Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Video: Analysis: Romney?s early lead



>>> we mentioned our political director and chief white house correspondent chuck todd paying a rare visit to the mothership tonight. first of all about newt gingrich , we are out of the moderating business, i guess.

>> apparently.

>> he kept telling reporters all weekend, look at the national polls where i'm leading. while that may be true, these numbers are moving in florida.

>> reporter: they are. because florida is the one state where there are $16 million of negative ads against newt gingrich , you don't have that in the other 49 states. that is benefitting newt gingrich a little bit. what is interesting about this lead from mitt romney and why it seems so solid going into tomorrow, we learned among folks who voted. 1/3 of floridians voted. he leads almost 2 - 1 , 49-27. the other argument you're going to hear newt gingrich make, the conservative vote is divided. we took second choice rick santorum voters, and assigned them to who their second choice is. they broke evenly, slight advantage mitt romney , 49-33 it tells you a little bit that some of the value voters for santorum are turned off by newt gingrich 's personal history.

>> i heard gingrich all weekend saying this will be wild, woolly and we are in it all what it to the fall, which he is free to say. what is the reality?

>> nobody says they are going to get out. number two, february will be a cold, cruel month. it may be short, but it's going to feel like an eternity for him. there's only four caucuses, proper primaries, no debate for three weeks. newt gingrich lived on this media and now he is relying on some guy in las vegas to keep funding his campaign. at some point he may run out of patience and not write any more checks.

>> always good to see you. nice to have you here with us in new york. chuck todd .

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46196450/

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WTO: China unfairly limits export of raw materials

(AP) ? The World Trade Organization has affirmed that China unfairly limited exports of nine raw materials to protect domestic manufacturers.

A WTO appeals body largely sided with the United States, European Union and Mexico in a dispute over Chinese materials used widely in the steel, aluminum and chemical industries.

They had complained China drives up prices for raw materials by setting export duties and quotas on them.

The ruling Monday affects exports of certain forms of bauxite, coke, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon carbide, silicon metal, yellow phosphorous and zinc.

It says China must now "bring its export duty and export quota measures into conformity with its WTO obligations."

China had argued its export limits protect the environment.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-30-EU-WTO-China-Trade/id-1f4374e458244c659a8030675e7c30d8

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Monday, January 30, 2012

Greek debt deal may not equal Wall Street relief (AP)

NEW YORK ? Greece and the investors who bought its bonds have the beginnings of a deal that could avert a disastrous, long-feared Greek default on its debt. But don't expect a celebration on Wall Street this week.

If the deal holds and works, it will help prevent a potential shock to the world banking system. It will also remove one of the biggest threats to the impressive rally in U.S. stocks this year.

The problem for investors is that good news ? like real improvement in Greece's long-term finances ? is likely to develop in slow motion. Bad news, like a breakdown in the debt talks or a spasm of market fear, would be faster. Punch-in-the-nose fast.

"I think they'll probably be happy, but I don't really see this accomplishing very much in the long term," says Michael E. Lewitt, editor of The Credit Strategist, an investor newsletter.

"They're not solving any of these problems," he says, so if things go wrong, "it's likely to be a much worse sell-off."

Under the tentative agreement, announced Saturday, investors holding euro206 billion in Greek bonds, or about $272 billion, would exchange them for bonds with half the face value. The replacement bonds would have a longer maturity and pay a lower interest rate.

The deal would reduce Greece's annual interest expense from about euro10 billion to about euro4 billion. When the bonds mature, Greece would have to pay its bondholders only euro103 billion.

It is unclear how investors who buy and sell the bonds of other debt-burdened countries, such as Italy, Spain and Portugal, will react. If they drive up borrowing costs for those countries, the debt crisis could get worse.

Private investors hold two-thirds of Greece's debt, which is equal to an unsustainable 160 percent of its annual economic output. By restructuring the debt, Greece hopes to make it a more manageable 120 percent by decade's end.

Greece's public creditors ? the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the European Central Bank ? want the government to cut public salaries further to bring the national budget in line.

That proposal has been met with resistance by Greek politicians afraid of losing elections this spring. But they also worry Greece will be denied euro130 billion in bailout money if it can't cut its deficit.

The restructuring of Greece's private debt could still fall apart. If it does, that could mean trouble in the U.S. markets, which have enjoyed a placid January of steady gains.

The Dow Jones industrial average is up 3.6 percent in the young year. The Standard & Poor's 500 index has gained 4.7 percent, roughly half its average gainfor a full year.

If the Greek talks break down, "the stock market could probably lose half its gains for the year," Jeffrey Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial, said last week, before Greece and the private investors reached their tentative deal.

On paper, it's hard to see how Greece could take down financial markets in the U.S., the world's biggest economy, with $15.2 trillion in goods and services churned out every year.

Greece's annual economic output is euro220 billion. That translates to $285 billion, on par with the economy of Maryland. The U.S. sells $1.6 billion in weapons, medicine and other products to Greece each year, a minuscule 0.07 percent of exports.

U.S. banks say Greece on its own poses no danger to them. Unlike European banks, they're not major lenders to Greek businesses and aren't saddled with Greek government debt.

In its most recent report, JPMorgan Chase, the largest bank in the U.S., said it had just $4.5 billion at risk in Greece, Ireland and Portugal combined. That's about what the bank makes in revenue in two and a half weeks.

Some investors worry that U.S. banks would struggle to cover the $68 billion in insurance contracts they sold on Greece's government debt.

That's hardly enough to pull down the banking system. And the banks have offset all but $3.2 billion of those contracts with other contracts. In other words, pocket change.

"The direct impact of a Greek default is almost zero," Jamie Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, told CNBC on Thursday.

So what's everybody ? well, everybody but Jamie Dimon ? worried about?

A breakdown in talks could trigger steep losses in stock markets in Europe and the U.S. It could cause borrowing rates for Portugal and Italy to jump, pushing those much larger countries closer to defaults of their own.

A Greek default could unleash a host of larger problems. While some are already anticipated, others are likely to blindside even the closest observers, says Nick Colas, chief market strategist at ConvergEx Group.

"In any complex system, you're going to have unintended consequences," he says.

He compares it to the collapse of Lehman Brothers investment house in September 2008: Some analysts saw it coming, but the fallout still caught them by surprise. For a time, even super-safe money market funds were suspect.

