A British woman and Irish man accused of engaging in sexual activities in a Dubai taxi pleaded not guilty on Thursday, in the latest case of Westerners falling foul of the Gulf Arabemirate's decency laws.
If convicted, the pair could face jail and then deportation from the United Arab Emirates, which walks a delicate line between keeping its Muslim identity and maintaining a successful tourism industry.
Rebecca Blake and Conor McRedmond both denied charges of "breach of honour with consent" and committing "an indecent act in a taxi" when they appeared in court.
They pleaded guiltyto a third charge related to consumption of alcohol, their lawyer said after the hearing, without elaborating. The judge postponed the next hearing to November 1.
There have been several cases in recent years of Westerners accusedof violating decencylaws in Dubai, the most cosmopolitan of the seven-member United Arab Emirates federation.
In 2008, a British couple was found guilty of engaging in drunken sexual activity out of wedlock, and in public on a beach. They were sentenced to three months in prison followed by deportation, but had their jail terms overturned on appeal.
In 2010, a British couple were sentenced to a month in jail and fined for kissing on the mouth in a restaurant.
Expatriates comprise more than 90 percent of the UAE's population, attracted by tax-free earnings and year-round sunshine.
Islam bans alcohol for Muslims. In the UAE, non-Muslims can drink at certain hotels and beach bars where all-you-can-drink brunches heave with revellers every weekend.
THE couple facing three years in jail forallegedly having sex in the back of a Dubai taxi today denied the charges in court.
High-flying executiveRebecca Blake and Irish welder Conor McRedmond appeared before a judge to face charges of having consensual sex - a crime punishable by jail in the Islamic United Arab Emirates- indecency and drinking alcohol.
They pleaded not guilty to the two sexcharges but admitted they had been drinking all daybefore they were arrested.
Blake, 29, who wore an Islamic hijab at her last court appearance but attended today withher head uncovered, was summonsed to stand before the judges' bench at Dubai Criminal Court with McRedmond, 28, instead of standing in the defendants' dock.
Judge Abdulaziz Mohammad Al Saadni said via a court translator:"You are charged with a breach of honour by carrying out a consensual illegal act and that ina taxi you took off your clothes on Sheikh Zayed road and engaged in an indecent act."
The pair shook their heads when the two charges - the first relating to having consensual sex and the second to stripping off in public - were read out in court.
When the translator read out a third charge relating to consumption of alcohol, Blake, who pleaded guilty, said:"I had been drinkingall day."
Mr McRedmond, of Tullamore, Co Offaly, added: "I had been drinking all day too."
Their lawyer, Shaker Al Shammary, asked to present their defence but the judge, who was standing in as a substitute, adjourned the case to give them a chance of a fair trial before a permanent judge.
Ms Blake, from Dorking in Surrey, England, and Mr McRedmond are facing a lengthy prison sentence if they are found guilty.
The pair were arrested on May 4 after a 10-hour drinking binge whena taxi driver pulled over and called on a patrolling policeman.
According to the public prosecution papers: "The Asian driver said he pickedup the couple from the Irish Village [bar]and saw them touching and kissingeach other on the back seat of the cab. He was looking at them in the mirror and decided to inform police."
Both the taxi driver and policeman are expected to give evidence
The case was adjourned until November 1.

