Sunday, March 31, 2013

CA-BUSINESS Summary

Japan just might be set to open a new chapter

LONDON (Reuters) - ?Historic' is an overused word. But if the Bank of Japan meets expectations and embarks this week on a radical policy shift to crush deflation, the meeting will go down as, well, historic. Because of gently falling prices, Japan has not grown in nominal terms for two decades, reducing its relevance for the global economy.

Analysis: Insider case against SAC manager may be tough to prove

NEW YORK (Reuters) - To win a guilty verdict against one of hedge fund titan Steven A Cohen's most senior portfolio managers, U.S. prosecutors face a tough task: convincing a jury that a man who already admitted to breaking the law is telling the truth on the witness stand. On Friday, U.S. authorities arrested and charged Michael Steinberg, a 16-year veteran of Cohen's $15 billion SAC Capital Advisors, with insider trading in shares of the technology stocks Dell and Nvidia .

Insight: China's losing battle against state-backed polluters

SHANGHANG COUNTY, China (Reuters) - When Zijin Mining Group threatened to move its headquarters some 270 kms from its home county of Shanghang to Xiamen on China's southeast coast, a local Communist Party boss rushed to confront the company's chairman Chen Jinghe. "If you want to move, you'll have to move the Zijin Mountain to Xiamen as well," the official told Chen, referring to a vast local mine that has helped transform the firm into China's top gold producer and second-biggest copper miner.

Chesapeake names Dixon interim CEO as McClendon set to leave

(Reuters) - Chesapeake Energy Corp appointed Chief Operating Officer Steven Dixon as interim chief executive officer on Friday and made him part of a three-person committee to search for a replacement for Aubrey McClendon. McClendon is expected to step down on Monday.

ECB's Draghi phoned Napolitano over resignation reports: press

ROME (Reuters) - European Central Bank President Mario Draghi phoned Italian President Giorgio Napolitano after media reports that the 87-year-old head of state was planning to resign early to clear the way for new elections, newspapers reported on Sunday. Napolitano pledged on Saturday that he would stay in office until the end of his term on May 15 following reports that he planned to step down to break the deadlock created by last month's election, which left no party able to form a government.

EU, IMF resisting Greek bank NBG's takeover of Eurobank: sources

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's international lenders have asked Athens to halt National Bank's takeover of rival Eurobank, worried that the resulting lender would be too big for the state to deal with, two bankers close to the talks told Reuters on Saturday. The lenders' concerns come as an unexpected twist in the takeover deal, which was launched in October and completed with a share swap. The two banks have already begun integrating operations after getting approval by authorities.

Monte Paschi says lost billions in deposits after February scandal

MILAN (Reuters) - Customers' deposits at Italian bank Monte dei Paschi fell by "a few billion euros" after a scandal erupted in February over loss-making derivatives trades at the lender, the bank said in a document posted on its web site on Saturday. Monte dei Paschi last week reported a higher-than-expected net loss for the whole of 2012 on the back of a rise in provisions for bad loans and 730 million euros in losses on the derivatives trades, which are at the center of a fraud.

Cyprus details heavy losses for major bank customers

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Major depositors in Cyprus's biggest bank will lose around 60 percent of savings over 100,000 euros, its central bank confirmed on Saturday, sharpening the terms of a bailout that has shaken European banks but saved the island from bankruptcy. Initial signs that big depositors in Bank of Cyprus would take a hit of 30 to 40 percent - the first time the euro zone has made bank customers contribute to a bailout - had already unnerved investors in European lenders this week.

Areva CEO says would be interested in Urenco stake: paper

PARIS (Reuters) - French nuclear group Areva would be interested in taking a stake in uranium enrichment firm Urenco, Areva's CEO was quoted as saying on Saturday. Urenco, owned by the British and Dutch states and Germany's two top utilities, is up for sale and Areva - which already has a partnership with Urenco - is believed to be a leading contender to buy a stake in the firm. Areva so far had played down its possible interest in Urenco.

Loeb's Third Point outperforms hedge fund rivals again

BOSTON (Reuters) - Hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb outperformed his rivals again in the first quarter with returns that kept pace with the stock market's recent rally, a person familiar with Loeb's returns said. The New York-based manager told investors late on Thursday that his flagship Third Point Offshore Fund rose 2.8 percent in March while the Third Point Ultra fund, the leveraged version of the Offshore fund, gained 4.2 percent.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ca-business-summary-104914178--finance.html

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Churches slam British government's welfare reforms

LONDON (AP) ? Government welfare reforms that include a contentious cut dubbed the "bedroom tax" will cause upheaval for some of Britain's most vulnerable people, religious leaders and anti-poverty activists claim.

The measure, which takes effect Monday, will reduce rent subsidies to social housing tenants if they have a spare bedroom.

The government ? which prefers the term "under-occupancy penalty" ? says it is one of a series of changes that will make the country's unwieldy welfare system simpler, cheaper and fairer.

But thousands of trade unionists, advocates for the disabled and anti-poverty campaigners held protest marches against the change on Saturday, and on Sunday four churches released a joint criticism of the reforms. The Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist and United Reform churches and the Church of Scotland argued that "the cuts are unjust and that the most vulnerable will pay a disproportionate price."

"Our feeling is that these benefit changes are a symptom of an understanding of people in poverty in the United Kingdom that is just wrong," Methodist spokesman Paul Morrison told the BBC. ?"It is an understanding of people that they somehow deserve their poverty, that they are somehow 'lesser', that they are not valued."

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, leader of the Anglican church, has also criticized the welfare reforms.

The British government is trying to reduce public spending by 50 billion pounds ($76 billion) by 2015 in a bid to deflate Britain's ballooning deficit and kick-start its spluttering economy. It says its welfare reforms will save 4.5 billion pounds by 2014-15.

The measures include changes to disability benefits, below-inflation increases and, eventually, the replacement of a patchwork of housing, unemployment and parental benefits with one payment called the Universal Credit.

The Department for Work and Pensions says the spare-bedroom levy ? a cut of 14 percent to households with one extra room and 25 percent for two ? will save taxpayers money and will help free up social housing for families because people with too many rooms will downsize.

"It is wrong to leave people out in the cold with effectively no roof over their heads because the taxpayer is paying for rooms which aren't in use," Conservative lawmaker Grant Shapps told Sky News.

Officials say the new rules won't apply to retirees, or to those who really need extra space, such as parents of severely disabled children.

But campaigners say the "bedroom tax" has already produced injustices. Parents whose children are not considered disabled enough by local officials have been told they must pay. So has a bereaved couple who couldn't bear to change the bedroom of their 7-year-old daughter after she died of brain cancer.

To its opponents, the "bedroom tax" is an indignity on a par with the "poll tax," a levy on every adult that sparked violent protests and helped bring down Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1990. Her successor, John Major, scrapped it.

The government says its welfare reforms are modest measures that will encourage people to get off welfare and find jobs. In tough times, officials say, everyone must make sacrifices.

Opponents ask why the government can't tax mansions or second homes, rather than the poor. And they allege the cuts will force impoverished residents to move from homes and neighborhoods where they have lived for years.