At a conference on sovereign debt this week in New York, Steve Hanke, professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University, predicted that even commodity prices would plunge in response to a messy Greek default.

Traders seeking safety would immediately sell euros and buy dollars, Hanke said. The dollar would soar and prices for commodities like oil and wheat would collapse. A single dollar would buy much more oil or wheat.

"If the bomb is set off by Greece, commodity prices will collapse," Hanke said.

Hanke, who has advised governments around the world on managing their currencies, argued that Greece appears bound to collapse under its debts as its economy shrinks. "Greece is doomed," he said.

Hans Humes, president of Greylock Capital Management, warns that if banks and investment funds that hold Greek bonds take steep losses, then Portugal, Italy and other countries shouldering heavy debt burdens can be expected to follow Greece's lead.

It's comparable to a messy default. Traders will respond by immediately selling government bonds from those countries, Humes said. Borrowing costs will rise, and Europe's debt crisis will turn much worse.

Humes has been involved in the negotiations on the side of creditors holding Greek bonds, so he has a stake in the game. But it's a scenario other money managers often cite.

"There's a fear that other countries won't negotiate at all. They'll just say, `We'll pay you back at 50 percent or maybe less," Kleintop says.

To Colas, the deepest concern isn't how the S&P 500 reacts or whether the dollar rises if Greece drops the European currency. It's the possibility for panic, especially a run on European banks, some of the largest buyers of government debt.

"Human emotions can drive things off the rails," Colas says.

___

Freed reported from Minneapolis.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/us_wall_street_week_ahead

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Despair, crackdowns breed more violence in Tibet (AP)

BEIJING ? A young man posts his photo with a leaflet demanding freedom for Tibet and telling Chinese police, come and get me. Protesters rise up to defend him, and demonstrations break out in two other Tibetan areas of western China to support the same cause.

Each time, police respond with bullets.

The three clashes, all in the past week, killed several Tibetans and injured dozens. They mark an escalation of a protest movement that for months expressed itself mainly through scattered individual self-immolations.

It's the result of growing desperation among Tibetans and a harsh crackdown by security forces that scholars and pro-Tibet activists contend only breeds more rage and despair.

That leaves authorities with the stark choice of either cracking down even harder or meeting Tibetan demands for greater freedom and a return of their Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama ? something Beijing has shown zero willingness to do.

"By not responding constructively when it was faced with peaceful one-person protests, the (Communist) party has created the conditions for violent, large-scale protests," said Robbie Barnett, head of modern Tibetan studies at New York's Columbia University.

This is the region's most violent period since 2008, when deadly rioting in Tibet's capital Lhasa spread to Tibetan areas in adjoining provinces. China responded by flooding the area with troops and closing Tibetan regions entirely to foreigners for about a year. Special permission is still required for non-Chinese visitors to Tibet, and the Himalayan region remains closed off entirely for the weeks surrounding the March 14 anniversary of the riots that left 22 people dead.

Video smuggled out by activists shows paramilitary troops equipped with assault rifles and armored cars making pre-dawn arrests. Huge convoys of heavily armored troops are seen driving along mountain roads and monks accused of sedition being frog-marched to waiting trucks.

For the past year, self-immolations have become a striking form of protest in the region. At least 16 monks, nuns and former clergy set themselves on fire after chanting for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

China, fiercely critical of the Dalai Lama, says Tibet has been under its rule for centuries, but many Tibetans say the region was functionally independent for most of that time. Anger over cultural and religious restrictions is deepened by a sense that Tibetans have been marginalized economically by an influx of migrants from elsewhere in China.

In a change from the individual protests, several thousand Tibetans marched to government offices Monday in Ganzi prefecture in Sichuan province. Police opened fire into the crowd, killing up to three people, witnesses and activist groups said.

On Tuesday, security forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters in another area of Ganzi, killing two Tibetans and wounding several more, according to the group Free Tibet.

On Thursday in southwestern Sichuan province's Aba prefecture, a youth named Tarpa posted a leaflet saying that self-immolations wouldn't stop until Tibet is free, the London-based International Campaign for Tibet said. He wrote his name on the leaflet and included a photo of himself, saying that Chinese authorities could come and arrest him if they wished, group spokeswoman Kate Saunders said in an email.

Security forces did so about two hours later. Area residents blocked their way, shouting slogans and warning of bigger protests if Tarpa wasn't released, Saunders said. Police then fired into the crowd, killing a a 20-year-old friend of Tarpa's, a student named Urgen, and wounding several others.

The incident, as with most reported clashes in Tibetan areas, could not be independently verified and exact numbers of casualties were unclear because of the heavy security presence and lack of access. The topic is so sensitive that even government-backed scholars claim ignorance of it and refuse to comment.

The government, however, acknowledged Tuesday's unrest, saying that a "mob" charged a police station and injured 14 officers, forcing police to open fire on them. The official Xinhua News Agency said police killed one rioter and injured another.

"The Chinese government will, as always, fight all crimes and be resolute in maintaining social order," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in comments on the incident.

In a commentary Sunday, the nationalist tabloid Global Times repeated accusations that the protests were inspired by Tibetan exile groups and their demands were out of step with the desire for economic development.

Yet, it also conceded that the Dalai Lama retained considerable religious influence over Tibetans, warning this created a dangerous trend of "melding the political and relgious."

The harsh response points to a deep anxiety about the self-immolations, said Youdon Aukatsang, a New Delhi-based member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile.

"They're worried that there is an underground movement in Tibet that is coming to the surface," she said.

Tibetan desperation has been fed both by the harsh crackdown ? security agents reportedly outnumber monks in some monasteries ? along with a deep fear that the Dalai Lama, probably the most potent symbol of Tibet's separate identity, will never return.

The 76-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate handed his political powers to an elected assembly last year. That was intended to ensure the Tibetan cause would live on after him, but was met with considerable anxiety among many Tibetans who saw it as a sign he was giving up his role as leader of their struggle.

Dibyesh Anand, a Tibet expert at London's University of Westminster, said resistance to Chinese rule is likely to grow more fierce.

