Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Clinton heading to UN to condemn Assad regime (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she'll attend a U.N. Security Council meeting Tuesday to lend her support to Syrians seeking democratic change.

Clinton says the U.S. will support an Arab-backed condemnation of President Bashar Assad's regime. She says Assad is blocking a peaceful transition by attacking the Syrian people, and warned that instability could spill over throughout the Mideast.

Assad's regime is intensifying an assault against army defectors and protesters. The U.N. says more than 5,400 people have been killed in a crackdown since March. More than 190 were killed in the past five days.

Clinton's statement condemned the Assad regime's escalation of violence "in the strongest possible terms." She called the shelling of civilian areas with mortar and tank fire "brutal" and said whole buildings were leveled.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_syria

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[OOC] Vampire Prosecutor: NPC

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Name Abel
Gender male
Age appears to be in early thirties
Ethnicity English
Race Vampire
Significance He is a prosecutor, one who is actually responsible for the formation of the special investigation team. His identity as a vampire is secret to those around him and he survives because of a friend in the medical field who gives him blood-bags from people who donated blood. He formed the special team in order to catch Xia, a young vampire moved to New York City five years ago in hopes of finding a life-long companion.
History Much of his past before he was turned is a blur and as time has continued on, he has forgotten exactly how old he really is. He is constantly on the move, changing jobs and identities in order to locate those of his kind and keep them from exposing the truth about vampires. He truthfully believes that Xia is the woman who turned him into a vampire, but he cannot be sure.
Personality Abel is a guy who few try to grow close with. He is very mysterious, showing only a blank face and a smile that says he knows more than he tells. Rarely wasting a moment to joke, his seriousness is a plague that people try to avoid. In truth, he is very lonely, though his only true friend is his doctor friend who provides him with blood, and even he doesn?t understand him fully.
Other Like the vampire prosecutor, he is also strongly drawn to the female prosecutor?s blood.
Name Xia
Gender female
Age appears to be in mid twenties
Ethnicity Asian American
Race Vampire
Significance She is the one responsible for the ?vampire attacks? five years ago. Lately she has been laying low, however, only making kills every now and then to gain the attention of the vampire prosecutor, who she has fallen in love with. Every now and then she will visit him out of the blue or will call his phone and present him with information that helps him with his cases. Her attacks have been in precise locations. If you were to dot them out on a map and then connect the dots, they would be forming an arrow. This arrow is pointing to the part of the city where she is residing and where she awaits the arrival of the vampire prosecutor.
History For many years, Xia has been moving from place to place. Seven years ago while in Los Vegas, she ran into Abel who was visiting relatives. Impressed with his abilities, she turned him into a vampire. However, his response to the change angered her for he wasn?t overjoyed, but horrified. In her anger, she lost track of him. It was two years later when she found him in New York City. In order to gain his attention, she went on a mass killing spree. During the five years up until today, she has been diligently searching for a life-long companion; a mate. In the process she discovered the prosecutor. She turned him into a vampire, hiding her identity in order to force him to find her.
Personality You can sum up Xia in one word: self-centered. She is only out for herself, not thinking of how her actions can affect the lives around her. She lives for the moment and thrives for pleasure ? hence why she is searching for a mate. Because she is on her own, her frustration and anger often takes form of a vampire attack. She loves to play with people?s emotions and will do anything to get what she wants.
Other She is targeting the female prosecutor and the intern out of jealousy.
Name Neo Jelani
Gender male
Age 33
Ethnicity American
Race Human
Significance Neo is the guy that provides the vampire prosecutor the blood he needs. He is the owner of a club named Club Blood ? this is where he stores the blood. Generally he also provides insight and advice while the two sit to drink. Though he isn?t the only one who knows of the prosecutor?s vampire situation, he is constantly looking out for the guy and will try in every which way to help if needed.
History After working for several years as a doctor, Neo retired from his job. He and a friend had a serious argument over disappearing blood bags from the donation branch and in the end, he decided he was done. Wealthy from his years of working, he opened the club. (will add part of meeting the prosecutor later)
Personality Straight forward and honest, Neo is a friendly character. There aren?t many people who dislike him and vice versa. He is generally viewed as a fatherly figure and does his best to help those in need. However, this fatherly figure disappears when someone he treasures is threatened. He suppresses a dark side, one he developed after working as a depressed doctor for many years.
Other His wife died in a massive car accident two years ago.
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estrelas
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Monday, January 30, 2012

Angela Meade given Sills award by Met Opera (AP)

NEW YORK ? Soprano Angela Meade has won the Beverly Sills Artist Award for young singers.

The annual award, which carries a $50,000 prize, was announced Monday. It is given to singers from 25-40.

Meade sings Elvira on Thursday in the opening of the Met's revival of Verdi's "Ernani," the role she sang for her company debut in 2008.

