the center of the scale, at neutral, while equal shares trailed out to the positive and negative ends of the spectrum.

That is not what they found, however: Instead, we appear to speak an optimistically biased language. ?

"I think it is a happy story," said study researcher Chris Danforth, an assistant professor of mathematics at the University of Vermont. "Fundamentally, we have this happy bias built into our language."

Overall, English words ? which he described as the atoms of the language ? tend to be more positive than negative, regardless?of whether they are more common or more rare, they found.?

Danforth and colleagues compiled the 5,000 most frequently used words found in four sources ? two decades of material from The New York Times, 18 months' worth from Twitter, manuscripts from Google Books produced between 1520 and 2008 and music lyrics from 1960 to 2007 ? ?for a total of 10,222 words. Then, using a service called Mechanical Turk, they had 50 people evaluate each word on a scale of 1 to 9, with 1 being least happy, 5 neutral, and 9 happiest.

They found that the average score fell at 6, a full point shift toward positivity.

"That phenomenon is not dependent on which list of words you go to ? it is the same shape for all of these different sources," Danforth said.

Certain positively oriented words (such as"pleasure," "comedy" and "love") and other negatively oriented ones (such as "terrorist," "rape" and "cancer") naturally fall at far ends of the scale. Other words ? such as "the" or "and" ? are truly neutral, receiving solid 5s from evaluators. But there was also another, trickier category. [8 Meanings of the Word 'Love']

Words such as "pregnant," "beef" and "alcohol" received a wide spread of scores from their evaluators, signaling that their positivity or negativity is linkedto the context they are used in.

All were included in the analysis, published online Jan. 11 in the journal PLoS ONE. However, the researchers found that any word with an average score of between 4 and 6 could be excluded without changing the overall result.

Why the positive bent?

The reason for the positivity? The researchers think it is evidence of a pro-social nature of our language.

"[English] developed in a society that succeeded, there must be many reasons behind that, but one of them ought to be that we communicate with each other in a good way that produces good results," Danforth said.

"You need the words to be meaningful," said study researcher Peter Sheridan Dodds, an associate professor of mathematics at the University of Vermont. He pointed out negative words are less abundant but more meaningful. ?

"We don't run around saying them all the time ? it's the boy who cried wolf sort of thing," he said. "But we are happy to say 'Have a nice day,' lots of small social things," he said.

In another analysis focused entirely on Twitter, the researchers discerned daily, weekly and annual mood cycles, as well as mood spikes associated with holidays and other events. Overall, however, they found the recent trend has been a downer, with Twitterers using less positive words over time.

Building on their work so far, Dodds and Danforth are constructing a happiness sensor they call a "hedonometer," which would draw on Twitter and other sources to provide a real-time measure of a population's mood.

"We are trying to put another dial on the dashboard of how we think about society's performance," Dodds said. The hedonometer's readings could join measures such as the gross national product or the consumer confidence index to inform policymakers and others, he said.

You can follow LiveScience senior writer Wynne Parry on Twitter @Wynne_Parry.?Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience?and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20120123/sc_livescience/englishisanoptimisticlanguagestudysuggests

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Asian stocks muted as Greece debt talks drag on (AP)

BANGKOK ? Asian stocks posted muted gains Monday in trade thinned by Chinese New Year holidays as talks on a debt agreement for Greece dragged on.

Only a handful of markets were open for business. Trading is closed in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Korea.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average was up 0.2 percent at 8,779.16 while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.3 percent to 4,228.10. New Zealand's benchmark added 0.1 percent to 3,279.19.

On Friday, stocks in Europe mostly held their gains for the week, waiting for the outcome of Greece's negotiations with its creditors on a deal to cut the face value of up to euro200 billion ($258 billion) in debt by 50 percent.

Over the weekend, the representative of Greece's private creditors said the talks are continuing even after his unexpected departure from the country.

A deal in Athens would allow the country to receive a second bailout package from other European governments and the International Monetary Fund, and cut Greece's debt from an estimated 160 percent of its annual economic output to 120 percent by 2020.

