Even with 1-stroke penalty, 14-year-old makes cut

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) ? A weekend at the Masters was worth the wait for Guan Tianlang.

The 14-year-old from China became the youngest player to make the cut at the Masters on Friday afternoon, some six hours after a one-stroke penalty for slow play left him on the bubble.

"I made it," he said afterward on Weibo, China's version of Twitter. "I hope I can make more miracles, more dreams come true. I want to thank my parents and everyone who cared, supported and helped me."

Guan had to wait until the very last group finished to know if he was in or out at Augusta National. He finished at 3-over 75 for the round, giving him a 4-over 148 total. The top 50 players made the cut, as well as those within 10 strokes of the lead. Jason Day got to 6 under with two holes still to play but he missed a birdie putt by inches on 17, and was in the sand off the tee on 18.

"Obviously it's an amazing achievement to get to the weekend at Augusta. And being able to play and experience what he's going to experience on the weekend, you can't buy that stuff," Day said. "I talked to him earlier and he seems like a really, really good kid. It's unfortunate that he received the penalty, but he can learn from that and move on and hopefully can play well over the next two days."

For all the talk of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, Guan added a buzz to the Masters. An eighth grader who arrived at Augusta National with textbooks stuffed in his bag, he is the youngest player ever at the Masters and the youngest at any major in 148 years.

He impressed fans and fellow golfers alike with his steady play and calm demeanor, and making the cut looked like a given when he teed off on 17. But he was assessed the penalty after his second shot at the 17th hole, turning what would have been a par into a bogey.

Slow play is a frequent complaint among golfers, particularly at major events, but it's rarely enforced. Guan is believed to be the first player penalized for slow play at the Masters. The last player to be penalized at a major was Gregory Bourdy in the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.

"A rule is a rule," Guan's father, Han Wen, said after his son was penalized. "It's OK."

But it sure caused a headache for Masters officials, who were horrified that anything might spoil the coming out party of a youngster who has the potential to be golf's biggest star since Tiger Woods. Several "green jackets" were waiting for Guan at the scoring building when he finished his round, and the eighth grader spent almost 90 minutes talking with rules and tournament officials.

"That's unfortunate," Brandt Snedeker said. "I wish they would have made an example out of somebody else except for a 14-year-old kid, you know? Make an example out of me or somebody else. But a kid just trying to make a cut in his first week of the Masters? I understand that slow play is a problem and it's just a tough situation. I feel bad for the kid."

Guan said he's never had issues with slow play before, and he wasn't warned Thursday. But conditions at Augusta National are notoriously tricky in perfect weather, and the swirling, gusty winds blowing Friday only made them more difficult.

"I respect the decision they make," Guan said. "They should do it because it's fair to everybody."

Though Guan had played about a dozen practice rounds before the tournament, it often takes golfers years to figure out the best way to play Augusta National and Guan repeatedly sought the advice of his caddie, Brian Tam, who is a regular caddie at the course. The teenager tossed blades of grass into the air before many of his shots to test the wind. He was often indecisive about his clubs, pulling one, taking a few practice swings and then asking for another one.

"I just changed my routine before the Masters and the routine is good, but I think today is pretty hard," Guan said. "You need to make the decision, but the wind switched a lot. But that's for everybody."

Guan and his playing partners, Ben Crenshaw and Matteo Manassero, never held up the group behind them. But Fred Ridley, the competition committee chairman at Augusta National, said they were first warned for being out of position at No. 10.

"I don't know what they do, but I don't think I'm too bad," Guan said.

The Masters follows the Rules of Golf, written by the U.S. Golf Association and the Royal & Ancient. Rule 6-7 requires golfers to keep up "with any pace of play guidelines that the committee may establish." For a threesome at Augusta National, those guidelines set a target of 4 hours, 38 minutes to play 18 holes. Once a group is warned it is "out of position" ? too far behind the group just ahead ? each player is timed and allotted 40 seconds to play the shot.

