airways fare: January 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Consumer spending fizzles as savings rise

John Gress / Reuters

A worker walks through a new Wal-Mart store in Chicago.

By Reuters

U.S. consumer spending 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.

The Commerce Department said on Monday spending was the weakest since June and followed a 0.1 percent gain in November.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, to nudge up 0.1 percent last month. For all of 2011, spending rose 4.7 percent, the largest increase since 2007.

When adjusted for inflation, spending dipped 0.1 percent, breaking three straight months of gains. It increased 0.1 percent in November.

The government reported on Friday that consumer spending grew at a 2.0 percent annual pace in the fourth quarter, helping to lift gross domestic product 2.8 percent - an acceleration from the third-quarter's 1.8 percent rate.

Part of the spending, which has been concentrated in motor vehicles, has been funded from savings and credit cards as high unemployment constrains wage growth.

Wages rose last month, helping to prop-up incomes. Income advanced 0.5 percent, the largest gain since a matching increase in March, and followed a 0.1 percent rise in November. Economists had expected income to rise 0.4 percent.

Taking inflation into account, disposable income rose 0.3 percent after being flat the prior month. With disposable income outstripping spending, the saving rate rose to 4.0 percent from 3.5 percent in November.

Savings increased to annual rate of $460.1 billion, the highest since August, from $407.8 billion the prior month.

The report showed inflation pressures generally contained, with a price index for personal spending nudging up 0.1 percent after being flat the prior month.

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/30/10270020-consumer-spending-fizzles-as-savings-rise

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Monday, January 30, 2012

'Caged' Brings 'Toughest Fight' For Danger In Episode Four

Danger and Daniel tells MTV News why the new episode, which airs Monday at 10 p.m. ET, is one of their favorites.
By Christina Garibaldi

"Caged" star Danger
Photo: MTV News

We're only three episodes into MTV's new docu-series "Caged," and so far, the show has certainly packed a punch. With the fourth episode airing Monday at 10 p.m. ET, these amateur mixed martial arts fighters from the small town of Minden, Louisiana, are gearing up for some of their toughest competition yet, both in the cage and out.

MTV News caught up with Daniel and Matt a.k.a. Danger, who were visiting New York City for the first time, and they told us what fans can expect from this upcoming episode.

"For me, it's definitely my toughest fight for the season." Danger said. "I'm very excited for everybody to see it. ... Just fighting a really tough guy, really tough guy from a really tough camp. One of the higher-ranked guys in our state and in our area, so it's a fight I wanted for a long time and it finally came to fruition and it was a great fight. It didn't disappoint; I hope everybody enjoys it."

Fellow fighter Daniel said he's looking forward to fans getting to know his lighter side. He returned to the cage last week after suffering a knockout in the premiere episode and went on to win a tough fight on the anniversary of the tragic death of his girlfriend Hannah.

"I feel that my personality is going to finally start opening up a little bit more." Daniel said. "I'm obviously getting a little bit more used to the cameras and I just feel like you all get to see maybe a funnier side to me. Not just a robotic, deep-voiced guy that's always fighting for something crazy."

That's not all: On Monday night viewers will also be introduced to a new Minden fighter, who enters the cage for the first time.

"You'll get a chance to meet one of our boys, he makes his 'Caged' debut, John Wesley Reed," Danger revealed. "He's a great fighter, and everybody is going to fall in love with him too. So we're really excited about episode four; it's one of my favorites."

You can catch "Caged" on Mondays at 10 p.m. ET on MTV.

For continuing "Caged" coverage, be sure to check in with MTV's Remote Control blog.

Related Videos

Caged | Ep. 4 | Sneak Peek

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1678084/caged-episode-four-danger.jhtml

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

US women's soccer team qualifies for Olympics (AP)

VANCOUVER, British Columbia ? The final goal in the game that put the U.S. women's soccer team into the Olympics was scored by Alex Morgan, the super-sub who made her name at last year's World Cup.

That's the same Alex Morgan who wasn't a sub at all in the Americans' previous game, leading to an interesting moment in a meeting with coach Pia Sundhage.

The formality is that the U.S. beat Costa Rica 3-0 Friday night to earn a ticket to London. The game was quite a bit more suspenseful than expected, with the Americans overcoming some early sloppiness and waiting until deep into the second half to put the game away.

The real fun now begins over the next six months as Sundhage figures out how best to use the best, deepest roster of women soccer players in the world. For instance, the newest hot-off-the-presses talent is Sidney Leroux, who got the call instead of Morgan in the second half of the big win over Mexico three days earlier.

"I asked her how she felt when Sidney Leroux came in the game and she didn't," Sundhage said. "I wanted an honest answer. She said `I don't think you want that answer.' Great. That tells a little about how badly she wants to play."

Morgan felt she got her point across.

"We both laughed," Morgan said. "And she said `That's all I need to know.' ... But that's the great thing with Pia. She lets you feel you can be honest with her. She lets you feel very comfortable around her."

Morgan's goal in the 89th minute made the score 34-0 ? the margin by which the Americans have outscored their opponents at the CONCACAF qualifying tournament. The only one that wasn't as lopsided as the score was Friday's London-or-bust semifinal.

"There were moments where I think Costa Rica were outplaying us, and it just shows you how important it was to all of us," forward Abby Wambach said. "Nobody wanted to make that mistake. And luckily we didn't."

Tobin Heath scored in the 16th minute to give U.S. all the offense it needed, and Carli Lloyd (72nd) and Morgan (89th) provided the insurance.

But the top-ranked Americans were certainly not as crisp as they were when they were drawing criticism for running up the score. Bad passes led to giveaways in the first half, forcing goalkeeper Hope Solo to work harder than she has all tournament.

Then again, so much was on the line that some jitters were understandable.

"We know that sometimes under big game circumstances players can get a little tight," Wambach said. "And you've just kind of got to deal with it. ... It was almost as if we scored that goal and nobody wanted to get stuck into a tackle. We were kind of playing a little bit soft, and we fixed that in the second half."

Costa Rica is ranked No. 41 in the world, has never qualified for an Olympics or a World Cup and has never scored on the U.S. in eight meetings. Las Ticas proved to be scrappy opponents, however, occasionally frustrating the Americans with physical play and just missing on two solid scoring chances in the first half in the London-or-bust match. As the possibility of an upset lingered deep into the second half, the plucky team in red gained the rousing support of the Canadian fans at BC Place.

"We put together three great games in group play," said Solo, who played despite a slightly pulled right quadriceps that had been bothering her all week. "You can't play four, five, six. Not every team is going to play perfectly every single game, but we got the job done."

The U.S. will be the two-time defending champions in London, having taken gold in Athens in 2004 and in Beijing in 2008. It will be the third straight Olympics in which the Americans will be trying to make amends for World Cup disappointment from the previous year. They finished second at last year's World Cup in Germany, losing to Japan in the final.

The victory also puts the Americans into the tournament final Sunday, a bragging-rights-only game against Canada, a 3-1 winner over Mexico in the second semifinal.

Sundhage's team arrived in Canada with a bit of apprehension. The Americans, having become somewhat complacent from years of uncontested success in the region, were stunned in a World Cup qualifier by host Mexico in November 2010, forcing them into a home-and-away playoff with Italy just to get for the World Cup. Also, the format for Olympic qualifying is such that everything hinges on one game ? the do-or-die semifinals ? regardless of how a team performs in the rest of the tournament.