"Protests will get more radicalized since the Tibetans in the region see no concession, no offer of compromise, no flexibility coming from the government," he said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_as/as_china_tibet_spiral_of_violence

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

The Complexities of Investing in Real Estate

Article Directory :: Finance & Investment Articles

A financial services course can cover subject matters anywhere from fixed annuities to interest rates to home mortgages. Any type of investment requires detailed knowledge and planning partnered with monitoring. For many people, home ownership is the single largest investment that they will ever make. Whether it is a single family home, a multi-family home, a commercial property or vacant land, real estate investment is one of the most important parts of your financial portfolio. Owning a real estate property is usually held as part of a larger portfolio, and is generally considered an alternative investment class. However, it provides diversification value, yield enhancement, and the ability to influence performance.

The real estate market can be tricky and unpredictable, but if you enter it at the right time, it can prove to be a smart investment. An investment management specialist will help guide you through your real estate choices. Three key indicators as to whether or not a real estate market has started to rebound are: local unemployment rates, rents, and foreclosures. These indicators can easily be overlooked. It used to be that the three biggest determinants of a property's value were location, location and location; in a slow economy, however, it could be jobs, jobs and jobs.

A financial services course will inform investors on the latest updates in the real estate sector. In the case of rental rates, the general rule is if real estate prices are more than 15 times annual rents, the market favors renters?under 15 and the market favors buyers. Finally, healthy communities have fewer foreclosed properties. Key indicators in housing include housing as a share of GDP, home ownership rates, monthly payments, percentage of household income spent on home payment, and sale price for a new single-family home. Housing as a share of GDP came to an average of 17% in 2010 as compared to 21% in 2005. Home ownership rates were 67% in 2010 as compared to 69% in 2004. The average monthly mortgage payment was $900 in 2010 compared to $1,360 in 2007. In 2010, only 18% of household income was spent on home payment, as compared to 32% back in 2005. Lastly, the average sales price of a new single-family home in 2010 was $222,000 as compared to $240,000 in 1980!

An investment management specialist will inform you that one of the main differences between investing in real estate versus in other assets is that real estate is highly tangible. Unlike stocks or bonds, you can actually see and touch your real estate property. Although it may seem like a good deal on paper, you have to be aware that owning real estate involves much more than collecting rent and paying bills. This often creates substantial pride of ownership, but also has its negatives because the property requires hands-on management. You don't need to paint the walls of a bond or mow the lawn of a stock! Real estate can produce an income, like a bond, as well as appreciate, like equity. If you are considering investing in multiple real estate properties, you should consult with an investment management specialist beforehand to decide how they will work in your current portfolio.

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Why Every Entrepreneur Should Self-Publish a Book

snoopy_writingI've published eight books in the past seven years,?five with traditional publishers (Wiley, Penguin, HarperCollins), one comic book, ?and the last two I've self-published. In this post I give?the specific details of all of my sales numbers and advances?with the traditional publishers. Although the jury is still out on my self-published books,?"How to be the Luckiest Man Alive"?and?"I Was Blind But Now I See"??I can tell you these two have already sold more than my five books with traditional publishers, combined. If you, the entrepreneur, self-publish a book you will stand out, you will make more money, you will kick your competitors right in the XX, and you will look amazingly cool at cocktail parties. I know this because I am seldom cool but at cocktail parties, with my very own comic book, I can basically have sex with anyone in the room. But don't believe me, it costs you nothing and almost no time to try it yourself.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/pM6dscEM_nM/

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Twitter's new censorship plan rouses global furor (AP)

NEW YORK ? Twitter, a tool of choice for dissidents and activists around the world, found itself the target of global outrage Friday after unveiling plans to allow country-specific censorship of tweets that might break local laws.

It was a stunning role reversal for a youthful company that prides itself in promoting unfettered expression, 140 characters at a time. Twitter insisted its commitment to free speech remains firm, and sought to explain the nuances of its policy, while critics ? in a barrage of tweets ? proposed a Twitter boycott and demanded that the censorship initiative be scrapped.

"This is very bad news," tweeted Egyptian activist Mahmoud Salem, who operates under the name Sandmonkey. Later, he wrote, "Is it safe to say that (hash)Twitter is selling us out?"

In China, where activists have embraced Twitter even though it's blocked inside the country, artist and activist Ai Weiwei tweeted in response to the news: "If Twitter censors, I'll stop tweeting."

One often-relayed tweet bore the headline of a Forbes magazine technology blog item: "Twitter Commits Social Suicide"

San Francisco-based Twitter, founded in 2006, depicted the new system as a step forward. Previously, when Twitter erased a tweet, it vanished throughout the world. Under the new policy, a tweet breaking a law in one country can be taken down there and still be seen elsewhere.

Twitter said it will post a censorship notice whenever a tweet is removed and will post the removal requests it receives from governments, companies and individuals at the website chillingeffects.org.

The critics are jumping to the wrong conclusions, said Alexander Macgilliviray, Twitter's general counsel.

"This is a good thing for freedom of expression, transparency and accountability," he said. "This launch is about us keeping content up whenever we can and to be extremely transparent with the world when we don't. I would hope people realize our philosophy hasn't changed."

Some defenders of Internet free expression came to Twitter's defense.

"Twitter is being pilloried for being honest about something that all Internet platforms have to wrestle with," said Cindy Cohn, legal director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. "As long as this censorship happens in a secret way, we're all losers."

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland credited Twitter with being upfront about the potential for censorship and said some other companies are not as forthright.

As for whether the new policy would be harmful, Nuland said that wouldn't be known until after it's implemented.

Reporters Without Borders, which advocates globally for press freedom, sent a letter to Twitter's executive chairman, Jack Dorsey, urging that the censorship policy be ditched immediately.

"By finally choosing to align itself with the censors, Twitter is depriving cyberdissidents in repressive countries of a crucial tool for information and organization," the letter said. "Twitter's position that freedom of expression is interpreted differently from country to country is unacceptable."

Reporters Without Borders noted that Twitter was earning praise from free-speech advocates a year ago for enabling Egyptian dissidents to continue tweeting after the Internet was disconnected.

"We are very disappointed by this U-turn now," it said.

Twitter said it has no plans to remove tweets unless it receives a request from government officials, companies or another outside party that believes the message is illegal. No message will be removed until an internal review determines there is a legal problem, according to Macgilliviray.

"It's a thing of last resort," he said. "The first thing we do is we try to make sure content doesn't get withheld anywhere. But if we feel like we have to withhold it, then we are transparent and we will withhold it narrowly."

