Stocks down slightly on European debt fears

By Reuters

NEW YORK ? Stocks and the euro slid on Monday as a spike in Portuguese bond yields and the still-unresolved Greek debt talks raised investors' fears that the already-fragile European and global economies face greater risks.

A rise in the yield on Portuguese government bonds to more than 17 percent, the highest level since the launch of the euro, sparked fears that Lisbon will follow in Greece's footsteps and require a second bailout.

And a European Union summit on Monday that was to focus on reviving growth and creating jobs failed to deliver the hoped-for message of optimism as Greece and its private bondholders continued to struggle to reach a deal.

"Until this deal is actually done, there are going to be concerns. The longer it takes there is more suspicion that there is something wrong," said Michael Yoshikami, chief investment strategist at YCMNet Advisors in Walnut Creek, California. "They've been saying they're on the verge of a deal for a long time."

Greece must reach a debt swap deal with its private creditors in order to secure its second bailout package, which Athens needs to meet a 14.5 billion euro repayment on its debt due in mid-March. Otherwise Greece faces a messy default and, some say, a potential euro-zone exit.

The spread between Portuguese and German 10-year government bond yields widened past 1,500 basis points for the first time in the euro era on Monday, and the cost of insuring Portuguese debt against default also hit fresh peaks.

The euro plunged against the dollar, surrendering an early six-week high, and dropped to a 4-1/2-month low versus the safe-haven Swiss franc.

"After so many disappointments and debate on the Greek issue, the market is expecting very little to be agreed to in the short term," said Michael Woolfolk, a senior currency strategist at BNY Mellon in New York.

The single currency was last down 0.78 percent at $1.3121 , according to Reuters data.

Against the Swiss franc, the euro fell to a 4-1/2-month low of 1.2034 francs before recovering to trade at 1.2052 francs, according to Reuters data.

In equities markets, U.S. and European stocks fell.

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average dipped 6.74 points, or 0.05 percent, to 12,653.72. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped?3.31 points, or 0.25 percent, to 1,312.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 4.61 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,811.94.

European shares fell to a two-week closing low, and banks bore the brunt of the sell-off.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares ended down 1 percent at 1,313.02 points, the lowest close since mid-January, after a six-month high last week.

The STOXX Europe 600 banking index fell 3.1 percent, with French banks the worst hit after President Nicolas Sarkozy's restated plan for a financial transaction tax, with an August target date, heated up the debate on more stringent legislation in the country.

Societe Generale, BNP Paribas and Credit Agricole dropped 6.5 to 7.1 percent.

The MSCI world equity index was down 0.62 percent to 315.71, after it weakened in Asian trade after markets reopened after the long Lunar New Year holidays. The benchmark index hit its highest level since August last week after the U.S. Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates near zero for the next three years.

U.S. and European data did little to boost investor confidence.

Consumer spending in the United States was flat in December as households took advantage of the largest rise in income in nine months to boost their savings, setting the tone for a slowdown in demand early in 2012.

While business confidence in the euro zone strengthened in January for the first time since early 2011, analysts said the data masked a growing gap in performance between Germany and the rest of Europe.

"We expect the recession in the euro zone will end in the spring," said Christoph Weil, an economist at Commerzbank. "But we can also see that the divergence in the euro zone is increasing and that is of great concern."

Brent crude oil futures extended losses in volatile trading as supply disruption fears eased after the Iranian parliament postponed a debate about halting crude exports to the European Union.

Brent crude futures slipped to $110.70 per barrel and U.S. crude fell to $98.85.

Gold hit a high of $1,739 an ounce at one point, its strongest price since Dec. 8, but then edged down to $1,729.60 an ounce. Bullion, which struck a record high $1,920 last September on concerns about a worsening euro zone debt crisis, is on track for a gain of more than 10 percent this month.

?

Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/30/10272768-stocks-down-slightly-on-european-debt-fears

ijustine visionary guy kawasaki jani lane the exorcism of emily rose the exorcism of emily rose fort knox

'Super' PACs set to disclose big donors Tuesday (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Get ready to find out who the millionaires are behind this year's presidential election.

Shadowy outside groups funded by anonymous donors and working on behalf of candidates they support have pummeled Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and others for the past two months by spending millions of dollars on mostly negative TV ads that have had an enormous impact on the fight for the Republican presidential nomination.

Now, for the first time since they started shaping this campaign in earnest, many of those "super" political action committees are set to disclose just who is financing their pseudo-campaign operations. Many took advantage of a change in federal rules that essentially let them shield their donors' identities until after key primary elections in January. But they still must submit their financial reports to the Federal Election Commission by Tuesday.

Only a handful of donors are known, including Las Vegas billionaire casino owner Sheldon Adelson. His two checks for $5 million apiece to Winning Our Future, a pro-Gingrich group, essentially kept the former House speaker's White House campaign afloat at critical junctures just before the South Carolina and Florida primaries.

Bain Capital executives and Romney friends have lined the bank accounts of the pro-Romney group Restore Our Future. Former Bain executive Edward Conrad donated $1 million last spring and Marriott International Inc. CEO J.W. Marriott Jr. gave the group $500,000, seed money spent to successfully hammer Gingrich in Iowa late last year as he started to rise.

That's when the super PACs sprang into action in full force.

Since then, groups working on behalf of Republican candidates for president have spent roughly $25 million in TV ads, most of which have been negative, in the first four states to vote in the GOP nomination battle ? Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida.

Of that, the pro-Romney Restore Our Future has spent about $14 million on ads, mostly to take down Gingrich in Iowa and Florida. That's more than the roughly $12 million Romney himself has spent on TV ads.

The super PACs have also unleashed millions on expenses typically reserved for campaigns, including direct mailings, phone calls and get-out-the-vote efforts.

It's a precursor to the general election, when super PACs aligned with both Republicans and President Barack Obama are planning to dole out even larger sums.

These groups are the products of a 2010 Supreme Court ruling that stripped away old restrictions on corporate and union spending in federal elections. They can't directly coordinate with the candidates they support, but many are staffed with former campaign workers who have an intimate knowledge of their favored candidate's strategy.

Some donors will never be known because some super PACs have established not-for-profit arms that can shield contributors' identities. Those arms can spend more than roughly half of their money on so-called advocacy, although campaign-finance reformers have urged the Internal Revenue Service to reduce that share.

Super PACs like American Crossroads ? backed by George W. Bush political adviser Karl Rove ? and its own nonprofit arm played a significant role in the 2010 midterm elections, helping deliver the House to the GOP and boost the number of Republicans in the Senate.

Tuesday's filings to the FEC won't just reveal many of the committees' financial backers; they'll also show how their money is being spent, particularly on infrastructure, payroll and travel. The same will be true in the campaign financial filings for President Barack Obama, Romney, Gingrich and others, who last released their finances in October 2011.

But, above all, the FEC filings are likely to show the awesome impact super PACs have in supplementing expansive, national campaigns.