Determined to take nothing for granted, the Americans had been full throttle for every game. They set a U.S. team record for goals in a game in a 14-0 win over the Dominican Republic, then nearly matched the feat in a 13-0 rout of Guatemala. Then came a 4-0 win in the much-anticipated rematch with Mexico to set up the semifinal against Costa Rica.

And even though the vital game didn't go quite as planned, the outcome was all that mattered.

"We," Sundhage said, smiling, "are going to London."

Joseph White can be reached at http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP

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

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Santorum cancels morning events to be with child

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum canceled his Sunday morning campaign events and planned to spend time with his hospitalized daughter.

"Rick and his wife Karen are admitting their daughter Bella to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia this evening," spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement Saturday night, adding "Rick intends to return to Florida and resume the campaign schedule as soon as is possible."

Santorum had been scheduled to appear on NBC's "Meet the Press" and attend church in Miami. Officials did not cancel Sunday's afternoon events in Sarasota and Punta Gorda.

Isabella Santorum has Trisomy 18, a genetic condition caused by the presence of all or part of an extra 18th chromosome. When asked about her, Santorum says his daughter was not expected to survive until her first birthday and often has to catch himself to stop from tears.

"I have a little girl who's 3 ? years old," he told Christian conservatives in Iowa before winning that lead-off contest.

"I don't know whether her life is going to be measured ? it's always been measured ? in days and weeks. Yet here I am. ... because I feel like I wouldn't be a good dad if I wasn't out here fighting for a country that would see the dignity in her and every other child."

When voters ask him about her, he calls the decision to campaign "gut-retching" but says he goes forward for all special needs families.

"You think she's fine, and then one cold and she's this close to dying," he told The Washington Post last year in an interview.

In October, he missed one of Bella's surgeries to participate in a debate and told the audience that he planned to take an all-night flight home from Las Vegas to be with her.

"I look at the simplicity and love she emits," Santorum said in a web video his campaign released after his scheduling drew questions, "and it's clear to me we're the disabled ones."

Santorum largely has kept his daughter off the campaign schedules, preferring her to stay home with her mother. But Bella did join Santorum for a few days around Iowa's straw poll in August, and she joined her family in Charleston, S.C., the day of its primary.

She didn't join her six siblings for the public speech. She stayed backstage.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-28-Santorum-Daughter/id-1dac6b225d9b40af8efed4d704505567

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

XYBOARD buyers, Galaxy Nexus wallpapers [From the Forums]

We've rolled through this week like there was no tomorrow and we've finally reached the weekend. We packed a lot of coverage into this week so be sure to get yourself caught up by skipping a few pages back. Looking for more? Head on into the Android Central forums and dig in:

HTC Rezound Forums - What's the final result of your OTA update?
Galaxy Nexus Forums - Galaxy Nexus Wallpaper Thread (Some NSFW)
Droid RAZR MAXX - RAZR to RAZR MAXX upgrade?
Droid 4 Forums - Droid 4 launch date?
Motorola XYBOARD Forums - Anyone else pick up a XYBOARD?

If you're not already a member of the Android Central forums, you can register your account today.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/mCMH6OsBpQQ/story01.htm

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As US slows, P&G turns to developing markets

This Jan. 23, 2012 photo, shows a travel-size tube of Crest toothpaste and toothbrush in a Moreland Hills, Ohio home. Procter & Gamble Co. said Friday Jan. 27, 2012 its net income fell 49 percent in the fiscal second quarter, hobbled by higher materials costs and a writedown in the value of some of its businesses. P&G also lowered its earnings predictions for the year. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

A travel size bottle of Scope is seen in a home in Moreland Hills, Ohio on Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. Procter & Gamble Co. says its net income fell 49 percent in the fiscal second quarter, hobbled by higher materials costs and a writedown in the value of some of its businesses. P&G also lowered its earnings predictions for the year. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

In this Jan. 23, 2012 photo, Cover Girl make up Lash Blast mascara and applicator are displayed in a home in Moreland Hills, Ohio. Procter & Gamble Co. said Friday Jan. 27, 2012 its net income fell 49 percent in the fiscal second quarter, hobbled by higher materials costs and a writedown in the value of some of its businesses. P&G also lowered its earnings predictions for the year. (AP Photo/Amy Sancetta)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Emerging markets are playing a bigger role in Procter & Gamble Co.'s growth, in another sign that U.S. companies are courting new customers overseas as American shoppers get tapped out.

The maker of Tide laundry detergent, Crest toothpaste and Pampers diapers said Friday that its market value grew 9 percent in developing countries over the latest quarter, but just 2 percent in North America and 0.5 percent in Western Europe. That news came as P&G reported a 49 percent drop in profit for the second fiscal quarter, hobbled by higher costs for materials and a big write-down on the value of two of its business units.

Developing markets like Africa and parts of Latin America and Asia now make up almost 37 percent of P&G's sales, up from 27 percent five years ago. That growth was buoyed by recent expansions like toothpaste offerings in Nigeria and fabric softener in Indonesia. In the same period, the share of sales that P&G makes in the U.S. dropped to 37 percent from 43 percent.

"We are shifting the footprint of the company to take advantage of the growth where the growth occurs," CEO Bob McDonald said in a call with analysts.

He noted that P&G has closed technical centers in Western Europe and North America but recently broke ground on a new center in Singapore and doubled the size of another in Beijing. Of the roughly 19 plants the company had under construction in the last six months, only one was in the U.S.

That adaptability has helped P&G gain revenue no matter the economic climate in the U.S., McDonald said. For example, while some competitors have blamed slowing diaper sales on a drop in the U.S. birth rate, P&G has focused on selling baby products to fast-growing populations in Asia. P&G's baby care revenue rose 6 percent in the quarter, while overall revenue rose 4 percent.

The globally focused strategy isn't without challenges. In some cases, P&G has to convince a new crop of customers that they need a product they'd previously lived without, like disposable diapers. The products sold in places like Africa and Latin America are usually lower cost, which means they typically carry lower profit margins.

But P&G also is keenly aware of the fragility of recession-weary customers in the U.S. and Western Europe. This quarter, it took big write-downs on the value of its salon professional unit and the appliances unit, which mostly sells electric razors.

The company noted that discretionary purchases are a tougher sell in a weak economy. It also noted that Western Europe, where concerns about a debt crisis are crimping consumer confidence, accounts for about half the sales for both units.

P&G is also raising prices across the globe to make up for its own higher costs for many raw materials like alcohol and the resin used in making diapers. In the last quarter, it raised prices an average of 4 percent.

P&G knows it must proceed carefully or risk driving away customers. In the last earnings call, it said the higher prices hurt its market share in Western Europe and North America.

But Friday, executives sounded more optimistic. They said more competitors were following suit and raising their prices as well, which should stem any loss of market share. For example, Colgate-Palmolive Co. announced Thursday it had raised prices in North America after more than two years of cutting them.

Stifel Nicolaus analyst Mark Astrachan, who described the quarter as "not a terrible result," said P&G should lower prices in some categories to gain back lost market share.

McDonald said P&G closely watches whether other companies follow its price increases, and if they don't, "then we react to resume the value equation we had when we were growing share."

