Global warming to impede cancer cure | JunkScience.com

Listen to the penguins tell you about it.

A new documentary is coming out called, ?Crabnet Antarctica: The Search for Invading Crab.?

It seems that global warming is causing the king crab to move onto Antarctic shelf where they will eat all the sponges, starfish and octopi, there by disrupting the Antarctic food chain so that the penguins starve.

But the penguins say that it?s not just about them:

Scientists have discovered that the unique plants and animals that live on the Antarctic shelf secrete substances that could fight cancer and other diseases in humans. Those would be lost too if the king crab makes it onto the shelf.

But if the direct $90 billion federal effort in the ?War on Cancer? has failed, we?re kinda skeptical of a $100 trillion dollar indirect effort to cure cancer by averting a hypothetical 1^o C atmospheric warming which will have an unknown effect on ocean temperatures and the king crab.

The lead penguin goes onto say:

I?m not a scientist so I don?t understand why the water is getting warmer, but if there?s anything you can fo to keep the king crab away, we would appreciate that very much.

Would this help?

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Source: http://junkscience.com/2011/11/05/global-warming-to-impede-cancer-cure/

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Ex-general wins Guatemalan presidential election (AP)

GUATEMALA CITY ? In the end, tradition trumped rising enthusiasm for a youthful populist.

Guatemalans have once again elected as their new leader the presidential candidate who lost the previous election, something they have done since democracy returned to the Central American country in 1986.

Retired general and former intelligence director Otto Perez Molina of the conservative Patriotic Party won an easy and early victory on Sunday in a runoff race against tycoon-turned-political populist Manuel Baldizon of the Democratic Freedom Revival party. Perez garnered 54 percent of the vote to Baldizon's 46 percent.

It was exactly as the polls had predicted, though many distrusted them and felt a last-minute surge by Baldizon would make the race tight.

But analysts said it was Perez who surged in the final days.

"At the end of the campaign, Otto Perez began to appeal to the idea of continuity and stability, while Baldizon tried to appear new and creative," said Renso Rosal, political analyst with the University Rafael Landivar. "That doesn't sit well with a conservative society like Guatemala."

Voter turnout was nearly 60 percent, though early reports said it would be under 50 percent.

Perez, 61, is the first former military leader elected president in Guatemala in the 25 years after the end of brutal military rule.

While that concerns some international groups, Guatemala has a young population. Many don't remember the 36-year war or its 200,000 dead, the vast majority of whom were Mayan and victims of army, police and paramilitary.

Perez has said there were no massacres or genocide. He was never been charged with any atrocities and was one of the army's chief representatives in negotiating the 1996 peace accords.

"They talk a lot about the past, but there has been no case against him," said Perez supporter Daniel Rustrian, 20, who was voting for the first time. "I'm not saying there wasn't genocide, but no one has demonstrated anything against him."

Instead, voters supported Perez's "iron-fist" approach to rampant crime in the country, which has been overrun by gangs, Mexican drug cartels and has one of the highest murder rates in the world. President Alvaro Colom had to send the military to various parts of the country in the last six months to regain control from the drug gangs.

"The first order of business will be to lower the levels of violence and insecurity that we're living, and work with congress to improve the federal budget," Perez said upon his victory, touching on the country's other major problem.

Guatemala has one of lowest tax rates in the world, raising little money for schools, roads or other improvements that would help bring the country out of severe poverty. More than half of Guatemala's 14 million people live below the poverty line. The establishment traditionally has fought hard against raising taxes.

Perez, who takes officer Jan. 14, narrowly lost four years ago to Colom, who cannot run for re-election. That tradition bodes well for Baldizon, 41, who barely registered in the polls when campaigning began six months ago. He had risen dramatically to place second in the Sept. 11 election and to compete in Sunday's runoff thanks to his youth, enthusiasm and populist promises.

"There are two winners, no losers," said Alberto de Aregon of the political firm of Aregon and Associates.

Baldizon made some promises considered outlandish, including that he would take Guatemala's soccer team to the World Cup. But other promises are appealing, including giving workers an extra month's salary a year, reinstating the death penalty and televising executions.

Both candidates lean to the right after the center-left party of Colom failed to field a candidate.

