Basketball Forum

 Chris Brown’s third album, Graffiti, will hit stores on Dec. 8 instead of Dec. 15, one week earlier than previously expected, according to media reports Thursday.

The disc is the first effort from Brown since the 20-year-old singer pleaded guilty in June to felony assault in connection with his attack on former girlfriend Rihanna in February.

The first single from the disc, “I Can Transform Ya,” has been slowly climbing up the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for the past three weeks.

Chris Brown opens up about the February assault and its aftermath in “Chris Brown: The Interview,” which to be aired on MTV Friday.

He said he was unsure about how the public perceived him after the assault. He also said he was trying to get past the scandal and learn from his mistakes.

The singer’s Fan Appreciation Tour of small theaters and clubs is slated to kick off Nov. 13 in Houston.

Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez announced Tuesday that his country will increase its military presence on its border with Colombia, due to the incursion of Colombian paramilitaries into its territory.

Carrizalez, also the defense minister, said that Venezuelan soldiers will act with strength to deal with the problem on the border with Colombia.

On Monday noon, two agents of the Venezuelan National Guard (GNB) were killed at the border check point in El Patoral, located between Urena and San Antonio town in Tachira state, 880 km from Caracas.

According to Venezuelan authorities, the killers crossed the checkpoint with motorbikes and shot dead the agents.

Carrizalez said one Venezuelan involved in the issue was detained and two guns were seized.

Without mentioning the number of soldiers to be deployed, Carrizalez said the killing of Venezuelan soldiers is the peak of an attempt to create panic on the border with Colombia.

Carrizalez said 11 corpses were found last week in different places of Tachira state bordering on Colombia. Nine of the victims were Colombian citizens, and the Venezuelan government has affirmed they were paramilitaries.

However, Second Commander of the Regional Command No. 1 of the Venezuelan National Guard (GNB) in Tachira, Javier Rosales, said on Oct. 30 that some 515 agents of the military police will guard the border zone in Tachira.

Venezuela and Colombia share a border of 2,220 km and they have trade of some 7 billion U.S. dollars.

After seven agonizing days, Yost was released from the medical center in Lancaster.

Doctors say H1N1 seems to cause the most serious complications in young patients and pregnant women. Yost, at 22, was right in the center of the bull’s eye.

Brizendine believes that her advanced age for a pregnant woman, 42, actually lessened the potential pain.

Doctors stress prevention for all pregnant women: Do everything to try to avoid getting H1N1.

“Wash your hands,” Dulgeroff advised. “Try not to touch your face; avoid public and crowded places. Stay away from people who are coughing. Avoid medical buildings, unless you have to go to your appointments.”

The mother and daughter recommend H1N1 shots for pregnant women.

“After going through the symptoms and everything,” Yost said, shaking her head in disbelief. “You have to realize it’s not just you, it’s your baby, and you have to protect both of you.”

During her decades as a medical assistant, Brizendine took peeks at the soap opera “Days of Our Lives” during her lunch break.

Brizendine plucked Yost’s name from the show, and her soon-to-be-born baby, Sydney, also takes her name from “Days.”

The mother and daughter giggled and rubbed their bellies as if for good luck, thinking about Sydney’s niece — Yost’s daughter — who will be called Bobbi Ann. She will be about a month and a half older than her aunt Sydney.

Both expectant moms feel relieved to have survived the ravages of the H1N1 virus.

Brizendine summed up her topsy-turvy 2009 and H1N1: “It’s just crazy that we got it at the same time.”

The mother and daughter live a mile from each other in the Antelope Valley town of Rosamond, where they like to joke that nothing ever happens.

That’s until this year, when Brizendine and Yost, already close on so many levels, shared a story they will no doubt tell to the unborn girls.

It’s the tale of how all four of them survived when the H1N1 virus came knocking on the door a couple weeks before Halloween.

 Former defender Juvenal Amarijo, the sole holder of the Brazilian team in the 1950 World Cup that was alive, died on Friday at age of 86 in the northern city of Salvador, local television reported on Saturday.

Amarijo had been hospitalized for fifteen days in a hospital at the capital of the northeastern state of Bahia and died of physiological complications, reported on Saturday the local channel Bandnews.

The former defender was the only survivor of Brazil’s starting eleven at the historic 1950 “Maracanazo”, when the host team lost the World Cup final 2-1 to Uruguay.

According to local television, Amarijo lived in precarious conditions in Jaua, municipality of Bahia.

As a player, Amarijo defended Flamengo, Palmeiras, Bahia, and the modest Ypiranga and Brazil Pelotas.

In the Brazil team that contested the 1950 World Cup final are still alive Nilton Santos and Nena, who composed the reserve team.

