Google Science Fair 2013 kicks off, uses Hangouts to help inventive teens (video)

The Google Science Fair began in 2011 as a way to spur a love of science among teens and, just possibly, spark a few breakthroughs for science as a whole. It's back for a third year, and there's big improvements to both the competition's technology and rewards. The 2013 Fair will have Google+ Hangouts on Air for help and motivation, as well as to introduce us to the 15 finalists during the vote for a public-chosen award in August. The early talks will include Segway pioneer Dean Kamen and sea explorer Fabien Cousteau, among others. Finalists once again get prizes from Google itself, Lego, National Geographic and Scientific American, but there's extra bonuses this year for the grand prize winner: along with the $50,000 scholarship, Galapagos Islands trip and other individual gifts, the winner's school will get both $10,000 and a Hangout session with CERN. Young inventors have until the end of April 30th to submit their projects, and we'll learn about the very cream of the crop on September 23rd.

Filed under: Science, Internet, Google

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Via: Google Official Blog

Source: Google Science Fair

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/30/google-science-fair-2013-kicks-off/

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Call for governor to cut cash rate, fight for jobs

Russel Norman

Calls yesterday by the Green Party for Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler to cut the official cash rate from the current 2.5% to protect New Zealand jobs are not likely to be heeded.

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said yesterday that with inflation running below expectations and the New Zealand dollar trading at near record levels, Mr Wheeler should act to protect jobs in the export and manufacturing sectors by cutting the OCR.

''The governor cannot continue to sit on his hands while the runaway dollar leads to job losses and reduces the competitiveness of our export sector.

''A lower OCR is likely to take pressure off our overvalued exchange rate, helping exporters and manufacturers who compete with imports.''

A decision to leave the OCR unchanged today was a conscious decision that would wreck a vital part of the New Zealand economy, Dr Norman said. ''It's time for Graeme Wheeler to start fighting for New Zealand's productive economy,'' he said.

BNZ senior economist Craig Ebert said there were some broad factors counselling a softer OCR policy but he still expected Mr Wheeler to ''play things down the middle'' and keep the OCR at 2.5%.

Among the signs that were pointing to a softer policy were low inflation and the high New Zealand dollar.

Annual inflation was likely to remain subdued over the first half of this year, promising to further dampen inflation expectations. And as it stood, the New Zealand trade-weighted index - the basket of currencies of New Zealand's trading partners - was about 3% higher than the December Monetary Policy Statement assumed for the first quarter, he said.

Rural production concerns were starting to arise for some North Island areas, given the recent hot and dry weather.

''We could feel all the more of a drag considering the superb year-to-June growing season.''

There were also signs of a cooling in the Australian economy, Mr Ebert said.

But there were factors pointing for less OCR stimulus, including the strengthening of the New Zealand growth indicators. Some of those suggested economic growth (GDP) of 4% this year, well above current growth. There was accumulating evidence of a rebound in construction.

''While this is, understandably, centred on the Canterbury rebuild, there are signs it is drawing on resources from other parts of the country.''

Other factors included a housing market heating up, a pick-up in credit and immigration turning positive.

In theory, there were still big things to keep the Reserve Bank cautious. But in practice, there were emerging trends to broach the subject of a higher New Zealand OCR.

''We don't envy the Reserve Bank's task in weighing it all up.''

?

Source: http://www.odt.co.nz/news/business/244167/call-governor-cut-cash-rate-fight-jobs

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Putin eyes trip to Antarctica, shuns elder image

The Russian president has insisted on a full slate of his traditional macho stunts this year, including scuba diving and possibly a trip to the way down under.

By Fred Weir,?Correspondent / January 29, 2013

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a meeting on economic issues in the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Friday. The Russian president eyes a possible trip to Antarctica.

Mikhail Klimentyev/Presidential Press Service/RIA-Novosti/AP

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is rejecting the advice of some of his PR specialists to dial back?his trademark action-hero persona?and instead cultivate the image of a "wise patriarch,"?according to the pro-government Moscow daily Izvestia.

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President Putin, who's now over 60, has insisted on a full slate of his traditional macho stunts this year, including scuba diving, hockey playing, actions to protect endangered animal species, and a possible visit to a science station in Antarctica, Izvestia says.

"Vladimir Putin will continue his active hobbies. Maybe he will go scuba diving in the summer. He continues the fight to preserve endangered species," the paper quotes Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, as saying.

"As for a more 'patriarchal' style? Well, he has his own style, and that's his personal choice," he added.

Putin has been plagued with rumors of ill-health ever since he was seen limping?at last September's APEC summit?in Vladivostok. The Kremlin reacted indignantly to journalists' questions about his condition ??which only seems to have inflamed the rumor-mill ??and at some point Mr. Peskov conceded that the president was suffering from back pains.

Some pollsters argue that a recent dip in Putin's public approval rating, to about 62 percent from his usual 70 percent or so, might have been due to the uncertainties about his health.

"Putin's rating is down a bit, but it's a small fluctuation and doesn't spell a stable trend," says Alexei Grazhdankin, deputy director of the independent Levada Center in Moscow.

"These fluctuations occur for various reasons, and we attribute the latest dip to rumors about Putin's health. It's logical, because his image has always been based on his robust health and capacity for extreme actions.... I think he will repeat such actions because they confirm his own view that he controls his health much as he controls the country," Mr. Grazhdankin says.

Until recently, Putin had been regularly practicing at nights on a Moscow ice rink with Russian hockey pros ??and occasionally with journalists???in preparation for what some Moscow sources whisper might be an exhibition game Putin was hoping to hold with other world leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Past stunts

Last September Putin took to the skies in a motorized hang glider?to guide a group of endangered Siberian cranes onto their correct migratory flight path.

At other times he has shot a Siberian tiger with a tranquilizer gun, harpooned a grey whale with a crossbow,?and tagged a captured polar bear on an Arctic ice flow (all in the interest of science).

According to Izvestia,?Putin accepted an invitation from Chilean President Sebastian Pinera during a meeting in the Kremlin?last September to visit Chilean and Russian science bases in Antarctica sometime early this year.

Peskov told the newspaper that the date has yet to be decided, "but since Putin is occupied with ecological issues, he will work with this question."

Some professional spin doctors argue that Putin would be wise to go with the flow of advancing age and cultivate a different, more realistic image for himself.?

"A good PR specialist should not concoct beautiful lies, but find some merit in the client to focus on, tell people about, to show him in the best possible light," says Stanislav Radkevich, director of PR-3000, a Moscow think tank.

"In Putin's case, it should be connected with positive changes in the country that he has championed.... He needs to develop the image of a wise reformer, a competent leader, who is thinking about the fate of the country," he adds.

Elder image? Nyet.