Racism has again raised its ugly head in this presidential election and it has filtered all the way down to the classroom level where, in Philadelphia, a high school student was threatened with assault by her geometry teacher last Friday for wearing a Mitt Romney t-shirt.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/blackberry/p.html?id=1939632
A Philadelphia high school sophomore says she didn’t want to go back to Charles Carroll High after a geometry teacher ridiculed her for wearing a pink Mitt Romney T-shirt during the school’s uniform-free dress-down day last week, NBC10 Philadelphia reports.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer,16-year-old Samantha Pawlucy said she was told Carroll High is a “Democratic school,” and that wearing a pro-Romney-Ryan shirt is analogous to the teacher, who is black, wearing a KKK shirt.
"The teacher told me to get out of the classroom, I said 'no,'" Pawlucy told NBC Philadelphia."She told me to take off my shirt and said that she has another one if I need one. And then the teacher asked me … 'are yourparents Republican?' I said, 'I don't know.'”
The teacher later apologized and insisted she was joking, but allegedly commented to the class next day that she could no longer crack jokes in class because a student had gotten her in trouble. Samantha told the Inquirer thatthe teacher's remarksupset her to the point where she had to leave the room.
"If it was a joke between two adults, I can take a joke like that but [Sam] didn't know how to take it, she doesn’t understand, she actually thinks she did something wrong ," father Richard Pawlucy told NBC Philadelphia.
Philadelphia School District spokesman Fernando Gallard confirmed to the Philly School Files blog that last Friday at Carroll High, “a teacher made some comments to a student wearing a Romney T-shirt in their classroom. The comments were of a political nature , and also of a personal nature. We are looking into the comments, and the conduct of the teacher.”
The teacher has beentransferred to another classroom while the district conducts its investigation and determines whether to pursue disciplinaryaction.
Gallard told the Inquirer Pawlucy was practicing her Constitutional rights to free speech , and that her choice of wardrobe fell within the dress-down day limits.
Earlier this week, 15-year-old Brianna Demato of Newtown High School in Queens, N.Y. was senthome because school officials deemed her"I Enjoy Vagina" T-shirt too distracting . The bisexual teen says the school violated her rights to free speech.
In May, Jordan Griffith, a 13-year-oldstudent at South Jones Elementary School in Mississippi, was told by his teacher to turn his shirt inside out after school officials ruled its depiction of the United States Marine Corps bulldog's testicles on the back"too much." Griffith wore the shirt in support of his brother , who was deployed to Afghanistan.

In a major boost tohis re-election bid, US President Barack Obama raised a whopping$ 181 million last month taking the total amount in hiskitty to nearly $ 947 million so far, nearing the record-breaking billion-dollar mark in the run-up to the polls.
With a month to go for the November 6 Presidential polls, the Obama Campaign is expected to cross the magic figure of$ one billion in thiselection cycle.

While Romney campaign has not released any fundraising statistics from ethnic coalitions, the list ofbig donors include over 200 prominent Indian Americans.
WASHINGTON: Awayfrom the public glare, prominent Indian Americans supporting Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney are believed to have raised between$15-20 million for his presidential campaign.
While Romney campaign has not released any fundraising statistics from ethnic coalitions nor has it made public the list of its bundlers or exclusive Stars and Stripes members, the list of big donors include over200 prominent Indian Americans.
The 'Indian American Coalition' was established in November 2011 by the Romney Campaign National Finance Committee Chairman Spencer Zwick to recognise not only the individual donor, but also the larger community under agroup identity.
There have been other ethnic coalitions in the Romney campaign'sFinance Committee such as Jewish American coalition, Women's coalition, Veteran's Coalition, etc.
By conservative estimates Indian Americans supporters of Romney believed tohave collectively helped raise between $15-20 million for his Campaign, according to those familiar with the fundraising efforts.
"...An Indian American coalition in a Presidential Campaign's National Finance Committee is new and historic. Such a decision of the Romney Campaign has produced the desired results," Indian American supporters of 65-year-old former governor of Massachusetts say.
Some of the prominent Indian American bundlers/Star and Stripes members include Sampat Shivangi from Mississippi; Sudhakar Shenoy and Shreedhar Pottarazu from Virginia, Zach Zachariah, Akshay Desai and R Vijaynagar from Florida; Bharat Barai from Indiana, Rupesh Sreevastavaand Raj Vatticutti from Michigan.
"Everyone has contributed funds, bundled money or held an event that has raised a minimum $1 million," Sue Ghosh Stricklett, Stars & Stripes Member, Romney Finance Committee, told PTIduring a conferencecall with top Indian American donors.
"They are unanimously supporting Mitt Romney for President because they believe that the country is on the wrong track and that their children's economicfuture is at stake.
"They are also appalled by the incendiary anti-India rhetoric coming out of the Obama campaign with numerous ads attacking India for loss of American jobs due to outsourcing," Ghosh said.
One of the influential Republicans from Utah, Patel joined the Romney Campaign after John Huntsman, theformer State Governor and US Ambassador to China, helped raise more than a $1 million during the campaign.
"Republicans are much closer to India than the Democratic party. Romney would be much better president towards India," said Sampat Shivangi, who was one of the three Indian American delegate to the Republican National Convention and a major fund raiser inMississippi.
"In 2008, Indiana went to Obama, butit is not going to happen in 2012," said Raju Chintala; abig time Republicanfrom Indiana and a bundler.
"I can vouch for the fact that Mitt Romney is very appreciative of the immense contributions of Indian Americans toAmerican society. I can also assert that Governor Romney views India as a strategic partner of the United States and that he believes a close working relationship between the two countries is critical to peace and prosperity in Asia," Ghosh said.
An active member of the Indian American Coalition, Ghosh, said that theintention of the Romney campaign is to get the coalition going and then use the coalition into"dollar tracking" that can translate into an effective policy making during the Romney Administration so that this community has a voice.
"The voice of this group would count in a big way, because they have something more to say than any other American business. This is our objective," she said.
http://m.economictimes.com/news/nri/nris-in-news/indian-americans-help-raise-millions-for-mitt-romney-campaign/articleshow/16709735.cms

