Catherine Anne O’ Hara is a Canadian-American  actress and comedienne. She is well known for her comedy work on SCTV, and her roles in the films After Hours, Beetlejuice, Home Alone and Home Alone 2, and The Nightmare Before Christmas; as well in the mockumentary films written and directed by Christopher Guest including Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration.

A naturalized U.S. citizen, she married production designer/director  Bo Welch in 1992 and has two sons, Matthew (b.1994) and Luke (b.1997). She is the sister of critically-acclaimed singer-songwriter Mary Margaret O’Hara, though she is a singer-songwriter in her own right, having written and performed songs in Christopher Guest’s film A Mighty Wind. She has a condition known as Situs Inversus with Dextrocardia meaning that among other things, her heart is on the right side of her body.

Canada then brought out its star power, with actors William Shatner, Catherine O’Hara and Michael J. Fox following Rogge with a series of humour-tinged monologues.

“I’m sorry you thought Canada was one great big frozen tundra,” said O’Hara, mocking the world’s shock that British Columbia isn’t always winter wonderland.

Fox celebrated his Canadian roots, saying even though he has lived in the United States for 30 years, if he’s watching the two countries play hockey, “I’m sorry, but I’m wearing a maple leaf on my sweater.”

Singer Michael Buble, starting out wearing Mountie gear, sang a patriotic, tongue-in-cheek tune playing off Canadian clichés — giant inflated beavers, moose, Mounties, table-hockey players and maple leafs circled through BC Place, pulled by lumberjacks.

The satirical act of uber-Canadiana was followed by yet another series of Canadian clichés — including Nickelback, Avril Lavigne and Simple Plan.

They were followed by Alanis Morissette, who performed a moving version of Wunderkind, as athletes hugged each other and waved their flags.

Performances from pop-rock group Hedley, Quebec singer Marie-Mai and hip-hop artist k-os rounded out the closing ceremony, which was capped with a fireworks display.

French Minister to Convert to Marry Muslim lover, The architect of France’s burka ban was about to convert to Islam to marry his secret Muslim girlfriend.
Eric Besson, the country’s 51-year-old immigration minister, has admitted the relationship with Yasmine Tordjman, a Paris art student less than half his age. The French media has aired the likelihood Mr Besson, the hardline conservative, to convert to Islam to marry his girlfriend. The revelation comes as – tipped as a future prime minister – spearheads a campaign against non-Christian religions and cultures swamping France. He has called for Islamic head coverings such as the burka to be outlawed and wants potential immigrants to take French tests and swear allegiance to the Republic. His policies apply particularly to those arriving from Muslim countries, who do not share the same values as France’s predominantly Roman Catholic population. Miss Tordjman, who is in her early 20s, comes from a prominent family of Tunisian Muslims connected to the country’s former president, Habib Bourguiba. Before Christmas, divorced father-of-three Mr Besson travelled to the North African country to meet her mother, prompting speculation he would marry in June.

WASHINGTON: US Vice President Joe Biden has said al Qaeda was moving in the direction of smaller but “devastatingly frightening” attacks and he viewed the chance of another September 11-style mass assault as unlikely.

In an interview with CNN’s “Larry King Live” program, Biden also said the situation in Pakistan worried him more than that of Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

“It’s a big country,” Biden said of Pakistan. “It has nuclear weapons that are able to be deployed. It has a real significant minority of radicalized population. It is not a completely functional democracy in the sense we think about it. And so … that’s my greatest concern.”

Biden, who was the chairman or ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the decade before becoming vice president, said Iran’s nuclear program was a “real concern.”

“If they continue on the path of nuclear weapons and were able to gain even a modicum of the capability, then I worry what that does … what pressure that puts on Saudi Arabia, on Egypt, on Turkey. … To acquire nuclear weapons, that’s very destabilizing,” he said.

Although U.S. intelligence chiefs testified before a congressional panel recently that new al Qaeda-backed attacks are certain in the coming months, Biden said he thought any attempt would be small-scale.

“The idea of there being a massive attack in the United States like 9/11 is unlikely, in my view,” he said, referring to the September 11, 2001, hijacked plane attacks on New York and Washington, which left nearly 3,000 dead.