Previous winners include Nathan Gunn (2006), mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato (2007), tenor Matthew Polenzani (2008), bass John Relyea (2009), soprano Susanna Phillips (2010) and mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard (2011).

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_en_mu/us_met_opera_sills_award_meade

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Three Kazakh activists detained after rally for change (Reuters)

ALMATY (Reuters) ? A Kazakh court ordered the arrest and detention of three opposition activists Saturday for holding an unauthorised rally, at which protesters condemned the recent election as fraudulent and demanded the release of jailed colleagues.

The three were arrested hours after about 300 people, opposed to long-serving President Nursultan Nazarbayev, gathered in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, calling for democratic change.

At the rally, Bolat Abilov and Amirzhan Kosanov, leaders of the opposition All-National Social Democratic Party, had demanded a transparent investigation into riots last month in the oil-producing region of Zhanaozen, the Central Asian state's deadliest violence in decades.

"After the rally, Abilov and Kosanov were brought to an administrative court in Almaty," an aide to Abilov told Reuters, requesting anonymity. "Abilov was given 18 days in custody and Kosanov 15 days for holding the unauthorised rally."

Amirbek Togusov, the head of the Social Democrats' Almaty headquarters, was put under arrest for 15 days, he said.

"We saw them off right to the threshold of the detention center. They appeared to be in good spirits and were confident in their actions," Abilov's aide said. The court could not be reached for comment because it had closed.

Abilov and Kosanov, addressing the rally, had demanded that their colleagues jailed on charges of inciting the oilmen's riots in Zhanaozen, western Kazakhstan, be freed.

It was the second peaceful protest since the January 15 parliamentary election gave Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party an overwhelming victory. After denouncing the election as rigged and faulty during an unauthorised rally on January 17, Abilov and Kosanov were fined and warned they could be arrested next time.

"WE WANT PEACEFUL CHANGE"

Saturday, the protesters had originally planned to gather at a monument to the 19th century Kazakh poet and philosopher Abai but city authorities, who denied permission for the rally, fenced off the square and unarmed police stood guard. The demonstrators gathered instead outside a nearby hotel.

"We want change, peaceful change and democratic change. We want to be reckoned with," Abilov, co-chairman of the All-National Social Democratic Party, told the crowd.

A solitary Kazakh flag waved among a crowd that was swollen by the presence of journalists and plain-clothes police. A succession of speakers took the megaphone over nearly two hours, before Muslim prayers ended the rally.

Nazarbayev, a former Soviet Communist Party boss, has ruled Kazakhstan since before independence with little tolerance for dissent. This month's election admitted three parties to parliament for the first time, but Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observers said it lacked any genuine opposition presence.

"The election wasn't legitimate. We want them to hear us," said Ravilya, a pensioner who stood in the crowd in temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius. "There are more police than people. It's a good thing they're armed only with sticks," she said.

Nazarbayev, 71, is popular among most of Kazakhstan's 16.7 million population for bringing stability that has made the country's economy the most successful in ex-Soviet Central Asia.

But the riots in the oil town of Zhanaozen, which officials say killed 16, shook that image of stability. Police fired live rounds at crowds who set buildings ablaze in the town. Another person was killed in a nearby village the next day.

"We demand a just and large-scale investigation into the tragedy," Abilov said. "The president should promise that never again will weapons be used against citizens of Kazakhstan."

The prosecutor-general's office said this week that police generally acted within legal bounds when resorting to the use of weapons on December 16, but four senior officers are being prosecuted for using excessive force.

Opposition leader Vladimir Kozlov and newspaper editor Igor Vinyavsky have been detained for two months pending trial on charges of fomenting social hatred and trying to overthrow the constitutional order.

"We demand that authorities stop fighting against their opponents with such methods," Abilov said.

(Additional reporting by Mariya Gordeyeva; Editing by Tim Pearce)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/wl_nm/us_kazakhstan_protest

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Opposition rally organizers jailed in Kazakhstan

All-National Social Democratic Party co-leader Zharmakhan Tuyakbay speaks at a rally organized in protest at the results of recent elections and the violent suppression of an oil workers protest last month, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. Hundreds of opposition supporters gathered Saturday in Kazakhstan's commercial capital, Almaty, to protest the results of recent elections and the violent suppression of an oil workers protest last month. The meeting took place peacefully and was not broken up by police, as is common at unauthorized political rallies in the former Soviet Central Asian nation. (AP/Peter Leonard)

All-National Social Democratic Party co-leader Zharmakhan Tuyakbay speaks at a rally organized in protest at the results of recent elections and the violent suppression of an oil workers protest last month, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. Hundreds of opposition supporters gathered Saturday in Kazakhstan's commercial capital, Almaty, to protest the results of recent elections and the violent suppression of an oil workers protest last month. The meeting took place peacefully and was not broken up by police, as is common at unauthorized political rallies in the former Soviet Central Asian nation. (AP/Peter Leonard)