That is still painfully high, but without the help, Greece will not be able to pay euro14.5 billion in debt due March 20. A Greek default would send borrowing costs higher across Europe and could trigger chaos in the global financial system.

On Wall Street on Friday the Dow rose 96.50 points to close at 12,720.48. The S&P 500 index inched up 0.88 to 1,315.38 and the Nasdaq gained 1.63 points to 2,786.70.

In energy trading, benchmark crude was down 41 cents at $97.92 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

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Serena Williams into 4th round at Australian Open

[unable to retrieve full-text content]MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) ? Serena Williams was so dominant in her 6-1, 6-1 third-round win over Greta Arn at the Australian Open that there's probably only one shot she'll remember more than most.

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-21-TEN-Australian-Open/id-2bf9e672e1e342efb1bb194148ffa80a

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New US plan to stop drug flow over northern border (AP)

BUFFALO, N.Y. ? Federal law enforcement agencies will help tribal officers obtain equipment and training on Indian lands near the U.S.-Canadian border as part of the White House's newly released strategy for reducing the flow of illegal drugs and drug proceeds between the two countries.

Tribal officers also should be included in criminal intelligence sharing and inter-agency task forces, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy report released Friday.

"Drug smugglers have been known to seek out tribal jurisdictions in order to smuggle illegal drugs into the United States," said the report, the first of its kind since being required under the Northern Border Counternarcotics Strategy Act of 2010.

The goal is to stop Canadian marijuana, Ecstasy and methamphetamine from entering the United States and to keep cocaine that originates in South America from flowing north. Authorities have also targeted bulk cash smuggling in both directions that finances criminal organizations.

President Barack Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper signed a Feb. 4 agreement to share more information on travelers and better coordinate cross-border investigations.

The report identified more than 60 miles of the northern border classified as "Indian country" and under tribal jurisdiction. Tribes with lands directly adjacent to the border include Bay Mills Indian Community and the Sault Ste. Marie Chippewa Tribe in Michigan, the Blackfeet Tribe of Montana, the Grand Portage Band and Red Lake Band of Chippewa in Minnesota and St. Regis Mohawk Tribe in New York.

To intercept drugs elsewhere along the more than 5,000-mile border, the policy office recommended enhancing already established partnerships among U.S. and Canadian law-enforcement counterparts, along with intelligence sharing and cooperation among federal and local agencies. The strategy also relies on those living near the long and geographically diverse border to fill in the gaps.

"The U.S.-Canada relationship already supports successful bi-national and multi-agency task forces, but it must work to improve these entities with limited resources," the report said. "Law enforcement agencies must reach out to community coalitions to develop effective prevention, treatment and law enforcement partnerships."

Agents seized about 9,470 pounds of marijuana along the northern border in fiscal 2011, according to Customs and Border Protection statistics, less than 1 percent of the roughly 2.4 million pounds seized along the southwestern border.

Recent arrests have highlighted the northern boundary's porousness. In May 2010, a Canadian kingpin confessed to running 2,000 pounds of marijuana a week through the forests of upstate New York. Later that year, in December, Canadian officials arrested 29 smugglers on charges of using boats to run tons of marijuana, Ecstasy and methamphetamine across the Great Lakes to Michigan and New York.

"Vast drug networks along our northern border are exacerbating violence in communities all across the state ... This is the right strategy to fight this scourge at its source," Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said of the written strategy.

The 2010 law requires the Office of National Drug Control Policy to release a northern border plan every two years.

