Just in time for Christmas, 300 North Texas heritage horses find a new home - 2012-Dec-30
houston.culturemap.comThe Olympian Ranch in North Texas has been sold to a new owner ? which wouldn't be uncommon or news at all, except for one fact: The property has been ...
Source: http://www.facebook.com/culturemap/posts/577804818901581
By Jonathan Stempel, Reuters
A divided federal appeals court has temporarily barred the U.S. government from requiring an Illinois company to obtain insurance coverage for contraceptives, as mandated under the 2010 healthcare overhaul, after the owners objected on religious grounds.
More than 40 lawsuits are challenging a requirement in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that requires most for-profit companies to offer workers insurance coverage for contraceptive drugs and devices and other birth control methods.
Friday's 2-1 order by a panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago in favor of Cyril and Jane Korte was the second by a federal appeals court to temporarily halt enforcement against people who said it violated their faith, said Edward White, a lawyer for the Roman Catholic couple.
The 7th Circuit suggested that the couple's legal challenge might eventually prevail.
Its order came two days after U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor declined to block the provision's enforcement against companies controlled by the family of Oklahoma City billionaire David Green.
The U.S. Department of Justice, which had defended the contraceptives provision, did not immediately respond on Saturday to a request for comment.
The Kortes, who own the construction firm Korte & Luitjohan Contractors, had sought to drop a health insurance plan for 20 non-unionized workers that included coverage for contraception, and substitute a different plan consistent with their faith.
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But the Obama administration's healthcare law did not allow the change, and the Kortes said that violated the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA.
In issuing an injunction, the 7th Circuit majority said the Kortes had established a reasonable likelihood of success on the merits of their RFRA claim, and that the government had not yet justified the apparent "substantial burden" on their religious exercise.
The court also said the couple had established irreparable harm, because absent an injunction they would have to choose between maintaining insurance coverage they considered inappropriate or facing substantial financial penalties.
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"Business owners who are objecting to the mandate are not objecting to people using contraceptives, but that they have to arrange for and pay for it," White, a lawyer with the American Center for Law and Justice, said in a phone interview. "The federal government shouldn't tell business owners they have to contract to buy what they see as immoral services and goods."
Judges Joel Flaum and Diane Sykes comprised the 7th Circuit majority.
High court declines to block contraceptives coverage in health care law
Judge Ilana Rovner dissented. She said the Kortes were "multiple steps" removed from the contraceptives services because it was their company paying for the coverage, and because it would be a worker, her doctor and the insurer involved in the decisions about the services and their funding.
The Kortes' case is expected to continue in the 7th Circuit.
Neither the 7th Circuit nor Sotomayor ruled on the merits of their respective cases. The legal standard for obtaining an injunction from the Supreme Court is much higher.
The case is Korte et al v. Sebelius, 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 12-3841.
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Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.DAKAR (Reuters) - Central African Republic's Seleka rebels are divided over whether to start peace talks with President Francois Bozize or carry on an assault to overthrow him, one of the insurgent group's spokesmen said on Monday.
The rebels have advanced to within 75 km (45 miles) of the mineral-rich country's capital Bangui and their leaders are now considering a proposal from Bozize to hold negotiations and form a unity government.
"At the moment there are divisions within Seleka on this point," said Nelson Ndjadder, a France-based official for CPSK - one of the three main rebels movements that make up the Seleka alliance.
"Some want to keep fighting, but CPSK is ready to put down its weapons and talk," he added.
Another Seleka spokesman, Eric Massi, said earlier in the day the group had rejected Bozize's proposal, but Ndjadder said: "He (Massi) is not speaking on behalf of all of us."
Seleka unites three main former rebel groups - CPJP, UFDR and CPSK - who have accused Bozize of reneging on a 2007 peace deal under which ex-fighters were meant to be paid for laying down their arms.
(Writing by Richard Valdmanis; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/central-african-republic-rebels-divided-over-peace-talks-182759445.html
The moon rises behind the U.S. Capitol Dome in Washington as Congress works into the late evening, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012 to resolve the stalemate over the pending "fiscal cliff." (AP Photo/J. David Ake)
The moon rises behind the U.S. Capitol Dome in Washington as Congress works into the late evening, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012 to resolve the stalemate over the pending "fiscal cliff." (AP Photo/J. David Ake)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., followed by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., second from right, leaves the Senate chamber to meet with fellow Republicans in a closed-door session as the "fiscal cliff" negotiations continue at the Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012. Leaders in the Senate and the House are under pressure to find a legislative path to head off the automatic tax hikes and spending cuts set to take effect Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., walks to a closed-door meeting with fellow Democrats as he and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., work to negotiate a legislative path to avoid the so-called "fiscal cliff," at the Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012. Senate and House leaders are rushing to assemble a last-ditch agreement to stave off middle-class tax increases and possibly delay steep spending cuts in an urgent attempt to find common ground after weeks of gridlock. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., third ranking in the Senate Democratic leadership, speaks on his cell phone following a closed-door caucus at the Capitol in Washington, Sunday, Dec. 30, 2012 to discuss how to avoid the "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and deep spending cuts that could kick in Jan. 1. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The White House and Senate Republicans sorted through stubborn disputes over taxing the wealthy and cutting the budget to pay for Democratic spending proposals as Monday's midnight deadline for an accord avoiding the "fiscal cliff" drew to within hours.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., spoke repeatedly Sunday to Vice President Joe Biden, a former Senate colleague, in hopes of settling remaining differences and clinching a breakthrough that has evaded the two sides since President Barack Obama's November re-election. In one indication of the eleventh-hour activity, aides said the president, Biden and top administration bargainer Rob Nabors were all working late at the White House, and McConnell was making late-night phone calls as well.
Unless an agreement is reached and approved by Congress by the start of New Year's Day, more than $500 billion in 2013 tax increases will begin to take effect and $109 billion will be carved from defense and domestic programs. Though the tax hikes and budget cuts would be felt gradually, economists warn that if allowed to fully take hold, their combined impact ? the so-called fiscal cliff ? would rekindle a recession.
"There is still significant distance between the two sides, but negotiations continue," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said shortly before the Senate ended an unusual Sunday session. "There is still time to reach an agreement, and we intend to continue negotiations."
The House and Senate planned to meet Monday, a rarity for New Year's Eve, in hopes of having a tentative agreement to consider. Yet despite the flurry of activity, there was still no final pact.
And in a move that was sure to irritate Republicans, Reid was planning ? absent a deal ? to force a Senate vote Monday on Obama's campaign-season proposal to continue expiring tax cuts for all but those with income exceeding $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples.
Attached to the measure ? which the GOP seemed likely to block ? would be an extension of jobless benefits for around 2 million long-term unemployed people. The plan was described by Sen. Richard Durbin of Illinois, the chamber's No. 2 Democrat.
The House and Senate met Sunday ready to debate an agreement or at least show voters they were trying. But the day produced alternating bursts of progress and pitfalls, despite Senate chaplain Barry Black's opening prayer in which he asked the heavens, "Look with favor on our nation and save us from self-inflicted wounds."
