Widely read conservative Internet publisher Andrew Breitbart has died, his attorney confirms.

The websites he founded ran a statement Thursday morning announcing that Breitbart, 43, died "unexpectedly from natural causes" in Los Angeles shortly after midnight.

"We have lost a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a dear friend, a patriot and a happy warrior," the statement said. "Andrew lived boldly, so that we more timid souls would dare to live freely and fully, and fight for the fragile liberty he showed us how to love."

Breitbart was a prolific commentator who founded several websites devoted to covering politics, entertainment and everything in between. Earlier in his career, he worked for the Drudge Report before breaking off to start his own outlets -- including Big Government, Big Hollywood and Breitbart.tv.

The statement on his sites quoted the concluding passage from his book, Righteous Indignation.

"I love my job. I love fighting for what I believe in. I love having fun while doing it. I love reporting stories that the Complex refuses to report. I love fighting back, I love finding allies, and-famously-I enjoy making enemies. Three years ago, I was mostly a behind-the-scenes guy who linked to stuff on a very popular website. I always wondered what it would be like to enter the public realm to fight for what I believe in. I've lost friends, perhaps dozens. But I've gained hundreds, thousands -- who knows? -- of allies. At the end of the day, I can look at myself in the mirror, and I sleep very well at night," Breitbart wrote.

The statement ended: "Andrew is at rest, yet the happy warrior lives on, in each of us."

Breitbart was walking near his house in the Brentwood neighborhood shortly after midnight Thursday when he collapsed, his father-in-law Orson Bean said.

Someone saw him fall and called paramedics, who tried to revive him. They rushed him to the emergency room at UCLA Medical Center, Bean said. Breitbart had suffered heart problems a year earlier, but Bean said he could not pinpoint what happened.

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The lifelong mental benefits of exercising have long been known, from improving learning in kids to staving off dementia in seniors. Yet how working up a sweat leads to better cognition is much less clear. A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology reveals that the key may lie in the body’s power supply.

Just as a booming metropolis might build new power plants to meet a rising need for electricity, our muscles respond to the demands of exercise by producing new mitochondria, the tiny structures inside cells that supply the body with energy. J. Mark Davis, a physiologist at the University of South Carolina, and his colleagues wondered if brain cells might do the same thing. While studying mice, they found that quantities of a signaling molecule, dubbed by researchers “a master regulator” of mitochondria production, increased in the brain after half an hour a day of treadmill running. The mice’s brain cells also had more mitochondrial DNA—distinct from the regular cellular DNA found in the nucleus—providing “gold standard” evidence of more mitochondria. It appears that the brain “adapts and changes by bringing more of these power­houses” online, Davis says. The increased energy supply allows the brain to work faster and more efficiently.

The finding could help scientists understand how exercise staves off age- and disease-related declines in brain function, because neurons naturally lose mito­chondria as we age, Davis explains. Although past research has shown that exercise encourages the growth of new neurons in certain regions, the widespread expansion of the energy supply could underlie the benefits of exercise to more general brain functions such as mood regulation and dementia pre­vention. “The evidence is accumulating rapidly that exercise keeps the brain younger,” Davis says.

Imagine your spine is a credit card. In the same way that repeatedly flexing and extending a credit card will eventually lead to wearing out of the plastic, repeatedly doing crunches can put damaging strain on your back.

Here's why:

Each of your spinal discs is only able to support a limited number of bending motions over the course of your lifetime before you get low back pain, a disc bulge or a disc herniation.

And since crunches involve lying on your back and repeatedly bending and extending your spinal credit card, they place excessive strain on the part of your low back that has the most nerves and is most prone to wear and tear.

Perhaps you've heard that if you pick a heavy object off the ground, and you don't want to hurt your spine, you should "Bend at the knees, and not at the back." But think about crunches this way: Anytime you do a crunch, you're bending at the back -- over and over and over again!

And that's not all: A crunch simply doesn't burn as many calories as necessary for you to get rid of any fat that is obscuring your stomach muscles -- so it's an inefficient way to get your gut looking good.

Ultimately, there are better ways to get a flat stomach. Here are my top 10 crunch alternatives that will avoid back pain and burn many more calories than crunches. For each exercise, choose a weight that allows you to do 10-15 repetitions and click on the exercise name for a demonstration.

Davy Jones -- lead singer of The Monkees -- died after suffering a heart attack this morning ... TMZ has learned.

An official from the medical examiner's office for Martin County, Florida confirmed with TMZ they received a call from Martin Memorial Hospital informing them that Jones had passed away.

We're told Davy suffered the heart attack at a ranch near his Florida home, where he was visiting his horses. Davy began experiencing distress while he was sitting in his car, and that's where a ranch hand found him.

The ranch hand told Sheriff's detectives ... the singer began to complain that he was not feeling well and was having trouble breathing. Paramedics were called and Jones was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead. Authorities say there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding his death.

Jones is survived by his wife Jessica and 4 daughters from previous marriages. He was 66-years-old. Jones was married to Jessica Pacheco -- his 3rd wife.

Jones joined The Monkees in 1965 ... along with Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork ... and together they churned out a bunch of hugely popular songs including 3 number 1 hits -- "Daydream Believer," "Last Train to Clarksville" and "I'm a Believer."

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has announced the result of Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2011, roll numbers of the candidates who have qualified for Personality Test for selection to the Civil Services.

