Israel to give Palestinians $100 million in withheld funds

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel will give Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's administration around $100 million in tax revenues that had been withheld in retaliation for his statehood bid in the United Nations, Israeli officials said on Wednesday.

They described the handover as a one-time deal, signaling rightist Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not formally scrapped sanctions that have hurt the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank and worried world powers.

But the decision follows surprise setbacks for Netanyahu in a national election this month that, while giving him enough of a lead to head the next Israeli government, also set the stage for more moderate statecraft by boosting centrist challengers whom he must now consider as coalition partners.

Under interim peace deals, Israel collects some $100 million a month in duties on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, money Abbas badly needs to pay public sector salaries. It began withholding the funds after Abbas, sidestepping stalled diplomacy, secured a Palestinian status upgrade at the United Nations in November.

Israel said the December levies would be used instead to start paying off $200 million the Palestinians owe the Israel Electric Corporation, and predicted at the time that the lien on PA funds would be in force until March at least.

The PA's economic troubles were raised this week in a meeting between Netanyahu and Tony Blair, peace envoy for the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia, an Israeli official said.

Following those talks, the official told Reuters on condition of anonymity, "we have agreed to transfer one month's payment, because of the difficult financial situation there.

"This is a one-time decision and there is no decision yet on what will happen next."

Another Israeli official said the handover would take place imminently, "perhaps even today".

Israel has previously frozen payments to the PA during times of heightened security and diplomatic tensions, provoking strong international criticism, such as when the U.N. cultural body UNESCO granted the Palestinians full membership in 2011.

Abbas's U.N. victory was a diplomatic setback for the United States and Israel, which were joined by only seven other countries in voting against upgrading the Palestinians' observer status to "non-member state", like the Vatican, from "entity".

Hours after the U.N. vote, Israel said it would authorize 3,000 new settler homes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and expedite planning work for thousands more in a geographically sensitive area close to Jerusalem. Critics say this plan would kill off Palestinian hopes of a viable state.

Netanyahu's current religious-nationalist government looks likely to be replaced with a coalition more accommodating of the Palestinians. The runners-up in the January 22 ballot, the centrist Yesh Atid and left-leaning Labour parties, both demand Israel try to revive peacemaking stalled for more than two years.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-palestinians-100-million-withheld-funds-064714214.html

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Tomorrow's life-saving medications may currently be living at the bottom of the sea

Jan. 29, 2013 ? OHSU researchers, in partnership with scientists from several other institutions, have published two new research papers that signal how the next class of powerful medications may currently reside at the bottom of the ocean. In both cases, the researchers were focused on ocean-based mollusks -- a category of animal that includes snails, clams and squid and their bacterial companions.

Sea life studies aid researchers in several ways, including the development of new medications and biofuels. Because many of these ocean animal species have existed in harmony with their bacteria for millions of years, these benign bacteria have devised molecules that can affect body function without side effects and therefore better fight disease.

To generate these discoveries, a research partnership called the Philippine Mollusk Symbiont International Cooperative Biodiversity Group was formed. As the name suggests, the group specifically focuses on mollusks, a large phylum of invertebrate animals, many of which live under the sea. Margo Haygood, Ph.D., an OHSU marine microbiologist, leads the group, with partners at the University of the Philippines, the University of Utah, The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia and Ocean Genome Legacy. Both of these newly published papers are the result of the efforts of this research group.

Here are brief summaries of the two studies:

Shipworms: The source of a new antibiotic

The paper focuses on a unique animal called a shipworm, which despite its name is not a worm. Shipworms are mollusks and are clam-like creatures that use their shells as drills and feed on wood by burrowing into the wood fibers. They are best known for affixing themselves to the sides of wooden ships. Over time, their wood feeding causes serious damage to the hull of those ships.

The research team initially focused on shipworms because the animals' creative use of bacteria to convert wood -- a poor food source lacking proteins or nitrogen -- into a suitable food source where the animal can both live and feed.

This research revealed that one form of bacteria utilized by shipworms secretes a powerful antibiotic, which may hold promise for combatting human diseases.

"The reason why this line of research is so critical is because antibiotic resistance is a serious threat to human health," said Margo Haygood, Ph.D., a member of the OHSU Institute of Environmental Health and a professor of science and engineering in the OHSU School of Medicine.

"Antibiotics have helped humans battle infectious diseases for over 70 years. However, the dangerous organisms these medications were designed to protect us against have adapted due to widespread use. Without a new class of improved antibiotics, older medications are becoming less and less effective and we need to locate new antibiotics to keep these diseases at bay. Bacteria that live in harmony with animals are a promising source. "

Cone snails: Another possible yet surprising source for new medicines

A team led by researchers from the University of Utah, and including OHSU and the University of the Philippines researchers, took part in a separate study of cone snails collected in the Philippines. Cone snails are also mollusks. There have been few previous studies to determine if bacteria associated with these snails might assist in drug development. This is because the snails have thick shells and they can also defend themselves through the use of toxic venoms. Because of the existence of these significant defensive measures, it was assumed that the bacteria they carry do not have to produce additional chemical defenses that might also translate into human medications. The latest research shows that this previous assumption is incorrect.

The research demonstrated how bacteria carried by cone snails produce a chemical that is neuroactive, meaning that it impacts the function of nerve cells, called neurons, in the brain. Such chemicals have promise for treatment of pain.

"Mollusks with external shells, like the cone snail, were previously overlooked in the search for new antibiotics and other medications," said, Eric Schmidt, Ph.D., a biochemist at the university of Utah and lead author of the article.