In one sign of movement, Republicans dropped a demand to slow the growth of Social Security and other benefits by changing how those payments are increased each year to allow for inflation.
Obama had offered to include that change, despite opposition by many Democrats, as part of earlier, failed bargaining with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, over a larger deficit reduction agreement. But Democrats said they would never include the new inflation formula in the smaller deal now being sought to forestall wide-ranging tax boosts and budget cuts, and Republicans relented.
"It's just acknowledging the reality," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said of the GOP decision to drop the idea.
There was still no final agreement on the income level above which decade-old income tax cuts would be allowed to expire. While Obama has long insisted on letting the top 35 percent tax rate rise to 39.6 percent on earnings over $250,000, he'd agreed to boost that level to $400,000 in his talks with Boehner. GOP senators said they wanted the figure hoisted to at least that level.
Senators said disagreements remained over taxing large inherited estates. Republicans want the tax left at its current 35 percent, with the first $5.1 million excluded, while Democrats want the rate increased to 45 percent with a smaller exclusion.
The two sides were also apart on how to keep the alternative minimum tax from raising the tax bills of nearly 30 million middle-income families and how to extend tax breaks for research by business and other activities.
Republicans were insisting that budget cuts be found to pay for some of the spending proposals Democrats were pushing.
These included proposals to erase scheduled defense and domestic cuts exceeding $200 billion over the next two years and to extend unemployment benefits. Republicans complained that in effect, Democrats would pay for that spending with the tax boosts on the wealthy.
"We can't use tax increases on anyone to pay for more spending," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.
Both parties also want to block an immediate 27 percent cut in reimbursements to doctors who treat Medicare patients. Republicans wanted to find savings from Obama's health care bill as well as from Medicare providers, while Democrats want to protect the health care law from cuts.
Both sides agree that a temporary 2-percentage-point cut in the Social Security payroll tax was likely to expire. That reduction ? to 4.2 percent ? was initiated by Obama two years ago to help spur the economy and has meant $1,000 annual savings to families earning $50,000.
A senior defense official said if the spending cuts were triggered, the Pentagon would soon begin notifying its 800,000 civilian employees to expect furloughs ? mandatory unpaid leave, not layoffs. It would take time for the furloughs to be implemented, said the official, who requested anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the preparations
___
Associated Press writers David Espo, Julie Pace and Robert Burns contributed to this report.
Associated PressAfrican Union head visits Central African Republic
HIPPOLYTE MARBOUA
Associated Press December 30, 2012
BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) ? The leader of the African Union, Benin's President Thomas Boni Yayi, has proposed a government of national unity to resolve the rebel conflict in Central African Republic.
Boni Yayi arrived here Sunday to try to find a negotiated resolution to the country's crisis. The president of the African Union met with President Francois Bozize and then made an appeal to the rebels.
"I beg my rebellious brothers, I ask them to cease hostilities, to make peace with President (Francois) Bozize and the Central African people," said Boni Yayi at a press conference in Bangui, the capital. "If you stop fighting, you are helping to consolidate peace in Africa. African people do not deserve all this suffering. The African continent needs peace and not war."
Boni Yayi said that Bozize had pledged to have an open dialogue with the rebels with the goal of establishing a government of national unity, which would include representation from the rebels and the Bozize government.
Bozize also addressed the conference and said, although he plans to stay in power until his term ends in 2016, he is not against having the rebels enter a coalition government with him.
"We'll probably be able to set up a national unity government. I apologize to the suffering Central African people," said Bozize. "It is a message of peace to my brothers of Central African Republic, "said Bozize.
Source: http://panafricannews.blogspot.com/2012/12/african-union-head-visits-central.html
Insider killings by uniformed Afghans against their foreign allies rose dramatically in 2012, eroding confidence between the two sides at a crucial turning point in the war.
An Afghan protester, chants slogans on a loudspeaker during a demonstration for human rights in Kabul, Afghanistan, Dec. 10. In a demonstration organized by the Social Association of Afghan Justice Seekers, dozens of Afghans who have lost their family members and relatives in the past three decades of war and violence in Afghanistan, marched in Kabul to mark International Human Rights Day asking for justice for the deaths of their loved ones.
Musadeq Sadeq/AP
EnlargeViolence in?Afghanistan?fell in 2012, but more Afghan troops and police who now shoulder most of the combat were killed, according to statistics compiled by The Associated Press.
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At the same time, insider killings by uniformed Afghans against their foreign allies rose dramatically, eroding confidence between the two sides at a crucial turning point in the war and when NATO troops and Afghan counterparts are in more intimate contact.
"The overall situation is improving," said a NATO spokesman, US Air Force Lt. Col. Lester T. Carroll. He singled out Afghan special forces as "surgically removing insurgent leaders from the battle space."
Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Defense, said Afghan forces were now charged with 80 percent of security missions and were less equipped to face the most lethal weapon of the militants ? roadside bombs.
"Our forces are out there in the battlefields and combat areas more than at any other time in the past," he said, citing reasons for the spike in casualties.
US troop deaths, overall NATO fatalities and Afghan civilian deaths all dropped as insurgent attacks fell off in their traditional strongholds in the country's south and east. However, insurgent activity was up in the north and west, where the Taliban and other groups have been less active in the past, and overall levels of violence were higher than before a US troop surge more than two years ago.
US troop deaths declined overall from 404 last year to 295 as of Saturday. The Defense Department says 1,701 US troops have been killed in action in?Afghanistan?since the US invasion in 2001 until Dec. 26. Of those, 338 died from non-hostile causes. Some 18,154 were wounded.
A total of 394 foreign troops, including the Americans, were killed in 2012, down from 543 in 2011. The British, with the second-largest military presence, had 43 killed ? the second-highest toll among countries with forces in?Afghanistan, by AP's count.
The AP keeps daily tallies of casualties and violent incidents across?Afghanistan?based on reports from NATO and Afghan officials. Most cannot be independently verified, and other incidents may never come to light. The statistics sometimes vary from official counts because of time lags, different criteria and other reasons.
Deaths from so-called insider attacks ? Afghan police and troops killing foreign allies ? surged to 61 in 45 attacks last year compared with 2011, when 35 coalition troops were killed in 21 attacks.
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Source: http://clicksmsseo.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-guide-to-sms-to-email.html
(Reuters) - Equity futures were slightly higher on Sunday night as talks continued in Washington over resolving the "fiscal cliff."
While the Senate will not vote Sunday night on any bill to avoid a series of $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts, as many had hoped, negotiations continued between lawmakers and the White House.
The Senate will reconvene on Monday after the open of equity trading. In order for a deal to take effect, it would also have to be passed by the House of Representatives.
Despite the gain indicated by futures, stocks still could end up falling on Monday when the cash markets open if lawmakers are unable to come to an agreement to avoid the cliff, which many fear could push the economy into recession.
"There is always a chance for a massive stalemate, and we could see a lot more volatility if we get to a point where there's no more hope. Right now there's still hope," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of Sarhan Capital in New York.