Super PACs have become headaches for campaign-finance watchdogs, who have long warned of a potentially corruptive influence that hasn't been seen since the days of Watergate.

But some GOP-leaning groups say their ads contribute to a marketplace of ideas and counterbalance the huge sums of cash that Obama and the Democratic National Committee plan to spend on the president's re-election bid.

By law, presidential campaigns can raise, at most, $5,000 total from an individual donor.

But super PACs can solicit and spend unlimited money ? and some employ affiliated groups, known as 501(c)4 organizations, whose donors are allowed to remain anonymous. Watchdog groups like Democracy 21 have complained to federal regulators on that front, asking the IRS to limit how much those nonprofit groups can spend on political advocacy.

____

Follow Jack Gillum at http://twitter.com/jackgillum

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_el_pr/us_campaign_money

banned books 30 rock anna faris amanda knox latest news brass monkey x factor auditions x factor auditions

Davis, Dujardin win lead honors at SAG awards (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were the maids of honor at Sunday's Screen Actors Guild Awards, where their Deep South drama "The Help" won them acting prizes and earned the trophy for overall cast performance.

Davis won as best actress and Spencer as supporting actress for "The Help," while Jean Dujardin was named best actor for the silent film "The Artist" and Christopher Plummer took the supporting-actor award for the father-son tale "Beginners."

The wins boost the actors' prospects for the same honors at the Feb. 26 Academy Awards.

In "The Help," Davis and Spencer play black maids going public with uneasy truths about their white employers in 1960s Mississippi.

"I just have to say that the stain of racism and sexism is not just for people of color or women. It's all of our burden, all of us," Davis said, accepting the ensemble prize on behalf of her "The Help" co-stars.

Accepting her best-actress award, Davis singled out two performers in the audience who inspired her early in her career: "The Help" co-star Cicely Tyson and Meryl Streep, Davis' co-star in the 2008 drama "Doubt" and one of the nominees she beat out for the SAG prize. Streep had been nominated as Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady," a role that won her the dramatic actress award at the Golden Globes over Davis.

A French film star who is a newcomer to Hollywood's awards scene with "The Artist," Dujardin played a silent-era screen idol fallen on hard times as talking pictures take over in the late 1920s.

"I was a very bad student. I didn't listen in class. I was always dreaming," Dujardin said. "My teachers called me `Jean of the Moon,' and I realize now that I never stopped dreaming. Thank you very much. Thank you for this dream."

Plummer would become the oldest actor ever to win an Oscar at age 82, two years older than Jessica Tandy when she won best actress for "Driving Miss Daisy."

Backstage, Plummer joked when asked if he would like to win an Oscar, an honor so elusive during his esteemed 60-year career that he did not even receive his first Academy Award nomination until two years ago, for "The Last Station."

"No, I think it's frightfully boring," Plummer said. "That's an awful question. Listen, we don't go into this business preoccupied by awards. If we did, we wouldn't last five minutes."

Spencer, a veteran actress who had toiled in small TV and movie parts previously, had a breakout role in "The Help" as a brassy maid whose mouth continually gets her in trouble.

"I'm going to dedicate this to the downtrodden, the under-served, the underprivileged, overtaxed ? whether emotionally, physically or financially," Spencer said.

On the television side, comedy series awards went to "Modern Family" for best ensemble; Alec Baldwin as best actor for "30 Rock"; and Betty White as best actress for "Hot in Cleveland."

"You can't name me, without naming those other wonderful women on `Hot in Cleveland,'" the 90-year-old White said. "This nomination belongs to four of us. Please, please know that I'm dealing them right in with this. I'm not going to let them keep this, but I'll let them see it."

The TV drama show winners were: Jessica Lange as best actress for "American Horror Story"; and Steve Buscemi as best actor for "Boardwalk Empire," which also won the ensemble prize.

For TV movie or miniseries, Kate Winslet won as best actress for "Mildred Pierce," while Paul Giamatti was named best actor for "Too Big to Fail."

Before the official ceremony, the Screen Actors Guild presented its honor for best film stunt ensemble to "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2." The TV stunt award went to "Game of Thrones."

The winners at the SAG ceremony often go on to earn Oscars. All four acting recipients at SAG last year later took home Oscars ? Colin Firth for "The King's Speech," Natalie Portman for "Black Swan" and Christian Bale and Melissa Leo for "The Fighter."

The same generally holds true for the weekend's other big Hollywood honors, the Directors Guild of America Awards, where Michel Hazanavicius won the feature-film prize Saturday for "The Artist." The Directors Guild winner has gone on to earn the best-director Oscar 57 times in the 63-year history of the union's awards show.

The guild's ensemble prize, considered the ceremony's equivalent of a best-picture honor, has a spotty record at predicting what will win the top award at the Oscars.

While "The King's Speech" won both honors a year ago, the SAG ensemble recipient has gone on to claim the top Oscar only eight times in the 16 years since the guild added the category.

Though "The Help" won the ensemble prize this time, "The Artist" and George Clooney's family drama "The Descendants" are considered stronger contenders for the best-picture Oscar.

Both "The Artist" and "The Descendants" also were nominated for writing and directing Oscars, categories where serious best-picture candidates generally need to be in the running. "The Help" missed out on nominations in both of those Oscar categories.

Mary Tyler Moore received the guild's lifetime-achievement award, an honor presented to her by Dick Van Dyke, her co-star on the 1960s sit-com "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

SAG President Ken Howard put in a plug during the show for the guild's planned merger with another Hollywood union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The boards of both groups have approved the merger, and ballots will be sent to members of each union.

"As one union, SAG-AFTRA will support a future of great entertainment for all of us," Howard said.

___

Associated Press Entertainment Writer Anthony McCartney contributed to this report.

___

Online:

http://www.sagawards.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_en_ot/us_sag_awards

bigfoot tony romo twilight zone sandra dee nfl draft 2012 december 21 2012 mayan calendar

Family, friends gather for Etta James' funeral (omg!)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Hundreds of Etta James' friends, fans and family gathered Saturday at a Los Angeles-area church to remember the legendary rhythm and blues singer, who died this month.

Mourners at James' funeral included entertainment luminaries, with both Stevie Wonder and Christina Aguilera performing. Aguilera sang the song that James made famous, "At Last," while Wonder performed with the church's choir.

The Rev. Al Sharpton was to deliver the eulogy.

James died Jan. 20 at age 73 after battling leukemia and other ailments. She was most famous for her rendition of "At Last," and in her decades-long career, she became revered for her passionate, soulful singing voice. Her version of the song has become an enduring anthem for weddings and commercials.

Perhaps most famously, President Barack Obama and the first lady danced to a version of the song at his inauguration ball.

"Etta James was a pioneer. Her ever-changing sound has influenced rock and roll, rhythm and blues, pop, soul and jazz artists, marking her place as one of the most important female artists of our time," Rock and Roll Hall of Fame President and CEO Terry Stewart said after her death.

