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Monday, October 31, 2011
Scarymodo! The Most Terrifying Teched-Out Halloween Costumes This Side of the Uncanny Valley [Scarymodo]
Kate Fridkis: Love Your Body: 8 Reasons to Feel Great About Who You Are
I wrote this for the 2011 Love Your Body Day Blog Carnival, from NOW's Love Your Body Day. But I wanted to share it with the Huffington Post readers as well.
These are some reasons why you should feel good about your body:
1. It enables you to recognize yourself, and other people to recognize you. Which is really important, because there are billions of people in the world. You have stuff going on that no one else does. It's fantastic. It's a really good thing. In fact, I want to meet you, just to see all the ways in which we're interestingly different and comfortingly similar.
2. It is incredibly complicated, but tends to work. And you're alive. Which is absolutely astounding, when you take a moment to think about it.
3. Even though you can recognize yourself, you always look different. How you feel and what you do and who you're with and what kind of mirror you're looking in all shift and rearrange the way you appear to yourself. It's cool. Sometimes it's awful. Sometimes you feel like total crap. But there's always potential for startling beauty. Or surprising awesomeness.
4. No matter what you look like, you're hot to other people. Like, seriously hot. Except to internet trolls. Even supermodels aren't hot to them. Once I read someone's rant about how big Gisele Bundchen's nose is. Which made me feel like my nose was about the size of, let's say, the moon. But longer. My friend told me that she was feeling really ugly the other day and then someone on the street was like, "Hey, you're beautiful!" A homeless guy on the street told me I have a gorgeous ass two nights ago. OK, not exactly the same. The point is -- it's pretty sweet that we're all attractive. Did I really mess that point up, with the homeless guy comment? Moving on.
5. There are a lot of different options for clothes. Unlike a while ago, when women had to wear uncomfortable dresses all the time. And corsets. And the same neckline. And you had to make your own tampons. Wait. That's a different thing. You have a lot of choices now. You can find something that looks amazing. When I'm old, I'm going to wear all these flowy, priestessy outfits. Like, in silver and green. I have it planned out.
6. You can find something about your appearance that is stunning. Even on a day when you feel gross. We're trained to find the flaws. I feel like my brain is an evil little badger sometimes. It grabs the flaws and hangs on. No! Bad badger! I am capable of identifying positive stuff. I can practice at it. I can get good at it. I am looking in the mirror right now, because there happens to be a mirror over the desk I'm writing on. I like my lips. Right now. My lips are stunning. They are perfect. And I'm stopping at that.
7. But not stopping the list. Seven is a luckier number. There's more to it than your body. Which I forget, in my worst moments of image based self-doubt. I can write really lovely songs, for example. I do not have to look lovely when I sing them. Just the songs are enough. But maybe I look lovely when I sing them anyway.
8. Oh, I have another one! You don't have to be perfect!! Perfection is stupid. It's a myth perpetuated by Photoshop and fantasy. You don't have to look any one way to look beautiful, great, stunning, wonderful, pretty, gorgeous, amazing, strong, fantastic, cute, nice, cool, or any other good thing. Often, you just have to look like you.
Read more along these awesome lines at Eat the Damn Cake!
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Follow Kate Fridkis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/eatthedamncake
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-fridkis/love-your-body-day_b_1033087.html
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Skeptic finds he now agrees global warming is real
In this Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 photo, Richard Muller, left, and his daughter, Elizabeth Muller, right, pose with a map from their study on climate at their home in Berkeley, Calif. A new study of Earth?s temperatures going back more than 200 years finds the same old story: It?s gotten hotter in the last 60 years. What?s different is the scientist behind the latest study, Richard Muller. The California physicist was doubtful of what climate scientists have been saying - until he did his own research, partly funded by climate change skeptics. Elizabeth Muller, co-founder and executive director of the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Study, ran the study. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
In this Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 photo, Richard Muller, left, and his daughter, Elizabeth Muller, right, pose with a map from their study on climate at their home in Berkeley, Calif. A new study of Earth?s temperatures going back more than 200 years finds the same old story: It?s gotten hotter in the last 60 years. What?s different is the scientist behind the latest study, Richard Muller. The California physicist was doubtful of what climate scientists have been saying - until he did his own research, partly funded by climate change skeptics. Elizabeth Muller, co-founder and executive director of the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Study, ran the study. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
In this Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 photo, Richard Muller, left, and his daughter, Elizabeth Muller, hold a globe as they talk about their study on climate at their home in Berkeley, Calif. A new study of Earth?s temperatures going back more than 200 years finds the same old story: It?s gotten hotter in the last 60 years. What?s different is the scientist behind the latest study - Richard Muller. The California physicist was doubtful of what climate scientists have been saying - until he did his own research, partly funded by climate change skeptics. Elizabeth Muller, co-founder and executive director of the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Study, ran the study. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
In this Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 photo, Richard Muller, right, and his daughter, Elizabeth Muller, left, talk about their study on climate outside their home in Berkeley, Calif. A new study of Earth?s temperatures going back more than 200 years finds the same old story: It?s gotten hotter in the last 60 years. What?s different is the scientist behind the latest study - Richard Muller. The California physicist was doubtful of what climate scientists have been saying - until he did his own research, partly funded by climate change skeptics. Elizabeth Muller, co-founder and executive director of the Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature Study, ran the study. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A prominent physicist and skeptic of global warming spent two years trying to find out if mainstream climate scientists were wrong. In the end, he determined they were right: Temperatures really are rising rapidly.
The study of the world's surface temperatures by Richard Muller was partially bankrolled by a foundation connected to global warming deniers. He pursued long-held skeptic theories in analyzing the data. He was spurred to action because of "Climategate," a British scandal involving hacked emails of scientists.
Yet he found that the land is 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit (1 degree Celsius) warmer than in the 1950s. Those numbers from Muller, who works at the University of California, Berkeley, and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, match those by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA.
He said he went even further back, studying readings from Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. His ultimate finding of a warming world, to be presented at a conference Monday, is no different from what mainstream climate scientists have been saying for decades.
What's different, and why everyone from opinion columnists to cable TV 's satirical"The Daily Show" is paying attention is who is behind the study.
One-quarter of the $600,000 to do the research came from the Charles Koch Foundation, whose founder is a major funder of skeptic groups and the conservative tea party movement. The Koch brothers, Charles and David, run a large privately held company involved in oil and other industries, producing sizable greenhouse gas emissions.
Muller's research team carefully examined two chief criticisms by skeptics. One is that weather stations are unreliable; the other is that cities, which create heat islands, were skewing the temperature analysis.
"The skeptics raised valid points and everybody should have been a skeptic two years ago," Muller said in a telephone interview. "And now we have confidence that the temperature rise that had previously been reported had been done without bias."
Muller said that he came into the study "with a proper skepticism," something scientists "should always have. I was somewhat bothered by the fact that there was not enough skepticism" before.
