Ganduvaru

LOS ANGELES – Brittany Murphy, the actress who got her start in the sleeper hit "Clueless" and rose to stardom in "8 Mile," has died in Los Angeles. She was 32.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Spokeswoman Sally Stewart said Murphy died at 10:04 a.m. Sunday. She would not provide a cause of death, or any other information.
The Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call at 8 a.m. Sunday from a home that is listed as belonging to British screenwriter Simon Monjack, who is married to Murphy, spokesman Devon Gale said. Gale said one person was transported to a hospital.
Messages left for Murphy's manager, agent and publicist by The Associated Press weren't immediately returned.
Born Nov. 10, 1977 in Atlanta, Murphy grew up in New Jersey and later moved with her mother to Los Angeles to pursue acting.
Her career started in the early 1990s with small roles in television series, commercials and movies. She is best known for parts in "Girl, Interrupted," "Clueless" and "8 Mile."
Her on-screen roles declined in recent years, but Murphy's voice gave life to numerous animated characters, including Luanne Platter on more than 200 episodes of Fox's "King of the Hill" and Gloria the penguin in "Happy Feet."
She is due to appear in Sylvester Stallone's upcoming film, "The Expendables," set for release next year.
Her role in "8 Mile" led to more recognition, Murphy told The Associated Press in 2003. "That changed a lot," she said. "That was the difference between people knowing my first and last name as opposed to not."
Murphy credited her mother, Sharon, with being a key to her success.
"When I asked my mom to move to California, she sold everything and moved out here for me," Murphy told the AP in 2003. "I was really grateful to have grown up in an environment that was conducive to creating and didn't stifle any of that. She always believed in me."
She dated Ashton Kutcher, who costarred with Murphy in 2003's romantic comedy "Just Married."
Kutcher tweeted Sunday morning about Murphy's death: "2day the world lost a little piece of sunshine," Kutcher wrote. "My deepest condolences go out 2 Brittany's family, her husband, & her amazing mother Sharon."

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Fire Department has responded to a 911 call from the home of actress Brittany Murphy's husband.
Fire Department spokesman Devon Gale says the call was made at 8 a.m. Sunday from a home in Los Angeles that is listed as belonging to British screenwriter Simon Monjack, who is married to Murphy. Gale says one person was transported to a hospital.
Messages left for Murphy's manager, agent and publicist weren't immediately returned.
The 32-year-old actress starred in such films as "Clueless," "8 Mile," and "Don't Say a Word."