All-National Social Democratic Party, or OSDP, deputy leader Amirzhan Kosanov speaks at a rally organized in protest at the results of recent elections and the violent suppression of an oil workers protest last month, in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. Hundreds of opposition supporters gathered Saturday in Kazakhstan's commercial capital, Almaty, to protest the results of recent elections and the violent suppression of an oil workers protest last month. The meeting took place peacefully and was not broken up by police, as is common at unauthorized political rallies in the former Soviet Central Asian nation. (AP/Peter Leonard)

(AP) ? Some 300 opposition activists staged a rare rally in Kazakhstan's commercial capital Saturday to protest recent elections and the violent suppression of a group of oil workers. Hours later, speakers at the rally handed two-week jail sentences for holding the unsanctioned gathering.

The jailings broadened the ranks of opposition figures languishing behind bars in the authoritarian former Soviet Central Asian nation and further undermined its past assurances that it intends to actively pursue democratic development.

Nonetheless, the West has been largely mute in its criticism of Kazakhstan, a vast, oil- and gas-rich nation bordering Russia and China that is viewed as a reliable energy and security partner. The country is key to the northern delivery route for supplies headed to the U.S.-led military operation in Afghanistan.

Police on Saturday cordoned off the area where protesters hoped to gather, forcing the crowd to move to a nearby spot in Almaty overlooked by a soaring Soviet-era hotel. Bulat Abilov, co-chairman of the All-National Social Democratic Party, or OSDP, pledged such rallies would be held once a month.

An Almaty court later sentenced Abilov and OSDP deputy chairman Amirzhan Kosanov to 15 and 18 days in jail, respectively.

"What we are doing is telling the country the truth, we are fighting for honest elections," Kosanov told The Associated Press by telephone. "This punishment will not change our position."

Before the meeting ended, the crowd prayed in memory of the at least 16 people killed last month in the western oil town of Zhanaozen during clashes between police and striking laborers. Authorities are prosecuting several police officers for exceeding their authority by opening fire on rampaging protesters.

At the end of the rally, Abilov led the crowd in chanting, "We are sick of this outrage!"

The ruling Nur Otan party gained control of 83 of the parliament's 107 seats in elections this month that international observers said failed to meet democratic standards. OSDP, the only genuinely robust opposition force taking part, garnered less than 2 percent of the ballot, falling far short of the 7 percent needed to win seats.

Earlier this week, police arrested the leader of the unregistered Alga party, Vladimir Kozlov, for inciting social unrest in Zhanaozen. The editor of independent newspaper Vzglyad, Igor Sinyavsky, was also jailed and faces charges of "calling for the violent overthrow of the constitutional order."

An Almaty court on Friday ordered the men to be remanded in custody for two months.

Regional Alga representative Aizhangul Amirova, who worked closely with the Zhanaozen strikers, was also arrested by security services in early January.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-28-AS-Kazakhstan-Opposition-Rally/id-9c1c395a4b0e4869bb9b1ffecb90763a

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

THG Week in Review: January 22-28, 2012


Welcome to THG's Week in Review! Below, our staff looks back at the stories, stars and scandals that made these past seven days the craziest ALL YEAR.

If you don't already, you can FOLLOW THG on Twitter and Facebook for 24/7/365 news. Every day, week and year, let us be your celebrity gossip source!

Now, a rundown of the week that was at The Hollywood Gossip:

Life After Ashton

What was the highlight of the week for you? Did we leave anything out?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/thg-week-in-review-january-22-28-2012/

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Steam beta journeys to Android and iOS, for select invitees

Our friends at Joystiq are members of a privileged club of which we are not. We've both downloaded and installed the mobile version of Steam -- now available as a free beta download for Android and iOS -- but where they found Mac and PC games for sale, along with the ability to chat with friends, browse profiles and read gaming news, we were greeted with red text that states our accounts are not part of the beta. Damn our luck! For those interested to give Valve's handiwork a spin, it seems that downloading and installing the app puts you in the queue for a future invite. Won't you join us in the line?

Steam beta journeys to Android and iOS, for select invitees originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Joystiq  |  sourceAndroid Market, iTunes, Valve  | Email this | Comments


Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Ugci-Nz7cDU/

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Friday, January 27, 2012

Why is investment income taxed less than wages? (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Why do Mitt Romney and other wealthy investors pay lower taxes on the income they make from investments than they would if they earned their millions from wages? Because Congress, through the tax code, has long treated investment more favorably than labor, seeing it as an engine for economic growth that benefits everyone.

President Barack Obama and the Occupy Wall Street movement are challenging that value system, raising volatile election year issues of equity and fairness.