James won four Grammy Awards, including a lifetime achievement honor and was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

She scored her first hit when she was just a teenager with the suggestive "Roll With Me, Henry," which had to be changed to "The Wallflower" in order to get airplay. Her 1967 album, "Tell Mama," became one of the most highly regarded soul albums of all time, a mix of rock and gospel music.

Over her lifetime, James battled adversity, including a turbulent upbringing and drug addiction.

She rebounded from a heroin addiction to see her career surge after performing the national anthem at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. She won her first Grammy Award a decade later, and two more in 2003 and 2004.

She is also an inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

James is survived by her husband and two sons.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_family_friends_gather_etta_james_funeral181326156/44338885/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/family-friends-gather-etta-james-funeral-181326156.html

occupy los angeles comedian patrice o neal occupy philadelphia occupy philadelphia conrad murray conrad murray jack del rio

MOTU sneaks in MicroBook II post-NAMM, ships this Spring for $269

Looking to add some muscle to your mobile recording kit? MOTU waited to pull the curtain back on the MicroBook II until after NAMM, revealing a revamped portable audio interface for those who fancy tracking on-the-go. The studio-quality kit plays nice with both Mac and PC, offering a compact 4-input / 6-output, bus-powered recording option with 96kHz recording and playback support. Sporting inputs for mics (XLR), guitar, keyboard and powered speakers, the MicroBook II connects to your computer of choice via USB 2.0 and boasts on-board volume controls. All four inputs can be recorded simultaneously while internal CueMix tech allows for a unique stereo mix for each output pair. Speaking of outputs, the diminutive box houses six of said channels alongside TRS 1/4-inch, stereo mini, S/PDIF, and 1/4-inch headphone offerings. You'll have to wait until Spring to snag one, but for now hit the PR after the break for a full list of specs.

Continue reading MOTU sneaks in MicroBook II post-NAMM, ships this Spring for $269

MOTU sneaks in MicroBook II post-NAMM, ships this Spring for $269 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 Jan 2012 12:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Electronista  |   | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/1rhfUsM5seI/

chipper jones chipper jones jordan jefferson paula abdul redsox amazon prime spina bifida

Official: Yemen president in US for treatment

FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011 file photo, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh speaks to reporters during a news conference at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa, Yemen. Yemen's President's office says Yemeni leader Saleh has arrived in London en route to the U.S. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hamoud, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011 file photo, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh speaks to reporters during a news conference at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa, Yemen. Yemen's President's office says Yemeni leader Saleh has arrived in London en route to the U.S. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hamoud, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Oct. 8, 2011 file image made from video, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh speaks on Yemen State Television. Yemen's President's office says Yemeni leader Saleh has arrived in London on route to the US. (AP Photo/Yemen State TV, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The embattled president of Yemen arrived Saturday in the United States for medical treatment for burns he suffered during an assassination attempt in June.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh arrived at an unspecified location in the United States, according to the country's foreign press office. His journey had taken him from Oman, through London.

The one-line Yemeni statement said Saleh was in the U.S. for a "short-term private medical visit." His staff has said he is in the United States to be treated for injuries suffered during the assassination attempt. He was burned over much of his body and had shards of wood embedded into his chest by the explosion that ripped through his palace mosque as he prayed.

After months of unrest, Saleh agreed in November to end his 33-year-rule of the Arabian state.

His trip to the U.S. comes as Yemen, a key counterterrorism partner, prepares for an election on Feb. 21 to select his successor.

Human Rights Watch, which says it has documented the deaths of hundreds of anti-government protesters in confrontations with Saleh's security forces, was outraged by the Yemeni president's travel to the U.S. for medical treatment.

"It's appalling that President Saleh arrives here for first-rate medical treatment while hundreds of Yemeni victims, assaulted by his security forces have neither proper medical care nor justice for the crimes they've suffered," Balkees Jarrah, international justice counsel at Human Rights Watch, said in an emailed statement. "The Obama administration should insist those responsible for atrocities in Yemen be brought to the dock."

Maneuvering and manipulation had been reliable tactics for Saleh throughout his rule over mountainous, semi-desert Yemen, mired in poverty and divided among powerful tribes and political factions. But his room to maneuver steadily narrowed when the Arab Spring revolts swept into Yemen last year. From late January 2011, hundreds of thousands of Yemeni marched in the streets nearly every day, despite crackdowns. After a particularly bloody shooting of protesters in Sanaa, many ruling party members, lawmakers, Cabinet ministers and, most importantly, powerful military generals and tribal leaders abandoned him, siding with the opposition.

It is unclear how long Saleh intends to remain in the U.S. In a speech before he left Yemen for Oman a week ago, he promised to return home before the election, but the U.S. and its allies have pressured Saleh to leave Yemen for good.

American officials don't wish him to settle in the U.S., however, over concerns that it would be seen as harboring an autocratic leader accused by many of his countrymen of using violence to remain in power. Opponents have accused him of trying to interfere in Yemen's new unity government, even after he supposedly relinquished authority two months ago. He spent three months previously in Saudi Arabia for medical treatment, only to return to Yemen, prompting more protests.

Saleh's travel plans in the United States have not been disclosed for security reasons. It wasn't clear where he intended to stay while in the country, or where he would be receiving medical care.

He had been traveling on a chartered Emirates plane with a private doctor, several armed guards and relatives, according to an official in the Yemeni president's office who spokes with the AP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the details.

The Obama administration agreed last week to allow Saleh to come to the U.S. temporarily for the medical treatment, a move aimed at easing the political transition in Yemen.

Saleh initially requested a U.S. visa in December, putting the Obama administration in the awkward position of either having to bar a friendly president from U.S. soil or risking appearing to harbor an autocrat with blood on his hands.

U.S. officials believe Saleh's exit from Yemen could lower the risk of disruptions in the lead-up to presidential elections there.

The Yemeni embassy in Washington has said Saleh planned to return home in February to attend a swearing-in ceremony for the country's newly elected president.

___

AP correspondent Jill Lawless in London and Ahmed Al-Haj in Sanaa, Yemen, contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-28-Yemen/id-e445ec3996004beeab97c73dfb0ca91e

brock lesnar retires new years wake forest wake forest old dominion insync ufc results

Celebrity pot busts put tiny Texas county on map (AP)

SIERRA BLANCA, Texas ? Nestled among the few remaining businesses that dot a rundown highway in this dusty West Texas town stands what's become a surprise destination for marijuana-toting celebrities: the Hudspeth County Jail.

Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg and actor Armie Hammer have been among the thousands of people busted for possession at a Border Patrol checkpoint outside town in recent years, bringing a bit of notoriety to one of Texas' most sparsely populated counties.

"Once I was in Arizona, and when I said where I was from, they said, `That's where Willie Nelson was busted,'" said Louise Barantley, manager at the Coyote Sunset souvenir shop in Sierra Blanca.

Hudspeth County cameos aren't only for outlaws: Action movie star Steven Seagal, who's already deputized in Louisiana and Arizona for his reality show "Steven Seagal Lawman" on A&E, has signed on to become a county officer.

