NEW YORK PASSES POST-NEWTOWN GUN BILL: One day before President Obama is to unveil measures today (January 16th) to try to prevent gun violence, New York on Tuesday passed the first gun legislation since the Newtown massacre, which is also the toughest gun control law in the country. Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, who pushed hard for the bill, quickly signed it into law after it was passed by the Assembly, one day after being approved by the state Senate.  Among its provisions, the measure expands the state's assault weapons bans, restricts ammunition magazines to seven bullets from the current 10, and requires mental health professionals who believe a patient made a credible threat to use a gun illegally to report it to a mental health director, who would have to notify the state. The legislation also increases sentences for gun crimes.

HOUSE APPROVES $50.5 BILLION IN SANDY AID: More than 10 weeks after Superstorm Sandy, the House finally approved $50.5 billion in emergency relief Tuesday night (January 15th), a measure the majority of Republicans voted against. The Senate is likely to
accept the legislation early next week and send it to President Obama for his signature. In the final 241-180 vote, 192 Democrats and 49 Republicans supported the legislation, while 179 Republicans and one Democrat voted against it. Earlier, conservatives failed in an attempt
to offset a part of the bill's cost with across-the-board federal budget cuts.

FRANCE FORCES SET FOR GROUND COMBAT IN MALI WITH ISLAMISTS: France's military chief said Wednesday (January 16th) that French forces would be in direct combat with Islamist militants in the West African nation of Mali within hours. Admiral Edouard Guillaud said ground operations began overnight in the former French colony where
al-Qaida-linked militants have gained territory since seizing control of the country's north earlier this year. This reversed France's earlier insistence that it would provide only air and logistical support for a military intervention led by African troops. France it acting out of concern that more Islamist gains would turn the region into a launching pad for terrorist attacks on the West.

U.S. SKEPTICAL OF REPORT OF SYRIAN CHEMICAL WEAPONS USE: The White
House late Tuesday (January 15th) expressed skepticism about a report that Syria's military used a chemical weapon against its own people in the city of Homs in December. National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said, "The reporting we have seen from media
sources regarding alleged chemical weapons incidents in Syria has not been consistent with what we believe to be true about the Syrian chemical weapons program." Foreign
Policy magazine's blog The Cable had cited a secret diplomatic cable from the U.S. consul in Istanbul with conclusions from an investigation into what happened in Homs. Whether Syria used such a weapon is crucial, since President Obama has warned that doing so would cross a "red line" triggering possible U.S. military intervention. The report seems to indicate that Syria may have used a chemical called Agent 15, which, while not deadly like the nerve gases sarin or VX, is a hallucinogen.

JAPAN GROUNDS BOEING 787 JETS: Japan's two leading airlines grounded their
fleets of Boeing 787s Wednesday (January 16th) after one of the jets made an emergency landing, the latest and most serious in a series of recent incidents that have raised safety concerns about the new planes. All Nippon Airways said instruments on a domestic flight indicated a battery error, triggering emergency warnings to the pilots, who also smelled an odd burning odor in the cockpit and cabin and made an emergency landing. All Nippon and Japan Airlines operate about half of the 50 787 Dreamliners delivered by Boeing to date

FACEBOOK UNVEILS NEW SEARCH FEATURE: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a new search feature Tuesday (January 15th) that lets users quickly search through their friends' profiles and activity for information about people, interests, photos and places. Called
"graph search," it greatly expands on what kind of searching users can do within Facebook. Previously, for example, users couldn't search for friends who live in a certain town or like a particular movie or activity, but graph search allows them to do so. Users will also be able to enter search terms the same way they talk, relying on natural language instead of keywords.
Facebook plans to gradually roll out the feature over the coming year to allow time for more fine tuning. Additionally, not all the interests people share on Facebook will be immediately searchable, although the goal is to eventually have all of it available, while respecting each user's privacy settings, so that users can only see content via a search that's available to them through others' privacy settings.