Frank Field, a minister in the previous Labour administration and now a government adviser on fighting poverty, told The Guardian newspaper that "the government is introducing social and physical engineering that Stalin would have been proud of."

___

Jill Lawless can be reached at http://Twitter.com/JillLawless

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/churches-slam-british-governments-welfare-reforms-120851734.html

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Finals Preview? Heat visit Spurs on Sunday

By the time the Miami Heat get on their plane to come home late Sunday night, they could have a stranglehold on the race to finish with the NBA's best record.

All they have to do is win at San Antonio. That, of course, is no easy task.

The Heat (57-15) take a two-game lead in the NBA standings over the Spurs (55-17) into their matchup on Sunday. A win would essentially provide Miami a four-game cushion with nine remaining, given that the Heat also would control any potential head-to-head tiebreaker with San Antonio.

If the Heat lose, the race for home-court advantage throughout the entirety of the playoffs could turn into a frantic, down-to-the-wire deal.

"It's always good to play the best, to play against the best," LeBron James said. "It'll be an opportunity for us. We just want to get better, man. The game Sunday doesn't define our season or how we go from there. We just want to continue to move forward and get better throughout the rest of the season."

Miami has won 28 of its last 29 games overall, getting back on the winning track at New Orleans on Friday, two days after Chicago snapped a 27-game Heat winning streak. But San Antonio has won 28 of its last 30 games at home, and facing the Spurs on the road is traditionally a painful expedition for many members of the Heat ? as it tends to be for everyone else in the NBA.

Dwyane Wade is 1-4 at San Antonio, sitting out three other Heat losses there during his career. Chris Bosh is 1-7. James is 3-7. Shane Battier ? a longtime player in the Western Conference ? has enjoyed eight wins from the visitors' side when facing the Spurs, and also been on the losing end 16 times there.

"It's obviously a very, very, very good team," Wade said. "Very tough place to play, so I think our mentality and how we approach the game is going to be important. You just try to go out there and compete, as we do every night, try to get a great road win. It's not going to be easy but that's kind of what we enjoy."

The only other meeting between the clubs this season was Nov. 29 in Miami, a strange game in that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich ? citing a desire to rest his best players at the end of a long road trip ? sent Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Danny Green home before the game.

With guys like Patty Mills, Nando De Colo and Matt Bonner filling out the starting lineup ? they've combined to make four other starts this season ? the Spurs almost beat the Heat anyway, leading by five with 2:13 left before getting outscored 12-2 in a wild Miami finish that gave the Heat a 105-100 win.

Ginobili played just under three minutes in Friday night's win over the Los Angeles Clippers because of a hamstring issue, and Popovich indicated he probably won't be ready to face the Heat.

"I don't think he can play," Popovich said.

The Spurs have won six of their last seven games. Of those six wins, only one came by double figures, an 11-point victory over Golden State. The average margin of the other five wins in that span, over Dallas, Cleveland, Utah, Denver and Clippers was 3.4 points, and the only loss was a one-pointer at Houston.

"It's great challenges, good preparation for us for the playoffs," Parker said. "Denver is a great team, Clippers a great team and now we've got Miami. They're the best in the league. They went on the unbelievable run and it's going to be another great game."

This game could have been one of the most-watched among regular-season games in years if Miami had not lost in Chicago on Wednesday. Had the Heat won there and won in New Orleans, as they did on Friday, they would have been going for their 30th straight win on this trip to San Antonio in what will be touted either way as a potential NBA Finals preview.

"I just want you to know the Heat are going to be just fine," said President Barack Obama, a noted Bulls fan during a stop in Miami on Friday. "They're going to be OK. They are playing basketball the right way."

The Heat streak is gone, but standings-wise, it's still a big deal.

"Very good team, obviously the defending champs," Duncan said. "I think they won 62 in a row or something like that. It'll be a great game. I know our crowd will be excited and we'll be excited to continue our homestand."

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra has said everyone on his roster should be considered day-to-day for the remainder of the regular season. This is when teams like to ensure that players get some rest wherever they can.

And the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference is already clinched, meaning all that's really left on the Heat to-do list before the opening round of the playoffs is finish atop the NBA's regular-season standings.

"The mindset will be, first and foremost, playing our game and making sure that we establish our identity," Spoelstra said. "That's the whole thing with us. When we do that and play the way we're capable, results take care of themselves.

"We don't want to get caught up in too much of the results. We have a big goal in mind. That's the No. 1 goal and that's the only goal we've talked about."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/finals-preview-heat-visit-spurs-sunday-151540281--spt.html

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Visualized: Unreal Engine 4 'Infiltrator' demo gives an impressive peek at next-gen gaming

Visualized Unreal Engine 4 'Infiltrator' demo gives an impressive peek at nextgen gaming

Just in case you missed it last night buried in our interview with Epic Games VP Mark Rein, the company showed off a new real-time demo at GDC 2013 this week, titled "Infiltrator." The nearly four-minute clip, showcases a sci-fi shootout created with its Unreal Engine 4, and remarkably powered by a single GeForce GTX 680. Now that we've piqued your curiosity a bit, check out this gorgeous display of futuristic espionage after the break, plus a bonus clip of the "Elemental" UE4 demo running on a PlayStation 4 dev kit in real-time.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/30/unreal-engine-4-infiltrator-demo-gdc-epic/

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Josh Henderson ready to be main 'Dallas' villain

NEW YORK (AP) ? When Larry Hagman died of cancer last November, TNT's "Dallas" reboot was put to the test over how to write his character out of the show.

Hagman's final episode ended with conniving Texas oilman J.R. Ewing talking on the phone to his son, John Ross, and the sound of gunfire reminiscent of the "Who Shot J.R.?" cliffhanger in the original CBS series, which aired from 1978 to 1991.

Now the show is embroiled in a murder mystery to find out who killed J.R.

Josh Henderson, who plays John Ross, said in a recent interview that it's strange to be on the set without Hagman.

"Not having him anymore, it's just very different, and we miss him. You know he would want nothing but for us to continue going with the show because as long as 'Dallas' is on, we'll be talking about J.R., and I'll always be trying to live up to him and it's gonna be, you know, as long as the show's on the air, he'll always be with us," Henderson said.

The 31-year-old actor said he's ready to be the main villain on "Dallas," now in its second season on TNT (Mondays, 9 p.m. EDT). The reboot has pitted cousins John Ross and Christopher (played by Jesse Metcalfe) in a battle for control of Ewing Energies.

"We've been doing this for going on two years, and I feel like I really know who John Ross is, and I really now completely understand the ups and the downs of John Ross and J.R.'s relationship and I'm excited about it. ... I think people trust me enough now ... to at least carry on the torch a little bit for the Ewings."

It's not an exaggeration to say Henderson fell into show biz.

Henderson started on the WB reality series "Popstars" in 2001, where he won a spot in a music group. Soon after, an agent asked to meet with him about the possibility of acting.

"I didn't even know what an agent was," he said. "My first audition, I didn't have a headshot, but I had a teen centerfold from the music stuff I did, and the producers of this TV show thought it was hilarious."