"This discovery tells us that these animals also produce compounds worth studying. It's hoped that these studies may also provide us with valuable knowledge that will help us combat disease."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Oregon Health & Science University.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal References:

1. S. I. Elshahawi, A. E. Trindade-Silva, A. Hanora, A. W. Han, M. S. Flores, V. Vizzoni, C. G. Schrago, C. A. Soares, G. P. Concepcion, D. L. Distel, E. W. Schmidt, M. G. Haygood. PNAS Plus: Boronated tartrolon antibiotic produced by symbiotic cellulose-degrading bacteria in shipworm gills. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013; 110 (4): E295 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1213892110
2. Zhenjian Lin, Joshua?P. Torres, Mary?Anne Ammon, Lenny Marett, Russell?W. Teichert, Christopher?A. Reilly, Jason?C. Kwan, Ronald?W. Hughen, Malem Flores, Ma.?Diarey Tianero, Olivier Peraud, James?E. Cox, Alan?R. Light, Aaron?Joseph?L. Villaraza, Margo?G. Haygood, Gisela?P. Concepcion, Baldomero?M. Olivera, Eric?W. Schmidt. A Bacterial Source for Mollusk Pyrone Polyketides. Chemistry & Biology, 2013; 20 (1): 73 DOI: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2012.10.019

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/cxOQn7lt-c8/130129130949.htm

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Hagel supports nuclear arms cuts, then elimination

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama, left, shakes hands with his choice for Defense Secretary, former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, after announcing Hagel's nomination in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama, left, shakes hands with his choice for Defense Secretary, former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, after announcing Hagel's nomination in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Chuck Hagel, the likely next secretary of defense, would be the first to enter the Pentagon as a public advocate for sharply reducing the number of U.S. nuclear weapons, possibly without equivalent cuts by Russia. He supports an international movement called Global Zero that favors eliminating all nuclear weapons.

That puts him outside the orthodoxy embraced by many of his fellow Republicans but inside a widening circle of national security thinkers ? including President Barack Obama ? who believe nuclear weapons are becoming more a liability than an asset, less relevant to 21st century security threats like terrorism.

"Sen. Hagel certainly would bring to office a more ambitious view on nuclear reductions than his predecessors," said Steven Pifer, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "While he would likely take a less dramatic position in office, it might not be a bad thing to have a secretary of defense question what nuclear deterrence requires today."

The customary stance of defense secretaries in the nuclear age has been that the weapons are a necessary evil, a required ingredient in American defense strategy that can be discarded only at the nation's peril.

Hagel, 66, takes a subtly different view -- one shared by Obama but opposed by those in Congress who believe disarmament is weakness and that an outsized American nuclear arsenal must be maintained indefinitely as a counterweight to the nuclear ambitions of anti-Western countries like North Korea and Iran.

Hagel argues for doing away with nuclear weapons entirely, but not immediately and not unilaterally.

In a letter to Obama two months after his former Senate colleague entered the White House in 2009, Hagel wrote that Global Zero was developing a step-by-step plan for achieving "the total elimination of all nuclear weapons," but with a "clear, realistic and pragmatic appreciation" for the difficulty of realizing that goal.

Dozens of prominent politicians, diplomats and retired military leaders signed the letter. One month later Obama spoke in Prague of "a world without nuclear weapons," while saying it might not happen in his lifetime. Obama declared that "as the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act. We cannot succeed in this endeavor alone, but we can lead it, we can start it."

Hagel, a Republican from Nebraska whose nomination has drawn heated criticism for his past statements on Israel, Iran and gays, is likely to also face questions on nuclear issues at his Senate confirmation hearing scheduled for Thursday. A Vietnam war veteran, he served in the Senate from 1997 to 2009.

The questions actually began last week at the confirmation hearing for John Kerry, Obama's nominee for secretary of state. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said he found Hagel's affiliation with Global Zero "very concerning," and he worried that Hagel's views appeared to make him "very different than previous defense leaders."

Kerry said he believes Hagel is a realist on the topic of nuclear arms reductions. But he also acknowledged that when he first heard about Global Zero's central vision ? the elimination of all nuclear weapons ? "I sort of scratched my head and I said, 'What? You know, how's that going to work?'" But then he came to see this as nothing more than a long-range goal ? "it's not something that could happen in today's world."

Hagel, indeed, is thinking long term.

"Getting to global zero will take years," Hagel wrote in the March 2009 letter to Obama on behalf of Global Zero. "So it is important that we set our course toward a world without nuclear weapons now to ensure that our children do not live under the nuclear shadow of the last century."

Hagel stands out in this regard in part because history -- first the demise of the Soviet Union, then the rise of terrorism as a global threat -- has changed how many people think about the deterrent value of nuclear weapons. For decades after the birth of the atomic age in the 1940s the chief concern was controlling the growth, and later managing the shrinkage, of nuclear arsenals without upsetting the balance of power.

Today the thinking by many national security experts has shifted as the threat of all-out nuclear war has faded and terrorist organizations with potentially global reach, like al-Qaida, are trying to get their hands on a nuclear device.

"Hagel's views reflect the growing bipartisan consensus in the U.S. security establishment that whatever benefits nuclear weapons may have had during the Cold War are now outweighed by the threat they present," said Joe Cirincione, president of the Ploughshares Fund, which supports efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons.

Hagel was co-author of a Global Zero report last May that proposed, as an interim step, reducing the U.S. arsenal to 900 weapons within a decade, with half deployed and the other half in reserve. That compares with a current U.S. stockpile of 5,000, of which 1,700 are deployed and capable of striking targets around the globe.

The report said these cuts could be taken unilaterally if not negotiated with the Russians or carried out through reciprocal U.S. and Russian presidential directives. It called the unilateral approach "less good" but feasible. At a later stage China and other nuclear weapons countries would be brought to the table for negotiations on further cuts on the path to global zero, it said.

The White House last year weighed options for substantial new cuts in the number of deployed weapons, possibly to about 1,000 or 1,100 and probably as part of a negotiation with Moscow. But a decision, following a lengthy review of U.S. nuclear targeting requirements, was put off prior to the November election. Officials and private experts close to the administration believe Obama will soon embrace those cuts.

Previous secretaries of defense have supported reducing the U.S. nuclear stockpile under certain circumstances and have paid lip service to the United States' commitment under the 1970 nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty to eventually eliminate its nuclear arms. But none has pushed these ideas like Hagel has.

"It's historic," said Bruce Blair, a co-founder of Global Zero and a former Air Force nuclear missile launch control officer.

"We will have, if he's confirmed, a secretary of defense who's committed to the sharp reduction of nuclear weapons, leading down a path toward their elimination," Blair said in an interview last week. "I don't think any sitting secretary of defense has ever come anywhere close to Hagel's advocacy for this cause."

Leon Panetta, the current defense secretary, has not taken a public stance on future nuclear reductions.

Some Pentagon chiefs, like William Perry, became public advocates for eliminating nuclear weapons after leaving office.

At least one apparently harbored doubts about the conventional wisdom while still serving.