There is no reason now to be a skeptic about steadily increasing temperatures, Muller wrote recently in The Wall Street Journal's editorial pages, a place friendly to climate change skeptics. Muller did not address in his research the cause of global warming. The overwhelming majority of climate scientists say it's man-made from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. Nor did his study look at ocean warming, future warming and how much of a threat to mankind climate change might be.
Still, Muller said it makes sense to reduce the carbon dioxide created by fossil fuels.
"Greenhouse gases could have a disastrous impact on the world," he said. Still, he contends that threat is not as proven as the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says it is.
On Monday, Muller was taking his results ? four separate papers that are not yet published or peer-reviewed, but will be, he says ? to a conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, expected to include many prominent skeptics as well as mainstream scientists.
"Of course he'll be welcome," said Petr Chylek of Los Alamos National Lab, a noted skeptic and the conference organizer. "The purpose of our conference is to bring people with different views on climate together, so they can talk and clarify things."
Shawn Lawrence Otto, author of the book "Fool Me Twice" that criticizes science skeptics, said Muller should expect to be harshly treated by global warming deniers. "Now he's considered a traitor. For the skeptic community, this isn't about data or fact. It's about team sports. He's been traded to the Indians. He's playing for the wrong team now."
And that started on Sunday, when a British newspaper said one of Muller's co-authors, Georgia Tech climate scientist Judith Curry, accused Muller of another Climategate-like scandal and trying to "hide the decline" of recent global temperatures.
The Associated Press contacted Curry on Sunday afternoon and she said in an email that Muller and colleagues "are not hiding any data or otherwise engaging in any scientifically questionable practice."
The Muller "results unambiguously show an increase in surface temperature since 1960," Curry wrote Sunday. She said she disagreed with Muller's public relations efforts and some public comments from Muller about there no longer being a need for skepticism.
Muller's study found that skeptics' concerns about poor weather station quality didn't skew the results of his analysis because temperature increases rose similarly in reliable and unreliable weather stations. He also found that while there is an urban heat island effect making cities warmer, rural areas, which are more abundant, are warming, too.
Among many climate scientists, the reaction was somewhat of a yawn.
"After lots of work he found exactly what was already known and accepted in the climate community," said Jerry North, a Texas A&M University atmospheric sciences professor who headed a National Academy of Sciences climate science review in 2006. "I am hoping their study will have a positive impact. But some folks will never change."
Chris Field, a Carnegie Institution scientist who is chief author of an upcoming intergovernmental climate change report, said Muller's study "may help the world's citizens focus less on whether climate change is real and more on smart options for addressing it."
Some of the most noted scientific skeptics are no longer saying the world isn't warming. Instead, they question how much of it is man-made, view it as less a threat and argue it's too expensive to do something about, Otto said.
Skeptical MIT scientist Richard Lindzen said it is a fact and nothing new that global average temperatures have been rising since 1950, as Muller shows. "It's hard to see how any serious scientist (skeptical, denier or believer ? frequently depending on the exact question) will view it otherwise," he wrote in an email.
In a brief email statement, the Koch Foundation noted that Muller's team didn't examine ocean temperature or the cause of warming and said it will continue to fund such research. "The project is ongoing and entering peer review, and we're proud to support this strong, transparent research," said foundation spokeswoman Tonya Mullins.
___
Online:
The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature site: http://www.berkeleyearth.org/index.php
Santa Fe climate conference: http://bit.ly/rQknVi
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Simplify Your Tea Brewing by Making It in a Coffee Pot [Clever Uses]
If you need to make more than just a cup or two of tea, you can brew it all at once (and keep it warm) by making it in a coffee pot.
DIY web site WikiHow details how to do it, noting that it's quite useful if you need a large volume of tea?like if you're sick. It isn't all that different from making coffee, except you don't use a filter and you place a tea bag or two in the filter basket. Hit the link to see the step-by-step instructions.
How to Make Tea Using a Coffee Pot | WikiHow
You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at whitson@lifehacker.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.
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Sunday, October 30, 2011
450 Malaysia snakes, tortoises escape cooking pot (AP)
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia ? Malaysian authorities have rescued some 450 endangered cobras and tortoises headed for cooking pots in Thailand.
Celescoriano Razond, Malaysia's wildlife deputy enforcement director, says officials confiscated 302 Asiatic cobra, 145 tortoises and a macaque monkey Thursday from a house in northern Kedah state, near the Thai border.
He says two men have been arrested and could be charged for being in possession of protected wildlife, which carries a penalty of up to five years in jail and a fine.
He said Friday that an initial probe showed the animals were being smuggled out of the country to be peddled to restaurants in Thailand specializing in exotic meat.
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Saturday, October 29, 2011
Palestinian leader: Arabs erred on 1947 partition
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures during a meeting of the Fatah movement Revolutionary Council in West Bank city of Ramallah Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. International mediators sat down with Palestinian and Israeli officials in Jerusalem on Wednesday in the hope of finding a formula to restart deadlocked peace talks. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas gestures during a meeting of the Fatah movement Revolutionary Council in West Bank city of Ramallah Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011. International mediators sat down with Palestinian and Israeli officials in Jerusalem on Wednesday in the hope of finding a formula to restart deadlocked peace talks. (AP Photo/Nasser Shiyoukhi)
JERUSALEM (AP) ? The Palestinian president, in a remarkable assessment delivered on Israeli TV, said Friday the Arab world erred in rejecting the United Nations' 1947 plan to partition Palestine into a Palestinian and a Jewish state.
The Palestinian and Arab refusal to accept a U.N. plan to partition the then-British-controlled mandate of Palestine sparked widespread fighting, then Arab military intervention after Israel declared independence the following year. The Arabs lost the war.
"It was our mistake. It was an Arab mistake as a whole," Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told Channel 2 TV in a rare interview to the Israeli media. "But do they (the Israelis) punish us for this mistake 64 years?
Abbas also addressed his negotiations with former Israeli leader Ehud Olmert, now in the spotlight because of the publication of the memoirs of former U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice.
Rice backs Israel's account that Olmert made a peace offer that was rejected, while Palestinians say that talks never actually reached a point where a firm offer was on the table.
Abbas claimed that he and Olmert were "very close" to reaching a peace agreement in 2008, before the Israeli leader left office under the cloud of corruption allegations.
"It was a very good opportunity," he said. "If he stayed two, three months, I believe in that time we could have concluded an agreement."
He confirmed Olmert's account that the Israeli leader was prepared to withdraw from 93.5 percent of the West Bank. The Palestinians, Abbas added, responded by offering to let Israel retain 1.9 percent of the West Bank.
In her forthcoming book, "No Higher Honor," excerpted in Newsweek this week, Rice claims that the Palestinians rejected Olmert's proposal.
Rice said Olmert proposed in a May 2008 conversation with her to cede about 94 percent of the West Bank, and to share sovereignty over the disputed holy city of Jerusalem and put an international body in charge of its religious shrines.
In its waning days, Rice wrote, the administration of President George W. Bush tried one last time to wrest a peace deal: "To have an Israeli prime minister on record offering those remarkable elements and a Palestinian president accepting them would have pushed the peace process to a new level. Abbas refused."