"Improving communications between the courts, immigration officials and law enforcement and increasing accountability, as this plan will, should enhance our ability to keep drugs off our streets and out of our schools," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_re_us/us_border_drug_strategy

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Syracuse coach keeps focus in tumultuous season

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2012 file photo, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim talks with Scoop Jardine during the second half of a college basketball game against against Marquette, Syracuse, N.Y. These have been some of the most difficult days in Boeheim's life. But the Syracuse coach has kept his focus on basketball. (AP Photo/Kevin Rivoli, FIle)

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2012 file photo, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim talks with Scoop Jardine during the second half of a college basketball game against against Marquette, Syracuse, N.Y. These have been some of the most difficult days in Boeheim's life. But the Syracuse coach has kept his focus on basketball. (AP Photo/Kevin Rivoli, FIle)

FILE - In this Jan. 1, 2012 file photo, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim reacts during the first half of a college basketball game against DePaul, in Rosemont, Ill. These have been some of the most difficult days in Boeheim's life. But the Syracuse coach has kept his focus on basketball. (AP Photo/John Smierciak, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 16, 2012 file photo, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim yells instructions to his players during the second half against Pittsburgh, in Syracuse, N.Y. These have been some of the most difficult days in Boeheim's life. But the Syracuse coach has kept his focus on basketball. (AP Photo/Kevin Rivoli, File)

(AP) ? When he leaves his home on a cul-de-sac in a secluded Syracuse suburb, coach Jim Boeheim has to drive past the house belonging to his former assistant, Bernie Fine, just across the street.

It's a constant reminder of the case that has shaken the Syracuse campus. Fine, an assistant for more than 35 years, was fired three games into the season after two former ball boys accused him of sexually molesting them when they were young.

When Boeheim publicly defended his longtime friend in November, disparaging the accusers, advocates for child sex abuse victims said the head coach should resign or be fired. Shaken by the outrage his comments had caused, Boeheim quickly apologized and has since been steadfast in saying he won't talk about the case until the investigation is over.

Despite what clearly have been some of the most difficult days of his life, Boeheim has kept his focus ? and that of his players ? on basketball. His team is off to a 20-0 start, the best in Syracuse history, and has been ranked No. 1 in the nation for six weeks.

Just past the midpoint of the season, Boeheim offered the following assessment:

"It's been pretty normal as far as basketball is concerned. That part has been normal, and as far as the basketball part is concerned we'll try to keep it that way."

For Syracuse, however, it has been anything but normal.

National media swarmed around campus, with TV trucks parked for weeks outside the basketball practice facility.

Federal agents searched Fine's home and office. Accusers Bobby Davis and stepbrother Mike Lang filed a defamation lawsuit against Boeheim and the university.

Two other men have come forward and accused Fine, but one has since said he was not telling the truth, and authorities say there is evidence that undercuts the other's allegation.

Boeheim, 67, has closed the team's practices, conducting them behind orange-and-blue curtains.

"This has obviously affected him. It certainly shook him early, and I think it's still there. He looks tired," said Jim Satalin, a national director for Coaches vs. Cancer, a charitable effort Boeheim has supported for more than a decade. "I think it's a combination of probably everything, and it's still hanging over everything."

Two months later, there's not much discussion in Syracuse about the case. A town hall meeting Thursday night on sex abuse was attended by about 100 people at a community college.

Boeheim has vowed to campaign against child abuse through the McMahon/Ryan Child Advocacy Center in Syracuse.

"It's been a combination of Jim Boeheim being contrite and apologizing and making an effort to help out the McMahon/Ryan house and a cause like that," said Brent Axe, a local sports talk radio host. "And, of course, the way this team has played has people thinking more about that. The Bernie Fine story has cooled off. There's only been a little information here and there. People don't know what to think about that story anymore."

They know what they think of the Orange, though. Syracuse has had the four largest on-campus crowds in the nation and the Carrier Dome box office has extended its hours because of surging sales. Murray State at 19-0 is the only other unbeaten team in Division I.

In November, with the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal at Penn State still in the headlines, CBS Sports columnist Gregg Doyel said Syracuse should fire Boeheim, who took over at his alma mater in 1976. Doyel is now calling him the national coach of the year.

"Thank God they've had such a great season," Satalin said. "I think he's been able to keep his focus on that. I don't think there's any question that that's taken the focus off of a lot of different things. People are looking at this as the possibility of being a really special year.