In his 1995 memoir, Robert McNamara, who served as President John F. Kennedy's defense secretary, wrote that by the time he entered the Pentagon in 1961 he had privately concluded that nuclear arms served no useful purpose. But he could not say that publicly, he wrote, because it contradicted established U.S. policy.

___

Follow Robert Burns on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-01-29-Hagel-Nuclear%20Zero/id-b219bd68f3f64863b6c3df82788d62b3

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In parallel immigration push, bill focuses on high-skilled workers

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senators introduced a new proposal on Tuesday to make life easier for highly skilled immigrants and their employers to nourish America's high-technology industries as Congress begins the long process of tackling immigration reform.

A bipartisan bill, focused largely on highly educated foreign workers, was introduced in Congress a day after another group of senators unveiled a comprehensive plan for simplifying the U.S. immigration system and giving illegal immigrants a chance to become citizens.

Unlike Monday's plans, Tuesday's bill does not delve into the question of illegal immigration, but offers measures that would ease the legal process for U.S.-educated and other highly skilled foreigners, particularly in fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM).

The skilled-worker measures are widely supported by the U.S. technology sector, which has long argued that foreign-born talent is crucial to meeting its job demands and to spur innovation and competitiveness.

But the bill will be just one part of what is poised to be a long, uphill battle for immigration reform that President Barack Obama and members of Congress said they will make one of their top priorities in part because of the notable role played by Hispanics in re-electing Obama in the November 6 election.

Many lawmakers from both parties would prefer to pass a law that would tackle both the high-skilled worker concerns and the much-thornier issue of what to do with America's 11 million illegal immigrants.

The new legislation, known as the Immigration Innovation Act of 2013 or "I-Squared," proposes to nearly double the number of H-1B work visas allowed per year, make the cap flexible depending on employer demand and lift it entirely for foreigners with advanced degrees earned in the United States.

"We must be a country that makes stuff again, that invents things, that exports to the world. And to do that, we need the world's talent. That is what this bill is about," said Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat.

Klobuchar introduced the bill with Christopher Coons, a Delaware Democrat who serves with her on the Senate Judiciary Committee; Senator Orrin Hatch, Utah Republican and former Judiciary Committee chairman; and Senator Marco Rubio, a rising Republican star from Florida.

Scores of technology companies and groups - including Google, Intel and Hewlett-Packard - supported the bill, as tech business executives say they need more workers than local talent can satisfy and hope for more visas for foreign high-skilled labor.

"At a time when the U.S. economy needs it most, our immigration policies are stifling innovation," Laszlo Bock, Google's senior vice president of people operations, wrote on the company's blog on Tuesday. He called the bill "a common-sense solution that meets the needs of our high-tech economy without harming domestic employment."

The U.S. government now caps H-1B visas at 65,000 per year, a number routinely exhausted with just a few weeks worth of applications. The visas are particularly popular with workers from India.

The bill would raise the quota to 115,000 - and up to 300,000 depending on economic demands - and do away with the H-1B cap for U.S.-educated immigrants with advanced degrees.

The legislation also proposes changes to the legal process for student visas and green cards. For example, it would exempt immigrants with advanced STEM degrees from having to comply with green card visa quotas and suggests using some of the immigration fees to fund STEM education and training.

"I for one have no fear that our country is going to be overrun by PhDs. I for one have no fear that this country is going to be overrun by nuclear physicists and inventors and entrepreneurs," Rubio said in introducing the bill.

"We tell you, 'Come to America. We're going to let you go to our best schools, we're going to teach you everything we know and then we want you to go somewhere else'... That's not just nonsensical, it is just crazy."

(Additional reporting by Sarah McBride in San Francisco, Editing by Alistair Bell and Philip Barbara)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/parallel-immigration-push-bill-focuses-high-skilled-workers-211701881--sector.html

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Whitney Houston's mother has words for Bobby Brown

This Jan. 22, 2013 photo shows American gospel singer and author Cissy Houston posing for a portrait in New York. Houston, mother of the late singer Whitney Houston, is releasing a book, "Remembering Whitney," on Tuesday, Jan. 29. (Photo by Dan Hallman/Invision/AP)

This Jan. 22, 2013 photo shows American gospel singer and author Cissy Houston posing for a portrait in New York. Houston, mother of the late singer Whitney Houston, is releasing a book, "Remembering Whitney," on Tuesday, Jan. 29. (Photo by Dan Hallman/Invision/AP)

This Jan. 22, 2013 photo shows American gospel singer and author Cissy Houston posing for a portrait in New York. Houston, mother of the late singer Whitney Houston, is releasing a book, "Remembering Whitney," on Tuesday, Jan. 29. (Photo by Dan Hallman/Invision/AP)

This Jan. 22, 2013 photo shows American gospel singer and author Cissy Houston posing for a portrait in New York. Houston, mother of the late singer Whitney Houston, is releasing a book, "Remembering Whitney," on Tuesday, Jan. 29. (Photo by Dan Hallman/Invision/AP)

This Jan. 22, 2013 photo shows American gospel singer and author Cissy Houston posing for a portrait in New York. Houston, mother of the late singer Whitney Houston, is releasing a book, "Remembering Whitney," on Tuesday, Jan. 29. (Photo by Dan Hallman/Invision/AP)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Cissy Houston has a few words, and a few more, for Bobby Brown.

In "Remembering Whitney," the mother of the late Whitney Houston writes that from the start she had doubted whether Brown was right for her daughter. And she thinks that Whitney might not have ended up so "deep" into drugs had they not stayed together.

"I do believe her life would have turned out differently," Houston writes. "It would have been easier for her to get sober and stay sober. Instead she was with someone who, like her, wanted to party. To me, he never seemed to be a help to her in the way she needed."

"Remembering Whitney" came out Tuesday, two weeks short of the first anniversary of Houston's death. She drowned in a hotel bathtub in Beverly Hills, Calif., at age 48. Authorities said her death was complicated by cocaine use and heart disease.

During a recent telephone interview, Houston said she has no contact with Brown and didn't see any reason to, not even concerning her granddaughter, Bobbi Kristina. She reaffirmed her comments in the book that Whitney Houston would have been better off without him. "How would you like it if he had anything to do with your daughter?" she asked.

