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Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Senate Intelligence Committee drops bin Laden film probe
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - One day after "Zero Dark Thirty" failed to win major awards at the Oscars, a congressional aide said on Monday the Senate Intelligence Committee has closed its inquiry into the filmmakers' contacts with the Central Intelligence Agency.
The intelligence committee gathered more information from the CIA and will not take further action, according to the aide, who requested anonymity.
Sony Pictures Entertainment, which distributed the film in the United States, had no immediate comment. But attacks by Washington politicians may have damaged its prospects at the Academy Awards. "Zero Dark Thirty" was nominated for a best picture award, which it did not win. Also, in what industry watchers considered a snub, director Kathryn Bigelow did not receive a best director nomination.
The Senate committee launched its review of the film, a dramatization of how the U.S. government located and killed Osama bin Laden, after its chairwoman, Senator Dianne Feinstein, expressed outrage over scenes that implied that "enhanced interrogations" of CIA detainees produced an breakthrough that helped lead to the al Qaeda leader.
In December, as "Zero Dark Thirty" was about to premiere nationwide, Feinstein joined fellow Democrat Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Republican Senator John McCain in condemning "particularly graphic scenes of CIA officers torturing detainees" in the film.
A source familiar with contacts between the filmmakers and intelligence officials said the CIA did not tell the filmmakers "enhanced interrogations" led to bin Laden. Instead, the agency helped develop characters in the film, said the source.
The political fallout prompted Bigelow to write in an op-ed piece: "Those of us who work in the arts know that depiction is not endorsement. If it was, no artist would be able to paint inhumane practices, no author could write about them, and no filmmaker could delve into the thorny subjects of our time."
The government cooperated as much, if not more, on "Argo," the film about the 1979-81 hostage crisis in Iran that won the best picture Oscar. Actor-director Ben Affleck and his team were allowed to film scenes in the lobby of the CIA building in Langley, Virginia; the "Zero Dark Thirty" crew did no such filming.
(The story corrects paragraph 2 and 3 to fix who committee got intelligence from and that Sony is distributor not producer of film)
(Reporting By Mark Hosenball. Editing by Warren Strobel and Doina Chiacu)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-intelligence-committee-drops-bin-laden-film-probe-032120783.html
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Italy faces stalemate after election shock
ROME (Reuters) - Italy faced political deadlock on Tuesday after a stunning election that saw the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement of comic Beppe Grillo become the strongest party in the country but left no group with a clear majority in parliament.
The center-left coalition led by Pier Luigi Bersani won the lower house by around 125,000 votes and claimed the most seats in the Senate but was short of the majority in the upper house that it would need to govern.
Bersani claimed victory but said it was obvious that Italy was in "a very delicate situation". Party officials said the center-left would try to form a government but it was unclear what its options would be.
Neither Grillo, a comedian-turned-politician who previously ruled out any alliance with another party, nor Silvio Berlusconi's center-right bloc, which threatened to challenge the close tally, showed any immediate willingness to negotiate.
World financial markets reacted nervously to the prospect of a government stalemate in the euro zone's third-largest economy with memories still fresh of the financial crisis that took the 17-member currency bloc to the brink of collapse in 2011.
Italy's borrowing costs have come down in recent months, helped by the promise of European Central Bank support but the election result confirmed fears that it would not produce a government strong enough to implement effective reforms.
Grillo's surge in the final weeks of the campaign threw the race open, with hundreds of thousands turning up at his rallies to hear him lay into targets ranging from corrupt politicians and bankers to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
In just three years, his 5-Star Movement, heavily backed by a frustrated generation of young Italians increasingly shut out from permanent full-time jobs, has grown from a marginal group to one of the most talked about political forces in Europe.
Its score of 25.5 percent in the lower house was just ahead of the 25.4 percent for Bersani's Democratic Party, which ran in a coalition with the leftist SEL party and it won almost 8.7 million votes overall, more than any other single party.
"The 5-Star Movement is the real winner of the election," said SEL leader Nichi Vendola, who said that his coalition would have to deal with Grillo, who mixes fierce attacks on corruption with policies ranging from clean energy to free Internet.
RECESSION
"It's a classic result. Typically Italian," said Roberta Federica, a 36-year-old office worker in Rome. "It means the country is not united. It is an expression of a country that does not work. I knew this would happen."
A long recession and growing disillusion with mainstream parties fed a bitter public mood that saw more than half of Italian voters back parties that rejected the austerity policies pursued by Prime Minister Mario Monti with the backing of Italy's European partners.
Berlusconi's campaign, mixing sweeping tax cut pledges with relentless attacks on Monti and Merkel, echoed many of the themes pushed by Grillo and underlined the increasingly angry mood of the Italian electorate.
Stefano Zamagni, an economic professor at Bologna University said the result showed that a significant share of Italians "are fed up with following the austerity line of Germany and its northern allies".
"These people voted to stick one up to Merkel and austerity," he said.
Election rules give the center-left a solid majority in the lower house, despite its slim advantage in terms of votes, but without the Senate it will not be able to pass legislation.
Calculations by the Italian Centre for Electoral Studies, part of LUISS university in Rome, gave 121 seats to Bersani's coalition, 117 to Berlusconi, 54 for Grillo and 22 to the centrist coalition led by Monti.
That leaves no party or likely alliance with the 158 seats needed to form a Senate majority.
Even if the next government turns away from the tax hikes and spending cuts brought in by Monti, it will struggle to revive an economy which has scarcely grown in two decades.
Monti was widely credited with tightening Italy's public finances and restoring its international credibility after the scandal-plagued Berlusconi, whom he replaced as the 2011 financial crisis threatened to spin out of control.
But he struggled to pass the kind of structural reforms needed to improve competitiveness and lay the foundations for a return to economic growth and a weak center-left government may not find it any easier.
(Additional reporting by Naomi O'Leary and Stephen Jewkes; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/huge-protest-vote-leaves-italy-facing-deadlock-005214049.html
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The Engadget Interview: Qualcomm's Raj Talluri talks Snapdragon at MWC 2013
Qualcomm finally detailed its Snapdragon 200 and 400 processors here at MWC, and we got the opportunity to discuss the new chips with Raj Talluri, SVP of product management. While the Snapdragon 600 and 800 SoCs are geared towards high-end devices, the 200 and 400 are targeting sub-$100 and $200-300 phones. He explained that the software remains as close as possible to what's available on the 600 and 800, but the hardware is scaled down to support lower-resolution displays and cameras by using ARM cores instead of the company's own Krait architecture. We then talked about the Snapdragon 800, which was decoding 4K video at CES but is being showcased here in Barcelona handling 4K playback with Dolby and DTS in Qualcomm's movie theater (sans popcorn, sadly). He also mentioned some of the other demos at the company's booth -- 4K encoding and streaming (via TransferJet), realtime video editing, voice activation, games (Modern Combat 4 and Need For Speed) and more. Don't miss our video interview after the break.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/C8_YxwM0wec/
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Koop transformed surgeon general post
With his striking beard and starched uniform, former Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop became one of the most recognizable figures of the Reagan era ? and one of the most unexpectedly enduring.