Henderson says his naivete worked to his advantage.

"Everything happened so quickly. I was just excited to be there. And I think that energy and that kind of, not ignorance, but I was just so green, I wasn't thinking about it, I just did it. And I think that's really what helped me."

Within three weeks of signing with an agent, he booked a TV pilot and a film on the same day.

Henderson has been recording music that hopefully will be featured on "Dallas."

___

Online:

http://www.tntdrama.com

___

Alicia Rancilio covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow her online at http://www.twitter.com/aliciar

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/josh-henderson-ready-main-dallas-villain-191551175.html

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Syrian rebels enter strategic Aleppo neighborhood

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian rebels pushed into a strategic neighborhood in the northern city of Aleppo after days of heavy clashes, seizing control of at least part of the hilltop district and killing a pro-government Sunni Muslim cleric captured in the fighting, activists and state media said Saturday.

While there were conflicting reports about the scale of the rebel advance into the Sheik Maqsoud neighborhood, the gains marked the biggest shift in the front lines in the embattled city of Aleppo in months. The city, Syria's largest and a former commercial hub, has been a key battleground in the country's civil war since rebels launched an offensive on it in July, seizing several districts before the fighting largely settled into a bloody stalemate.

The Aleppo Media Center opposition group and Aleppo-based activist Mohammed Saeed said rebels seized full control of Sheik Maqsoud late Friday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, however, said rebels took only the eastern part of the neighborhood, and reported heavy fighting there Saturday.

Sheik Maqsoud, which is predominantly inhabited by minority Kurds, is located on a hill on the northern edge of the city, making it a strategic location overlooking Aleppo.

The Observatory said rebels captured a pro-government Sunni Muslim cleric in the fighting, killed him and then paraded his body around the neighborhood.

State-run Al-Ikhbariya TV identified the cleric as Hassan Seifeddine. It said he was beheaded and his head was placed on the minaret of Al-Hassan Mosque where he used to lead the prayers.

The SANA state news said Seifeddine's body was "mutilated" after the "assassination."

The reports of the mutilation of the cleric's body could not be independently confirmed.

The killing of Seifeddine comes nearly 10 days after a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a mosque in the heart of the Syrian capital of Damascus, killing top Sunni preacher Sheik Mohammad Said Ramadan al-Buti as he was giving a sermon. The March 21 blast killed 48 others and wounded dozens.

Al-Buti, like Seifeddine, was a strong supporter of the Assad regime, which is dominated by members of the president's minority Alawite sect, an off-shoot of Shiite Islam. The opposition is made up of mostly Sunnis, who are the majority among Syrians.

Extremists have been playing a bigger role among the rebel groups. They include the Islamic Jabhat al-Nusra, a powerful offshoot of al-Qaida in Iraq, which has claimed responsibility for most of the deadliest suicide bombings against regime and military facilities and, as a result, has gained popularity among some rebels.

A photograph recently posted online by activists showed the turbaned Seifeddine, who was in his late 50s, with a white beard. "A wanted agent," read a banner posted over the picture. Another referred to him as wanted by the rebels and read: "An agent of Syria's ruling gang and wanted by the Free Syrian Army."

Aleppo-based Sunni cleric Abdul-Qadir Shehabi told state-run TV that Seifeddine's son was kidnapped months ago. Shehabi also lashed out at the rebels, saying they "mutilated" Seifeddine's body.

"Is this the freedom that they talk about? This is the freedom of Satan," Shehabi said, referring to rebels who say they are fighting Assad's regime because it is authoritarian.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said Seifeddine's name had been put on an opposition "death list."

"He was the imam of a mosque. He was not armed when he was killed," Abdul-Rahman said. "We cannot close our eyes when the opposition violates human rights."

Elsewhere in Syria, activists reported violence in areas the southern province of Daraa, the suburbs of Damascus and the northern regions of Idlib and Raqqa. The Observatory said the heaviest clashes were in Raqqa and Sheik Maqsoud.

Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said the Sheik Maqsoud fighting killed 14 pro-government gunmen, seven rebels, 10 civilians and Seifeddine.

In Damascus, residents said power was cut on Saturday in some neighborhoods. Al-Ikhbariya TV quoted Minister of Electricity Imad Khamis as saying the network suffered a technical problem and it will be fixed in the next 24 hours.

Damascus has witnessed repeated cuts in the past months.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-rebels-enter-strategic-aleppo-neighborhood-115808294.html

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Race to replace John Kerry: Who's real champion of the 'little guy'?

In the first televised debate between the Massachusetts Democrats seeking to replace John Kerry in the Senate, Stephen Lynch accused front-runner Ed Markey of 'siding with the big guys.'

By Mark Trumbull,?Staff writer / March 28, 2013

Democratic hopeful for the US Senate Mass. US Reps. Stephen Lynch, left, and Edward Markey, center, prepare for a televised debate as moderator R.D. Sahl, right, looks on at the WCVB-TV studios in Needham, Mass., Wednesday, March 27, 2013.

Steven Senne/AP

Enlarge

In their first televised debate before a special US Senate election, Rep. Stephen Lynch sought to make up some ground against front-runner Rep. Ed Markey, framing the race as a debate over which of them really stands up for ordinary citizens.

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The two Democrats, in their bids for the seat recently vacated by John Kerry (D), sparred over issues ranging from health care and abortion to the economic plight of Bay State fishermen.

Representative Lynch challenged his rival to explain a vote to bail out the banking industry in 2008, and his ties to big telecommunications firms.

?There seems to be a pattern,? Lynch said in the Wednesday match-up. ?You?re siding with the big guys against the little guys?. What?s up with that??

Representative Markey, the longest-serving member of the state?s congressional delegation, parried the attacks by saying he has used his career in the House to break up telecom monopolies, and that the banking bailout was needed to rescue the whole economy from the risk of a severe depression.

?We could not allow the banking system to collapse onto the hopes and dreams of every family in America,? Markey said.

Lynch is pitching himself as the centrist in the race, at a time when Congress needs to break a pattern of partisan gridlock. Contrasting himself with both the ?hard left? and ?hard right,? he said ?I don't work for Nancy Pelosi,? and? that if elected to the Senate he won?t work for majority leader Harry Reid.

In a state with a strongly Democratic electorate, Markey?s stronger liberal credentials may be one reason he?s been polling ahead of Lynch. He said the vote for Obamacare, the Affordable Care Act, was the ?the proudest vote of my career,? and that he?s supported abortion rights for three decades.

Lynch identifies himself as pro-life, while also saying he?s against overturning the Supreme Court?s Roe vs. Wade decision. He praised the group Planned Parenthood (which has endorsed Markey) because reducing unwanted pregnancies is ?the real goal? in the quest to bring down abortion rates.

Lynch was one of the rare House Democrats who voted against the Affordable Care Act. He explained his vote by saying the measure raised taxes for businesses and lacked a ?public option? health plan to spur competition in the insurance industry.