Israel checking: Was drone headedto Dimona?
After IDF collects remnants of unmanned aircraft shot down over southern forest, security establishment examining possibilityit was launched by Hezbollah to photograph Israeli reactor; army fears drones will be used to hit strategic sites
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4289261,00.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/07/world/middleeast/drone-downed-by-israeli-jets.html?ref=todayspaper

Israeli jets scrambled to intercept a drone that crossed into Israeli airspace on Saturday from the Mediterranean Sea, shooting it down over the southern part of the country, a military spokeswoman said.
The spokeswoman, Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich, said the drone had flown overthe Gaza Strip but didnot originate from the Palestinian territory. She said that Israel did not know the drone’s starting point.
Israeli news media reported that the aircraft was not carrying explosives and could have been a surveillance drone.
Israel has shot down drones entering its airspace before, but such intrusions have been rare.

Two aircraft carrier strike groups of the U.S. Navy's 7th Fleet have been deployed since mid-September to the Western Pacific inan apparent attempt to keep the activities of the Chinese military in check amid growing Japan-China tension over the Senkaku Islands.
The two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are the USS George Washington, based in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, and the USS John C. Stennis, based on the U.S. west coast. The command of the 7th Fleet is also located in Yokosuka.
It is unusual for the U.S. Navy to simultaneously deploy two strike groups each comprising an aircraft carrier and escort ships to the West Pacific. Analysts believe the move is aimed to hold the Chinese military in check in light of the recent tension between Tokyo and Beijing over the islands in Okinawa Prefecture in the EastChina Sea. The deployment is also believed to be a response to China's launch of its first aircraft carrier in September.
According to Strategic Forecasting Inc., a U.S. private information firm known as Stratfor, and others, the George Washington Strike Group sailed northwest after training off Guam, arriving in waters east of Taiwan on Wednesday. The Stennis was deployednear the Senkaku Islands on Sept. 26 before passing through the South China Sea, and is currently operating in waters near Malaysia, according to Stratfor and others.
Japanese government sources agree that the deployment of the two strike groups was prompted by thetension between Japan and China.
The U.S. government has stated that the Senkaku Islands"clearly" fall under Article 5 of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, which requires Washington to defend Japan in the event of an armed attack.
Deploying two aircraft carriers is "a demonstration of theUnited States' resolveto act in line with Article 5" and to support the Japan-U.S. alliance, a senior official of Japan's Defense Ministry said.
The deployment was preceded by requestsfrom Japan through unofficial diplomatic channels for concreteU.S. action in connection with the upsurge in Japan-China tension, the official said.
The United States haspublicly called for both China and Japanto maintain cool heads when dealing with the issue.
According to a high-ranking ForeignMinistry official, many in the government believe the U.S. aircraft carrier deployment isa sign that Washington believes Tokyo should deal effectively with the dispute to reach a prompt resolution.
One of the few times the United States hasdeployed two aircraftcarriers to the West Pacific was during the Taiwan Straits crisis in the spring of 1996, when tension between China and Taiwan skyrocketed.

Romney:My plan has five basic parts. One, get us energy independent, North American energy independent. That creates about four million jobs.

HYPERINFLATION: Iran's Currency Is In A State Of Total Collapse.
http://www.businessinsider.com/iranian-rial-hyperinflation-2012-10

Horrible Statistics.