The services include Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service and other Central Services (Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’). Personality Tests of these candidates will commence from 19th March, 2012. Personality Tests, to be held at UPSC, will be intimated individually to the candidates, the commission said.

For more information, visit the Commission’s Website at http://www.upsc.gov.in. The candidates who do not receive any communication regarding their Personality Test, should immediately contact the office of the Commission through letter or on Phone, Nos. 011-23385271, 011-23381125, 011-23098543 or Fax Nos. 011-23387310, 011-23384472, said a press note.

No request for change in the date and time of the Personality Test intimated to the candidates will be entertained, it said. The candidates are advised to notify change(s) in their address, if any, to the Commission immediately through letter or Fax at Telephone numbers indicated above.

Candidature of these candidates is provisional subject to their being found eligible in all respects. The candidates will be required to produce the original certificates in support of their claims pertaining to age, educational qualifications, community, physical handicap and other documents such as Questionnaire, Attestation Form, TA form, etc. at the time of their Personality Test. The formats of SC/ST/OBC/PH certificates and Questionnaire, Attestation Form and TA form can be downloaded from the website of the Commission. They are, therefore advised to keep the said documents ready with them.

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Now Swedish group myFC says its water-powered charger could be the fix anywhere while battery giant Duracell is championing a push for cars and even stadiums to be built with energy "mats" that would power up phones.

A Californian firm, meanwhile, has launched a phone that it claims can remain charged for up to 15 years, making it the perfect spare in emergencies or disasters.

"The difference between the energy on a phone and the energy we consume is increasing. We need to charge more often but you don't want to be hooked onto a wall," said myFC chief executive Bjorn Westerholm.

His firm has therefore come up with a portable fuel cell charger which is slightly larger than a compact camera and which uses just one spoonful of water and a small metallic device called a fuel puck, to fully charge an iPhone.

The PowerTrekk could appeal most to campers, aid workers or the military, said Westerholm, who is exhibiting the charger at the world's biggest mobile fair in Barcelona.

"It could be sea water, fresh water. You need to carry water with you to survive anyway and the PowerTrekk needs just one spoonful," he told AFP.

"So you can Facebook, email even when you're in the outdoors for hours.

"Our value proposition is that you don't need to go to the grid. You don't need to wait to charge your phone."

Competition for solutions to power up phones is fierce.

XPAL Power rolled out a phone with a battery that "lasts 15 years," said Christian Scheder, chairman of the Californian firm.

The so-called Spareone, which will be commercialised in March, remains charged for up to 15 years if the phone is turned off, and for two months if it is on.

"This is great for emergency, disaster situations," Scheder said.
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Hong Kong Airlines may cancel an order for 10 Airbus superjumbo A380 jets, a report said Thursday, as Chinese opposition to the European Union's airlines carbon emissions fee intensifies.

Beijing has banned its airlines from complying with the EU scheme, which was imposed from January 1 although no airline will face a bill until 2013.

Hong Kong Airlines, a subsidiary of Chinese carrier Hainan Airlines, said it was under pressure to cancel the acquisition -- reportedly worth about $3.8 billion at list prices -- following China's decision.

"We cannot do something which is against our country's interest," Hong Kong Airlines president Yang Jianhong told the South China Morning Post newspaper in Hong Kong.

The airline might review its fleet expansion plan if the order is dropped, the newspaper quoted a source from the firm as saying. The 10 jets were intended to serve its European and North American markets.

Hong Kong Airlines could not be immediately reached for comment. A Singapore-based spokesman for Airbus told AFP "there is no change to the status of the order" at the moment.

The European aircraft manufacturer has reportedly said it plans to deliver the first A380 to Hong Kong Airlines in 2015.

China was among more than two dozen countries including India, Russia and the United States that opposed the EU scheme, which is imposed on airlines taking off or landing in Europe.

The EU has said the carbon tax will help the 27-nation EU bloc achieve its goal of cutting emissions by 20 percent by 2020 and that it will not back down, despite claims the charge violates international law.READ MORE

Actor Ali Zafar is known for his singing and acting skills worldwide. He is also a good painter and he recently proved it. In a promotional event for his upcoming movie London, Paris, New York, the actor painted the bareback of his co-star Aditi Rao Hydari in front of media in Worli, Mumbai yesterday.

Ali Zafar made his debut in acting through the movie Tere Bin Laden and his second release 'Mere Brother ki Dulhan' was a big success at the Box Office. Now, the actor is ready to rock the screens once again with next movie London, Paris, New York, which features Aditi Rao Hydari alongside him.
Ali Zafar paints Aditi Rao Hydari 'bareback' READ MORE

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimated the first bits of tsunami debris will make landfall soon on small atolls northwest of the main Hawaiian Islands. Other pieces were expected to reach the coasts of Oregon, Washington state, Alaska and Canada between March 2013 and March 2014.

NOAA's tsunami marine debris coordinator, Ruth Yender, told an online news conference Tuesday that agency workers were boarding Coast Guard flights that patrol the Hawaiian archipelago. NOAA also asked scientists stationed at Midway and other atolls to look for the debris.

Debris initially collected in a thick mass in the ocean after tsunamis dragged homes, boats, cars and other parts of daily life from coastal towns out to sea. Most likely sank not far from Japan's eastern coast.

In September, a Russian training ship spotted a refrigerator, a television set and other appliances west of Hawaii. By now, the debris has likely drifted so far apart that only one object can be seen at a time, said Nikolai Maximenko, a University of Hawaii researcher and ocean currents expert. CLICK HERE READ FULL STORY