Those who claim that the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003 to get control of the country's giant oil reserves will be left scratching their heads by the results of last weekend's auction of Iraqi oil contracts: Not a single U.S. company secured a deal in the auction of contracts that will shape the Iraqi oil industry for the next couple of decades. Two of the most lucrative of the multi-billion-dollar oil contracts went to two countries which bitterly opposed the U.S. invasion - Russia and China - while even Total Oil of France, which led the charge to deny international approval for the war at the U.N. Security Council in 2003, won a bigger stake than the Americans in the most recent auction. "[The distribution of oil contracts] certainly answers the theory that the war was for the benefit of big U.S. oil interests," says Alex Munton, Middle East oil analyst for the energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie, whose clients include major U.S. companies. "That has not been demonstrated by what has happened this week." (Read "The Reasons Behind Big Oil Declining Iraq's Riches")
In one of the biggest auctions held anywhere in the 150-year history of the oil industry, executives from across the world flew into Baghdad on Dec. 11 for a two-day, red-carpet ceremony at the Oil Ministry, broadcast live in Iraq. With U.S. military helicopters hovering overhead to help ward off a possible insurgent attack, Oil Minister Hussein Al-Shahrastani unsealed envelopes from each company, stating how much oil it would produce, and what it was willing to accept in payment from Iraq's government. Rather than giving foreign oil companies control over Iraqi reserves, as the U.S. had hoped to do with the Oil Law it failed to get the Iraqi parliament to pass, the oil companies were awarded service contracts lasting 20 years for seven of the 10 oil fields on offer - the oil will remain the property of the Iraqi state, and the foreign companies will pump it for a fixed price per barrel.
Far from behaving like the war-ravaged, bankrupt country that it is, Iraq heavily weighted the contracts in its own favor, demanding a low per-barrel price and signing bonuses of up to $150 million. Only one U.S. company, Occidental Petroleum Corp., joined the bidding last weekend, and lost. (ExxonMobil had hoped to land the lucrative Rumaila field, but lost out to an alliance between the Chinese National Petroleum Company and BP because it declined the Iraqi government's $2-a-barrel fee.)
Russia's Lukoil, CNPC, and RoyalDutchShell accepted fees of between $1.15 and $1.40 for every barrel they produce - that's about 2% of Friday's oil futures price of $73 a barrel. "No one thinks it will be easy to make money on these contracts," says Samuel Ciszuk, Middle East energy analyst at IHS Global Insight, an economic forecasting company in London. "Companies have been willing to come in very, very low just to get their foot in the door in Iraq."
The lure is obvious: Iraq's 115 billion barrels of known oil reserves are outmatched only by Saudi Arabia, Canada and Iran, and geologists believe vast amounts more lie unexplored in the Western Desert. With 2.4 million barrels a day in production, the country was until this week up for grabs for foreign oil companies, in contrast to other big oil nations, where Big Oil is shut out: Iran is off limits because of sanctions, and Saudi Arabia's government controls its oil fields, as does Kuwait. (Watch a video about the gas shortage in Iraq.)
Still, there are daunting challenges: Iraq's lethal risks will require companies to spend millions on security. Political uncertainty continues, with the oil law governing the sharing of revenues remaining stalled and disputes over oil contracts raising the tension between Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdish enclave in the north. An election scheduled for next March could see a change of government in Iraq, and on Friday Iranian troops reportedly seized control of an oil field along a disputed section of border. Some analysts believe that Iran is deliberately attempting to shake the oil industry's confidence in Iraq, by reminding investors that several oil fields traverse disputed border areas with Iran. Iran - like other big oil producers - might also fear that a dramatic increase in Iraqi output could send world oil prices plummeting.
Clearly, there's no shortage of uncertainties facing investors in Iraqi oil. And then there are the problems of decrepit wells, aging pipelines, storage facilities, and export ports incapable of handling large volumes. Still, says Ciszuk: "Most oil people think it is better to be part of those challenges than not being part of it."
The auction represents an astonishing transformation for Iraq. In just a few months, it has become a major oil power with the potential to overtake the world's biggest producer, Saudi Arabia. In a previous bid round last June, Iraq handed control to the giant Rumaila field near Basra to Britain's BP, while ExxonMobil later took an 80% stake in another huge field, West Qurna Phase 1, and plan to eventually pump 2.5 million barrels a day. Now, Baghdad officials say they aim to harness the know-how and technology of their foreign partners to pump about 12 million barrels a day by 2017. "It is difficult for any major oil company not to be in Iraq," Total's global exploration and production chief Yves-Louis DarricarrÉre told TIME last month. Despite intense negotiations, the French company was outbid by an alliance of Shell and Malaysia's Petronas for Iraq's giant Majnoon field. Total CEO Christophe de Margerie told TIME last Sunday that he had put in a "fair bid," and that he doubted his competitors would make solid profits in Iraq, given the stiff terms.
That might have been the thinking of U.S. oil giants, which largely stayed away from last week's bidding, and which have failed to negotiate oil deals with Iraq's government outside of the public auction process. Iraqi officials say they are not awarding contracts based on political considerations, but simply a straight comparison of prices and production targets. "The bidding was extremely tough," said one official in Baghdad, in an email. "My guess is that [the U.S. companies] could not match the offers from others." In Iraq, at least, the victor has no special claim on the spoils of war.
Read "Pump It Up: The Development of Iraq's Oil Reserves"
See pictures of the Exxon Valdez disaster.
View this article on Time.comRelated articles on Time.com:Why Big Oil Declined Iraq's Riches What Oil Companies Will Get in Iraq Why Iraq's Oil Law Remains Deadlocked Three Years On A Chinese Lesson in Iraqi Oil Exploration Playing the Iraq Oil Card

DUBAI (Reuters) –
Dubai, set to ask creditors for a standstill on restructuring some $22 billion in debt linked to troubled conglomerate Dubai World (DBWLD.UL), may still repay lenders in full, a local newspaper said on Sunday, citing unnamed sources.