The U.S. has long had a progressive income tax, in which people who make more money pay taxes at a higher rate than those who make less. But for almost as long, the U.S. has taxed capital gains ? the profit from selling an investment ? at a lower rate than wages.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_go_ot/us_taxing_investments

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Apple iPhone now more popular than all Android smartphones in US combined: report (Digital Trends)

iphone-4-vs-4s

In the US, Apple?s iPhone has surpassed the smartphone market share of all Android devices combined, according to new numbers out from research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, as reported by Reuters. But the difference is almost invisible: Apple now owns 44.9 percent of the market; handsets running Google?s Android operating system now own just 44.8 percent.

Though the difference in popularity may be small, Apple?s growth is anything but. By Kantar?s count, Apple?s market share has doubled over the past year alone, while Android devices have fallen about 5 percent, from a high of 50 percent. Windows Phone devices now account for less than 2 percent, on average, across nine key world markets.

A recent study from Nielsen corroborates Kantar?s numbers. According to Nielsen, 44.5 percent of customers who purchased a smartphone during the last three months of 2012 bought an iPhone, and 57 percent of those buyers got the iPhone 4S, Apple?s newest handset. At that time, Android still remained the No. 1 smartphone category, with 46.9 percent of buyers going for a Google-powered device. ?

News of Apple?s new-found dominance in the US smartphone game follows the company?s latest quarterly earnings report, which showed record iPhone and iPad sales, and a record revenue of $46.3 billion. Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones during the quarter (which spanned the final three months of 2011), a 128 percent increase over the same period in 2010. And iPad sales jumped 111 percent year-over-year, to 15.43 million.

While Apple?s iPhone sales are staggering, it?s more surprising that the entire Android market put together is failing to beat back a single line of handsets ? even if they are Apple handsets. We would be surprised in Android doesn?t surge back into first place over the coming months, as more and more customers go for far faster 4G LTE-enabled devices, which the iPhone 4S is not.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

More from Digital Trends

Android is on almost half the world?s smartphones

ComScore: Android dominates market, Verizon iPhone 4 boosts Apple

Rumor: Apple working on smaller, more affordable iPhones

Worldwide smartphone sales rose 96 pct in summer 2010

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20120125/tc_digitaltrends/appleiphonenowmorepopularthanallandroidsmartphonesinuscombinedreport

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Video: Alabama twisters wreak havoc

The death toll stands at two, with 24 hospitalized and 200 homes destroyed. NBC?s Brian Williams reports.

>> other news tonight, an update on the january tornado outbreak in jefferson county , alabama, as we showed you here last evening. there's still so much damage. the death toll stands at two with two dozen people hospitalized tonight, 200 homes destroyed in all and another 200 damaged. the twisters also destroyed an elementary school and some folks are worried about qualifying for the money they need to rebuild the school because that county filed for bankruptcy protection back in november.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46123048/

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Complaints of workplace bias reach an all-time high

By Allison Linn

The government received more complaints of worker discrimination its last fiscal year than ever before, but it was only a slight increase over 2010.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Tuesday that it received 99,947 complaints of worker discrimination during its 2011 fiscal year, which ended in September. That?s an increase of 25 complaints over the 2010 fiscal year.

Discrimination complaints surged in the 2008 fiscal year, when the agency received 95,402 complaints as the Great Recession was getting under way. They number of complaints fell somewhat in 2009, the year the recession officially ended, but they rose again in 2010 as the economy was?recovering slowly.

Justine Lisser, a spokeswoman for the EEOC, said the agency can?t?say for certain that the weak job market has caused the spike in complaints, although there may be a correlation.

The unemployment rate remains unusually high, at 8.5 percent, more than two years after the recession officially ended and the economy began?growing again.

Lisser also noted the agency has been working harder to inform employees and employers about its claims process, and?has made it easier to research claims criteria on its website.

In 2011, about 35 percent of the workers complained of race discrimination, according to the EEOC. Gender discrimination accounted for about 29 percent of the complaints, while age discrimination complaints made up about 24 percent.

About 26 percent charged employers with discriminating on the basis of a disability.

Many people charge more than one form of discrimination, so the percentages exceed 100 percent.

The government also said it resolved 112,499 complaints in fiscal year 2011. About 18 percent of those claims received a ?merit resolution,? meaning the person received some sort of settlement.

About two-thirds of those were found to have no reasonable cause for auction. Another 16 percent were closed for administrative reasons, such as that the person who charged discrimination didn?t respond to further requests from the EEOC.

Related:

Age bias complaints surge in weak economy

Do you think employee discrimination has become more commonplace since the recession began?

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/24/10225036-discrimination-complaints-reach-all-time-high

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Romney to right tax "mistake" after primary loss (Reuters)

Columbia, South Carolina (Reuters) ? Humbled by a stunning loss in South Carolina, Mitt Romney said on Sunday he would release this week the tax returns demanded by rivals as he bids to regain the upper hand in the volatile Republican presidential race.