Midnight on Monday marks the deadline for a deal, though the government can pass legislation in 2013 that retroactively prevents going over the cliff, an option that is viewed as politically easier.
"At some point, someone will have to blink, or Congress will just come in early in 2013 and vote for a tax cut," Sarhan said. "Something will be done to resolve this."
S&P 500 futures were up 5.4 points, or 0.4 percent, at 1,389 in electronic trading. Still, futures were about 7 points below the fair value level of 1,397.19. Fair value is a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Despite the rise, if futures remain below fair value, cash markets will open lower.
Dow and Nasdaq futures were also slightly higher, though below fair value.
Stocks fell sharply on Friday, with significant losses in the last minutes of trading, as prospects for a deal worsened at the beginning of the weekend.
The rise in the futures market does not necessarily augur for a rally on Monday, however. The cash market and futures markets closed with a wide gulf on Friday, by virtue of the extra 15 minutes of trading in futures.
The S&P 500 closed at 1,402.43 at 4 p.m. ET on Friday, down 1.1 percent, but futures continued to fall before closing 15 minutes later with a loss of 1.9 percent. S&P futures and the S&P cash index don't match point-by-point, but that kind of disparity points to a weak opening in stocks on Monday.
One hour before they had hoped to present a plan on Sunday, Democratic and Republican Senate leaders said they were still unable to reach a compromise.
Earlier in the day, President Barack Obama, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," said investors could begin to show greater concerns in the new year.
"If people start seeing that on January 1st this problem still hasn't been solved ... then obviously that's going to have an adverse reaction in the markets," he said,
Investors have remained relatively sanguine about the process, believing that it will eventually be solved. In the past two months markets have not shown the kind of volatility that was present during the fight to raise the debt ceiling in 2011.
The Dow industrials and the S&P 500 each lost 1.9 percent last week, after stocks fell for five straight sessions, which marked the S&P 500's longest losing streak in three months. Equities have largely performed well in the last two months despite constant chatter about the fiscal cliff, but the last few days shows a bit of increased worry.
The CBOE Volatility Index <.vix> rose to its highest level since June on Friday, closing at 22.72.
(Additional reporting by David Gaffen; Editing by Jan Paschal)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stock-futures-edge-higher-cliff-talks-continue-004506710--sector.html
I scratched my neck until a lion?s mane appeared. I broke the skin and it poured right out. Up until then I hadn?t received much attention from women. I hadn?t received much attention from anyone really. But all of a sudden, I was a point of interest. It wasn?t something I knew how to handle. My best friend said we were in luck. Had I ever seen Teen Wolf? Things were about to start going our way. But I was still terrible at sports. In fact, I was worse than I?d ever been. I couldn?t turn very fast, couldn?t hold things like I used to. My thumbs were stiff. My fingers wanted to curl. My best friend told me to practice. If the mane didn?t come with any supernatural talent, I could always train myself, get better on my own, and that would still be impressive. More and more women said hello to me on the street. I got free coffees in cafes. A girl at a bar winked at me from across the room, and I had been pretty sure people didn?t actually do that. It didn?t feel right. I couldn?t get comfortable. I didn?t talk as much as I used to. I was less friendly. People said, it?s a nice color, did you dye it? I nodded a lot, or pretended not to notice them. I kept to myself. My palms got bigger and my fingers kept curling. They doubled over to half their size. I slouched a little so people would notice me less. I tried to cover the hair, but it was spilling out from my wrists, my thighs, my neck. I was scratching here and there, scratching all over, and it just kept coming. I stopped going out as much. I ordered in, left money in front of the door with a note that said, be right back. When I did leave the house, women made meaningful eye contact. I hunched over so I didn?t have to think about it. It?s not that I wasn?t flattered, but it made me nervous.?
Source: http://www.gabrielblackwell.com/2012/12/animal-collection-by-colin-winnette.html
NCAA College Basketball, Wofford ? Virginia, Sunday,
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Women?s Basketball Falls to Wofford, 58-52 ? rolltide.com
rolltide.com  Women's Basketball Falls to Wofford, 58-52The women's basketball team dropped a 58-52 decision to Wofford on Monday at Foster Auditorium in front of over 2,000 Tuscaloosa fifth graders. With the loss, the Crimson Tide dips to 6-3 on the season while the Terriers improve to 5-3 overall. ?The ? Read more
Tide Hosts Wofford on Monday for Annual Fifth Grade Fastbreak Game Women?s ? ? rolltide.com
rolltide.com  Tide Hosts Wofford on Monday for Annual Fifth Grade Fastbreak Game Women's ?The women's basketball team (6-2) will host Wofford (4-3) on Monday for the Crimson Tide's annual Fifth Grade Fastbreak game, welcoming thousands of Tuscaloosa county fifth graders. The game will tip off in Foster Auditorium at 11 a.m. CT. The game ? Read more
Wofford Pulls Away From GW ? WSPA.com
Wofford Pulls Away From GWSPARTANBURG, S.C. ? The Wofford men's basketball team used a late run to defeat Gardner-Webb 54-42 on Wednesday night at Benjamin Johnson Arena. The game was tied at 42, but a 12-0 run by the Terriers over the final four minutes of the contest ? Read more
Friday?s local college basketball roundup: Virginia Tech, U.Va. women roll to ? ? Daily Press
VT hokiesports.com  Friday's local college basketball roundup: Virginia Tech, U.Va. women roll to ?Uju Ugoka, a Nigerian junior-college transfer in her second game as a Hokie, had 12 rebounds and 10 points Friday as the Virginia Tech women (6-5) handled North Carolina A&T 58-39 in Blacksburg. Monet Tellier had 12 points, seven rebounds and five ? Read more
UVa Insider, the column: Taking stock of UVa basketball ? The Virginian-Pilot
The Virginian-Pilot  UVa Insider, the column: Taking stock of UVa basketballAs I got to the end of my game story on last Saturday's Virginia-Old Dominion men's basketball game, it occurred to me that I had not used any quotes from UVa head coach Tony Bennett. Virginia is an athletic program that we cover on a regular basis, ? Read more
BYU men?s basketball: Cougars get final tuneup vs. Virginia Tech ? Salt Lake Tribune
Deseret News  BYU men's basketball: Cougars get final tuneup vs. Virginia TechProvo ? Picture BYU basketball coach Dave Rose as a chef, reducing all of his ingredients until they form a tasty, thick sauce, ready for consumption. In the Cougars' case, Rose has one more nonconference game, Saturday against Virginia Tech at ? Read more
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In an exclusive interview with Meet the Press, President Barack Obama tells David Gregory he's optimistic the fiscal cliff can be averted, lays out the goals for his second term, and also discusses the Benghazi attack and how it was handled by the administration and those on Capitol Hill.
By Carrie Dann, NBC News
President Barack Obama on Sunday said congressional Republicans and their?insistence on preventing tax increases for the very wealthy are standing in the way of a deal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff.
In an exclusive?interview on NBC's?"Meet the Press," the president chided House Republicans as the clock continued to run out on a potential agreement.