Perez made his military career as an intelligence specialist, one of the most influential and powerful sections of the army. According to declassified U.S. documents released by the National Security Archive research organization, Perez studied in 1985 in the U.S. military's School of the Americas. He also took classes at and led the school for the elite commandos known as "kaibiles," a force linked to massacres of peasants during the war.

He's also known as the general who stood behind the constitutional court when in 1993 President Jorge Serrano tried to dissolve Congress and the constitution. He was appointed head of Guatemala's equivalent of the Secret Service for Ramiro de Leon Carpio, a human rights ombudsman chosen by Guatemala's legislature in 1993 to serve out the presidential term after Serrano fled.

Baldizon on Sunday urged fellow Guatemalans to vote for a new face and reject a candidate with "blood on his hands" from his military career. Perez in turn charged Baldizon with giving handouts in exchange for votes.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111107/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_guatemala_election

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Cain accuser cited 'several' harassment incidents

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks at the Defending the American Dream Summit, Friday, Nov. 4, 2011, in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks at the Defending the American Dream Summit, Friday, Nov. 4, 2011, in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Joel Bennett, an attorney for a woman who accused Herman Cain of sexual harassment while both worked at the National Restaurant Association, speaks during a news conference outside his office in Washington, Friday, Nov. 4, 2011. Bennett said she complained about a "series of inappropriate behaviors" in good faith and accepted a financial agreement. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks at the Defending the American Dream Summit, Friday, Nov. 4, 2011, in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain gestures as he walks toward the podium to speak at the Defending the American Dream Summit, Friday, Nov. 4, 2011, in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? One of Herman Cain's accusers alleged "several incidents of sexual harassment" in a formal complaint more than a decade ago, her lawyer disclosed Friday, a fresh allegation that could complicate the Republican presidential hopeful's determined bid to lay the politically explosive controversy to rest.

The lawyer, Joel Bennett, said his client ? married then and now ? accepted a financial settlement in leaving her job at the National Restaurant Association shortly after lodging the complaint against Cain, who was then the trade group's head. Bennett did not name the woman, who he said stands by her allegations and has decided not "to relive the specifics" of the incidents in a public forum.

Cain, who tried to return to normal campaigning Friday, has repeatedly denied ever sexually harassing anyone. His spokesman, J.D. Gordon, said in response to Bennett's comments, "''We're looking to put this issue behind us and focus on the real issues, which are fixing this broken economy, putting Americans back to work and strengthening national security."

Apart from disclosing that his client alleged more than one incident, Bennett's remarks added little of substance to a controversy that erupted nearly a week ago.

"She made a complaint in good faith about a series of inappropriate behaviors and unwanted advances from the CEO" of the restaurant organization, he said.

In a statement late in the day, Dawn Sweeney, the trade group's current CEO, said Cain had disputed the allegations at the time they were made. She also said the organization was willing to waive a confidentiality agreement the woman signed when she left her job, a concession that a spokeswoman later said would not necessarily apply to any other former employee.

Cain has contended an internal investigation at the time of the complaint showed no evidence of improper conduct by him, but Sweeney did not address that issue.

Bennett's comments to reporters outside his law office came as Cain was making a concerted effort to show he would no longer allow the controversy to dominate his unlikely challenge for the GOP presidential nomination.

The candidate drew cheers of support Friday from conservative activists as he delivered a speech focused on the U.S. economy. He is trying to convert his meteoric rise in opinion polls into a campaign organization robust enough to compete with Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and other rivals in early primary and caucus states.

In an appearance before the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, the career businessman pitched his trademark 9-9-9 economic program and referred only elliptically to the controversy that has overshadowed his campaign in recent days. "I've been in Washington all week, and I've attracted a little bit of attention," he said to knowing laughter from his audience.

Not everyone sounded ready to let it fade.

In Georgia, the state party chairwoman, Sue Everhart, said, "I think he has to completely put it behind him or it will continue to be a problem. He's got to do the housekeeping duties and clean this up."

She suggested Cain should coax the restaurant trade group to permit one of his accusers to make a public statement. That was before the woman's lawyer read her statement, with the trade group's permission.

The woman, whose identity has not been made public, signed a confidentiality agreement when she left the organization more than a decade ago after accusing Cain, then the trade group's head, of sexual harassment. At the time of her departure, she received a financial settlement. The lawyer declined to say how much it had been.

At least two other women have made similar allegations, and a former pollster for the restaurant association has said he witnessed yet another episode.