Guan went on the clock on 12, and received his first warning at the 13th.

"In keeping with the applicable rules ... he again exceeded the 40-second time limit by a considerable margin," Ridley said in a statement.

Guan said he understood the warning, and tried to pick up his pace.

"A little bit," he said. "But I think my routine is good. The only problem is I have to make the decision."

There was another long delay on the par-3 16th after a gust of wind dunked Manassero's tee shot in the water. Guan, hitting next, spent more than five minutes debating clubs with Tam.

"When the caddie pulls the club for him, I think he's ready. But he just sometimes ? most of the times ? he takes a little too long. He just asks questions that I think he knows, just to be sure, just to be clear in his mind," Manassero said.

"If I would have took more time on 16, I probably would have saved two shots, as well," Manassero added.

John Paramor, the chief referee for the European Tour, said he warned Guan as the group walked to the 17th tee that he needed to speed it up. But Guan had another long delay before his second shot on the hole as he tried to read the wind, and Paramor pulled him aside as the teenager approached the green. Paramor informed Guan he was being assessed a one-stroke penalty, and they had an animated discussion for several minutes.

"You give him the news, the best you can," Paramor said.

Guan said he was aware of the rule, which has been part of golf etiquette since 1934 and was added to the rule book in 1952. But the penalty rattled him, and he missed an easy birdie putt on 17. He pulled himself together on 18, nearly holing out from a greenside bunker. When the ball hit the back of the cup and bounced a few inches past the hole, leaving Guan an easy putt for par, his father yelled, "Yes!" and clapped his hands several times.

"No problem," Han Wen said. "No problem."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/even-1-stroke-penalty-14-old-makes-cut-010045308--golf.html

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Despite tensions, NKorea readies for festivities

Two military officers admire displays at a flower show featuring thousands of Kimilsungia flowers, named after the late leader Kim Il Sung, while models of rockets and missiles are also exhibited in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, April 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

Two military officers admire displays at a flower show featuring thousands of Kimilsungia flowers, named after the late leader Kim Il Sung, while models of rockets and missiles are also exhibited in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, April 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

North Korean children hold up red scarves to be tied around their necks during an induction ceremony into the Korean Children's Union, the first political organization for North Koreans, held at a stadium in Pyongyang on Friday, April 12, 2013. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, asks about a TV wireless microphone to South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se before their meeting at the foreign ministry in Seoul, Friday, April 12, 2013. Kerry arrived in South Korea on Friday on an unusual diplomatic journey, traveling directly into a region bracing for a possible North Korean missile test and risking that his presence alone could spur Pyongyang into another headline-seeking provocation. (AP Photo/Lee Jae-won, Pool)

Military cadets march out of a stadium after a ceremony to induct children into the Korean Children's Union, the first political organization for North Koreans, held at a stadiu in Pyongyang, North Korea, Friday, April 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

Seen through a car window, a woman dressed in traditional attire, center, rubs her face after participating in an official cultural event while another, right, talks on her mobile phone as they walk down a street at dusk in Pyongyang, North Korea, Thursday, April 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Alexander F. Yuan)

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? As the world watches to see what North Korea's next move will be in a high-stakes game of brinksmanship with the United States, residents of its capital aren't hunkering down in bunkers and preparing for the worst. Instead, they are out on the streets en masse getting ready for the birthday of national founder Kim Il Sung ? the biggest holiday of the year.

The festivities leading up to Kim's birthday come amid fears that North Korea may be planning to test launch a new missile in retaliation for what it claims are provocative war games by U.S. and South Korean troops just across the Korean border. Even at such a seemingly innocuous setting as a flower show in Kim's honor, North Korea's warning that it is prepared to strike back if pushed too far is on prominent display.

This year's exhibition of "Kimilsungia" ? which North Koreans claim their scientists have turned into the most beautiful orchid in the world ? is built around mockups of red-tipped missiles, slogans hailing the military and reminders of the threats that North Koreans feel are all around them.