His nomination in 1981 met a wall of opposition from women's groups and liberal politicians, who complained President Ronald Reagan selected Koop, a pediatric surgeon and evangelical Christian from Philadelphia, only because of his conservative views, especially his staunch opposition to abortion.
Soon, though, he was a hero to AIDS activists, who chanted "Koop, Koop" at his appearances but booed other officials. And when he left his post in 1989, he left behind a landscape where AIDS was a top research and educational priority, smoking was considered a public health hazard, and access to abortion remained largely intact.
Koop, who turned his once-obscure post into a bully pulpit for seven years during the Reagan and George H.W. Bush administrations and who surprised both ends of the political spectrum by setting aside his conservative personal views on issues such as homosexuality and abortion to keep his focus sharply medical, died Monday at his home in Hanover, N.H. He was 96.
An assistant at Koop's Dartmouth College institute, Susan Wills, confirmed his death but didn't disclose its cause.
Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as surgeon general a decade ago under President George W. Bush, said Koop was a mentor to him and preached the importance of staying true to the science even if it made politicians uncomfortable.
"He set the bar high for all who followed in his footsteps," Carmona said.
Although the surgeon general has no real authority to set government policy, Koop described himself as "the health conscience of the country" and said modestly just before leaving his post that "my only influence was through moral suasion."
A former pipe smoker, Koop carried out a crusade to end smoking in the United States; his goal had been to do so by 2000. He said cigarettes were as addictive as heroin and cocaine. And he shocked his conservative supporters when he endorsed condoms and sex education to stop the spread of AIDS.
Chris Collins, a vice president of amFAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, said many people don't realize what an important role Koop played in the beginning of the AIDS epidemic.
"At the time, he really changed the national conversation, and he showed real courage in pursuing the duties of his job," Collins said.
Even after leaving office, Koop continued to promote public health causes, from preventing childhood accidents to better training for doctors.
"I will use the written word, the spoken word and whatever I can in the electronic media to deliver health messages to this country as long as people will listen," he promised.
In 1996, he rapped Republican presidential hopeful Bob Dole for suggesting that tobacco was not invariably addictive, saying Dole's comments "either exposed his abysmal lack of knowledge of nicotine addiction or his blind support of the tobacco industry."
Although Koop eventually won wide respect with his blend of old-fashioned values, pragmatism and empathy, his nomination met staunch opposition.
Foes noted that Koop traveled the country in 1979 and 1980 giving speeches that predicted a progression "from liberalized abortion to infanticide to passive euthanasia to active euthanasia, indeed to the very beginnings of the political climate that led to Auschwitz, Dachau and Belsen."
But Koop, a devout Presbyterian, was confirmed after he told a Senate panel he would not use the surgeon general's post to promote his religious ideology. He kept his word.
In 1986, he issued a frank report on AIDS, urging the use of condoms for "safe sex" and advocating sex education as early as third grade.
He also maneuvered around uncooperative Reagan administration officials in 1988 to send an educational AIDS pamphlet to more than 100 million U.S. households, the largest public health mailing ever.
Koop personally opposed homosexuality and believed sex should be saved for marriage. But he insisted that Americans, especially young people, must not die because they were deprived of explicit information about how HIV was transmitted.
Koop further angered conservatives by refusing to issue a report requested by the Reagan White House, saying he could not find enough scientific evidence to determine whether abortion has harmful psychological effects on women.
Koop maintained his personal opposition to abortion, however. After he left office, he told medical students it violated their Hippocratic oath. In 2009, he wrote to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, urging that health care legislation include a provision to ensure doctors and medical students would not be forced to perform abortions. The letter briefly set off a security scare because it was hand delivered.
Koop served as chairman of the National Safe Kids Campaign and as an adviser to President Bill Clinton's health care reform plan.
At a congressional hearing in 2007, Koop spoke about political pressure on the surgeon general post. He said Reagan was pressed to fire him every day, but Reagan would not interfere.
Koop, worried that medicine had lost old-fashioned caring and personal relationships between doctors and patients, opened his institute at Dartmouth to teach medical students basic values and ethics. He also was a part-owner of a short-lived venture, drkoop.com, to provide consumer health care information via the Internet.
Koop was born in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, the only son of a Manhattan banker and the nephew of a doctor. He said by age 5 he knew he wanted to be a surgeon and at age 13 he practiced his skills on neighborhood cats.
He attended Dartmouth, where he received the nickname Chick, short for "chicken Koop." It stuck for life.
Koop received his medical degree at Cornell Medical College, choosing pediatric surgery because so few surgeons practiced it.
In 1938, he married Elizabeth Flanagan, the daughter of a Connecticut doctor. They had four children, one of whom died in a mountain climbing accident when he was 20.
Koop was appointed surgeon-in-chief at Children's Hospital in Philadelphia and served as a professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
He pioneered surgery on newborns and successfully separated three sets of conjoined twins. He won national acclaim by reconstructing the chest of a baby born with the heart outside the body.
Although raised as a Baptist, he was drawn to a Presbyterian church near the hospital, where he developed an abiding faith. He began praying at the bedside of his young patients ? ignoring the snickers of some of his colleagues.
Koop's wife died in 2007, and he married Cora Hogue in 2010.
He was by far the best-known surgeon general and for decades afterward was still a recognized personality.
"I was walking down the street with him one time" about five years ago, recalled Dr. George Wohlreich, director of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, a medical society with which Koop had longstanding ties. "People were yelling out, 'There goes Dr. Koop!' You'd have thought he was a rock star."
___
Ring reported from Montpelier, Vt. Cass reported from Washington. AP Medical Writers Lauran Neergaard in Washington and Mike Stobbe in New York contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/koop-transformed-surgeon-general-post-dies-231127305.html
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Sunday, February 24, 2013
Ex-mayor Murphy says his bodyguard didn't use cards
The U.S. military on Friday grounded the F-35 fighter jet due to a crack in an engine component that was discovered during a routine inspection in California.
The Pentagon said in a statement that it was too early to assess the impact on the fleet of ...
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White House to give senators Benghazi documents
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A congressional aide says the White House has agreed to give the Senate Intelligence Committee documents related to the attack on a U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya.