Locals already have found ways to rub shoulders with their celebrity guests.

Deputies posed for pictures with Snoop Dogg after authorities said they found several joints on his bus earlier this month. When Nelson was busted here in 2010, the county's lead prosecutor suggested the singer settle his marijuana charges by performing "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" for the court. Nelson paid a fine instead, but not before county commissioner Wayne West played one of his own songs for the country music legend.

West acknowledged he's a big fan of Nelson and wanted to capitalize on a golden chance to perform for such a noted "captive audience."

"Willie loved the song, he is a real outgoing individual" he added.

The once-thriving town of Sierra Blanca began to shrink to its current 1,000-person population after the construction of nearby Interstate 10 ? a main artery linking cities from California to Florida ? offered an easy way to bypass the community.

Now the highway is sending thousands of drug bust cases Sierra Blanca's way, courtesy of a Border Patrol checkpoint just outside of town where drug-sniffing dogs inspect more than 17,000 trucks, travelers ? and tour buses ? daily for whiffs of contraband that may have made its wait inland from the border.

Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West, younger brother of the musically inclined commissioner, said his office handled about 2,000 cases last year, most of them having to do with drugs seized at the checkpoint.

Border Patrol agents say people busted with small amounts of pot often say they have medical marijuana licenses from California, Arizona or New Mexico ? three states along I-10 that, unlike Texas, allow for medicinal pot prescriptions ? and claim to believe the licenses were valid nationwide.

Nelson's publicists declined to comment about the specifics of the singer's case. Representatives for Snoop Dogg, who will pay a fine and court costs after being cited for possession of marijuana paraphernalia, did not return several messages seeking comment.

County authorities have not yet decided whether to prosecute or issue a citation for Hammer, who starred in the 2010 film "The Social Network" and more recently played FBI's number two man in "Edgar J." He was arrested in November after authorities said they found marijuana-laced brownies and cookies on his way to his wife's bakery in San Antonio. His attorney Kent Schaffer has called the case a "total non-issue."

Local officials say they're not on a celebrity witch hunt, but some residents are enjoying the publicity from the high-profile arrests. They say the once forgotten town of Sierra Blanca should take pride in not pandering to famous people caught breaking the law.

"We get attention because something is being done right," resident Adolfo Gonzalez said while shopping at a local convenience store. "It'd be worse if we'd let them go because they are celebrities."

That's not expected to change when Segal comes to town. Sheriff West insists the "Under Siege" star hasn't indicated any plans to film his show here ? but the sheriff isn't ruling it out.

"If he wants to, we can do it but that's not what he said this was about," West said.

West's spokesman, Rusty Flemming, said Seagal will patrol the area and train colleagues in martial arts and weapons techniques. The actor is expected to arrive in Hudspeth County within months, once he's done filming a new movie in Canada.

Segal's management agency did not return calls and emails seeking comment about his plans in Texas.

Commissioner West, meanwhile, is keeping his musical skills sharp ? just in case another performer pays a surprise visit to the county jail. The lead guitarist and vocalist of a local band, West said he regrets not having a chance to sing for Snoop Dogg, but wasn't sure if the rapper would have enjoyed the performance anyway.

"Our stuff is laid back," he said. "Mas o menos (more or less) country."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_en_ot/us_celebrity_checkpoint

narwhals gmail app gmail app phentermine port of oakland grand theft auto 5 grand theft auto 5

Romney responds to Gingrich immigration shot (AP)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ? Notable moments from the GOP presidential debate Thursday night in Jacksonville, Fla., just days before the state's Jan. 31 primary:

___

IMMIGRATION FIGHT

Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney had their sharpest exchange when Gingrich said Romney was the most anti-immigrant candidate in the GOP field. Romney responded indignantly, reminding Gingrich that Romney's father, George, was born in Mexico.

"The idea that I'm anti-immigrant is repulsive," Romney fired at Gingrich. "Don't use a term like that. You can say we disagree on certain policies, but to say that enforcing the U.S. law to protect our borders, to welcome people here legally, to expand legal immigration, as I have proved, that that's somehow anti anti-immigrant is simply the kind of over-the-top rhetoric that has characterized American politics too long."

Romney also asked Gingrich for an apology for an ad Gingrich recently pulled from airwaves that attacked Romney on immigration policy. Gingrich didn't offer one.

___

MOON SHOTS

Gingrich's proposal for a permanent American colony on the moon was mocked by Romney, who said Gingrich is developing a pattern of pandering to local voters.

"If I had a business executive come to me and say I want to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I'd say, `You're fired,'" said Romney, a former businessman.

He then noted Gingrich's calls for a new interstate highway in South Carolina, a new VA hospital in northern New Hampshire, and widening the port of Jacksonville to accommodate the larger ships that will soon be able to transit the Panama Canal. Romney said promises like that were what had caused a massive budget deficit in the first place.

Gingrich defended himself saying he'd find plenty of things to cut and shouldn't be mocked for setting priorities.

"You don't just have to be cheap everywhere. You can actually have priorities to get things done," he said.

___

MEDICAL RECORDS

The oldest candidate in the race, 76-year-old Rep. Ron Paul, said he'd be happy to share his medical records with the public if he were the nominee. Then he one-upped his fellow candidates by challenging them to a 25-mile bike ride.

He had no takers.

All of the candidates said they'd release their medical records for scrutiny. Paul, who would be the oldest president ever elected, said his records are short, about a page long.

Gingrich vouched for his competitor's fitness. "I'm confident that Dr. Paul is quite ready to serve if he's elected. Watching him campaign, he's in great shape," he said with a laugh.

___

FIRST LADY CHATTER

Asked what their wives would bring to the position of first lady, the candidates were happy to gush about their better halves.

Paul, married for 54 years, says he's got an anniversary coming up next week. He also plugged his wife's work as an author ? of "The Ron Paul Cookbook."

Romney praised his wife for battling multiple sclerosis and breast cancer.

"She is a real champion and a fighter," he said.

Gingrich said he's met each of the candidates' wives and said they'd all be "terrific first ladies." He says his wife, Callista, would bring a tremendous artistic focus and would be a strong advocate for music and music education.

Rick Santorum says his wife is "my hero" because she gave up a successful career to help raise their seven children.

___

MOM IN THE HOUSE

Santorum got a big applause line when he introduced his mom, 93-year-old Catherine Santorum. During the debate's introductions Santorum said he was glad to have his mother at the debate. And, it turns out, she can help turn out the vote for her son ? she is a north Florida resident. When she stood up to be recognized, the debate hall gave her loud applause.

___

NO LOVE FOR TSA

Even before the debate started a rowdy, Paul-supporting crowd at the University of North Florida debate site shouted jeers toward the Transportation Security Administration. The anti-TSA chants came days after Paul's son, GOP Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, was stopped by security at the Nashville airport when a scanner set off an alarm and Paul declined to allow a security officer to pat him down.

Police escorted Paul away, but allowed him to board a later flight.