"It is because we have a nuclear deterrent like nuclear weapons that we are able to live our normal lives and have a beautiful flower exhibition like this," said Kim Sung Sim, a Pyongyang greenhouse worker who contributed to the display, which opened Friday.

The escalation of tensions comes as North Korea is also celebrating a slew of anniversaries for its young leader, Kim Jong Un, who took power in December 2011 following the death of his father, longtime leader Kim Jong Il. He was named head of the Workers' Party a year ago Thursday, and marks his first year as head of the National Defense Commission, the top government body, on Saturday.

Whether this year's celebrations will include a missile launch or some other action that could escalate the tensions remains to be seen.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who arrived in Seoul on Friday for talks with South Korean officials, warned the North not to test fire a missile.

"If Kim Jong Un decides to launch a missile, whether it's across the Sea of Japan or some other direction, he will be choosing willfully to ignore the entire international community," Kerry told reporters.

He said the test would be a "huge mistake" for Kim.

A senior U.S military official told reporters there was no sign of military movements in the North backing up its threats, and no real prospect of war. He spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he wasn't authorized to speak publicly about military intelligence.

But that doesn't mean North Korea won't put on some sort of a military show.

During last year's celebrations, North Korea failed in an attempt to send a satellite into space aboard a long-range rocket. The U.S. and its allies criticized the launch as a covert test of ballistic missile technology. North Korea tried again in December and succeeded. That was followed by the country's third underground nuclear test on Feb. 12.

Officials in Seoul and Washington say Pyongyang appears to be preparing to test-fire a medium-range missile designed to be capable of reaching Guam. Foreign experts have dubbed the missile the "Musudan" after the northeastern village where North Korea has a launch pad, and say it has a range of 3,500 kilometers (2,180 miles).

A medium- or long-range missile test would be particularly significant because North Korea may now be capable of arming a ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead, the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency concluded in an assessment revealed Thursday. Kerry refused to comment specifically Friday on that intelligence report, but said the North is still some time away from having a nuclear bomb that is "small, light and diversified."

South Korean officials have said they do not believe Pyongyang can place a nuclear warhead on a ballistic missile yet, but have put their military on high alert. Japan has also deployed PAC-3 missile interceptor units around Tokyo to protect its capital.

A Chinese city near the border with North Korea staged an air raid drill on Thursday amid the tensions, state media said. Authorities in Huichen, a city of 250,000 people in Jilin province, sounded alarms in residential areas and led participants to underground shelters, the China News Service reported.

It wasn't clear how long the drill had been planned or how many people took part. Calls to the city's spokesman and civil air defense office rang unanswered.

Kerry, who is also visiting China and Japan, is hoping to get Beijing to join the United States in pressuring Pyongyang.

China backed North Korea with troops during the 1950-53 Korean War and has been a major economic pipeline for the impoverished country. With little arable land, North Korea has struggled to feed its people, with two-thirds of the population of 24 million grappling with chronic food shortages, according to the World Food Program.

In Pyongyang on Friday, thousands of schoolchildren were amassed at Kim Il Sung Stadium for the induction of second-graders from around the country into the Korean Children's Union, one of the first steps into North Korea's political structure. They pledged to study hard and to build up strength to defend their nation. Retired military officers helped them tie on red scarves to complete the ritual.

"The U.S is our sworn enemy," said Ri So Hyang, a 13-year-old taking part in the ceremony. She said her brother had just enlisted. "I hope he'll fight well against the U.S. imperialists since I cannot."

Elsewhere around the city, workers tidied up buildings and roads alongside banners that read "Defend to the death" and called on citizens to become "human bombs" for leader Kim Jong Un.

Though few North Koreans have access to international media, and instead get their news from state media, they said they were aware of the tensions with the U.S.

At the flower exhibition, a guide called the current political situation "complicated."

"I don't know whether there will be a missile launch test, but if we do I think it will be just for national defense," Kim Jong Gum said. "And I think there's no need for other countries to try to tell us what to do and what not to do."