But other experts argue that Putin will never accept the image of an aging, sedentary leader.

"At the beginning of his new term there was a lot of talk about how Putin might now be positioned [in the media], because of his age, as a wise man sitting in his study and handing down advice," says Leonid Polyakov, a political scientist with the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

"Then Putin had a spinal trauma during a training session, and his spokesman confirmed that. His response to that appears to be that he is definitely not going to become the old man in the Kremlin....? I'm absolutely sure we're going to see more of Putin on horseback, jumping by parachute, taming tigers, and so on," he says.

"The explanation is simple. He just likes it. Sport is a way of life, Putin's still in good shape, and he simply can't stop."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/DWUnvDsv04Y/Putin-eyes-trip-to-Antarctica-shuns-elder-image

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Super Bowl coaches bristle at Obama's comments

NEW ORLEANS (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's comments that he would "think long and hard" before letting a son play American football were shrugged off by Super Bowl coaches on Monday but there was some agreement from players that the game needed to evolve.

Obama's stance came in an interview with the New Republic, published on Sunday, where he was asked how he squares his love of the game with rising awareness of the impact of repeated head injuries on football players.

"I'm a big football fan, but I have to tell you if I had a son, I'd have to think long and hard before I let him play football," said Obama.

"And I think that those of us who love the sport are going to have to wrestle with the fact that it will probably change gradually to try to reduce some of the violence," he said.

San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh was dismissive of Obama's comments.

"Well I have a four-month old, almost five-month old son, Jack Harbaugh, and if President Obama feels that way then there will be a little bit less competition for Jack Harbaugh when he gets older," he told reporters.

Brother John Harbaugh, coach of the Baltimore Ravens, the other team in Sunday's Super Bowl, said he didn't agree with Obama and stressed the game had much to offer.

"Football is a great game ... It's challenging, it's tough, it's hard. There is no game like football. It's the type of sport that brings out the best in you. It kind of shows who you are.

"I think it's a huge part of our educational system in this country. And it's going to be around for a long time," he said.

The 49ers' outside linebacker Aldon Smith said players were well aware of the risks involved.

"I think the game has been like it always has. It's a physical game. Everybody plays hard. Guys get hit sometimes and that's what we all know coming into the game.

"We all signed up for it. It's not like we signed up and thought we were going to play tennis," he said.

Concerns over the risk of brain injury from repeated concussions suffered by players in the NFL are growing with hundreds of former players involved in legal action against the league.

The NFL, America's most popular television sport and a $9 billion a year industry, has introduced tougher rules and regulations regarding the treatment of concussion.

Ravens center Matt Birk said he understood Obama's concerns and felt the game was beginning to change.

"I have three sons and I think anyone who is a parent can relate to that. Certainly it is a dangerous game and we're finding out more and more, every day, the long-term effects that this game can have.

"I think it's a joint effort with the (NFL) commissioner, with coaches, with players, with everybody, everybody that wants to watch and make this game as safe as it can be. I think we're making strides in that," he said.

San Francisco cornerback Tarell Brown agreed.

"It's definitely a dangerous sport, but at the end of the day the league is doing a great job of putting in place things to help players with safety," he said.

"I can understand where President Obama is coming from ... but at the same time the league is doing a great job of preventing a lot of those things."

(Editing by Ian Ransom)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/super-bowl-coaches-bristle-obamas-comments-031036722--nfl.html

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Arrests along US borders up in last year

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A year after Border Patrol apprehensions of illegal border crossers plunged to the lowest levels in nearly 40 years agents have seen a slight increase in arrests, according to Border Patrol arrest data obtained by The Associated Press.

In the budget year that ended in September, Border Patrol agents arrested 356,873 would-be border crossers along the Mexican border. In fiscal year 2011, agents along the Mexican border made 327,577 arrests.

According to the arrest statistics, agents in three Border Patrol sectors in Texas and the Yuma, Ariz., sector all made more arrests in the last year. Arrests in other sectors were down compared to a year ago.

Customs and Border Protection said in a statement that apprehensions remain at "historic lows" and pointed to continued decreases in arrests in California, New Mexico and most of Arizona as evidence that fewer people are crossing the border illegally.

In the Rio Grande Valley, illegal border crossers from countries other than Mexico made up the majority of the increase in arrests, the Border Patrol has said previously. Most of those people made their way to the border from Central American countries including Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

That portion of the Texas-Mexico border is the shortest distance from Central America.

The numbers of Guatemalans passing through the area increased so much recently that the country opened a consulate in McAllen, Texas. Guatemala's consul there, Alba Caceres, said that Honduras or El Salvador might share their office space this year.

Nationwide, arrests by the Border Patrol increased by about 7 percent from 340,252 in fiscal 2011 to 364,768 last year. Despite the increases, arrests of illegal border crossers remain at the lowest point since 1971.

Associated Press writer Christopher Sherman contributed to this report from McAllen, Texas.

___

Follow Alicia A. Caldwell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/acaldwellap

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-28-Border%20Arrests/id-2d8a0b92426e4270a73102b584278f53

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Money Problems? Learn More About Personal Bankruptcy | Finance ...

It can be hard to file bankruptcy. It can seem like your financial options are limited. Your future lending requirements will not be permanently hindered by bankruptcy, read on to find out why.

If you are facing a looming tax debt, don?t think that bankruptcy can be your savior. Some filers pay their taxes due with a credit card and then file for bankruptcy. These filers think they?ll never have to actually pay that money back as it is now part of the credit card debt. Remember that even if you use a credit card to pay for your taxes while you file for bankruptcy, you are still going to owe the amount due.

A great tip to implement before filing a bankruptcy claim is to seriously take some personal inventory. What you?re looking for are the bad decisions that led to this particular point in time. Unexpected medical bills is one thing, but blowing money on shopping is another. By understanding the moves you made that brought you to this point, you can begin to correct them. You can begin to implement austerity measures in your life so that you can ultimately being living a more frugal, fiscally-responsible lifestyle.

Write down every debt you have. The list will be a fundamental element of your bankruptcy petition, and therefore it is important not to omit anything. Double check all of your records so that you do not overlook anything. Take your time during this process; don?t rush and make sure all of your figures are correct.

Do what you can to keep your home. Bankruptcy doesn?t always mean you?ll lose your home. Depending on certain conditions, you may very well end up being able to keep your home. Otherwise, look into the homestead exemption which may allow you to stay in your home if you meet financial threshold requirements.

Bankruptcy Process

Joining an online community with people who are also going through the bankruptcy process can be a great way to feel better. The bankruptcy process can be stressful; it can often leave you feeling out of place in the company of your friends. You may share your struggle online and even others who?ve already been through it for advice on coping with the challenges.