P&G also noted that, like other U.S. companies that do business in foreign markets, it is no longer benefiting from favorable foreign currency exchanges. When the dollar is weak, as it was for much of last year, revenue a company raises overseas translates into more dollars when converted at headquarters. But now, many foreign currencies are slipping.

As a result, P&G lowered its per-share earnings estimate for the fiscal year, to $4 to $4.10 per share from $4.15 to $4.33.

For the quarter, net income fell 49 percent, to $1.69 billion from $3.33 billion, on the higher materials costs and the write-downs of the appliance business and the salon business. But after stripping out the one-time charges like the write-downs, net income was $1.10 per share, beating the $1.07 predicted by analysts polled by FactSet.

Revenue grew 4 percent to $22.1 billion, helped by the higher prices. That was roughly in line with analysts' expectations.

P&G's stock fell half a percent at mid-day to $64.45.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-27-Earns-Procter%20and%20Gamble/id-72eb7523ae9c486db496d357290d6b34

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Friday, January 27, 2012

Obama tells University of Michigan rich should pay more (Daily Caller)

President Barack Obama Friday told an enthusiastic crowd of students?at the University of Michigan that extra taxes on millionaires should help subsidize their futures.

Without mentioning Gov. Mitt Romney by name, Obama used his campaign-style event to urge higher taxes on the nations most prosperous to reduce student loan-payments, boost student grants, fund universities and pay for high-tech research.

?You?re the ones who need help,? he declared to students in the Ann Arbor auditorium and to others watching on TV.

?A quarter of all millionaire [earners] pay lower taxes than millions of middle-class households? [audience boos] Is that fair? ? does it make sense to you? ? do we want to invest in things like? student loans and grants??

He called on Congress to cut the interest rate on government loans to students, and said he had already limit graduates? monthly payments on government loans to 10 percent of their after-tax income.

When he announced the student-loan rollback proposals last year, education and financial experts said they would inflate the education sector bubble, and would leave millions of graduates with growing debts even before they try to marry or buy houses.

In the housing sector, a similar easy-credit policy gradually create a housing bubble in the mid-1980s. That bubble burst in 2008 and brought down the likes of Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, American International Group.

However, Obama Friday used the continuing economic pain of the housing bubble as a reason for students to support his policies.

He did not mention the $4 trillion that he?s added to the national debt, nor the high unemployment rate, nor the slow economic growth rate.

Instead, he repeatedly cited the tough economy as a reason why students would need to rely on government aid and not on free-market solutions.

?We?ve got a different idea of America, a more generous America? than the one offered by his political rivals, he said, without stopping just short of naming GOP presidential candidates who champion the free-market, and who oppose Obama?s emphasis on economic direction by progressive university graduates.

?We?re not successful just by ourselves? Everybody here is only here because somebody [else], somewhere down the road, decided we?re going to think not about ourselves, but about the future,? he declared

But, he declared, ?we can?t do everything? we?ve got to choose? between extra taxes or government programs for students.

?Either the deficit will go up and you guys are going to have to pay for it? or some seniors, [or a] veteran has to pay the bill, or students have to pay higher interests charges,? the president said.

One quarter of millionaires pay a lower tax rate than their secretaries, he said. ?Asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as a secretary in taxes is just common sense,? Obama said, citing quasi agreements from billionaires Warren Buffett and Bill Gates.

Obama?s one-quarter claim comes from research showing that roughly 95,000 millionaires earn much of their money via investments. Passive income earned from investments enjoys a 15 percent federal tax rate, whereas individual federal income tax rates range from zero to 35 percent.

Overall, the top 1 percent of earners paid 37 percent of all federal taxes in 2009, according to the National Taxpayers Union. The top 5 percent of earners pay 59 percent of federal income taxes, and the lowest-earning half of the nation?s taxpayers paid only 2.25 percent of income taxes, according to NTU?s study.

The number of millionaires in the country has also declined sharply since 2008 and critics caution boosting the tax rate on investment income would slow investment, lower tax receipts, widen the federal deficit, and increase unemployment among new graduates.
Join the conversation on The Daily Caller

State Dept. says Keystone bill raises legal questions (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? A Republican proposal in the House of Representatives to strip President Barack Obama's authority to rule on the permit for the Keystone XL Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline raises serious legal issues, a top State Department official said on Wednesday.

Obama denied TransCanada's application for the oil pipeline on January 18 because he said there was not enough time for the State Department to review an alternate route that would avoid a sensitive aquifer in Nebraska within a 60-day window set by Congress.

TransCanada has reapplied for a permit, and Republicans are working on legislation to try to speed approval for the $7 billion project, which would carry crude from Canada's oil sands to Texas refineries.

The pipeline would help lower gasoline prices and create "tens of thousands of jobs," said Fred Upton, chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

One bill, proposed by Representative Lee Terry of Nebraska, would give authority to approve the project to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, an energy regulator.

But the State Department official charged with reviewing the Keystone plan said authority for the pipeline should stay with the administration because of the foreign policy and complex economic, environmental and safety issues involved.

Terry's bill "just imposes narrow time constraints and creates automatic mandates that prevent an informed decision" on the pipeline, said Kerri-Ann Jones, an assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs.

Jones told lawmakers the legislation "raises serious questions about existing legal authorities, questions the continuing force of much of the federal and all of the state and local environmental and land use management authority over the pipeline, and overrides foreign policy and national security considerations."

She said, "We don't even have a complete route for this pipeline."

'REFEREES' GIVE REPUBLICANS RED FLAGS

The hearing got off to a fiery start, with Democratic members accusing Republicans of taking direction on the issue from oil companies and other corporate donors.

"The legislation we're considering today is an earmark that benefits just one project," said Henry Waxman, the top Democrat on the committee.

Six environmental protesters dressed as referees sat in the front row, lifting red flags each time Republicans talked about the thousands of jobs that would be created by the project - jobs numbers that environmental groups dispute.

Environmental groups are trying to stop the pipeline because of concerns about greenhouse gas emissions from processing Canada's oil sands into crude.

TWEAKS POSSIBLE-TERRY

Republicans in the House and Senate have not finalized their strategy on Keystone, which has become an issue in the 2012 U.S. presidential election campaign. But getting a Keystone bill approved faces hurdles in the Democratic-controlled Senate, and also ultimately would need to be signed by Obama to become law.

The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service found in a legal analysis released last week that Congress has the constitutional right to legislate permits for cross-border oil pipelines like Keystone.

Republican Senator John Hoeven is working on legislative language that would let Congress approve the permit, and a group of House Republicans introduced a similar measure on Tuesday.

A senior official with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission said the agency did not have a position on Terry's bill, and would implement the law if Congress passes it.

But Jeff Wright, director of FERC's Office of Energy Projects, said the agency has no experience with siting oil pipelines. He listed several technical issues the agency would have in implementing the bill as it is currently written, and said the agency would need more than the 30 days in the bill to make a determination on the project.

Representative Terry dismissed the State Department's assertions that his bill poses legal issues, explaining there was a stack of State Department environmental studies "two or three feet" high that could be used by FERC in its review.

"I think FERC brought up some good issues that we're going to sort through," Terry told Reuters. "We're open to some tweaks here and there."

