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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Daring Chef at Planet Restaurant Creates 6 Course Vegan Menu in Carnivore Country, South Africa
December 30, 2011 by ?
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Daring Chef at Planet Restaurant Creates 6 Course Vegan Menu in Carnivore Country, South Africa
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Friday, December 30, 2011
How Much Time Do We Really Spend on Facebook? [VIDEO] (Mashable)
[brightcove video="1349399927001" /] One in every seven minutes online and three out of every four minutes on social networking sites are spent on Facebook, according to a comScore report released Tuesday.
[More from Mashable: Dan Marino Sends Congratulatory Tweet to Passing Record Breaker Drew Brees [VIDEO]]
Twitter is on the rise, the report also said, increasing its user base 59% over the past year.
Which social network do you spend the most time on?
[More from Mashable: Dump GoDaddy Day Dec. 29 Declared by Reddit User [VIDEO]]
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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Discovered the existence of neutrophils in the spleen
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
For the first time, it has been discovered that neutrophils exist in the spleen without there being an infection. This important finding made by the research group on the Biology of B Cells of IMIM (Hospital del Mar Research Institute) in collaboration with researchers from Mount Sinai in New York, has also made it possible to determine that these neutrophils have an immunoregulating role.
Neutrophils are the so-called cleaning cells, since they are the first cells to migrate to a place with an infection and inflammation to destroy the pathogens. Until now, scientific literature had considered neutrophils essentially as lowly qualified soldiers that simply limited the expansion of an infection, as a first action to pave the way for other cells of the immune system in charge of eradicating the infection permanently.
"This study has revealed that neutrophils are found in the spleen without there being an infection, contributing totally new knowledge in the field of biology" explains Andrea Cerutti, the coordinator of the research group on the Biology of B Cells of IMIM, a professor at ICREA and the last signatory of the article.
Researchers noticed that the existence of neutrophils in the spleen started when the fetus is developing, even when there is no infectious process involved; this was not known in scientific literature. The study was expanded to people of different ages and other mammals. Detecting the presence of neutrophils in the spleen suggested that these played a different role in the spleen to the one usually given to them.
The neutrophils in the spleen are located around B lymphocytes to help their activation and offer a first rapid response when there are pathogens. "through several different experimental approaches we have proven that neutrophils in the spleen acquire the ability to interact with B cells or B lymphocytes, inducing the production of antibodies, a role that lymphocytes circulating in blood are not able to do" states Irene Puga, researcher of the IMIM and a signatory of this article.
This finding improves the understanding of the mechanisms with which our immune system protects us against an infection, an essential requirement to better control all pathologies linked to it. Also, when faced with certain diseases, such as neutropenia (or a numeric deficiency of neutrophils), it will become necessary to study not only the deficiency of neturophils, but also how this affects the production of antibodies.
This work opens the door to therapies which are geared at, and more affective against, different pathogens, for example, to develop vaccines to increase the capacity of neutrophils in the spleen so as to have an incidence on the production of antibodies by type B lymphocytes.
###
IMIM (Hospital del Mar Research Institute): http://www.imim.es
Thanks to IMIM (Hospital del Mar Research Institute) for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116321/Discovered_the_existence_of_neutrophils_in_the_spleen
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
LG unveils 84-inch 'ultra definition' 4K TV it's bringing to CES 2012
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Acquitted pastor's ex-wife dies years after attack (AP)
DALLAS ? The discovery of the wife of one of Dallas' most prominent ministers choked with a cord and left convulsing and near death on their garage floor led to a sensational trial. Prosecutors charged Walker Railey with attempted murder, saying he wanted to marry his lover, who also had church connections.
He was acquitted, while Peggy Railey never recovered from the savage assault at her Dallas-area home in April 1987. She remained in what doctors called a vegetative state until her death at age 63.
Ron Gamel of the Tyler Memorial Funeral Home confirmed Railey's death but declined to release details Tuesday, citing a family request for privacy. The funeral home's website listed her date of death as Monday.
Railey's husband at the time of the attack, Walker Railey, was once a rising star at Dallas' First United Methodist Church. He was acquitted in 1993 of attempted murder, though he acknowledged lying about his whereabouts the night of the attack to hide his affair.