"I can't imagine if they were 10-10 or something. The feeling would probably be a lot different."

Boeheim told his players before the season that they had the pedigree of a national champion.

The team doesn't have a likely NBA lottery pick on the roster and only three players are scoring in double figures, none averaging better than 13.7 points.

"He's been terrific," senior forward Kris Joseph said. "He did a great job of keeping us levelheaded and it was probably even harder for him to do that for himself with everything going on and all the adversity that he's faced off the court. He did a great job of not letting it get to him as far as making sure this team was supposed to do what they were supposed to do.

"He let us know that we're not going to let this affect our season," Joseph said. "He did a great job of making sure that never happened. He kept us together as a team and we won basketball games."

Added fifth-year senior Scoop Jardine: "This year, he's just a little more focused on our team. The way he's handled it has really made us handle our situation better. He's always been a great leader for us."

Those who know Boeheim best aren't surprised.

"He has turned all the attention, as well I knew he would, knowing Jim, into his basketball team," Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun said. "Quite frankly, for a lot of coaches, myself included, the rest that you get from the storm outside is right in that gym working with the kids."

Fans can only marvel at what they see on the court: a rotation of 10 players, and ? unlike the bickering on Boeheim's only national championship team in 2003 ? not a single frown.

"He's got my vote for national coach of the year right now," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "Obviously, there was off-the-court stuff, but away from that, he has managed a lot of guys that want to play more than they're playing. He's done a fabulous job getting everybody involved and having them buy into winning and chasing a team goal. In this era, it is really a challenge to do that."

At the Kitty Hoynes Irish Pub in downtown Syracuse, fan Sharon Bowes said Boeheim has been doing "the best job he's ever done."

"It's the most unselfish team I've seen. That's what makes champions," Bowes said.

On Monday night, Syracuse beat nemesis Pittsburgh 71-63 to snap a five-game losing streak against the Panthers and set the school record for most wins at the start of a season.

"Nothing he does surprises me because he's done it for so long," said Bill Raftery, who called the game for ESPN. "I think he just coaches. He doesn't worry. He's got a singular responsibility once he's in the gym, and that's what he does. And they respond to him."

The triumph was Boeheim's 876th, tying him for fourth all-time in men's Division I with Kentucky's Adolph Rupp and only three behind Dean Smith of North Carolina. Most now expect that total to rise well beyond 900 before Boeheim retires, a milestone reached only by Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and his mentor, Bob Knight.

"He's earned our respect," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said of Boeheim. "He's earned everybody in the business' respect. It's amazing what he's done."

Last year's team started 18-0, then lost four straight before rebounding. Nobody expects that this year, and Boeheim is hopeful it won't.

"It's always easier to win than lose. When you're losing, it seems like a long season," he said.

"I've been there. When you're struggling, it seems like it will never get over," he said. "These guys have played well and it's a good team to coach. We know we have a long way to go yet. That's something we are very aware of."

___

AP Basketball Writer Jim O'Connell in New York City contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-20-BKC-T25-Syracuse-Boeheim/id-400b82bcd6264b84998d6ee58bfae110

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Exclusive: Turkey works to cut dependence on Iranian oil (Reuters)

GENEVA/LONDON (Reuters) ? Turkish refiner Tupras plans to cut its dependence on imports of Iranian oil and will meet Saudi Arabian authorities this month, industry sources familiar with the company's strategy said on Thursday, as Western powers crack down on Iran's oil sales.

Turkey imports more than 30 percent of its daily consumption from Iran and has so far given no indication that it will comply with a planned European Union import embargo on Iranian crude.

But one of the sources said that Iranian threats to shut down the world's most important oil export route, the Strait of Hormuz, had helped push Turkish oil officials to try to reduce the country's heavy dependence on Iran's oil.

Iran has made no move to shut the world's most important oil export route, which had a daily flow of almost 17 million barrels last year, but has threatened action if Europe implements new sanctions.