Republicans had demanded the documents as a condition of voting on the nomination of John Brennan to be CIA director.
The congressional aide says the documents include emails between top national security officials showing the debate within the administration over how to describe the attack and other documents the committee had been asking for.
The aide spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
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Saturday, February 23, 2013
GOP House panel chairman will consider gun bills
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said Friday that he's interested in writing legislation this year improving background checks for gun buyers and cracking down on illegal firearms sales.
In an interview, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., provided little detail about his plans. But he said the federal background check system should be fixed to make sure more people with serious mental illnesses don't get firearms.
Criminals and people with significant mental problems are among those barred by federal law from buying guns. States are supposed to supply the federal background check system with purchasers' mental health records, but often they do not because of privacy rules and other barriers.
"We want to improve that system to try to screen out people who should not be able to possess firearms," Goodlatte said.
Until now, House GOP leaders have only said they will wait to act until the Democratic-run Senate produces legislation. The Senate Judiciary Committee, led by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., could begin writing its own gun curb measure in the next week or two.
Goodlatte did not say when his panel might write legislation, but he said he would not necessarily wait for the Senate to pass legislation.
President Barack Obama has proposed near-universal background checks. Currently, the checks are only required for purchases from federally licensed gun dealers, not sales between private individuals at gun shows, online or elsewhere.
Goodlatte said his legislation would be unlikely to require private background checks for private gun sales between people.
Obama also wants to ban assault weapons and ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds. Goodlatte said he opposes those ideas.
Goodlatte did not say when his panel might write legislation. His comments that the House would begin acting on gun legislation were first reported by Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Congress.
Details remain unclear about the mental health of Adam Lanza, who shot 26 people to death at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school in December. But shooters in some recent mass shootings have been afflicted with mental problems, including those involved in the Virginia Tech killings in 2007 and the 2011 Tucson attack that killed six people and wounded 13, including then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz.
As other congressional Republicans have done, Goodlatte also complained that current gun laws are not being enforced sufficiently. He and other GOP members of the Judiciary Committee wrote letters Friday to Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder, asking for data on federal firearms prosecutions for the past 11 years.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gop-house-panel-chairman-consider-gun-bills-232642640--politics.html
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Dying grandmother's wish to take flight fulfilled
This story is a tearjerker, so grab your tissues now. A 92-year-old woman from Iola, Kansas, had a wish fulfilled by her family just six weeks before she died. Dorothy Ellis had seen a man flying over her house in a motorized parachute and decided that she wanted to do the same thing. So her family made her wish come true.
Dorothy's granddaughter Holly and the hospice nurse who cared for Dorothy made arrangements for a pilot to fly over the family's ranch house in southeastern Kansas. So on Sept. 18, 2012, on a crystal-clear day with blue skies above and green grass below, Dorothy was taken for the ride she had wished for in a rainbow-colored parachute, and her son Tom captured it all on video.
In all four minutes of "Grandma Dorothy Flies Over the Rainbow," viewers get to witness Dorothy living out her dream. Holly said, "It shocked the hell out of us," when they found out that this was what Grandma had in mind to do before she died. Holly added that her grandmother had said, "I figured I'm going one way or another by now," so they wanted to make something special happen for her. At the end of the video, the message "Thank you for letting our Dorothy fly" appears on the screen.
What makes the video all the more touching is that it's set to a version of the song "Over the Rainbow" by Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwo'ole. Viewers have been genuinely touched by Grandma Dorothy getting her wish, with one person writing, "This made my day. Dorothy is truly over the rainbow now." Another wrote, "I hope she had an awesome life, because her smile lightened mine."
We're just glad that Dorothy, from Kansas, finally got her rainbow.
[Related: Hospital graduation fulfills mom's dying wish]
Like us on Facebook.com/TrendingNow, and follow "Trending Now" on Twitter: @Knowlesitall and @YahooTrending.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/trending-now/92-old-grandmother-gets-dying-wish-fulfilled-190614409.html
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Italy center-left ally says EU must loosen budget rules
ROME (Reuters) - A leading member of Italy's center-left coalition, frontrunner in polls for this weekend's election, said on Thursday the country should seek revisions of European Union budget rules.
"We have a duty to renegotiate the fiscal compact," Nichi Vendola, leader of the Left Ecology Freedom party (SEL), told a briefing for foreign reporters. "Europe needs expansive economic policies."
Some investors fear that Vendola will push a center-left government too far to the left and prevent a coalition agreement with outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti, which is seen as the most market-friendly election outcome.
He is one of several front-line members of the center-left bloc who say the fiscal compact, a EU treaty imposing fiscal discipline and balanced budgets, will hamper Italy's recovery from its longest recession in two decades.
Vendola is the main coalition ally of Pier Luigi Bersani's Democratic Party (PD), which had a more than 5 point lead over Silvio Berlusconi's center-right when a polling blackout ahead of this weekend's election started on February 9.
While Bersani generally has tried to maintain good relations with Monti, Vendola and the prime minister have traded barbs throughout the election campaign.
"Monti's year in government left the country wounded," Vendola said on Thursday. "Austerity must be loosened to restore necessary oxygen to an economy that is out of breath."
Monti helped restore market confidence in Italy with an austerity drive when he was appointed in 2011 to head off a Greek-style debt crisis.
He sharply raised taxes and raised the retirement age to try to put accounts back on track, but the measures further weakened an economy already in recession.
Monti, now leader of a centrist bloc, may end up a Vendola ally after the vote if the center-left needs help to form a stable majority, despite the attacks during the campaign.
Monti has said Bersani should dump his coalition partner because he will hold up reforms that the euro zone's most sluggish economy desperately needs, while Vendola has accused Monti of stifling growth and driving up unemployment.
"I have no idiosyncratic personal beef with Monti," Vendola said. "If the center-left is not self-sufficient after the vote, we'll have to see if there is a majority in parliament that supports our agenda."
Bersani has said he will continue along Monti's path of fiscal prudence, while easing the tax burden on workers and pensioners. Monti has said he is willing to ally with "reformist" forces after the election.
(Reporting by Steve Scherer and Giselda Vagnoni; Writing by Steve Scherer; Editing by Michael Roddy)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italy-center-left-ally-says-eu-must-loosen-185230627.html
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Friday, February 22, 2013
Amy Poehler, Adam Scott Celebrate a Parks and Recreation Wedding
Amy Poehler, from tonight?s ?Parks and Recreation?
Parks and Recreation is known for letting its big moments happen organically. Whether it?s the surprise wedding of lovable lug Andy Dwyer and stoic slacker April Ludgate or Ben Wyatt?s proposal to Leslie Knope, the NBC comedy has a way of introducing big character moments when viewers are conditioned to least expect them.