"They say that their biggest priority is making sure that we deal with the deficit in a serious way, but the way they're behaving is that their only priority is making sure that tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans are protected," Obama said. "That seems to be their only overriding, unifying theme."
President Barack Obama says he negotiated with House Speaker Boehner in good faith and moved more than halfway in order to achieve a grand bargain.
With?a little more than one day remaining?before the nation faces automatic spending cuts and tax hikes that could impact an already-wobbling American economy, the president implied that there has been little progress in recent days to justify hopes of a last-minute deal to prevent going over the fiscal cliff at year's end.
"I was modestly optimistic yesterday, but we don't yet see an agreement," he said in the interview, taped on Saturday at the White House. "And now the pressure's on Congress to produce."
Read the full transcript
The president?appeared open to eliminating at least some of the scheduled automatic spending cuts if Republicans agree to tax increases for the wealthy. Those cuts are slated to impact defense spending and non-entitlement discretionary spending beginning on Jan. 1.?
"If we have raised some revenue by the wealthy paying a little bit more, that would be sufficient to turn off what's called the sequester, these automatic spending cuts, and that also would have a better outcome for our economy long-term," he said.?
The president challenged Republicans to vote on legislation that he said should be introduced by the Democrat-controlled Senate to prevent taxes on the "middle class" from being increased.
But he did not specify what income level he would be willing to accept as a dividing line between those who retain Bush-era tax rates and those whose rates would increase. The president has consistently supported increasing taxes on families making over $250,000 a year, but that figure has been a major bargaining chip in negotiations.
Wherever the line on tax increases ends up, Obama urged a vote in both houses on a final Senate bill if a broader agreement cannot be reached.
Pete Souza / White House Photo
President Barack Obama is interviewed by David Gregory of NBC's "Meet The Press" in the Blue Room of the White House, Dec. 29, 2012.
"Everybody should have a right to vote on that," he said. "If Republicans don't like it, they can vote no. But I actually think that there's a majority support for making sure that middle class families are held harmless."
"So far, at least, Congress has not been able to get this stuff done," he added. "Not because Democrats in Congress don't want to go ahead and cooperate, but because I think it's been very hard for Speaker Boehner and Republican Leader McConnell to accept the fact that taxes on the wealthiest Americans should go up a little bit, as part of an overall deficit reduction package."
Dismissing the notion that the Democratic Party is as compromise-averse as the GOP, the president said Democrats? -- "warts and all" -- have more consistently agreed to components of bipartisan deals.?
"What I'm arguing for are maintaining tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans. I don't think anybody would consider that some liberal left-wing agenda. That used to be considered a pretty mainstream Republican agenda," he said. "And it's something that we can accomplish today if we simply allow for a vote in the Senate and in the House to get it done. The fact that it's not happening is an indication of how far certain factions inside the Republican Party have gone where they can't even accept what used to be considered centrist, mainstream positions on these issues."
The president offered no new suggestions of compromise measures that may be more palatable to Republicans, although he acknowledged that some Democrats oppose entitlement adjustments and some of the spending cuts that he's put forward during negotiations.?
The president games out different scenarios of how he thinks the fiscal cliff negotiations will be resolved.?
"The offers that?I've?made to [Republicans] have been so fair that a lot of Democrats get mad at me," he said, noting that his acceptance of Chained CPI, a measure that would change the way Social Security payments are determined, has caused particular rancor within his own party.
"Highly unpopular among Democrats," he said of the proposed change. "Not something supported by AARP. But in pursuit of strengthening Social Security for the long-term I'm willing to make those decisions."
If an impasse remains in place, Obama warned, Republicans' rejection of his version of deficit reduction plans would be enough to send financial markets skidding.?
"What's been holding us back is the dysfunction here in Washington," he said. "And if people start seeing that on January 1st this problem still hasn't been solved, that we haven't seen the kind of deficit reduction that we could have had had the Republicans been willing to take the deal that I gave them, if they say that people's taxes have gone up, which means consumer spending is going to be depressed, then obviously that's going to have an adverse reaction in the markets."
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Source: http://pheedo.msnbc.msn.com/click.phdo?i=cb973bfcd0536647aea808ac87c17389
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congressional negotiators burrowed into their Capitol offices on Saturday to see if they can stop the economy from falling off of a "fiscal cliff" in just three days when the biggest tax increases ever to hit Americans in one shot are scheduled to begin.
Aides to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell were expected to work through the day on a possible compromise that would set aside $600 billion in tax increases and across-the-board government spending cuts that are set to kick in next week.
A variety of lower taxes are scheduled to expire on December 31. If allowed to rise, the approximately $500 billion value of the revenue increases would represent a historic hike when taken together.
The combined punch of the tax increases and spending cuts would likely put the U.S. economy into a downward spiral, according to economists' forecasts.
"We're now at the point where, in just a couple days, the law says that every American's tax rates are going up. Every American's paycheck will get a lot smaller. And that would be the wrong thing to do for our economy," President Barack Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address, which was broadcast on Saturday.
At midday, McConnell walked into his office on the second floor of the Capitol. Asked by waiting journalists if he thought his efforts would be successful, McConnell responded: "I hope so."
A Senate Republican leadership aide said that it might not be known until sometime on Sunday whether these talks bear fruit. That is when leaders are expected to brief their rank-and-file members.
The Senate is scheduled to hold a rare Sunday session beginning at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT), but it was not clear whether the chamber would have fiscal cliff legislation to act upon.
Reid and McConnell and their staffs held last-ditch negotiations Friday night and resumed on Saturday with no guarantees that their efforts would pay off. Republicans remained opposed to Obama's demand that households making above $250,000 a year see their income tax rate rise to 39.6 percent, from the current 35 percent, in order to help tame budget deficits.
In recent days, some aides have said that a $400,000 threshold, instead of $250,000, has been discussed as a possible compromise.
PESSIMISTIC OUTLOOK
Democrats and Republicans also are jousting over what to do about inheritance taxes on estates.
Unless Congress acts, the tax is set to jump on January 1 to 55 percent with the first $1 million exempted for individuals. Currently, there is a 35 percent tax and a $5 million exemption.
One Democratic aide was pessimistic that McConnell would come up with a counteroffer that Reid would find acceptable. Such a counteroffer would have to be calibrated in a way that also could attract votes from conservative House Republicans, many of whom have balked at any tax rate increases.
Similarly, a senior House Republican aide on Saturday voiced pessimism about prospects for a deal.
"It's hard to see Reid agreeing to anything that can get the votes of the majority of the majority in the House, thereby allowing a bipartisan accomplishment," the aide said. A "majority of the majority" refers to the 241 Republicans who are in the 435-member House.
The Republican aide placed the blame squarely on Democrats, as many Republican members have done publicly, saying that going off the fiscal cliff is a "policy upside" for them. "Higher taxes, devastating defense cuts. The polls tell them they can win the PR war in January. From their perspective, why stop the cliff dive?"
Democrats, in turn, have publicly accused Republican House Speaker John Boehner of preferring to put off any tough fiscal cliff votes until after a January 3 House election in which he is expected to win another two-year term as speaker.