Houston said she wanted the book published so the world would not believe the worst about her daughter. Cissy Houston, herself an accomplished soul and gospel singer who has performed with Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin, describes Whitney as a transcendent talent and vivacious and generous person known affectionately by her childhood nickname, "Nippy." But she acknowledges in the book that her daughter could be "mean" and "difficult" and questions at times how well she knew her.

"In my darkest moments, I wonder whether Nippy loved me," she writes. "She always told me she did. But you know, she didn't call me much. She didn't come see me as much as I hoped she would."

But, "almost always," Whitney Houston was "the sweetest, most loving person in the room."

Brown is portrayed as childish and impulsive, hot tempered and jealous of his wife's success. Cissy Houston describes a 1997 incident when Whitney sustained a "deep cut" on her face while on a yacht with Brown in the Mediterranean. Whitney insisted it was an accident; Brown had slammed his hand on a table, breaking a plate. A piece of china flew up and hit Whitney, requiring surgery to cover any possible scar.

The injury was minor, the effects possibly fateful.

"She seemed sadder after that, like something had been taken away from her," Houston writes.

For years, Whitney's drug problems had been only a rumor to her mother, who writes that concerns expressed by record executive Clive Davis were kept from her by her daughter and others. But by 2005 she had seen the worst. Houston remembers a horrifying visit to the Atlanta home of Brown and Houston, where the walls and doors were spray-painted with "big glaring eyes and strange faces." Whitney's face had been cut out from a framed family picture, an image Cissy Houston found "beyond disturbing." The next time Houston came to the house, she was joined by two sheriff's deputies who helped her take Whitney to the hospital.

"She was so angry at me, cursing me and up and down," she writes. "Eventually, after a good long while, Nippy did stop being angry at me. She realized that I did what I did to protect her, and she later told people that I had saved her life."

Brown and Whitney Houston divorced in 2007, after 15 years of marriage. When she learned that her daughter was leaving Brown, Cissy Houston was "extremely relieved" and "thanking God so much I'm sure nobody else could get a prayer in to Him."

Houston has no doubt that if Whitney were alive she would still be singing and making records. Houston said during her interview that she has seen "Sparkle," a remake of the 1970s movie that came out last summer and featured Whitney as the mother of a singing group struggling with addiction. Although Cissy Houston doesn't like movies about "drugs and all that kind of stuff," she was impressed by "Sparkle."

"I thought she was great in it and all the kids were great," says Houston, who adds that the "whole movie was hard to get through."

The book, too, was painful and her grief continues. She writes that sometimes she hears a doorbell ring and thinks it's Whitney, or sees a vase in a different place and wonders if her daughter is around. Some nights, Cissy Houston wakes up crying, not sure at first where she is.

"But then I get up out of bed, wipe my eyes, wash my face, and lie back down to my sleep. Because that is all I can do," she writes. "I am so grateful to God for giving me the gift of 48 years with my daughter. And I accept that He knew when it was time to take her."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-28-People-Cissy%20Houston/id-de8cd3e914bb4cf2ba3270e3f14dd053

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Chinese firm wins bankrupt US car battery maker

3 hrs.

Reuters

China's largest auto parts maker won U.S. government approval to buy A123 Systems Inc, a bankrupt maker of electric car batteries that was funded with U.S. government money, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.?

A U.S. government committee on foreign investment approved the sale of the lithium-ion battery maker to Wanxiang Group, according to the source, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly.?

Some members of Congress and retired military leaders said the sale to Wanxiang would transfer sensitive technology to China and they asked the U.S. committee to block it.?

A123 filed for bankruptcy in October due to weaker-than-expected demand for hybrid vehicles and technical problems. The company had received a $249 million grant from the U.S. government to promote clean energy, although about half of that money as never used.?

The company was sold in December at an auction supervised by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware. Wanxiang's bid of about $257 million won against U.S. rival Johnson Controls Inc of Milwaukee.?

The money raised in the auction will be used to repay the battery maker's debts of about $376 million.?

Wanxiang tried to blunt criticism of the deal by excluding A123's defense contracts from its bid at the auction. Those were sold separately to Navitas Systems for $2.25 million.?

Chinese firms have been pouring cash into overseas investments, and with that money has come concerns around the globe that companies with ties to Beijing may not play by free-market rules.?

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, or CFIUS, which approved the sale to Wanxiang, recently rejected a bid to build wind farms in Oregon by Ralls Corp, owned by two executives of China's Sany Group. The committee has also blocked multiple deals by Huawei Technologies Co, a Chinese telecom equipment manufacturer.?

Wanxiang may have soothed the concerns of CFIUS members with its history of investing in the United States.?

The company generates about $1 billion in U.S. revenue by supplying parts to General Motors Co and Ford Motor Co . It has bought or invested in more than 20 U.S. companies, many of them which were in bankruptcy, according to a Congressional report.?

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/chinese-firm-wins-bankrupt-us-car-battery-maker-a123-1C8156867

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Deadly smoke, lone blocked exit: 230 die in Brazil

A woman cries over the coffin of a victim at a gymnasium where bodies were brought for identification in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 230 people as panicked partygoers gasped for breath in the smoke-filled air, stampeding toward a single exit partially blocked by those already dead. (AP Photo/Nabor Goulart)

A woman cries over the coffin of a victim at a gymnasium where bodies were brought for identification in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Flames raced through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 230 people as panicked partygoers gasped for breath in the smoke-filled air, stampeding toward a single exit partially blocked by those already dead. (AP Photo/Nabor Goulart)

A man carries an injured man, victim of a fire at the Kiss club in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, early Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. Firefighters say that the death toll from a fire that swept through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil has risen to 180. Officials say the fire broke out while a band was performing. At least 200 people have been injured. (AP Photo/Agencia RBS)

Relatives of victims react in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. A blaze raced through the crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, killing more than 200 people as the air filled with deadly smoke and panicked party-goers stampeded toward the exits, police and witnesses said. It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.(AP Photo/Evandro Sturm)

Relatives of victims react as they wait for news near the Kiss nightclub in Santa Maria city, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil, Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013. According to police more than 200 died in the devastating nightclub fire in southern Brazil. Officials say the fire broke out at the club while a band was performing. (AP Photo/Ronald Mendes-Agencia RBS)

Map locates Santa Maria, Brazil

SANTA MARIA, Brazil (AP) ? A fast-moving fire roared through a crowded nightclub in southern Brazil early Sunday, within seconds filling the space with flames and a thick, toxic smoke that killed more than 230 panicked partygoers who gasped for breath and fought in a stampede to escape.