?I like the proposal the most out of the things that have actually aired because I?m of the belief that the most powerful weapon we have in TV these days after 60 years of sitcoms is surprise,? Parks and Recreation creator, writer and executive producer Michael Schur said during a recent call with reporters. ?That?s been our goal with every relationship, really, and even every non-romantic story we?ve told on the show, we just try to be surprising to the audience. That was the idea. We?re not going to have the proposal come in a season premiere or in November sweeps or Christmas or whatever. We?re going to do it at a time that feels natural and right and take people by surprise.?
Star Amy Poehler also enjoys the pacing of the series, especially when it comes to big moments like the proposal.
?What I love about Parks is that if you care about this couple, you?ve got to see over the past couple of years so much change happen with them, and it?s really satisfying,? she said. ?The show hasn?t killed us with slow expectation and will they/won?t they, which I love. I love that Parks continues to let characters change and actually have things happen. Life goes on in the world. That part is satisfying because I know Mike and the writers actually just write and then try to figure out what?s going to happen later.?
Another organic, but major, surprise took place in last week?s episode, ?Emergency Response,? where Leslie (Poehler) and Ben (Adam Scott) decided to move their wedding up three months ? to two hours after the events of the episode. They?ll get married in the first of two episodes that air tonight.
Poehler with Adam Scott, from ?Emergency Response?
?They basically have two hours to throw it together, so everybody has their role to play,? Schur said. ?Tom Haverford becomes the officiant and has to get ordained online in an hour, and Donna plays a role in that we?re, for the first time, going to feature her beautiful and professionally trained singing voice on the show.?
?It?s very beautiful,? Scott added. ?We let her pick which aria she wanted to perform. That was fun. What?s really nice about it is that, basically, in the opening moments of the episode in order to pull this thing off, in classic Parks & Rec fashion, everyone has to chip in. There?s a part for everybody to play.?
Schur said that aspect was a lot of fun to write.?Every character is so strong that they kind of suggest a certain task or role that they could play,? he said. ?There?s a moment early on when they?re dividing up tasks, Ben says they need rings and Chris Traeger says, ?Oh, let me be on rings, I love what they symbolize? with his nice Chris Traeger-y mind, and then just watching everybody rush around the town. We go to a lot of locations and everyone is rushing in and out of doors, which lends this episode this fun momentum and urgency. It was very fun to conceive of that and watch it play out. No one questions it for one second. That?s another thing that I love. They say that they?re doing this and everyone?s like, ?OK, how do we help?? which is a nice aspect of the show.?
While Leslie and Ben?s romance has built over the past few seasons, Schur notes the show has no intent of slowing down just because they?re finally tying the knot.
?I would say that part of the joy of the two characters and their relationship is that they have very three-dimensional lives,? he said. ?They?re both very committed, not only to each other, but to their careers, but to each other and just living a full life. I think that maybe if there?s a trap you can fall into, it?s that you have to tell the story repeatedly about their relationship. That can get kind of boring, but we don?t have that problem. In fact, in the second episode [airing tonight], the cold open is Leslie and Ben coming back from their honeymoon and just talking about how much fun they had on their honeymoon. But the episode is just a regular episode of Parks & Rec. Leslie and Ben aren?t even in the same story: Ben is starting a new job, and it?s his first day at work. He?s sort of thrown into this challenge of his new job, and Leslie has an event that she?s planning for. It?s a correspondent?s dinner kind of event where the politicians roast each other and stuff. I think you?ll see right away that there?s a blueprint going forward where, yeah, they?re married now, but they also have other aspects of their lives that are very important to them. I hope and very much feel like that?s the thing that will feel like ?the magic is gone.? Their lives have never been about each other. That?s a huge part of their lives and they love each other and have a wonderful relationship and hopefully great marriage going forward, but there?s a lot of other stuff going on.?
Schur said the development of Ben and Leslie?s relationship goes back before Scott was even cast on Parks and Recreation, to the layout of what romantic life would be for Leslie.
?Our initial idea for Leslie is that she was going to have a series of relationships with different kinds of men in the course of the show and that she would learn something different from each of them,? he said. ?She learned a little something from Mark Brendanawicz, she learned something from Louis C.K.?s character, she learned something from Justin Theroux and we thought, ?Oh, Adam Scott. That?s good. She?ll date him for a while, and she?ll learn something about herself from him.? It was certainly the plan to have him be the love interest.?
That plan changed with Scott?s first appearance as Ben Wyatt in the Season 2 episode ?The Master Plan,? in which Scott?s interaction with Poehler as Leslie Knope was the perfect signal this would likely be the last romantic relationship the character would have.
Nick Offerman and Rob Lowe, from tonight?s ?Parks and Recreation?
?The idea was that he?s kind of got her number,? Schur said of Ben?s first episode. ?He just kind of gets her and understands her, who she is and what her goals are. In the second episode, which was the finale that year, they have a conversation and Leslie smiles at him and walks off. There?s a shot of Adam looking after Leslie with a smile on his face. As soon as I saw that, I realized that not only were they going to get together, they were never going to break up. It became clear in that moment that this was it. It was that indescribable thing you can?t put your finger on, but when you see two actors in roles and interacting with each other it just makes sense.?
?It?s chemistry, baby,? Poehler added. ?You can?t fight it!?
Scott noted he had gone back and watched ?The Master Plan? fairly recently, which featured both his first appearance and that of Rob Lowe as Chris Traeger.
?Looking at Leslie and Ben in our first couple of scenes together, it really speaks to the quality of writing in the show that there?s a lot of foreshadowing of their relationship in the sense that these are two three-dimensional characters that fit together and see things in each other that no one else really sees and hit these buttons with each other right off the bat,? Scott said. ?I think from the very start there was more to it than a simple will-they or won?t-they device. Married now just fits in naturally. There?s nothing to be lost by them joining together permanently.?
Looking back over the relationship of the two characters, Poehler?s favorite moment was the proposal that took audiences by surprise.
?I think the proposal was so beautifully written,? she said. ?I remember us walking into Joe Biden?s office and Schur talking about how he was going back to his hotel room to write the proposal, so I remember knowing when he was writing it and getting it and nobody changed a word. I remember that day feeling very special because it was the three of us on set and Dean Holland our director. It felt like a long time coming, which was really nice. I think everyone was really happy for the characters and it was a great example of Mike?s writing, which is always a combination of really sweet and heartfelt and it felt very earned, but also just very funny. There?s a lot of that in the wedding episode.