If McConnell and Reid can manage to reach a deal on inheritance taxes and raising income tax rates on the wealthiest, they likely would throw into the compromise some other fiscal cliff solutions.
Those could include extending an array of other expiring tax breaks, such as one that encourages companies to conduct research and development. Also, Congress wants to prevent a steep pay-cut in January for doctors who treat elderly Medicare patients.
Lawmakers also want to prevent middle-class taxpayers from inadvertently creeping into a higher tax bracket, known as the alternative minimum tax, intended for the wealthiest.
If the Reid-McConnell effort fails, Obama has asked the Senate to hold a vote on Monday on a "basic package" that would stop taxes from going up on the middle class and would extend long-term unemployment benefits that are about to expire. If it passed the Senate, its fate would be in the hands of the Republican-controlled House.
(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro and Jeff Mason; Editing by Fred Barbash and Eric Beech)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-leaders-last-ditch-fiscal-cliff-effort-012150621--business.html
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) ? A suicide bomber driving a vehicle packed with explosives rammed into a bus carrying Shiite Muslim pilgrims in southwest Pakistan on Sunday, killing 19 people, a government official and eyewitnesses said.
Earlier Sunday, 21 tribal policemen believed to have been kidnapped by the Taliban were found shot dead in Pakistan's troubled northwest tribal region, government officials said.
Pakistan has experienced a spike in killings over the last year by radical Sunni Muslims targeting Shiites who they consider heretics. The violence has been especially pronounced in Baluchistan province, where the latest attack occurred.
In addition to the 19 people killed in the bombing in Baluchistan's Mastung district, 25 others were wounded, many of them critically, said Tufail Ahmed, a local political official. The blast completely destroyed the bus that was hit and damaged a second bus carrying Shiites that was close by.
An eyewitness who was traveling in the second bus told Pakistan's Geo TV that first bus contained over 40 pilgrims headed to neighboring Iran, a majority Shiite country that is a popular religious tourism destination.
A second eyewitness said the bomber rushed by in a pick-up truck, swerved in front of the first bus and slammed on the brakes. The bus slammed into the pick-up truck and then a big explosion occurred.
Neither of the eyewitnesses provided their names while being interviewed on TV.
Shiites make up around 15 percent of Pakistan's 190 million people. They are scattered around the country, but the province of Baluchistan has the largest community, mainly made up of ethnic Hazaras, easily identified by their facial features which resemble those of Central Asians.
Sunni extremists have long carried out attacks against Shiites in Pakistan. But the sectarian campaign has stepped up in recent years, fueled mainly by the radical group Laskar-e-Jangvhi, aligned to Pakistani Taliban militants headquartered in the tribal region. More than 300 Shiites have been killed in Pakistan this year, according to Human Rights Watch.
The violence has pushed Baluchistan in particular deeper into chaos. The province was already facing an armed insurgency by ethnic Baluch separatists who frequently attack security forces and government facilities. But the secessionist violence has been overtaken by increasingly bold attacks against Shiites.
The sectarian bloodletting adds another layer to the turmoil in Pakistan, where the government is fighting an insurgency by the Pakistani Taliban and where many fear Sunni hardliners are gaining strength. Shiites and rights group say the government does little to protect Shiites and that militants are emboldened because they are believed to have links to Pakistan's intelligence agencies.
The 21 tribal policemen who were shot dead were found by officials shortly after midnight Sunday in the Jabai area of Frontier Region Peshawar after being notified by one policeman who escaped, said Naveed Akbar Khan, a top political official in the area. Another policeman was found seriously wounded, said Khan.
The 23 policemen went missing before dawn Thursday when militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons attacked two posts in Frontier Region Peshawar. Two policemen were also killed in the attacks.
Militants lined the policemen up on a cricket pitch late Saturday night and gunned them down, said another local official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
Also Sunday, two Pakistani army soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in the North Waziristan tribal area, the main sanctuary for Taliban and al-Qaida militants in the country, security officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with official policy.
____
Associated Press writers Riaz Khan and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistan-official-19-killed-attack-shiites-074756030.html
?
Washington State?Cougars
(Full-size photo)
KENNEWICK ? This trip to the Tri-Cities felt very business-like for the Washington State men?s basketball team.
Get in, win, get out. And get on with a stretch of games that figure to be much more difficult than the one the Cougars played Saturday afternoon at the frigid Toyota Center.
An overmatched Idaho State team offered WSU little resistance in its nonconference finale, as the Cougars led by 20 points at halftime and rolled to a 74-39 win before 4,590 mostly crimson supporters in a home-away-from-home game.
WSU finishes its nonleague schedule with a 9-4 record, three of those losses coming by two or fewer points. The Cougars have yet to defeat a team from a BCS conference ? they?ve played just two ? but coach Ken Bone said he?s relatively pleased with his team?s progress since the start of the season.
?If I were to put a letter grade on it, I would say a B-plus,? Bone said. ?It?s not exactly where we want to be, but I think we?ve made great strides in certain areas that could really help us out in Pac-12 play.?
One of those areas, Bone said, is the acclimation of senior Mike Ladd to the point guard position. Ladd steadied WSU during a sloppy start on Saturday, scoring 13 of his 17 points in the game?s first 12 minutes.
?Mike again stepped up and provided what we needed,? Bone said. ?It?s being a point guard and running the show, but at the same time tonight it was providing points at a time we had a hard time getting points.?
Another facet of WSU?s game that pleases Bone: the Cougars? ability to find shots for senior forward and leading scorer Brock Motum, who scored 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting against ISU?s unconventional 1-3-1 zone defense.
?We know our strengths,? said sophomore guard DaVonte Lacy, who scored 16 points. ?We go to Brock and we go to whoever?s on fire. Mike played well today so we went to him. I think we know our strengths, we know where our bread is buttered so that?s what we?re going to continue to get better at.?
The butter went on smooth enough yesterday. WSU was simply the superior team, and enjoyed overwhelming margins in a number of statistical categories ? field-goal percentage (49.0 to 37.2), second-chance points (20-0) and, perhaps most important to Bone and the Cougars, rebounding (43-16 overall and 15-2 on the offensive glass).
?Rebounding is a big key,? said Ladd, who also led the team with nine rebounds. ?Defensive rebounding, blocking out, finding guys, and (also) on the offensive end.?
They did all of that against the Bengals (1-10). No ISU player had more than three rebounds, and the game was won in the first half when WSU allowed ISU to shoot just 6 for 20 from the field. That fueled a 34-14 halftime lead.
?We?ve got to try to put two halves together every game,? Motum said. ?If we played defense the same way we did tonight in the first half in the second half, they?d have had 28 for the game and that?d have been outstanding.?
That?s where WSU has been most consistent. Entering the weekend, the Cougars led the Pac-12 in scoring defense at 56.5 points per game, and ranked second in field-goal percentage defense at 37.3.
Idaho State might have hung around longer than it did if it had been able to make some shots. The Bengals actually led, 8-6, with 10:51 remaining in the first half. But the Cougars reeled off a 10-0 run, ISU made just three field goals the rest of the half and WSU won for the seventh time in eight games.