It appeared to be the world's deadliest nightclub fire in more than a decade.

Firefighters responding to the blaze at first had trouble getting inside the Kiss nightclub because bodies partially blocked the club's entryway.

Witnesses said a flare or firework lit by band members started the blaze in Santa Maria, a university city of about 260,000 people. Officials at a news conference said the cause was still under investigation ? though police inspector Sandro Meinerz told the Agencia Estado news agency the band was to blame for a pyrotechnics show and that manslaughter charges could be filed.

Television images showed black smoke billowing out of the Kiss nightclub as shirtless young men who had attended a university party joined firefighters using axes and sledgehammers to pound at windows and hot-pink exterior walls to free those trapped inside.

Bodies of the dead and injured were strewn in the street and panicked screams filled the air as medics tried to help. There was little to be done; officials said most of those who died were suffocated by smoke within minutes.

Within hours a community gym was a horror scene, with body after body lined up on the floor, partially covered with black plastic as family members identified kin.

Outside the gym police held up personal objects ? a black purse, a blue high-heeled shoe ? as people seeking information on loved ones looked crowded around, hoping not to recognize anything being shown them.

Guido Pedroso Melo, commander of the city's fire department, told the O Globo newspaper that firefighters had a hard time getting inside the club because "there was a barrier of bodies blocking the entrance."

Teenagers sprinted from the scene after the fire began, desperately seeking help. Others carried injured and burned friends away in their arms. Many of the victims were under 20 years old, including some minors.

"There was so much smoke and fire, it was complete panic, and it took a long time for people to get out, there were so many dead," survivor Luana Santos Silva told the Globo TV network.

The fire spread so fast inside the packed club that firefighters and ambulances could do little to stop it, Silva said.

Another survivor, Michele Pereira, told the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper that she was near the stage when members of the band lit flares that started the conflagration.

"The band that was onstage began to use flares and, suddenly, they stopped the show and pointed them upward," she said. "At that point, the ceiling caught fire. It was really weak, but in a matter of seconds it spread."

Guitarist Rodrigo Martins told Radio Gaucha that the band, Gurizada Fandangueira, started playing at 2:15 a.m. "and we had played around five songs when I looked up and noticed the roof was burning"

"It might have happened because of the Sputnik, the machine we use to create a luminous effect with sparks. It's harmless, we never had any trouble with it.

"When the fire started, a guard passed us a fire extinguisher, the singer tried to use it but it wasn't working"

He confirmed that accordion player Danilo Jacques, 28, died, while the five other members made it out safely.

Police Maj. Cleberson Braida Bastianello said by telephone that the toll had risen to 233 with the death of a hospitalized victim. He said earlier that the death toll was likely made worse because the nightclub appeared to have just one exit through which patrons could exit.

Survivors said security guards briefly tried to block people from exiting the club. Brazilian bars routinely make patrons pay their entire tab at the end of the night before they are allowed to leave.

Officials earlier counted 232 bodies that had been brought for identification to a gymnasium in Santa Maria, which is located at the southern tip of Brazil, near the borders with Argentina and Uruguay.

Federal Health Minister Alexandre Padhilha told a news conference that most of the 117 people treated in hospitals had been poisoned by gases they breathed during the fire. Only a few suffered serious burns, he said.

Brazil President Dilma Rousseff arrived to visit the injured after cutting short her trip to a Latin American-European summit in Chile.

"It is a tragedy for all of us," Rousseff said.

Most of the dead apparently were asphyxiated, according to Dr. Paulo Afonso Beltrame, a professor at the medical school of the Federal University of Santa Maria who went to the city's Caridade Hospital to help victims.

Beltrame said he was told the club had been filled far beyond its capacity during a party for students at the university's agronomy department.

Survivors, police and firefighters gave the same account of a band member setting the ceiling's soundproofing ablaze, he said.

"Large amounts of toxic smoke quickly filled the room, and I would say that at least 90 percent of the victims died of asphyxiation," Beltrame told The Associated Press by telephone.

"The toxic smoke made people lose their sense of direction so they were unable to find their way to the exit. At least 50 bodies were found inside a bathroom. Apparently they confused the bathroom door with the exit door."

In the hospital, the doctor "saw desperate friends and relatives walking and running down the corridors looking for information," he said, calling it "one of the saddest scenes I have ever witnessed."

Rodrigo Moura, identified by the newspaper Diario de Santa Maria as a security guard at the club, said it was at its maximum capacity of between 1,000 and 2,000, and partygoers were pushing and shoving to escape.

Santa Maria Mayor Cezar Schirmer declared a 30-day mourning period, and Tarso Genro, the governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, said officials were investigating the cause of the disaster.

The blaze was the deadliest in Brazil since at least 1961, when a fire that swept through a circus killed 503 people in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro.

Sunday's fire also appeared to be the worst at a nightclub since December 2000, when a welding accident reportedly set off a fire at a club in Luoyang, China, killing 309.

In 2004, at least 194 people died in a fire at an overcrowded nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Seven members of a band were sentenced to prison for starting the flames.

A blaze at the Lame Horse nightclub in Perm, Russia, killed 152 people in December 2009 after an indoor fireworks display ignited a plastic ceiling decorated with branches.

Similar circumstances led to a 2003 nightclub fire that killed 100 people in the United States. Pyrotechnics used as a stage prop by the 1980s rock band Great White set ablaze cheap soundproofing foam on the walls and ceiling of a Rhode Island music venue.

The band performing in Santa Maria, Gurizada Fandangueira, plays a driving mixture of local Brazilian country music styles. Guitarist Martin told Radio Gaucha the musicians are already seeing hostile messages.

"People on the social networks are saying we have to pay for what happened," he said. "I'm afraid there could be retaliation".

___

Sibaja reported from Brasilia. Associated Press Writers Stan Lehman and Bradley Brooks contributed to this report from Sao Paulo.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-27-Brazil-Nightclub%20Fire/id-4788ede2f2774d4e8837521471c4e8ed

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Caterpillar sees uncertain 2013 after tough 4Q

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ? Caterpillar said on Monday that its 2013 profit could shrink if the world's economy doesn't pick up in the second half of the year, as mining companies and builders remain cautious about buying new gear.