NEWTOWN CHILDREN RECORD SONG FOR SANDY HOOK: A group of 21 children from Newtown, Connecticut, most of them current or former students of Sandy Hook Elementary School, have recorded a song to benefit their town in the wake of the massacre last month at the school in which 26 people were killed, 20 of them first-graders. Local music school owner Sabrina Post helped organize the project, and singer Ingrid Michaelson was asked to lend her voice to the cover of the song, "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." One of the children, 10-year-old Kayla Verga, was friends with a Sandy Hook victim, six-year-old Jessica Rekos. She said on ABC's Good Morning America Tuesday (January 15th), "Singing the song makes me feel like she's with me and she's beside me, singing along with me." The recording is available on Amazon.com and iTunes.com, with all proceeds to go towards the Newtown Youth Academy and the United Way of Western Connecticut.

• LINK: GMA story, with song performance: http://tinyurl.com/ab4uzhp

PSYCHIATRIST WHO TREATED ACCUSED AURORA GUNMAN SUED: A psychiatrist who treated accused Aurora, Colorado, massacre gunman James Holmes has been sued by the widow of one of the 12 people killed in the July 2012 movie theater attack. The lawsuit filed on Monday (January 14th) by Chantel Blunk says that Dr. Lynne Fenton knew Holmes was
dangerous, and he should have been held in a mental health facility to protect the public. It's the first shooting-related suit against Fenton and her employer, the University of Colorado at Denver. Fenton had been treating Holmes when he was a neuroscience doctoral student at the school before dropping out about one month before the massacre. It was reported last month that she rejected a law enforcement offer to involuntarily confine Holmes for 72 hours after he told her six weeks before the shooting that he fantasized about killing a lot of people. Fenton reportedly did express her concerns about Holmes to a police officer and a campus threat assessment team.

2012 WAS NINTH HOTTEST YEAR ON RECORD: New data from NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) showed that 2012 was the ninth hottest year worldwide since 1880. Of the nine hottest years on record, eight have come since 2000, with
2005 and 2010 sharing the title of hottest year. While the planet overall experienced a warm year, the continental U.S. had a particularly hot year that broke all previous records.

SHINEDOWN SINGER OPENS UP ABOUT STRUGGLES WITH WEIGHT, DRUGS: Shinedown singer Brent Smith has opened up in a new interview with the Los Angeles Times about his four-year struggle with substance abuse that ended with him quitting cocaine, painkillers and alcohol and losing 70 pounds in the process. Smith said that the final straws were a warning from his girlfriend and an insult about his girth on national television. Smith explained, "I've toured for over 12 years, and for the first two records I was addicted to cocaine, OxyContin and alcohol. The coke and Oxy kept my weight down. But for the third album I quit the opiates and started to crave sugar. I was still drinking a lot of alcohol and started to pack on the pounds."

• Shinedown appeared on the Today show in 2009, where host Kathie Lee
       Gifford said, "At first I thought he was Meat Loaf."
• Smith recalled, "It really stung. I'm a fan of Meat Loaf but she wasn't talking about a musical comparison. My heart kind of fell on the ground -- it was like the performance didn't even matter."
• Next was an ultimatum from his girlfriend, with Smith revealing, "Teresa
       sat me down on the first of November last year and said, 'Listen to me, I
       love you and I'm not going anywhere, but this lifestyle that you're
       leading is not going to work."
• Teresa sent Smith, who weighed 222 pounds at the time, to a trainer. He added, "I felt like I'd been in a death spiral, and I realized I needed to be healthy and strong for my family. I have a four-year-old boy, and he was a huge motivation, and so were the
       fans. I had an epiphany working out with my trainer that day, and I haven't had a drink since."
• Smith told Pulse of Radio a while back that he's always felt like an entertainer has a
       responsibility to be a role model to the fans: "I've never said that we're rock stars but I will say that we're role models, because there are a lot of people in the audience that look up to you. Sometimes, you know, it's like, you'll find that kid and they really want to be you, you know, or be like you. You have a duty to show them how to be a real artist, be a real entertainer, be a man or be a woman. That's a duty upon yourself that you asked for, so respect it, and also respect the people that are watching you."
• Smith's trainer cleaned up his diet and worked out a fitness program that he could do on the road. The singer said, "I look completely different on stage now. The stamina I have in my lungs is so much better. I don't have to wear a big jacket to cover the
       fat and get overheated. It's amazing how much clarity I have and how my
       body feels so much better -- health is such a big part of who I am now."
      