Pac-12 play begins Jan. 5 with a game in Pullman against Washington.
?We want to continue our momentum,? Lacy said. ?I don?t think we?ve lost since the Gonzaga game, so we want to keep that win streak alive going into next?week.?
Source: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2012/dec/29/washington-state-men-beat-idaho-state-74-39/
BERLIN (Reuters) - Former German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck, who is running against Chancellor Angela Merkel in next year's election, said austerity measures being imposed on struggling euro zone countries were too severe.
In an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS), Steinbrueck said austerity measures were pushing some countries to do too much too soon. He said there would be massive protests in Germany if such a heavy dose of austerity were to be imposed so quickly.
"The savings measures are too severe, they're leading to depression," said Steinbrueck, 65, a Social Democrat (SPD) who was finance minister from 2005 to 2009 in Merkel's right-centre grand coalition government.
"Some societies are being forced to their knees. Budget consolidation is in some ways like medicine. The right amount can save lives while too much can be lethal."
Steinbrueck noted that some countries were being forced to make spending cuts that amounted to five percent of their gross domestic product (GDP).
"In Germany that would amount to 150 billion euros (of spending to be cut)," Steinbrueck said. "You can imagine what the protests would be like on German streets with that."
Steinbrueck said he and the centre-left SPD were clearly in favor of efforts to stabilize the euro zone - due partly to German national interests and also due to Germany's responsibility to the European Union.
"My advice to the SPD is that we shouldn't treat the European issue in the election campaign as a minor topic or without being courageous," Steinbrueck said, referring to fears in the SPD that talking about the euro zone rescue efforts would benefit Merkel more than the SPD.
"Europe has to be stabilized out of our national interests and out of our responsibility to Europe."
(Reporting By Erik Kirschbaum. Editing by Jane Merriman)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/merkels-rival-steinbrueck-says-euro-zone-austerity-too-145657669--finance.html
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Apple drops Galaxy S III Mini from patent lawsuit (30?Dec?2012?0:06) Apple has agreed to drop Samsung's recent Galaxy S III Mini from its ongoing patent-infringement lawsuit against the company. The tech giant will withdraw the smartphone from the case as .... |
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Pinterest sued (29?Dec?2012?23:57) Pinterest, the popular virtual pinboard, has received its first lawsuit. Theodore F. Schroeder of Ocean City, N.J., has sued the site this week, claiming misappropriation, unjust enrichment .... |
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McAfee: 'Anonymous' attacks will decline into the future (29?Dec?2012?23:46) Security firm McAfee Labs has released their annual "Threat Predictions" report this week, giving some insight into the malware world into 2013. Perhaps most interestingly from the report .... |
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Fujitsu: Windows 8 demand sucks (29?Dec?2012?22:17) Fujitsu has joined in the group of companies claiming Windows 8 demand frankly, sucks. President Masami Yamamoto said consumer demand for the new operating system has been "weak" and its .... |
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Apple must pay $165,000 to Chinese writers (29?Dec?2012?22:05) A Chinese court has ruled Apple must pay a tiny penalty to eight writers. The writers, along with two companies, had accused Apple of allowing their work to be made available for distribution .... |
Source: http://feeds.afterdawn.com/~r/afterdawn/~3/ImvpBhRx_4I/apple_must_pay_165_000_to_chinese_writers
SACRAMENTO ? State lawmakers are moving to curb anonymous political donations in California after a national election in which nonprofit groups secretly poured hundreds of millions of dollars into campaigns.
Legislators have proposed greater disclosure by donors, higher fines for violations and new powers for officials to investigate suspicious contributions to certain groups. Other measures would boost disclosure requirements for political advertising and campaign websites.
The moves were prompted largely by an Arizona group's $11-million donation this year to a California campaign committee, which used the money to oppose Gov. Jerry Brown's tax-hike measure and support another ballot initiative that was intended to curb unions' political fundraising.
State election officials sued the Arizona group to determine the identities of the contributors ? only to discover that the money had come from two other nonprofits, which under federal law are not required to reveal their donors. State law requires groups to identify only donors who gave money specifically for political purposes.
Ann Ravel, chairwoman of the Fair Political Practices Commission, said new legislation is necessary to update the Political Reform Act, the Watergate-era law that governs campaign finance in the state.
Amendments to the 1974 law require a two-thirds vote. It is unclear whether California Democrats, who now wield historic supermajorities in both houses of the Legislature, will use their newfound powers to make the proposed changes.
State Sens. Leland Yee (D-San Francisco) and Ted Lieu (D-Torrance) have introduced legislation, SB 3, to close the state loophole for nonprofits. Their bill would require nonprofits that give at least $100,000 to a political campaign over the course of a year to release the names of the donors behind the contribution.
"Laundering money through nonprofits in an attempt to avoid transparency is fundamentally undemocratic," Yee said. "Our democracy should not be bought and sold in shady backroom deals."
The rise of so-called dark money is a byproduct of the U.S. Supreme Court's 2010 ruling in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, which lifted the ban on direct political expenditures by corporations. That triggered a surge of election activity by groups incorporated under the tax code's section 501(c)4 as social welfare organizations, which are allowed to engage in issue advocacy.
Advocates for more campaign finance reporting said they have been pushing lawmakers for years to tighten California's disclosure rules, which are already among the strongest in the nation.
"It took $11 million to get their attention," said Phillip Ung, a policy advocate at Common Cause, which filed the original complaint about the Arizona donation. "Campaign strategists are constantly adapting their strategies to sneak as much money into campaigns from secret donors as possible, and the law needs to keep up with those strategists."
Assemblyman Roger Dickinson (D-Sacramento) has legislation, AB 45, to prevent what he called last-minute "money bombs" in elections. It would require nonprofits participating in a political campaign to identify any donors giving at least $50,000 six months before an election.
"This is the kind of information voters and the public need to have before they cast their votes," Dickinson said.
The bill would also empower the state's political watchdog to seek injunctions against nonprofits to compel disclosure.
Other proposals target political advertising.
State Sens. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) and Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) have introduced SB 52, which would require the top three funders of political ads to be identified in the spots and on the campaign's website.
Another bill, SB 26 by state Sen. Louis Correa (D-Santa Ana), would increase the size of the disclosure notice on slate mailers, which are paid advertisements for candidates and ballot measures, telling voters who prepared and promoted the fliers.
michael.mishak@latimes.com
Times staff writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.
Responsibilities: The Business Manager reports to the Vice Provost for International Affairs and works closely with the heads of the individual units. This position is responsible for office management, the daily financial operations of the office, oversees the accounting functions and manages all personnel matters. Serves as a resource to the Vice Provost on all matters relating to personnel and financial matters.
Duties: Serve as a resource for
all personnel issues to include managing searches, conducting yearly evaluations, insuring that OIA is in compliance with UO rules and
regulations pertaining to employee evaluations, discipline, timely notice and contract extensions. Maintain personnel records and job
description file for all OIA employees. Supervise unit accountants, computer technician and other employees as assigned by the Vice Provost.