(Editing by Philip Barbara and Vicki Allen)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/pl_nm/us_keystone_house

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Rio buildings collapse, cause deaths

By msnbc.com news services

Felipe Dana / AP

Rescue workers search for victims Wednesday after a building collapses in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

RIO DE JANEIRO -- Two downtown buildings collapsed?Wednesday, leaving?at least two dead inside the wreckage.

Rescue crews pulled four people alive from the debris, officials said.

One building was?20 stories tall; the other, 10, Reuters reported.

A loud explosion preceded the collapse, witnesses said.

There was a strong smell of gas in the area, officials said. However, a gas leak likely didn't cause the blast, Rio's mayor said.?

Rubble was strewn across a wide area, covering cars and motorcycles, The Associated Press reported. Television showed at least two people on the?roof of a neighboring building where?they apparently awaited help from firefighters.

"It was like an earthquake. First some pieces of the buildings started to fall down. People started to run. And then it all fell down at once," a witness who identified himself as Gilbert told Reuters.

As many as 11 people could be trapped in the wreckage, cable broadcaster Gloominess said. City authorities are assessing the risk of collapse of a damaged adjoining building, local news services reported, without giving the source of the information.

"I ran down the stairs desperate to escape. Just when I left the building it collapsed. I escaped by the skin of my teeth - it's the work of God," Nelson Tomes, 38, an air conditioning technician, told iG news service.

Tomes, who was on the 10th floor of one of the buildings, said he rushed to the stairwell after he heard a "huge noise."

TV images showed cars covered with concrete and steel rods. Light, the electricity distribution company serving the city, cut power to the area to avert the possibility of fires after the gas smell was detected, the TV broadcasters said.

Rio de Janeiro is struggling to address concerns over poor infrastructure as it prepares to co-host the soccer World Cup in 2014 and the Olympic Games two years later.

The incident comes months after an explosion apparently caused by a gas leak ripped through a restaurant in downtown Rio, killing three people and igniting concerns over the state of the city's infrastructure.

Vanderlei Almeida / AFP - Getty Images

Firefighters look for victims amid the rubble of a building that collapsed Wednesday in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10238303-rio-buildings-collapse-cause-deaths

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Safety regulator: `We pulled no punches' on Volt (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The government "pulled no punches" in investigating battery fires in the Volt, General Motors' prized electric car, the head of the federal auto safety agency told Congress on Wednesday.

At a combative House hearing, Republicans questioned whether the government's partial ownership in the automaker created a conflict of interest for the Obama administration in the Chevrolet probe, which began after a test car caught fire in June, three weeks after a side-impact test.

The government still owns 26.5 percent of GM's shares.

"We pulled no punches" during the investigation, said David Strickland, who heads the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Then asked if the company got a pass from his agency, David Strickland replied, "Absolutely not."

But Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, who led the hearing by the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee, said he found it "deeply troubling" that the agency waited until November to notify the public about the fire.

Strickland said he would have gone public immediately if there were an imminent safety risk. He said it would have been irresponsible to tell people that something was wrong with the Volt while experts looked into the cause of the fire.

In response, the committee chairman, Republican Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said, "I hear you, I don't believe you."

Republicans questioned whether the delay was to help broker new mileage standards, which were negotiated last year. Strickland insisted there was no connection and said he had not been pressured by anyone from the administration on the investigation.

After the first fire, two others occurred later related to separate safety tests, and the agency opened an official investigation on Nov. 25. That ended last week, with the government concluding that the Volt and other electric cars don't pose a greater fire risk than gasoline-powered cars. The agency and General Motors know of no fires in real-world crashes.

GM chairman and CEO Daniel F. Akerson said sarcastically that while the company designed the Volt to be a great car, "unfortunately, there is one thing we did not engineer. Although we loaded the Volt with state-of-the-art safety features, we did not engineer the Volt to be a political punching bag. And that, sadly, is what the Volt has become.

"For all of the loose talk about fires, we are here today because tests by regulators resulted in battery fires under lab conditions that no driver would experience in the real world."

But the Republicans' aim was on the safety agency, as Issa told Strickland, "You guys screwed up by keeping a secret."

Some Democrats came to the administration's defense.

"I don't believe this hearing is about safety," said Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. Instead, he argued, it was part of an attack on the Obama administration's support for GM and the electric car industry.

At first, GM blamed NHTSA for the June fire, saying it should have drained the battery to prevent any fires after the test. But the company quickly retreated and said it never told NHTSA to drain the battery. GM executives also said there was no formal procedure in place to drain batteries after crashes involving owners.

Now the company sends out a team to drain the batteries after being notified of a crash by its OnStar safety system.

The Volt has a T-shaped, 400 pound battery pack that can power the car for about 35 miles. After that, a small gasoline generator kicks in to run the electric motor. The car has a base price of about $40,000.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_go_co/us_volt_fires

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Gingrich: The rise of the hoi polloi (Politico)

How big?

It is hard to over-estimate the importance of the South Carolina Republican primary. It was the second earthquake to hit the East Coast within the last six months ? but this one could have far greater aftershocks.

The epicenter is the Republican Party. With its future now radically altered, it could have profound implications for the nation.

This could rank with California in 1964, North Carolina in 1976 and New Hampshire in 1980. Barry M. Goldwater in the Golden State, Ronald Reagan in the Tar Heel State and Reagan, again, in the Granite State, all ran as insurgents at crucial times for the GOP. All won major victories over moderate opponents, changing the party?s future ? and the nation?s.

At the Republican convention in 1960, Goldwater was not happy with Richard M. Nixon?s nomination. The Arizona senator stormed at conservatives to ?grow up,? stop complaining and get to work to take over the party. Four years later, they did.

Goldwater had been deeply concerned about the then-vice president?s recent concessions to New York Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller. Goldwater felt that ?Tricky Dick? had displayed weakness by going to New York essentially to kiss the ring of the leading GOP moderate. It was dubbed the ?5th Avenue Compact.? But Goldwater acidly labeled it, ?Munich of 5th Avenue.?

This indeed undermined Nixon?s presidential effort. Some staunch conservatives, who might once have favored the longtime red-basher Nixon, decided to support Democrat John F. Kennedy instead ? because he portrayed himself as more anti-communist.

When Goldwater ran in 1964, the nomination race came down to the key California primary against Rockefeller. Rocky had money and California?s cosmopolitan culture on his side. He had the TV networks and the newspapers. He didn?t, however, have the voters. Goldwater won a stunning victory that propelling him to a win on the first convention ballot.

By 1968, Nixon had learned his lesson. He had also convinced leading conservatives, including William F. Buckley, to support him over then-Gov. Ronald Reagan. But Nixon?s White House years helped convince conservatives not the trust the GOP establishment ? and establishment supplicants like Nixon.

In 1976, Gerald R. Ford, advised by Henry Kissinger, Donald Rumsfeld and others, pursued Nixon?s liberal policies. He seemed to almost push Reagan into challenging him in the primaries, hurling personal insults at the Gipper.

Reagan lost the first five primaries. By North Carolina, he was $2 million in debt, reeling and opposed by virtually everyone in the GOP establishment. And I mean everybody.