The National daily said two top Dubai officials, on a confidence-building mission to Britain and the United States in recent days, told financial leaders in London that repaying all bank loans in full "was discussed as a medium-term possibility."

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al Maktoum, head of Dubai's Supreme Fiscal Committee and the uncle of Dubai's ruler, and Mohammed al Shaibani, deputy head of the committee, met officials in London last Thursday before traveling to the U.S.

"They made clear there were a number of options the government of Dubai saw as feasible and desirable for Dubai World and repayment in full was one of them," the newspaper quoted a person who attended the talks.

Dubai World will meet creditors on Monday and is expected to formally request a standstill on debt, mainly linked to its property units, Nakheel (NAKHD.UL) and Limitless World.

Dubai sent shockwaves through global markets on November 25 when it requested the standstill on $26 billion of debts. A $10 billion lifeline from neighboring Abu Dhabi last week helped it stave off default on a $4.1 billion Islamic bond, or sukuk, from Nakheel.

(Reporting by Nicolas Parasie; Editing by Ron Popeski)

Some car seat systems are set up with an battery-powered automatic control to adjust how the seat sits in the car.

In suitably equipped cars, seats and mirrors can be adjusted using electric controls. Some vehicles let the driver(s) save the adjustments in memory for later recall, with the push of a button. Most systems allow users to store more than one set of adjustments. This allows multiple drivers to store their comfort settings, or a single driver to store several different occupant positions. Some vehicles associate memorized settings with a specifically numbered, remotely operated key fob, resetting a seat to the position associated with that fob when the vehicle is unlocked (e.g. key fob #1 sets seats to memory position #1, #2 to #2, etc.)

Seat Heaters

ALTENBERG, Germany – Two-time Olympic champion Andre Lange has won a four-man bobsled World Cup race in his final appearance on his home track in Germany, adding to his previous victory in the two-man event on the track.
Lange and his team — Rene Hoppe, Kevin Kuske and Martin Putze — finished 0.76 seconds ahead of the United States' Steven Holcomb on Sunday. The American had driven to victory in the three previous World Cup four-man races and leads the standings.
Holcomb was joined by his reigning world championship team of Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler and Curt Tomasevicz. Holcomb bounced back from a crash in Saturday's two-man race.
Russia's Evgeny Popov — with Denis Moiseychenkov, Andrey Yurkov and Alexey Kireev — was third for his first podium finish since February 2007.

CHICAGO (AFP) –
Texas police were tricked into helping a man kidnap his son in a bitter custody dispute after he used documents from Mexico to falsely claim he was the legal guardian of the 10-year-old boy, US authorities said.

"The hardest part is not being with him at night," the boy's mother, Berenice Diaz, told ABC News Friday.

"Not listening to him, it is not being with him, that is the hardest part."

Diaz says it was the second time her ex-husband, who has French and Mexican citizenship, has kidnapped her son.

Prosecutors issued an arrest warrant for Jean Philippe Lacombe on Monday, nearly two months after Texas police pulled the boy from his school bus and handed him to his father.

The charges were laid after the story was picked up by local media.

A heart-wrenching school bus surveillance video shows how the boy begged police not to make him go with his father.

"Somebody please help me. He's not my dad. I don't want to live with him," Jean Paul Lacombe cried as he backed away from the officers.

"I want to stay with my mom. Please. Please."

A news crew later captured images of the boy lying down in a parking lot as officers tried to reason with him and then hugging his mother and younger brother goodbye.

Lacombe, 41, was charged with kidnapping, perjury and interference with child custody.

"The district attorney's office alleges in the affidavit that the mother, Berenice Diaz, has lawful custody of the child, Jean Paul, and that Lacombe allegedly perpetrated a fraud upon the court by misrepresenting Mexican decrees in order to unlawfully obtain possession of the child and to abscond," the Bexar County district attorney's office said in a statement.

Lacombe was originally given custody of the boy as the couple's seven-year marriage began to dissolve in Mexico City in 2005, the San Antonio Express News reported.

