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Romney calls for lower taxes, releases no details

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:04:05 +0000

By CNBC’s John Harwood

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, seeking to kick-start his presidential campaign among recalcitrant conservatives, will propose cutting the top income tax for individuals to 28%, advisers said today.

Mr. Romney’s earlier economic plan called only for preserving the current top tax rate of 35%, while holding out the promise of lower rates later in an overhaul of the tax code. But facing a major challenge from upstart Republican rival Rick Santorum, he has chosen to outline such an overhaul today in Arizona ahead of critical Feb. 28 primaries there and in Michigan — and before a televised debate tonight in Mesa.

Mr. Romney’s top economic adviser, Glenn Hubbard, said the plan would cut all six current tax brackets — 10%, 15%, 25%, 28%, 33%, 35%, depending on a taxpayer’s income – by the same proportion of 20%. That would produce this new set of tax brackets: 8%, 12%, 20%, 22.4%, 26.4%, and 28%. “It’s a marginal rate cut for every American,” Mr. Hubbard said.

But he added that Mr. Romney is committed to making his plan both “revenue neutral” — meaning it won’t add to the budget deficit — and “distributionally neutral” — meaning that it won’t shift the tax burden from upper-income Americans to middle and working class Americans. Since the largest benefits from rate reduction would go to upper income taxpayers, so will the burdens of “base broadening” reductions in existing deductions needed to keep the government from hemorrhaging revenue, he explained.

Reducing large tax deductions, such as the ones for home mortgage interest and state and local taxes, is politically treacherous because of their popularity with voters and elected officials alike. For now, at least, Mr. Romney will dodge any potential backlash by avoiding any specifics.

Mr. Romney will pledge to work with Congress on “limiting them,” Mr. Hubbard said, but “It is not his intention to take on any specific deduction or exclusion and eliminate it.”

Mr. Romney has praised the work of President Obama‘s Simpson-Bowles deficit reduction commission, and criticized the Democratic incumbent for ignoring its work. But Mr. Romney is also rejecting the commission recommendation that tax overhaul produce increased government revenue to cut the deficit, while embracing its recommendation to cut the top tax rate to 29% or lower.

Mr. Hubbard contrasted Mr. Romney’s “pro-growth” plan with Mr. Obama’s proposal to raise taxes on individuals earning more than $200,000 and households earning more than $250,000. He argued that would hurt economic growth by crimping small businesses, many of which file under the individual tax code.

Mr. Hubbard, who advised former President George W. Bush and now is dean of the business school at Columbia University, also cast the Romney plan as superior to that of Mr. Santorum. The former Pennsylvania senator would also cut the top individual rate to 28%, the level it reached after Congress and the White House agreed on a tax overhaul plan during Ronald Reagan’s presidency, which preserving only one more tax bracket of 10%. In the name of “national security”, Mr. Santorum has also proposed a zero tax rate for manufacturing businesses as a means of preserving and expanding that economic sector.

The Santorum plan would dramatically expand the budget deficit, Mr. Hubbard said, and the zero rate for manufacturing would result in “significant capital misallocation.” “Net-net, it’s a job destroyer, not a job creator,” Mr. Hubbard said.

Both Mr. Santorum and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who has proposed an optional “flat tax” system of 15%, have accused Mr. Romney of timidity. With his new proposal, Mr. Romney seeks to counter that charge in advance of tonight’s debate.

Mr. Romney’s plan aims to balance two competing priorities of different Republican factions. By proposing to cut the top rate, he bids for support among supply-side conservatives who contend that lower marginal rates are the key ingredient for producing economic growth.

But by vowing to offset the loss of revenue by eliminating some deductions, he responds to concerns among deficit hawks about expanding the tide of red ink that has the federal government spending an estimated $1.3-trillion more than it takes in this year.

And by insisting that those unspecified reductions will fall most heavily on the affluent, he seeks to limit his own exposure as a wealthy former financial industry executive who himself has paid taxes at only around the 15% rate because most of his income comes from capital gains. Mr. Romney would maintain the current 15% rate on dividends and capital gains.