___

Associated Press writers Jean H. Lee and Jon Chol Jin in Pyongyang; Bradley Klapper in Seoul, South Korea; and Kimberly Dozier and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-04-12-AS-Koreas-Tension/id-b714610b08d84f218b59c4a353fdf8ef

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Arts And Entertainment: Humor Article. - MobileMonday DC

It encourages out-of-the-box thinking and flexible attitudes - two important traits in people who manage change successfully. It shows how fun could be inserted even in the most seemingly stuffy and proper event.

Avoid darkness. Once after a particularly painful breakup a few decades ago, I thought I'd escape my suffering by seeing a much-praised new movie. The film proved to be a highly undesirable distraction. It was "Alien," the first and probably most terrifying in the whole series of sci-fi sequels and prequels that followed. For the first time since my childhood, the pain of the fearfulness that the movie created forced me to leave the theater before the end of the film. Moral of the story: avoid sappy sad "chick flicks," horror films, and especially sad love songs that will promote your awareness of pain.

A healthy sense of bancuri noi has been appreciated for centuries. Greek and Roman comedies date back to 3rd century BC. Court jesters wore funny costumes and told jokes in the Middle Ages to the royalty. You probably read Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Much Ado About Nothing or A Midsummer Night's Dream in high school, all considered comedies. The Punch and Judy puppet shows have entertained for years in England and Britain. Today, we have comedy clubs and The Comedy Channel.

How can I say something like that? I can do so not just because Reader's Digest told me so. Years ago their editors noted that "laughter is the best medicine." I can agree with that idea because lots of scientific research supports all of our pro-mirth assertions.

The pianists we see play appear to be the most formal and respectable stars on the stage. They hold the power and the breath of the audiences. They could look intimidating in their formal suits not to mention the authority and the air of arrogance they exude while on stage. They can be captivating.

One way to be silly when times are tight is with games that make cutting back more fun. At one point when my then husband and I were coping with an economic gap, we started a contest to see who could use their paper lunch bag more times. Right, the idea is to be able to throw them away when you are done with your lunch. But how much fun is that? He won--I think he made it all the way to the fourth week, something like 21 consecutive lunches out of that same bag. Mine developed a terminal tear on Day 16. Dang.

Kevin Flynn has been gone for twenty five years and his twenty seven year old son, Sam, finds himself going in search of his father and drawn into the gladiator games and scary programs that his father has been living with. Kevin, Sam, and Sam's loyal friend, go on a life-threatening journey into a stunning cyber universe that continually becomes more advanced and dangerous.

More proof that humor and laughter have healing potential. Playing in the rain with your children is more worthwhile than giving sermons.

Source: http://dcmomo.ning.com/xn/detail/2968961%3ABlogPost%3A40994?xg_source=activity

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Where Can You Get A Free Psychic Reading? | 2dmm.com

First of all, the truth is usually, getting a private reading is noticeably more evidential, informative and enlightening than enjoying a reading done within a group setting. For the identical reason, posing legal questions to an online psychic drops into another bleak area, and a few psychics won?t answer those either.

If you are choosing to get read online or through the phone, you must try to clear your spirit as much as possible and focus on the reading itself. Many people rely on psychic readings when they are trying to figure out the things they should do in life. Sometimes a psychic is not supposed to know everything and most psychic clients want to know when you see something happening. Once your reading is performed you can study it and read over it.

The other thing to look out for in an on the internet psychic, is the quantity of information that the reader demands. A real psychic will not make specific claims of what they can do before they need met with you. You must understand that giving a psychic reading actually involves your energy getting in the middle of things and your heart understanding that you are trying to help someone. In many ways, it?s similar to a date. Why not ask the magic 8 ball?

Whether they are aware of it or not. Most psychics claim to be able to see the future, speak with the dead, or perform some other seemingly impossible supernatural feat. But, what are you looking to look for? There are few additional steps one should take.