Iran ’s already fragile currency, the rial, hasfallen in value by about 40 percent over the past week, battered by a combination of potent Western sanctions over the disputed Iranian nuclear program and new anxieties amongIranians about their government’s economic stewardship, analystssaid.
While the value of the rial has eroded for the past few years as Iran’s economic isolation has deepened, the severity of the drop worsened with surprising speed in recent days as Iranians rushed to sell rials for dollars. By the end of the dayon Monday, it cost about 34,800 rials to buy $1 in Tehran. Therate had been 24,600 rials as of last Monday.
“It’s sort of in a full-blown stampede mode today,” said Cliff Kupchan, a Washington-based analyst at the EurasiaGroup, a political risk consulting firm. “There’s very little confidence among many Iranians in the government’s ability to adroitly manage economic policy.”
In another ominous sign, 10,000 Iranian workers signed a petition addressed toIran’s labor minister complaining about the declines in their purchasing power and other economic maladies, suggesting that the accumulatedimpact of sanctions isputting more political pressure on the Iranian leadership, The Associated Press reported. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the sanctions, which are designed to force concessions on Iran’s nuclear program, would fail.
Mr. Kupchan and others said the catalyst for the currency drop this past week appeared to be a policy change by the Central Bank of Iran on Sept. 23 that had been intended to reduce the volatility of exchange rates but had the opposite effect.
Under the new policy, the central bank established a “foreign exchange center” that gives preferential rates to importers of priority goods like meats, grains and medicine. But economists said the central bank may have inadvertently telegraphed fears that it was low on dollars, or at least lacked access to a large part of its estimated $110 billion in foreign exchange reserves. Some of that money is frozen in offshore accounts.
“What we have now is a massive dumpingof rials,” Mr. Kupchan said.
Djavad Salehi-Isfahani, an economics professor at Virginia Tech, said the actions of Iran’s monetary officials showed that “the central bank doesn’t know what to do in crisis times.”
He said the situation had been exacerbated by Mr. Ahmadinejad’s insistence that rates for borrowers and depositers could not exceed the inflation rate. One consequence was that few Iranians keep their money in banks. Worries that the government was not being upfront about inflation may have been further aggravated, Mr. Salehi-Isfahani said, by its decision a few weeks ago to stop publishing the inflation rate, which is officially 23.5 percent but probably much higher.
The shriveling value of the rial is now contributing to fears in Iran of a severe inflationary spiral, as an increasing amount of rials are required to buy food,medicine and machinery needed from abroad. At the same time, Iran’s ability to sell oil, its main export, has been severely hampered by the sanctions on the nuclear program, which Iran says is for the peaceful development of nuclear energy but Western nations suspect is intended to produce nuclear weapons.
Economists said the rial’s decline was oneof the clearest signs that the accumulatedimpact of sanctions had deeply wounded the Iranian economy.
“When a currency collapses, you can be certain that other economic metrics aremoving in a negativedirection too,” Steve H. Hanke, an economics professor at Johns Hopkins University and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, wrote in an article published this monthin Globe Asia, a business magazine.