It is essential when going through bankruptcy that all of your income and assets are reported openly and honestly. Not hiding any assets or income is essential for avoiding possible penalties and your ability to re-file at some point in the future.

Prior to choosing a bankruptcy attorney, seek a free consultation with at least three attorneys. Always ensure that the person you meet with is a real lawyer, not a legal assistant or paralegal. These people can?t give legal advice. Look for a lawyer who you can relate to.

You should never feel shame for needing to file for bankruptcy. Feelings of low self-worth, shame and guilt are common for those who have come to the point where bankruptcy is their only option. These feelings can cause you to make rash decisions and cause psychological problems. Keep a positive state of mind to deal with your tough financial situation.

When people owe more than what can pay, they have the option of filing for bankruptcy. If this is the case for you, you should begin to investigate the legislation in your state. Each state has their own bankruptcy laws. Your house is safe in certain states; however, in other states, it isn?t. Know what the laws are in your state before filing.

Filing for personal bankruptcy is nothing to be ashamed of. It is common for people to suffer from depression and feelings of failure if they end up needing to file for bankruptcy. It is best to view bankruptcy as a new beginning to your financial life, rather than a failure.

Don?t just let your lawyer do everything. Your lawyer is an expert on bankruptcy, but remember that you are making a decision that could impact the rest of your life. It could be tempting just to entrust everything to your lawyer. But remember, your financial life is at stake here.

Reducing Interest Rates

Look at all of your options prior to deciding to file for bankruptcy. A lawyer that specializes in bankruptcy law can help advise you of other options, such as repayment plans and reducing interest rates to relieve some of the burden. If a foreclosure is on your horizon, look into loan modification plans. The lender is able to help you in a number of ways, such as reducing interest rates, eliminating late charges, and even lengthening the loan, giving you more time to pay. Ultimately, creditors want their money, and many times repayment plans are preferable to a debtor that is bankrupt.

Filing for personal bankruptcy does not mean you are limited in you daily life. Through the saving of money and striving to reestablish your credit, creditors will take this to heart. All you need to do really is start saving your money and rebuild your credit so that you have a chance to get that next loan.

Are you confused by stock exchange? You are not the only one having this problem. The above information should eliminate any questions you have on the subject. This guide should be used as a reference and kept close by, this way you will always have the right knowledge about the subject.

Source: http://thefinancenewstoday.com/2013/01/27/money-problems-learn-more-about-personal-bankruptcy/

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Video: Snoring could indicate heart disease

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50601517/

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Legal Theory Blog: Legal Theory Bookworm

The Legal Theory Bookworm?recommends?On Constitutional Disobedience (Inalienable Rights) by by Louis Michael Seidman. ?Here is a description:

What would the Framers of the Constitution make of multinational corporations? Nuclear weapons? Gay marriage? They led a preindustrial country, much of it dependent on slave labor, huddled on the Atlantic seaboard. The Founders saw society as essentially hierarchical, led naturally by landed gentry like themselves. Yet we still obey their commands, two centuries and one civil war later. According to Louis Michael Seidman, it's time to stop.

In On Constitutional Disobedience, Seidman argues that, in order to bring our basic law up to date, it needs benign neglect. This is a highly controversial assertion. The doctrine of "original intent" may be found on the far right, but the entire political spectrum--left and right--shares a deep reverence for the Constitution. And yet, Seidman reminds us, disobedience is the original intent of the Constitution. The Philadelphia convention had gathered to amend the Articles of Confederation, not toss them out and start afresh. The "living Constitution" school tries to bridge the gap between the framers and ourselves by reinterpreting the text in light of modern society's demands. But this attempt is doomed, Seidman argues. One might stretch "due process of law" to protect an act of same-sex sodomy, yet a loyal-but-contemporary reading cannot erase the fact that the Constitution allows a candidate who lost the popular election to be seated as president. And that is only one of the gross violations of popular will enshrined in the document. Seidman systematically addresses and refutes the arguments in favor of Constitutional fealty, proposing instead that it be treated as inspiration, not a set of commands.

The Constitution is, at its best, a piece of poetry to liberty and self-government. If we treat it as such, the author argues, we will make better progress in achieving both.

It is a great pleasure to recommend this deep book by my learned colleague.

Source: http://lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/2013/01/legal-theory-bookworm-2.html

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UFC on Fox 6 results: Demetrious Johnson retains title, ?Rampage? loses in Octagon finale

CHICAGO -- The UFC's stop in the Windy City had two great knockouts, a champion holding onto his belt, and the last fight of a one-time champ.

Despite a strong start by John Dodson, Demetrious Johnson held onto his championship belt with a unanimous decision. The judges saw it 48-47, 49-46, 48-47 for Johnson.

Unsurprisingly, Johnson and Dodson fought a fast-paced first two rounds. Johnson tried to slow things down in the first round with a takedown. While he did get Dodson to to the ground, the challenger popped back to his feet quickly.

Dodson dropped Johnson twice in the second round, and shook off Johnson's take down attempts with a great sprawl. Johnson seemed to have a hard time even getting close to Dodson to land a punch.

[Related: T.J. Grant and Ryan Bader shine at UFC on Fox 6]

A Johnson knee in the fourth round caused a small fight stoppage. Dodson's hand was on the ground as Johnson threw a knee to Dodson's head, which is an illegal strike. The bout was stopped as doctors checked Dodson's eye and Johnson was warned. The fight went on, but not without plenty of boos from the crowd in Chicago.

When the fight restarted, it was all Johnson. He controlled Dodson against the cage, and threw knees that busted up Dodson's face. Johnson was able to get a takedown at the beginning of the fifth round, too. Though boos rained down, Johnson kept the fight against the cage.

Later, the crowd got behind him as Johnson elevated, tightened his legs around Dodson's torso and threw elbows. It was a creative move that likely could only happen in the flyweight division. Johnson finished the round with Dodson against the cage, and knee after knee after knee to the body and face.

Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson vs. Glover Teixeira

If this really was Quinton "Rampage" Jackson's last fight in the UFC, it wasn't one to remember. He was outstruck and outwrestled by Glover Teixeira throughout their bout. Teixeira took the fight 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 on the judges' cards.

Teixeira's first round was his best, as he was able to take Jackson down early and mount him and take his back. Late in the round, Teixeira knocked Jackson down with a punch and looked close to finishing, but wasn't able to end the fight.

The rest of the fight featured a worn out Jackson trying to avoid Teixeira's takedown attempts unsuccessfully. Jackson threw some big punches, and even jawed at Teixeira during the bout, but he wasn't able to score any big offense.

While this fight will be remembered for being Jackson's last UFC bout, Teixeira scored his third straight UFC win on Saturday night. He looked impressive against the former champ.