In Raleigh, N.C., Reagan received a telegram signed by numerous GOP officials, telling him to get out of the race. Paul Laxalt was with him and Reagan exploded, telling Laxalt that the Republicans who signed the missive ?could go [do something to] themselves,? according to Laxalt.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories0112_71837_html/44277551/SIG=11maqonie/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71837.html

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Witnesses: Security forces kill 2 in north Nigeria (AP)

KANO, Nigeria ? Nigerian security forces killed a man and a pregnant woman early Tuesday morning in an assault on a neighborhood in this northern city where at least 185 people died in a recent terror attack by a radical Islamist sect, witnesses said.

Assault rifle rounds left bullet holes in the cement walls of the home in the sprawling city of Kano. Its interior metal doors were peppered with holes as well. Inside a living room, blood pooled around beige sofas, with a single rifle cartridge left behind. A man in traditional robes sobbed as he stood in the puddle.

Witnesses said security forces surrounded the home early Tuesday morning and started a gun battle that lasted hours. Relative Musa Ibrahim Fatega said the dead man was a retired worker from the country's education ministry. A sedan inside the compound, also riddled with bullet holes, bore federal government license plates.

Fatega said the man, who he declined to name, was not a member of the sect known as Boko Haram, which claimed responsibility for the coordinated attack Friday in Kano that left so many dead. Security forces took the two dead bodies away, with family members still trying to figure out how to claim them for burial before sundown as is Islamic tradition.

"He didn't belong to any religious group. Is it because of his beard?" Fatega asked. "That means you cannot dress the way you are. Is it good? Is this how government is going to treat us?"

Kano state police spokesman Magaji Musa Majiya declined to immediately comment, saying the local commissioner of police would brief journalists later Tuesday. However, the scene around the house remained tense as locals pressed against the front gate Tuesday morning. A military attack helicopter circled overhead.

Friday's attack in Kano killed at least 150 civilians, 29 police officers, three secret police officers, two immigration officers and one customs official, police now say, bringing the toll to 185 dead. Medical workers and emergency officials say they still expect the death toll to rise.

Police also say they have discovered 10 unexploded car bombs in the city, as well as about 300 bombs made from aluminum cans and other explosives. That has raised fears that Boko Haram could strike again in this city of more than 9 million people that carries religious and political importance across Nigeria's Muslim north.

Friday's coordinated attack in Kano represents Boko Haram's deadliest assault since beginning a campaign of terror last year. Boko Haram has now killed 262 people in 2012, more than half of the 510 people the sect killed in all of 2011, according to an Associated Press count.

Nigeria's weak central government has been unable to stop the killings, and its heavy-handed military response has been criticized by civilians who live in fear of sect attacks and government reprisals.

Boko Haram wants to implement strict Shariah law and avenge the deaths of Muslims in communal violence across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people split largely into a Christian south and Muslim north.

While the sect has begun targeting Christians in the north, the majority of those killed Friday appeared to be Muslim, officials said.

___

Associated Press writer Salisu Rabiu contributed to this report.

___

Jon Gambrell can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects name of Musa Ibrahim Fatega.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_re_af/af_nigeria_violence

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Ex-CIA man accused of leaking classified info

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, right, and his lawyers Plato Cacheris, left, and John Hundley, leave federal court in Alexandria, Va., Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. In the latest criminal case in the Obama administration's effort to punish leakers, Kiriakou, who helped track down and capture a top terror suspect was charged Monday with disclosing classified secrets about his teammates to the media. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, left, and his attorney John Hundley, leave federal court in Alexandria, Va., Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. In the latest criminal case in the Obama administration's effort to punish leakers, Kiriakou, who helped track down and capture a top terror suspect was charged Monday with disclosing classified secrets about his teammates to the media. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Former CIA officer John Kiriakou, right, accompanied by his attorney John Hundley, leaves Federal Court in Alexandria, Va., Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. In the latest criminal case in the Obama administration's effort to punish leakers, Kiriakou, who helped track down and capture a top terror suspect was charged Monday with disclosing classified secrets about his teammates to the media. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

This undated image, taken from video, and provided by ABC News show former CIA officer John Kiriakou interviewed on ABC's World News, Monday Dec. 10, 2007. Kiriakou, who told reporters he participated in the interrogation of terrorist Abu Zubaydah has been charged with leaking classified secrets about CIA operatives and other information to reporters. (AP Photo/ABC News)

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) ? An ex-CIA officer who helped track down and capture a top al-Qaida figure was charged Monday with disclosing classified secrets, including the role of one of his associates on that covert mission, in the latest of a series of prosecutions by the Obama administration against suspected leakers.

John Kiriakou, 47, of Arlington, is charged with violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act and the Espionage Act. A federal judge ordered Kiriakou to be released on a $250,000 unsecured bond. Kiriakou declined to comment as he left the courthouse Monday.

According to authorities, Kiriakou divulged to three journalists, including a New York Times reporter, the role of "Officer B," who worked with Kiriakou on the capture of suspected al-Qaida financier Abu Zubaydah in the months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times, and his case has been made an example by those who believe the interrogation technique should be outlawed. And Kiriakou's public discussions of Zubaydah's waterboarding were a key part of the debate.

In a separate accusation, Kiriakou is alleged to have disclosed the identity of a covert operator to an unidentified journalist. Authorities say that journalist then gave the officer's name to a team of defense lawyers representing a suspect the U.S. held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. When the lawyers included information about the officer in a sealed legal brief in 2009, the CIA became suspicious and the government began to investigate.

The affidavit states that the defense lawyers were found to have done nothing wrong.

According to the affidavit, FBI agents interviewed Kiriakou last week, and he denied leaking the information. When specifically asked whether he had provided the Zubaydah interrogator's name to the Times for a 2008 article, he replied "Heavens, no." A New York Times spokeswoman declined to comment.

Kiriakou's attorney, Plato Cacheris, told reporters after the hearing that his client will plead not guilty. He also said a potential defense argument could be that the charges criminalize conduct that has been common between reporters and government sources for decades.

If convicted, Kiriakou could face up to 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.

The case was secretly investigated by a top federal prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald of the Northern District of Illinois. Fitzgerald is best known for his successful prosecutions of Scooter Libby, former Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, for perjury and of Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich for corruption.

Kiriakou has worked as a consultant to ABC News, although he hasn't appeared on the network since early 2009. ABC declined to comment on his arrest. In a 2007 interview with the network, Kiriakou said that waterboarding was used ? effectively ? to break down Zubaydah. But he expressed ambivalence about pouring water into a suspect's breathing passages to simulate drowning to try to get them to talk.

"(W)e were really trying to do anything that we could to stop another major attack from happening," Kiriakou said, describing the months after the Sept. 11 attacks. "I don't think we're in that mindset right now. ... And, as a result, waterboarding, at least right now, is unnecessary."

The attorney who represents Zubaydah in the prisoner's civil petition for release said he is not involved in the Kiriakou prosecution and has never met him. However, Brent Mickum said he had wanted to interview Kiriakou for information that might help the case, but the ex-CIA man refused, by email, to speak with him.

"He was basically out there talking to the whole world about our client and his involvement . I would have loved to hear what he had to say, but he refused to talk to me," Mickum said.

Mickum said he has come to believe Kiriakou has overstated his knowledge and involvement in the case against Zubaydah, who has been held without charges at Guantanamo since 2006.

Mickum said he and other attorneys who work at Guantanamo take security restrictions seriously and know not to reveal classified information such as the names of covert investigators. But he also said the government abuses the classification system, selectively leaking information and keeping secret anything that could embarrass U.S. officials.