Analyze workload and recommend staff changes as needed. Develop and implement office procedures. Manage the Office of International Affairs
to include arranging offices for all personnel; purchase, maintain, and repair office equipment; responsible for overall condition of the
unit, liaison with other departments on campus (printing, mail room, facilities, telecommunications, business affairs, etc.). Solve problems
regarding space issues.
Manage the accounting functions for the Office International Affairs to include responsibility for accounting
policies and practices consistent with UO policies, supervision of fiscal records and preparation of financial reports, assist the Vice
Provost with yearly budget preparation, supervise reconciliation of all OIA funds and audit fiscal records: responsible for all payroll
functions of the unit. Serve as credit card custodian for International Affairs.
Minimum Qualifications:
Requires bachelor's
degree and extensive accounting experience, three years of progressively responsible and relevant experience or an equivalent combination of
education and experience. Demonstrated skills in personnel management, requires ability to communicate with a diverse group of individuals
and exceptional organizational skills. Experience in supervising office support staff. Must have demonstrated experience in office
management as well as demonstrated knowledge of finance, accounting, internal controls and generally accepted accounting principals.
Knowledge of federal, state and OUS financial regulations. Ability to communicate financial information to an audience that does not have a
financial background. Experience supervising staff with financial responsibilities. Finalist for the position must be able to successfully
complete a criminal background check.
Preferred:
Master's degree, experience working in a higher education environment;
international or cross-cultural experience; ability to converse in foreign language.
Salary: $60,000 - $70,000 (full time annual rate)
Application Procedure:
Prefer electronic submission of letter of application, resume, and answers to supplemental questions to
intlaffjobs@uoregon.edu as one single PDF or Word document. Paper applications may be sent c/o
Nancy O'Brien, Office of International Affairs, 5209 University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403. Application deadline is 5 PM, January 15, 2013.
Supplemental Questions:
1) Describe your experience in office management including size of the office, number of professionals
served by the office, and nature of the work performed. Specify your experience establishing office procedures, resolving problems with
space and equipment, and analyzing and improving workflow.
2) Describe your experience managing budgets and preparing financial reports
including size of budgets, type of financial reports prepared, experience using automated financial information systems and experience
supervising staff with financial responsibilities.
3) Indicate your experience handling personnel matters including search and
affirmative action procedures, personnel evaluations, and standard rules regarding maintaining personnel files.
4) Explain your
experience communicating with people from diverse backgrounds and cultures; include travel to other countries as well as volunteer work.
APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 5 PM on January 15, 2013.
The University of Oregon is an equal-opportunity affirmative action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the American Disabilities Act.
Source: http://www.higheredjobs.com/details.cfm?JobCode=175705975
Learn about how to care for your dog, whether you need a grooming tip, nutritional advise or to review pet products. Use my easy on-line ordering sites for your pet's needs: foods, treats, supplements and much more. I help people make a great income by having your very own Pet Food Business - ASK ME HOW
Source: http://spottsdogcare.blogspot.com/2012/12/flint-river-ranch-pet-food-and-how-its.html
CHICAGO (AP) ? An Illinois state lawmaker who was a frontrunner to replace former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. says he's ending his candidacy because he doesn't want the felony gun charges he faces to detract from the district's important issues.
Donne Trotter was arrested Dec. 5 when security screeners at O'Hare International Airport found an unloaded .25-caliber Beretta handgun in his bag.
He told officers he has the gun for a job he works with a security firm and forgot it was in his bag before he went to the airport.
Trotter announced Saturday he will not seek the 2nd congressional district seat, explaining that solving the area's economic and other problems was too important to allow his legal "situation to detract from what needs to be front and center."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/trotter-cites-legal-trouble-ending-us-house-run-155938690--election.html
'X Factor' contestants have taken a path similar to their male U.K. counterparts.
By Chris Kim
Fifth Harmony
Photo: MTV News
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1699458/fifth-harmony-x-factor-one-direction.jhtml
Apple's online retail store fell short of customer expectations over the holiday shopping season. Satisfaction with the company's website fell to a four-year low, according to ForeSee's annual Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction Index.?One big problem, no customer reviews to help shoppers decide which product is right for them.?
Apple's score of 80 is still considered very good, but the fact that the company did not make the list of top five online retailers should be a wake-up call. "It is a little bit of a yellow caution flag," said Larry Freed, president and chief executive of Foresee.
Apple's score fell three points from last year, because it did a poorer job helping customers wade through its growing list of products, Freed said. For example, outside of price, the difference between the iPad mini, iPad 2 and iPad with Retina display is not readily apparent for many consumers.
By comparison, Amazon topped the list for the eighth year in a row, despite having a vastly wider variety of products from multiple manufacturers. While Amazon is the equivalent of an online department store, Apple is more of a boutique shop.
Amazon's success is in consistently providing "great features" for customers to find and compare products, Freed said. The site's product reviews are particularly helpful.
"There are no product reviews on Apple's site," he said. "In trying to decide if the (iPad) mini is right for me or not, you're really forced to go somewhere else to get somebody's opinion."
ForeSee's index is based on more than 24,000 customer surveys collected between Thanksgiving and Christmas. A drop in the index is significant because each point on average represents a 14% decline in a site's growth rate in sales, according to Freed. For example, if a site had a 20% growth rate year to year in 2011, then dropping a point this year would cut that rate by 3%.
Apple's decline was not the worst among the 100 companies listed. The biggest drop in customer satisfaction was on J.C. Penney's site, which fell five points to 78. Among PC makers, Dell's site also dropped 3 points, but to a lower overall score of 77.
Like Apple, Dell's problem stems from providing too little assistance in figuring out which PC is the best fit among a wide variety of choices. "When you have too many choices, consumers tend to freeze and don't know what to do," Freed said. "Dell has that [problem]. They've got to simplify how you find what you are looking for."
Apple experienced significant turmoil within its management ranks in 2012, although it's difficult to say whether that contributed to its weaker performance in online customer satisfaction. John Browett, head of Apple's retail operations, was ousted this year after only six months at the helm. He had replaced Ron Johnson, who was responsible for Apple's highly successful retail stores. Johnson left Apple to become CEO of J.C. Penney.
Browett joined Apple from Dixons, a British consumer electronics retailer, where he had been CEO. Browett's troubles at Apple were mostly operational. His plans for cutting costs included reducing employees' hours and freezing hiring, decisions Apple later reversed.
While it would be unfair to pin Apple's latest ForeSee score on Browett, there's no doubt the consumer electronics maker needs to double down on improving its online customer experience to avoid turning the decline into a trend. Apple did not immediately return requests for comment.
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Lead image courtesy of Shutterstock.
Source: http://readwrite.com/2012/12/28/lack-of-online-reviews-hurts-apples-online-store-infographic
Published: 29 December, 2012, 19:39
British actress Kate Winslet (L) and her boyfriend Ned Rocknroll. (Reuters / Siu Chiu)
The 'Titanic' star received the once-in-a-lifetime wedding gift from her husband's millionaire uncle. Kate Winslet is set to travel to space after Richard Branson presented the actress with a $200,000 ticket on his Virgin Galactic suborbital vehicle.