Anthony Pettis vs. Donald Cerrone

Anthony Pettis won his much anticipated bout with Donald Cerrone by landing big, memorable strikes. Pettis was getting the better of their striking exchanges early, which set him up for a big finish. Pettis threw a kick that landed hard on Cerrone's body, then finished with a punch. Cerrone fell to the ground in a heap, and the fight was stopped at 2:35 in the first round.

Pettis lost his first fight in the UFC after coming from the WEC as the champ, but he's been winning ever since. He has wins over Joe Lauzon, Jeremy Stephens and now Cerrone. After the fight, he made a pitch to UFC president Dana White.

"I want my title shot. I should have had it years ago. People say I can?t wrestle because of the Guida fight, but I had a serious shoulder injury. Now I am 100 percent. No one can do in the Octagon what I can do."

While lightweight champion Benson Henderson has a fight set up with Gilbert Melendez, a shot for Pettis isn't unwarranted. It would be a rematch of their WEC title fight, which Pettis won in the promotion's final fight.

Ricardo Lamas vs. Erik Koch

Lamas won the first round by constantly pressuring Koch against the cage. It wasn't exactly the most thrilling round to have start a card on network television, but it led to a thrilling second round. Lamas took advantage of Koch's slip, and then finished the fight with nasty, nasty ground and pound. Lamas started with elbows, then started with strikes that cut open Koch's face. Koch had no answer for Lamas' relentless strikes, and the bout was stopped at 2:32 in the second round.

Lamas thought his performance warranted a title shot.

"I?ve beat Cub Swanson, I?ve beat Hioki and now I?ve beat Koch. All those guys were supposed to be fighting for the title at one point. I beat them all. We?re all here to be world champ and I am no different. I want the winner of Aldo vs Edgar next week. I don?t care who wins, I want the winner."

Related UFC video from Yahoo! Sports:

Other popular content on Yahoo! Sports:
? Saints? bounty scandal mastermind closes in on another NFL job
? Ray Allen braces for return to Boston
? Bob Costas eulogizes Stan Musial (video)
? N.C. State ends 13-game slide vs. UNC

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-fox-6-results-demetrious-johnson-retains-title-032827859--mma.html

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Assange: WikiLeaks film script leaked to WikiLeaks

LONDON (AP) ? WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange says he has obtained the script for "The Fifth Estate," a DreamWorks film about the Australian maverick and his world famous secret-busting site.

In comments to the Oxford Union debating society, Assange said the script was a "recent acquisition" but didn't say how it was obtained. A DreamWorks spokeswoman declined to comment on his claim.

Assange was withering about the movie, which is to be released in November, calling it a "mass propaganda attack" on his site's work.

He made the comments to the Oxford Union on Wednesday via videolink from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, where he has been holed up for more than six months in a bid to avoid extradition.

His speech was posted to the Web late Friday.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/assange-wikileaks-film-script-leaked-wikileaks-221839919.html

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Russia: Syria rebels obsession with Assad blocks peace

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's foes are bent on overthrowing his government and called their "obsession" with this goal an insurmountable obstacle to peace.

Lavrov's comments at an annual news conference signaled no shift in the stance of Russia, which says Assad's exit from power must not be a precondition for a deal to end 22 months of violence in which more than 60,000 people have been killed.

"Everything runs up against opposition members' obsession with the idea of the overthrow of the Assad regime. As long as this irreconcilable position remains in force, nothing good will happen - armed action will continue, people will die," he said.

Russia has vetoed three U.N. Security Council resolutions aimed pressuring Assad to end the bloodshed, which began with a crackdown on protests in March 2011 and later escalated into civil war.

Lavrov also accused Western and Arab states that have recognized the opposition Syrian National Coalition of undermining chances for a peaceful solution to the conflict by granting too much support to the rebels.

"Opposition activists continue to categorically reject dialogue, have opted for military conflict and our partners... are encouraging them in that and support them with everything needed to prolong that fight," he said.

Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister since 2004 and the face of its policy on the Syrian conflict, said Moscow's main goal in Syria was to stop the bloodshed as soon as possible.

"But apparently other colleagues have other priorities," he said. "We often talk to them about that, they seem to understand it all, and the threat accompanying the prospect of the breakup of the Syrian state."

"But when they speak in public they say somewhat different things, differing from what they tell us privately," he said without elaborating.

NO NEED TO EVACUATE

Lavrov said the situation in Syria was "causing utmost concern" but that it did not warrant a mass evacuation of Russian citizens living there.

Russia flew 77 of its citizens fleeing the violence to Moscow early on Wednesday after they were bussed to Lebanon, but Lavrov said it was not the start of a broader evacuation.

"We have plans (in place), as we have plans for any country, in case of an escalation of the internal situation ... But there is no talk of implementing them," Lavrov said.

Russia is a long-time arms supplier for Assad's government, though President Vladimir Putin has said it is not providing weapons that could be used in the conflict. Russia maintains a modest naval facility in the port of Tartous that is its only military base outside the former Soviet Union.

Russia is currently holding what it says are its biggest naval exercises in decades in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, not far from Syria, a show of force that Lavrov said was a positive factor.

"Of course we have no interest in the Mediterranean region becoming even more destabilized, and the presence of our fleet there is undoubtedly a stabilizing factor," he said.

(Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Steve Gutterman and Jon Boyle)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/russia-syria-rebels-obsession-assad-blocks-peace-130836943.html

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Pakistani intelligence held men without evidence

ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Pakistan's most powerful intelligence agency held seven suspected militants sought by the Supreme Court for more than a year and a half without sufficient evidence to try them, the agency's lawyer said Monday.

The admission, made in a court hearing, was likely to fuel concerns about the conduct of Pakistan's security establishment in its battle against a domestic Taliban insurgency during the past several years. Rights organizations have accused Pakistani security forces of holding scores of suspected militants without charging them.

Raja Irshad, a lawyer for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, which is controlled by the army, said he told the Supreme Court that officials held the men because they were convinced they were "dangerous people and involved in terrorism."

The seven men were among 11 suspected militants captured in connection with a 2007 suicide bombing against ISI personnel and a rocket attack a year later against an air force base. An anti-terrorism court ordered them to be freed in May 2010, but they were picked up again near the capital, Islamabad.

Four died in custody under mysterious circumstances. The ISI produced the seven surviving men in court last February in response to a judicial order prompted by their relatives, who were looking for them. Two of the men were too weak to walk. Another wore a urine bag, suggesting a kidney ailment. In a meeting with their families on the court premises, they complained of harsh treatment during their detention.

In a rare move, an unnamed "security official" issued a four-page statement at the time through the state-run news agency listing the accusations against the men. The statement ? presumably released by the ISI ? alleged the 11 were "hard-core terrorists" and that "the sympathizers of terrorists have forgotten the miseries" of the families of those killed in the 2007 and 2008 attacks.