On the Republican side, a handful of less-known Massachusetts politicians are competing for the nomination: former US attorney Michael Sullivan, state Rep. Daniel Winslow, and Gabriel Gomez, a private equity investor and former Navy SEAL.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/ti6vAdJNuB4/Race-to-replace-John-Kerry-Who-s-real-champion-of-the-little-guy

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Friday, March 29, 2013

The Secret Republican Plan to Repeal 'Obamacare'

A few minutes after the Supreme Court issued its landmark decision upholding President Obama?s health care law last summer, a senior adviser to Mitch McConnell walked into the Senate Republican leader?s office to gauge his reaction.

McConnell was clearly disappointed, and for good reason. For many conservatives, the decision was the death knell in a three-year fight to defeat reforms that epitomized everything they thought was wrong with Obama?s governing philosophy. But where some saw finality, McConnell saw opportunity ? and still does.

Sitting at his desk a stone?s throw from the Senate chamber, McConnell turned to the aide and, with characteristic directness, said: ?This decision is too cute. But I think we got something with this tax issue.?

He was referring to the court?s ruling that the heart of the 2010 Affordable Care Act, the so-called individual mandate that requires everyone in the country to buy health insurance or pay a penalty, was a tax. And while McConnell thought calling the mandate a tax was ?a rather creative way? to uphold the law, it also opened a new front in his battle to repeal it.

McConnell, a master of byzantine Senate procedure, immediately realized that, as a tax, the individual mandate would be subject to the budget reconciliation process, which exempted it from the filibuster. In other words, McConnell had just struck upon how to repeal Obamacare with a simple majority vote.

The Kentucky Republican called a handful of top aides into his office and told them, ?Figure out how to repeal this through reconciliation. I want to do this.? McConnell ordered a repeal plan ready in the event the GOP took back control of the Senate in November ? ironic considering Democrats used the same process more than two years earlier in a successful, last-shot effort to muscle the reforms into law.

In the months that followed, top GOP Senate aides held regular strategy meetings to plot a path forward. Using the reconciliation process would be complicated and contentious. Senate rules would require Republicans to demonstrate to the parliamentarian that their repeal provisions would affect spending or revenue and Democrats were sure to challenge them every step of the way. So the meetings were small and secret.

?You?re going in to make an argument. You don?t want to preview your entire argument to the other side ahead of time,? said a McConnell aide who participated in the planning. ?There was concern that all of this would leak out.?

By Election Day, Senate Republicans were ready to, as McConnell put it, ?take this monstrosity down.?

?We were prepared to do that had we had the votes to do it after the election. Well, the election didn?t turn out the way we wanted it to,? McConnell told National Journal in an interview. ?The monstrosity has ... begun to be implemented and we?re not giving up the fight.?

Indeed, when it comes to legislative strategy, McConnell plays long ball. Beginning in 2009, the Republican leader led the push to unify his colleagues against Democrats? health care plans, an effort that almost derailed Obamacare. In 2010, Republicans, helped in part by public opposition to the law, won back the House and picked up seats in the Senate. Last year, GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney?s embrace of the individual mandate while Massachusetts governor largely neutralized what had been a potent political issue.

But, in the next two years, Republicans are looking to bring the issue back in a big way. And they?ll start by trying to brand the law as one that costs too much and is not working as promised.

Democrats will be tempted to continue to write off the incoming fire as the empty rhetoric of a party fighting old battles. But that would be a mistake. During the health care debate, the GOP?s coordinated attacks helped turn public opinion against reform. And in the past two years, no more than 45 percent of the public has viewed Obamacare favorably, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation?s tracking polls. Perhaps even more dangerous for Democrats, now-debunked myths spread by Republicans and conservative media remain lodged in the public consciousness. For instance, 40 percent of the public still believes the law includes ?death panels.?

During the legislative debate over the law, Democrats promised Obamacare would create jobs, lower health care costs, and allow people to keep their current plans if they chose to. Those vows, Republicans argue, are already being broken.

The Congressional Budget Office, the Hill?s nonpartisan scorekeeper, estimated that the health care law would reduce employment by about 800,000 workers and result in about 7 million people losing their employer-sponsored health care over a decade. The CBO also estimated that Obamacare during that period would raise health care spending by roughly $580 billion.

McConnell?s office has assembled the law?s 19,842 new regulations into a stack that is 7 feet high and wheeled around on a dolly. The prop even has it?s own Twitter account, @TheRedTapeTower.

?All you got to do is look at that high stack of regulation and you think, ?How in the world is anybody going to be able to comply with all this stuff?? ? GOP Sen. Orrin Hatch, told National Journal. ?And I?m confident that the more the American people know of the costs, the consequences, the problems with this law, then someday there are going to be some Democrats who are going to join us in taking apart some of its most egregious parts.?

In fact, just a few hours after that interview last week, 34 Democrats joined Hatch on the Senate floor to support repealing Obamacare?s medical-device tax. Though the provision passed overwhelmingly, it doesn?t have a shot at becoming law because the budget bill it was attached to is nonbinding. Still, Republicans see it as a harbinger of things to come.

?Constituent pressure is overriding the view that virtually all Democrats have had that Obamacare is sort of like the Ten Commandments, handed down and every piece of it is sacred and you can?t possibly change any of it ever,? McConnell said. ?When you see that begin to crack then you know the facade is breaking up.?

Of course, Republicans are doing their best to highlight and stoke the kind of constituent anger that would force Democrats to tweak the law. In fact, if Democrats come under enough pressure, Republicans believe they might be able to inject Obamacare into the broader entitlement-reform discussion they are planning to tie to the debt-limit debate this summer.

But that is a long shot. If Republicans hope to completely repeal the health care law, they have to start by taking back the Senate in 2014 and would likely need to win the White House two years later. Still, some Republicans think the politics are on their side.

?I?m not one of those folks who ... because I didn?t support something, I want it to be bad. I want good things for Americans. But I do think this is going to create a lot of issues and ? affect things throughout 2014 as it relates to politics,? Republican Sen. Bob Corker said. ?The outcome likely will create a better atmosphere for us.?

Republicans will need to win half a dozen seats to retake the chamber. So, what are the chances??

?There are six really good opportunities in really red states: West Virginia, North Carolina, Louisiana, Arkansas, South Dakota, and Alaska,? McConnell said last week. ?And some other places where you have open seats like Michigan and Iowa. And other states that frequently vote Republican, an example of that would be New Hampshire. So, we?re hopeful.?

And earlier this week, Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson put his home state of South Dakota in play when he announced he will not be running for reelection in 2014.

In addition to trying to win back the Senate, McConnell will have to protect his own seat in two years. McConnell has made moves to shore up his right flank to fend off conservative challengers. He?s hired fellow Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul?s campaign manager, who helped Paul defeat the establishment candidate McConnell backed in the primary. ?

In the meantime, Republicans will continue to, as GOP Sen. John Barrasso put it, ?try to tear (Obamacare) apart.? And the GOP suspects it might get some help from moderate Democrats less concerned about protecting Obama?s legacy than winning reelection.