Mr. Obama has proposed to tax the “carried interest” received by many hedge fund and private equity executives at higher ordinary income rates rather than as capital gains, arguing that current law gives them an undue advantage. Mr. Hubbard said a President Romney would ask his Treasury Secretary to study tackle the “devilishly hard question” of whether current law should change and tax some of that income at ordinary income rates.

Mr. Romney had previously proposed eliminating capital gains taxes on taxpayers earning less than $200,000. That drew fire from some conservatives, and campaign rivals such as Mr. Gingrich, on grounds that gave unwarranted preference to a specific group and would have small economic impact since those taxpayers receive relatively little in capital gains anyway.

Mr. Romney also proposes to eliminate both the estate tax and the Alternative Minimum Tax, while cutting the top corporate tax rate from 35% to 25%.

Mr. Hubbard said three different revenue streams would keep the plan from increasing the budget deficit: the “dynamic” effects of economic growth, the additional income that would be subject to taxation through “base broadening”, and spending cuts Mr. Romney plans that would reach $500-billion per year by 2016. The campaign promised more specifics on those spending cuts within the next week.

In advance of Mr. Romney’s tax plan, Mr. Obama’s Treasury Department proposed its own corporate tax overhaul plan cutting the top corporate rate to 28% by eliminating some existing corporate deductions. Part of the Obama plan includes a minimum tax on the overseas income of U.S.-based corporations. Mr. Hubbard, accusing the administration of a “full-throttle attack on multinationals”, said Mr. Romney will propose shifting to a territorial system that would not tax corporate income earned overseas.

*** UPDATE *** At an event earlier today, Romney alluded to which cuts and deductions he would go after, especially on the rich. He said the highest-income earner, in fact, should keep “paying their current share … or more.”

“And in order to limit any impact on the deficit,” Romney said, “because I don’t want to add to the deficit, and also to ensure that we continue to have progressivity as we’ve had in the past with our code, I’m going to limit the deductions and exemptions particularly for high income folks. And by the way, I want to make sure you understand, for middle income folks. And by the way, I want to make sure that you understand for middle-income families, the deductibility of home mortgage interest and charitable contributions — those things will continue, but for high-income folks, we’re going to cut back on that, so that we make sure the top 1 percent keeps paying the current share they’re paying or more. We want middle-income Americans to be the place we focus our help, because it’s middle-income Americans that have been hurt by this Obama economy.”

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Joe Manganiello Is Fine with Getting Naked on True Blood

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 16:04:04 +0000

Joe Manganiello

Courtesy OUT Magazine

Joe Manganiello has plenty of experience stripping down for his role as Alcide Herveaux on True Blood – and there’s nothing wrong with that, says the hunk.

“As far as the butt cheeks stuff goes, it just makes sense” Manganiello, 35, tells OUT magazine’s March issue, of his frequent nudity on HBO’s hit series.

“It’s not gratuitous; it’s realistic,” he says. “If you’re a werewolf and you transform, you lose everything and there are your butt cheeks.”

Adds the actor, “The show is a deconstruction of supernatural creatures. It’s not like other werewolf projects where you magically reappear with tiny jean shorts on.”

Viewers will get an even closer view of the hunky star’s physique when his new film Magic Mike hits theaters in June.

Manganiello, who takes on the role of a stripper in the movie, plays it coy when asked if he had to stuff his G-string for the role. “Um, I’ll let everybody see the movie and they can decide,” he says.

Manganiello has a booming career, but his personal life took a bit of a hit last year when reports surfaced that he and fiancée Audra Marie called off their one-year engagement. At the time Manganiello wouldn’t confirm or deny the split, but now confirms that he’s flying solo – and liking it.

“I used to have two dogs, but, um, the owner of the dogs moved out,” he says. “I’m single. Yeah, I used to not like being alone, but I dig it, man.”