The controversy surfaced as Cain, a black man in a party that draws its support overwhelmingly from white voters, was rising to the top in public opinion polls. His campaign announced Friday that donations so far this week have totaled $1.6 million, described as a fourfold increase over the average take for an entire month.

Official figures won't be available for weeks, but to judge from Cain's existing campaign organization, it could hardly come at a better time for him.

In Iowa, where caucuses kick off the campaign year on Jan. 3, Cain has a modest presence at best.

He let more than two months lapse between visits on Aug. 13 and Oct. 22, and aides say they don't expect him to return to the state until Nov. 19.

He employs four full-time staff members in the state, while Perry and Rep. Michel Bachmann of Minnesota both have 10 on their campaign payroll. Romney, who is still evaluating how strenuously to compete in the state, also has a bigger staff than Cain.

Cain also trails his rivals in the endorsement competition in Iowa, an important but hardly foolproof indication of a candidate's viability.

Lisa Lockwood, a spokesman for Cain's campaign in Iowa, said he has the support of Dean Kleckner, a former state Farm Bureau president and a party activist, and Pottawattamie County Chairman Jeff Jorgenson.

By contrast, Romney, Perry, Bachmann and former Sen. Rick Santorum have netted endorsements from state lawmakers and local party officials whose own networks could potentially prove beneficial.

So far, Cain has not run television commercials in the state, unlike Bachmann, Perry and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas.

Cain also trails rivals in organizational strength in New Hampshire, site of the first primary on Jan. 10.

He has two paid staff in the state, far fewer than Romney, Perry and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman, each of whom has more than 10.

Cain's most prominent New Hampshire supporter to date is Jack Kimball, the former state GOP chairman who was forced out of office last month having lost the confidence of most state officials.

In South Carolina, which hosts the first Southern primary, Cain has a staff of four and shows evidence of grass-roots support. He won a straw poll of 110 women at a state Federation of Republican Woman meeting last weekend, followed closely by former Speaker Newt Gingrich, Bachmann and Romney.

Perry appears to have the largest organization in the state, and enjoys the support of roughly a dozen state lawmakers as well as one member of the state's congressional delegation, Rep. Mick Mulvaney.

Nationally, Cain also lags several of his rivals in fundraising, based on reports filed through the end of September, the most recent available.

At the time, Perry, the Texas governor, reported cash on hand of $15 million. Romney, the former Massachusetts governor making his second presidential run, reported $14.6 million in the bank.

Cain's cash on hand was $1.3 million, and his filing indicated he was more reliant on small donors ? those giving $200 or less ? than either Romney or Perry.

While polls are notoriously fickle, particularly before the first ballots are cast in a presidential race, Cain shot up rapidly in recent weeks, largely at Perry's expense, and his aides were eager to circulate the results of a Washington Post survey taken as the sexual harassment controversy was unfolding.

It showed him in a statistical tie for first with Romney, who had 24 percent support to 23 percent for Cain. Perry had 13 percent, followed by Gingrich, with 12 percent.

Seven in 10 Republicans polled said reports of the allegations don't matter when it comes to picking a candidate.

But in a sign of possible danger ahead, the poll found that Cain slipped to third place among those who see the accusations as serious, and Republican women were significantly more likely than men to say the allegations make them less apt to support the businessman. The survey found that support for Cain was basically steady over the four nights of interviewing, though new accusations were surfacing.

In South Carolina, LaDonna Riggs, chairwoman of the Spartanburg County Republican Party, said she had seen nothing so far that would cause party activists to abandon Cain. "You give me some substance to the questions and then we can talk," she said.

"If there's truth to it, then it could hurt him. But right now, it's just allegations," said Cyrus Hill, a 67-year-old retiree from Granger, Iowa. "Allegations aren't going to end him.

Dave Roszak, 51 and a resident of Clive, Iowa, said, "If it turns out he isn't being honest, it will take him down."

___

Associated Press writers Shannon McCaffrey in Georgia, Tom Beaumont and Phil Elliott in Iowa, Steve Peoples in New Hampshire and Jim Davenport in South Carolina contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-11-04-Cain/id-55348e0b3c994642ab11cc471c6a46b6

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Commercial diet schemes better than doctors' help (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? Commercial weight-loss programmes such as Weight Watchers and Slimming World are more effective and cheaper than family doctor-based services led by specially trained staff, according to the findings of a study published on Friday.