Ron Paul has already used his son's experience to promote his "Plan to Restore America," which would cut $1 trillion of federal spending in a year and eliminate the TSA. He has said the incident reflects that the "police state in this country is growing out of control."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_debate_takeaways

god bless america flight 93 flight 93 al qaeda infiniti empire state building amazing grace

Michael Jackson's legacy cemented by children (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Late pop star Michael Jackson was immortalized in cement on Thursday when his three children stamped the "Thriller" singer's glove and shoe prints in the hallowed concrete courtyard of Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

Well over a hundred fans of the King of Pop and celebrities including Justin Bieber and Jackson family members watched the song and dance spectacle and listened to the three children talk about the legacy of their father.

"My dad won the lifetime achievement award. It was an award he strived and worked the hardest to get but for me, and I think for him as well, this right here is his lifetime achievement award. This is what he strived to get and this is what we are giving him now today," said Prince Michael, 14, Jackson's eldest son.

Jackson's daughter Paris, 13, imprinted her father's iconic silver sequined glove and scrawled his name into the cement, adding a heart in between Michael and Jackson. Prince Michael and his brother Blanket, 9, put their father's shoe into the cement, and all three left their own handprints next to dad's.

The hour-long ceremony included spoken tributes and musical performances from Jackson's friends and family, including his brothers Tito and Jackie, who were part of the Jackson 5, and mother Katherine who called the event "a very very solemn occasion for my son."

"Michael, we miss you, that's for sure. There's hardly a day that goes by without him going on in my mind somehow, some way, and I know he is here today with us," said Tito Jackson.

Musical producer Quincy Jones, who worked with Jackson on one his most successful album, "Thriller," Motown singer Smokey Robinson and comedian Chris Tucker, a friend of Jackson's, shared their personal memories of Jackson while Canadian pop sensation Bieber called him "an inspiration."

"People are going to remember him for his dancing and his singing, but people need to remember him for who he was," said Bieber.

"Everything I do, I look at Michael and I want to be as good as he was," said Bieber, 17, whose rise to fame was compared to the late singer by Paris as she introduced him.

Jackson gained success with songs such as "ABC" and "I'll Be There" as a child singer with his brothers, and later pursued a solo career that earned him worldwide fame and fans with hits such as "Rock With You," "Bad," and "Beat It."

His sudden death from a drug overdose in 2009 aged 50, sent shockwaves around the world. Late last year, Jackson's doctor at the time was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for administering a surgical anesthetic to Jackson as a sleep aid.

Jackson's glove and shoe imprints will be placed alongside Hollywood screen legends such as Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe and Sidney Poitier outside the iconic Hollywood theater that has been a tourist attraction for decades.

Notably absent from the ceremony were Jackson's sisters Janet and LaToya as well as brothers Jermaine and Randy.

The event, hosted by the late singer's estate, showcased dancers from Cirque du Soleil's Jackson tribute show and featured "Glee" cast member Harry Shum, Jr. ahead of the show's Jackson tribute episode next week.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/people_nm/us_michaeljackson_imprint

south carolina primary billy beane shark tank kirkwood kathy griffin weather channel newt gingrich wives

Russia to keep blocking UN sanctions on Syria (AP)

MOSCOW ? Russia will stonewall any U.N. sanctions on Syria and will push for a quick start of talks between the Syrian government and the country's opposition, the Russian foreign minister said Wednesday.

Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Moscow would block any attempts to get the U.N. approval for sanctions against Syria that have been imposed by other nations, saying that such a move would be "unfair and counterproductive."

The U.S., the European Union, the Arab League and Turkey all have introduced sanctions against Damascus in response to Syrian President Bashar Assad's violent crackdown on opponents. The uprising has left more than 5,400 people dead, according to the U.N. estimates.

The U.N. Security Council has been unable to agree on a resolution since the violence began in March because of a strong opposition from Russia and China.

Lavrov said Russia's own draft of a U.N. Security Council resolution on the violence in Syria, which circulated earlier this month, remains on the table, and that Moscow was open for any "constructive proposals." Western diplomats said the Russian proposal fell short of their demand for a strong condemnation of the Syrian regime's crackdown on civilians.

But Lavrov reaffirmed that any U.N. resolution must say clearly it "couldn't be interpreted to justify any foreign military interference in the Syrian crisis."

"We believe that our approach is fair and well-balanced, unlike the attempts to pass one-sided resolutions that would condemn only one party and, by doing so, encourage another one to build up confrontation and take an uncompromising stance," Lavrov said after the talks in Moscow with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. "We have seen that in Libya, and we will not allow the repetition of the Libyan scenario."

Russia abstained in the U.N. vote authorizing military intervention in Libya, but harshly criticized NATO for what it saw as an excessive use of force and civilian casualties during the NATO bombing campaign against strongman Moammar Gadhafi's regime.

Rebels in Libya eventually succeeded in overthrowing Gadhafi but they had enormous military support from the security alliance. NATO jets flew 26,000 sorties, including 9,600 strike missions, against Libya in 2011, destroying about 5,900 Libyan government military targets in a nine-month campaign.

Russian officials have strongly warned the West against emulating the Libyan experience in Syria.

Lavrov called for a quick start of talks between the Syrian government and the opposition, suggesting they could be hosted by Egypt, the Arab League, Turkey or Russia.

Asked about the Arab League's call Sunday for a unity government in Syria in two months, Lavrov said Russia believes that the talks between the Syrian government and the opposition should start without any preconditions.

"We proceed from the assumption that all participants in such dialogue would seek to reach accord and show responsibility for the fate of the country and its people," he said.

Russia has been a strong ally of Syria since Soviet times, when Syria was led by the president's father, Hafez Assad. It has supplied Syria with aircraft, missiles, tanks and other heavy weapons. The 27-nation EU, in contrast, has imposed an arms embargo against Syria.

In December, a Russian ship allegedly carrying tons of weapons made a dash for Syria after telling Cypriot officials it was heading to Turkey. Turkish officials said the ship went instead to the Syrian port of Tartus, which Russian warships use as a resupply stop.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_syria

black hawk down black hawk down dennis the menace dylan ratigan dylan ratigan occupy occupy

Politics of defense cuts: emphasize the positive (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Pentagon is preparing to tighten its belt, but with an election-year battle looming in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wants to stress the positive: Parts of the budget devoted to reshaping the military to fit a new global strategy will actually get fatter, he says.

But that's unlikely to mollify Republicans who say President Barack Obama's plan will leave the Pentagon stretched too thin to handle potential security threats in the Middle East, Asia and beyond.

Panetta is expected to outline the main areas of proposed spending cuts and increases at a Pentagon news conference Thursday, more than two weeks before the Obama administration submits its 2013 budget proposal to Congress. He will be joined by Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for a presentation designed to highlight the military leadership's embrace of defense cuts.