The cloudy outlook for the year came as Caterpillar reported a fourth-quarter profit less than half as big as a year ago because of a deal in China that went bad and slower growth around most of the world.

Caterpillar Inc. is the largest maker of construction and mining equipment, so its performance rises and falls with the world's economy. It tries to predict where the economy is headed so it knows how many excavators, bulldozers, and mining trucks to build.

If recent economic improvements continue, this could be a record year for Caterpillar, its executives said. But if this year is a replay of the last two, where growth and confidence declined in the second half, "2013 could be a tough year," said Doug Oberhelman, chairman and CEO.

Caterpillar started 2012 expecting the U.S. economy to grow at least 3 percent but economists estimate annual growth was a little more than 2 percent. In April, the company was still forecasting 8.5 percent growth in China, but the world's second-largest economy expanded by 7.8 percent last year, its weakest annual performance since the 1990s.

Caterpillar dialed back production in the second half of 2012, which hurt fourth-quarter revenue and profits. Caterpillar and its dealers have both been trying to sell off inventory. Reduced production will continue at least through the first quarter, the company said.

For this year, Caterpillar expects revenue of $60 billion to $68 billion, with a profit of $7 to $9 per share. Analysts had been expecting a profit of $8.54 per share on revenue of $64.58 billion.

Caterpillar said there's a wide range in its outlook because of the high level of uncertainty in the world. It expects relatively weak growth in the U.S. economy. Growth in China will improve, but not back to the levels seen in 2010 or 2011, Caterpillar said. It expects Europe to continue to struggle.

It said first quarter revenue and profits will be "significantly lower" than the same period last year.

In the quarter ended Dec. 31, Caterpillar earned $697 million, or $1.04 per share, down from a profit of $1.55 billion, or $2.32 per share a year earlier.

The most recent quarter included a non-cash charge of 87 cents per share to write down the purchase of Zhengzhou Siwei.

Not counting the write-down and a $300 million tax benefit, Caterpillar would have earned $1.46 per share. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had been expecting a profit of $1.69 per share.

Revenue fell 7 percent to $16.08 billion as sales fell everywhere except Latin America.

Revenue from construction equipment fell 25 percent. But sales of mining gear ? now Caterpillar's single largest category by revenue ? grew 14 percent on improvements in all regions except North America, where coal mining is in decline.

Caterpillar's $653 million purchase of Siwei in June gave it a new business ? roofing supports for mines ? in China, the world's largest coal producer.

But on Jan. 18, Caterpillar said it had found "deliberate, multi-year, coordinated accounting misconduct" in the accounting at Siwei, and said it will write down its investment in the company by $580 million. It also said it dismissed several senior managers at the company.

Oberhelman said on a conference call that new Caterpillar managers tried to reconcile Siwei's inventory with what was on the books. They found a significant discrepancy, he said, prompting a deeper investigation.

"What we discovered was deliberate, multiyear, coordinated accounting misconduct at Siwei," he said. "It was executed by several senior managers at Siwei for the purpose of inflating sales, understating costs, and over-reporting profit, and it included fabricated documentation designed to cover their tracks."

He said Caterpillar is "considering all options to recover our losses and hold those responsible accountable for their wrongdoing." He said the company wouldn't comment further on "pending or contemplated litigation."

Asked why the physical inventory at Siwei wasn't checked before the deal closed, Caterpillar Chief Financial Officer Brad Halverson said in an interview that such a check wouldn't normally be done as part of the process of evaluating a company. "We did our normal due diligence process," he said.

For all of 2012, the company's profits rose 15 percent to $5.68 billion, or $8.48 per share, up from $4.93 billion, or $7.40 per share, in 2011. Revenue rose 10 percent to $65.88 billion, from $60.14 billion.

Shares of the Peoria, Ill.-based company rose $1.40 to $96.98 in afternoon trading.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-01-28-US-Earns-Caterpillar/id-611513bc3dba459ba8a85421a11b2efa

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Iran says it successfully sent a monkey into space

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? A gray-tufted monkey strapped in a pod resembling an infant's car seat rode an Iranian rocket into space and returned safely, officials said Monday in what was described as a step toward Tehran's goal of a manned space flight.

The mission also touched on concerns that advances in Iran's rocket expertise could be channeled into military use for long-range weapons that might one day carry nuclear warheads. Iran says it does not seek atomic weapons.

Launching a live animal into space ? as the U.S. and the Soviet Union did more than a half-century ago in the infancy of their programs ? may boost a country's stature. But John Logsden, a space policy professor emeritus at George Washington University, said Iran's achievement should draw no concern.

"A slight monkey on a suborbital flight is nothing to get too excited about," he said. "They already had the capability to launch warheads in their region."

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the U.S. had no way to confirm the monkey's voyage, but that it was concerned by the reports because "any space launch vehicle capable of placing an object in orbit is directly relevant to the development of long-range ballistic missiles."

The U.N. Security Council has expressly forbidden Iran from such ballistic missile activity, Nuland added.

In June 2010, the Security Council banned Iran from pursuing "any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons."

With its ambitious aerospace program, Iran has said it wants to become a technological leader for the Islamic world.

It's not the first time Iran has announced it had rocketed a live creature out of the Earth's atmosphere. The country sent a mouse, a turtle and some worms into space in 2010, officials said.

But the purported successful voyage of the small monkey, shown wearing a protective vest, put Iran among just a handful of nations that have sent a primate into space in a mission seen as a precursor of human spaceflight. No name was given for the monkey.

Earlier this month, the director of Iran's space agency, Hamid Fazeli, said Iran wanted to launch its first manned space mission in as soon as five years ? a goal that stretches back to the shah's fascination with NASA years before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

"Iran is on its way to send a man into space," said Iran's Defense Minister Gen. Ahmad Vahidi in comments posted on the ministry's website.

He added that the capsule "returned to Earth safely at the expected speed, together with the monkey inside," without giving further details.

According to state TV, the rocket dubbed "Pishgam," or "Pioneer" in Farsi, reached a height of 120 kilometers (72 miles), pushing into the threshold of space.

Iran's state TV broadcast its first video pictures showing Iranian scientists fixing the seated monkey into the rocket before the launch. It did not give any details on the timing or location of the launch.