 Pakistani security forces killed 11 more militants during the last 24 hours, bringing the total fatality to over 280, as the operation in the country’s tribal area steadily progressed towards the Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan, the amy said Thursday in a daily press release.

The army said one soldier was killed and another two security forces personnel were injured in clashes in the last 24 hours during the ground assault in various areas in the tribal agency near the border with Afghanistan.

In the operation coded as Rah-e-Nijat, or path of salvation, the security forces continued shelling on extremists hideouts on main Jandola-Sararogha axis, Shakai-Kaniguram axis and Razmak-Makeen axis, the army said.

On Jandola-Sararogha axis, the security forces are consolidating their positions along the main axis Kotkai-Sararogha and the important town of Inzar Kalay has been fully sanitized and cleared of mines, improvised explosive devices and bobby traps, according to the press release.

On Shakai-Kaniguram axis, the security forces are expanding their perimeter of security and closing in towards Kaniguram from east and west.

On Razmak-Makeen axis, the security forces successfully moved forward after fully securing Sharakai Sar and secured Pakalita and Manza Sar feature North East of village China.

In the ending operation in Swat and Malakand, the army said, the security arrested four suspects and recovered vehicle of terrorist commander Hussain with driver from Ballogram near Mingora.

So far, 7,099 cash cards have been distributed amongst the displaced families of Waziristan, the army said.

Pakistani security forces launched the ground assault on Oct. 17 in the South Waziristan, advancing towards the main base of Taliban militants in Pakistan. The army said that about 30,000 soldiers are in place to take on an estimated 10,000 hard-core Taliban militants in the lawless area.

The military said that the operation was launched in six towns of the area in three directions and is likely to continue for six to eight weeks, but no final deadline can be given.

However, the report noted that total loan applications increased 5.7 percent since May 2009 supported by the rebound in business.

The Malaysian government expected the private sector financing through the banking system and capital market to grow as economic recovery gathered momentum, said the report.

Under BNM’s promotion, micro financing provided by six commercial banks and three development financial institutions grew substantially.

The report said total loans outstanding increased 44.8 percent to 587.5 million ringgit (167.86 U.S. dollars) by end of August 2009, benefiting some 54,900 clients.

While inflation showed negative growth in the last few months, it was anticipated to rise moderately in line with the increase in global commodity prices.

The country’s OPR was lowered by 150 basis points since November 2008, hitting a historical low of two percent.

Earlier, the Statutory Reserve Requirement was also cut 300 basic points to reduce the cost of intermediation for banking institutions.

The report said loan performance of the banking system moderated during the period of January to July 2009, demonstrating a decline of 8.4 percent and 2.4 percent in total loan approvals and disbursements for the said period.

However, the report noted that total loan applications increased 5.7 percent since May 2009 supported by the rebound in business.

The Malaysian government’s monetary policy has focused on spurring economic growth given the receding pressures in the country’s inflation.

The Economic Report 2009/ 2010 released by the Malaysian Finance Ministry on Friday said that the Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM), the country’s central bank, lowered the Overnight Policy Rate (OPR) twice in January and February 2009.

The bank’s move led to a lower average base lending rate of commercial banks of 5.89 percent in February 2009 and 5.53 percent in March this year, said the report.

While the Malaysian government has been stressing the importance of ensuring credit accessibility, the bank’s move further eased the burden of borrowers by reducing borrowing costs.

Also among the crowd were a couple of noteworthy activists: Cynthia Nixon, a cast member from HBO’s “Sex and the City” who hopes to marry partner Christine Marinoni next year; and Judy Shepard, who became an advocate for gay rights after her son Matthew was killed because he was gay.

Many marchers were outraged after the passage of California’s Proposition 8, which canceled the right of gays to get married in the state.

Kipp Williams, a 27-year-old San Francisco resident, said he moved to California from the South seeking equality but realized after Proposition 8 that gay people are second-class citizens everywhere.

Contrary to the California Supreme Court’s decision on the legality of the referendum, he said “there is no exception to the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the Constitution.”

“Since we’ve seen that so many times before, I didn’t want it to happen again,” he said. “We’re not settling. There’s no such thing as a fraction of equality.”

Pop singer Lady Gaga got the biggest cheers on stage. She didn’t perform but pledged to reject homophobia in the music industry for her “most beautiful gay fans in the world.”

Unlike the first march in 1979 and others in 1987, 1993 and 2000 that included celebrity performances and drew as many as 500,000 people, Sunday’s event was driven by grassroots efforts and was expected to be more low-key. Washington authorities don’t disclose crowd estimates at rallies, though at least several thousand appeared to be in attendance.