“If you see what’s happening, particularly with al Qaeda and the Arabian Peninsula, they have decided to move in the direction of much more small bore but devastatingly frightening attacks,” Biden said.

He said a likely model was the attempted Christmas attack on an airliner headed for Detroit. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, is accused of trying to blow up the Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight with a bomb sewn into his underwear.

“The concern relates to somebody like a shoe bomber or the underpants bomber, the Christmas attack or someone just strapping a backpack on them with weapons … and blowing up,” Biden said.

Asked if an attack like that would actually happen, he said, “Well, I think there are going to be attempts.”

The vice president expressed optimism about Iraq, saying it could end up being “one of the great achievements of this administration.”

“You’re going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer,” Biden said. “You’re going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government.”

He said he had visited Iraq 17 times, going every two or three months.

“It has impressed me,” Biden said. “I’ve been impressed how they have been deciding to use the political process rather than guns to settle their differences.”

Al-Qaeda ‘To Attempt US Attack Soon’: Spy Shief, Al-Qaeda can be expected to attempt an attack on the US in the next three to six months, the top US spy chief says.
“The chances of an attempted attack are certain. They’re going to try,” US Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair replied when asked about the likelihood of an attempted al-Qaeda strike over that time frame.
Blair said the extremist network that carried out the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks would keep targeting the United States until bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri have been caught or killed.
“We judge that al-Qaeda maintains its intent to attack the Homeland preferably with a large scale operation that would cause mass casualties, harm the US economy, or both,” Blair told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
“We assess that at least until Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri are dead or captured, al-Qaeda will retain its resolute intent to strike the Homeland,” he said.
With President Barack Obama’s administration under fire for its handling of the attempted Christmas Day bomber, notably informing him of his right to remain silent, Blair declined to say whether bin Laden should get the same treatment if captured.
Instead, Blair said he “would very much hope” that the Saudi-born extremists would be interrogated and that officials would “squeeze” him for information.
CIA Director Leon Panetta told Congress on Tuesday the terrorist organisation is deploying operatives to the US to carry out new attacks from inside the country, including “clean” recruits with a negligible trail of terror contacts. Al-Qaeda is also inspiring homegrown extremists to trigger violence on their own, Panetta added.
“The biggest threat is not so much that we face an attack like 9/11. It is that al-Qaeda is adapting its methods in ways that oftentimes make it difficult to detect,” Panetta told the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Latest news updates Haiti Earthquake Disaster, Haiti Earthquake Disaster Pictures, Haiti Earthquake Disaster PHOTOS! – Everybody wants to see Haiti Earthquake’s Victims Photos and after haiti earthquake: this is very tragic trend amung people. What it reveals from the death pictures coming from Haiti every now and then, is not the reality. The reality is something beyond pictures or mere words to describe it. The piles of dead bodies have even blocked many roads in Port-au-Prince. So far nearly 50,000 bodies have been discovered.

The victims of tragic devastation following Haiti earthquake are still looking forward for help from the outer world since the humanitarian efforts seem to be highly insufficient. The death has become so common out there on the island that all you see is a pileof dead victims which ever direction you look in.

The whole island is presenting the picture of a place where one has to cross over the dead to find his/her way out there in the streets of rotten city. The disaster has left the country in a kind numbed place where fetid and decomposed bodies are lying dumped in long straight lines almost everywhere. It seems as if the quake has deprived the resident off humanity and human feelings. Their tears have dried out for the ones that have survived though yet are half-dead due to the loss of life and property.

U.S. President Barack Obama said in an interview aired on Tuesday that Al Qaeda has been weakened by the U.S. actions against terrorism, and pointed to a taped message purported to be by Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden about the failed Christmas Day bomb plot as evidence.

“Al Qaeda itself is greatly weakened from where it was back in 2000. Bin Laden sending out a tape trying to take credit for a Nigerian student who engaged in a failed bombing attempt is an indication of how weakened he is because this is not something necessarily directed by him,” Obama told ABC’s Good Morning America.