With a global epidemic of obesity putting huge pressure on health budgets, researchers at Britain's Birmingham University wanted to compare the effectiveness of doctor-led weight loss programmes against several well-known commercial schemes.

The results suggest that while commercial schemes generally help people to lose weight, doctor-led programmes do not.

After 12 weeks, people in all the schemes studied had achieved significant weight loss, but the average loss ranged from the highest at 4.4 kg (9.7 lb) with Weight Watchers down to 1.4 kg on a program led by primary care staff.

A control group who were not put on any specific diet program but were given vouchers for free access to a gym for 12 weeks lost just as much weight on average as those using health clinic-based based weight-loss programmes.

After a year, statistically significant weight loss was recorded in all groups apart from the primary care programmes, but Weight Watchers was the only program to achieve significantly greater weight loss than the control group.

Kate Jolly, a clinical senior lecturer in public health and epidemiology at Birmingham who led the research, said primary care-based weight loss services led by specially trained staff are "ineffective" while commercially provided services "are more effective and cheaper."

Worldwide, around 1.5 billion adults are overweight and another 0.5 billion are obese, with 170 million children classified as overweight or obese. Obesity takes up between 2 to 6 percent of healthcare costs in many countries.

This latest research, published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ), comes in the wake of the first gold-standard randomized controlled trial of Weight Watchers last month which showed that the program works far better than getting doctors to tell patients to lose weight.

Another study in the United States published in 2003 found that one year's free access to Weight Watchers resulted in an average weight reduction of 3.5 kg after one year.

In the BMJ study, which involved 740 obese and overweight men and women in Britain, several other commercial weight loss programmes were also studied including Slimming World, Rosemary Conley and a group-based dietetics program as well as general practice one to one counseling and pharmacy-led one to one counseling.

Weight Watchers and Slimming World are both group-based weight-loss schemes where people trying to shed pounds are given dieting tips and encouraged to go to weekly meetings to be weighed and discuss their progress with other members.

At a cost of roughly 40 pounds ($64) for 12 weeks, they are also relatively inexpensive, particularly when compared to the billions of dollars spent on healthcare for overweight and obese people worldwide every year.

In a commentary on the BMJ study, nutrition experts Helen Truby and Maxine Bonham from Monash University in Australia said it showed there is "no simple solution" to the obesity epidemic.

They said the UK's state-funded National Health Service (NHS) should be aware of the level of investment needed to develop an expert workforce to manage the problem of obesity, and said it could learn a great deal from commercial companies about how to deliver what consumers want.

($1 = 0.626 British Pounds)

(Editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weightloss/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111104/hl_nm/us_weight_loss

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Nicaragua pres Ortega poised to win third term

A campaign poster of Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega is displayed on a light pole in front of a polling station during general elections in Managua, Nicaragua, Sunday Nov. 6, 2011. The one-time Sandinista revolutionary and and presidential candidate for the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front, FSLN, appears headed for a third term victory Sunday in an election that Ortega's critics say could be the prelude to a presidency for life. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

A campaign poster of Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega is displayed on a light pole in front of a polling station during general elections in Managua, Nicaragua, Sunday Nov. 6, 2011. The one-time Sandinista revolutionary and and presidential candidate for the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front, FSLN, appears headed for a third term victory Sunday in an election that Ortega's critics say could be the prelude to a presidency for life. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

Presidential candidate for the Liberal Independent Party, PLI, Fabio Gadea, is flanked by his security team as he leaves a polling station after casting his vote in the general elections in Managua, Nicaragua, Sunday Nov. 6, 2011. Gadea is the main challenger to frontrunner Daniel Ortega, Nicaragua's president and presidential candidate for the ruling Sandinista National Liberation Front, FSLN,. (AP Photo/Miguel Alvarez)

Voters search the electoral rolls for the location of their respective polling table during general elections in Managua, Nicaragua, Sunday Nov. 6, 2011. Nicaraguan president and one-time Sandinista revolutionary Daniel Ortega appears headed for a third term victory Sunday in an election that his critics say could be the prelude to a presidency for life. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

An election officer shows an unmarked ballot to a voter at a polling station during the general elections in Managua, Nicaragua, Sunday Nov. 6, 2011. Nicaraguan president and one-time Sandinista revolutionary Daniel Ortega appears headed for victory Sunday in an election that his critics say could be the prelude to a presidency for life. (AP Photo/Esteban Felix)