Another of the sources said Tupras officials were planning to meet Saudi Arabian oil authorities this month, with a view to switching to alternative sources of crude by the summer.

Tupras declined to give an immediate comment.

"I think the meeting is to learn the supply capacity ahead of (state oil company Saudi) Aramco's other clients," said the first source, adding that other oil producing countries would also be contacted.

"I don't think Saudi can cover all of the import requirements. You must consider demands made by China, Korea, India, Japan also," he said

"Maybe at most, half of its Iran imports may be substituted," he estimated.

A Saudi source said the kingdom's oil authorities were getting more orders to replace Iranian crude but declined to comment on specific requests.

The first source said Turkey was also planning to meet with oil suppliers from Russia, Azerbaijan and West Africa.

According to sources familiar with the Russian oil market, Turkey has begun to show an increased interest in its crude supplies.

"Tupras has been recently buying more Urals. I guess right now everyone is trying to diversify from Iran one way or another," one trader said.

SANCTIONS

The Obama administration is mulling its options to make countries cut their imports of Iranian crude, without driving oil prices higher and risking hurting the U.S. economy in an election year.

Tensions in the Gulf have caused occasional spikes in oil prices in recent weeks, and major importers of Iranian oil have opposed an embargo on Iranian crude, fearing this would send oil prices rocketing at a time when they can least afford it.

Officials in Saudi Arabia, however, have signaled they are ready to fill a supply gap.

U.S. officials have travelled to China, South Korea and Japan to persuade some of Iran's biggest customers in Asia to cut purchases.

The European Union is likely to agree on an oil embargo against Iran Monday, France's foreign minister said on Thursday.

Real cuts in Europe will take time, however. The countries that are most reliant on imports from Iran are also those most exposed to the euro debt crisis.

Italian, Greek and Spanish companies have already said they planned to extend most of their oil supply deals with Iran and expected to win a sanctions reprieve from the EU for six months or longer.

But even if the West implements sanctions, it is unclear whether it will succeed in choking off a vital source of income for Iran.

China, the biggest buyer of Iranian crude, has stepped up opposition to an embargo in recent weeks. India, which relies on Iran for around 12 percent of its crude, has said it will continue to do business with the Islamic Republic.

(Reporting by Emma Farge in Geneva and Jessica Donati in London; additional reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Amena Bakr and Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Jane Baird)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120119/wl_nm/us_turkey_iran_oil

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Daily Desired: This Concrete Clock Is Taller than the Average American [Desired]

No one can escape time—not you, not me, not nobody. Especially not when you're staring it right in the face with this stately and sturdy concrete Swedish clock. More »


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Casper Smart Defends J-Lo Romance On Twitter

Casper Smart Defends J-Lo Romance On Twitter

Jennifer Lopez’s young boyfriend Casper Smart is defending his romance with the older singer. The 24-year-old back-up dancer took to his twitter account to tweet [...]

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Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2012/01/19/casper-smart-defends-j-lo-romance-on-twitter/

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Gingrich rising in SC, but in time to edge Romney? (AP)

EASLEY, S.C. ? Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is drawing big, enthusiastic crowds and fending off new attacks from GOP front-runner Mitt Romney while reveling in a strong debate performance and a nod from tea party favorite Sarah Palin.

But it's unclear whether the former House speaker's latest burst of momentum, reflected in both internal and public polling, will be enough for him to overtake Romney in Saturday's South Carolina primary. Complicating his effort are two other conservatives ? Rick Santorum and Rick Perry ? who threaten to siphon his support.

And now, just two days before South Carolina votes, Gingrich is facing a fresh challenge that could undercut his efforts to cast himself as the strongest conservative challenger to Romney.

ABC News said it will air Thursday night an interview with Gingrich's second wife on its late-night news program "Nightline." The network has not indicated what the ex-wife, Marianne Gingrich, said in the interview, but ABC planned to release excerpts ahead of Thursday night's GOP debate and "Nightline" itself.