?There?s a moment in the wedding episode that?s, to me, the perfect example of a really beautiful and sweet moment with just hard laughs,? the actress continued. ?Those sharp turns are so hard to do and I think Mike does them so well.?
There are still a number of episodes to come after tonight?s double-header, and there are a number of special guest-stars in the queue, including Patton Oswalt and Saturday Night Live alum Jenny Slate, who plays Jean-Ralphio?s twin sister.
Poehler, from tonight?s ?Parks and Recreation?
?We meet Jean-Ralphio?s twin sister pretty soon, whose name is Mona Lisa Saperstein, played by Jenny Slate,? Schur said. ?I have to say that one of my favorite things to do in the world is take one of those awful people ? Jean-Ralphio or Dennis Feinstein or Mona Lisa ? and just put Adam Scott in scenes with them and have them act so horrifying and have Adam basically be the conscience of the show and be just absolutely blown away by how horrifying their behavior is. It?s really enjoyable to me to watch Adam in scenes with Ben Schwartz or Jenny or any of those people. It?s really delightful.?
Meanwhile, the audience and Chris Traeger found out at the end of last week?s episode that Andy?s long-running quest to become a police officer may finally have come to an end, with him failing his entry exam.
?That news is going to land on Andy on Thursday. Then, it?s the question of where does he go from here,? Schur said. ?We answer that question fairly quickly. It?s a nice move for him because it taps into something deep inside him that he never would have thought to explore, but which makes perfect sense when you understand it. It?s something he has a knack for because of his big, goofy heart and his love of helping people. When we were trying to figure out what he was going to do next, we went back and looked at all the episodes from the past that have had stories with him and one of the scenes of those stories emerged, which is that he?s a big-hearted guy. We used that to dictate his next move.?
From Poehler?s perspective, there?s still so much material to be explored with the characters that she doesn?t see any dearth of stories occurring should the show get picked up for a sixth season.
?There?s so much rich stuff that we like to do and see and because Leslie?s finishing her first term as City Councilor, they?re newly married ? her and Ben ? and Ann is trying to have a baby, April and Andy are at that point in their lives as a young couple, ?Well, who do we want to be and what do we want to do??? Poehler said. ?The Parks department is constantly being faced with the threat of being cut or being exterminated or being mismanaged. Ron has a new person in his life and Tom has a new business, so there?s a lot of really good stuff that the writers have done an amazing job of laying out that we have thoughts and dreams for season six. Even saying Season 6 is exciting.?
Poehler and Schur are currently writing the season finale, and Schur mentioned it was a balancing act of bringing long-running arcs to a close while laying the foundation for stories that will propel the series into the next season.
?That?s very much a part of the outline, is to tell the story of the end of this year, her first year as city councilor, wrap it up in a certain way and then also suggest a lot of interesting and fun things that would happen next year in an enticing way,? Schur said. ?It?s sort of like running a football team or something. You?re developing the guys around your team, you?re drafting people for the future, it?s about both the now and the future at all times, especially on this show where there are so many storyline and so many character that warrant getting served with good stories. It?s a big, complicated, messy calculus that we?re constantly engaging in. There?s nothing more fun than coming up with ideas for these characters. I would do it forever if I could.?
Poehler, who followed her impressive run on SNL with the starring role in Parks and Recreation, said she couldn?t be happier about how the show has developed and progressed over the past five years.
?It?s surpassed my wildest expectation of how good it could be,? she said. ?Honestly. Every minute, it just keeps getting better and a richer experience, certainly for me as an actor, to do. You spend a lot of time when you?re doing a single camera TV show, you spend a lot of time with the people you?re working with. It?s like your second family. I can?t imagine working on a show where you didn?t love the people you worked with that you spent so much time with ? honestly, this show in many ways saved my life, enriched my life in many ways. It?s truly like a job that I?ll never have again. I?m grateful for it every minute; the fact that I get to be on something with the best cast in television and film.?
Parks and Recreation airs tonight at 8:30 ET/PT on NBC in a special one-hour event.
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Leaked Photos Show Rear Shell for Next Generation iPad Mini?
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
Explosives vapor detection technology: The new 'sniff test'
Feb. 20, 2013 ? A quick, accurate and highly sensitive process to reliably detect minute traces of explosives on luggage, cargo or travelling passengers has been demonstrated by scientists at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The vapor detection technology accurately detects and identifies the vapors of even very low-volatility explosives in real time at ambient temperature and without sample pre-concentration. Details are outlined in a recent issue of Analytical Chemistry.
Rather than searching for particle residue using a typical method like surface swipes or using pulses of air to dislodge particles for analysis, the system 'sniffs' directly for explosives vapors, much the way bomb-sniffing canines do.
"We have demonstrated direct, real-time vapor detection for the low-volatility explosive compound RDX, which is used in many types of explosives," said David Atkinson, senior research scientist at PNNL. Low-volatility compounds are those which release very small amounts of the explosive vapor typically at parts per trillion levels or lower, making it extremely difficult to detect. The PNNL system easily detects vapors from a fingerprint-sized sample of RDX at levels below 25 parts per quadrillion.
"The system correctly identified the RDX vapor using selective atmospheric pressure chemical ionization with mass spectrometry," explained Atkinson. The approach involves pulling an air sample stream and ionizing it within a reaction region in an atmospheric flow tube. The ionized sample moves to a mass spectrometer for ion detection and identification. These air samples need no heating or pre-concentrating. Analysis happens in about one second.
"The key part is ionization," said Atkinson. "We tailored the chemistry to greatly enhance both ionization efficiency and selectivity, which results in the best possible detection."
Only a limited number of ultra-sensitive detection methods have been found capable of detecting low-volatility explosive compounds at levels below parts-per-trillion. But these methods typically take much longer and require pre-concentration of the sample from the vapor phase.
Currently, most airport security agents use cloth-like material to swipe luggage and cargo to collect explosives particles for detection. The samples are then analyzed one at a time in a process that requires the swipe to be heated to a temperature needed to volatilize the particles for detection.
In some cases, airport security will turn to canines for detection, especially for large items where size such as vehicles or cargo make particle sampling impractical.
"What we are attempting to develop is an instrument that replicates or surpasses the capabilities of a dog," said Atkinson. However, while canine olfactory systems are highly developed, dogs present issues that machines don't. Man's best friend only works limited hours, must be fed, exercised regularly and rested. While a dog's ability to smell and detect explosives is extremely sensitive, instruments may soon surpass their capabilities and perform at a lower cost.
Robert Ewing, PNNL senior research scientist, sees a bright future for the technology and is hoping to push the performance even further.