Macgilliviray said the new policy has nothing to do with a recent $300 million investment by Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Mac or any other financial contribution.

In its brief existence, Twitter has established itself as one of the world's most powerful megaphones. Streams of tweets have played pivotal roles in political protests throughout the world, including the Occupy Wall Street movement in the United States and the Arab Spring uprisings in Egypt, Bahrain, Tunisia and Syria.

Indeed, many of the tweets calling for a boycott of Twitter on Saturday ? using the hashtag (hash)TwitterBlackout ? came from the Middle East.

"This decision is really worrying," said Larbi Hilali, a pro-democracy blogger and tweeter from Morocco. "If it is applied, there will be a Twitter for democratic countries and a Twitter for the others."

In Cuba, opposition blogger Yoani Sanchez said she would protest Saturday with a one-day personal boycott of Twitter.

"Twitter will remove messages at the request of governments," she tweeted. "It is we citizens who will end up losing with these new rules ... ."

In the wake of the announcement, cyberspace was abuzz with suggestions for how any future country-specific censorship could be circumvented. Some Twitter users said this could be done by employing tips from Twitter's own help center to alter one's "Country" setting. Other Twitter users were skeptical that this would work.

While Twitter has embraced its role as a catalyst for free speech, it also wants to expand its audience from about 100 million active users now to more than 1 billion. Doing so may require it to engage with more governments and possibly to face more pressure to censor tweets; if it defies a law in a country where it has employees, those people could be arrested.

Theoretically, such arrests could occur even in democracies ? for example, if a tweet violated Britain's strict libel laws or the prohibitions in France and Germany against certain pro-Nazi expressions.

"It's a tough problem that a company faces once they branch out beyond one set of offices in California into that big bad world out there," said Rebecca MacKinnon of Global Voices Online, an international network of bloggers and citizen journalists. "We'll have to see how it plays out ? how it is and isn't used."

MacKinnon said some other major social networks already employ geo-filtering along the lines of Twitter's new policy ? blocking content in a specific jurisdiction for legal reasons while making it available elsewhere.

Many of the critics assailing the new policy suggested that it was devised as part of a long-term plan for Twitter to enter China, where its service is currently blocked.

China's Communist Party remains highly sensitive to any organized challenge to its rule and responded sharply to the Arab Spring, cracking down last year after calls for a "Jasmine Revolution" in China. Many Chinese nonetheless find ways around the so-called Great Firewall that has blocked social networking sites such as Facebook.

Google for several years agreed to censor its search results in China to gain better access to the country's vast population, but stopped that practice two years after engaging in a high-profile showdown with Chain's government. Google now routes its Chinese search results through Hong Kong, where the censorship rules are less restrictive.

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt declined to comment on Twitter's action and instead limited his comments to his own company.

"I can assure you we will apply our universally tough principles against censorship on all Google products," he told reporters in Davos, Switzerland.

Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, said it was a matter of trying to adhere to different local laws.

"I think what they (Twitter officials) are wrestling with is what all of us wrestle with ? and everyone wants to focus on China, but it is actually a global issue ? which is laws in these different countries vary," Drummond said.

"Americans tend to think copyright is a real bad problem, so we have to regulate that on the Internet. In France and Germany, they care about Nazis' issues and so forth," he added. "In China, there are other issues that we call censorship. And so how you respect all the laws or follow all the laws to the extent you think they should be followed while still allowing people to get the content elsewhere?"

Craig Newman, a New York lawyer and former journalist who has advised Internet companies on censorship issues, said Twitter's new policy and the subsequent backlash are both understandable, given the difficult ethical issues at stake.

On one hand, he said, Twitter could put its employees in peril if it was deemed to be breaking local laws.

"On the other hand, Twitter has become this huge social force and people view it as some sort of digital town square, where people can say whatever they want," he said. "Twitter could have taken a stand and refused to enter any countries with the most restrictive laws against free speech."

___

Associated Press writers Paul Schemm in Rabat, Morocco, Michael Liedtke in San Francisco, Peter Orsi in Havana, Cuba, Cara Anna in New York and Ben Hubbard in Cairo contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_hi_te/us_twitter_censorship

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T-Mobile urges Congress, FCC to keep spectrum auctions competitive

T-Mobile may be getting a new batch of spectrum as a result of its failed merger with AT&T, but it's obviously going to always be on the hunt for more, and it's now urging Congress to ensure that the playing field for future auctions is level for all bidders big and small. Specifically, it's asking members of Congress to reconsider some pending legislation that it says would "effectively preclude the FCC from considering existing spectrum holdings in determining the qualifications for participation in auctions." That, it suggests, would put smaller players like itself at a disadvantage to the big spectrum holders in future auctions (namely, AT&T and Verizon), and would represent a drastic break from the past twenty years -- during which it says the FCC has continued to fine-tune it's process to ensure "pro-competitive auction rules." T-Mobile's full case, laid out by VP of Federal Regulatory Affairs Kathleen Ham, can be found at the source link below.

T-Mobile urges Congress, FCC to keep spectrum auctions competitive originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/26/t-mobile-urges-congress-fcc-to-keep-spectrum-auctions-competiti/

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Friday, January 27, 2012

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Caterpillar 4Q profit rises, tops Wall St. view (AP)

PEORIA, Ill. ? Caterpillar Inc. said Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit jumped 60 percent, boosted by pent-up demand for replacement equipment and continuing economic growth in developing countries.

The performance of the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment is an indicator of the strength of the global economy. Along with strong fourth-quarter earnings, Caterpillar issued rosy guidance for this year, saying it expects economic conditions and construction activity to continue to improve in most parts of the world.

Caterpillar, based in Peoria, Ill., reported net income of $1.55 billion, or $2.32 per share, up from $968 million, or $1.47 per share, in the same quarter last year.

Sales and revenue jumped 24 percent to $17.24 billion from $12.81 billion.

The results easily topped Wall Street predictions. Analysts polled by FactSet expected profit of $1.76 per share on $15.95 billion in revenue.

Caterpillar expects the global economy to grow about 3.3 percent this year, with the U.S. economy growing by at least 3 percent. In addition, U.S. construction spending, which has been on the decline since 2004, should finally begin to recover, the company said.

The company warned that while Europe's economic crisis probably won't trigger a global recession, economic growth in eurozone counties probably won't improve until the second half of this year.