A dog naps in a school parking lot as a Nicaraguan Army soldier casts his vote at a makeshift polling station during general elections in Managua, Nicaragua, Sunday Nov. 6, 2011. Nicaraguan president and one-time Sandinista revolutionary Daniel Ortega appears headed for a third term victory in an election that his critics say could be the prelude to a presidency for life. (AP Photo/Miguel Alvarez)

MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AP) ? Nicaraguan president and one-time Sandinista revolutionary Daniel Ortega appears headed for victory Sunday in an election that his critics say could be the prelude to a presidency for life.

Since returning to power in 2007, the 65-year-old Ortega has boosted his popularity in Central America's poorest country with a combination of pork-barrel populism and support for the free-market economy he once opposed.

Now, riding on a populist platform and World Bank praise for his economic strategies, he seeks a third term ? his second consecutive one ? after the Sandinista majority on the Supreme Court overruled the term limits set by the Nicaraguan constitution.

With nearly 50 percent of voter support and an 18-point lead over his nearest challenger in the most recent poll, Ortega could end up with a mandate that would not only legitimize his re-election but allow him to make constitutional changes guaranteeing perpetual re-election.

He leads his closest competitor, opposition radio station owner Fabio Gadea of the Liberal Independent Party, by 18 points. Conservative Arnoldo Aleman, a former president and perennial candidate, has 11 percent support in the poll taken between Oct. 10-17 with a margin of error of 2.8 percentage points.

Ortega led the Sandinista movement that overthrew dictator Anastasio Somoza in 1979, and withstood a concerted effort by the U.S. government, which viewed him as a Soviet-backed threat, to oust him through a rebel force called the Contras.

The fiery, mustachioed leftist ruled through a junta, then was elected in 1984 but was defeated after one term in 1990. After two more failed runs, he softened his rhetoric, took a free-market stance, and regained the presidency in the 2006 election.

To his supporters, he is just plain Daniel, while opponents say that in his new incarnation, he has espoused "Orteguismo," a politics of personality based on Christianity, socialism and free enterprise.

In his most recent term, Ortega has built wide support among the youth and the poor in a country of 5.8 million people, more than 40 percent of whom live on less than $2 a day.

He also has maintained ties to the U.S. even as he has grown closer to Venezuelan socialist President Hugo Chavez, signed the Central American Free Trade Agreement and cultivated Nicaragua's large business sector. Per capita income, one of the lowest in Latin America, has grown steadily since 2006, according to the World Bank, which has praised Ortega's macroeconomic policies as "broadly favorable."

Still, he has been helped immensely by Chavez, who according to estimates has provided at least $500 million a year in discounted oil and outright donations.

Many warn his success comes at democracy's expense. Claims of widespread fraud in the 2008 municipal elections led Washington to cancel $62 million in development aid.

If the left seemed to be rolling in Nicaragua on Sunday, relatively conservative candidates were dominating elections in nearby Guatemala, which suffered an even bloodier civil war from 1960 to 1996.

Polls showed Otto Perez Molina, 61, a retired general and former military intelligence director at least 10 points ahead of Manuel Baldizon, a 41-year-old tycoon turned political populist.

More than half of Guatemala's 14 million people live in poverty and it has one of the highest murder rates in the world, a product of gang and cartel violence, along with the legacy of its civil war.

Perez would be the first former military leader elected president in Guatemala since the end of military rule 25 years ago. His campaigning focused on fighting the street gangs and cartels.

Nicaragua's 2006 election drew more than 18,000 election observers. This time election observation is much more difficult and local observers are being denied credentials.

The European Union and the Organization of America States have negotiated access to Sunday's vote. The Carter Center, whose Nicaragua delegation was led by former President Jimmy Carter in 2006, has elected not to observe because of the restrictions.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-06-LT-Nicaragua-Election/id-1b50215cbb444e019aca7c5042d7390a

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Jennifer Lopez Is Making a Carmen Sandiego Movie

EXCLUSIVE: Walden Media has acquired rights to turn?Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? into a live-action film involving Jennifer Lopez. I?d heard that Walden Media will develop the property as a vehicle for Lopez to play the title character, but Walden Media said at this point, she?s attached to produce only. The hope is to turn the property into National Treasure meets The Thomas Crown Affair. The logline: When the ACME agency?s greatest detective Carmen Sandiego becomes the world?s greatest thief, it?s up to her former partner to follow her clues and track her down. Their cat-and-mouse game leads the partner to confront a greater mystery: Is Carmen really a thief or a hero? The property originated as an educational computer game before it was turned into an animated TV series.