"Currently we have demonstrated the detection of explosive compounds such as RDX, PETN, nitroglycerine and tetryl, along with plastic explosives that contain these materials at low parts per quadrillion levels," said Ewing. "Future research will focus on detecting other explosive threats by manipulating the ionization chemistry and lowering detection limits."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Robert G. Ewing, David A. Atkinson, Brian H. Clowers. Direct Real-Time Detection of RDX Vapors Under Ambient Conditions. Analytical Chemistry, 2013; 85 (1): 389 DOI: 10.1021/ac302828g
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/ADC0m0T4GFs/130221092008.htm
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Micki McWade: Insurmountable Marital Problems That Lead To Divorce
An affair is thought to be the most common insurmountable problem in a marriage. This may be true, but an affair is more often a symptom of underlying issues in the relationship. As a divorce professional, I have heard thousands of explanations as to why a marriage ends, but they usually follow certain themes. An affair is the top and most obvious layer of difficulty that indicates these deeper issues exist.
Partners cease to be partners: When one partner feels like the parent of the other because he or she believes the other is immature, irresponsible, untrustworthy or selfish, the marital dynamic will eventually crumble and destroy intimacy and sexual attraction for both people. One or the other partner eventually tires of the dynamic and detaches. There's often no turning back from that detachment. It's important to recognize these feelings or lack of connection and start marriage counseling before the breaking point occurs. Once the emotional break has happened, marriage counseling is far less effective. It takes two to keep a marriage alive. A marriage counselor can't manufacture connection. We can enhance it, but we can't create it.
Domestic abuse is the most extreme version of this inability to be partners. When one partner insists on dominance or superiority and the other must become passive to survive emotionally and sometimes physically, true partnership no longer exists and the relationship itself will fail. There is no "marital" dynamic. Domestic abuse may escalate and is the most serious of issues, requiring specialized help.
Chronic complaining, blaming and inability to resolve problems: When marital problems are not resolved to the satisfaction of both people, resentment builds. Resentment erodes relationship of any kind. Bickering is a symptom of resentment and is toxic. Needing to be right makes communication impossible and puts the other on the defensive.
Solving a problem by discussion and compromise is much more important than being "right." Individuals who cannot accept their own accountability in creating and sustaining their part of the difficulty are doomed to fail in relationships.
Narcissism: Everyone has a degree of narcissism. It becomes a problem when one or both partners are unable to empathize with and support the other. For example, one partner doesn't feel well and the other competes, saying that they feel worse. Or they say they had a harder day or were more wronged by someone. Some over-estimate their contribution to the household, without actually contributing very much, while the other carries most of the responsibility.
If one partner is carrying the financial weight and the other is taking care of children at home, there may be no true understanding of the other's contribution. They both think the other has it easier. If this continues, neither person feels supported or understood. It can become a continuous dynamic that will kill intimacy and eventually, the relationship.
Addiction: Dr. Tian Dayton, in an article in the Huffington Post, calls alcoholism "narcissism in a bottle." When a partner has a problem with addiction, the main focus of the addict is obtaining and consuming their drug of choice -- rather than on the marriage and family. A person may appear quite successful to others outside the home but privately, an addict calms feelings of anxiety, emotional pain, dread, shame or PTSD with drugs, alcohol or a compulsive behavior, masking the need for mature problem-solving. Issues remain unresolved. Their partners feel angry and embarrassed by the lack of consideration for others inside and outside the family.
Because the user can't face the addiction and dreads giving up the drink, drug or compulsion, he or she denies it and angrily blames the partner for problems that arise. A partner may try to keep it together for awhile, and even a long time if there are children, but eventually, when there's no recovery, the addict's partner will ultimately give up. Once that happens, there is little chance to save the marriage. It's like trying to revive the dead.
Obviously, it's important to correct these issues before it's too late. It's difficult for couples to change long-standing relationship patterns by themselves because people tend to argue for their own points of view. Communication doesn't get anywhere without a neutral perspective. Patterns must be recognized and interrupted. If you are the first to recognize one of these patterns, suggest marriage counseling. If your spouse is suggesting couples counseling for both of you, don't resist, even if you feel uncomfortable about it. The relationship has a good chance of improvement if both partners are willing to look at themselves and make some changes. Although it may be difficult to seek help and really look at the situation, it's easier than going through a divorce. Don't wait too long.
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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/micki-mcwade/insurmountable-marital-pr_b_2673341.html
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Nikkei hits 52-month high; Japan Tobacco sinks
* Orix advances on Rebeco acquisition * Japan Tobacco sinks, sources say govt to launch share sale soon * Nikkei rises 0.7 pct, Topix adds 0.9 pct By Dominic Lau TOKYO, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Japan's Nikkei average climbed to a 52-month high on Wednesday, boosted by Wall Street shares edging up to near-record highs, although analysts said gains could be limited as investors focus on who will become the next Bank of Japan governor. The Nikkei advanced 0.7 percent to 11,452.02 after trading as much as 11,510.52, its highest level since October 2008. Also helping to limit the Nikkei gains, Japan Tobacco Inc sank 3.7 percent as the top-weighted loser after sources told Reuters that the Japanese government's $10 billion stake in the world's third-largest tobacco company was expected to kick off within days after bankers met on Tuesday over deal details. "Lawmakers in Japan have made it very clear that they are comfortable with the yen 90 to 100 (to the dollar). They are probably prefer closer to 100 than 90. They would like the equity market to go higher in the fiscal year end (in March)," a senior trader at a foreign bank said. The benchmark Nikkei is up 10 percent since the start of this year, spurred by the yen's weakness, after rallying 22.9 percent in 2012. Most of the gains last year came in the final six weeks after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe focused his election campaign on lobbying the BOJ to adopt bolder monetary policy. Japanese equities carry a 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio of 13.8, a level not seen since March 2011, according to Thomson Reuters Datastream. That compared with a 10-year average of 16.4. The trader said the long-only investors, such as pension funds, remained slow in jumping in to the Japanese market. "I don't think U.S. long-only have really got into this market. They are still underweight. I think it's hedge funds and regional accounts that have a little bit more flexibility around their asset allocations, so we are seeing those guys." Takashi Hiroki, chief strategist at Monex Inc, said investors were unlikely to chase the Tokyo market too hard as they would be focused on whom the government will nominate as the next central bank governor next week. The government has delayed nominating a governor by a week, fanning talk of friction between the prime minister and the finance minister over who should run the central bank and take aggressive action to revive the economy. The broader Topix index rose 0.9 percent to 971.92 after trading as high as 1.3 percent. Social gaming company Gree Inc tumbled as much as 7.6 percent after mobile phone operator KDDI Corp said in a filing that it plans to sell 3.4 percent of Gree's outstanding shares. But Orix Corp gained 2.6 percent after the financial services firm said it has agreed to buy Dutch asset manager Robeco from its owner Rabobank in its biggest- ever acquisition.