VOLBEAT CONFIRMS TITLE, PLANS FOR NEW ALBUM: Danish heavy rock act Volbeat has officially confirmed that they are in the studio recording their fifth album, titled Outlaw
Gentlemen & Shady Ladies. The disc is due out this spring and will follow up 2010's Beyond Hell/Above Heaven. Frontman Michael Poulsen said in a statement, "We're back in the studio, this time breaking some of our old habits and this sometimes means leaving our comfort zone. We are recording in a new environment, producing with a new set-up, breaking new sonic ground and it's exciting! . . . Expect lots of surprises and some of our most rocking heavy songs to date. We feel more than ever that we are taking the Volbeat sound to
another level without changing what we're all about. Can't wait for it to get
out there!"

TITLE, STAR AND RELEASE DATE SET FOR 3D METALLICA MOVIE REVEALED: The release date and title for Metallica's upcoming 3D feature film, which will combine a fictional narrative with footage of the band in concert, has been revealed. According to a press release, the movie will be titled Metallica Through The Never and will arrive on August 9th of this year. Rising young actor Dane DeHaan, who was seen this year in Chronicle and Lawless and has been cast in The Amazing Spider-Man 2, will play a Metallica crew member who is sent out on
an "urgent mission" while the band is onstage and "unexpectedly finds his world turned completely upside down."

• The film is being released by small independent film distributor Picturehouse, which is returning to the business after several years away and is making the Metallica film its first release.

DAVE GROHL’S SOUND CITY PLAYERS ADD SHOW, RELEASE SONG WITH
COREY TAYLOR: Dave Grohl's Sound City Players, the all-star ensemble that has grown out of the production of his Sound City: Reel To Real documentary, have confirmed a second gig to follow their debut at the Sundance Film Festival this weekend. The outfit will perform at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles on January 31st, the same night that the movie premieres at that city's Cinerama Dome and in 44 other cities around the U.S. The show that night will feature Stevie Nicks, Rick Springfield, John Fogerty, members of Black Rebel
Motorcycle Club, Cheap Trick, Rage Against The Machine and more, along with the members of Foo Fighters and Nirvana.

• Tickets for the event go on sale Wednesday (January 16th) at noon.
• In addition, a new song from the soundtrack of the film, "From Can To Can't," has been released online. The track features Grohl, Nielsen and Stone Sour/Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor.
• The documentary chronicles the history of Sound City, a legendary Los Angeles studio at which dozens of classic rock albums were recorded. Grohl interviewed a number of artists for the film and also arranged for older and contemporary artists to collaborate on new music for the project.
• One of those songs, "Cut Me Some Slack," featuring the members of Nirvana and Paul McCartney, was released last month.
• The Players' debut live performance this Friday (January 18th) will take place after the film, which Grohl directed, makes it world premiere at the Park City, Utah festival.
• Sound City will be available in additional theaters, on DVD and on demand on February 1st. The soundtrack album will arrive on March 12th.

CHECK IT OUT: Listen to Corey Taylor and Dave Grohl's collaboration on "From Can To Can't":

PRINCE HARRY NAMED WORLD'S MOST ELIGIBLE BACHELOR: Town & Country magazine has named Prince Harry the world's most eligible bachelor. The magazine describes their list as "a highly subjective, thoroughly opinionated survey of the princes, politicians, scions, DJs, and billionaires-to-be we consider the most eligible men in the universe."