Romney, the longtime front-runner in the Republican race and one of the wealthiest presidential candidates in history, lost to a resurgent Newt Gingrich in the conservative Southern state on Saturday after stumbling badly in debates with clumsy responses to demands that he disclose his tax history.

Trying to recapture his footing as the contest heads to more populous and more moderate Florida, Romney said he would release his 2010 returns and an estimate for 2011 on Tuesday.

"We made a mistake holding off as long as we did and it just was a distraction," Romney said on "Fox News Sunday."

Romney said the returns would be on the Internet and emphasized he was releasing two years of returns after Gingrich posted 2010 taxes on Thursday.

He slammed Gingrich as a Washington insider, a line of attack he is expected to use going forward, and called on his rival to release details of his contract with the government-sponsored mortgage finance giant Freddie Mac.

Gingrich's work for Freddie Mac could raise concerns for some voters in Florida, a state that has been hit hard by the downturn in the U.S. real estate market.

"He talks about great, bold movements and ideas, well what's he been doing for 15 years? He's been working as a lobbyist ... that's selling influence around Washington," Romney told about 300 supporters in a campaign stop later on Sunday outside Daytona Beach, Florida.

Romney's tax announcement was meant to draw a line under a bad week punctuated by his own missteps, a surprising turn in an otherwise tightly scripted campaign.

In the midst of a halting response to the tax return controversy, Romney said he paid a rate of about 15 percent, low compared with many U.S. wage earners but in line with what wealthy individuals pay on income from investments.

Gingrich, a former speaker of the House of Representatives with a sharp tongue that played well in debates, pounced on Romney's weak flank and walloped the former Massachusetts governor by 40 percent to 28 percent in South Carolina.

The Gingrich win reshaped the Republican race and reflected a party sharply divided over how to beat Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 election.

There have been three nominating contests so far and Gingrich, Romney and former Senator Rick Santorum have each won one.

A victory in Florida's primary on January 31 would restore Romney's luster after South Carolina, and a Gingrich win would solidify him as a serious challenger to the former business executive. A protracted and poisonous Republican battle, in turn, could be a boon to Obama's re-election bid.

"It's hard to see it ending soon. It could drag on to April," said Al Cardenas, the chairman of the American Conservative Union. Cardenas headed Romney's campaign in Florida in 2008, but has remained neutral this time.

"When this is over, we are going to have a presidential candidate showing all his warts. We are going to enter into a national election with a candidate whose chinks in the armor are visibly seen," he said.

With 19 million people, Florida presents logistical and financial challenges that may give an advantage to Romney's well-funded campaign machine.

In Florida, he leads Gingrich by 40.5 percent to 22 percent, according to polls cited by RealClearPolitics.com, conducted before Romney's battering in South Carolina. Santorum, a social conservative who won the Iowa contest but has struggled to gain traction since then, is third with 15 percent.

Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who is not campaigning in Florida, is fourth at about 9 percent.

ROMNEY FLOODS FLORIDA

Some Florida voters were delighted by Gingrich's rise.

Eugenio Perez, 58, a Miami property manager, said Gingrich's experience would help him in the White House.

"We live in a very complex world and we can't put a novice in such a high place, as we did in 2008," he said.

The more moderate electorate in Florida may help Romney, who has failed to consolidate conservative support despite his longtime front-runner status and had hoped to wrap up the nomination after Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman bowed out last week.

Facing a real estate crisis and an unemployment rate of 9.9 percent, above the national average, Floridians are also expected to be more open to Romney's argument that he is the type of "CEO president" the country needs.

"I like the fact that Romney is a businessman who has been successful. Some people criticize that but I think that's commendable," said Mike Sullivan, 57, a professional golfer who attended the Romney rally.

"Right now, we need a chief executive who can run America like a business and not like the Salvation Army."

The tax release shift and financial advantage could help Romney regain his momentum after Gingrich's win.

A political action committee formed by Romney backers, Restore Our Future, has spent $5 million in Florida for Romney since mid-December, 20 times the amount spent there so far by any other group supporting a Republican candidate, according to Federal Election Commission filings analyzed by Reuters.

Romney could get some help from Santorum, who is competing with Gingrich to be the conservative alternative to Romney.

"It's a choice between a moderate and an erratic conservative - someone who on a lot of the major issues has been just wrong," Santorum told ABC's "This Week" program, saying Gingrich was out of step with many Republicans on Wall Street bailouts, health policy, immigration and global warming. "I think he's a very high-risk candidate.

Gingrich has see-sawed in national polls but has shown an uncanny ability to hang on, especially after an exodus of his staff last summer. Now he must prove he is the most "electable" choice despite hefty political and personal baggage.