But custody was granted to Diaz after Lacombe failed to abide by the visitation rules.

Diaz told the paper she spent two years getting her son back after Lacombe took the boy to France in 2005. She moved to the United States to find peace and safety.

"I thought in the United States, nothing like this would happen to me," she told the paper.

Diaz says she has no idea where her son might be. Lacombe is a millionaire and has subsequently married a Russian woman, and Diaz fears he could have taken the boy anywhere.

The American-style boot was taken up by bootmakers in the cattle ranching areas of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Two of the best known early bootmakers of the era were Charles Hyer of Hyer Brothers Boots in Olathe, Kansas, and H. J. "Big Daddy Joe" Justin of Justin Boots in Spanish Fort, Texas and later Nocona, Texas. After Justin moved closer to Dallas where shipping was easier, the Nocona brand of cowboy boots was made by Enid Justin Stelzer, eldest daughter of Joe Justin, who stayed in Nocona with her husband, and the couple continued the family business. After the couple divorced, the Olsen-Stelzer brand was started by Stelzer.

When mounting and, especially, dismounting, the slick, treadless leather sole of the boot allowed easy insertion and removal of the foot into the stirrup of the Western saddle. The original toe was rounded and a bit narrowed at the toe to make it easier to insert. While an extremely pointed toe is a modern stylization appearing in the 1940s, it adds no practical benefit, and can be uncomfortable in a working boot.

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WASHINGTON – Five Transportation Security Administration employees have been placed on administrative leave since it was discovered that sensitive guidelines about airport passenger screening were posted on the Internet.
The move was disclosed as senators questioned administration officials Wednesday about the second embarrassing security flap at the Homeland Security Department in as many weeks. The Secret Service, also part of the sprawling department, is investigating how a couple of would-be reality TV stars were able to get into a White House state dinner without an invitation.
Assistant Homeland Security secretary David Heyman told senators Wednesday that a full investigation into the Internet security lapse is under way and the TSA employees have been taken off duty pending the results of that probe. He did not say how many employees were put on leave. A TSA official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation said five employees were placed on administrative leave Tuesday.
The Homeland Security Department has also stopped posting documents with security information either in full or in part on the Internet until the TSA review is complete, Heyman told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee.
The passenger screening document was improperly on the Internet in a way that could offer insight into how to sidestep security.
"Even what appeared to be an innocent posting to help federal contractors can have serious consequences for our security," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Wednesday.
Heyman said he did not know who at TSA signed off on the document going on the Web.
The TSA removed the document from the Internet on Sunday after the lapse was reported on a blog.
Among many sensitive sections, the document outlines who is exempt from certain additional screening measures, including members of the U.S. armed forces, governors and lieutenant governors, the mayor of Washington, D.C., and their immediate families.
It also offers examples of identification documents that screeners accept, including congressional, federal air marshal and CIA ID cards; and it explains that diplomatic pouches and certain foreign dignitaries with law enforcement escorts are not subjected to any screening at all. It said certain methods of verifying identification documents aren't used on all travelers during peak travel crushes.
TSA said the document is now outdated. It was posted in March by TSA on the Federal Business Opportunity site. The posting was improper because sensitive information was not properly protected, TSA spokeswoman Kristin Lee said.
As a result, some Web sites, using widely available software, were able to uncover the original text of sections that had been blacked out for security reasons. On Sunday, the Wandering Aramean blog pointed out the document in a posting titled "The TSA makes another stupid move."
According to the blog, TSA posted a redacted version of the document but did not delete the sensitive information from the file. Instead of removing the text, the government covered it up with a black box. But the text was still embedded in the document and could be uncovered.
TSA had the document removed from the Federal Business Opportunity site on Dec. 6 but copies — with the redacted portions exposed — circulated on the Internet and remain posted on other Web sites not controlled by the government.
Noting that the transportation agency uses multiple layers of security, Lee said, "TSA is confident that screening procedures currently in place remain strong."
The document also describes these screening protocols:
_Individuals with a passport from Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Libya, Syria, Sudan, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, or Algeria, should be given additional screening unless there are specific instructions not to.
_Aircraft flight crew members in uniform with valid IDs are not subject to restrictions on liquid, gel, aerosol and footwear.