Via – http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20572241,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines

Official: Girl Scouts back homosexuality

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:05:03 +0000

By the CNN Wire Staff

updated 4:31 AM EST, Wed February 22, 2012

Lawmaker won’t support Girl Scouts

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

State Rep. Bob Morris lobbies against honoring Girl Scouts
He says the group promotes homosexual lifestyles and is radicalized
Morris says the Girl Scouts are a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood
The House speaker hands out Girl Scout cookies

(CNN) — An Indiana lawmaker who opposes celebrating the centennial anniversary of the Girl Scouts of America says the group “sexualizes” young girls, promotes homosexuality and is a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood.

In a letter sent to members of the Republican Caucus, Indiana State Rep. Bob Morris said many parents were “abandoning the Girl Scouts because they promote homosexual lifestyles.”

“As members of the Indiana House of Representatives, we must be wise before we use the credibility and respect of the ‘Peoples’ House’ to extend legitimacy to a radicalized organization,” he said, warning them not “to endorse a group that has been subverted in the name of liberal progressive politics and the destruction of traditional American family values.”

In the Febraury 18 letter, obtained by CNN affiliate WRTV, Morris lobbied lawmakers to oppose a nonbinding resolution celebrating the 100th anniversary of the Girl Scouts.

Morris was the only member not to sign the measure.

After doing a “small amount” of research on the Internet, Morris said, he and his wife came to the conclusion that the Girl Scouts have become a tactical arm of Planned Parenthood and are part of an agenda that includes “sexualizing” young girls.

Morris’ two daughters have been pulled from the Girl Scouts, he said, and instead will become active in American Heritage Girls Little Flowers organization — a group that “will not confuse their conservative Hoosier upbringing.”

Morris said he takes the stand despite the knowledge that “99.9% of Girl Scout troops in this country” are run by good leaders, he told WRTV. The concern, he said, is where the money goes on the national level.

Planned Parenthood of Indiana President and CEO Betty Cockrum said she was disappointed in Morris’ words, calling them “inflammatory, misleading, woefully inaccurate and harmful.”

The controversy is the latest involving Planned Parenthood and its affiliates.

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation briefly cut funding for some Planned Parenthood projects amid increased scrutiny by Congress over how the organization provides abortion services.

After Komen’s initial decision, Planned Parenthood said money from the foundation has largely paid for breast exams at local centers. In the past five years, it said, grants from Komen have directly supported 170,000 screenings, making up about 4% of the exams performed at Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide.

Karen Handel, a vice president with the Komen Foundation, resigned her position this month following a controversy.

In stark contrast to his Republican colleague, House Speaker Brian Bosma handed out Girl Scout cookies on the floor of the General Assembly Tuesday.

“There are a lot of sideshows at the General Assembly … and all walks of life, and you just have to determine which one’s you’re going to go into,” Bosma told CNN affiliate WISH.

Read more about this story from CNN affiliates WRTV and WISH.

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One year on, New Zealand mourns quake victims

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 10:54:03 +0000

Simon Baker / Reuters

Members of the public look on during a memorial service in Christchurch, New Zealand on Feb. 22, 2012, to mark the anniversary of the earthquake which killed 185 people.

Greg Bowker / New Zealand Herald via AP

Two women embrace as people gather at Hagley Park in Christchurch for the memorial service.

The Associated Press reports from WELLINGTON, New Zealand — More than 10,000 New Zealanders stood in silence, some in tears, at a Christchurch park Wednesday while police officers and firefighters read out the names of all 185 people who died in a devastating earthquake one year ago.

The reading was followed by two minutes of silence at 12:51 p.m., the minute the magnitude-6.1 quake struck. It destroyed thousands of homes and much of downtown Christchurch, causing 30 billion dollars ($25 billion) in damage by the government’s estimate.

Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker told the crowd that the city would never be the same again. He said people disagree about how the city should be rebuilt, but that one day it will again be a great place to live and work. Read the full story.