The charges also accuse Kiriakou of lying about his actions in an effort to convince the CIA to let him publish a book, "The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror," in 2010. The book explores "the inner workings of the U.S. intelligence apparatus," according to its description on Amazon.com, and "chillingly describes what it was like inside the CIA headquarters on the morning of 9/11."

Since leaving the agency, Kiriakou has also worked as a consultant and on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to his LinkedIn profile. He earned a bachelor's degree in Middle Eastern studies in 1986 and a master's degree in legislative affairs in 1988, both from George Washington University in Washington.

The Justice Department's campaign to prosecute leakers has been particularly aggressive under Obama. This is the sixth criminal leak case opened under the administration and the second involving a former CIA officer and the Times. Federal prosecutors in Alexandria claim Jeffrey Sterling divulged classified information to Times reporter James Risen about CIA efforts to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Sterling's trial has been delayed while prosecutors appeal several pre-trial rulings, including the judge's decision to effectively quash a government subpoena demanding that Risen testify. His attorneys argued that unless his testimony is absolutely critical to a government's case then prosecutors should not be able to subpoena a reporter and require him to testify about anonymous sources.

The Sterling case is not the only leak prosecution to run into trouble. In a case against former National Security Agency executive Thomas Drake, a judge sentenced him only to probation and scolded prosecutors for how they pursued the case.

Prosecutions under the Espionage Act have been particularly contentious. Opponents say the law can be used to unfairly target those who expose government misdeeds. The law was used, for instance, to charge Daniel Ellsberg in the Pentagon Papers case, and a grand jury has been investigating whether WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange can be prosecuted for the mass of disclosures by WikiLeaks that were allegedly fostered by leaks from Army Pfc. Bradley Manning.

"Safeguarding classified information, including the identities of CIA officers involved in sensitive operations, is critical to keeping our intelligence officers safe and protecting our national security," said Attorney General Eric Holder. "Today's charges reinforce the Justice Department's commitment to hold accountable anyone who would violate the solemn duty not to disclose such sensitive information."

In light of the indictment, CIA Director David Petraeus reminded his agency's employees of the essential need for secrecy in their work.

"When we joined this organization, we swore to safeguard classified information; those oaths stay with us for life," he said "Unauthorized disclosures of any sort ? including information concerning the identities of other agency officers ? betray the public trust, our country, and our colleagues."

___

Associated Press writers Ben Fox in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Brett Zongker in Washington contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-23-CIA%20Leak%20Charges/id-57446fb2af6d4013968f65be0fa6b968

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Monday, January 23, 2012

Foodpairing Is an Interactive Mind Map for Creating Great Drinks and Dishes [Food]

Foodpairing Is an Interactive Mind Map for Creating Great Drinks and Dishes Foodpairing is a beautiful webapp for exploring new flavors and food substitutions. Say you have fresh salmon on hand or some extra sharp cheddar. Use the Foodpairing explorer tree to find ingredients to combine it with, and then even more flavor combinations.

Like Visual Thesaurus, but for food and drinks, Foodpairing is designed to inspire you in the kitchen. You can search for your main ingredient and filter by category and subcategory, or start your dish or drink by choosing the main ingredient from the Foodpairing tree. Then select a complementary ingredient from one of the branches. Foodpairing matches ingredients by major flavor components (see the science behind it here).

The site also features some recipes, like "Broth of sweet onion, onion confit and cream cheese" and "Barfood: Grey Goose l'Orange - ginger - truffel" (the site is sponsored by major food and drink brands). It's less of a recipe site, however, than a flavor mixing board.

Though targeted towards professional chefs and mixologists, if you're a food enthusiast or just tired of the same old food combos, Foodpairing can be great fun. The free account gives you access to about 100 Foodpairing trees; a paid account ($15/month or $129/year) is required for the complete database. (If you're interested in flavor combinations, by the way, The Flavor Bible by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, is a great resource on the topic in dead tree format.)

Foodpairing

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/MjhIRdALi2U/foodpairing-is-an-interactive-mind-map-for-creating-great-drinks-and-dishes

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UN: 120,000 S.Sudanese affected by ethnic violence (AP)

JUBA, South Sudan ? More than 120,000 people need humanitarian aid because of a wave of ethnic clashes in a remote and volatile region of South Sudan, the United Nations said Friday, underscoring the challenges the world's newest nation faces six months after independence.

The government of Sudan also reported clashes in a state bordering the new nation.

The battles in Jonglei state are straining international relief efforts, said Lise Grande, the U.N. Humanitarian Coordinator in South Sudan. The U.N. mission originally projected that the same number of people displaced in South Sudan in 2011 ? 350,000 ? would be displaced in 2012.

"We are two weeks into the year and there have already been 120,000 impacted," said Grande.

The U.N. earlier this month estimated that 60,000 people had been affected by clashes between the Lou Nuer and Murle communities. The Lou Nuer sent a column of at least 6,000 warriors to attack the Murle in late December and early January, sending tens of thousands of people fleeing into the countryside. The Murle have since carried out revenge attacks.

No reliable death toll has yet been established in the series of attacks. Government officials have estimated that over 160 have been killed in Murle revenge attacks. A county commissioner initially estimated more than 3,000 had been killed in the Lou Nuer attacks on Pibor, but the central government has cast doubt on that figure.

The U.N. is also trying to establish the number of dead. But more than two weeks after the end of the Pibor attacks, Grande said they have not come to any conclusions.

"Like everyone else we are waiting to see what is confirmed," said Grande.

U.N. officials in South Sudan are calling humanitarian operations in Jonglei state the most expensive and complex since the signing of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which ended more than 20 years of civil war between Sudan and South Sudan. South Sudan broke away from Sudan in July.

While U.N. humanitarian operations have reached communities in Pibor County, the displaced in Uror, Akobo and Duk counties must wait until the U.N. completes its humanitarian assessments.

Jonglei state is roughly the size of England but there are few roads and the majority of food aid must be flown in by helicopter. The instability in the state has led Russia to threaten to withdraw four helicopters it has provided to the U.N. mission.

South Sudan has deployed 3,000 security forces to the state to try and quell the waves of violence. The Sudan Council of Churches, which has been heavily involved in peace efforts, called the deployment "too little, too late."

Sudan's military said on its website Friday that seven opposition fighters from the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North ? the military movement in Sudan that aligns itself with South Sudan ? were killed in clashes with Sudanese soldiers in the country's Blue Nile State, which borders South Sudan.

The clashes took place near the border with South Sudan earlier this week, military spokesman Sawarme Khalid Saad was quoted as saying.

Six soldiers were wounded in the clashes, which resulted in the military driving the rebels out of the area, Saad said. Late last year, the U.N. refugee agency said some 1,200 people were arriving daily from Sudan's Blue Nile State to South Sudan, and that around 350,000 people have moved from Sudan to South Sudan since independence in July.

The Sudanese government also denounced U.S. efforts to distribute humanitarian aid in South Kordofan and Blue Nile states because it excluded the participation of national humanitarian organizations. This could result in aid falling into the hands of opposition fighters, Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Suleiman Abdul Rahman Suleiman said.