It?s just the latest act in a play that saw McConnell give more than 100 floor speeches critical of Democratic reforms and paper Capitol Hill with more 225 messaging documents in the 10 months before Obamacare?s passage. Away from the public spotlight, McConnell worked his caucus hard to convince them to unite against the law, holding a health care meeting every Wednesday afternoon. GOP aides said they could not remember a time before, or since, when a Republican leader held a weekly meeting with members that focused solely on one subject.

?What I tried to do is just guide the discussion to the point where everybody realized there wasn?t any part of this we wanted to have any ownership of,? McConnell recounted. ?That was a nine-month long discussion that finally culminated with Olympia Snowe?s decision in the fall not to support it. She was the last one they had a shot at.?

Indeed, some Republicans remember opposition forming organically as it became clearer where Democrats were headed, crediting McConnell for crystallizing the issue. Asked who unified Senate Republicans against Obamacare, Corker recalled, ?I think it happened over time.? As time moved on, it just seemed that this train was going to a place that was going to be hard to support.?

McConnell had finally won his long-fought battle to unite the conference against Obamcare. And some Republicans credit McConnell with being first to that fight.

?He had the Obama administration?s number before almost anyone else,? Hatch recalled. ?He began laying the groundwork for this fight very early, in private meetings and so forth, and really was the first one on our side in the ring, throwing punches just about how bad it was for families, businesses, and our economy.?

?There?s been no stronger fighter against this disastrous law than Mitch McConnell,? he added.

And as McConnell?s war continues, Democrats have begun positioning themselves for the next battle. Leading up to last week?s three-year anniversary of the law?s passage, Democrats held press events touting its benefits, claiming more than 100 million people have received free preventive services; 17 million children with preexisting conditions have been protected from being denied coverage; and 6.6 million young adults under 26 have been covered by their parents' plan.

Democrats wisely rolled out many of the easiest, most-popular Obamacare benefits first. The next few years will see the implementation of provisions that are both more complicated and controversial, like creating state-based insurance exchanges where people can buy coverage. Asked about the political ramifications of possible implementation problems, Democratic Sen. Max Baucus, a chief architect of Obamacare, sidestepped the question saying, "My job is to do my best to make sure this statute works to help provide health care for people at the lowest possible cost."

Far from a full-throated assurance that everything will run smoothly, Baucus?s answer hints at the dangers Democrats face as Obamacare comes online.

And with the law moving from the largely theoretical to the demonstrable, the health care debate is poised to return to intensity levels not seen since before the law passed.

For congressional Republicans, it?s probably their last, best chance to turn opposition into political gain.

And much of that job falls to McConnell, a brilliant defensive coordinator who will have to play flawless offense if he hopes to take control of the Senate next year.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/secret-republican-plan-repeal-obamacare-200403420--politics.html

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Army vet accused of fighting alongside al-Qaida

ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) ? A U.S. Army veteran, who boasted on Facebook of his military adventures with Syrian rebels, was charged Thursday with firing rocket propelled grenades as part of an attack led by an al-Qaida group against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Eric Harroun, 30, of Phoenix, was charged in U.S. District Court in Alexandria with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction ? specifically, a rocket propelled grenade launcher ? outside the U.S.

According to an FBI affidavit, Harroun, who served three years in the Army before being medically discharged, was engaged in military action in Syria, siding with rebel forces against the Syrian government, from January to March of this year.

Harroun told FBI investigators that he traveled to Turkey in November hoping to join the Free Syrian Army, a rebel group. In January, he crossed the border and made contact with the Free Syrian Army, which outfitted him two Russian rifles, according to the affidavit.

Within days, Harroun participated in an attack on a Syrian army encampment that was carried out jointly by the Free Syrian Army and the al-Nusrah Front, commonly known as "al-Qaida in Iraq" and designated a terrorist group by the U.S., according to the affidavit.

After that battle, Harroun retreated in the back of an al-Nusrah truck. Harroun told the FBI that at the al-Nusrah camp, he was initially treated like a prisoner but was later accepted by the other members and participated in several attacks with them, according to the affidavit.

Harroun said al-Nusrah fighters would ask him why the U.S. had designated them as terrorists, according to the affidavit.

Harroun used RPG launchers in the attacks and once, on his Facebook page, claimed credit for downing a Syrian helicopter. According to the affidavit, Harroun told the FBI that he shot an estimated 10 people in his various battles, though he was unsure if he had ever killed anyone.

On the Facebook page, Harroun also stated that "the only good Zionist is a dead Zionist" and that he intended to travel to the Palestinian territory because of Israeli atrocities there, according to the affidavit. The affidavit states that Harroun served in the Army from 2000 to 2003, when he received a medical discharge after he was injured in a car accident.

An Army spokesman said Harroun served at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and Fort Riley in Kansas, and that his record listed no overseas deployments.

The federal public defender was appointed to represent Harroun at an initial public appearance Thursday, and a detention hearing was scheduled for Tuesday. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Peterson said Harroun faces up to life in prison.

Harroun flew back to the U.S. Wednesday through Dulles International Airport. He was arrested after being questioned by FBI agents there.

The public defender for the Eastern District of Virginia, Michael Nachmanoff, declined comment Thursday, saying he had not yet had time to review the case in any depth.

Last year, Nachmanoff's office represented a northern Virginia man, Mohamad Soueid, who pleaded guilty to spying on U.S.-based Syrian dissidents on behalf of the Assad regime. Soueid said he was motivated to help the Syrian government because of his fear that Islamic extremists would take hold in Syria if Assad's secular regime were overthrown.

Harroun is not charged with providing material support to a terrorist group, but instead conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction outside the U.S., a law that applies to U.S. nationals operating anywhere in the world. The statute makes no distinction or exception for an individual who may be fighting a hostile regime.

Harroun appeared to make no effort to hide his activities in Syria. His Facebook page includes multiple photos of him wielding military rifles and a photo of Assad, with the caption "Wanted Dead or NOT alive!!!!"

Harroun gave several interviews through Skype to journalists Greg Tepper and Ilan Ben Zion, who wrote articles for Foreign Policy magazine and Fox News.

In one interview, Harroun described himself as a "freedom fighter" and said joining up with al-Nusrah is "not rocket science." At other times, though, he disputed a connection with the group.

His father, Darryl Harroun, told FoxNews.com the car accident that led to his son's military discharge left him with a steel plate in his head, and exacerbated depression from which his son already suffered.

Darryl Harroun said that family and friends call his son "Arizona Jones."

Efforts by AP to reach Darryl Harroun Thursday were not immediately successful.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-army-vet-charged-fighting-al-qaida-184044925.html

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Announcing TechCrunch's 2013 Meetups + Pitch-Off: Austin, Seattle, San Diego, And Boston

meetups460After the amazing success of our New York Pitch-Off in February, we thought it would be fun to bring the energy and excitement of a mini-Disrupt to more cities across the country. We're pleased to announced the 2013 Meetups + Pitch-Offs will begin in Austin on May 30 at Stage On Sixth in downtown Austin. Then, throughout the year, we're holding meetups with pitch-offs in Seattle, San Diego, and Boston.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/qN1IWvjKDGw/

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

D-Link Wireless N300 Range Extender DAP-1320


D-Link has a new wireless range extender that's not only one of the smallest you'll find on the market, but is incredibly easy to set up and delivers terrific coverage. In fact, the D-Link Wireless N300 Range Extender (DAP-1320) was able to sustain the most throughput at long distance of any wireless range extender I've tested. Even better, I tested it not with a D-Link router, but with a competing vendor's router, and the device still worked without a hitch.