HONEY BOO BOO'S UNCLE POODLE REVEALS HE'S HIV POSITIVE: Lee Thompson, better known as Uncle Poodle on Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, revealed that he is HIV
positive to Fenuxe magazine in Atlanta. He said, "On March 16, 2012, I tested negative. Then, in May of 2012 my test results came back positive. I knew it had been my boyfriend who infected me. I later learned he had been HIV positive and was not taking medication and had not bothered to tell me about it. I was advised that I should press charges and, hesitantly, I
did. It was the right thing to do."

'TWILIGHT' ACTOR CAM GIGANDET BEING SUED: Cam Gigandet is being sued by a woman who claims he rear-ended her vehicle in January of 2012. The woman claims to have incurred serious injuries causing her physical, mental, and nervous pain, suffering, and anguish.

‘TERMINATOR 2’ STAR ARRESTED AGAIN: Terminator 2 actor Edward Furlong has had yet another run-in with the law. The 35-year-old was involved in his third suspected domestic violence situation since October.

Law enforcement sources told TMZ that Furlong was arrested on Sunday (January 13th) after they were called to his residence for violently pushing his girlfriend. Ed was taken into custody and booked at Men's Central Jail in L.A.

• Furlong also currently has a $30,000 warrant out for his arrest from his previous legal troubles.

FIVE WAYS TO BEAT EVERY RELATIONSHIP PITFALL (Men's Health):

1) Tell the Truth to Beat the Blues. Telling the truth is good for your health
- honest! Recent research from the University of Notre Dame found that people
who told fewer lies had fewer mental health and physical complaints than liars.
Been fibbing your way through everything lately? Start small by picking out
facts she'll want to hear, says dating and flirting expert Tracey Steinberg.
For example, if happy hour turned into happy hours (and hours), own up to the
drinks, but state the positives: you got home pretty early, you did some
networking, and you got a great night's sleep.

2) Smile to Get Through an Argument. Say something dumb? Flash your teeth.
Ladies are more likely to rely on body language (i.e. your smile) than on what
they hear (that stupid thing you just said), according to a study in the
Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. The reason: Smiling is the single
most important cue for friendliness and safety, says Patti Wood, author of
Snap: Making the Most of First Impressions, Body Language, and Charisma.

3) Compliment Her for a Happier Marriage. Small things add up in the
long haul, according to a 25-year study of 373 married couples funded by the
National Institute of Health. The research found that couples who gave regular
affective affirmations were the happiest. Your move: Tell her she looks great
in her new jeans, or send her an email out of the blue to show her she's appreciated.

4) Do Your Chores for More Sex. We know you don't want to vacuum, but
what if we told you it'd help you get some? Research from Montclair State University found that the sexual frequency in 7,000 couples increased 0.06 percent a year for every one-percent increase in weekly housework that men handled. Translation? If you do double the housework, you'll have sex 60-percent more often. Score!

5) Double Date to Reignite the Flame. Buddying up with other couples can
help strengthen your own relationship, according to research from the University of Maryland. Why? Seeing your lady being social at her best can make her more attractive and reveal new aspects of her personality. One-on-one time with another couple also gives you an example of
what to strive for (the way they can read each other) and what to avoid (the
way they fight), according to the study.

BIRD SINGS IN DUBSTEP: http://tinyurl.com/a3yf28c


BERRIES MAY CUT HEART ATTACK RISK IN WOMEN: A new study suggests eating lots of strawberries and blueberries could lower heart attack risk in women. Strawberries and
blueberries contain compounds called anthocyanins, which may dilate arteries and prevent plaque buildup, according to researchers. Women who ate high amounts of the anthocyanins were found to be 32-percent less likely to have a heart attack over a two-decade period than those who consumed low amounts of the compounds. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health conducted the study, and noted that the results indicate only an association, and not a cause-effect link between eating berries and lowered heart-attack risk in
women. (Fox News)