Panetta and Dempsey are expected to cast the plan as one that reflects President Barack Obama's strategy for reorienting the military as it recovers from a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Prominent in the Obama plan is a renewed focus on Asia, where China's rapid military modernization has raised worry in Washington and rattled U.S. allies. That, along with continued security threats in the Middle East ? especially Iran ? is why Panetta wants to invest more in certain air and naval assets. He also is putting a focus on cybersecurity and commando forces like those who killed Osama bin Laden last May and who swooped into Somalia on Tuesday to rescue two hostages, including an American.

The Pentagon has embraced a proposal by special operations chief Adm. Bill McRaven to send more manpower and equipment to worldwide "Theater Special Operations Commands" to strike back wherever threats arise, according to a senior defense official who spoke to The Associated Press, and other current and former U.S. officials briefed on the program. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the details of the proposal are still being worked out, including how fast the changes could be made.

The stepped-up network would put top special operations personnel closer to the problems they face, better able to launch unilateral raids like this week's Somalia mission. McRaven also wants the newly invigorated commands to build new relationships with foreign armies to help them lead their own operations, the senior defense official said.

To save money, Panetta would reduce the size of Army and Marine Corps ground forces and shrink the U.S. presence in Europe, while maintaining a commitment to building missile defenses in Europe.

He also is expected to delay production of perhaps 100 or more of the F-35 Lightning II stealth attack planes that the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps are counting on to replace a portion of their aging aircraft fleets. The F-35 is the Pentagon's most expensive weapons program. Nonetheless, it is among those that Panetta has publicly identified as central to a strategy for maintaining American air dominance.

According to defense officials, substantial budget savings will come from slowing ? but not eliminating ? programs. In the case of the F-35, Loren Thompson, defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, said there are no plans to cut the total number of fighters purchased ? which is about 2,400. Instead, the intention is to reduce the number bought each year over the next five years.

The construction of some Navy ships also may be stretched out over a longer period.

Panetta also has made clear the administration will resist any effort to shrink the Navy's fleet of aircraft carriers. He said last weekend while on board the fleet's oldest carrier, the USS Enterprise, that keeping 11 of the warships is a "long-term commitment" that Obama believes is important to keeping the peace.

"Our view is that the carriers, because of their presence, because of the power they represent, are a very important part of our ability to maintain power projection both in the Pacific and in the Middle East," he said.

Obama has said he hopes to further reduce the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, but Panetta is expected to make clear that the basic structure ? a "triad" of land, sea and air nuclear forces ? will be maintained. The Pentagon may find some savings by stretching out planned modernization programs.

The defense budget is being reshaped in the midst of a presidential contest in which Obama seeks to portray himself as a forward-looking commander in chief focusing on new security threats. Republicans want to cast him as weak on defense.

Obama has highlighted his national security successes ? the killing of Osama bin Laden, the death of senior al-Qaida leaders and the demise of Libya's Moammar Gadhafi ? to counter Republican criticism. He also has emphasized the completion of the U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq and the start of a drawdown in Afghanistan as turning points that offer new opportunities to scale back defense spending.

But several congressional Republicans see a political opening in challenging the reductions in projected military spending that the GOP and Obama agreed to last summer as part of a deal to raise the nation's borrowing authority. They've echoed Obama's potential presidential rivals Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum, who plead for fiscal austerity but contend that sizable cuts would gut the military.

The defense budget this year is nearly $671 billion, including a base budget of $553 billion and $118 billion in war costs. Panetta is expected to announce on Wednesday that the administration's request for 2013 will drop to about $525 billion for the base budget. That is still far higher than the $480 billion base budget for the Pentagon in 2008, President George W. Bush's final year in office.

The administration's projected defense cuts would total nearly $490 billion over 10 years. If Congress fails to agree on other reductions in federal spending this year, the defense hit could double under automatic cuts that would take effect in January 2013.

Several Republicans argue that even the initial cuts totaling nearly $490 billion would "hollow" the military and costs tens of thousands of jobs nationwide, adding to an 8.5 percent unemployment rate that they already blame on the president's economic policies.

"While Secretary Panetta has conceded that our nation is now accepting more risk as a result of the budgetary vise squeezing the Pentagon, it remains unclear exactly what risks our nation is assuming," Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Va., a House Armed Services Committee member, said this week.

___

Associated Press writers Kimberly Dozier and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

___

Robert Burns can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_defense_budget

extreme makeover home edition friday the 13th jimmy fallon jimmy fallon michael pineda coachella 2012 constitution day

Fed and Apple restart Wall Street's advance (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Big profits from Apple and a promise from the Federal Reserve to keep rock-bottom rates for at least two more years powered the U.S. stock market higher on Wednesday.

Apple Inc (AAPL.O) led the Nasdaq to a 1 percent gain. Shares of the maker of iPhones and iPads surged to a record, making it the most valuable U.S. company in terms of market capitalization. Apple finished up 6.2 percent at $446.66.

Buying picked up after the Federal Reserve said it would keep interest rates near zero through at least 2014, which was longer than many investors anticipated. The actions were taken as a sign of the central bank's commitment to boost a sluggish economic recovery.

"What caught the market off guard was obviously the fact they are going to keep rates lower for longer," said John Canally, investment strategist at LPL Financial in Boston.

"This statement (on an inflation target) moves the ball slightly down the field" for possible more quantitative easing later, Canally said, referring to a type of monetary stimulus.

The Fed also took an historic step of setting an inflation target of 2 percent, which brings the U.S. central bank in line with many of the world's other central banks that use an explicit benchmark for policy.

Apple was a standout in what has otherwise been a fairly lackluster earnings season. So far, 57 percent of companies reporting have beaten forecasts, while at this stage in past earnings seasons, the beat rate averaged 70 percent.

Apple shares hit an all-time high of $454.45 on results issued after Tuesday's market close that sailed past expectations. The move higher pushed Apple's market capitalization above that of Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), making it the largest publicly held U.S. company.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) rose 83.10 points, or 0.66 percent, at 12,758.85. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) was up 11.41 points, or 0.87 percent, at 1,326.06. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) ended up 31.67 points, or 1.14 percent, at 2,818.31.

In other earnings news, video rental company Netflix Inc (NFLX.O) reported results that outpaced Wall Street's expectations, sending shares up about 13 percent to $107.28 in extended trade.

Earlier in regular trading session, both United Technologies Corp (UTX.N) and Rockwell Automation Inc (ROK.N) shares fell after slightly missing revenue forecasts.

United Tech shares closed down 0.2 percent at $77.65 and Rockwell dropped 2.9 percent to $79.42.

Another diversified manufacturer, Textron Inc (TXT.N), surged 14.6 percent to $24.76 after it raised its 2012 profit forecast. The S&P industrials index (.GSPI) gained 1.2 percent.

Corning Inc (GLW.N) tumbled 10.7 percent to $13.05 as manufacturers cut back on the production of big-screen televisions that use the company's specialty glass.

Greece was hoping to reach a deal with its bondholders as talks were set to resume this week to avoid a messy default. Such an outcome could threaten the stability of other debt-laden members of the euro zone as well as the global economy.

About 7.9 billion shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq, compared with this year's average of about 6.7 billion shares.