In their last meeting before Bush left office in December 2008, "The President took Abbas into the Oval Office alone and appealed to him to reconsider. The Palestinian stood firm, and the idea died," Rice wrote.
On Friday, the chief Palestinian negotiator told The Associated Press that the Palestinians had never rejected the Israeli offer.
With Abbas offering in his counter-proposal to let Israel annex 1.9 percent of the West Bank, Bush set a meeting for Jan. 3, 2009, to lock in the positions, which had been delivered verbally, "so the next administration could begin where we left off," he said.
That meeting was scuttled because of Israel's December 2008 invasion of Gaza, Erekat said, and Olmert was soon out of office. Since that time, talks revived for only a brief three weeks last year.
Last month, Abbas bypassed the troubled negotiations route to ask the U.N. to recognize an independent state of Palestine.
In his interview with Channel 2, Abbas acknowledged the Palestinians might not be able to muster the necessary nine votes in the 15-member Security Council to approve the statehood bid.
But majority support would be a moot point, anyway, because the United States has threatened to veto the statehood petition. Israel also opposes the U.N. bid, arguing, like the U.S., that only negotiations can yield a Palestinian state.
Abbas said "it is difficult ... to launch any kind of negotiations" with the current Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who takes a hawkish stand on territorial concessions.
He said Netanyahu wants to retain an Israeli military presence along the West Bank's eastern border with Jordan for 40 years, even after the establishment of a Palestinian state.
"I told him, I prefer occupation," Abbas said.
Netanyahu has never publicly specified how long he wants to hold on to that territory, known as the Jordan Valley, and his office had no reaction to Abbas' comment.
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Air pollution tied to lung cancer in non-smokers (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) ? People who have never smoked, but who live in areas with higher air pollution levels, are roughly 20 percent more likely to die from lung cancer than people who live with cleaner air, researchers conclude in a new study.
"It's another argument for why the regulatory levels (for air pollutants) be as low as possible," said Francine Laden, a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, who was not involved in the research.
Though smoking is the number one cause of lung cancer, about one in 10 people who develop lung cancer have never smoked.
"Lung cancer in 'never smokers' is an important cancer. It's the sixth leading cause of cancer in United States," said Michelle Turner, the lead author of the study and a graduate student at the University of Ottawa.
Previous estimates of how many non-smokers get lung cancer range from 14 to 21 out of every 100,000 women and five to 14 out of every 100,000 men.
The fine particles in air pollution, which can irritate the lungs and cause inflammation, are thought to be a risk factor for lung cancer, but researchers had not clearly teased apart their impact from that of smoking.
In this study, Turner and her colleagues followed more than 180,000 non-smokers for 26 years. Throughout the study period, 1,100 people died from lung cancer.
The participants lived in all 50 states and in Puerto Rico, and based on their zip codes, the researchers estimated how much air pollution they were exposed to -- measured in units of micrograms of particles per cubic meter of air.
Pollution levels in different locations ranged from a low of about six units to a high of 38. The levels dropped over time, however, from an average of 21 units in 1979 - 1983, to 14 units in 1999 - 2000, producing an overall average pollution level of 17 units across the study period.
After the team took into account other cancer risk factors, such as second-hand smoke and radon exposure, they found that for every 10 extra units of air pollution exposure, a person's risk of lung cancer rose by 15 to 27 percent.
The increased risk for lung cancer associated with pollution is small in comparison to the 20-fold increased risk from smoking.
And the study team didn't prove that the pollution caused the cancer cases, but "there's lots of evidence that exposure to fine particles increases cardiopulmonary mortality," Turner told Reuters Health.
Fine particles in air pollution can injure the lungs through inflammation and damage to DNA, Turner's team writes in its report, published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Previous research has suggested similar conclusions. A study of people in China, for example, found an increased risk of lung cancer attributed to indoor air pollution from burning coal and wood to heat homes (see Reuters story of December 7, 2009). And several European studies have linked levels of soot and vehicle exhaust to lung cancer in non-smokers.
Laden noted that the pollution levels associated with the increased risk of cancer in the current study are not uncommon in the U.S.
"These levels are within the (regulatory) standards," Laden told Reuters Health. "We're not talking about people who live in a really polluted place with no pollution control."
SOURCE: http://bit.ly/rMyNsA American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, online October 6, 2011.
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Friday, October 28, 2011
Toyota introduces Touch Life smartphone mirroring system, your Prius and iPhone can become one
If you're looking to get your smartphone more in-sync with your car, you may want to consider a new Toyota with the Touch Life infotainment system. Given a compatible smartphone / app combo, it can mirror the phone's display on its 7-inch touchscreen for access to navigation, music or social networking services. Nokia owners can connect their Symbian Belle devices by way of MirrorLink, developed by the Car Connectivity Consortium, in its first deployment by the automotive industry. Apple iPhone (and iPod) faithful will have to install Application Launcher in order to sync up with the infotainment system. If driving distractions are a concern, steering wheel controls play nice with the tech as well -- it's not quite SYNC Applink, but we'll take it. Toyota promises features and smartphones will continue to be added, but for a current list of compatible cars, devices and apps, check the press release below.
Toyota introduces Touch Life smartphone mirroring system, your Prius and iPhone can become one originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Oct 2011 01:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Thursday, October 27, 2011
Avon stock sinks on SEC probe, pulled 2011 outlook (AP)
NEW YORK ? Avon Products Inc. said Thursday the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating its contact with financial analysts in 2010 and 2011, the latest roadblock for the cosmetics direct seller that is struggling to turn around its results.
Avon also reported its third-quarter net income slipped a worse-than-expected 1 percent, hurt by complications implementing a business system in Brazil and the uncertain global economy. The New York company said it is reviewing all aspects of its business and withdrew its full year revenue guidance.
Shares ? which were already down 21 percent since the beginning of the year ? dropped another 18 percent by Thursday afternoon.
"Obviously, we're disappointed with our third-quarter results and the slower-than-expected pace of recovery," said CEO Andrea Jung in a conference call with analysts. "We're fully accessing our long-range business plan, and targeting an operational and financial update to investors in the first quarter of 2012."
Analysts are becoming increasingly less confident that Avon can improve its business, however.
Avon, known in the U.S. for its "Avon ladies" going door-to-door selling its cosmetics, has in more recent years focused on expanding overseas, and about 80 percent of its revenue comes from outside of the U.S.
But results have been erratic, with the company frequently missing analyst expectations and posting disappointing revenue in some of its largest markets like Brazil and Russia. It has also been dealing with a bribery investigation since 2008. The investigation started in China and has grown to other countries.
Avon has implemented a restructuring program, cut costs and made executive changes, but results are still falling short.
Stifel Nicolaus analyst Mark Astrachan said Avon was lagging competitors, and it is "unlikely to enact meaningful operating improvements anytime soon." He downgraded the company to "Hold" from "Buy."