Former TSA Administrator Kip Hawley said the document is not something a security agency would want to inadvertently post online, but he said it's not a road map for terrorists. "Hyperventilating that this is a breach of security that's going to endanger the public is flat wrong," Hawley said.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Bennie G. Thompson, D-Miss., was more concerned.

"Undoubtedly, this raises potential security concerns across our transportation system," Thompson wrote the agency Tuesday in a letter recommending that an independent federal agency review the incident. The chairwoman of the panel's transportation security subcommittee, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, also signed the letter.

HIDALGO, Texas – The mountain of oranges, tangerines, lemons and more exotic fruits piled in the customs office at the Hidalgo international bridge in Texas on Thanksgiving Day would have made any grocer proud.
But the booty of Operation Gobble Gobble was destined for the industrial garbage disposal and left the cramped office filled with the sweet aroma of ground citrus. It was part of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection effort at the U.S.-Mexico border to protect U.S. agriculture from pests and diseases often carried by popular holiday ingredients.
"At this time of the year, we really do try to raise the awareness of the traveling public on the potential of introducing a pest or disease that could be damaging to American agriculture," said Diana Vlasik, agency's chief agriculture specialist at the international bridges in Pharr and Hidalgo, about 150 miles southwest of Corpus Christi.
Among the threats: the Mexican fruit fly, exotic Newcastle disease — an illness fatal to poultry — and bacteria that causes citrus greening, which has ravaged groves in Florida.
During the holidays, customs officers watch closely for certain fruits, raw pork and long stalks of sugar cane. Those products are banned year-round. But from Thanksgiving through the New Year, the border is jammed with less experienced travelers visiting relatives in Mexico or the U.S., as well as those who know better but are willing to risk confiscation and a fine to deliver key ingredients for a Christmas punch or tamales.
Generally, the searches are easier than those for narcotics, which are stowed in tires, gas tanks and secret compartments. These targets are usually out in the open or packed inside a cooler, an exception being some raw pork sausage packed into a diaper last year.
A few days after Thanksgiving, customs agriculture specialist John Tagle climbed into the bed of a pickup truck at the Hidalgo bridge and popped open a foam cooler. It contained beef, which is permissible. If it had been raw chicken, it would have suffered 1,400-degree temperatures in a customs incinerator.
"Usually the public doesn't have a problem with it," Tagle said. "It's just a couple apples. They'll say, 'It was just my lunch.'"
Confiscated fruit is sliced and inspected for signs of pests or disease. If an inspector sees something suspicious, it's placed in an envelope and mailed to a lab.
The rules can be complicated and confusing to the lay person. For example, avocados with pits are stopped, but without pits they will make it into someone's guacamole. A four-foot stalk of sugar cane is destined for a customs officer's big knife, but if it's cut into inchlong pieces and peeled it will likely pass. Lemons are banned, but limes slide through. All manner of plants and soil are prohibited, as are Nativity scenes that use real straw.
Customs officials recommend travelers leave agricultural products behind or else declare what they have. In that case, authorities will seize items if they're prohibited, but travelers won't be fined.
A first offense carries a $300 fine. It's $500 for a second.
At the Eagle Pass port of entry, about 140 miles southwest of San Antonio, customs officers handed out $2,300 in fines over the long Thanksgiving weekend for agricultural violations. Their take could have passed for a border-modified "12 Days of Christmas": 15 guavas, 12 grapefruit, 11 pounds of sweet potatoes, nearly 10 pounds of pork, six and a half pounds of pork sausage, six avocados, tangerines, apples and four pounds of pork skins.

LAS VEGAS – Barry Manilow says a good love song never goes out of style, so he's keeping things romantic as he moves to the Las Vegas Strip for a new show opening March 5.
Manilow says he's starting from scratch on the new show at the Paris Las Vegas hotel-casino and making it as romantic and beautiful as possible.
The 63-year-old "Mandy" and "Copacabana" crooner says the romantic world of Paris fits with his latest album of love songs debuting Jan. 26.
"The Greatest Love Songs of All Time" includes 15 classic love songs, including "Fools Rush In" and "How Deep Is the Ocean."
Manilow says young people seem to be getting angrier in songwriting and performing, but audiences still appreciate good love songs.