Gingrich, who refers to Romney as a "Massachusetts moderate," said having his rival's taxes on the table would at least put an end to that part of the campaign narrative.

"As far as I'm concerned, that particular issue is now set aside and we can go on and talk about other bigger and more important things," Gingrich said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

But the tax issue will almost certainly not go away.

Income inequality has become a leading topic in the presidential race, and Obama has signaled he will talk about an economy that works "for everyone, not just a wealthy few" in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, the day of Romney's tax return release.

(Additional reporting by Ros Krasny in Coral Springs, Florida, Patricia Zengerle and David Adams in Miami, Terry Wade in Daytona Beach and David Morgan and Andrea Shalal-Esa in Washington. Writing by Jeff Mason and Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Mary Milliken and Peter Cooney)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/ts_nm/us_usa_campaign

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Video: Harsh reality hits cruise survivors

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46113633#46113633

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Identity theft insurance not always worth the cost ? Maine Business ...

The phrase ?identity theft? has become one of those terms that makes one?s blood run cold. We?ve heard so many stories of financial losses, ruined credit and related horrors that we react emotionally to the subject.

That emotional response has prompted many consumers to buy insurance that kicks in if some form of identity theft strikes the insured. The question before us is, is such insurance worth the cost?

There?s no simple answer, as is usually the case in consumer matters. The quick historical view back to 2006 finds Consumer Reports said such coverage was ?typically not worth the money.? The magazine notes more than half of ID theft protection is sold by banks, and that those premiums amount to a consumer subsidy for federally required loss protection through credit card and bank account fraud. The passing of time hasn?t changed CR?s opinion that you can ? and should ? take more effective steps yourself to protect your credit and good name.

ID theft insurance typically costs $120 to $300 a year. That?s more than victims often incur through the theft and misuse of their credit card numbers, the most frequent type of ID theft. Federal law limits liability in such cases to $50 per card.

Those who sell the coverage point to the time-consuming process of restoring credit and correcting information on their credit histories. The insurers say their policies can help consumers cope with what can be a trying and frustrating process.

Most people in the insurance industry give the same advice they would when buying other types of coverage. Find out what the policy limits are; the National Association of Insurance Commissioners says most ID theft policies have policy limits of $10,000 to $15,000. If the policy covers lost wages, find out how the coverage is triggered and what limits apply. Know if there is a deductible; some policies require the holder to pay as much as $500 toward the cost of reclaiming your financial identity before the insurer pays a penny.

Before buying, check your homeowner?s insurance policy. It may include ID theft coverage, or you might be able to add coverage more affordably than buying separate coverage. If you decide to buy a separate policy, compare the coverage of several companies.

The insurance commissioners warn against becoming a victim of insurance fraud by making sure the agent and company you?re dealing with are licensed to do business in Maine. Find the Bureau of Insurance online ( http://www.maine.gov/pfr/insurance), by phone (207-624-8475 or TTY 888-577-6690) or by writing to the Bureau at 34 State House Station, Augusta ME 04333.

David Leach, principal consumer credit examiner for the Maine?s Bureau of Consumer Credit Protection, advises people to be their own advocates. Leach says it?s critical for each of us to get one free credit report from one of the reporting agencies (Experian, Equifax and Trans Union) every four months. Do this by visiting www.annualcreditreport.com and only that site. That, plus keeping a close watch on all credit card activity, will help keep identity thieves at bay.

As to separate insurance, Leach says, ?Consumers who sign up for these types of services are paying close to $250.00 a year for a service they can essentially run themselves.? He notes that most financial institutions that issue credit cards will waive all losses in cases of identity theft or fraud. Visit the bureau?s website at www.credit.maine.gov.

For a rundown on federal ID theft laws and tips to protect yourself, visit the Federal Trade Commission website, www.consumer.gov/idtheft.

Consumer Forum is a collaboration of the Bangor Daily News and Northeast CONTACT, Maine?s membership-funded, nonprofit consumer organization. Individual and business memberships are available at modest rates. For assistance with consumer-related issues, including consumer fraud and identity theft, or for information, write: Consumer Forum, P.O. Box 486, Brewer 04412, or go to necontact.wordpress.com, or email atcontacexdir@live.com.

Source: http://bangordailynews.com/2012/01/22/business/identity-theft-insurance-not-always-worth-the-cost/

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Monday, January 23, 2012

Engadget Mobile Podcast 122 - 01.21.2012


This podcast is all about vision, which proves that the Engadget Mobile Podcasters were not completely blinded by the light of the Consumer Electronics Show. They got close, though (despite relentless Wookie attacks).