The ISI handed the seven men over to the administration of Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region in January 2012, said Irshad, the agency's lawyer. The court has summoned the tribal region's chief official to appear Tuesday to explain why the men were held without sufficient evidence, said Tariq Asad, the lawyer for the seven men.

Amnesty International claimed in a report in December that the Pakistani military regularly holds people without charges and tortures or mistreats them in custody. The London-based group said some detainees do not survive and their bodies are returned to their families, or dumped in remote areas.

The Pakistani military called the report "a pack of lies."

Also Monday, the group that oversees Pakistan's elections lashed out at the government, claiming it was trying to rig the parliamentary vote expected this spring by giving people jobs and reportedly redirecting money for development projects to a discretionary fund used by Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.

The Election Commission, which is appointed by the president and a parliamentary committee, said in a press release that the actions constituted "pre-poll rigging" and must end.

The statement was likely prompted by the recent protest in Islamabad by firebrand Muslim cleric Tahir-ul-Qadri. The cleric led tens of thousands of his supporters in four days of protests in the center of the capital last week, demanding electoral reform and the removal of the government.

One of his demands was the dissolution of the Election Commission, which he claimed was biased because it was appointed by political leaders. Qadri ended his protest after he reached an agreement with the government. The declaration said the government would discuss the composition of the commission with the cleric, but did not commit to its dissolution.

____

Associated Press writer Sebastian Abbot contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pakistani-intelligence-held-men-without-evidence-175731329.html

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Flu season fuels debate over paid sick time laws

In this Friday, Jan. 18 2013 photo, activists hold signs during a rally at New York's City Hall to call for immediate action on paid sick days legislation in light of the continued spread of the flu. An unusually early and vigorous flu season is drawing attention to the cause that has both scored victories and hit roadblocks in recent years: mandatory paid sick leave. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

In this Friday, Jan. 18 2013 photo, activists hold signs during a rally at New York's City Hall to call for immediate action on paid sick days legislation in light of the continued spread of the flu. An unusually early and vigorous flu season is drawing attention to the cause that has both scored victories and hit roadblocks in recent years: mandatory paid sick leave. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

In this Friday, Jan. 18 2013 photo, Emilio Palaguachi, center, speaks during a rally at New York's City Hall to call for immediate action on paid sick days legislation in light of the continued spread of the flu. An unusually early and vigorous flu season is drawing attention to the cause that has both scored victories and hit roadblocks in recent years: mandatory paid sick leave. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

In this Friday, Jan. 18 2013 photo, Emilio Palaguachi, right, speaks during a rally in New York's City Hall to call for immediate action on paid sick days legislation in light of the continued spread of the flu. An unusually early and vigorous flu season is drawing attention to the cause that has both scored victories and hit roadblocks in recent years: mandatory paid sick leave. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Sniffling, groggy and afraid she had caught the flu, Diana Zavala dragged herself in to work anyway for a day she felt she couldn't afford to miss.

A school speech therapist who works as an independent contractor, she doesn't have paid sick days. So the mother of two reported to work and hoped for the best ? and was aching, shivering and coughing by the end of the day. She stayed home the next day, then loaded up on medicine and returned to work.

"It's a balancing act" between physical health and financial well-being, she said.

An unusually early and vigorous flu season is drawing attention to a cause that has scored victories but also hit roadblocks in recent years: mandatory paid sick leave for a third of civilian workers ? more than 40 million people ? who don't have it.

Supporters and opponents are particularly watching New York City, where lawmakers are weighing a sick leave proposal amid a competitive mayoral race.

Pointing to a flu outbreak that the governor has called a public health emergency, dozens of doctors, nurses, lawmakers and activists ? some in surgical masks ? rallied Friday on the City Hall steps to call for passage of the measure, which has awaited a City Council vote for nearly three years. Two likely mayoral contenders have also pressed the point.

The flu spike is making people more aware of the argument for sick pay, said Ellen Bravo, executive director of Family Values at Work, which promotes paid sick time initiatives around the country. "There's people who say, 'OK, I get it ? you don't want your server coughing on your food,'" she said.

Advocates have cast paid sick time as both a workforce issue akin to parental leave and "living wage" laws, and a public health priority.

But to some business owners, paid sick leave is an impractical and unfair burden for small operations. Critics also say the timing is bad, given the choppy economy and the hardships inflicted by Superstorm Sandy.

Michael Sinesky, an owner of seven bars and restaurants around the city, was against the sick time proposal before Sandy. And after the storm shut down four of his restaurants for days or weeks, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars that his insurers have yet to pay, "we're in survival mode."

"We're at the point, right now, where we cannot afford additional social initiatives," said Sinesky, whose roughly 500 employees switch shifts if they can't work, an arrangement that some restaurateurs say benefits workers because paid sick time wouldn't include tips.

Employees without sick days are more likely to go to work with a contagious illness, send an ill child to school or day care and use hospital emergency rooms for care, according to a 2010 survey by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center. A 2011 study in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that a lack of sick time helped spread 5 million cases of flu-like illness during the 2009 swine flu outbreak.

To be sure, many employees entitled to sick time go to work ill anyway, out of dedication or at least a desire to project it. But the work-through-it ethic is shifting somewhat amid growing awareness about spreading sickness.

"Right now, where companies' incentives lie is butting right up against this concern over people coming into the workplace, infecting others and bringing productivity of a whole company down," said John A. Challenger, CEO of employer consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.

Paid sick day requirements are often popular in polls, but only four places have them: San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and the state of Connecticut. The specific provisions vary.

Milwaukee voters approved a sick time requirement in 2008, but the state Legislature passed a law blocking it. Philadelphia's mayor vetoed a sick leave measure in 2011; lawmakers have since instituted a sick time requirement for businesses with city contracts. Voters rejected a paid sick day measure in Denver in 2011.

In New York, City Councilwoman Gale Brewer's proposal would require up to five paid sick days a year at businesses with at least five employees. It wouldn't include independent contractors, such as Zavala, who supports the idea nonetheless.

The idea boasts such supporters as feminist Gloria Steinem and "Sex and the City" actress Cynthia Nixon, as well as a majority of City Council members and a coalition of unions, women's groups and public health advocates. But it also faces influential opponents, including business groups, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has virtually complete control over what matters come to a vote.

Quinn, who is expected to run for mayor, said she considers paid sick leave a worthy goal but doesn't think it would be wise to implement it in a sluggish economy. Two of her likely opponents, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu, have reiterated calls for paid sick leave in light of the flu season.

While the debate plays out, Emilio Palaguachi is recovering from the flu and looking for a job. The father of four was abruptly fired without explanation earlier this month from his job at a deli after taking a day off to go to a doctor, he said. His former employer couldn't be reached by telephone.