The SEC probes add to the uncertainty, he said. The company disclosed in a filing that the regulator is investigating its contact with financial analysts in 2010 and 2011. The SEC also formalized its inquiry into matters related to Avon's own bribery probe.
"One inquiry is bad, two is a major headache," Astrachan said. "The substantially stepped-up SEC woes makes it increasingly difficult for management to focus on a turnaround."
Avon said it was cooperating with the SEC and the investigations but did not disclose any other information about the nature of the probe into its contact with financial analysts. Avon had no further comment on the probe or Astrachan's report.
The New York company's net income was $164.2 million, or 38 cents per share, in the July-September quarter. That's down from $166.7 million, or 38 cents per share, last year.
Revenue rose 6 percent to $2.76 billion. Analysts expected earnings of 46 cents per share on revenue of $2.83 billion, according to FactSet.
Beauty sales rose 8 percent, with gains in perfume, makeup, personal care products and skin care.
In Latin America, which makes up about half of Avon's business, revenue rose 11 percent. Results were boosted by the weaker dollar and strength in Mexico and Venezuela, which helped offset the unexpected weakness in Brazil, where revenue fell 3 percent excluding the effect of the weaker dollar.
Companies that sell goods internationally get a boost from a weaker dollar when they convert revenue in foreign currencies back into the dollar.
The problems in Brazil, usually a stronghold for Avon, stem from implementing an "enterprise resource planning" business management software system, which caused "greater disruptions than we anticipated," said CEO Andrea Jung.
In North America, which accounts for about 18 percent of revenue, sales fell 7 percent.
Total units sold fell 5 percent during the quarter and the number of Avon's direct sellers was flat.
Jung said in the U.S. the company revamped its marketing to focus on value and holiday gifts, and orders have improved in the short term.
Shares fell $4.20, or 18.3 percent, to close at $18.81 Thursday.
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Obama's student loan debt-relief plan: Too good to be true? (The Christian Science Monitor)
Washington ? President Obama on Wednesday is launching a new plan to lower the cost of paying back student loans for millions of borrowers ? the latest installment in his bid to move a jobs agenda that bypasses a gridlocked Congress.
At nearly $1 trillion, federal and private student loans now exceed US credit-card debt, posing a formidable repayment burden for many borrowers at a time of near-double digit unemployment.
The plan, to be implemented by executive authority alone, allows some 1.6 million students to cap their loan payments at 10 percent of their discretionary income starting in 2012. It also forgives the balance of student loans after 20 years of payments. Current law allows students to limit loan payments to 15 percent of income, forgiving debt after 25 years of payments, though few students are aware of this option
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In a related move, the US Department of Education, which now administers all federal education loans, is giving borrowers the option of consolidating federal and private loans at reduced rates.
?College graduates are entering one of the toughest job markets in recent memory, and we have a way to help them save money by consolidating their debt and capping their loan payments,? said Education Secretary Arne Duncan on a conference call with reporters on Tuesday. ?And we can do it at no cost to the taxpayer.?
Even before the official rollout of the program at a rally in Denver, House Republicans challenged how the president could move forward without congressional approval.
RECOMMENDED: Tired of student loans? These schools will leave you with little debt.
"The president is about to announce a major change in the program that we have not yet acted on in the Congress,? said Rep. Virginia Foxx (R) of North Carolina, who chaired an oversight hearing on Tuesday. ?What authority does the department have??
?I can?t answer that question,? said witness James Runcie, the Education Department?s federal student aid chief operating officer. ?Whatever we?re told to do in terms of implementation and execution, we?ll optimize and do what?s in the best interest of borrowers and students.?
Part of the answer appears to be a move made by the Democrat-controlled Congress in March 2010. It ended taxpayer subsidies to private banks for student loans, meaning that the Education Department alone was responsible for handing out government money for such loans. That means the $60 billion set to go to private banks for student loans during the next 10 years is now tabbed for the Education Department.
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Congress directed the Education Department to use that savings to expand Pell grants for low-and moderate income students to attend college. But many House Republicans who still oppose the move they say it has made the Department of Education one of the largest banks in the nation, largely unaccountable to Congress.
?This is another example of the Obama administration making changes to federal education policy behind closed doors,? said GOP committee spokeswoman Alexandra Sollberger in an e-mail. ?We are disappointed that the Department of Education chose not to engage committee members prior to announcing this plan to the press.?
Republican critics also note that the Education Department charges 6.8 percent for loans that cost much less, ?creating a pretty big slush fund for the government,? said Rep. John Kline (R) of Minnesota, who chairs the House Education and Workforce Committee, at Tuesday?s hearing.
He tabbed federal borrowing for the program ?at less than 1 percent? ? yielding a large profit.
Education Department officials dispute that view. ?Right now Direct Loans reduce the deficit,? says Education Department spokeswoman Jane Glickman. ?I wouldn?t call it slush.?
The 10-year interest rate is dictated to the department by the White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), added Ms. Glickman in an e-mail. ?In yesterday?s market, the 10-year rate was between 2 and 2.5. In the OMB projections, it is more like 3 for 2011.
The burden of some $1 trillion in outstanding student loans ? up from $500 billion just five years ago ? is a hot issue in the Occupy Wall Street protests. Students struggling with loans they can?t afford to repay blame the federal government for stripping away consumer protections
?Every fundamental consumer protection has been specifically removed by our Congress for student loans,? says Alan Collinge at the Zuccotti Park protest site in New York on Sunday.
?It?s led to horrible outcomes for the borrowers,? he adds. ?The political will to crack down doesn?t exist.?
President Obama said in a statement on Tuesday: ?Steps like these won?t take the place of the bold action we need from Congress to boost our economy and create jobs, but they will make a difference."
Unlike mortgage or credit-card debt, student loans can?t be eliminated through bankruptcy proceedings. With a sputtering economy, the investment in college doesn?t always pay off for students. In an interview on NBC?s ?Meet the Press" on Sunday, GOP presidential hopeful Ron Paul called federal student loans a ?failed program,? because it enabled colleges and universities to inflate costs.
RECOMMENDED: Tired of student loans? These schools will leave you with little debt.
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Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Libya gives Gaddafi inglorious secret burial (Reuters)
TRIPOLI (Reuters) ? Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mo'tassim were buried in a secret desert location on Tuesday, five days after the deposed Libyan leader was captured, killed and put on grisly public display.
"He (Gaddafi) has just been buried now in the desert along with his son," National Transitional Council (NTC) commander Abdel Majid Mlegta told Reuters by telephone.
Gaddafi's cleric, Khaled Tantoush, who was captured with him, prayed over the rotting bodies before they were taken from the compound in the coastal city of Misrata, where they had been on show, and handed to two NTC loyalists for burial, he said.
The NTC had worried many outsiders by displaying the corpses in a meat locker in the fiercely anti-Gaddafi city of Misrata until their decaying state forced them on Monday to call a halt.
Under pressure from Western allies, the NTC promised the same day to investigate how Gaddafi and his son were killed. Mobile phone footage shows both alive after their capture. The former leader was seen being mocked, beaten and abused before he died, in what NTC officials say was crossfire.