Caterpillar sees China's economy growing by 8.5 percent in 2012, with more construction and rising demand for commodities bringing more machine sales.

Caterpillar estimates its 2012 profit will be $9.25 per share with $68 billion to $72 billion in revenue. The outlook includes about $6 billion in revenue from two acquisitions it made in 2011 ? Bucyrus International Inc. and Motoren-Werke Mannheim Holding GmbH. Analysts polled by FactSet expect profit of $9.07 per share on $66.99 billion in revenue for Caterpillar this year.

The company said sales of new machines and equipment will improve as customers in developed counties rebuild their fleets. Low interest rates and the expected increase in construction activity are also expected to boost demand.

In addition, Caterpillar expects demand for its mining equipment to continue to be strong globally, as companies keep boosting capacity.

For the full year 2011, Caterpillar earned $4.93 billion, or $7.40 per share, up from $2.7 billion, or $4.15 per share, in 2010. Sales and revenue increased to $60.14 billion from $42.59 billion.

Excluding its acquisition of Bucyrus, which closed during the year, Caterpillar earned $7.79 per share and posted $57.61 billion in sales.

Shares rose $3.80, or 3.5 percent, to $112.85 in morning trading.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_caterpillar

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Core suppliers savor bigger Apple pie (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Suppliers basked in the reflection of Apple's glowing results on Wednesday after the company's gold standard iPhones and iPads flew off the shelves over the holiday sales season.

Apple's forecast-beating fourth-quarter figures late on Tuesday helped it to beat Google's Android as the largest smartphone platform in the United States and to regain the world's largest smartphone maker spot from Samsung.

Apple's results were spearheaded by sales of the iPhone 4S, which is packed with technology from British chip designer ARM, said analyst Nick James at Numis.

Apple accounts for about 10 percent of ARM's technology revenues, and for about 35 percent of graphics and video chip designer Imagination's technology revenues, he said.

"It means people are still driven by performance in terms of having the highest performance, highest functioning devices, and those tend to have quite a number of ARM-based chips in them."

"It is one of the key things that drove Imagination to come through to the next level," James added.

Shares in ARM jumped 4.2 percent, while shares in Imagination were 4.1 percent higher at 1030 GMT.

Analyst Didier Scemama at RBS said that although Apple was only one of many ARM customers -- the Cambridge-based company supplies virtually every smartphone and tablet with their cheap designs -- from a sentiment standpoint there has been a strong correlation between the two stocks.

"(Apple) should help the whole sector today, but especially Dialog Semiconductor and other suppliers," said a Frankfurt-based trader.

Shares in Dialog Semi were up 3.9 percent.

OVERTAKING SAMSUNG

Samsung became the world's largest smartphone maker in the third quarter, but analysts said the 37 million iPhones sold in the fourth quarter should easily beat Samsung's expected sales of around 30 million.

Samsung is due to report on Friday.

Research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech said Apple's share of the U.S. market doubled from a year ago to 44.9 percent in the October to December period, just beating the total for Android smartphones, which slipped to 44.8 percent from 50 percent.

"Overall, Apple sales are now growing at a faster rate than Android across the nine countries we cover," said Dominic Sunnebo, global consumer insight director at the research firm.

Apple's iPhone 4S also uses chips from Samsung Electronics, Qualcomm, Toshiba and a host of smaller semiconductor companies, including TriQuint, Skyworks Solutions and Avago Technologies Inc.

In stark contrast to Apple's success, sales of handset makers using Android, including Motorola Mobility, HTC and Sony Ericsson, have stumbled in the quarter.

(Reporting By Tarmo Virki, Paul Sandle and Harro ten Wolde; Editing by Will Waterman)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/wr_nm/us_apple_google_microsoft

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Biden: No difference between Gingrich and Romney (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Vice President Joe Biden says he can't find "any fundamental difference" between Republican presidential rivals Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, even though the two are fighting each other fiercely for the party's nomination.

Asked in a nationally broadcast interview to comment on the race in the GOP for a candidate to challenge President Barack Obama, Biden called "a Republican fight."

But he also called Gingrich "a talented guy." Says Biden: "The guy is really good."

However, on the critical issues facing the nation, including economic strategy and foreign affairs, Biden said that both Gingrich and Romney are pushing policies that the Obama administration doesn't embrace.

Asked whether he thought Gingrich had the temperament to be president, Biden replied, "I think Newt's a fine guy. I just think his policies are a big mistake."

Biden added that "I'll let the Republicans sort out who is going to run against us."

The vice president made the comments interviews Wednesday on "CBS This Morning" and NBC's "Today" show.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_el_ge/us_biden_republican_presidential_race

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Mom Is My Wingman

Advances | More Science Cover Image: February 2012 Scientific American MagazineSee Inside

Male monkeys who live at home have more luck with females


Image: Courtesy Carla B. Possamai/Federal University of Espirito Santo

Human males living with their moms may not expect to have much luck hooking up this Valentine?s Day. But among the northern muriqui monkeys, males that spend the most time around their mothers seem to get an added boost when mating time rolls around.

The findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, suggest that females in some species may have evolved to play a critical role in their sons? reproductive success. Karen Strier, the paper?s lead author and a professor of anthropology at the University of Wisconsin?Madison, says the paper ?extends? the so-called grandmother hypothesis, a concept in which human females evolved to live past their prime reproductive years to spend more time helping offspring.

The research team observed and collected genetic data from a group of 67 wild monkeys living in a protected reserve in Brazil?s Atlantic Forest: infants, mothers and possible sires. They found that six out of the 13 adult males they studied spent more time in close proximity to their mothers than would be expected by chance. These same six monkeys, on average, sired the greatest number of offspring.

The investigators are still trying to figure out why. ?It?s not like we see moms intervening and helping their sons out,? Strier says. ?Maybe by sitting near their moms, they get to see when females are sexually active, or maybe they just get more familiar with other females.? Strier also found that there was no inbreeding among sons and their close female relatives, a process that might also be mediated by mothers. ?Mating may be less random than we think, perhaps because of the influence of the mothers,? she says.