Martin Hunter / Getty Images

A boy carries a bear as families arrive at Latimer Square ahead of the anniversary memorial.

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Horror crash truck ‘fixed to go faster’

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 04:03:33 +0000

Police believe a truck involved in a crash that killed three family members may have been tampered with.

An aerial view of the fatal crash on Menangle Bridge section of the Hume Highway south of Sydney. Picture: Channel 9 Source: The Daily Telegraph

Vincent George, the truck driver involved in accident at Menangle. Picture: Craig Greenhill Source: The Daily Telegraph

Don and Patricia Logan were killed in the Menangle crash. Picture: Supplied Source: The Daily Telegraph

Investigators believe truck was fixed to go fast
Will face court next month
Elderly couple and their son killed after visit to Canberra

A TRUCK that crashed and killed three people in southwest Sydney last month was tampered with to make it go faster, police say.

A 33-year-old Picnic Point truck driver was yesterday charged with dangerous driving causing the deaths of three members of the Logan family on January 24.

Calvyn Logan, 59, and his elderly parents Donald and Patricia Logan, aged in their 80s, died when a B-double truck careered onto the wrong side of the Hume Highway at Menangle.

The Logans were on their way to Sydney after a trip to Canberra to visit a newly born great grandchild.

“Police believe the truck was tampered with to make it go faster,” a police spokeswoman said.

It is thought a speed limiting device was tampered with.

Further charges may be laid against the truck driver following the results of toxicology tests.

He will face Campbelltown Local Court on May 16.

Asst Comm Hartley is expected to address the media later today.

- With Clementine Cuneo at The Daily Telegraph

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Emma Watson on Her Pixie Cut: People Said I Had ‘Lesbian’ Hair

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 00:04:35 +0000

Getty

Though her cropped do has been lauded as influential, Harry Potter alum Emma Watson says its initial inception wasn’t exactly constructive.

“I had journalists asking me if this meant I was coming out, if I was a lesbian now,” she tells the U.K.’s Independent. “That haircut did make me realize how subjective everyone’s opinion is. Some people were crazy for it and some people just thought I’d lost my [mind].”

The 21-year-old face of Lancôme says that her red carpet style is also hotly contested. After graduating from the Potter franchise, “I was fully game for ‘Throw me in this, throw me in that,’” she admits. “The press destroyed me over this Rodarte dress I once wore — it was bright blue with chains on it.” Still, she doesn’t consider the edgy look a mistake: “I loved it.”

But perhaps Watson has decided to tone it down as a result of the negativity. “I have to be more careful with my look in my everyday life,” she recently lamented to French Elle.

Still, she refuses to apologize for the decisions she makes. “I’m a multidimensional person and that’s the freedom of fashion,” she says, “that you’re able to reinvent yourself through how you dress and how you cut your hair or whatever.”

–Justine Harman

CHECK OUT MORE TRESS TRANSFORMATIONS: ‘STARS’ WACKIEST WINTER HAIR!’

Original – http://feeds.people.com/~r/people/headlines/~3/C7F4F6KKalI/

Russell Brand’s Yoga Pal Oriela Medellin: What to Know

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:03:07 +0000

Russell Brand and Oriella Medellin

Splash News Online, GSI Media

They share a interest in meditation, yoga, vegan food, and – it seems – each other.

In the wake of finalizing his divorce from Katy Perry, Russell Brand, 36, has been spending some quality time with artist and model Oriela Medellin.

Since the two started taking classes together at a yoga studio in Hollywood, Medellin, 25, has been spotted out with the Get Him to the Greek star, including on the night of Feb. 18 at Bar Marmont.

Here are five things worth knowing about the lady keeping Brand’s company:

1. She’s a Yoga Flirt
On Feb. 10, Medellin Tweeted this to Brand: “@rustyrockets nice to see you at yoga…! glad to know that u r in the spirit journey and that translates into your work bravo!” Two days later, she was spotted leaving his place in L.A.