The saga has made Western allies of Libya's interim leadership queasy about the prospects for the rule of law and stable government in the post-Gaddafi era.
"I laughed when I saw him being beaten as he deserved to be. And I laugh again now that I know he is in the ground," said Emani Zaid, 20, a student in Tripoli. "If the men who buried him are true free Libyans, they can keep the secret (of his grave)."
Determined to prevent Gaddafi's grave from becoming a shrine for his supporters, the NTC wants to keep its location secret, refusing custody to his tribe, many of whom live in Sirte.
The prayers for the dead were attended by two of Gaddafi's cousins, Mansour Dhao Ibrahim, once leader of the feared People's Guard, and Ahmed Ibrahim. Both were captured with him after a NATO air strike hit a convoy of vehicles trying to break out of Sirte, Gaddafi's home town, just after it fell.
"The NTC officials were handed the body after the sheikh completed the early morning ceremony and are taking him somewhere very far away into the desert," Mlegta said.
"THROW HIM IN A HOLE"
For Ali Azzarog, 47, an engineer, it was good riddance.
"Throw him in a hole, in the sea, in garbage. No matter. He is lower than a donkey or a dog and only foreigners say they care about how we killed him. And they are lying," he said.
Mohammed al-Sharif, a 22-year-old describing himself as an aspiring writer, said: "Let the dust of the desert sweep over the hole where he was buried ... Then the name 'Muammar' can be forgotten and our children will never know of this time."
Libyans rose up against Gaddafi's 42-year rule in February, defying a violent response that was parried by NATO air power under a United Nations mandate to protect civilians.
The 69-year-old strongman's death ended eight months of war that had dragged on in Sirte and elsewhere even after the NTC's ragtag militias captured the capital, Tripoli, in August.
Hatred of Gaddafi unified his disparate opponents, who may now tussle for power during a planned transition to democracy in a broken nation with regional and tribal rivalries to overcome.
"Leaders from different regions, cities, want to negotiate over everything -- posts in government, budgets for cities, dissolving militias," said one senior NTC official in Tripoli, though he defended this as a healthy expression of freedom.
At times, Gaddafi's body appeared to have become a macabre bargaining chip for Misrata, which endured a pitiless war-time siege, and whose leaders now demand a big say in the new Libya.
Fears that Gaddafi's sons might wage an Iraq-style insurgency have faded since the deaths of Mo'tassim and his brother Khamis, a military commander, who was killed earlier.
But well-armed fighters in the former Gaddafi stronghold of Bani Walid, which fell to the NTC this month, told Reuters they were planning to keep up their struggle.
"MASS EXECUTION"
Abuses apparently committed by both sides in the civil war may also impede reconciliation. New York-based Human Rights Watch urged the NTC on Monday to probe an "apparent mass execution" of 53 people, apparently Gaddafi loyalists, whom it found dead, some with their hands bound, at a Sirte hotel.
In Tripoli, a 33-year-old waiter, who said he was too scared to give his name, praised what he said was Gaddafi's courage.
"If you say Gaddafi died like a coward, you are wrong. He died proud like a lion. He said he would never leave Libya and he did not leave. Fight, fight, fight. I was not a Gaddafi supporter before this revolution but when I saw his bravery, I knew he was the only man for Libya," he said.
One of Gaddafi's sons, the enigmatic Saif al-Islam, remains on the run. Once viewed as a moderate reformer, Saif vowed to help his father crush his enemies once the revolt began.
An NTC official said Saif al-Islam was in the remote southern desert near Niger and Algeria and was set to flee Libya using a false passport.
He said Gaddafi's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi who, like Saif al-Islam, is wanted by the International Criminal Court, was involved in the escape plan.
"The region is very difficult to monitor and encircle," the official said of Saif al-Islam's purported whereabouts.
In Niger, there was no official comment on Saif al-Islam, but the government there has repeatedly signaled it would fulfill its responsibilities to the International Criminal Court which wants to try Gaddafi's son for crimes against humanity.
"The instructions in Niger are very clear: if this son of Gaddafi enters Niger, he must be arrested and placed immediately in the hands of the authorities because there is an international arrest warrant for him," a Nigerien military source said.
Gaddafi's death allowed the NTC to declare Libya's "liberation" on Sunday in Benghazi, the seat of the revolt.
NTC Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil also announced that Libya had "taken Islamic sharia as the source of legislation."
Many rejoicing Libyans brushed off unease among human rights groups and Western capitals about the manner of Gaddafi's death.
Until the public was finally denied access on Monday, fighters were still ushering sightseers into the chilled room where the bodies of Gaddafi, Mo'tassim and his former army chief lay, their flesh darkening and leaking fluids.
The U.N. human rights arm has joined the Gaddafi family in seeking an inquiry into his killing. The NTC promised one on Monday, saying most Libyans had hoped to see Gaddafi on trial.
Some Libyans are also uncomfortable at the way Gaddafi was killed and his body treated.
"I regret it, really," said lawyer Sawani Ghanem, 30, adding that Gaddafi had tainted Libya as a land of terrorists. "We should have tried to show the world we could be more humane and aspire to change."
(Reporting by Taha Zargoun in Sirte, Barry Malone and Jessica Donati in Tripoli, Rania El Gamal and Tim Gaynor in Misrata, Christian Lowe, Jon Hemming and Andrew Hammond in Tunis, Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers, Samia Nakhoul in Dubai, Abdoulaye Massalaatchi in Niamey, Matt Falloon in London; Writing by Alistair Lyon; editing by Tim Pearce)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111025/wl_nm/us_libya
Happy 10th Birthday, Windows XP! And Goodbye (NewsFactor)
Suppose on your birthday, your parents were firm in saying that, within a few years, they didn't want anything to do with you. Now you know how Windows XP feels.
On Tuesday, the venerable workhorse of operating systems turned a ripe 10 years old. Introduced in 2001, it was an advancement over its older brother, Windows 2000. Key among its improvements were a streamlined, task-based interface that allowed users to find their apps and files more quickly through the taskbar or Start Menu.
Other enhancements included improved power management, a faster boot, and a reputation for being stable.
'End-of-Lifing'
But Microsoft is eager to move users to Windows 7, and the company has once again confirmed that they will end all remaining support for XP by April 2014.
"We are end-of-lifing XP and Office 2003 and everything prior" at that time, Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner told a financial analysts meeting last month, a position the company reaffirmed this week.
He added that, for the businesses that haven't upgraded, "XP has been a wonderful product," but now it's "time for it to go." The 2014 date, actually, is an extension on the death sentence, since Microsoft normally ends OS support ten years after launch.
The last PCs with XP pre-installed were sold in October of last year, and the end of software sales of the OS was in 2008.
In a post on the official Windows Experience Blog, Kristina Libby asked readers to "think about hair -- are you still rocking the same cut" as 10 years ago? Since most readers would reply in the negative -- assuming they can remember their haircut from 10 years ago -- Libby asked, "Why then are you still on Windows XP when Windows 7 is so much better?"