The findings can help with future conservation efforts for the critically endangered species. ?The last thing we would want to do is take a male out of its natal group,? Strier observes.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=1f91fb7af514a69dcf64ce6832c0081b

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Obama honors Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins

President Barack Obama honors the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Team owner Jeremy Jacobs is at left.(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barack Obama honors the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Team owner Jeremy Jacobs is at left.(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barak Obama honors the 2010-2011Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barak Obama holds up a Boston Bruins hockey jersey during a ceremony where he honored the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barak Obama honors the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barack Obama honors the 2010-2011Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

(AP) ? President Barack Obama saluted the NHL's Boston Bruins for their 2011 Stanley Cup championship on Monday, but the celebration hit a sour note when one key member of the team skipped the White House visit in protest.

"I believe the federal government has grown out of control, threatening the rights, liberties, and property of the people," Goalie Tim Thomas said in a statement. The decision to stay away, Thomas said, "was not about politics or party, as in my opinion both parties are responsible for the situation we are in as a country."

Thomas, winner of the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender in the regular season and the playoff MVP last year, skipped the event with his teammates.

Bruins president Cam Neely said the team was disappointed with the move by Thomas, and that his views do not reflect those of the Bruins organization.

"We are disappointed that Thomas chose not to join us," Neely said, adding that the team would have no further comment on the matter.

The Bruins won their first Stanley Cup title in 39 years last June after a bruising seven-game final series against the Vancouver Canucks.

It was the latest in a string of Boston sports championships, including the Celtics in 2008, the Red Sox in 2007 and the New England Patriots in 2005. The Patriots play in next month's Super Bowl.

"The Bruins, the Sox, the Celtics, now the Patriots. Enough already, Boston," Obama said during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. "What's going on, huh?"

Obama also jokingly invoked some New England slang in welcoming the Bruins, along with the Stanley Cup, to the White House.

"I know you are all wicked happy to be here," he said.

The president said there was no better image of the Bruins' dominance than when Zdeno Chara, the team's 6-foot-9 defenseman, hoisted the Stanley Cup above his head in Vancouver in celebration last spring.

"Which is, I'm sure, the highest that the Stanley Cup had ever been," he said.

Obama drew laughter from the crowd when he cited the scrappy play of Bruins forward Brad Marchand, who emerged as a star with five goals in the last five games of the finals against Vancouver.

"'The 'Little Ball of Hate' shrugged off the rookie jitters," said Obama, adding "What's up with that nickname, man?"

Obama praised the teamwork of the six-time champions.

"Together, these players proved that teamwork is everything," he said. "It can overcome injuries, it can overcome long odds."

Obama praised the team for its work off the ice as well, noting the Boston Bruins Foundation has donated more than $7 million to charities in New England.

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., was on hand sporting, appropriately enough, two black eyes and a broken nose, which an aide said he got while playing in a recent pickup hockey game.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-23-Obama-Bruins/id-642a851f475247a483ab6a84ece5d9de

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AP Exclusive: US talks to Afghan insurgent group

In this Feb. 13, 1996 file photo shows Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Afghan rebel leader and chief of the insurgent group Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, speaking at a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan. Anxious to accelerate peace moves, top-level U.S. officials have held talks with a representative of a major Afghan insurgent movement led by a former prime minister that Washington had branded as a terrorist. The meetings with the group led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar show not only the degree of U.S. interest in pursuing a settlement but also the complexity of putting together an agreement acceptable to all sides in factious Afghanistan. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash, File)

In this Feb. 13, 1996 file photo shows Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, Afghan rebel leader and chief of the insurgent group Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, speaking at a news conference in Islamabad, Pakistan. Anxious to accelerate peace moves, top-level U.S. officials have held talks with a representative of a major Afghan insurgent movement led by a former prime minister that Washington had branded as a terrorist. The meetings with the group led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar show not only the degree of U.S. interest in pursuing a settlement but also the complexity of putting together an agreement acceptable to all sides in factious Afghanistan. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash, File)

Afghanistan's Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin, right, gestures as he speaks during a joint press conference with Marc Grossman the special U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. Ludin says the Afghan government supports having a Taliban political office opened in Qatar and would back an American decision to transfer some Taliban detainees from the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to Qatar. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

Marc Grossman the special U.S. envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan speaks during a joint press conference with Afghanistan's Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin, unseen, in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. Marc Grossman, a top American diplomat visiting Afghanistan, says the United States wants the Taliban to issue statements disassociating themselves from international terrorism and saying they want to join a peace process to end the 10-year war. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

An Afghan man rides his bicycle during a snowstorm in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Musadeq Sadeq)

In this Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011 photo, U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, top NATO Commander in Afghanistan, gestures during an interview with The Associated Press in Kabul, Afghanistan. Anxious to accelerate peace moves, top-level U.S. officials have held talks with a representative of a major Afghan insurgent movement led by a former prime minister that Washington had branded as a terrorist. The meetings with the group led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar show not only the degree of U.S. interest in pursuing a settlement but also the complexity of putting together an agreement acceptable to all sides in factious Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)

(AP) ? Anxious to accelerate peace moves, top-level U.S. officials have held talks with a representative of an insurgent movement led by a former Afghan prime minister who has been branded a terrorist by Washington, a relative of the rebel leader says.

Dr. Ghairat Baheer, a representative and son-in-law of longtime Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (Gul-bu-DEEN HEK-mah-tyar), told The Associated Press this week that he had met separately with David Petraeus, former commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan who is now CIA director, and had face-to-face discussions earlier this month with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and U.S. Marine Gen. John Allen, currently the top commander in the country.

Baheer, who was released in 2008 after six years in U.S. detention at Bagram Air Field in Afghanistan, described his talks with U.S. officials as nascent and exploratory. Yet, Baheer says the discussions show that the U.S. knows that in addition to getting the blessing of Taliban chief Mullah Mohammad Omar ? a bitter rival of Hekmatyar even though both are fighting international troops ? any peace deal would have to be supported by Hekmatyar, who has thousands of fighters and followers primarily in the north and east.

Hizb-i-Islami, which means Islamic party, has had ties to al-Qaida but in 2010 floated a 15-point peace plan during informal meetings with the Afghan government in Kabul. At the time, however, U.S. officials refused to see the party's delegation.

"Hizb-i-Islami is a reality that no one can ignore," Baheer said during an interview last week at his spacious home in a posh suburb of Pakistan's capital, Islamabad. "For a while, the United States and the Kabul government tried not to give so much importance to Hizb-i-Islami, but now they have come to the conclusion that they cannot make it without Hizb-i-Islami."