On the NYSE, advancing stocks beat declining ones by ratio of 3-to-1. On the Nasdaq, advancers beat decliners by a ratio of 2-to-1.

(Reporting By Angela Moon; additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

time magazine person of the year la clippers verizon galaxy nexus verizon galaxy nexus lawrence lessig lawrence lessig time magazine person of the year 2011

Google to unify privacy policy across products (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Google Inc plans to unify its privacy policy and terms of service across its online offerings, including its flagship search, Gmail and Google+ products, to make them easier to use, but the move could attract greater scrutiny from anti-trust regulators.

In an online blog post, Google said it expects to roll out the revised guidelines in over a month's time, consolidating more than 60 separate privacy policies it uses for its online products.

Google currently has more than 70 privacy policies covering all of its products.

Right now, users of Google products have to agree to a new set of privacy policy and terms of services almost every time they sign up for a new service.

This leaves them with an option to opt out of certain services like Google+ or Picasa.

After the new policy comes into effect, user information from most Google products will be treated as a single trove of data, which the company could use for its targeted advertising dollars, raising potential red flags for anti-trust regulators.

"If you're signed in, we may combine information you've provided from one service with information from other services," Google's director of privacy, product and engineering, Alma Whitten wrote in blog post.

"In short, we'll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience."

The announcement comes days after Google's decision to personalize its search feature drew criticism over privacy and anti-trust issues.

Online privacy has come under scrutiny from anti-trust regulators as a handful of web giants have been accused of compromising user privacy to attract advertisers.

Late last year, Facebook settled with the U.S. FTC agreeing to be regulated for a period of 20 years whenever it decided to change its privacy policy.

In 2010, the FTC settled charges with Twitter, after the agency alleged that the social networking service had failed to safeguard users' personal information.

U.S. regulators are reportedly looking into whether Google manipulates its search results to favor its own products and have expanded the probe to include Google+.

"Regulators globally have been calling for shorter, simpler privacy policies - and having one policy covering many different products is now fairly standard across the Web," Whitten said in the post.

The revised policy will take effect on March 1, the blog post said.

(Reporting by Himank Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier, Viraj Nair)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120124/wr_nm/us_google

ben breedlove kid cudi ben breedlove matt barnes jim jones hcm loretta lynn gene kelly

Video: Investigating the state of the presidency

Despite mild flu season, don't skip shots

So far this year, there have been far fewer flu reports, including the fever, coughing, aches and pains that usually make winter so miserable. But that doesn't mean people should be complacent about getting their flu shots, experts say.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46107009#46107009

cadillac ats marines urinating manny ramirez haley barbour olivier martinez peoples choice awards 2012 ford recalls

Office Politics Fortune Cookie, cont. (Unqualified Offerings)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/190647899?client_source=feed&format=rss

time person of the year sag nominations sag nominations derek jeter time magazine person of the year time magazine person of the year la clippers

Beijing releases pollution data; US figures higher (AP)

BEIJING ? Caving to public pressure, Beijing environmental authorities started releasing more detailed air quality data Saturday that may better reflect how bad the Chinese capital's air pollution is. But one expert says measurements from the first day were low compared with data U.S. officials have been collecting for years.

The initial measurements were low on a day where you could see blue sky. After a week of smothering smog, the skies over the city were being cleared by a north wind.

The readings of PM2.5 ? particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in size or about 1/30th the average width of a human hair ? were being posted on Beijing's environmental monitoring center's website. Such small particulates can penetrate deep into the lungs, so measuring them is considered a more accurate reflection of air quality than other methods.

It is the first time Beijing has publicly revealed PM2.5 data and follows a clamor of calls by citizens on social networking sites tired of breathing in gray and yellow air. The U.S. Embassy measures PM2.5 from a device on its rooftop and releases the results, and some residents have even tested the air around their neighborhoods and posted the results online.

Beijing is releasing hourly readings of PM2.5 that are taken from one monitoring site about 4 miles (7 kilometers) west of Tiananmen Square, the monitoring center's website said Saturday. It said the data was for research purposes and the public should only use it as a reference.

The reading at noon Saturday was 0.015 milligrams per cubic meter, which would be classed as "good" for a 24-hour exposure at that level, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. The U.S. Embassy reading taken from its site on the eastern edge of downtown Beijing said its noon reading was "moderate." Its readings are posted on Twitter.

Steven Andrews, an environmental consultant who has studied Beijing's pollution data since 2006, said he was "already a bit suspicious" of Beijing's PM2.5 data. Within the 24-hour period to noon Saturday, Beijing reported seven hourly figures "at the very low level" of 0.003 milligrams per cubic meter.

"In all of 2010 and 2011, the U.S. Embassy reported values at or below that level only 18 times out of over 15,000 hourly values or about 0.1 percent of the time," said Andrews. "PM2.5 concentrations vary by area so a direct comparison between sites isn't possible, but the numbers being reported during some hours seem surpisingly low."

The Beijing center had promised to release PM2.5 data by the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year on Monday. It has six sites that can test for PM2.5 and 27 that can test for the larger, coarser PM10 particles that are considered less hazardous. The center is expected to buy equipment and build more monitoring sites to enable PM2.5 testing.

Beijing wasn't expected to include PM2.5 in its daily roundups of the air quality anytime soon. Those disclosures, for example "light" or "serious," are based on the amount of PM10, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air.

Beijing interprets air quality using less stringent standards than the U.S. Embassy, so often when the government says pollution is "light," the embassy terms it "hazardous."

"There has been tremendous amounts of attention in the Chinese media ? whichever newspaper you pick up, whichever radio station you listen to, channel you watch ? they are all talking about PM2.5 and how levels are so high," said Andrews.

"What has been so powerful is that people are skeptical, and I think rightly skeptical," about the government's descriptions of data, he said.

___

Online:

Beijing center's readings (in Chinese): http://zx.bjmemc.com.cn/

The U.S. Embassy's Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/beijingair

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_as/as_china_air_quality

glen davis kobe bryant war of the worlds a christmas story prime rib ny knicks sound of music

Obama sings a tune, steals the online show (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama stole the online show on Friday after singing a tune during a campaign fundraiser at New York City's famed Apollo Theater.

After Rev. Al Green warmed up the audience for Obama on Thursday night, the president surprised the audience -- and his staff -- by crooning the opening bars of Green's soul classic "Let's stay together."

"I'm - so in love with you," he sang, earning rapturous applause from the 1,400 people who each had paid between $100 and $200 to attend the Democratic fundraiser ahead of the presidential election in November.

"Don't worry Rev., I cannot sing like you. I just wanted to show my appreciation," Obama added, as he stood on a stage at the theater that helped launch the careers of Michael Jackson, James Brown and Ella Fitzgerald.

The video of Obama singing was a hit online on Friday and Al Green was one of the top ten topics trending on Twitter.

"I have worked for President Obama for 5 years and until last night, I had no idea that he could sing," said White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer in a tweet.