Regardless of who wins the presidentialelection in November or what compromises Congress strikes in the lame-duck session to keep the economy from automatic tax increases and spending cuts, 160 million American wage earners will probably see their tax bills jump after Jan. 1.
That is when the temporary payroll tax holiday ends. Its expiration means less income in families’ pocketbooks — the tax increase would be about $95 billion in 2013 alone — at a time when the economy is little better than it was when the White House reached a deal on the tax break last year.
Independent analysts say that the expiration of the tax cut could shave as much as a percentage point off economic output in 2013, and cost the economy as many as one million jobs. That is because the typical American family had $1,000 in additional income from the lower tax.
But there is still littledesire to make an extension part of thenegotiations that are under way to avert the huge tax increases and across-the-board spending cuts, known as the fiscal cliff, that will start in January without a deal. For example, without any action, the Bush-era tax cuts willexpire and the military and other domestic spending programs will be reduced.
“This has to be a temporary tax cut,” said Timothy F. Geithner, the Treasury secretary, testifying before the Senate Budget Committee this year and voicing the viewof many in the WhiteHouse and on CapitolHill. “I don’t see any reason to consider supporting its extension.”
The White House hasnot pushed for an extension. “We’ll evaluate the question of whether we need to extend itat the end of the year when we’re looking at a whole range of issues,” Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, told reporters last month.
The original point of the payroll tax holiday was to stimulate consumer spending and aid middle-income households. But nowCongress needs the money as it struggles with vast deficits and believes the economy can withstand the expiration.
Many Republicans vehemently opposedits passage last year, as it would divert money from the Social Security program. Many Democrats fervently supported it last year but show no such enthusiasm now. Nancy Pelosi of California, the top House Democrat, hastold reporters she thinks it should expire.
Support is lacking for two main reasons. First, both Democrats and Republicans would rather focus on the broader political andeconomic issue of the fate of the Bush-era income tax cuts. These cuts, too, were initially meant to be temporary, butare now deeply entrenched in the tax code and central to the budget battle.
Second, though the economy has not become significantly stronger over the past year and the taxincreases in additionto spending cuts coming next year could push the country into a recession, independent economists say that the economy could shoulder the payroll tax increase without undue harm.
Moody’s Analytics, for instance, estimates that expiration of the payroll tax holiday would shave 0.6 percentage point off economic growth, adjusted for inflation, in 2013 — and that the economy could safely stomach government spending cuts and tax increases totaling up to 1.5 percentage points ofeconomic output.
Still, expiration of the payroll tax cut will increase the taxes of millions of middle-class families.
The fragile state of the recovery and thefrustratingly slow growth of the economy have heightened the stakes for the end-of-year negotiations. Economists estimate that if Congress fails to forestall or unwind the spending cuts and tax increases due to take effect next year,the hit could send country back into a recession .
The Federal Reserve currently estimates that the economy will grow 2.5 to 3 percent next year, and that the unemployment rate will be 7.6 to 7.9 percent, still painfully high.
The uncertainty in the United States is “currently a threat,” said Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, pressing Congress last week to avoid the cliff. “It’s not a threat just for the United States of America. It’s a threatfor the global economy.”
Some economists have pushed for an extension of the payroll tax holiday to help support the recovery — or for its replacement with other measures to help the millions of low-income workingfamilies whose taxeswill rise when it expires.
The Economic Policy Institute, a liberal Washington-based research group, for instance, has said that the payroll tax cut has a stronger stimulative effect on the economy than many other tax cuts because the workinghouseholds that receive it tend to spend the money rather than save it. Thus, it estimates that the tax cut’s expiration could erase 0.9 percent of economic output and put up to a million jobs at risk.
It recommends replacing the payroll tax cut with infrastructure spending or fiscal aid to states, as a form of support for the recovery in the short term that would not have harmful long-term budget effects.
Some conservative economists have pressed for its extension as well, arguing that no Americans should have their taxes go up next year.
“Obama and Congress both need to hear this alarm clock, wake up, and get busy avoiding a payroll tax hike insult to the middle class’s injuries of stagnant wages and high unemployment,” wrote J. D. Foster, a fiscal specialist at the right-of-center Heritage Foundation.
The payroll tax holiday this year has reduced workers’ taxon wages up to$110,100 to 4.2 percent from 6.2 percent. In 2012 thattranslated into a$700 tax cut for a person making$35,000 a year and a$2,202 tax cut for workers making$110,100 and up.
Last winter, the White House pushed a resistant Congress hard for an extension, arguing itwas needed to support the flagging recovery. The White House set up a campaign for Americans to send in stories about what they would do with the extra $40 in theirpaychecks, and denounced Republicans as not wanting to aid the middle class.
“For the typical American family, it isa big deal. It means$40 extra in their paycheck. And that$40 helps to pay the rent, the groceries, the rising cost of gas,” President Obama said , standing with some of the families who had sent in stories.
The other provisions at stake in the fiscal cliff negotiations overshadow the payroll tax cut.
The Congressional Budget Office has calculated that according to current law, the federal deficit would fall by more than half a trillion dollars from the 2012 fiscal year to the 2013 fiscal year. The expiration of the Bush tax cuts and other provisionswould reduce the deficit by $221 billion.