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Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Best Acne Treatment | Kristophs Health and Fitness Blog
There are numerous well-liked merchandise shin but what kind will get faster results, and how powerful? Neutrogena, Clearasil, and also very clear, clinique, Biore, Olay and L'Oreal. That is likely to be grain products ideal for grain yield fast and effective with benefits that you could see? And once we discover, there is a product that removes scars. Okay, I have the solution here. I'm a lady seniors in high school and still have previously been experiencing, like grains fighting, especially in my own chin area and foreheadOrconcerning my eye. Could all products, solutions, the influx, but little external perceived to get the job done. Someone said that some products on the net on the diet regime corresponding to the skin tone. However foodstuffs have not yet been confirmed to be associated with pimples, I fully expected position of the words "you are what you eat". If you are healthy containing the product, this can have on teh lateral side. Is it compulsory subjects in my hands and made my personal "diet". You need to understand that everyone is different simple act has worked well as a charm for me, may not be possible for everyone. I cut milk, breads, peanuts, and almost anything refined sugars out of my diet plan as far as possible. Increase fruits and vegetables and reduce gaseous and liquid completely replaced with water in abundance. Really, the best you can sip water, the highest quality. Sincerely, turn it regularly, but what I usually take in: Dinner: Water, a variable nutritional, just scrambled eggs and fruit. Keeps me full and surprisingly stylish. Lunch: Green (with poultry) or soup, something soft and balanced. Gallo wonderful flavors in salads, plus a minimum vinaigrette causes it to become much less boring. Avoid foaming curtains and croutons. Munch: A handful of almonds and various berries or fruits and vegetables (I love carrots newborn ) Dining: I had dinner as you normally would, but stay away from high-fat, healthy fats, like burgers, pizzas or Chinese . Always eat a plant or vegetable at dinner too. Finesse: Berries, if possible, but I have a delicious chocolate square. Basically it is more effective for you and gives you 'quick fix carbohydrates. As before, everyone is different. My dermis is completely transparent while I remain faithful to the diet. I left and returned to my old eating habits and tone of my skin started badly. When I got home, I kept a healthy win and my skin tone is beautiful all over again. Try it. . The hardest thing is the power is definitely not. You could even lose unwanted weight that certainly does not hurt. Best of luck.
About The Author
Author: Jaz, Copyright ? 2013, Yahoo Answers
Source: http://kristophshealthandfitnessblog.com/best-acne-treatment/
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Green Blog: Europe's Rift on Overfishing and Subsidies
Two weeks ago, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to require that the 27-nation bloc?s fisheries be managed on a sustainable basis within a few years.
That vote, the first step toward overhauling Europe?s Common Fisheries Policy, was hailed by conservationists as a major victory. It was made possible by the Lisbon Treaty, an agreement that put the Parliament on an equal footing with the European Fisheries Council ? a body made up of ministers from member nations ? in setting policy.
This week the Parliament began to debate the second half of the so-called Common Fisheries Policy reform, addressing the thorny question of how to ensure that the subsidies that Europe pays out to the fishing industry don?t wind up encouraging the same practices that it wants to end.
One thing quickly became clear: despite the margin of victory ? 502 to 137 ? in the previous vote, victory for the pro-conservation camp is far from guaranteed in a decision on a proposed European Maritime and Fisheries Fund.
?We won a huge victory for sustainability two weeks ago with a huge majority,? Isabella Lovin, a Green party legislator from Sweden and a longtime critic of European fisheries subsidies, said by telephone. ?You would expect the subsidies vote to go the same way. But I?m not sure we?ll have such a big victory when it comes to money.?
?My worry is that there is an unholy alliance of between the conservatives and the left,? she added, ?one that wants to continue giving subsidies.?
The fight to change the basic rules two weeks ago was led by Ulrike Rodust, a German Socialist who served as the rapporteur, or parliamentary leader, with responsibility for representing Parliament in final negotiations with fisheries ministers in Brussels. On Monday, Ms. Rodust articulated the position of many subsidy foes when she said there that no money should be provided to build new boats when there was already an excess of capacity.
While Ms. Rodust is firmly in the conservationist camp, the rapporteur on subsidies is Alain Cadec, a Frenchman from Brittany who opposed the fisheries regulation vote on the ground that it was ?dogmatic and populist.?
Mr. Cadec, a member of the Union for a Popular Movement, the party of the former president Nicolas Sarkozy, said in a telephone interview on Tuesday that he was seeking ?a major evolution? in the way that Europe aids the fishing industry but that he did not want to end subsidies, especially for for building new boats. ?The average age of the European fleet is 27 years,? he said.
Fishermen should get funds to build new vessels, he added, but with controls to ?ensure that fishing capacity isn?t augmented.?
?My objective is to have a sustainable fishery and maintain the European model of fishing,? Mr. Cadec said. ?It?s an important activity, socially and economically.?
The bloc?s fisheries policy has long been the target of wrath for conservationists and taxpayer advocates. In the conservationists? case, it is because the policy has contributed to a system in which 68 percent of European fish stocks are overexploited, according to the Parliament?s Fisheries Committee. From the taxpayer advocates? view, it is simply economically inefficient.
Fishing is a hard, dangerous and uncertain business, and subsidies can make the difference between success or failure for the operators, not to mention the communities that depend on them. But that is another way of saying that the money keeps unprofitable boats going out after fewer fish.
The European Court of Auditors, an independent agency that monitors European Union spending, found in a 2011 study that the subsidy policy was so poorly planned that from 1992 to 2008, despite an official policy of reducing the fleet to match capacity with shrinking stocks, capacity actually rose by about 14 percent.
Bloom Association, a French nongovermental organization, said last week that it had examined the finances of France?s largest fishing company, Scap?che, for the period from 2004 to 2011 and had learned that the company had 19 million euros, or $25 million, of recurring losses in those years, despite receiving about 10 million euros of subsidies and millions of euros in debt relief and other aid from its parent.
Scap?che, a unit of the Intermarch? supermarket group, did not reply to requests for comment.
But in a statement carried by Le Marin, a French magazine, Intermarch? contested that characterization, saying that Scap?che ?has had positive results since 2009.? Aid given to European fishing ?aims at improving the sector? with best fishing practices, best product quality and safety for fishermen, and all such aid ?is accorded in complete transparency,? it said.