(Reporting by Alister Bull, editing by Michelle Nichols)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/pl_nm/us_obama_singing

jeremy mayfield occupy oakland general strike occupy oakland general strike mike quade mike quade sticks and stones sticks and stones

Another one bites the dust as Google closes Picnik

Given the spate of closures, abandonments and wound-up projects, we can't help but suspect Google's mantra switching from "don't be evil" to "sic transit gloria mundi." Mountain View's winding up online-image editing site Picnik in preparation for integration with Google+, joining Wave, Knol, Friend Connect, Gears, Health, Powermeter and at least ten other services that have been shuttered as part of Larry Page's "spring clean." In a statement on the site, the guys are moving over to the Google+ team to "focus on even awesomer things," so expect to see live-editing of your photos appear there before the end of summer. In the meantime, you can enjoy Picnik's premium service until the doors close on April 19th and those who previously stumped up (with, you know, cash) for the added features will receive a full refund.

[Thanks, Henry]

Another one bites the dust as Google closes Picnik originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Jan 2012 12:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Picnik  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/7VMCtvN7TE0/

john tucker must die uk basketball iowa state faroe islands faroe islands corso james arthur ray

Apple announces iBooks2, a new textbook program for iPad

Apple's new textbooks for iPad will let students zoom and rotate images, watch movies, and even complete tasks like dissecting frogs

Textbooks just got a whole lot cooler.

Skip to next paragraph

At its anticipated education event at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Apple announced iBooks2, a digital textbook service for the iPad.

"I don't think there's ever been a textbook that made it this easy to be a good student," Apple?s Roger Rosner said at the event.

At the very least, these digital textbooks would capture the attention of the most distracted students ? and make the rest of us want to return to school. The textbooks demonstrated at the event were fully interactive, allowing students to zoom and rotate 3D images to more fully explore the structure of DNA, for instance, or a plant cell. The digital books might also be used to dissect digital frogs, conduct genetic experiments on plants, or explore elements on the periodic table. Students raised in the YouTube and Facebook era won?t be disappointed: users of these digital textbooks can even view movies within textbook chapters.

Apple?s Phil Schiller took the opportunity to take a jab at traditional, dead tree books. ?They're not portable, not durable, not interactive, not searchable,? he said at the press conference.?

Still, for all the digital bells and whistles, iBooks2 also took a page out of traditional textbooks. As with dead tree books, students can highlight and mark up the digital texts. They can also use those highlights and notes to create virtual 3-by-5-inch study cards similar to flash cards.?

Other highlights include fairly standard iPad features like the ability to swipe across the display to open textbook pages, switch to landscape or portrait mode, and pinch and tap to zoom in or out.

To spur digital content, Apple also unveiled iBooks Author, a new platform that lets anyone create interactive e-books or digital textbooks for the iPad.

?In like five minutes flat, we created an e-book and deployed it to the iPad,? said Schiller at the New York event. ?I hope you find that as inspiring and empowering as I do.?

Starting Thursday, the books are available through a free app called iBooks2 that users can download from the App Store. The textbooks are priced at $14.99 or less, according to Apple, and once purchased, can be redownloaded at no additional charge.

The launch is part of Apple?s strategy to revamp the textbook industry, say experts. Apple has already partnered with a number of major textbook publishers, including Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, together responsible for about 90 percent of all textbooks in the US.

Husna Haq is a Monitor correspondent.

Join the Monitor's book discussion on Facebook and Twitter.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/FZAdryXiSWU/Apple-announces-iBooks2-a-new-textbook-program-for-iPad

college football rankings dma americas got talent 2011 americas got talent 2011 absinthe banana banana

Womack Releases Finance Reports | Arkansas News

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://arkansasnews.com/2012/01/21/womack-releases-finance-reports/

steven jackson steven jackson iheartradio iheartradio rosh hashanah recipes rosh hashanah recipes ufc135

Christian Bale returns to China in new film (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Christian Bale says he isn't concerned with what Chinese government censors approved or cut from his new film "The Flowers of War."

"I just do what I do," Bale said. "What happens after I'm wrapped is always out of my hands. It doesn't matter which country that's in. ... Which scenes get chosen, which scenes get cut, that has nothing to do with me."

The movie marks Bale's return to the country where he launched his Hollywood career in 1987 with Steven Spielberg's "Empire of the Sun." And while Bale didn't worry about intrusion into the filmmaking process, the government did publicly rebuke him for a recent run-in with state-backed guards. With a CNN camera crew in tow, Bale attempted last month to visit the home of blind activist Chen Guangcheng before being physically turned away.

In an interview before that incident, Bale said he picked "The Flowers of War," with dialogue divided about evenly between Mandarin and English, out of a desire to get outside his comfort zone and work with director Zhang Yimou.

"I have a great sense of adventure, and whatever adventure I can take out of moviemaking, I'm going to," said Bale, who won a supporting actor Oscar for last year's "The Fighter." "So I hope that not just with China but with just internationally that we'll start to get much more mixing of nationalities and film cultures. And I think we're going to get some really interesting results from that."

Bale used an interpreter to communicate with Yimou during production of "Flowers," set during the Japanese army's brutal 1937 rampaging of Nanjing. The 37-year-old actor said they used gestures and developed "a good kind of a short-hand, kind of a lingua franca" to get through scenes.

Yimou said Bale suggested changes that the director incorporated into the finished film, which like other Chinese productions was subject to review by censors. (Bale notes that while he's happy to make such suggestions, he has no hopes to direct: "I don't want the responsibility.")

The film was at the top of the Chinese box office last year and is being released in the U.S. on Friday. Bale stars as a mortician who pretends to be a priest and works to protect two groups of young women inside a Catholic cathedral during the invasion known as the Rape of Nanking.

In the interview, Bale also confirmed that July's "The Dark Knight Rises" will be his final appearance as the Caped Crusader.

"There's a time to finish anything. And this feels like the time," Bale said.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Ryan Pearson is on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/RyanPearsonLA

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_en_mo/film_christian_bale

v tech the three stooges top model all stars americas next top model mark buehrle mark buehrle rick perry ad

Archos Smart Home Phone now available -- get Android on your landline

It was way back in June 2011 that we first saw Archos' Android based Smart Home Phone. Flip forward to January 2012 and the device is finally available to purchase, coming in at £130 over here in the UK.

Archos promises that this is a fully featured Android smartphone, with a wide range of communication applications installed as stock. As with several Archos products, the Smart Home Phone does lack official Android Market access. Applications are taken care of via their Appslib service. 

Aside from apps, the phone is WiFi-enabled, comes with a 3.5-inch touchscreen, 8GB of internal storage and even a front facing camera, possibly a little excessive for a home phone. But, hey, it's running Android. Thats never a bad thing.

Source: Archos
More: Archos 35 Smart Home Phone spec sheet

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/nuab_W1qdgE/story01.htm

marie osmond st louis cardinals josh hamilton beavis and butthead cardinals jennifer nicole lee jennifer nicole lee