The young man, which many believed to be the famous Johnny Depphimself, and who was photographed at a balcony of a resort hotel in Bulgaria, proved justto be some young upcoming actor.
However, the Bulgarian TV channelBTV claimed that theHolywood Bad Boy Johnny Depp has never been to Bulgaria, thus denying the widely spreading rumours that the US star has been seen in one of Bulgaria’s cities along the Black Sea coast.
According to the broadcast, a Bulgarian actor with a striking resemblance to Depphad been the personphotographed on the balcony of hotel “Primorets” in Bulgaria’s southern coastal city of Burgas.
The TV broadcast showed a person with astonishing resemblance to Johnny Depp, who was enjoying the view from the balcony of hotel “Primorets” in the city of Burgas.
“Johnny Depp has not been here and there was no person registered here under this name, neither is one at the present” told the hotel owner to the TV guy. “Those pictures are obviously taken witha cell phone, but we are not aware of their origin.”
It came out later, according to the TV channel already mentioned, that supposed Johnny Depp was a 23-year-old actor from the new generation of Bulgaria’s talents. The man – actually named Georgi Velizarov – admitted that he had been impersonating his Hollywood counterpart for a while, but was unwilling to share more detailed information on the whole affair.
The whole deal was a clever PR activity, carried out by a marketing agency and intended to use Velizarov’s appearance to gather some attention. Speculations go around, claiming it was the owner choosing a more creative way to promote his business. By the way, the hotel had just underwent a major renovation.
The final solution to the whole “Johnny Depp in Bulgaria” affair came later, after photos appeared in the media showing the Hollywood star in Hawaii, accompanied by his partner in life, French actress and musician Vanessa Paradis. Those photos were taken at nearly the same time as the claimed appearance of Johnny Depp at hotelbalcony in Burgas.
A nice try, one must admit. Anyway, hotels in nearby Sunny Beach were almost fully occupiedat that time …

Steve Wozniak returned Thursday afternoon after news he was seeking an Australian citizenship. But Woz doesn't want to be an Aussie. Instead he wants tolive in New Zealand.
Stepping off an 11-hour flight, the Apple co-founder and "Dancing with the Stars" alum confirmed reports that he's applied for Australian citizenship, that he had no interest in dropping his American citizenship and thathe and his wife, Janet Hill, simply love New Zealand.
Australia and New Zealand have few restrictions for their residents when it comes to living in the other'scountry, with New Zealand's approach being almost seamless :
If you’re an Australian citizen you will usually beallowed to live, work or study in New Zealand and won't need toapply for any type of visa before traveling .
Woz's plan to keep his American citizenship means he will enjoy no taxadvantages, and, infact, he will pay more.
http://m.nbcchicago.com/nbcchicago/pm_107702/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=nBnNVpA2
Apple founder eyes life in NZ
http://mobile.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.php?c_id=1&objectid=10837295
Cassidy: Apple's Woz is headed for Australia -- eventually
http://www.mercurynews.com/mike-cassidy/ci_21648602/cassidy-apples-woz-is-headed-australia-eventually

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former governor of California and world champion body-builder, is back on the scene.
The "Governator" hasinaugurated a policy think tank, the USC Schwarzenegger Institute for State and Global Policy, at the University of Southern California, and is hosting the Institute's first symposium Monday, the Associated Press reported .
The conference will host big names from politics and Hollywood like Senator John McCain and director James Cameron, and tackle the topic of how politicians can learn from the entertainment business — classic Arnold.
"Hollywood and our entertainment industry has solved many, many great, great problems and has been very talented with technology and bringing entertainment all over the world," Schwarzenegger told the Los Angeles Times by telephone ."The same brains, if utilized, can actually solve other problems as well."
Schwarzenegger is staging quite the comeback: along with the new Institute (to which hecommitted $20 million in funding), he also has a new book coming out next month, as well as a couple movies inthe post-production phases, according to the LA Times.
The actor-politician said the Institute, located at USC's Price School of Public Policy, will focus on finding "bipartisan solutions to environmental problems, economic policy, political reform and other issues," he told the Times.
Schwarzenegger, with his institute's opening, will be named the Downey Professor of State and Global Policy.

No , We Can't ?

Spectrophobia (from Latin : spectrum , " ghost ") is a kind of specific phobia involving a morbid fear of mirrors and one's own reflections. Catoptrophobia (from the word catoptric meaning using a mirror to focus light; from Greek word katoptrikos ) is the fear of mirrors. This phobia is distinct from Eisoptrophobia, which is the fear of your own reflection.