"I needed work," Palaguachi said after Friday's City Hall rally, but "I needed to see the doctor because I'm sick."

___

Associated Press writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2013-01-20-Flu%20Season-Sick%20Leave/id-a0c0aa23ed154835bb434d67baada25b

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Growth slows, markets feeling good ahead of Davos

German Klaus Schwab, founder and president of the World Economic Forum, WEF, gestures during a press conference, in Cologny near Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013. The World Economic Forum today unveiled the programme for its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, including the key participants, themes and goals. The Meeting, will take place from Jan. 23 to Jan. 27, 2013 . (AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron)

German Klaus Schwab, founder and president of the World Economic Forum, WEF, gestures during a press conference, in Cologny near Geneva, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013. The World Economic Forum today unveiled the programme for its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, including the key participants, themes and goals. The Meeting, will take place from Jan. 23 to Jan. 27, 2013 . (AP Photo/Keystone/Laurent Gillieron)

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) ? The world's financial and political elite will head this week to the Alps for 2013's gathering of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with the global economy far less plagued by fear than it was last year.

Much-feared worldwide panics from a collapse of the euro currency union have been avoided. China appears likely to remain an engine of global growth. Stocks are off to a running start in the New Year.

"There's a sense of relief that the worst didn't happen ... and I think that relief is probably justified," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight.

Davos is the venue for the World Economic Forum, an annual gathering of more than 2,000 decision-makers from nearly 100 countries and hundreds of companies that starts Wednesday. The WEF has taken "Resilient Dynamism" as the theme for this year's event.

Yet the global economy is expected to remain sluggish in 2013, with two of the biggest economies ? the euro alliance and Japan ? in recession. There's also a risk that the United States, the world's largest economy, may slash government spending ? a step that could dampen the world economy. Few think global economic growth will even match last year's tepid 3.3 percent.

Despite that, as fear of a catastrophe has eased, optimism appears to have taken hold among investors. The world's financial markets have surged. Both the U.S. Standard & Poor's 500 and Europe's STOXX 600 have risen 13.5 percent in the past 12 months.

Fueling much of the improvement has been a flood of monetary expansion from the world's central banks. The U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, the Bank of Japan and the Swiss National Bank have purchased financial assets such as bonds with newly created money. The central banks have also slashed short-term interest rates to record lows ? to near zero in the case of the Fed. The ECB has lent more than ?1 trillion to banks at low rates.

The European Central Bank gave the eurozone its biggest boost when it offered last fall to buy unlimited debt of heavily indebted countries such as Spain and Italy. That action lowered their borrowing costs and eased fears that those governments would default.

Fears that the group of 17 European countries that use the euro would break up under the weight of its debt crisis faded throughout 2012. One factor bolstering the eurozone was the deal struck between Europe and the International Monetary Fund to stop Greece from being forced to default on its debts and abandon the euro.

As interest rates have dropped, investors have shifted money into stocks, real estate and other assets, driving up their prices. One of the biggest market jumps in 2012 came in Greece's own Athens stock exchange, where stocks catapulted 33 percent. Even the yields on bonds sold by U.S. companies with subpar credit ratings ? so-called junk bonds ? have fallen.

Some pillars of the U.S. economy, like the housing, banking and auto sectors, have been gradually yet steadily recovering from the American recession, which officially ended 3? years ago. And relief was widely felt at the end of 2012, when President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress cut a deal on tax rates and delayed the "fiscal cliff" of automatic cuts and tax increases.

Worries that China, the world's No. 2 economy, would suffer a sudden slowdown proved unfounded as the country's new Communist leadership appeared to signal its commitment to growth policies. Its leaders are trying to reduce China's reliance on exports by encouraging Chinese consumers to spend more at home.

Analysts caution that the still-sluggish global economy has little room for error.

IHS Global Insight predicts the worldwide economy will expand just 2.5 percent in 2013, even less than last year's estimated 2.6 percent. In the United States, unemployment remains elevated at 7.8 percent. U.S. employers have held back on hiring and pay raises.

"There's lots of potential bad macroeconomic news," said Rabobank analyst Jane Foley. "And yet market sentiment seems to be very gung-ho."

Among the risk factors analysts cite:

?The heavy government debt loads in the eurozone, the chief concern from 2012, remain in place. Many worry that European leaders, facing citizen anger over government spending cuts in the midst of recession, will be reluctant to reduce debt and strengthen oversight of their banking system.

?A dispute in the United States over raising the government's debt ceiling, and dealing with automatic spending cuts, has only been postponed until early March. Even if the ceiling is raised, Republicans in the U.S. Congress will likely demand deep spending cuts as a price for voting to raise it. If U.S. government spending were slashed in the short run, it could slow the global economy.

?A potential conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Iran remains a continuing worry because it could disrupt energy supplies, driving up the price of oil and hurting growth. "That's the thing we just don't have a good handle on," said IHS Global Insight's Behravesh. "People haven't worried about it that much recently, but it's still there."

?Though China will likely continue to help drive global growth, its purchases and investments could increasingly favor Chinese companies, and "foreign companies and investors won't benefit," risk consulting company Eurasia Group argues. "We have to stop treating emerging markets as an asset class for outsized growth," the consultant said in its annual risk report.

?Some analysts warn that the cheap credit provided by the world's central banks has numbed markets to risk and could inflate the prices of some investments. The danger is that unsustainable bubbles in assets like stocks or real estate could eventually form, potentially leading to a devastating collapse in asset prices.

Rabobank's Foley says she fears that all the cash made available by central banks "has given people a license to turn a blind eye to the macroeconomic news."

Eventually, once economic growth accelerates, central banks will have to signal they're getting ready to withdraw that stimulus. Otherwise, runaway inflation could result from all the excess money pumped into the financial system. Yet that might not be until 2014 or even later.

Executives and finance officials arriving in Davos will have to get a grip on an uncertain economy that could end up causing surprise or disappointment. Now that it has dodged some major risks, Behravesh says the global economy might even outperform expectations.

"Is the glass half-empty or half-full?" he asks. "I think it's half-full. But it's nothing to cheer about either."

___

AP Business Writer Christopher S. Rugaber in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-01-20-Davos-Global%20Economy/id-ea8abb0ed9da450cb7b7503b348ff840

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Terry Madden: Lance Armstrong Rep Offered USADA Six-Figure Donation

The former chief of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency says a representative of Lance Armstrong's offered the agency a donation in the range of $200,000 to $250,000 in 2004 and the agency immediately rejected it.

Terry Madden, who led USADA from 2000-07, corroborated a story current CEO Travis Tygart told in an interview earlier this month.

In his interview with Oprah Winfrey on Friday, Armstrong said no one in his camp made such an offer.