If carried out correctly, getting readings on the e-mail could be one of many most useful points ever. Interpretations are done on the basis of tarot readings, palm readings and horoscope predictions. As a matter of fact, one of the most expensive psychics available on the market have the various worst customer pleasure rates going?.. One benefit that one can find by qualifing for the reading this way is you won?t have to pay correctly.

Save your reading in a place where you can re-read it later Put your reading in a desk drawer, somewhere private that you can access it at your convenience. The psychic gets to choose how many questions they are willing to take per day. 2) The money issue. You may be asked what you?d like to focus on.

Obtaining a psychic reading online can be fun experience for both types of people. They might be correspondence, on-line or live symposia. To summarize, start by clearing and opening your mind. Some, however, take it very seriously. Without trust and honesty, your focus will be all out of whack.

Sometimes, it is important to sort help that will guide you deeper to your own self. If all your questions and thoughts are jumbled up in your head, you might miss out on important and helpful insights and information from your psychic reading. Hence, telephone psychic readings have turned out to be more and more well-liked over the previous decade. Psychic reading is considered to be many to be a science.

This is resonating in their energy field around the human body and is what we call ?The Aura?. She was bringing spirit loved ones to me and people that just wanted to get to know me. Psychic reading will be the art of seeking into ones future via a combination of various elements, abilities and energies.

Do not confuse this of predictions actually coming true or not, but that you received a professional psychic reading where you were able to ask questions and receive answers, as well as received the full time of the reading you paid.

Tags: psychic reading, Free Psychic Reading, private reading, psychic readings

Source: http://www.2dmm.com/reference-education/where-can-you-get-a-free-psychic-reading

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Afghan officials say bombs kill 4 in south

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) ? Afghan officials say two separate roadside bombings in southern Afghanistan have killed four people, including a district police chief.

A spokesman for the provincial governor in southern Uruzgan province, Abdullah Himmat, says a bomb killed the police chief of the Chora district and two of his bodyguards while they were on patrol early Thursday.

Ummar Zawaq, a spokesman for the governor of Helmand, says a roadside bomb killed a civilian and wounded two others in the Marjah district, also on Thursday.

Violence has been escalating around Afghanistan in recent weeks as the spring fighting season has started. Insurgent attacks usually drop off during the country's harsh winter weather.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-officials-bombs-kill-4-south-093845809.html

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The Obama Budget Has Something for Everyone to Hate

By offering to raise taxes and cut entitlement spending at the same time, the new formal budget proposal from the Obama?administration?should sufficiently upset just about everyone who will have to vote on it. While the full details of the budget will be released later today, most of the major themes and policy changes are starting emerge, including a?return?to some familiar, but previously?neglected?ideas, like itemized deduction caps, the end of the carried interest loophole, and the formal introduction of the "Buffett Rule."

RELATED: Pretty Much Everyone Favors Tax Hikes for the Wealthy to Avoid the Fiscal Cliff

Those are the types of revenue proposals that have typically been shot down by Republicans in Congress, but the President has offered his opponents some carrots in a continued pursuit of the mythical "grand bargain." His budget also includes changes to Social Security, by altering the method for calculating inflation?adjustments, while also cutting spending for Medicare, the military, and other big programs.

RELATED: Five Best Tuesday Columns

Among the new spending proposals?being added are a universal preschool proposal (to be paid for by an increase in federal tobacco taxes, and $50 billion in new infrastructure spending. The budget also factors in savings from?withdrawal?of troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.

RELATED: Why Soldiers Won't Get Paid During a Shutdown but Congress Will

The White House says this new proposal would cut more than $1.8 trillion from the?deficit?over?the next decade, not counting deficit reduction that's already been carved out through previous compromises and the new tax rates that went into effect in January. However, it would override the automatic spending cuts that slashed this year's budget via the sequestration.