2. She’s a World Traveler
A self-described “modern-day gypsy” who claims fluency in four languages, Medellin was born in Mexico City, and studied art, fashion, film and acting in Milan, Paris, New York, and Los Angeles, according to her website.

3. She’s Multitalented
Medellin wears many hats, including photographer, stylist, designer, actress, and first and foremost, painter. She sells her illustrations and paintings for anywhere between $7 and $7,000.

4. She Was Born Into Fashion
Medellin’s mother is the Puerto Rico-born designer Wanda Amieiro, for whom she frequently models. The fashion school graduate has also interned at Bebe and BCBG Max Azria.

5. She Digs Vegan Fare
Medellin has expressed her fondness for Café Gratitude, a vegan restaurant in Los Angeles that is a favorite among health-conscious celebs. (Brand has been a vegetarian since he was 14 and was named PETA’s sexiest male vegetarian celebrity last year.)

Brand’s rep could not be reached for comment on his relationship with Medellin; Medellin had no comment.

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Quran burning at base ‘a mistake’

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 16:03:04 +0000

Quran burning spurs protests

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: The coalition says it is investigating whether any materials were burned and how much
ISAF commander Gen. John Allen says he has launched an investigation
Allen apologizes to senior Afghan officials and the Afghan people
Muslims regard the Quran as their holy book

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) — Qurans and other Islamic religious materials gathered for disposal from a detention facility at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan were inadvertently given to troops for burning, the commander of the International Security Assistance Force said Tuesday.

“This was not a decision that was made because they were religious materials,” Gen. John Allen said. “It was not a decision that was made with respect to the faith of Islam. It was a mistake. It was an error. The moment we found out about it, we immediately stopped and we intervened.”

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the airfield Tuesday, furious over reports of the burning.

Religious materials, including the Qurans, were gathered for disposal from the Parwan detention facility, Allen said. “Those materials were inadvertently given to troops for disposition, and that disposition was to burn the materials.”

Authorities are still attempting to determine “if and/or how much got burned before the mistake was discovered,” ISAF spokeswoman Lt. Lauren Rago said in an e-mail to CNN.

“We are deeply concerned about the report of Qurans or religious materials being damaged, and will get to the bottom of what actually happened,” she said. “… If a Quran was damaged, we will find out how it happened and make certain that this does not happen again.”

An ISAF official said earlier the disposal of the religious materials was planned, but the materials were improperly burned.

Allen said he immediately launched an investigation, and will issue an order Tuesday at ISAF headquarters on the future handling of Islamic religious materials.

“Something like this just cannot happen again,” he said.

Muslims regard the Quran as the absolute word of God. It is so highly revered that many Muslims will not pick up the holy book without ablution, a ritual washing of the hands.

Desecrating the book, such as burning it, is therefore seen as an unforgivable affront — as an act of intolerance and bigotry.

Authorities are looking into the reasons why the materials were gathered and why the decision was made “to dispose of them in this manner,” Allen said.

Some troops have been questioned, but there have been no arrests or detentions, according to the ISAF official. Afghan officials have been invited to join the investigation.

Allen said he has offered “sincere apologies” to Afghan officials, including President Hamid Karzai. Allen also offered apologies to the Afghan government and “the noble people of Afghanistan.”

“This was unintentional,” he said. “There was no intention by any member of ISAF to defame the faith of Islam or to desecrate the precious religious materials of this faith.”

“The materials recovered will be properly handled by appropriate religious authorities,” Allen said earlier.

About 500 Afghan protesters were gathered outside the airfield’s main gate, the ISAF official said, but there were no reports of further unrest.

Local citizens who work at the base discovered the material that had been put into a burn pit by NATO personnel and alerted officials.

Soon after, demonstrators massed outside the base, chanting “Death to America! Death to the Afghan government! Long live Islam!”

As a NATO helicopter circled overhead and black smoke billowed from the ground, men shook their fists in anger. Several men launched slingshots in the direction of the base.