Walker Railey, who has maintained his innocence, lost an $18 million civil judgment in his wife's attack but the award was later set aside as part of bankruptcy proceedings and a settlement between Railey and his former wife's family.
"I'm grateful that Peggy's medical struggles have finally come to an end," Walker Railey told The Associated Press in a brief telephone interview Tuesday. "She suffered a long time."
Peggy Railey had been staying at an undisclosed nursing home in Tyler, where she required 24-hour care, was fed through tubes, had no muscle control, was awake intermittently and made noises and cries. The Tyler Morning Telegraph first reported her death.
In the spring of 1987, Walker Railey was a dynamic and socially conscious senior minister at the 6,000-member First United Methodist Church. He had received threatening, racially charged letters and even wore a bulletproof vest to deliver the Easter Sunday sermon that would be his last at the church.
On the night of April 21, Peggy Railey was choked with a cord and left convulsing and near death on their garage floor. The couple's two children, Ryan, 5, and Megan, 2, were left inside, unharmed. Railey told police he discovered his wife about 12:40 a.m. when he returned from doing research at Southern Methodist University.
A little more than a week after the attack, Railey locked himself in a hospital suite and began to write. A security guard found him unconscious, empty pill bottles and a long, rambling note lying nearby. Police described it as a suicide note. In the letter, Railey wrote of a lifelong battle with the `'demon inside my soul" and said it had lured him into doing things he did not want to do. `'My demon has finally gotten the upper hand," he claimed.
He surrendered custody of his children to longtime friends and moved to California with his lover Lucy Papillon, a psychologist and the daughter of a Methodist bishop who, like Railey, once served as senior minister at First Methodist.
Dallas prosecutors didn't immediately bring criminal charges against Railey. In a civil judgment in 1988, however, a state district judge ruled that Railey `'intentionally, knowingly, maliciously, and brutally attempted to strangle his wife" and to cover up his actions with a `'false alibi."
More than four years later, Railey went on trial for attempted murder. Investigators developed evidence through his cell phone calls that he was not on the SMU campus but nearer his own home at a critical time the night of the attack. Evidence also showed the threatening notes were written on a church typewriter and Railey's DNA was on a licked envelope. A grand jury indicted him.
At his trial in San Antonio, prosecutors tried to show that Railey plotted to kill his wife so he would be free to marry Papillon, arguing that he knew a divorce would jeopardize his rise through the church hierarchy.
On the witness stand, Railey swore he wasn't covering up trying to kill his wife but had been trying to hide his affair.
"I was lying to my wife and creating an alibi to go see Lucy Papillon," Railey testified, and said the suicide note was him "confessing the guilt and the sense of betrayal I felt for not being there when my family needed me."
The jury acquitted him. `'It's like `Murder, She Wrote,' `' Railey told The Associated Press the night after the verdict. `'Everybody wants to solve it. Well, I want to solve it, too."
Railey's married his second wife, Donna, in 1998, less than two weeks after he signed final papers ending his marriage to Peggy Railey. His second wife later died of liver failure.
___
Associated Press writers Michael Graczyk in Houston and Schuyler Dixon in Dallas contributed to this report.
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Justin_D_Martin: Primary school teachers resign after posting #Facebook insults about pupils http://t.co/PcqrwK03
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Yemen's leader causes headaches in Washington
FILE - In this Dec. 24, 2011 file photo, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh speaks during a news conference at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa, Yemen. The Obama administration is weighing an unprecedented diplomatic act _ whether to bar a friendly president from U.S. soil. American officials were evaluating on Tuesday an awkward request from Yemeni strongman and longtime U.S. counterterrorism partner Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh has said he plans to come to the United States for medical treatment for injuries suffered in a June assassination attempt, and he has asked for a U.S. visa for entry to the country. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hamoud, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 24, 2011 file photo, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh speaks during a news conference at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa, Yemen. The Obama administration is weighing an unprecedented diplomatic act _ whether to bar a friendly president from U.S. soil. American officials were evaluating on Tuesday an awkward request from Yemeni strongman and longtime U.S. counterterrorism partner Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh has said he plans to come to the United States for medical treatment for injuries suffered in a June assassination attempt, and he has asked for a U.S. visa for entry to the country. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hamoud, File)
Protesters chant slogans during a demonstration demanding the prosecution of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa, Yemen, Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2011. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration is weighing an unprecedented diplomatic act ? whether to bar a friendly president from U.S. soil.