Hosts: Myriam Joire (tnkgrl), Brad Molen
Producer: Trent Wolbe
Music: Tycho - Coastal Brake (Ghostly International)

00:01:37 - Huawei Honor review
00:31:05 - ZTE Tania arrives in the UK: a budget phone for budget buyers
00:32:00 - ZTE pays Microsoft around $27 for each Windows Phone made
00:44:36 - Editorial: Don't call it an ultrabook
01:01:36 - Google's Matias Duarte reveals design standards for Android 4.0 at CES 2012
01:16:48 - AT&T to adjust data plans January 22nd, offers more gigs for more money
01:27:38 - Virgin Mobile targets March 23rd to throttle data, take candy from children
01:28:45 - Samsung wasn't interested in buying RIM, still isn't interested in buying RIM
01:30:05 - Samsung's Bada - Tizen merger still looking pretty likely
01:31:24 - Verizon to sell $200 Droid RAZR, 16GB microSD card not included this time
01:36:05 - HTC EVO 3D: poof, no more Carrier IQ software
01:39:30 - Skype exec confirms that Windows Phone product is 'coming soon'
01:44:27 - KDDI and Kyocera create speaker-free smartphone, we go hands-on (video)
01:46:10 - Nokia Lumia 900 coming to retail on March 18?
01:46:25 - Texas Instruments demos first OMAP 5, Android 4.0-based reference design, promises it in laptops next year (video)
01:47:35 - SpareOne cellphone claims 15-year battery life, we go hands-on






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Engadget Mobile Podcast 122 - 01.21.2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/oQopxOEMDs0/

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Irene flooding left Vt. home on unexpected island (AP)

BETHEL, Vt. ? June Tierney and Kellie Burke never envisioned island living in the Vermont woods, but Tropical Storm Irene had other ideas.

Their home, a two-story, natural-sided saltbox, was a rural idyll on a wooded 10-acre lot off a dirt road, with a stairway leading from their backyard down a steep bank to Gilead Brook, a small stream.

When Irene blew through Vermont on Aug. 28, the brook became a raging torrent. After the storm, the main part of it had moved around to the other side of the house, leaving a smaller stream still flowing along its old bed.

Now Tierney, a 47-year-old lawyer who works for the state board that regulates utilities, and Burke, 48-year-old high school librarian, have to cross a ford ? a new, narrow road that dips into the old stream and has no guardrails ? to get home, and face an uncertain future. They wonder if they should cut their losses and move.

Their biggest worry is whether the next time the river runs wild, it will take the house with it.

"If we stay we're facing a huge expense to try to secure the property," Tierney said. And there's no long-term guarantee it will succeed. She quoted one stream-flow expert the couple consulted: "That river really wants your land."

The months since the storm have been a whirl of talks with their homeowners' and flood insurance companies, getting the ford built across the old stream bed, pricing what a real bridge would cost ($164,000), applying for assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and accepting with gratitude an outpouring of help from neighbors and friends.

"People have been so helpful. It's been an inspiration," Burke said.

For a time, Tierney and Burke worried that their status as a lesbian couple married under Vermont law might cause a snag in getting assistance from a federal government that doesn't recognize such marriages. So far, they've had no problems.

When the brook swirled around the house, it undermined a barn, which had to be demolished. It turned what had been their wooded property into a wasteland of felled trees, root balls, boulders and silt. And it left a line of debris that came to within a few feet of the front porch.

The homeowners' insurance paid $20,000 on the barn. Flood insurance wasn't available because there was no damage to the house, Tierney said. They got the maximum emergency grant from FEMA ? $30,200, half of which paid the cost of the ford ? essentially a low-lying causeway across the old stream with culverts carrying water underneath ? and to study the feasibility of building a new bridge.

Now the question is whether the couple will be eligible for grant money under a federally backed program that pays property owners living in the most flood-prone areas to abandon their homes and move.

They've been relying on their professional skills to work their way through the crisis.

Burke, the librarian, researched the program, while Tierney put her legal skills to researching the arcane federal regulations governing eligibility for the grants. Officials initially told her and Burke that they would get no help because their home was not harmed.

Tierney wrote in a long email to state and federal officials ? she calls it her brief ? that the category of eligible properties extends to one like hers that are at risk of future flooding because of how the storm changed the topography of the surrounding land.

Even if she and Burke lose in these arguments, she wants that to have been a just result, Tierney said. "When economic disaster follows natural disaster, we at least have to know it's because of the shortcomings of the program, and not because it's been misconstrued."

Tierney and Burke say it's very likely they'll have to leave the home they've shared for 13 of their 25 years together, but don't want to sell it, because that would just leave someone else facing the same risks.

"This is a potentially lethal setting," Tierney said. "It's not fit for human habitation."

Burke called the need to move "very sad." Since the flood, "it's not been easy to live here, but it's our home."