"); $(".tail_text").show(500); return false; }Winslet wed Ned Rocknroll, the Virgin magnate?s nephew earlier this month, during a secret ceremony in New York, The Daily Telegraph reports.
Accrding to The Sun, Winslet was presented with this pricey gift after last year she helped save the tycoon?s mother from a blaze when his multi-million Carribean villa caught fire, trapping people inside.
That was the time when Kate met her future husband, Ned Rocknroll,who works part-time for Virgin Galactic.
"I'm not sure she wants to go on a one-way trip to Mars, but she wants to go into space," The Daily Telegraph quotes Richard Branson as saying.
Over 500 people, including actor Ashton Kutcher, have already purchased tickets for a space ride on the Virgin vehicle. Prominent British cosmologist Stephen Hawking also received a gift ticket to space from Branson.
The vehicle is now undergoing flight-testing at the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, The Sun says.
Source: http://rt.com/art-and-culture/news/winslet-wedding-gift-space-081/
Following the first sighting in the wild of Huawei's upcoming 6.1 inch monster phone, the Ascend Mate, the device has been leaked once more ahead of an expected CES unveiling. This time, the device is seen posing for a series of photos alongside -- albeit, only just -- another Huawei device we're expecting to see at CES, the 5 inch D2.
The photos obtained by MyDrivers, show what is essentially a big -- really big -- black slab, with on-screen buttons. There appears to be a slight curve to the back of the device, which should make it a little nicer to hold in the hand. If a 6.1 inch smartphone could ever, truly feel nice in the hand. Thickness is supposedly just 9.9mm.
Spec information still remains in the rumor territory at present, but MyDrivers goes on to claim that the Ascend Mate is powered by a quad-core 1.8GHz processor -- likely an in house effort -- 2GB of RAM, a 13MP camera and a 4000mAh battery. Nothing here sounds too out of the ordinary, certainly not for a 2013 release, but until we actually get something official we'll keep the rumor tag on them.
Along with the photos, a leaked advertisement for the Ascend Mate has also been seen. It makes no bones about who Huawei is competing with in this space -- the 5.5 inch Samsung Galaxy Note 2. Samsung has set an extremely high bar in the super sized phone market with the Note and the Note 2, and anyone who considers challenging had better bring their 'A' game. The Note offers a specific experience though, with the S-Pen, whereas at least for the time being, the Ascend Mate just looks like a gargantuan sized version of some of Huawei's other Android smartphones.
Whatever the Ascend Mate may or may not turn out to be, Android Central will be in Las Vegas to bring you all the action as it unfolds.
Source: MyDrivers via Unwired View
 |  |
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/8O243LND8s8/story01.htm
This past year has brought remarkable scientific advances in the understanding of colorectal cancer (CRC), and?as usual with science?opened up even more questions to be answered in 2013 and beyond. Here are just a few highlights:
Your BODY: Peering inside cells
In 2012, scientists penetrated deeper inside cells to better understand why and how normal cells become cancerous and spread (metastasize) through the body.
(1)?? For the first time ever, 150 researchers with the Cancer Genome Atlas Project?a collaboration of dozens of U.S. institutions?mapped the entire genome for each of 250 different colorectal cancers. Instead of just looking for specific mutated genes, they mapped literally the entire DNA package of 3.5 billion pairs of the 4-letter genetic ?alphabet contained in each cancer sample.
(2)?? A month later, a 9-year international collaboration called ENCODE (the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements) simultaneously published a blizzard of 30 journal articles, summarizing their findings about how at least four million gene switches can flick genes on and off, or, like an electric outlet dimmer, work together to turn genes up or down. Previously, scientists have only understood about how approximately 3% of DNA matter is normally active in directing cell functions. By analyzing data from 1,600 sets of standardized experiments using the equivalent of 300 years of lightning-fast computer analyses on more than 15 trillion bytes of raw data, scientists took a giant leap forward in understanding how the other 97% of the human genome nicknamed DNA ?dark matter? might explain why many diseases appear.
Both major advances will not only help researchers find new treatments and tests for individual cancers, but they also might begin to explain how non-genetic factors like diet or exercise could affect whether cancer begins, recurs, or spreads.?
Your LIFESTYLE: Population studies reveal roles of diet, exercise, aspirin,
While some scientists peered deep into cells, others looked at patterns in whole populations of people who have and don?t have colorectal cancer.
Your TREATMENT: Two new drugs for metastatic CRC, and a cost challenge
For the first time since 2006, two new drugs?Zaltrap?(ziv-aflibercept)? and Stivarga?(regorafenib) were approved by the FDA to treat metastatic colorectal cancer which has progressed despite other chemotherapy.
The oncology world was a bit stunned in September 2012, when leaders of the world-renowned Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City publicly announced?they would not use the latest new drug (Zaltrap) because it was no more effective but priced twice as high as Stivarga. The makers of Zaltrap subsequently announced a 50% discount in the price . However, that discount may not immediately apply to patients themselves, so Fight Colorectal Cancer staff remain closely involved in discussions with the FDA and others.
Your COSTS: Drug shortages, grey-markets, fake Avastin, screening coverage
We at Fight Colorectal Cancer know?and our advocates continually tell their families, communities, and legislators?that the very best way to stop colorectal cancer in its tracks is to never let it get started.
Our Future: The greatest hope of all is prevention and early detection
Forward into 2013
Science will drive us forward in 2013. Facts show that African Americans get colorectal cancer, and die from it, more often than other groups: We need to reach those populations with better screening. We know that the majority of people at risk for having Lynch syndrome?with its multiple cancers?don?t know they?re at risk, and we?ll keeping helping to find those families.
Even as we celebrate the enormous scientific strides forward in 2012, we could lose all momentum and years of invaluable work if we allow cancer research funding to dry up.??And so we keep fighting:
Here?s part of what Kate wrote last New Year?s Eve. Her words still ring as true as ever:
* Come to Call on Congress and make sure that programs and funding for colorectal cancer prevention and research are strong and growing.
* Do one last, very important thing: ?Make a gift to Fight Colorectal Cancer and ensure that our programs and research grants continue until we end suffering and death from colon and rectal cancer.
?Here?s to ?Another year, full of hope and promises.?
Source: http://fightcolorectalcancer.org/policy_news/2012/12/fighting_on_crc_research_2012_in_review
Whether in victory or defeat, the Redskins have set new records in 14-of-15 contests, an impressive feat for any club, and a major reason why the Redskins find themselves in first place in the NFC East.
Regardless of the outcome of Sunday night's game, the Redskins have found a strong roster foundation and have set a new precedence for rookie excellence in Washington and around the league.
Here is a comprehensive, week-by-week recap heading into the Week 17 matchup with the Dallas Cowboys:
Click link for rest http://www.redskins.com/news-and-eve...b-8f117c02579e
The Redskins are undefeated against the Cowboys at home when fighting for Division Titles and Championships.
matt groening brandon phillips