American officials were evaluating on Tuesday an awkward request from Yemeni strongman and longtime U.S. counterterrorism partner Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh has said he plans to come to the United States for medical treatment for injuries suffered in a June assassination attempt, and he has asked for a U.S. visa for entry to the country. Fearful of appearing to harbor an autocrat with blood on his hands, the Obama administration was trying to ensure that Saleh visits only for medical care and doesn't plan to stay, U.S. officials said.
Washington's hesitation reflects the shifting alliances and foreign policy strategy prompted by a year of upheaval in the Arab world. Saleh has served as an American ally against al-Qaida and will soon transfer power under a U.S.-backed deal with Yemen's opposition aimed at ending months of instability. He isn't subject to any U.S. or international sanctions.
But he also is accused of committing gross human rights violations during a year of internal conflict, and the U.S. is trying not to burn any bridges with Yemeni political groups likely to take part in future governments. Political asylum for Saleh in the United States, or the appearance of preferential treatment from an administration that has championed peaceful and democratic change, would be highly unpopular with Yemenis who've fought to depose their dictator of 33 years.
Officials close to the Saleh said Washington's suspicion that he may seek political asylum was delaying approval of his trip. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject. But American officials appeared to substantiate those concerns and said they were troubled by Saleh's recent comments portraying his trip as a move designed to ease the political transition.
"What we're looking at now is a request to come to the United States for the sole purpose of medical treatment," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said, refusing to go into the specific of the evaluation. "That permission has not been granted yet."
Toner declined to elaborate on the assurances the United States wanted from Saleh or offer a timetable for a decision. He also couldn't say whether any provisions existed under U.S. law to prevent the Yemeni leader from visiting the country ? provided he assures officials he demonstrates he'll only stay temporarily.
In that case, Saleh almost surely will be granted entry, U.S. officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because visa evaluations are supposed to be confidential. It's unclear when, if ever, the last time the head of state of a friendly government was blocked from visiting the United States.
One official went so far as to say Saleh's exit from Yemen might be beneficial by lowering the risk of disruptions in the lead-up to planned February elections. The U.S. is committed to doing everything it can to ensure those elections take place, the official said, but President Barack Obama's national security team was expected to make the final decision on Saleh's request. Obama was being briefed on developments while on vacation in Hawaii.
Demonstrators began protesting against Saleh and calling for his ouster in February. The Yemeni government responded with a bloody crackdown, leaving hundreds of protesters dead, and stoking fears of instability in a nation grappling with burgeoning extremism. Yemen's dangerous al-Qaida branch, known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, has taken advantage of the vacuum to expend its presence in the south of the country.
International pressure has mounted for months for Saleh to step aside. A June rocket attack on his compound left him badly burned and wounded, and led Saleh to seek medical treatment in neighboring Saudi Arabia for three months. American officials had hoped he would remain there, but the Yemeni leader returned and violence worsened anew.
Last month, Saleh agreed to a Saudi-backed deal to hand power to his vice president and commit to stepping down completely in exchange for immunity. The deal further angered Saleh's opponents, who demanded he be tried for his attacks on protesters. Opponents also lament that he has continued to wield influence through loyalists and relatives remaining in positions of power, and many fear he may find a way to continue his rule.
Protests have expanded recently to include labor strikes, calls for Saleh to be put on trial and demands that his loyalists to be removed from office. Activists said troops commanded by Saleh's relatives attacked protesters in the capital of Sanaa over the weekend, killing at least nine people. Tens of thousands demonstrated the following day.
Saleh's immediate plans are unclear. The wily leader of three decades has maintained his rule over a country divided by tribal and regional loyalties by consistently outsmarting his opponents, but Toner said the U.S. is trying to remind everyone of the "importance of continuing along this agreed-upon path of political transition that will lead to the next election."
"We need to see that process continue regardless of where President Saleh is," Toner said.