The film will be produced by Lopez and her Nuyorican Productions? partners Benny Medina and Simon Fields, and Underground Films? Nick Osbourne, Trevor Engelson and Devin Andre. Walden Media CEO Michael Bostick and SVP Evan Turner are steering the property after it was acquired from Hougton Mifflin. The property fits into Walden Media?s mandate to create properties that challenge kids; Carmen Sandiego is used as a teaching tool in more than half of elementary schools nationwide. The project tried the movie route once before; Disney optioned it in the late 1990s and developed a version for Sandra Bullock, but it never went anywhere.

Lopez, who now works her movie jobs around her music career and judging duties on American Idol, most recently wrapped What To Expect When You?re Expecting with Cameron Diaz for Lionsgate and the Taylor Hackford-directed Parker with Jason Statham for FilmDistrict.? She?s repped by UTA.

Click Here for Deadline Email News Alerts - Subscribe Today!

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1923900/news/1923900/

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Yahoo investor demands board ouster of co-founder (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? A major Yahoo shareholder believes the slumping Internet company would be better off without Jerry Yang on its board as it mulls a possible sale.

In a Friday letter to Yahoo's board, hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb asserts Yang has too many conflicts of interest to keep the board seat he has held since starting the company more than 16 years ago.

Loeb, who owns a 5.2 percent stake in Yahoo Inc. through a fund called Third Point LLC, based his conclusion on published reports that Yang has been talking to several buyout firms about joining forces to buy a controlling stake in the company. The letter lists the Texas Pacific Group, Providence Equity Partners, Silver Lake, KKR & Co. and the Blackstone Group as the firms talking to Yang.

In a statement, a Yahoo reiterated its board has been exploring various ways to boost the company's stock price and brushed off the reports cited in Loeb's letter as "rumor and speculation."

"Mr. Yang is one of nine directors with the exact same fiduciary duties and motivation as all of his fellow directors ? to serve the best interests of all the company's shareholders," Yahoo said.

Loeb questioned whether Yang is more interested in selling Yahoo to the highest bidder or negotiating a deal that keeps the company in "friendly hands." The letter also refers to Yang's "ineptitude" in 2008 when he squandered an opportunity to sell Yahoo to Microsoft Corp. for $47.5 billion, or $33 per share ? more than twice the company's current market value.

"It is now clear that (Yang) is simply not aligned with shareholders," Loeb wrote.

Yang holds a 3.6 percent stake in Yahoo, meaning he no longer owns as much of the company as Loeb does.

The attack on Yang is the latest bit of drama at a company that has been immersed in a soap opera since former movie mogul Terry Semel resigned as CEO to placate frustrated shareholders in mid-2007.

Yang then took a stab at being CEO, only to spend much of his time at the top fending off Microsoft's unsolicited takeover bid and jousting with another brash shareholder, Carl Icahn. Microsoft eventually withdrew its offer in exasperation and Icahn gained three seats on the company's board before Yang turned over the CEO job to Carol Bartz in January 2009.

Loeb entered the picture two months ago after Yahoo Chairman Roy Bostock fired Bartz in a brusque phone call.

In an in initial attempt to shake up the board, Loeb urged Yang in a Sept. 14 letter to work with him to oust Bostock, who has been lambasted by other unhappy shareholders during the past three years..

Now Loeb wants both Yang and Bostock to be tossed from the board so he can be awarded two director seats. If he doesn't get his way, Loeb indicated he is prepared to finance a shareholder rebellion against the board ? a tactic that Icahn used in 2008 to muscle his way into the company's boardroom. Icahn stepped down from the board two years ago.

Besides discussing a possible sale to buyout firms, Yahoo is also believed to be considered selling its holdings in China's Alibaba Group and Yahoo Japan. Those Asian stakes could fetch as much as $16 billion before taxes, based on analyst estimates.

Yahoo shares fell 24 cents Friday to close at $15.24.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111104/ap_on_hi_te/us_yahoo_board

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