A 2011 report from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists found that Spanish boats alone had received more than 5.8 billion euros, or $7.7 billion, in subsidies over the previous decade ? nearly one-third of the industry?s total value.
?Simply put, nearly one in three fish caught on a Spanish hook or raised in a Spanish farm is paid for with public money,? the authors said.
Maria Damanaki, the European fisheries commissioner, pointed out one of the seemingly irrational elements of the policy in a speech last October, noting that by 2015 fishermen will have received nearly 1.3 billion euros in so-called scrapping subsidies, under which vessel owners were paid to decommission boats that were used to catch overfished stocks.
But in many cases, she said, the goal was defeated as they used the money to buy new boats, meaning the payout ?was a hidden investment aid in many cases.?
The money doesn?t all come from the European Union kitty. Oceana, a conservation group, reckons that European fishermen also get about 1.4 billion euros a year ($1.86 billion) in fuel tax subsidies from their home country taxpayers.
Still, when push comes to shove, fishermen, like farmers, hold significant political power, and pork-barrel politics creates a sort of inertia. Members of the European Parliament have added 2,800 amendments to the body?s subsidies proposal, and Mr. Cadec will have his hands full whittling those down to a manageable number in the next few weeks in preparation for an April vote.
Subsidies are necessary ?to allow fishers to live in dignity,? Maria do C?u Patr?o Neves, a European People?s Party legislator from Portugal, said in Parliament.
?The watchword ought to be fishing better,? she said. ?By training fishermen to better handle their catches, ?they won?t feel the need to fish more, to overfish.?
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Tunisia PM says plan for new government has failed | Morocco ...
TUNIS, Feb 18, 2013 (AFP)
Tunisia?s Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali announced late on Monday that his plan for a new government of technocrats has failed, but he left the door open for compromise and did not say he would stand down.
?I say in all clarity that the initiative I presented ? that is to say, a government composed of members not belonging to any political parties ? failed to reach a consensus,? Jebali said after talks with party leaders.
?Another form of government? was still a possibility, he added. The prime minister had vowed to step down if his controversial proposal to form a non-partisan administration, designed to avert political turmoil in Tunisia but opposed by his Islamist party Ennahda, was thwarted.
?I will go tomorrow (Tuesday) to the president to discuss the next stages, but I noted progress during the political discussions in terms of seeking a consensus around another solution,? Jebali said.
He said this new formula should emerge ?in the coming days,? adding further delays to the search for a solution to a political crisis triggered by the assassination of a leftwing politician.
Jebali insisted that despite its failure, his initiative had at least succeeded in ?getting everyone around a table? and in preventing Tunisia ?from falling into the unknown.?
Rached Ghannouchi, the veteran leader of Jebali?s Ennahda party, said the representatives of some 15 parties had agreed at Monday?s meeting on the need for a government with ?political competences? and tasked with holding elections as soon as possible.
?We in Ennahda want to ensure that Jebali continues to chair (the cabinet), and so do all those who took part in this meeting,? he told AFP. Aziz Kirchen, representing President Moncef Marzouki?s Congress for the Republic, said an agreement had been reached for ?the formation of a mixed government? of politicians and technocrats, but without giving details.
Jebali first proposed his initiative in the wake of public outrage over the the murder in broad daylight of Chokri Belaid, a leftist opposition leader and fierce critic of the ruling Islamists.
Source: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2013/02/78946/tunisia-pm-says-plan-for-new-government-has-failed-3/
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Herbalife profit beats estimates; raises full-year forecast
(Reuters) - Weight-loss and vitamin company Herbalife Ltd
Herbalife, which also sells energy, sports & fitness and personal care products, now expects earnings of $4.45 (2.8 pounds) to $4.65 per share for the year, up from its prior view of $4.02 to $4.05 per share.
Analysts on average were expecting earnings of $4.64 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
The company's stock has become the site of a battle royale between some of the hedge fund industry's biggest players, including Pershing Square Capital's William Ackman and Icahn Enterprises'
Activist investor Ackman alleged in December that the company was a "pyramid scheme" and said he was shorting the stock.
However, Icahn and hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb revealed long positions in the stock. Loeb said the stock could rise as much as $68.
The company said last month it expected a temporary bump in expenses due to its fight with Ackman.
The company's fourth-quarter income rose to $117.8 million, or $1.05 per share, from $105.4 million, or 86 cents per share, a year earlier.
Revenue rose about 20 percent to $1.06 billion.
Analysts had expected earnings of $1.03 per share on revenue of $1.05 billion.
Herbalife shares closed at $39.74 on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Arpita Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/herbalife-profit-beats-estimates-raises-full-forecast-220105170--sector.html
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Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Six trapped in N China mine flood
National
Source: Xinhua??|??
2013-2-19??|??
??ONLINE EDITION
SIX men are still trapped underground hours after a coal mine in north China's Shanxi Province flooded, the local government said.
The accident happened at about 4 am today in the city of Yangquan, where 12 people were carrying out illegal mining operations, the municipal government said.
Six of them managed to escape.
The miners had illegally dug a pit in a small room in a residential home. Although water levels in the pit have dropped following rescuers' efforts to pump water out, the rescuers said their work has been difficult because of a lack of geological data.
Rescue efforts and a further investigation into the accident are under way.
Source: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/nsp/National/2013/02/19/Six+trapped+in+N+China+mine+flood
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Monday, February 18, 2013
Analysis: Honeymoon wears off for Mexico president's reform push
Reuters
By Simon Gardner and Anahi Rama
MEXICO CITY, ?Fri Feb 15, 2013
By Simon Gardner and Anahi Rama
MEXICO CITY, ?Fri Feb 15, 2013
A political pact forged with rivals and a couple of key laws already under his belt, Mexico's new President Enrique Pena Nieto got off to a strong start, but he faces hurdles to push through deep economic reforms.
Armed with a wide-reaching agenda, the 46-year-old former state governor wants to overhaul Mexico's tax system, state oil monopoly Pemex, a telecoms sector dominated by the world's richest man, Carlos Slim, and competition regulations in a bid to modernize the economy and boost growth to 6 percent a year.
Despite lacking an outright majority in Congress, Pena Nieto managed to push the 2013 budget barely a week after taking office on December 1 and passed a landmark education bill after sealing a broad accord dubbed the "Pact for Mexico" with leftist and conservative opponents.
But his plans may be starting to slip.
"Some were far too quick to voice optimism during the typical honeymoon of a new government," said Gabriela Cuevas, a senator for the opposition conservative National Action Party (PAN). "It's not that simple." ?Read more.?
Source: http://americasmexico.blogspot.com/2013/02/analysis-honeymoon-wears-off-for-mexico.html
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