Design
The DAP-1320 looks like a power adapter?it's only 2.11 by 1.65 by 1.89 inches (HWD)? with two prongs, and it plugs directly into an electrical outlet. This simple yet powerful piece of wireless technology has just a single WPS button on its side and one LED to show you connection status.

The extender is single-band only, so it won't extend 5GHz Wi-Fi, which is perfectly okay, because it's the 2.4GHz band that can travel longer distance.

Included in the package are a quick install guide and a card that has the extender's default SSID and password as well as the URL to the web-based GUI printed on it.

Setup
The installation guide suggests that best placement for the extender is mid-way between the router and the Wi-Fi clients you are connecting to the router. In my testing environment, that placement proved to be too far from the router for set up. No problem: I performed setup with the extender about 5 feet from the router and then, once the extender was connected, moved it to a more central location.

You can set up the DAP-1320 using WPS or by connecting to the web GUI. I plugged it in and the LED blinked red, turned green, and then blinked amber. According to the device's instructions, when it blinks amber, you should use WPS to pair the extender with a router.

I used WPS and it worked fine connecting to my router. I did not pair D-Link's extender with a D-Link router. I used another vendor's router, the Western Digital My Net N900; I did this purposely, to see if there would be connection issues with another vendor's equipment. There weren't.

Once the LED turned from amber to solid green I had the extender connected. I reset it back to factory settings to see how the manual setup fared. With the manual method, I plugged in the extender, waited for it to turn amber, and then could connect to the extender's Wi-Fi. After connecting, launching a browser automatically opened the extender's web-based connection setup wizard.

The wizard asks if you want to connect the extender to a router via WPS or Manually.? With a manual connection you can select the network you want to extend and can opt to use the extender's default SSID or set the SSID name and credentials to the Wi-Fi network with which you've connected the extender.

That's the setup process?a few scant minutes, and very easy. I do caution that you may have to connect the extender close to your router and then position it where you want. Also, I made a change to my router's settings that disconnected the extender at one point. I had to reset the extender back to factory settings and set it up again. However I did not mind, since setting up the device is so quick.

Performance
Not only can I sing the praises of the device's incredibly easy setup, but it also delivered praiseworthy performance. It extended my router's signal to an area throughput never reaches, a real dead spot that my testing software, IxChariot, typically registers as 0 Mbps. From 150 feet away from the extender, in an environment saturated with access points, D-Link's little extender still managed .4 Mbps of throughput. Yes, that's not even 1 Mbps of speed, but it was enough to browse the Internet?slowly, but reasonably. While the BearExtender PC Long Range 802.11n USB WiFi Booster gave faster speed at a distance of 100 feet, it dropped the signal at 150 feet. Below is a chart comparing the DAP-1320's performance to other wireless range extenders:

Extended Excellence
The DAP-1320 is one of the best wireless networking devices I've tested from D-Link, and among all of the extenders I've tested, it provided the best coverage. I was also impressed with how well it worked with another vendor's equipment. I'm confident that this little device, which did an impressive job of extending my test Wi-Fi network deployed in a high-rise office building with hundreds of access points all around, will work extremely well for the average home user. D-Link Wireless Range Extender gets a 4.5 out of 5 star rating, and is PCMag's Editors' Choice for wireless range extenders.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/4WXMNrI4KHg/0,2817,2417178,00.asp

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Kidney stone surgery: More women, more complications with minimally invasive procedure

Kidney stone surgery: More women, more complications with minimally invasive procedure [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 27-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Dwight Angell
dwight.angell@hfhs.org
313-850-3471
Henry Ford Health System

DETROIT While the number of people especially women who have a minimally invasive procedure to remove kidney stones has risen in recent years, so has the rate of complications related to the surgery, according to a published study by Henry Ford Hospital.

The research, from Khurshid R. Ghani, M.D., of Henry Ford Hospital's Vattikuti Urology Institute, appears in the current issue of Journal of Urology.

The focus of the investigation was the procedure, percutaneous nephrolithotomy, or PCNL, in which a surgeon removes medium to large kidney stones through a small incision in the back using a hollow scope.

Minimally invasive procedures used for treating a wide range of medical conditions have increased in recent years, and the Henry Ford researchers set out to find how much and to what effect this is true for this specific procedure.

"What we found is that the use of PCNL in this country has increased," Dr. Ghani said, "and more women than men have the procedure.

"We also discovered that while the rate of PCNL-related death is low and has remained so, incidence of blood infection and overall complications has increased."

The population-based study looked at data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a database of inpatient hospital stays used by researchers to find, track and analyze national health care trends. The database catalogs some 8 million cases from more than 1,000 hospitals in 44 states.

It was used in this study to identify patients who underwent PCNL between 1999 and 2009. A weighted sample was then formulated to estimate utilization rates across the country.

In addition, Henry Ford researchers tracked and analyzed trends in patient age; complications before, during and after the procedure; other disorders or diseases that existed at the time of the surgery; and in-hospital deaths.

A total of 80,097 patients over the age of 18 and with a median age of 53 were found to have undergone PCNL during the study period, during which the number of times the procedure was performed climbed by 47 percent.

The results showed:

  • PCNL use rose from 3.0 to 3.63 per 100,000 men, and from 2.99 to 4.07 per 100,000 women during the study period. This represented a 0.03 percent increase in men who underwent the procedure compared to a 2.54 percent increase in women.
  • Co-morbidity, or the presence of other disorders or disease at the time of surgery, increased during the study time-span.
  • At the same time, overall complications increased from 12.2 percent in 1999 to 15.6 percent in 2009.
  • Significantly, the incidence of sepsis or blood infection doubled, rising from 1.2 percent to 2.4 percent.
  • The rate of PCNL-related death remained essentially unchanged at 0 to 0.4 percent.

Dr. Ghani and his associates concluded that patients were at higher risk of developing complications if they were older, sicker and treated in more recent years. And though the rate of deaths associated with the procedure remained statistically flat, those cases that did occur were found with older patients.

"We believe the broad use of this procedure, especially in older and sicker patients, may be the reason for these changes," Dr. Ghani said.

###



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Kidney stone surgery: More women, more complications with minimally invasive procedure [ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 27-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Dwight Angell
dwight.angell@hfhs.org
313-850-3471
Henry Ford Health System

DETROIT While the number of people especially women who have a minimally invasive procedure to remove kidney stones has risen in recent years, so has the rate of complications related to the surgery, according to a published study by Henry Ford Hospital.

The research, from Khurshid R. Ghani, M.D., of Henry Ford Hospital's Vattikuti Urology Institute, appears in the current issue of Journal of Urology.