Britain Defence Secretary David Miliband has said that al-Qaeda leadership is present in the bordering areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
During an interview with a foreign news agency, Miliband said that the Christmas bomb plan was a planned attack on the West. The defence secretary said that despite the killings of many of its leaders, the hazards from al-Qaeda still loomed large. Earlier, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden claimed in a video tape to plan bombing of US airliner on Dec 25.

Arsenal Vs Everton Live, In one of the few remaining Premier League games not to be called off due to the adverse weather conditions, David Moyes brings his Everton side down to North London to face an in-form Arsenal side who will be looking to gain 3 points to leapfrog Manchester United in the league, who should play later on this evening against Birmingham.

Only 3 Premier League matches are still going ahead today and both the Arsenal and Everton fans will be hoping to have something to cheer about when they turn up to brave the cold for this game.

Arsenal are now unbeaten in 6 games, including 5 wins, and so will be firm favourites for this game. However, Everton have also found their feet again recently and are unbeaten in their last 5 games, but having not won at Arsenal since 1996 they will be happy to pick up just a point today.

Both Arsenal and Everton won their recent FA Cup fixtures, Arsenal beating West Ham while Everton beat Carlisle to progress into the next round of the competition.

Arsenal will have to play Everton without influential skipper and playmaker Cesc Fabregas who is out with a hamstring unjury. The Spaniard should be back in time for Arsenal’s next match against Bolton. Denilson will return for the Gunners while Alex Song is unavailable due to the African Cup Of Nations. Emmanuel Eboue is another player away on international duty. Arsharvin and Rosicky should both be fit for todays match however.

Meanwhile Everton will have some striker problems for the game with Arsenal as Louis Saha is struggling with a hamstring problem and may not be fit in time for todays match, while Brazilian striker Jo has been suspended by the club for visiting Brazil over Christmas without his clubs permission. American on loan striker Donovan could make an appearance in todays game, but it is likely that Everton will field the same team that knocked Carlisle out of the FA Cup last weekend.

Illinois Lottery Results, The Illinois Lottery has received a fair amount of attention in recent years, from its connections to disgraced former governor Rod Blagojevich to the state’s controversial plan to sell the lottery to private investors. Now, for the holiday season the Illinois Lottery has launched a new ad campaign using the Christian hymn “Joy to the World” to flog its scratch-off games, a move that has led at least one Christian to complain to the Chicago Sun Times:

In Monday’s paper, columnist Lewis Lazare notes that Energy BBDO has created a series of holiday television commercials using the song “Joy to the World” to sell—of all things—lottery tickets! The new lyrics and retro music may be captivating and clever, but are the people at BBDO familiar with the original words to this Christmas hymn? Or do they care?

Or is Linus the only one who still understands what Christmas is all about?

Dan McGuire, Bensenville

It’s a paradigmatic case of cultural appropriation, with one community’s traditions used to promote ostensibly contradictory values. And as MultiCultClassics observes, the campaign doesn’t stop there–”It’s gone from blasphemy to Black clichés.”

NEW YORK: Authorities on Friday arrested a man suspected of triggering a security scare that shut down Newark’s international airport this week.

Haisong Jiang, 28, of Piscataway, N.J., was arrested on charges of defiant trespass, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said in a statement. No further details about the circumstances of the arrest were provided.

The security breach rattled officials and the airline industry, coming on the heels of an attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound U.S. airliner on Christmas Day.

A security video released on Thursday showed a man slipping into a secure area at Newark Liberty International Airport on Sunday night to give a woman a goodbye kiss. The breach led to the closure of the Newark airport for hours, delaying thousands of passengers at the end of a holiday weekend.

The video, released by U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, also showed a federal officer at the airport leaving his post before the man walked by and into a secure area.

Earlier in the video, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officer is seen seeming to ask the same man to move away from the security cordons that guide arriving passengers out of the secure area and into the concourse.

On the video, the TSA officer left his desk and walked toward the airport concourse, after which the man slipped underneath a security cordon. He then met a departing female passenger who had passed through a security checkpoint and kissed her before they walked off holding hands.

The TSA officer has been placed on administrative leave.