“This is not who we are,” Allen said. “These are very, very isolated incidents. We’ve been here a long time. We’ve been shoulder to shoulder with the Afghans for a long time. We’ve been dying alongside the Afghans for a long time because we believe in them. We believe in their country. We want to have every opportunity to give them a bright future.”

But, “these kinds of incidents, when they do occur, we will move quickly to correct them,” he said. “We will move quickly to hold people accountable.”

Photographs surfaced purporting to show the damaged Qurans. A photographer for Agence France-Presse said Afghans who work inside the airfield told him they obtained the Qurans there.

But the U.S. military said that was unlikely.

“When it became known that it was religious materials that were brought to the incinerator, the materials were secured by the military authorities in consultation with the local Afghan religious authorities, so it would be highly unlikely that the demonstrators would have any of the material from this incident,” said Col. Gary Kolb, an ISAF spokesman.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul warned on its Twitter feed that protests were possible throughout Afghanistan in the coming days and noted, “Past demonstrations in Afghanistan have escalated into violent attacks on Western targets of opportunity.”

Last year, when controversial Florida pastor Terry Jones presided over what he called a trial of the Quran and burned a copy, Afghans took to the streets by the thousands.

In the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif, demonstrators stormed a United Nations office and killed 12 people.

In Kandahar, three people were killed in one demonstration and nine in another when police and stone-throwing demonstrators clashed.

American officials vociferously condemned the pastor’s act.

“It was intolerant and it was extremely disrespectful and again, we condemn it in the strongest manner possible,” said Gen. David Petraeus, who headed the U.S.-led international forces in Afghanistan at the time.

In 2010, Afghans protested outside the Forward Operating Base Mirwais in response to an alleged Quran burning inside the base. But ISAF said the suspected burning was a routine burn-pit session in which military documents are destroyed.

The protest turned violent when the Afghans began throwing rocks at the base guards. An ISAF service member shot a protester who aimed his AK-47 toward a guard tower, military officials said.

CNN’s Barbara Starr in Washington, Masoud Popalzai in Kabul and Sarah Jones and Ashley Hayes in Atlanta contributed to this report.

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Photos lost in Japan tsunami reunited with survivors

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:04:04 +0000

A tsunami victim looks through albums for her photographs on Monday.

By Reuters

OFUNATO, Japan — In a large, bright room not far from the ocean that raged through this coastal Japanese city nearly a year ago, a handful of people with magnifying glasses pore over boxes of photographs of friends or loved ones.

The massive March 11 tsunami that leveled buildings and flattened towns along a wide swathe of northern Japan, including Ofunato, also took a more subtle toll, with hundreds of thousands of photographs lost to the churning waters.

But now these memories are slowly making their way back to their owners, thanks to the painstaking efforts of a team that cleans them of mud, dirt and oil.

“I got one photo blown up, and I was so thankful for that. I put it in a frame, and it brought tears to my eyes,” said 77-year-old resident Yoshiko Jindai, looking through boxes of photographs.

Toru Hanai / Reuters

Recovered photographs are hung to dry after cleaning.

Ofunato has enlisted a team of seven part-time staffers to help sort though the over 350,000 photos that have accumulated after being brought in by police, firefighters, rescue workers and average citizens who were looking through the rubble.

In charge of cleaning and restoring the photos is paper conservator Satoko Kinno, who said her job is the second stage in the marathon of returning the photos to their owners after they are found.

In the immediate aftermath of a monstrous earthquake that triggered a tsunami, fires, and nuclear power plant warnings, Dateline NBC reports on the current state of Japan and its people.

Zen priest battles ‘invisible demons’ of radiation

“I try to remember that people found these photos in the midst of rubble, and that I have to take the baton from them. So that’s where I get my motivation,” Kinno said.

The photos are frozen once found to prevent bacteria and mold from growing on them until they can be properly cleaned and packed for display.