In Washington, National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden would not confirm that such meetings took place but said the U.S. was maintaining "a range of contacts in support of an Afghan-led reconciliation process."

A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the high-level meetings, said Petraeus last met with Baheer in July 2011 when he was still commanding NATO forces in Afghanistan. Petraeus took over as CIA director in September.

On Saturday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said he also had met recently with Hizb-i-Islami representatives. Baheer said he attended those meetings but added that the party considers the Afghan government corrupt and lacking legitimacy.

Karzai's announcement appeared intended to bolster his position as the key player in the search for peace. The U.S. repeatedly has said that formal negotiations must be Afghan-led, but Karzai has complained that his government has not been directly involved in recent preliminary talks with Taliban representatives and plans for setting up a Taliban political office in the Gulf state of Qatar.

Baheer said his meeting with Petraeus, whom he described as a "very humble, polite person," was marked by a few rounds of verbal sparring with each boasting a battlefield strength that the other dismissed as exaggerated.

"There was a psychological war in these first meetings," he said.

Baheer said Crocker and Allen tried to persuade Hizb-i-Islami to become part of Afghanistan's political network, accept the Afghan security forces and embrace the nation's current constitution. He said Hizb-i-Islami was ready to accept the security forces and the constitution, but wants a multiparty commission established to review and revise the charter.

"We are willing to make compromises," said Baheer. "We already have said we will accept the Afghan army and the police."

He said Hizb-i-Islami envisioned a multiparty government in postwar Afghanistan. At the same time, the group wants all U.S. and NATO forces, including military trainers, to leave Afghanistan, he said.

"The presence of any foreign forces will be not acceptable to us under any cover," he said. "Daily, there is another American killing of civilians. The longer they stay, the more they are hated by the Afghan people."

Overtures to Hekmatyar's group show not only the degree of U.S. interest in pursuing a settlement but also the complexity of putting together an agreement acceptable to all sides in factious Afghanistan. The U.S. formally declared Hekmatyar a "global terrorist" in 2003 because of alleged links to al-Qaida and froze all assets which he may have in the United States.

Hekmatyar, who is in his mid-60s, was among the major recipients of U.S. aid during the Afghan war against the Soviets in the 1980s. He and other anti-Soviet commanders swept into Kabul in 1992 and ousted the pro-Soviet government, only to turn against one another in a bitter and bloody power struggle that destroyed vast sections of the Afghan capital and killed an estimated 50,000 civilians before the Taliban seized the city.

A bitter rival of Mullah Omar, Hekmatyar fled to Iran and remained there until the Taliban were ousted in the 2001 U.S.-led invasion. He declared war on foreign troops in his country and rebuilt his military forces, which by 2008 had become a major threat to the U.S.-led coalition.

Contacts with Hekmatyar's group as well as parallel efforts to negotiate with the Taliban have taken on new urgency following the NATO decision to withdraw foreign combat forces, transfer security responsibility to the Afghans by the end of 2014 and bring an end to the unpopular war, which is increasingly seen as a drain on the financially strapped Western countries that provide most of the troops.

On Sunday, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, completed two days of meetings about the peace process with Karzai and other Afghan officials. Grossman, who was to travel to Qatar on Monday, urged the Taliban to issue a "clear statement" against international terrorism and affirm their commitment to the peace process "to end the armed conflict in Afghanistan."

U.S. officials also have reached out to the Pakistan-based Haqqani militant network to test its interest in peace talks. Haqqani fighters, the second largest insurgent group after the Taliban, have been blamed for most of the high-profile attacks in the heart of the Afghan capital.

___

Kathy Gannon is AP special regional correspondent covering Pakistan and Afghanistan. She can be reached at www.twitter.com/kathygannon

___

Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann in Kabul and Kimberly Dozier and Anne Gearan in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-22-AS-Afghan-Talks/id-2862757e820445dd9e37c5ecbfc109b2

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Monday, January 23, 2012

Simon Cowell breaks off engagement

Simon Cowell's trip down the aisle is getting postponed.

In an interview with UK newspaper the Daily Mirror, the "X Factor" judge reveals that he and his fiancee, Mezhgan Hussainy, are taking a break from both their relationship and their wedding plans.

PHOTOS: See which Idol alums are engaged or have kids

"It's quite a complicated relationship. We have had a break from each other, and we are still incredibly close," the 52-year-old Brit explains in Sunday's Mirror . "I'm vulnerable. It's not on, it's not off, it's somewhere in the middle. I don't know if I will ever get married, but I am happy."

  1. More Entertainment stories
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      Late-night comedian Stephen Colbert brought his "exploratory committee," and satirical love for Super PACs, to South Carol...

    2. Exclusive: 'Hoarding' threatens to end a marriage
    3. Who knew?! President Obama can sing
    4. Singer Etta James dies at 73
    5. Planking! 'Family Matters'! 'Idol' auditions get odd

PHOTOS: Celebrity engagements

Cowell and Hussainy met on the set of American Idol in 2003, where she was working as a makeup artist, and the couple got engaged in February 2010. At the time, Cowell, who's known for his emotionless demeanor, made it clear that he was very much over the moon.

"I'm smitten with Mezghan, I think she's the one," he gushed to the British TV host Piers Morgan. "She's very special...You know when you've found somebody very special."

PHOTOS: Revisit Simon's last season on Idol

But in Sunday's Mirror, Cowell alludes that the spark has fizzled out and he's regretting his remarks from two years ago.

Addressing his heartfelt quip on "Piers Morgan," Cowell says, "I have been pretty good about not talking about my private stuff, but I got caught up in the moment."

Copyright 2012 Us Weekly

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/46095115/ns/today-entertainment/

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Roundup: Bayern beaten by 'Gladbach in Bundesliga

Associated Press Sports

updated 4:11 p.m. ET Jan. 20, 2012

BERLIN (AP) - Marco Reus scored one goal and set up another as Borussia Moenchengladbach defeated first-place Bayern Munich 3-1 Friday night when the Bundesliga resumed after its winter break.

Reus capitalized on a blunder by Manuel Neuer in the 11th minute, scoring from 30 yards following the goalkeeper's poor clearance. Patrick Herrmann made it 2-0 in the 41st and added another goal in the 71st after being set up by Reus.