The mere existence of the interview shines a spotlight on a part of Gingrich's past that could turn off Republican voters in a state filled with religious and cultural conservatives who may cringe at his two divorces and acknowledged infidelities.

Marianne Gingrich has said Gingrich proposed to her before the divorce from his first wife was final in 1981; they were married six months later. Her marriage to Gingrich ended in divorce in 2000, and Gingrich has admitted he'd already taken up with Callista Bisek, a former congressional aide who would become his third wife. The speaker who pilloried President Bill Clinton for his affair with Monica Lewinsky was himself having an affair at the time.

Underscoring the potential threat to his rise, Gingrich's campaign released a statement from his two daughters from his first marriage ? Kathy Lubbers and Jackie Cushman ? suggesting that Marianne Gingrich's comments may be suspect given the emotional toll divorce takes on everyone involved.

"Anyone who has had that experience understands it is a personal tragedy filled with regrets and sometimes differing memories of events," their statement said.

A CNN/Time South Carolina poll released Wednesday showed Gingrich in second place with support from 23 percent of likely primary voters, having gained 5 percentage points in the past two weeks. Romney led in the poll with 33 percent, but he had slipped some since the last survey. Santorum was in third place, narrowly ahead of Texas Rep. Ron Paul and well ahead of Perry.

Regardless of the South Carolina outcome, Gingrich was making plans to continue to Florida, which holds its primary Jan. 31.

"There is one candidate who can give you a conservative nominee and only one candidate who can stop Mitt Romney," Gingrich told an overflow crowd of about 400 at Mutt's BBQ in Easley on Wednesday. "A vote for anyone else is a vote that allows Mitt Romney to potentially be our nominee."

Confidence exudes from Gingrich, who rose in Iowa only to be knocked off course after sustaining $3 million in attack ads in Iowa from an outside group that supports Romney. Gingrich posted dismal showings in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

By the time the race turned to South Carolina, he was sharply criticizing Romney as a social moderate who is timid about attacking the nation's economic troubles. He also raised questions about Romney's experience as a venture capitalist, while a super PAC that supports Gingrich aggressively attacked Romney as a vicious corporate raider. And Gingrich ripped Romney for standing by as a super PAC run by former top Romney political aides continued to attack him in South Carolina.

Romney ended up on the defensive and by Monday night's debate, Gingrich was back in command. He earned a standing ovation when he labeled Democratic President Barack Obama "the best food stamp president in American history." The clip became the centerpiece of a television ad that began airing Wednesday as Gingrich worked to cast himself as the Republican with the best chance of beating Obama in the fall ? stealing a page from Romney's playbook.

Said Gingrich senior adviser David Winston, "His taking on Barack Obama showed a toughness and an electability that the electorate is looking for."

On Tuesday, Palin, the 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee, announced that if she lived in South Carolina, she would vote for Gingrich to keep the Republican race going.

Since then, Romney's campaign, probably sensing Gingrich's rise and working to deflect from its own troubles, has been trying to undercut Gingrich's claim that he helped President Ronald Reagan create millions of jobs in the 1980s, likening it to "Al Gore taking credit for the Internet."

Romney also dispatched supporters to make the case that Gingrich is erratic and unreliable. A new Romney Web video features former Republican Rep. Susan Molinari of New York saying Gingrich lacked discipline and labeling his time as speaker "leadership by chaos."

Gingrich, for his part, has been helped by the fact that Santorum hasn't seemed able to capitalize on the endorsement of a group of influential Christian conservatives. Those who aren't backing the former Pennsylvania senator seem to be coming Gingrich's way.

Gingrich picked up the endorsement of Florence pastor William Monroe on Wednesday, after receiving the backing of former Perry supporter James Livingston, a retired Marine who had been featured in an advertisement for the Texas governor. Greenville businesswoman Vivian Wong, who had endorsed former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, threw her support to Gingrich on Sunday, the night Huntsman withdrew from the race.

___

Beaumont reported from Columbia, S.C.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_el_pr/us_gingrich

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