Tierney noted that like the town of Bethel, Gilead Brook takes its name from the Bible, where it's not a stream, but a mountain of testimony, of witness. Living in a home that now appears to have been built in the wrong place, she said, "We've literally been bearing witness to what it means to try to reconcile nature's intentions with those of human beings."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_us/us_irene_stranded_home

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Justice's 'On'n'On' Video Takes A Naked Trip Through Space (NSFW)

Justice's new video for "On'n'On" is right in line with the 70s vibe running throughout their latest album, Audio, Video, Disco. Psychedelic trip through space, naked women, big hair, check check check. Compared to director Alexandre Courtes' other work though -- which has been known to make the ladies faint -- this is lightweight NSFW fare.

WATCH:


Justice - On'n'on by justice

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/22/justices-on-n-on-video_n_1222054.html

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Catching a Gravity Wave: Canceled Laser Space Antenna May Still Fly

News | Space

The ambitious Laser Interferometer Space Antenna, a casualty of tightening budgets, could rise again


LISA gravitational wave observatoryTRIANGULATION: An artist's impression of the LISA observatory as originally designed. Image: NASA

Ripples in the fabric of spacetime regularly zip across the universe from titanic cosmic events, such as the mergers of supermassive black holes millions to billions of times the mass of the sun. These so-called gravitational waves ought to be ubiquitous but faint, and no experiment has yet registered the disturbance caused by a passing wave. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna was supposed to do just that. The spaceborne observatory, also known as LISA, was to be a joint mission between NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to detect gravitational waves and give scientists a whole new window through which to look on the universe and understand its underpinnings.

Cost overruns concerning the next-generation James Webb Space Telescope apparently helped doom the ambitious joint mission?NASA and ESA dissolved their decadelong LISA partnership in March 2011. Reports of its death may have been greatly exaggerated, however, as researchers are still fighting hard toward launch. Even scaled-back versions of the project might still have a good chance of making revolutionary discoveries, the scientists maintain.

As originally planned, LISA would have involved three identical spacecraft trailing Earth in an orbit around the sun. Each spacecraft would have targeted the other two with lasers, forming a triangle of light with sides five million kilometers long. Over the five-year mission, the laser beams would have helped detect subtle disturbances in the arrangement of the spacecraft caused by the passage of gravitational waves.

Once NASA and ESA stopped working together on LISA, the project fell off the radar. "It's probably fair to say that many people, even astronomers, think LISA was canceled," says astrophysicist Robin Stebbins of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, who is heading the agency's gravitational-wave mission concept study.

But each agency is actually investigating going it alone with cheaper, stripped-down missions. "The partnership may be dead, but the concept and the community and the enthusiasm is not dead," says astrophysicist Tyson Littenberg of the University of Maryland, College Park.

Moreover, improvements in our understanding of how galaxies and black holes evolve suggest these successors might only see a bit less than LISA. "In an extremely short timescale, the LISA community has really come together with a lot of studies as to what we might be able to accomplish at lower cost," says astrophysicist Sean McWilliams of Princeton University. "No one's giving up."

One scenario would scale down LISA's triangle, reducing each side to only one million kilometers in length. A smaller triangle means less propellant to set the satellites in place, saving money. Such a move would change the kinds of gravitational waves the satellites could detect?smaller sides mean sensitivity only to smaller wavelengths from smaller objects.

A downsized triangle would still be sensitive to waves from intermediate-mass black holes?those 10,000 to 100,000 times the sun's mass?which are the building blocks of the supermassive black holes seen at the heart of virtually every large galaxy. Recent astrophysics research suggests most black hole mergers involve those of intermediate-mass. So a smaller triangle could shed much light on the mysteries of how galaxies and supermassive black holes formed, according to findings McWilliams detailed January 9 at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas.

A more drastic change to the mission's architecture would be to cut off one of the legs, changing the formation from a triangle to a V-shape. Such a mission could still detect gravitational waves, but without the extra information that a third leg would provide the observatory would be significantly worse at pinpointing the location of gravitational wave sources and determining their properties. One less leg means less hardware and thus smaller satellites, which can lead to cost savings with launch.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=f73d8a51d3241362518c37f558c7169b

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Saturday, January 21, 2012

More cracks found in Airbus A380 wings

Airbus said on Thursday it had discovered more cracks in the wings of A380 superjumbo aircraft but insisted the world's largest jetliner remained safe to fly.

The announcement comes two weeks after tiny cracks were first reported in the wings of the 525-seat, double-decker aircraft, which entered service just over four years ago.

Airbus said it was in talks with the European safety agency, EASA.

"Additional cracks have been found and we are working closely on this issue with EASA," an Airbus spokesman said. "They do not affect safe operation of the aircraft.

Two aviation industry sources told Reuters the agency, which is responsible for aviation safety in the European Union, may issue an airworthiness directive requiring checks this week. (Reporting by Tim Hepher, Cyril Altmeyer, Harry Suhartono; Editing by James Regan)

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46053450/ns/business-us_business/

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