The blog post includes an illustrated infographic, titled, "Standing still is falling behind." It lists a variety of popular items from 10 years ago, and compares them with ones today -- most notably, XP vs. Windows 7.
Waiting for 8?
But the move toward 7 has been slower than the company would have liked, with only an estimated 25 percent of all enterprises that use Windows using Windows 7. Microsoft has said that 90 percent of businesses plan to make the transition. According to a variety of surveys, XP is still being used by more than half of all business users.
The relative slowness in making the transition has been attributed to the disastrous Windows Vista, which many users hated, and the wait for the coming Windows 8, which Microsoft has started previewing and promoting.
There's also a large contingent that endorses that dictum, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," and are remaining with XP -- at least until Microsoft gives a good reason to upgrade. Finally, there are some businesses who are migrating, or considering migrating, to non-Windows platforms, such as Apple or Google's Android or Chrome. The center of gravity in computing has moved to mobile devices, an environment where Windows barely has a presence, while Apple and Google are currently the kings of mobile.
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/software/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111025/tc_nf/80744
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Tuesday, October 25, 2011
World stocks mixed ahead of Europe plan (AP)
TOKYO ? World stock markets were mixed Tuesday as investors waited for European leaders to unveil a plan to tackle the continent's ongoing debt crisis.
European leaders have said they made progress at a weekend summit and plan to unveil comprehensive plans for containing the crisis by Wednesday.
Among measures, the 17-nation eurozone is set to shore up its bailout fund, and German lawmakers said the plan could boost the fund's lending capacity to more than euro1 trillion ($1.39 trillion).
European stocks rose modestly in early trading. Britain's FTSE 100 was less than 0.1 percent higher at 5,550.49. Germany's DAX fell 0.4 percent higher at 6,033.09. France's CAC-40 slipped 0.5 percent to 3,204.59. Wall Street headed for a lower opening, with Dow Jones Industrial Futures up less than 0.1 percent to 11,819 and S&P 500 futures sliding less than 0.1 percent to 1,246.30.
Asian shares ended mostly higher after a skittish day of trading. Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed 0.9 percent lower at 8,762.31, with exporters struggling in the face of a strong yen. The dollar hovered near the 76-yen line, just above a new record low of 75.78 yen hit before the weekend.
Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Japan would take measures to slow the yen's acceleration if necessary, firing a shot at speculators who may be adding to the volatility.
The yen's sharp climb "does not reflect the real economy, and we have to believe that this is a speculative move," Azumi told reporters, according to Kyodo News agency. "If this goes further, then we will take decisive action."
His comments did little to stem selling in export-reliant sectors like high-tech and autos, which are now also struggling with lost production to the flooding in Thailand. Toyota Motor Corp. fell 1.7 percent, and Canon Inc. was down 1.8 percent.
Credit Suisse describes the eurozone as "inching forward" and that "there are as many questions as answers." But for any plan to be effective in the long term, it says, leaders must spur growth in Europe.
"At a minimum, we believe the crisis in the periphery will not end until there are current account surpluses... or clearly cheap currencies," the Credit Suisse report said. "We believe that the (European Central Bank) has to expand its balance sheet to weaken the euro and thereby create growth."
Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi lost 0.5 percent to 1,888.65, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 1.1 percent to 18,968.20. Benchmarks in mainland China, India, Taiwan, Singapore, and New Zealand also advanced.
Thailand's SET index was 2.8 percent higher at 941.93, even though the country is being battered by its worst flood in decades. Ratings agency Moody's says it does not expect the floods ? the worst to hit Thailand in decades ? to affect its creditworthiness.
"The government will have ample fiscal space to absorb flood-related costs without prompting a permanent deterioration in its debt ratios," Moody's said in a report.
Overnight in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average finished with a gain of 104.83 points, or 0.9 percent, at 11,913.62.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose to 1,254.19, marking the highest close for the S&P 500 since Aug. 3, just as Washington was resolving a showdown over raising the country's borrowing limit.
In currencies, the dollar rose slightly to 76.12 yen from 76.07 yen late Monday in New York. The euro stood at $1.3909 from $1.3951.
Benchmark crude for December delivery was up $1.62 cents at $92.84 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $3.87, or 4.4 percent, to settle at $91.27 in New York on Monday.
Brent crude was down 2 cents at $111.43 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.
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Monday, October 24, 2011
Man City humiliates United 6-1
'I'm shattered, I can't believe it,' Ferguson says after his worst loss ever at United
AFP - Getty ImagesManchester City's Spanish midfielder David Silva celebrates after scoring their fifth goal.
updated 12:34 p.m. ET Oct. 23, 2011
MANCHESTER, England - Manchester City thrashed fierce rival Manchester United 6-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday to hand Alex Ferguson his heaviest home defeat in 25 years in charge.
"I'm shattered, I can't believe it," a shocked Ferguson said after seeing his side's 37-match unbeaten run at home come to a crashing halt.
Mario Balotelli scored twice for a rampant City and Sergio Aguero added a third. Two late goals from Edin Dzeko and another from David Silva earned City its biggest win at Old Trafford since winning 5-0 in 1955 - the last time United lost by five in the topflight.
Jonny Evans, the United central defender who was at fault for Balotelli's opening goal, was shown a straight red card in the 46th minute for a foul on the Italian forward.
Darren Fletcher had given United a glimmer of hope when he scored in the 81st to make it 3-1, but with United piling forward in search of an unlikely point, City took full advantage with three goals in the last four minutes.
"It was an incredible disappointment," Ferguson said. "You have to recover. The history of Manchester United is 'another day' and we will recover. That kind of defeat will make an impact on the players.
"There's a lot of embarrassment in that dressing room and quite rightly so."
City, which won the last of its two topflight titles in 1968, leads the 19-time champions by five points after nine games, but manager Roberto Mancini sought to play down the importance of the win.
"This is only one game," the Italian said. "I still think United are one yard above us, still. I think we can only change this after we win the title in the end. After, maybe it will be different, but now United are better than us."
For the first hour, Balotelli took center stage, not least because of the latest bizarre off-field incident in which he had been embroiled over the weekend.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, two fire engines were sent to the 21-year-old Italy international's home to douse a fire caused by a firework in his bathroom.
"If we want to talk about Mario regarding a football player, I put him in the first five players in the world," said Mancini, who said he didn't know what happened at Balotelli's house, only that "he sleep in a hotel now."
Balotelli was selected ahead of Dzeko and rewarded that decision in the 21st minute when Silva's pass allowed James Milner to pull the ball back for Balotelli to convert an exquisite first-time right-foot finish from the edge of the penalty area.
Not content with the goal, Balotelli raised his jersey to display a T-shirt bearing the slogan "Why always me" which earned him a booking from referee Mark Clattenburg.
It hardly affected him, or City, and United's fate was sealed a minute into the second half when Evans pulled back the Italian on the edge of the area and was dismissed.