An American official said Saleh's office informed the U.S. Embassy in Sanaa that the outgoing leader would leave Yemen soon and travel elsewhere abroad first, before possibly coming to the U.S.
The situation offers an eerie parallel to three decades ago, when President Jimmy Carter allowed the exiled shah of Iran into the U.S. for medical treatment. The decision contributed to rapidly worsening relations between Washington and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's revolution in Tehran, with Iranian students occupying the U.S. Embassy in Iran a month later.
Fifty-two American hostages were held for 444 days in response to Carter's refusal to send the shah back to Iran for trial.
___
Pace reported from Honolulu. Ahmed al-Haj in Sanaa contributed to this report.
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Monday, December 26, 2011
jmgall: Armstar BodyGuard: un dock iPhone pour Batman http://t.co/GpQrM1oK http://t.co/pKh6Lvyu #apple #t?l?phonesportables
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What Pets Really Want for Christmas | Care2 Healthy Living
?
By Dr. Jennifer Coates, PetMD
I?ve started my holiday shopping, and as is often the case, I seem to have better plans for my animals in comparison to my human family members.
My best idea this year is to turn Apollo?s skuzzy old leash into a toy. He is obsessed with shaking it to death every time we go on a walk. I know I should discourage this behavior, and I do when it crosses the line from cute to annoying (which only creates confusion for the poor guy, I?m sure). Sometimes, however, it?s just easier to go with the flow. So my plan is to cut the leash into two or three pieces, add a few knots, and voil? ? a cheap prey item that I?m sure he?ll love more than any toy I could buy for him at a store.
I will also be getting Apollo a new leash (and perhaps some Bitter Apple or something similar to discourage him from displacing his behavior onto the new leash), but frankly this gift is more for me than for him.
What makes a good present for a pet? I think it is something that improves the quality of the animal?s life. Too often we buy things that make our lives easier or more fun and call them presents for our pets. Did your cat really like those antler ears you bought last year? And the joy of shopping for animals is that that they honestly couldn?t care less how much you spend on them, which is why I feel perfectly justified in repurposing Apollo?s old leash and calling it a present.
I think the best presents are boredom-relievers. Research has shown that boredom and stress play huge roles in the development of behavioral and other health problems in both dogs and cats.
For cats, how about a comfy fleece pad (or even an old sweatshirt) placed on a chair or perch in front of a sunny, south-facing window? If you are feeling flush, buy a birdfeeder and mount it within site of the window. If your cat could benefit from some exercise, tie a string on a cheap ?mouse? and make it scurry across the floor, but keep the string away from your cats when you are not supervising play since the last thing you want is to have one of them swallow it.
For dogs and cats, how about a puzzle feeder? Simply put a portion of your pet?s regular food ration inside and make him work for it. Zoos use these kinds of things all the time to provide mental stimulation for their animals.
An active dog would love anything that gives him more opportunities to be outside and/or play. Toys don?t have to be elaborate; it?s more about finding time. Perhaps you could give your dog some ?coupons? he can redeem for trips to the dog park, or walks on especially beautiful days, or a discount package at a doggy daycare provider that emphasizes play.
Happy Shopping!
Related:
Should I Give a Pet as a Gift?
Pets & Animals Holiday Gift Guide
Stress-Free Holidays for Pets
Source: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/what-pets-really-want-for-christmas.html
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Sunday, December 25, 2011
Cohoes church to serve free Christmas dinners
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As If It Wasn't Hard Enough To Peel the Stickers Off a Rubik's Cube [Toys]
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
No Ice Cream Sandwich For Galaxy S And Galaxy Tab, Says Samsung
Sorry Galaxy S owners -- even though your device has a near-identical spec sheet to the ICS-friendly Nexus S, Samsung has announced on their corporate blog that the company's first Galaxy device won't be getting the offical bump to Android 4.0. The original Galaxy S isn't the only one to get the snub, as the 7-inch Galaxy Tab won't be able to join in the fun either. It looks like TouchWiz deserves most of the blame here -- according to Samsung Tomorrow, neither device has enough RAM or ROM to accomodate TouchWiz and all of its Samsung-designed accoutrements without affecting the quality of use.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/DNqtlF1_z2Q/
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California OKs third-party slot on presidential ballot
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Source: www.stateline.org --- Wednesday, December 21, 2011
TODAY'S TAKE : California elections officials have granted Americans Elect, a privately funded group hoping to upend the nation's two-party political system, a place on the state's presidential ballot next year. ...