RELATED: Obama's Budget Will Force GOP to Admit What Obama's Been Offering All Along

The new budget proposal, which is actually two month late, is the opening salvo of what promises to be a summer-long battle over the 2014 budget, which takes effect on October 1. It remains to be seen if this opening offer will move the needle at all on the usual budget debates that divided the government for the last several years.?Republicans in the House are already reiterating their usual stance that they won't vote for more taxes?increases, a point that the administration is "insisting" on.?Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also complained on Tuesday that the President's proposals offered nothing new, saying "it sounds like the White House just tossed last year's budget in the microwave."

RELATED: Latest Updates: House Passes Stopgap Despite Veto Threat

President Obama will introduce the budget later today and then host several leading Republicans at White House dinner to begin his sales pitch.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-budget-something-everyone-hate-113205145.html

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IMF chief says easy monetary policy should stay for now

By Daniel Bases and Steven C. Johnson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global growth is likely to remain tepid this year and central banks should keep their easy monetary policies in place, the head of the International Monetary Fund said on Wednesday.

"Thanks to the actions of policymakers, the economic world no longer looks quite as dangerous as it did six months ago," IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde told the Economic Club of New York.

But while there were signs that financial conditions are improving, Lagarde said those changes are not yet translating into improvements in the real economy.

"In present circumstances, it makes sense for monetary policy to do the heavy lifting in this recovery by remaining accommodative," Lagarde said ahead of meetings of global finance chiefs in Washington next week.

"We know that inflation expectations are well anchored today, giving central banks greater leeway to support growth," she added.

She said a three-speed recovery is underway, led by fast-growing emerging economies, followed by countries such the United States that are on the mend, and with the euro zone and Japan trailing.

In January, the IMF trimmed its 2013 forecast for global growth to 3.5 percent from 3.6 percent, and projected a 4.1 percent expansion in 2014. It said the world economy grew 3.2 percent in 2012.

Lagarde said the exceptionally loose monetary policies of central banks in advanced economies is a concern for emerging economies, which fear a sudden reversal of the large capital flows that have flooded their economies in recent years as investors have sought higher yields.

"Right now, these risks appear under control," Lagarde said, but she urged emerging economies to boost their defenses to deal with the possible repercussions should central banks start to exit from quantitative easing.

The IMF chief welcomed the unprecedented burst of monetary stimulus announced by the Bank of Japan last week to revive the country's economy. She urged Japan to deliver a credible fiscal plan to lower its public debt, "which looks increasingly unsustainable".

"Japan needs a clear and credible plan to lower public debt over the medium term," Lagarde said. "It needs comprehensive structural reforms to shift the economy into higher gear."

Lagarde said the 'fiscal cliff' in the United States had been avoided, but that it is vital now for the Obama administration to put in place credible, medium-term plans to cut debt.

In Europe, Lagarde said monetary policy is "spinning its wheels" with low interest rates unable to translate into affordable credit for those who need it because of unfinished repairs to the banking sector.

"The priority must be to continue to clean up the banking system by recapitalizing, restructuring, or, where necessary, shutting down banks," Lagarde added.

The banking bailout in Cyprus, she reiterated, is not a template for future reforms. However, she said people, "whether investors or depositors need to know what the banking order is".

Cyprus received a 10 billion euro bailout from the euro zone and the IMF. However, the structure of the deal has injected a higher level of uncertainty into markets because it requires large depositors, many of them Russian, to share in the losses of the banking system.

"Cyprus was not a template, it doesn't set standards because it was not a standard itself. It was vastly different from many banks in the region," Lagarde said in response to a question.

In addition to banking reform, most European governments need to maintain tight fiscal policies to reduce debt levels, she said, but added that spending cuts need not be too severe too soon.

"We believe it is a question of pace," Lagarde said. "(Reforms) don't have to be brutal or abrupt or massively front-loaded. Those under financial pressure have to demonstrate the ability to do so but be mindful of the fabric of society."

The IMF's spring meeting will be held in Washington April 19-21.

(Writing by Lesley Wroughton; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama; and Peter Galloway)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/imf-chief-sees-little-improvement-global-growth-2013-161922659--business.html

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