"Nobody," Armstrong said. "Certainly I had no knowledge of that. But I've asked around. Did anybody? Not true."

Madden countered that, saying the Armstrong representative called Tygart ? then USADA's general counsel ? who came to Madden's office with the proposal.

"Then, 10 seconds later, because of our ethics, I told Travis to turn it down," Madden said. "We called back that representative and gave them our decision immediately."

Madden said he could not name the Armstrong representative because of a pending federal whistleblower lawsuit against the cyclist.

He called the offer "very, very strange and it was such an easy decision for us."

"It's very clear, we cannot accept gifts from people we're either currently testing or would be testing in the future," he said.

Asked why he thought Armstrong disputed the offer, Madden said, "It's just another personal attack on Travis and USADA."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/19/terry-madden-lance-armstrong_n_2512892.html

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US, UK defense chiefs bemoan deaths in Algeria

LONDON (AP) ? The U.S. and British defense chiefs said Saturday the hostage crisis in Algeria ended with more deaths, but that details remained unclear. They blamed the militants who seized the natural gas complex in the Sahara, and not Algeria's government for its rescue operation.

At a joint news conference in London, British Defense Minister Philip Hammond called the loss of life appalling and unacceptable.

"It is the terrorists that bear the sole responsibility," he told reporters.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said much remains "sketchy" about what happened at the remote Ain Amenas gas field.

"We know that lives have been lost," he said.

According to Algeria's state news agency, special forces stormed the complex Saturday in a "final assault" to end the four-day-old hostage crisis. The report didn't say whether any hostages or militants remained alive, and it didn't give the nationalities of the dead.

Asked how many Americans were in danger and what happened to them, Panetta said he knew Americans were still being held hostage earlier Saturday. On what happened to them, he said, "we need to get better information."

Panetta was scheduled to return to Washington later Saturday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-19-US-Algeria/id-9fe930533747446594778fa8add0bbae

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Anna Nicole Smith?s Calif. home sells

13 hrs.

Erika Riggs , Zillow

This week in celebrity real estate, Anna Nicole Smith?s home has sold, six years after her death, and actor Jeremy Renner listed a mammoth mansion for sale.

Anna Nicole Smith?s home sells; proceeds go to daughter
Six years after the death of Playboy Playmate and reality-TV star Anna Nicole Smith, her Studio City, Calif., home has sold.

Smith purchased the home under her given name, Vickie Lynn Marshall, in April 2005 for $1.335 million. Upon her death in 2007, Smith?s daughter, Dannielynn, and the child?s father, Larry Birkhead, moved into the home. Birkhead successfully won a paternity suit and gained custody of Dannielynn in April 2007. Smith?s daughter, although a minor, is a beneficiary of her mother?s estate.

However in April 2011, Howard K. Stern, Smith?s one-time lover and the executor of her will, gained the court?s permission to transfer the home under his name. He immediately placed the home on the market with an asking price of $1.75 million. Stern was cleared of charges in Smith?s accidental death this past November.

A nod to Smith remains in the home: A giant painting of the late model hangs in the entryway. One of the rooms is still decorated for a girl, presumably Dannielynn.

The proceeds of the sale, after taxes and real estate commissions, will go to Dannielynn.

Smith?s former home, located at 3646 Avenida Del Sol, Studio City, CA 91604, measures 4,700 square feet and has 5 bedrooms and 5.5 baths. The Mediterranean-style home is perched above the city with dominant views from its balcony and pool area.

Jeremy Renner lists art deco mansion for $24.95 million
Actor Jeremy Renner is best-known for his action-packed roles in blockbusters such as ?The Bourne Legacy? and ?The Avengers,? but the two-time Oscar nominee also has a knack for real estate, having flipped several Los Angeles-area homes with his business partner over the years.

His latest project, a 10,000-square-foot Beverly Glen estate, is now on the market for $24.95 million, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The listing describes the home at 107 Delfern Dr, Los Angeles, CA 90077 as a ?roaring ?20s art deco home fit for a 21st-century Howard Hughes.? Designed by Kristoffer Winters, the six-bedroom, 11-bath, single-story mansion sits on two extensively landscaped acres and includes 14-foot ceilings, five fireplaces, a theater, cobblestone drive, pool and spa.

The property was last purchased for $7 million in 2010 and is listed by Branden Williams and Rayni Romito of Hilton & Hyland.

As for Renner, he?s keeping quite busy on the professional and personal fronts. His latest film ?Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters,? hits theaters Jan. 25, and he?s expecting his first child later this year.

Related:

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Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/anna-nicole-smiths-calif-home-sells-1B8039394

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Comment Can 2013 be the year when business in Romania focuses ...

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So the first 17 days of 2013 have already passed and many of us may be assessing how our New Year resolutions are coming along. It would be interesting to know what objectives business leaders in Romania have set for themselves and their colleagues. I?d like to know how many of them are working on improving the levels of service offered to their customers, as a fundamental and very necessary improvement for their companies.

Many may ask, ?Why should we spend valuable time and resources, in these crisis times, on an intangible like customer service? Who knows what customers regard as good service and even if it is important to them?. The answer of course is that improvements in service, in a market that is notorious for the provision of poor service, are very measurable and have a very favorable impact on a company?s bottom line. In other words, business leaders have to see the trees of customer service in the wood of making profits.

Often, company staff and their middle and senior managers concentrate so hard on squeezing value out of every customer, through special offers and discounts that they forget to pay attention to the customer as a person rather than a sales target. They fail to see their customers as offering long term business partnerships. Instead they chase a one-time deal to record in their monthly sales statistics.

This is a significant mistake in many markets where customers are looking for reliability, security and good value ? in other words good service. And a company that can build a solid and long-lasting base of repeat customers generally has a successful and sustainable business.

After all, how difficult is it for everyone in a company engaged in providing products and services to customers (customers being the people who provide the company?s revenue and profits), to spend some time and effort in finding out what those vital customers expectations are? Then, having worked it all out, how difficult is it to make their customers happy enough to keep coming back to spend more money?

Here?s a tip for companies that have started to think more about their customers. Service is what the company feels it should offer ? the bare minimum. Good service is what the customer expects and receives from the company ? fair enough. Great service is where the company really does its research and its people really make an effort and exceed the customer?s expectations, producing pleasant surprises and pretty certain repeat business. Repeat business equals a strong revenue trend and reduces stress on a company?s marketing effort because the excellent service sells itself.

And also remember, every person in the company that has contact with customers or who is involved in managing the company?s customer interface, is responsible for improvements in service. That?s why improving service has to become a state of mind shared by everyone concerned, it?s the responsibility of each and every one ? it?s actually a mini culture.