It took City until the hour mark to make United pay when Silva and Milner combined once more, the latter crossing for Balotelli to convert easily at the far post.
Chances continued to fall for City and Aguero was the next player on the scoresheet after 68 minutes as Milner's pass sent defender Micah Richards to the byline and he crossed into the six-yard area for the Argentine striker to convert from close range.Balotelli was taken off, for fear that he might collect another yellow card, and replacement Dzeko might have scored before Fletcher exchanged passes with Javier Hernandez and curled in his team's consolation goal from 20 yards after 81 minutes.
However, City would not be denied and scored three times in as many minutes over the closing stages.
In the last minute of normal time, Gareth Barry flicked on a corner and Joleon Lescott pulled the ball back across goal and into the United goal via Dzeko's knee.
A minute later, Dzeko's pass freed Silva to advance half the length of the field and beat the exposed David de Gea. Then, in the final of the three minutes of stoppage time, the same pair combined, Silva this time passing to Dzeko who had time and space to advance before completing the victory with a strong finish past De Gea.
"The sending off was the killer blow," Ferguson said. "After that we kept attacking ... When we went to 3-1, 4-1 we should have settled for that."
? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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More newsAFP - Getty ImagesMan City humiliates United 6-1
??Manchester City thrashed fierce rival Manchester United 6-1 at Old Trafford on Sunday to hand Alex Ferguson his heaviest defeat in 25 years in charge.
Getty ImagesSource: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45006318/ns/sports-soccer/
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Is Skype your cheapest home phone option?
Skype, Vonage, and Magic are all cheap home phone options, as long as you already have high speed Internet access
Al writes in: I?ve been trying to figure out whether it?s worth it to switch my home phone service to Skype or Vonage or Magic Jack or one of those other services. Do you save pennies or dollars by switching?
Skip to next paragraph Trent HammThe Simple Dollar is a blog for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds ? we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money.
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Well, let?s look at the three plans you named.
Skype offers unlimited long distance calling for most of North America (including all of the U.S. and Canada) for $7.99 a month. To receive calls, you?ll also need a Skype phone number, which costs $6 per month. You also will have to buy a phone adapter or use your computer for calls. You?ll also need high speed internet, of course.
Vonage offers unlimited long distance calling for the entire U.S. for $24.99 a month, but there a lot of different discounted deals floating around out there that lowers the price a bit. You?ll also need high speed internet.
MagicJack offers unlimited long distance calling for the entire U.S. for $40 for the first year and $20 for each additional year. You?ll also need high speed internet, of course.
MagicJack has the lowest prices, but also has the worst customer service and quality of service reputation. I?ve had very little problem with and heard very little complaint about Skype or Vonage, though I found Vonage?s setup to be a bit easier and Skype?s prices are lower.
What about ordinary phone service? You?re going to find a huge variety in available plans depending on who your local provider is. The local provider in our area provides unlimited free calling to anywhere in the U.S. for $46 a month. There?s also a more basic package for around $22 a month that offers free local calls, free incoming calls, and nationwide long distance for $0.10 a minute.
So, if you have high speed internet anyway, you?ll save money using any of the VoIP providers. How much money you save depends on what phone offers are available in your area, but this is definitely in the ?save dollars, not cents? area.
Now, if you?re only going to get high speed internet because you intend to use it in part for the phone service, it depends on how much the internet service actually is and how much you intend to utilize it for other things. Increasing your internet speed beyond a typical low-end DSL or cable connection won?t make a whole lot of impact on how you surf the web. It mostly only shows up with things like streaming video or online games like World of Warcraft and it will certainly improve your call quality with VoIP services like these.
Will you get additional value out of high-speed internet beyond just Skype or Vonage or MagicJack? If the answer to that question is yes, then switching to VoIP will probably save you some money. If you?re unsure, then the switch probably isn?t worth it because of the extra internet costs.
The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on www.thesimpledollar.com.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/3eoCvIuyXKw/Is-Skype-your-cheapest-home-phone-option
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Sunday, October 23, 2011
Eurogroup chief: delay of decisions 'disastrous' (AP)
BRUSSELS ? The chairman of the eurogroup of finance ministers says the delay to a debt crisis creates a "disastrous" image of the eurozone to the outside world.
Jean-Claude Juncker, who is also the prime minister of Luxembourg, added that it's not necessarily just France and Germany that have differences of opinion on how to tackle the crisis.
He said decisions had to be taken by all 17 eurozone countries.
Juncker made the comments as he arrived for a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels Friday.
The meeting will be followed by talks between EU finance ministers Saturday, a summit of EU leaders on Sunday, and another crisis summit early next week.
The second summit was made necessary when France and Germany realized that a deal would not be reached in time for Sunday.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
BERLIN (AP) ? Germany and France agree over the main points of a plan to deal with Europe's crippling debt crisis, Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted Friday, a day after the two countries conceded that a new strategy won't emerge this weekend.
Markets appear to be giving Europe the benefit of the doubt that they will eventually be able to agree to a comprehensive package of measures in time for a second summit, which France and Germany say will be held by Wednesday at the latest. Europe's main stock markets all opened higher Friday, with the Stoxx 50 of top European shares up 0.7 percent.
Finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the euro will be looking to thrash out differences of opinion later Friday as they gather in Brussels, ahead of the arrival of the leaders on Saturday.
Sunday's leaders' summit had been earmarked as the time Europe would finally deliver a comprehensive plan to get a grip on the currency union's debt troubles, which has seen three countries bailed out and threatened the future of the euro currency itself.
Leaders had been expected to detail new financing for debt-ridden Greece, produce plans to make Europe's banks fit to sustain worsening market turbulence and further empower the eurozone bailout fund.
Though Merkel insisted in discussions with lawmakers Friday that there are no major differences of opinion between herself and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Europe's two biggest economies appeared to be at loggerheads over how to make best use of the bailout fund, the so-called European Financial Stability Facility, or EFSF.
A spokesman for Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats said the chancellor refused to be drawn on reports of the split between her and Sarkozy in talks with lawmakers from her party.
"She would not say anything other than that they were in agreement," Dominik Geissler told reporters in Berlin.
Yet, while France proposes turning the EFSF into a bank that would have access to unlimited credit from the European Central Bank, Germany has refused to sanction such a move, arguing it would compromise the ECB's impartiality.
"Considering the importance of the discussions and there potential impact upon the European economy, global capital markets and the future of the EU itself a delay of a few days is neither here nor there in the overall scheme of things," said Gary Jenkins, an analyst at Evolution Securities. "However the suggestions that they are still far apart on how to make best use of the EFSF is of some concern."
What to do about the euro440 billion ($607 billion) EFSF doesn't seem to be the only point of contention.
Germany and several other rich countries have been pushing for banks and other private investors to take steeper losses on their Greek bondholdings, before the eurozone can sign off on a second multibillion euro rescue package for the struggling country.
France and the European Central Bank had so far opposed forcing banks to write off more Greek debt, fearing that would destabilize the banking sector and worsen market turmoil.