The facility holds the photos in its industrial-sized freezer bins until they can be dealt with. Once cleaned, they are packed into photo albums and taken around to temporary housing complexes in the hopes of finding their owners.

Other people choose to sort through boxes of photos themselves for hours on end, looking for snapshots of their lives thought lost to the forces of nature.

Seven months after the earthquake and tsunami struck Japan, debris from the disaster was tracked slowly moving across the Pacific Ocean toward the U.S. NBC News’ Kate Snow reports.

Some laugh and chat as they search, as if at a casual social occasion. Others grab the books and flip through quickly, almost desperately.

But even those who don’t find anything are grateful for the chance to sort through albums filled with thousands of photos of children, graduations and even scenery of areas struck by the tsunami, now devastated. “I have some photos and videos at my home, but it’s still very nice of them to do this,” said 79-year-old Kimiko Tanaka.

If somebody finds photos that might belong to another person, a member of Kinno’s team will make the rounds of temporary housing to take the memories back to them.

Toru Hanai / Reuters

Tsunami victims look through albums for their photographs.

Report: Japan withheld scary nuclear scenario

Thousands have made their way back to grateful owners, but many thousands more remain unclaimed — or still frozen.

Kinno vows to continue until the last photo goes home.

“I’ve really started to realize the depth and meaning that each and every photo has to it, and as such I want to do what I can to return as many photos as I can,” she added.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

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FBI calls in help on ‘Toybox Killer’ mystery

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:04:07 +0000

David Parker Ray, also known as the Toybox Killer, pictured during his trial for abducting and sexually torturing women. Picture: AP Source: AP

US police want Australia’s help to solve 20-year-old mystery
FBI seeking Aussie man who wrote letter to suspected victim
Serial killer David Parker Ray believed to have 60 victims

THE FBI has appealed to the Australian public to help solve a 20-year mystery surrounding a notorious American serial killer who murdered women inside a homemade torture chamber.

Local police this morning issued a statement on behalf of the FBI asking for information about an Australian man who wrote a letter to one of the suspected victims of David Parker Ray, known as the Toybox Killer, in 1995.

Ray is believed to have killed up to 60 women in a homemade torture chamber he called his “toy box” in the town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, in the early 1990s although no bodies have ever been found.

He was arrested after one of his victims, Cynthia Vigil, escaped after being kidnapped and tortured by Ray for three days. She was found naked and wearing an iron slave collar and padlocked chains.

When police searched the torture chamber they found whips, chains, pulleys, straps, clamps, leg spreader bars and surgical blades and saws.

Ray was jailed in 2002 for 224 years after he admitted killing two women but died from a heart attack after serving less than eight months in prison.

The FBI said today it was seeking information about an Australian man called Mark, who wrote a letter to one of Ray’s victims, a woman known only as Connie, in 1995.

Ray wrote about Connie in a journal, describing her as Caucasian, born around 1977, about 160cm tall, with long blonde hair and a birthmark on her chest. It is believed she was abducted in December 1995.

According to the FBI, Mark wrote about meeting Connie and a friend, Candy, at an unspecified beach in the US in February 1990.

His two-page letter was later found at Ray’s house in Elephant Butte, New Mexico, after he was arrested.

The letter, dated June 19, 1990, came from Sydney. It said Mark had lived in London for about 12 months in 1988, Canada for about 18 months around 1989 and in Paris for about six months.

His address in June 1990 was Old South Head Rd, Bellevue Hill, NSW, and he worked in Sydney around 1990 in a hospital for people with developmental disabilities.

The letter said Mark spent Queens Birthday in 1990 in Melbourne, was studying for exams in social policy in June 1990 and jogged with Gay Frontrunners in the same month.

The FBI said it wanted to find Mark to help fully identify Connie.

It had re-opened its investigation into Ray after receiving new information last October which led to two large searches around Elephant Butte Lake, New Mexico.

No human remains were found but further searches are planned.

Anyone with information about Mark or his letter to Connie should contact BankSA CrimeStoppers on 1800 333 000.

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