The focus of the investigation was the procedure, percutaneous nephrolithotomy, or PCNL, in which a surgeon removes medium to large kidney stones through a small incision in the back using a hollow scope.

Minimally invasive procedures used for treating a wide range of medical conditions have increased in recent years, and the Henry Ford researchers set out to find how much and to what effect this is true for this specific procedure.

"What we found is that the use of PCNL in this country has increased," Dr. Ghani said, "and more women than men have the procedure.

"We also discovered that while the rate of PCNL-related death is low and has remained so, incidence of blood infection and overall complications has increased."

The population-based study looked at data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a database of inpatient hospital stays used by researchers to find, track and analyze national health care trends. The database catalogs some 8 million cases from more than 1,000 hospitals in 44 states.

It was used in this study to identify patients who underwent PCNL between 1999 and 2009. A weighted sample was then formulated to estimate utilization rates across the country.

In addition, Henry Ford researchers tracked and analyzed trends in patient age; complications before, during and after the procedure; other disorders or diseases that existed at the time of the surgery; and in-hospital deaths.

A total of 80,097 patients over the age of 18 and with a median age of 53 were found to have undergone PCNL during the study period, during which the number of times the procedure was performed climbed by 47 percent.

The results showed:

  • PCNL use rose from 3.0 to 3.63 per 100,000 men, and from 2.99 to 4.07 per 100,000 women during the study period. This represented a 0.03 percent increase in men who underwent the procedure compared to a 2.54 percent increase in women.
  • Co-morbidity, or the presence of other disorders or disease at the time of surgery, increased during the study time-span.
  • At the same time, overall complications increased from 12.2 percent in 1999 to 15.6 percent in 2009.
  • Significantly, the incidence of sepsis or blood infection doubled, rising from 1.2 percent to 2.4 percent.
  • The rate of PCNL-related death remained essentially unchanged at 0 to 0.4 percent.

Dr. Ghani and his associates concluded that patients were at higher risk of developing complications if they were older, sicker and treated in more recent years. And though the rate of deaths associated with the procedure remained statistically flat, those cases that did occur were found with older patients.

"We believe the broad use of this procedure, especially in older and sicker patients, may be the reason for these changes," Dr. Ghani said.

###



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/hfhs-kss032613.php

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Timberlake's '20/20' album sells 968K in 1st week

NEW YORK (AP) ? Justin Timberlake's comeback album has sold nearly 1 million units its first week out.

Nielsen SoundScan announced Tuesday that the singer's third album, "The 20/20 Experience," has moved 968,000 units. It's the 19th album in Nielsen's 22-year history that has sold more than 900,000 albums in its debut week.

"20/20" is Timberlake's third album and the follow-up to his multiplatinum, Grammy-winning 2006 album, "FutureSex/LoveSounds." The new CD features the pop hit "Suit & Tie."

"The numbers are pleasantly surprising," said Tom Corson, the president and chief operating officer of RCA Records, which released Timberlake's album.

The label had projected that "20/20" would sell 500,000 to 600,000 units, Corson said.

Timberlake, 31, was strategic about promoting his comeback effort: He performed at the Grammy Awards, hosted and hit the stage at "Saturday Night Live" and spent an entire week on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon." The singer also partnered with Target for the album's deluxe edition and "20/20" streamed on iTunes a week before it was released.

Timberlake came up with the idea of a weeklong stint himself, Fallon said.

"I think he mentioned it to me like a year ago that he's working on something and wanted to do a week on our show," Fallon said Tuesday.

"20/20" is an unconventional album that features a mesh of R&B, soul, pop and futuristic sounds. The 10 tracks average seven minutes each.

Corson believes Timberlake's key to promoting the album was "less is more."

"While it felt like he was everywhere, he didn't do a lot of things because he didn't have to. But he did big things," he said.

Fallon even joked that other celebrities are trying to follow in Timberlake's footsteps with a weeklong stay on his show.

"We're getting a lot of phone calls now to do themed-weeks for people," said Fallon, who added that the show's writers and producers developed a load of material for "Timberweek."

"We have enough for another month," he said. "We could have 'Timbermonth.' Trust me, NBC is already pitching it to me."

Of the 19 albums to sell more than 900,000 in their debut week, Timberlake holds three slots. His albums with 'N Sync, 2000's "No Strings Attached" and 2001's "Celebrity," sold 2.4 million and 1.9 million in their first week, respectively. Backstreet Boys, Lil Wayne and Taylor Swift have two albums each that have hit that level.

The excitement over the new album has also boosted sales of Timberlake's other solo albums, Nielsen Co. said. Last year, "FutureSex/LoveSounds" and 2002's "Justified" sold 39,000 and 21,000 copies each, but this year they've already sold 29,000 and 17,000, respectively.

"As the marketing sort of picks up for the new record and the single goes to radio ... you definitely start to see interest," said David Bakula, Nielsen's senior vice president of client development and analytics for entertainment.

Bakula said 'N Sync sales are up, too.

"20/20" was streamed 7.73 million times on Spotify in its first week, putting it second behind the 8 million streams set by Mumford & Sons' "Babel" last year. Steve Savoca, Spotify's head of content, said Timberlake's colossal first-week numbers are another example of how streaming music helps artists sell albums.

Fallon said Timberlake worked tirelessly ahead of the five shows and he's proud of his friend's success.

"Justin was here till 11 o'clock most nights choreographing dance moves so he nailed it the next night," he said. "And he was sick at the time."

Corson said this week's success could change the expectation of Timberlake's follow-up to "20/20," which will likely be released later this year.

"It sure should," he said with a laugh. "Part two is now even more anticipated."

Timberlake could even show up for a stint on Fallon again.

"We are already talking about it," Fallon said.

___

Online:

http://twentytwenty.justintimberlake.com/

http://http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/

___

Follow Mesfin Fekadu at http://twitter.com/MusicMesfin

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/timberlakes-20-20-album-sells-968k-1st-week-230607777.html

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Archive ? PRSSA hosts talk on New York communications ? Indiana ...

SoJ Web Report | March 26, 2013

The Beth Wood chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America will wrap up its chapter meetings with a special session on communications in New York City.

Alumna Joanna Pinker of Falco Ink will visit and her colleague Casey De La Rosa will use Skype for a conversation at 7:30 p.m. April 3 in Ernie Pyle Hall 214. They will talk about their experiences in New York City as well as relate stories of working on film festivals such as the Sundance Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival.

Questions? Comments? Email the Web editor.

This entry was posted on March 26, 2013 at 11:30 a.m. and is filed under News.