He was quoted in the state-run SUNA news agency Friday calling on the U.S. to explain its motives for delivering humanitarian aid without the Sudanese government's participation in areas where the SPLM is active.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_re_af/af_south_sudan_violence

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

6 Things to Know Before Starting a Business

startup image This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

An entrepreneur?s life can be a real roller coaster. Having started a few businesses in my career, I thought it would be useful to highlight some of the hard-won experience I?ve learned throughout the process ? the kind of advice I wish I?d known when I started my first, or even second, business.

1. Don?t Underestimate a Business Plan

If you?re not seeking outside funding at the start, it?s tempting to forgo writing out a formal business plan. However, taking the time to write out your business plan, forecasts and marketing strategy is a particularly effective way to hone your vision. All planning should center around two essential questions: How is my business serving a particular need or pain point, and does this represent a major market opportunity?

In addition, don?t overlook the exit strategy at the beginning. Do you want your children to take over the company? Do you want to sell it? It?s critical to think about these questions from the start, as the building blocks of your company (such as legal structure) should vary depending on your preferred final outcome.

2. Don?t Get Stuck in the Past

My husband and I launched our first online legal document filing service in 1997, and then re-entered the market with our second company in 2009. While our previous experience certainly gave us a leg up the second time around, we soon realized the market landscape had changed dramatically since our first company. We had to stop dwelling on previous competitors, customer needs and service expectations and write a brand new playbook.

The marketplace and your business plan are living entities; they?re continually in flux. Whether it?s your first company or fifth in a given market, you?ve got to keep asking: What do we need to do today?

3. Don?t Hire Friends

I form bonds quickly and make fast friends with people around me. While I generally consider this a positive trait, it has created some difficult situations when running a business. At times I have been reluctant to let employees go even though I know it?s not a good fit. If things aren?t working out between an employee and startup, it?s time to put feelings aside and trust that the person will find a better situation elsewhere.

Unfortunately, I?ve also learned that people can let you down, ranging from laziness to fraud. I still believe that faith in people is a good thing. However, blind faith can bring trouble.

4. Don?t Dive in Without a Plan

Just like the business plan, it?s critical to think through any initiative you wish to launch. When you?re in the midst of startup fever, it?s easy to get wrapped up with every new idea. However, be careful of losing focus. Moving forward is critical for any startup, and constantly switching directions can impede this forward progress. With each new idea, step back and think how it fits into your company?s overall goal and vision, then create a plan for how to make it happen.

5. Don?t Fall Into a Discount Trap

At the beginning, too many young companies feel the pressure to heavily discount their prices in order to win business. While customer acquisition is important, attracting customers at unsustainable price levels will just result in a race to the bottom. After all, raising your prices on goods and certain services can be a tricky proposition. I?ve learned that you?re better off in the long run focusing on how to bring more value to customers, rather than simply slashing your prices.

6. Don?t Be Afraid to Fail

Soccer coach Sven-Goran Eriksson once said, ?The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.? An entrepreneur?s path is uncharted and sometimes a little bumpy. It?s easy to get stressed or downright panicked, but you cannot let fear prevent you from following your dreams. Think of it this way: the sooner you fail, the closer you are to discovering what works.

Conclusion

While you can?t guarantee the outcome of any new venture, you can stack the odds in your favor. These are six lessons I?ve learned over time and countless others are out there. If you?re open, you can gain wisdom from everything you try and gather insight from fellow entrepreneurs. What do you wish you knew when you started your first business?

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, ineskoleva

Source: http://mashable.com/2012/01/21/6-things-starting-business/

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Mancini closes door on return of Carlos Tevez

Associated Press Sports

updated 9:24 a.m. ET Jan. 20, 2012

LONDON (AP) -Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini says it would be "impossible" to welcome striker Carlos Tevez back if he fails to secure a move in the January transfer window.

Mancini says Tevez has been in negotiations with Inter Milan and Paris Saint-Germain and hopes the Argentina striker can complete his move "very quickly."

When asked if there was a way back for Tevez if those talks collapse, Mancini says "this is impossible. Carlos doesn't want to stay."

The 27-year-old Tevez hasn't played for City since he refused to warm up during a Champions League game against Bayern Munich last September.

Mancini says "it's now three months he hasn't played and this isn't good for him."

More newsMike Hewitt / Getty Images

First American EPL hat trick

Clint Dempsey became the first American to score a hat trick in England's Premier League, helping Fulham rally from a halftime deficit to rout Newcastle 5-2 Saturday.

Boris Streubel / Getty Images

Best of the US

Abby Wambach and Clint Dempsey are voted top players by the U.S. Soccer Federation.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44691932/ns/sports-soccer/

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Saturday, January 21, 2012

Sony Ericsson makes shock loss before ownership change (Reuters)

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) ? Sony Ericsson on Thursday posted a shock loss due to tough competition, the global slowdown and restructuring, marring the final quarter before it is rolled into Japanese consumer giant Sony.

The world's ninth-biggest handset maker missed out on the smartphone boom which powered the growth of rivals like Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics and is now being hit by the slowdown in global growth.

Analysts say the phone maker will fare better under Sony, the maker of the PlayStation game console, Bravia TVs and Vaio computers, which aims to integrate phones with its other consumer electronic products.

Sony Ericsson reported a pretax loss of 247 million euros ($316.57 million) for the fourth quarter versus a forecast for a small profit in a Reuters poll.

For the full year, the company slipped to a 243 million euro loss, forcing 50 percent parent Ericsson to say it would take a 1.1 billion crowns ($160.32 million) hit to its operating income in the fourth quarter.

"Our fourth quarter results reflected intense competition, unfavorable macroeconomic conditions and the effects of a natural disaster in Thailand this quarter," Sony Ericsson CEO Bert Nordberg said in a statement.

The company said it shipped just 9 million units in the fourth quarter, down 20 percent on last year, with smartphone shipments failing to compensate for falling feature phone sales.

Although the company will shift all its production to smartphones during 2012, feature phones still make up some 20 percent of Sony Ericsson's sales volumes.

Sony aims to take full control of the phone maker later this month or early February. ($1 = 0.7802 euros) ($1 = 6.8614 Swedish crowns)

(Reporting by Simon Johnson and Olof Swahnberg; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120119/tc_nm/us_sonyericsson

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Man gets life for millionaire's murder in fraud scheme (Reuters)

SAN DIEGO (Reuters) ? A judge sentenced a former financial adviser to life in prison without parole on Friday for strangling a wealthy Southern California biotech executive and attempting to steal nearly $9 million from one of his investment accounts.

A San Diego Superior Court jury convicted Kent Keigwin, 61, of first-degree murder with special circumstances in November for the June 2010 death of 65-year-old John Watson.

Watson, a British-born millionaire who since his death has been praised for helping San Diego entrepreneurs win investments, was the former CEO and president of California-based biotechnology company Ionian Technologies Inc.

Keigwin, who was a financial adviser, was convicted of strangling Watson in the wealthy La Jolla beach enclave near San Diego, and subsequently transferred $8.9 million out of one of his accounts.

Keigwin had earlier worked to befriend Watson and later began tracking him and assuming his identity to defraud him, San Diego Deputy District Attorney Sharla Evert told Reuters.

On the day he killed Watson, Keigwin used a Taser to jolt him with an electric shock at the front door of his apartment in La Jolla and then strangled him, according to Evert.

Keigwin's DNA was subsequently found under the victim's fingernails, suggesting a struggle, Evert said.