France is thought to be particularly worried about losing its cherished triple A credit rating, a scenario which Standard & Poor's said was possible if Europe slides back into recession or its borrowing rises even further. In a stress test report, S&P warned that France Spain, Italy, Ireland and Portugal could have their ratings reduced by one or two notches.
On the future of Greece, the French and German statements Thursday indicated that the two countries may be edging toward a solution. They have asked Greece to immediately start negotiations with the private sector to reach a deal "that would improve (Greece's) debt sustainability."
A leading German banker, Commerzbank chief Martin Blessing, said in comments published Friday that Athens should declare bankruptcy, saying it is the only way out of the debt crisis.
"States have only two options," Blessing told Germany's top-selling Bild newspaper. "Either they pay back their debts as agreed, or they declare themselves insolvent and accept the consequences that brings."
Lawmakers from Merkel's junior coalition partner, the Free Democrats, said the chancellor had indicated that Spain and Italy in particular were concerned about such a move, which could further undermine confidence in their own ability and willingness to repay their debts if markets start to think that Greece is not a one-off case.
The main worry in the markets is that the debt crisis, which has already seen Greece, Ireland and Portugal bailed out, could envelop the much bigger economies of Spain and Italy.
The eurozone's third and fourth largest economies are currently being supported by the European Central Bank's bond-buying program, which has helped prevent their borrowing costs in the markets from rising up to unsustainable levels.
The ECB has been a reluctant buyer of their bonds in the markets; the EFSF is soon set to take on that role.
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Saturday, October 22, 2011
Epstein heads for Windy City
It?s finally done.
Peter Abraham of the Boston Globe reports that the Red Sox and Cubs have agreed to the framework of a deal that will allow Theo Epstein to become the Cubs? president of baseball operations. Epstein has resigned from his post as Red Sox general manager and will join the Cubs? front office, effective immediately.
The Cubs will hold a press conference on Tuesday, the next off-day of the World Series, to introduce Epstein while Ben Cherington is expected to be announced as his replacement on the same day in Boston.
Compensation hasn?t been settled yet, but a joint statement from the clubs specifies they have ?reached an agreement regarding a process by which appropriate compensation will be determined.? With Epstein now a member of the Cubs? front office, he will presumably be involved in the negotiations. That?s not awkward at all. According to Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com, if the two sides are unable to reach a satisfactory agreement in the next few days, commissioner Bud Selig could step in as an arbitrator.
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Social TV: Survivor Winner Parvati Shallow: Social Media Got Me Around the World For Free (omg!)
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In CBS' web series Around the World for Free, Parvati Shallow circumnavigated the globe for 100 days without a single dollar to her name, and she has social media to thank for her (mostly) good fortune.
Around the World Productions brought the idea to CBS after the first season had aired in 2007, and the network felt that it was a perfect fit. "We thought this was such a uniquely interactive opportunity because it authentically involves an audience," says Michelle Lynch, director of original programming at CBS. ...
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Friday, October 21, 2011
Basque group ETA ends armed independence campaign
FILE - This video frame, seen in this March 22, 2006 file photo, which was released by the Basque separatist group ETA, shows three unidentified people with their faces covered, wearing Basque berets and seated at a table in front of an ETA flag with a Basque Country symbol in foreground. The Basque daily Gara says the armed group ETA has issued a statement Thursday Oct. 20, 2011 saying it is ending its armed campaign and calls on Spain and France to open talks. (AP Photo/Basque Television, File)
FILE - This video frame, seen in this March 22, 2006 file photo, which was released by the Basque separatist group ETA, shows three unidentified people with their faces covered, wearing Basque berets and seated at a table in front of an ETA flag with a Basque Country symbol in foreground. The Basque daily Gara says the armed group ETA has issued a statement Thursday Oct. 20, 2011 saying it is ending its armed campaign and calls on Spain and France to open talks. (AP Photo/Basque Television, File)
FILE - In this photo Sept 26, 2010 file photo released by the Basque newspaper Gara, an unidentified and masked ETA member is seen at a table in an undisclosed place. The Basque daily Gara says the armed group ETA has issued a statement Thursday Oct. 20, 2011 saying it is ending its armed campaign and calls on Spain and France to open talks. (AP Photo/Gara, File)
MADRID (AP) ? Basque militant group ETA called an end to a 43-year armed campaign for independence Thursday and now wants to open talks with Spain and France ? a groundbreaking move that could pave the way for ending Europe's last armed militancy.
The group made the announcement to Basque daily Gara, which it regularly uses as a mouthpiece. ETA declared had already declared a cease-fire, but up to now had not renounced armed struggle as a tool for achieving an independent Basque state ? a key demand by the Spanish government.
"ETA has decided the definitive cease of its armed activity," the group said in the statement. "ETA calls upon the Spanish and French governments to open a process of a direct dialogue with the aim of addressing the resolution of the consequences of the conflict."
The statement made no mention of what it intended to do with its weapons.
ETA has been seriously weakened in recent years by wave after wave of arrest of members and even five of its leaders. It has not killed anyone in Spain in two years, and many reports said it was down to as few as 50 members with the capacity to carry out attacks.
Some kind of announcement from ETA has been expected as part of what seemed to be a carefully choreographed process. It began a year ago when its political supporters renounced violence, ETA called a cease-fire and international figures like former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan this week attended a conference that called on ETA to lay down its weapons.
However, ETA in its statement made no mention of dissolving outright and unconditionally as the government has demanded, and asserted what it says is the right of the Basque people to decide their own future ? the status quo as part of Spain or independence.
Still, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero hailed the news as a victory for Spanish democracy. In a brief appearance before reporters, however, he made no mention of prospects for dialogue with ETA. Talks in 2006 went nowhere and ETA ended a cease-fire after just a few months.
Zapatero's Socialist party is expected to lose general elections scheduled for Nov. 20. So it would be up to the conservative Popular Party to decide how to proceed now.
The ETA statement said the talks with Spain and France ? the independent homeland the group has fought to create includes part of southwest France ? should address "the resolution of the consequences of the conflict." This language usually refers to the around 1,000 ETA prisoners held in Spanish and French jails and ETA weapons.
ETA has killed 829 people in bombings and shootings since the late 1960s. It is classified as a terrorist organization by Spain, the European Union and the U.S.
The announcement came just three days after several international figures, including Annan and Ireland's Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams, attended a conference on ETA in the Basque city of San Sebastian and called on the group to end the violence.
Adams welcomed ETA's statement Thursday.
"We called upon ETA to make a public declaration of the definitive cessation of all armed action and to request talks with the governments of Spain and France to address exclusively the consequences of the conflict," Adams said.
"I believe that their statement today meets that requirement and I would urge the governments of Spain and France to welcome it and agree to talks exclusively to deal with the consequences of the conflict," he said.
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Daniel Woolls and Alan Clendenning contributed to this report.
Associated Presskerry collins kerry collins jermichael finley amy schumer amy schumer diana nyad diana nyad
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