Source: http://journalism.indiana.edu/notices/prssa-hosts-talk-on-new-york-communications/

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Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Gotcha! A NYC art show for George W. Bush is a hoax

Mar 26 (Reuters) - Leading money winners on the 2013 PGATour on Monday (U.S. unless stated): 1. Tiger Woods $3,787,600 2. Brandt Snedeker $2,859,920 3. Matt Kuchar $2,154,500 4. Steve Stricker $1,820,000 5. Phil Mickelson $1,650,260 6. Hunter Mahan $1,553,965 7. John Merrick $1,343,514 8. Dustin Johnson $1,330,507 9. Russell Henley $1,313,280 10. Kevin Streelman $1,310,343 11. Keegan Bradley $1,274,593 12. Charles Howell III $1,256,373 13. Michael Thompson $1,254,669 14. Brian Gay $1,171,721 15. Justin Rose $1,155,550 16. Jason Day $1,115,565 17. Chris Kirk $1,097,053 18. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/art-show-george-w-bush-not-exactly-171521393--politics.html

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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Ford India takes flak for naughty (and offensive) print ads. Their advertising...

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White House advisers attend same-sex marriage arguments (Washington Bureau)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/294752180?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Cyprus secures bailout from international creditors, avoids ...

BRUSSELS ? Cyprus secured a package of rescue loans in tense, last-ditch negotiations early?

Here at Maclean's, we appreciate the written word. And we appreciate you, the reader. We are always looking for ways to create a better user experience for you and wanted to try out a new functionality that provides you with a reading experience in which the words and fonts take centre stage. We believe you'll appreciate the clean, white layout as you read our feature articles. But we don't want to force it on you and it's completely optional. Click "View in Clean Reading Mode" on any article if you want to try it out. Once there, you can click "Go back to regular view" at the top or bottom of the article to return to the regular layout.

BRUSSELS ? Cyprus secured a package of rescue loans in tense, last-ditch negotiations early Monday, two EU diplomats said, saving the country from a banking system collapse and bankruptcy.

The cash-strapped island nation needs a 10 billion euro bailout ($13 billion) to recapitalize its ailing banks and keep the government afloat. The European Central Bank had threatened to cut crucial emergency assistance to the country?s banks by Tuesday without an agreement.

The finance ministers of the 17-nation eurozone accepted the plan reached in 10 hours of negotiations, the diplomats said. They spoke on condition of anonymity pending the official announcement.

Under the plan, Cyprus? second-largest bank, Laiki, will be restructured and holders of bank deposits of more than 100,000 euros will have to take losses.

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Source: http://www2.macleans.ca/2013/03/24/cyprus-secures-bailout-from-international-creditors-avoids-bankruptcy/

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Monday, March 25, 2013

Measuring the magnetism of antimatter: Antiprotons measured more accurately than ever before

Mar. 25, 2013 ? In a breakthrough that could one day yield important clues about the nature of matter itself, a team of Harvard scientists have succeeding in measuring the magnetic charge of single particles of matter and antimatter more accurately than ever before.

As described in a March 25 paper in Physical Review Letters, the ATRAP team, led by Gerald Gabrielse, the George Vasmer Leverett Professor of Physics, and including post-doctoral fellows Stephan Ettenauer and Eric Tardiff and graduate students Jack DiSciacca, Mason Marshall, Kathryn Marable and Rita Kalra was able to capture individual protons and antiprotons in a "trap" created by electric and magnetic fields. By precisely measuring the oscillations of each particle, the team was able to measure the magnetism of a proton more than 1,000 times more accurately than an antiproton had been measured before. Similar tests with antiprotons produced a 680-fold increase in accuracy in the size of the magnet in an antiproton.

"That is a spectacular jump in precision for any fundamental quality," Gabrielse said, of the antiproton measurements. "That's a leap that we don't often see in physics, at least not in a single step."

Such measurements, Gabrielse said, could one day help scientists answer a question that seems more suited for the philosophy classroom than the physics lab -- why are we here?

"One of the great mysteries in physics is why our universe is made of matter," he said. "According to our theories, the same amount of matter and antimatter was produced during the Big Bang. When matter and antimatter meet, they are annihilated. As the universe cools down, the big mystery is: Why didn't all the matter find the antimatter and annihilate all of both? There's a lot of matter and no antimatter left, and we don't know why."

Making precise measurements of protons and antiprotons, Gabrielse explained, could begin to answer those questions by potentially shedding new light on whether the CPT (Charge conjugation, Parity transformation, Time reversal) theorem is correct. An outgrowth of the standard model of particle physics, CPT states that the protons and antiprotons should be virtually identical -- with the same magnitude of charge and mass -- yet should have opposite charges.

Though earlier experiments, which measured the charge-to-mass ratio of protons and antiprotons, verified the predictions of CPT, Gabrielse said further investigation is needed because the standard model does not account for all forces, such as gravity, in the universe.

"What we wanted to do with these experiments was to say, 'Let's take a simple system -- a single proton and a single antiproton -- and let's compare their predicted relationships, and see if our predictions are correct," Gabrielse said. "Ultimately, whatever we learn might give us some insight into how to explain this mystery."

While researchers were able to capture and measure protons with relative ease, antiprotons are only produced by high-energy collisions that take place at the extensive tunnels of the CERN laboratory in Geneva, Gabrielse said, leaving researchers facing a difficult choice.

"Last year, we published a report showing that we could measure a proton much more accurately than ever before," Gabrielese said. "Once we had done that, however, we had to make a decision -- did we want to take the risk of moving our people and our entire apparatus -- crates and crates of electronics and a very delicate trap apparatus -- to CERN and try to do the same thing with antiprotons? Antiprotons would only be available till mid-December and then not again for a year and a half.

"We decided to give it a shot, and by George, we pulled it off," he continued. "Ultimately, we argued that we should attempt it, because even if we failed, that failure would teach us something." In what Gabrielse described as a "gutsy" choice, graduate student Jack DiSciacca agreed to use this attempt to conclude his thesis research, and new graduate students Marshall and Marable signed on to help.

Though their results still fit within the predictions made by the standard model, Gabrielse said being able to more accurately measure the characteristics of both matter and antimatter may yet help shed new light on how the universe works.

"What's also very exciting about this breakthrough is that it now prepares us to continue down this road," he said. "I'm confident that, given this start, we're going to be able to increase the accuracy of these measurements by another factor of 1,000, or even 10,000."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Harvard University, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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Journal Reference:

  1. J. DiSciacca, M. Marshall, K. Marable, G. Gabrielse, S. Ettenauer, E. Tardiff, R. Kalra, D. W. Fitzakerley, M. C. George, E. A. Hessels, C. H. Storry, M. Weel, D. Grzonka, W. Oelert, T. Sefzick. One-Particle Measurement of the Antiproton Magnetic Moment. Physical Review Letters, 2013; 110 (13) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.130801

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_technology/~3/7793vig8o2c/130325094030.htm

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South Korea and US sign new military pact


South Korea and the United States have signed a?new military plan that lays out how the allies will communicate with each?other and react to any future North Korean aggression.

The signing on Monday comes amid North Korean threats to attack the allies over?their joint military drills and recent punishing UN sanctions aimed at?Pyongyang's latest nuclear test.

Seoul's joint chiefs of staff said the plan is designed to?counter a future limited attack by North Korea, but details weren't released.

Work on the plan began after a North Korean artillery attack on a South?Korean island in 2010 killed four people.

The allies also have a separate plan in the case of a full-blown war on?the Korean peninsula.

There are 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea.

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Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/03/201332575556586193.html

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