Still images also showed the monkey wearing a type of molded body protection and being strapped tightly into a red plastic seat. The monkey was shown immobilized with straps and his face poked through a purple shield that covered his head and upper body.

Fazel said the monkey parachuted safely with the remaining last stage of the rocket. The TV also showed experts walking to the site in the middle of a desert where the monkey landed.

Fazel told the state TV that Iran will launch a bigger rocket together with a larger animal to obtain greater safety assurances before sending a man into space.

For Iran, its aerospace program is a source of national pride at a time of slumping economic fortunes from Western sanctions. It's also one of the pillars of Iran's aspirations to be seen as the technological hub for Islamic and developing countries.

Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and others repeatedly describe scientific progress ? including Iran's uranium enrichment labs ? as a patriotic duty in response to Western economic and diplomatic pressures.

Iran's rocket technology alarms the West as giving it intercontinental reach for a possible arsenal. Already, conventional Iranian missiles are capable of reaching Israel and U.S. military bases in the Persian Gulf.

Iran insists it only seeks nuclear reactors for energy and medical applications. But authorities also say there can be no retreat from homegrown technological development in all fields ? from peaceful nuclear research to military surveillance drones.

Tehran has announced several successful launches of satellites, dating back to 2005 in a joint project with Russia.

In November, the head of Iran's powerful parliamentary committee on security and foreign policy, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, warned that "no power can prevent Iran's progress in scientific and nuclear science fields."

Similar statements were made last year when Iran announced plans for a new space center.

Few details have emerged on the new facility, but Iran already has a major satellite launch complex near Semnan, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Tehran. A satellite monitoring facility is located outside Mahdasht, about 70 kilometers (40 miles) west of the Iranian capital.

Iran says it wants to put its own satellites into orbit to monitor natural disasters in the earthquake-prone nation, improve telecommunications and expand military surveillance in the region.

The mission involving the monkey drew historical links to the earliest years of the space race in the 1950s when both the U.S. and the Soviet Union tested rockets with animals on board, including American capsules carrying monkeys and Moscow's holding dogs. Many of the animals on the early flights perished because of equipment failure or technology unable to cope with re-entry from sub-orbit.

Later in the 1960s, the U.S. and Soviets sent animals into orbit for further biological tests on space flight and other nations, including France and China, sent animals on rocket flights.

"They're following the path that we followed more than half a century ago," Logsdon said, adding that Iran is probably ahead of India in terms of space ability, but behind its arch foe Israel.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said it was "appalled" by photos of what it described as a "visibly terrified monkey crudely strapped into a restraint device."

It said it had urged Iran in 2011 not to send a primate into space.

"Iran is repeating the wasteful and cruel mistakes that marked the darkest days of the space race," PETA said in a statement.

____

Science Writer Seth Borenstein and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-says-successfully-sent-monkey-space-205818340.html

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What Alfred Russel Wallace Really Thought About Darwin

The metadata for some random entry I clicked on reads like:

LETTER (WCP1.1)

A typical letter handwritten by author in English.

Held by: Natural History Museum
Finding number: NHM WP1/1/1
Copyright owner: Copyright of the A. R. Wallace Literary Estate
Record scrutiny: 01/12/2011 - Catchpole, Caroline;

I'm curious about the copyright field. Aren't the letters supposed to be public domain? Since Wallaced died in 1913, which is well past the 50-75 years after death clause of most countries' copyright regimes, shouldn't the copyright on the letters have lapsed already?

IANAL but I'm assuming that the letters have already been "published" by virtue of their having been snail-mailed and read by a second party. It's not as if they're some long-lost manuscript that's been hidden in some author's dusty drawer, which can arguably be considered as unpublished.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/fg7QoNwcrq0/story01.htm

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Obama lauds Clinton as she prepares to leave (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/279905419?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Residential and Business Security | Save The Knoll

There are few things as important as the health and safety of your family. You need to make sure that your spouse, children, pets, and any other loved ones are kept safe at all times. To take the necessary steps to make consistent safety a reality, purchase professional security and surveillance equipment to monitor and protect your home. Appropriate security can be accomplished by a variety of different security materials. Buy a complete security system to inform you of theft, fire, flooding, and other emergencies at any time. Get live video feeds on your laptop, tablet, or smartphone with surveillance cameras. Thieves are becoming more skilled every day and it is important to take all the necessary precautions to make sure your home isn?t robbed. Our business wants to provide constant safety for everyone; let us show you how to make this a reality. Fire Protection Phoenix

This entry was posted in Home. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://savetheknoll.org/residential-and-business-security/

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S&P closes above 1,500 for 1st time since 2007

Trader Peter Tuchman, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street ahead of what is expected to be more upbeat data on housing from the government. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Peter Tuchman, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street ahead of what is expected to be more upbeat data on housing from the government. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Michael Zicchinolfi, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street ahead of what is expected to be more upbeat data on housing from the government. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street ahead of what is expected to be more upbeat data on housing from the government. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Passing another milestone on the nation's long journey back from the Great Recession, the Standard and Poor's 500 index closed above 1,500 for the first time in more than five years Friday after a wave of good earnings reports.

It took scores of incremental gains, several stalled rallies and a few sickening falls, but the widely watched S&P, one of the broadest measures of the American stock market, finished at 1,502.96, up 8.14 points. The index had not closed above 1,500 since December 2007, the start of the worst economic downturn since the 1930s.

The news came on top of other hopeful signs that the economy is slowly recovering. Housing is rebounding. Companies are hiring again, albeit slowly, and their earnings, a big driver of stock prices, are at record levels.

"The bottom line is that corporate America is doing exceptionally well," said Joe Tanious, a global market strategist at JPMorgan.

The breakthrough happened on an eighth straight daily gain for stocks, itself a remarkable performance. That is the longest winning streak since November 2004.

Stocks have surged this month, with the S&P advancing 5.4 percent. It jumped at the start of the year when lawmakers reached a last-minute deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff." Signs that Europe has avoided financial collapse also helped.

Stocks fell sharply during the Great Recession. By March 2009, the S&P was 57 percent below its October 2007 peak, a harrowing plunge that scarred a generation of small investors and, some Wall Street experts believe, will keep them away from stocks for years to come.