Keigwin's attorney, Stacy Gulley, had said that Watson died after an "all-out fight" with Keigwin, who Gulley described as having had no motive to kill Watson.

But the day after Watson's death, Keigwin transferred $8.9 million from one of Watson's investment accounts into a new account he had opened in Watson's name, prosecutors said.

Keigwin had set up his first e-mail account in Watson's name over a year before the killing, and spent months setting up bank and investment accounts with the goal of siphoning off Watson's legitimate accounts, Evert said.

Homicide investigators arrested Keigwin three days after the murder, when he let himself into Watson's home using the dead man's keys and dressed in black with a backpack, Evert said. He may have been trying to clean up the crime scene, she said.

Keigwin, convicted of murder, was also found guilty of using the personal identity of another, burglary, forgery and attempted grand theft.

When he died, Watson was a board member with investor group Tech Coast Angels, which funds and guides fledgling companies with high growth potential in Southern California. Watson first came to the United States from Britain as a Fulbright scholar at Indiana University.

"He was great friends with our staff and often brought them roses, which they cherish now," Tech Coast Angel board member Stephen Flaim said.

Earlier this month, Tech Coast Angels said it had established the John G. Watson Foundation with a $1 million gift from his family to support entrepreneurs in the San Diego area.

The group described Watson as a shrewd investor who liked to hike and swim in the ocean.

(Writing By Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/biotech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120121/us_nm/us_millionaire_murder

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Friday, January 20, 2012

Top 7 CES Gadgets for Your Small Business

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

CES 2012 saw the launch of a slew of new gadgets, many of which could be useful for your small business. Here?s a roundup of some of the top gadgets for entrepreneurs, aside from the new batch of tablets, which are getting their own post chock full of spec comparisons. Take a peek at the seven gadgets below, and then check out the rest of our CES coverage here.

Producing video for your small business just got a whole lot easier. In fact, you don?t even need a cameraman ? just grab your smartphone. Set up the Swivl with your iPhone and get into position, with the ?marker? in your hand. The Swivl will pivot the iPhone to follow the marker ? and thus your movements ? as you demo a product, give a mini-lecture, host a videochat or broadcast a company announcement.

But beyond just pointing the camera at you, the Swivl also has a built-in microphone so that the audio levels stay constant and aimed at your voice, even as you move around the room. Check out the video above to see Swivl in action.

The iPhone model will be available during Q1, and Android version is reportedly on the way. Take a closer look in the gallery below.

Price: $159

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Swivl, electronic marker

Swivl with iPhone attached

Swivl

Swivl -- it's a prototype so far

Electronic Marker

Swivl

Electronic Marker

Camera follows this hand-held marker, there's a mic in there, too.

A quiet office is a sad office ? up the cheer factor with some tunes. Throw out the 1980s boombox and instead opt for an iPod dock with speakers that will amplify the jams up to 150 feet from the base. The 3? speakers will charge up when they?re placed back on the dock.

Price: $129

With a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop and maybe even an iPod, you?ve got a lot of devices to keep juiced. The Powertech USB wall charger lets you plug in traditional power cords, but there are also two inputs for USB devices to keep everything charged. Powertech claims the gadget has the ?world?s slimmest? USB adapter. This will definitely prove to be a useful accessory for business travelers.

Price: TBD

They may look like toys for the under 5 demo, but Karotz are actually Internet-connected ?smart rabbits? that can be integrated with your social networks. The rabbits will update your Facebook and Twitter pages, send emails and read texts. And there?s more ? the voice-recognition software helps the rabbit do requested commands, such as searching the web, playing music, checking the weather forecast and consuming RSS feeds. There?s also a built-in microphone and webcam, so Karotz can snap a pic and upload it right to Facebook. It?s kind of like Siri, but better.

There?s also an RFID add-on ? at the office, you can set up the Karotz at the front desk, and when guests come to the office, they can swipe the RFID tag to notify you of their arrival. So Karotz is your new personal assistant and front desk person in one.

If your Karotz won?t be on your person or nearby, you can control it with an app that enables you to give orders remotely. The app is available in the Apple App Store and Android Market.

Price: $129

As a small business, most of your lean team is analogous to a Swiss army knife ? each person is does a little bit of everything in one handy package. Well, now there?s an actual Swiss army knife that will prove useful to your business ? and we?re not talking about using the knife to open FedEx boxes. The Victorinox SSD has all the bells and whistles of your standard Swiss army knife ? blade, scissors, nail file with a screwdriver tip and a LED laser pointer ? along with a little something extra ? a USB flash drive that holds 1 terabyte of data. And in case you?re wondering, a terabyte is huge.

But that?s not all ? this knife also it connects to eSATA II/III and USB 2.0/3.0 with a single connector, there?s a graphic display showing what?s saved to the drive. Plus, it supports 256 AES encryption, so you don?t have to worry about file security.

Price: TBD

Need a screen in the office to show your website?s Google Analytics or to display news, inventory details or sales stats for all to see? Try Samsung?s new 55-inch OLED HDTV. Mashable?s gadget guru Charlie White checked it out in person and reports that the display is thinner than his pinky finger, so you won?t have to worry about the screen protruding off the wall. The price has yet to be announced, and it very well could be out of reach for some small businesses, but you have to admit ? that is one sexy machine. More pics below.

Price: TBD

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Samsung's New TVs

LEDs have a great advantage over LCD in the amount of color they can display.

Samsung's New TVs

Samsung definitely went all out with this booth, with TVs covering every surface.

Samsung's New TVs

Samsung's new OLED TV hooked up to a huge entertainment system.

Samsung's New TVs

Pictures of sunsets so bright, you'll have wear shades.

Samsung's New TVs

These TVs are thinner than many we've ever seen.

Samsung's New TVs

Samsung's whole CES booth was decked out with TVs.

Samsung's New TVs

The 55" model was prominently on display here.

Samsung's New TVs

The TVs also have an almost invisible bezel.

Samsung's New TVs

Samsung had a full staff on hand to answer questions.

Samsung's New TVs

Look out! That mouth is going to eat you.

For entrepreneurs on the go, Bluetooth is a godsend ? kind of. In theory, Bluetooth headsets are great, but far too often, the devices suffer from poor sound quality, pairing issues, an uncomfortable fit, ugly aesthetics or a bulky design. But Parrot?s Zik may ring in a new era of Bluetooth headsets. ?The Zik is one of the cleverest implementations of wireless technology we?ve seen in headphones to date,? says Mashable tech analyst Pete Pachal.

The earcups completely enclose the ear, which helps to make the headset more comfortable and not as alien-looking, like other Bluetooth headsets. In fact, these just look like a snazzy pair of audio headphones.

You can use the headphones either to listen to music or to pair with your cellphone to take calls. You?ll have to set up pairing for the devices (unless your phone has near-field communication, like the Galaxy Nexus), and you?ll be ready to rock (or talk) simply by tapping the phone to one of the earcups. There?s also noise-cancellation technology that makes music and calls more audible.

With functionality and style in spades, it looks like the Zik could be the gadget of choice for entrepreneurs in 2012. More pics in the gallery below.

Price: TBD

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Parrot Zik Headphones

The Zik Parrot, designed by Phillipe Starck, is a pair of Bluetooth headphones designed by Phillipe Starck.