NEW YORK – It's a choice most of us don't have to make: lingerie or loyalty?
But for 10 young women vying for a spot on the Victoria's Secret runway, balancing tiny outfits and high heels wasn't the biggest juggling act in the online contest that will land just one of them in the CBS broadcast Tuesday night. Instead, they say, the challenge was supporting newfound friends while maintaining their competitive edge.
At each elimination round since the contestants landed in New York from points north, south and west, there have been hugs, tears and kind words for those sent packing.
Still, Californians Jamie Lee Darley, 23, of Carmel, and Kylie Bisutti, 19, of Simi Valley, couldn't keep their megawatt smiles down when their faces and feminine figures were beamed onto a Times Square screen as the two got their turn on the catwalk when the runway show was taped Nov. 19.
Only a single fresh face will be on TV with the lingerie retailer's established stable of models, dubbed "angels," such as Heidi Klum, Marisa Miller and Doutzen Kroes. The winner is being chosen by online votes.
If her mother-in-law hadn't encouraged her to enter the model casting call, Bisutti says she'd be busy at home trying to settle in with her husband — she's just a newlywed. "He's so happy for me," she gushes.
Darley is a waitress with some builder's skills after working at her dad's construction business. For this avid swimmer, participating in the contest has been a bit of a revenge for the kids who teased her for being gangly growing up. "I used to tell them I was going to be a supermodel as my comeback."
The contestants who moved in and out of the luxury apartment in Manhattan's financial district — which had what appeared to be an unused kitchen — had a whirlwind experience that included a body analysis and breakneck workout by celebrity trainer David Kirsch, and a middle-of-the-night lingerie photo shoot in Grand Central Station.
Getting them through, they say, were the jokes made by 24-year-old Raven Ervin of Birmingham, Ala., and kind words from Tika Ivezaj, 25, of Detroit. Allison Turner, 23, of Cape Girardeau, Mo., says she watched all the other women in the bathroom as they applied makeup — and now she, too, can do a smoky eye.
But the models were also always looking over their shoulder.
It wasn't lost on Turner, a pro rodeo rider, that when she made the first big cut, she was surrounded by the other women she thought had done well, even if she was sad for those on the other side. "I would definitely think people would call me competitive. I barrel race back home and that's a competitive sport. ... I think what got me here is my `Yee-ha.'"
As the two longest-lasting contestants, Darley says she and Bisutti were among the closest friends. They cheered for each other when each one had a stint on the catwalk during the taping of the show earlier this month, but now that it's settling in that only one will appear on TV in black-lace panties, a black top with embroidered rhinestones and a miniature fur cape, it's getting "a little tooth and nail," she says. "It's a little awkward."
"Jamie and I became pretty good friends as we lived together," agrees Bisutti in a separate interview. "We are also competitors though, so it was a funny combination because we were friends but we always had to compete with each other in tasks. We had a lot of fun shopping and going to the gym together. We made food together and we got along really well."
And Bisutti says she was proud of Darley when she saw her on the catwalk, but she thinks it's her own adrenaline, excitement, model walk and figure that will put her in the final show.
"When I am out on the runway I feel so confident and sexy but also like I am someone who women can relate to," she says.
Darley isn't ceding the spotlight to her pal so easily.
"It was kind of like every dream in my life coming true ... to be a Victoria's Secret model. It was a good goal to have but you never think you are going to get it," she says. "It's like a little boy wanted to play for the World Cup in soccer. But I think I did enough to win."
___

On the Net:

http://www.cbs.com/specials/victorias(underscore)secret/model(underscore)search/finalists/