If a restaurant is much better than you expected and you had a great time there, you go back and you take your friends. It?s not rocket science and everyone knows what we are talking about here ? good service ? unless they live in a cave and never go out or buy anything.

As a customer, I?m hoping that companies in Romania can work on their service provision and make many transactional aspects of everyday life a pleasure instead of an ordeal.

By Ronnie Smith, Guest Writer

(photo source: sxc.hu)

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Source: http://www.romania-insider.com/comment-can-2013-be-the-year-when-business-in-romania-focuses-on-customer-service/73309/

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Emma Watson's 'Bling Ring' To Hit Theaters In June

Sofia Coppola-directed flick follows the story of thieves who target celebs.
By Kara Warner

Emma Watson
Photo: Jason Merritt/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1700332/bling-ring-emma-watson-premiere-june.jhtml

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Google.org Donates A Total Of $3.7M To Spark Civic Innovation Using Technology

Today, Google.org’s VP, Matthew Stepka, announced that the non-profit arm of Google is going to be giving a large sum money to Sunlight Foundation and mySociety?to promote civic innovation through technology. Specifically, its Civic Information API will help fuel new applications and services for places worldwide. Big and small. Here’s what Stepka had to say about the initiative: We?ve seen developers use our Civic Information API to bring election data to citizens in new and exciting ways. Our live election results maps have been viewed by billions around the world, bringing real-time transparency to elections in Egypt, Mexico, Ghana, and more. Last week, we launched the Kenya Elections Hub for citizens to access the latest news and resources for the country?s presidential election. Sunlight Foundation and mySociety?will be given $3.7 million to continue their innovation in civic leadership. By helping communities engage in a closer relationship with their government, Google hopes that the world can have more “open and innovative societies.” Here’s what the money will be used for: We are providing $2.1 million to the Sunlight Foundation to grow their programs for open government data, with a focus on making civic information for U.S. cities transparent, available, and useable. By opening up information at the city level for developers as well as citizens, Sunlight is creating opportunity for new ideas that can have an impact in local markets. We are also supporting mySociety, providing $1.6 million to build a global platform to equip developers with tools and resources–such as open source code–to more easily and quickly launch new civic apps and services. This initiative can promote collaboration between civic-minded technologists, regardless of geography. For example, a civic app created in Finland might be easily replicated 9,000 miles away by a developer in Chile. As you saw above, the company highlighted its Kenya Elections Hub as an example of why these initiatives are so important. That hub provides citizens with detailed and accurate information about the candidates, as well as links to all relevant news stories: Google, through Google.org, has taken a long-term interest in providing sets of data in an open way, hoping that technologists all over the world would see it as a way to spread information and help their fellow man out. Google is most valuable in collecting the world’s information and then setting it free again in a structured way. The company is putting its money

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/bK9d0Vif_4Q/

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Pay cuts may signal 'new normal' on Wall Street

BOSTON (Reuters) - In the past few days, major global banks have taken the axe to pay with unusual zeal.

JPMorgan Chase & Co slashed the compensation of CEO Jamie Dimon, one of the world's top bankers, by half despite record earnings in 2012. His crime? Being in charge when an investment unit ran amok with the botched "London whale" derivative trades that cost the bank more than $6.2 billion.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc , which is known for handing out some of the most lucrative pay packages on Wall Street, paid just 37 percent of its 2012 adjusted revenue to employees - the second-lowest proportion since the Wall Street firm went public in 1999.

Earlier this week, sources said Barclays Plc and Deutsche Bank AG plan to cut banker pay by up to 20 percent, while Morgan Stanley took the unusual step of deferring 100 percent of 2012 bonuses for high-earning employees.

Morgan Stanley bankers and traders got word directly from their managers on Thursday, which one employee characterized as "bonus day, if you can even call it that anymore."

Wall Street employees might have to get used to that. Investors and analysts believe lower compensation is here to stay for some time as firms face unprecedented challenges, in some cases forcing them to fundamentally rethink how they operate. New regulations make many businesses on Wall Street less profitable and sometimes even impossible.

With tens of thousands of jobs shed in the past few years, bankers and traders have trouble demanding more money. Banks are also replacing employees with automated systems in areas such as bond trading, which reduces staffing.

"I hate this phrase, but I think their compensation levels at this point are the new normal," said Michael Cohn, chief investment strategist at Atlantis Asset Management, which owns Goldman Sachs shares. "The world isn't going back to the way it was anytime soon."

If Wall Street employees are the losers from these pay changes, there are some winners, as well.

"It's a good trend for the stocks and for investors," said Mark Morgan, senior analyst at Thrivent Asset Management, which oversees more than $80 billion in assets.

Less money for employees means more for shareholders.

"It's tougher to justify the expense if revenues aren't there," Morgan added.

Oppenheimer analyst Chris Kotowski called Goldman a "textbook example" of how banks can boost profitability even in a difficult business environment by cutting employee pay.

"It is simply not an option for bank managements to earn non-competitive returns in the long run," he said.

Goldman's return on equity for the quarter - a measure of how well the bank turns shareholder funds into profit - was 16.5 percent, nearly triple its level in the same quarter a year earlier.

SELLING APPLES?

However, there are some skeptics who say it is too early to declare the arrival of a new era when it comes to Wall Street pay. After all, they point out, banks are only taking drastic steps after punishing investors with weak returns for the past few years. If business really starts to pick up, they expect fat paychecks to return.

Senator Bernie Sanders, one of Wall Street's most vocal critics, said the boards might be more receptive to criticism in the short term.

"There is an extraordinary amount of anger at Wall Street; much more so I think than inside-the-beltway pundits perceive," said the senator, who is an Independent from Vermont. "I think maybe some of the boards there are beginning to catch on to that."

But once that anger died down, he expected Wall Street compensation to go right back up.

The steady decline in pay in large part follows demands from bank shareholders, who were increasingly exasperated with high pay levels that continued for years after the financial crisis and ate up shrinking revenue.

Reuters reported in October that top shareholders meeting with Morgan Stanley executives in 2011 had demanded to know why the bank could not cut compensation to just 30 percent of revenue from current levels above 40 percent.

Yet some observers point out there is not much sympathy for Wall Street, where pay packages for mid-level employees can run well into the six figures. That is still multiples higher than what the average U.S. worker earns.

"In the end, this is still going to be the most highly paid industry in finance," said Brad Hintz, a former Morgan Stanley treasurer who analyzes brokerage stocks for Bernstein Research.

"And so, no one is going to be crying over Goldman partners selling apples on the street corners." (Additional reporting by David Henry in New York, Emily Stephenson in Washington and Laura Noonan in London. Editing by Dan Wilchins, Paritosh Bansal, Martin Howell and Andre Grenon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pay-cuts-may-signal-normal-wall-street-235535006--sector.html

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