Since that fall, the market has climbed sharply, though it has endured several big declines. In May 2010, a trading glitch set off a so-called flash crash that sent stocks plummeting. And in August 2011, stocks gyrated like a roller coaster for several days as fears mounted that the U.S. would default on its debts.

On Friday, stocks were helped by earnings from two big companies. Procter & Gamble, the world's largest consumer products maker, rose $2.83 to $73.25 after reporting that its quarterly income more than doubled. P&G also raised its profit forecast for its full fiscal year. Starbucks climbed $2.24 to $56.81 after reporting a 13 percent increase in profits.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 13,895.98, up 70.65 points. The Dow is up 6 percent on the year.

The Nasdaq composite gained 19.33 points to 3,149.71.

The Dow is now just 268 points below its record high of 14,165, reached on Oct. 9, 2007, two month before the recession began. The Dow has more than doubled since its recession low of 6,547 on March 9, 2009.

The S&P 500 is 62 points shy of its record of 1,565, reached on the same day the Dow hit its peak. The S&P has also more than doubled from its low of 676, which happened on the same day the Dow bottomed out in 2009.

JPMorgan's Tanious expects stocks to go even higher. He says corporate earnings should grow at about 5 percent over the next year or two, and stock valuations will rise. Currently, the S&P 500 is trading at an average price-to-earnings ratio of 14, below an average of 15.1 for the last decade, according to FactSet data.

On Friday, Apple continued to decline, allowing Exxon Mobil to once again surpass the electronics giant as the world's most valuable publicly traded company. Apple fell 2.4 percent to $439.88, following a 12 percent drop on Thursday, the biggest one-day percentage decline for the company since 2008, after Apple forecast slower sales. The stock is now 37 percent below the record high of $702.10 it reached Sept. 19.

Apple first surpassed Exxon in market value in the summer of 2011, grabbing a title Exxon had held since 2005. The two traded places through that fall, until Apple surpassed Exxon in early 2012.

Not everyone on Wall Street thought the S&P milestone was worth celebrating. Some noted the stock market is more a reflection of how traders feel than a reflection of underlying fundamentals.

"It's not a landmark that we really follow or that we really care about," said Derrick Irwin, portfolio manager for Wells Fargo Advantage Funds. "Focusing on the benchmarks can end up shooting you in the foot, as we've seen."

Some of the rise may also be due to investing stock market momentum. A rule of thumb is that when a stock price or an overall index gets tantalizingly close to a milestone, as the S&P has been for days now, it's almost certain to cross that milestone, at least temporarily.

"Sure, it's a good thing," said Christian Bertelsen, chief investment officer of Global Financial Private Capital in Sarasota, Fla. "But I wouldn't read too much into it."

Still, Deutsche Bank analysts raised their year-end target for the index to 1,600 from 1,575.

Companies will be able to maintain their earnings even if lawmakers in Washington decide to implement wide-ranging spending cuts to narrow the budget deficit, the analysts said in a note sent to clients late Thursday.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, climbed 11 basis points to 1.95 percent.

Among other stocks making big moves.

? Halliburton gained $1.91 to $39.72 after posting a loss that was smaller than analysts had expected. The oilfield-services company said fourth-quarter profits declined 26 percent to $669 million on increasing pricing pressure in the North American market and one-time charges from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Wall Street had expected worse.

? Hasbro fell $1.14 to $37.31 after the toy maker said its fourth-quarter revenue failed to meet expectations because of poor demand over the holidays. The company plans to cut about 10 percent of its workforce and consolidate facilities to cut expenses.

? Green Mountain Coffee Roasters rose $2.53 to $46.31 after an analyst noted that sales of a competing coffee brewer introduced by Starbucks were getting off to a weak start.

__

AP Business Writer Christina Rexrode contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-01-25-Wall%20Street/id-679aaf00b9074b199b332f1723a1fb06

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CD Burning Problems ? A Quick and Easy Guide for Software ...

When it comes to problems with CD Burners things can get ugly and users most of the time gives up hope of ever completing a successful CD Burning session. PC technology can be confusing as almost anything could cause a CD Burning problem such as software conflicts, faulty hardware and bad media brand of CD-R or CD-RW discs.

So where does one start when it comes to troubleshooting a CD Burning problem?

That?s easy, start looking at the hardware, the CD Burner itself and the motherboard ? this way you are making sure the key piece of the CD Burning process is actually working.

Apply the most recent firmware for the CD-Burner as this will fix any bugs that your model of drive may have, make sure to check with the CD Burner manufacture before doing so.

Make sure the CD Burner drive is recognized in the BIOS and has the manufacture model listed. Install the latest BIOS update for the PC but again make sure to check with the OEM of the PC before installing.

Software conflicts can be caused by almost anything installed onto the Operating System such as anti-virus software, screen savers, drivers among other things. It?s important the System is free of any virus?s or spy ware software as these

can cause major problems for the CD Burning session.

It?s advisable to troubleshoot any software problems in ?Safe Mode? of the operating system as this makes no programs have loaded during start-up.

Uninstall any programs that are no longer used making sure to free up more resources.Do the usual house-keep on your PC by deleting temp internet files, cookies etc and also defrag the system. It?s important for the CD Burning process that the system has the resources to support the session.

People seem to get hung up on what would be the best brand of CD-R or CD-RW disc. This could have a conflicting answer but from experience it all depends on the model of your CD Burner. Some drives take well to using TDK when others don?t, the same with Kodak and even unbranded discs. The best advice would be to purchase a number of different branded discs and find which one works best for your drive.

If problems still do occur during the CD Burning process then contacting technical support maybe required. You could also go in-depth by using valuable resources on-line that provide amazing technical guide.

Gavin Duncan is the editor and publisher of http://www.cd-burner-help.com , a site to help people facing problems with Burning CD?s.

Source: http://www.mwstm.com/2013/01/26/CD-Burning-Problems-A-Quick-and-Easy-Guide-for-Software-Hardware-Conflicts/

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HEALTH and FITNESS | Carpaltunnelnomore, Hand And Wrist Pain

Carpaltunnelnomore, Hand And Wrist Pain Solutions
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This entry was posted in Running Program and tagged Carpaltunnelnomore, Hand, Pain, Solutions, Wrist. Bookmark the permalink.

Source: http://kashwealthsystem.com/health/2013/01/22/carpaltunnelnomore-hand-and-wrist-pain-solutions/

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