WASHINGTON – The couple who crashed the Obama administration's first state dinner communicated with a senior Pentagon official about going to the event, but the official denies that she helped the couple get in.
Michele Jones, a special assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said in a written statement issued through the White House on Monday evening that she never said or implied she would get Michaele and Tareq Salahi into the Nov. 24 White House dinner.
"I specifically stated that they did not have tickets and in fact that I did not have the authority to authorize attendance, admittance or access to any part of the evening's activities," Jones said. "Even though I informed them of this, they still decided to come."
This is the latest twist in the unfolding mystery of how the two reality show wannabes managed to get into the highly secured event and shake hands with President Barack Obama. Also on Monday, a House committee chairman asked the couple, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan and White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to testify at a hearing Thursday on the incident.
The White House issued Jones' statement after questions were raised about communications between the administration and the couple prior to the dinner. The White House did not provide details about Jones' relationship with the couple. Jones spoke at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver on Obama's behalf. Currently she's a Pentagon-based liaison with the White House.
A friend of the couple, McLean, Va., real estate agent Casey Margenau, said in an interview with The Associated Press that the couple interpreted an e-mail exchange as permission to attend the exclusive party. Margenau said he did not personally see the e-mails and did not know with whom the couple was corresponding.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he wants answers about the Secret Service's security deficiencies that allowed the Salahis to attend the dinner. A White House photo showed the Salahis in the receiving line in the Blue Room with Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in whose honor the dinner was held. Obama and Michaele Salahi are smiling as she grasps his right hand with both of hers and her husband looks on. Singh is to Obama's left.
"This is a time for answers," Thompson said in a statement Monday. "This is not the time for political games or scapegoating to distract our attention from the careful oversight we must apply to the Secret Service and its mission."
Some lawmakers have called for criminal charges to be brought against the couple, but the Secret Service has not yet decided whether to refer the case for criminal prosecution.
The Secret Service declined to comment on whether Sullivan would testify on Thursday.
On Friday, Sullivan issued a statement saying that his agency is "deeply concerned and embarrassed" by the circumstances.
Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said the couple was not on the approved list for the party, but they were allowed in. "This should not have occurred," Donovan said.
"The preliminary findings of our internal investigation have determined established protocols were not followed at an initial checkpoint, verifying that two individuals were on the guest list," Sullivan said Friday. "Although these individuals went through magnetometers and other levels of screening, they should have been prohibited from entering the event entirely. That failing is ours."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday the president shares the Secret Service director's concern about the incident.
"That's why there's an investigation," Gibbs said.
Gibbs said the president was not concerned about his safety and continues to have faith in the Secret Service.
The ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security committee, Rep. Peter King of New York, also said there needs to be an investigation into what happened. King said he wants to be sure the hearing does not give away Secret Service operations or methods that could tip someone off how to get into the White House. King said he's been to at least 40 invitation-only events at the White House — including two state dinners — and security has always been tight and thorough.
The Salahis have boasted about going to the state dinner on their Facebook page: "Honored to be at the White House for the state dinner in honor of India with President Obama and our First Lady!" they wrote.

Michaele Salahi is a reality TV hopeful trying to get on Bravo's "The Real Housewives of D.C."

The couple's publicist, Mahogany Jones, could not immediately be reached for comment about whether the Salahis would testify Thursday. But earlier Monday, Mahogany Jones said allegations that the Salahis are shopping interviews and demanding money from television networks to tell their story are false.

NBC said Monday that the Salahis will be interviewed Tuesday by "Today" host Matt Lauer. The interview is scheduled to air in the 7 a.m. half-hour segment.

An appearance previously scheduled for Monday night on CNN's "Larry King Live" has been canceled.

A TV executive who spoke on condition of anonymity to publicly discuss bookings had told The Associated Press that the couple's representatives had urged networks to "get their bids in" for an interview.

___

Associated Press writers Julie Pace and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

When insured parties experience a loss for a specified peril, the coverage entitles the policyholder to make a 'claim' against the insurer for the covered amount of loss as specified by the policy. The fee paid by the insured to the insurer for assuming the risk is called the 'premium'. Insurance premiums from many insureds are used to fund accounts reserved for later payment of claims—in theory for a relatively few claimants—and for overhead costs. So long as an insurer maintains adequate funds set aside for anticipated losses (i.e., reserves), the remaining margin is an insurer's profit.

o Environmental liability insurance protects the
insured from bodily injury, property damage and cleanup costs as a result of the dispersal, release or escape of pollutants.

Group Health Insurance