Bastian Schweinsteiger scored for visiting Bayern in the 76th.

Moenchengladbach (11-4-3) has 36 points, one fewer than Bayern (12-5-1). Borussia Dortmund and Schalke would match Bayern's 37 points with victories this weekend. Schalke hosts Stuttgart on Saturday and Dortmund is at Hamburg on Sunday.

---

LE MANS, France (AP) - Brazilian winger Nene and striker Kevin Gameiro scored two goals each as Paris Saint-Germain beat the amateur team Sable-sur-Sarthe 4-0 to reach the last 16 of the French Cup.

Sable, which plays four divisions below PSG, started brightly but struggled after Nene put PSG ahead with a penalty kick in the 36th minute.

Winger Jeremy Menez set up Gameiro for his first goal in the 65th, and Gameiro ran onto a through ball from Nene to make it 3-0 in the 73rd, his 12th goal of the season. Nene scored in injury time, but missed the chance for a hat trick in the last seconds.

PSG midfielder Javier Pastore limped off with a thigh injury in the first half.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Loyalty

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Warfare in 1912: A Look in Scientific American 's Archives [Slide Show]

Web Exclusives | Technology

Images of weapons technology from a century ago, two years before World War I broke out in Europe.

Image: Scientific American

These implements of warfare were developed to fill a perceived need or follow a specific doctrine. Some, such as the development of artillery, became a central facet during the Great War, the first ?total war? that involved all of its citizens, industries and scientific ingenuity.

? View the 1912 Weapons Technology Slide Show


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Time for robots to get real

Drop the gimmicks, focus on practical problem-solving, and robotics can change the world

FROM robotic slug-killers to dancing humanoids, there's a lot of media buzz around robots. But the roboticists behind such ventures need a serious reality check.

As a founder of iRobot Corporation, based in Bedford, Massachusetts, and CEO of robotics start-up CyPhy Works, it's clear to me that merely engineering "cool" robots does little to advance the field. If robotics is to succeed like computing, what matters is making practical robots that do jobs well and affordably - factors that tend to get lost as people fascinate over the latest autonomous party pieces.

The importance of focusing on practicality struck us during iRobot's formative years in the 1990s, when we were engineering robots as toys, oil-well surveyors and commercial cleaners for industry-leading firms. Why? Companies would only pay good money for practical designs that performed reliably.

Roboticists who don't focus on practicality, ruggedness and cost are kidding themselves. Simply put, people don't want outlandish machines in their homes. Before iRobot introduced the Roomba vacuuming robot in 2002, focus groups imagined it would look like the Terminator pushing a vacuum cleaner - and told us they would not accept such machines in their homes. But when we showed them that Roomba was small, light and friendly, they loved it.

Another benefit of practicality was seen last year, when iRobot's military robots, originally deployed in Afghanistan to defuse improvised explosive devices, proved very useful to the human teams dealing with the nuclear emergency at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant in Japan. As a result, many in Japan have questioned the nation's research focus on singing, running and dancing humanoid robots. It looks like change is afoot there.

This is to be welcomed because at this point, attempting to duplicate human intelligence or the human form robotically is a wrong-headed approach. We already have about 7 billion humans on the planet and we are really good at what we do. To sell humanoid robots they would have to be better than people - and that is just not realistic yet.

Software standardisation, around the Robot Operating System and Linux, for instance, will help developers focus on the practical. This is a tremendous move because engineers, particularly in research universities, won't have to start coding from the ground up to build their own robots. Instead, their challenge will be to build software packages small enough to run on affordable processors, and robots that avoid the common embarrassment of being wimpy and underpowered with limited usage time.

By focusing on bringing robots to market, innovators will be able to put the industry firmly on the commercially viable, world-changing track it deserves.

If you would like to reuse any content from New Scientist, either in print or online, please contact the syndication department first for permission. New Scientist does not own rights to photos, but there are a variety of licensing options available for use of articles and graphics we own the copyright to.

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Saturday, January 21, 2012

Etta James, a Life and Legend (ContributorNetwork)

Etta James's sultry voice provided an entire generation's worth of inspiration to modern songstresses. CNN reports major players in the music industry such as Mariah Carey and Beyonce Knowles were both influenced by her songs and style. The Associated Press reports James passed away Jan. 20 in California from complications related to leukemia.

James was a matriarch for the modern female blues singer throughout her life.

1938: Born

The Biography Channel states James was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 1938. By the age of 5, she was singing gospel choir songs in church and on the radio.

1950: Moved North

When James turned 12, she and her family moved north to San Francisco. She formed a trio with two other girls and singing became an even larger part of her life. Very quickly, the girls got noticed and James turned to professional singing.

1954: Return to L.A.

In 1954, James returned to Los Angeles to get more heavily involved in the recording industry. Johnny Otis spotted her two years earlier in San Francisco and the young lady embarked on a singing career, against the will of her mother. She changed her stage name to Etta James, a re-arrangement of her first name and was given a back up group called the Peaches (James's childhood nickname).

Her first recording, and first hit, came a year later. James sang "Roll with Me Henry" with Richard Berry. The song was renamed "The Wallflower" and it topped the R&B charts in 1955.

1960: Meteoric Rise

James signed a recording deal with Chess Records in Chicago in 1960. From this point, her career took off and never looked back. Hits such as "All I Could Do Was Cry," "Somthing's Got a Hold on Me," and "Trust in Me" were all hits during her run with Chess Records in the 1960s and early 1970s.

1973: Grammy Nomination

Her self-titled album "Etta James" earned James the first of several Grammy nominations in her career.

1984: Olympic Glory

James sang "When the Saints Go Marching In" for the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

1993: Hall of Fame

James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in 1993. At this point in her career, James was recognized for her wide-ranging vocals and styles that marked her long career.

2003: Grammy

In 2003, James was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Her sassy and no-nonsense singing style was recognized for being open, honest and heart wrenching simultaneously.

2011: Last Album

James's last album entitled "The Dreamer" was released in November 2011, three months before her death. The Associated Press reports her last album was typical James fare as she even rocked out to the Guns 'N Roses song "Welcome to the Jungle."

The audacious songstress died five days short of her 74th birthday.

William Browning is a research librarian.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120121/en_ac/10862597_etta_james_a_life_and_legend

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