Source: http://feeds.stateline.org/~r/StatelineorgRss-Stories/~3/YwmCE63vAPY/story
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Friday, December 23, 2011
San Rafael digital newsletter startup hopes to boost community engagement
Click photo to enlarge
Father son teams (l to r) of Eric and Paul Remer and Johan Collins Wikman, all of San Rafael, have collaborated on various startups over the years. They recently launched Kontribune, an interactive newsletter and community journalism company. Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011. (IJ photo/Robert Tong) Robert Tong
Father-son teams (l to r) of Eric and Paul Remer and Johan and Collin Wikman, all of San Rafael, have collaborated on various startups over the years. They recently launched Kontribune, an interactive newsletter and community journalism company. (IJ photo/Robert Tong)
After more than a decade of collaborating on various startups, Paul Remer and Johan Wikman have teamed up with their two sons to launch Kontribune, a digital newsletter company.
Based in an in-law unit behind Wikman's San Rafael home, Kontribune helps organizations that previously relied on traditional paper newsletters go digital with a highly interactive but user-friendly template that connects to social media. It also aims to promote community journalism.
"This notion of a monthly, quarterly newsletter we believe is a thing of the past," said Wikman, 48.
"What we're really wanting is to engage the community and give everyone an equal voice," added Remer, 54. "We have a much bigger vision about building tools for community."
Remer, Wikman and Wikman's 24-year-old son, Collin Wikman, are all co-founders of the company. Remer's 26-year-old son, Eric Remer, is Kontribune's first employee.
Remer and Wikman previously worked together at wireless carrier software firm Siterra, which Remer co-founded. The company employed about 75 people at its peak and was originally based in Novato before moving to San Francisco several years ago.
The pair also co-founded Keibi Technologies, which developed moderation tools for online comments and other user-generated content.
Since the first Kontribune site launched this fall, the company has set up sites for between 20 and 25 other organizations. Roughly 75 percent of its clients are
nonprofit groups and most are based in the Bay Area, Remer and Wikman said.Customers so far include the Agricultural Institute of Marin, the Canal Alliance and the YMCA of San Francisco, which plans to use its page to engage with employees, Remer said.
All sites run on the same template so far, but controls for privacy and many other features are customizable. For example, site managers can allow anyone to upload stories, specify who may contribute or opt to make the site completely private. Some extended families are using the private option to share updates, photographs and videos in a closed, interactive environment, Remer and Wikman said.
Site managers also have the option of running advertisements and linking their Kontribune site to social media accounts. Monthly charges for a Kontribune site start at around $30, although the rates for families with closed sites are much lower, Remer said.
"The idea is that it's so configurable that it really fits everybody," said Wikman, a former engineering manager at San Francisco-based game company Zynga.
"It's designed to be self-service," Remer added. "There's no programming or HTML required."
Erik Hernandez, a youth education advocate at the Canal Alliance, said he has been using Kontribune to publish a student newspaper with about 10 eighth-, ninth- and tenth-graders.
So far the site is invitation-only as students get up to speed on writing stories, but Hernandez said he hopes to open it up to a larger audience by next summer.
"What I liked about (Kontribune) is it's very easy to use ? it's almost like having your own Facebook profile but then you upload stories, and it's almost like SFGate or Marin IJ," Hernandez said. "It's very accessible because you can do all the controls. ... For me it's like, 'Wow, you can just upload the pictures and if you want to put a video in, you just put the link to YouTube.'"
The Agricultural Institute of Marin has been experimenting with its Kontribune site for a couple of months and eventually hopes to get farmers and customers to contribute stories, said Emmett Brady, a farmers market manager for the institute.
"We've been using it more like a living newsletter," Brady said. "It's sort of like the next step in newsletters and it doesn't remain static and it's not like you're creating news just for a newsletter. With this we can ... update it on a need-to basis."
Meanwhile, Mill Valley resident and Tweetup organizer Sally Kuhlman said she has been using Kontribune for her Sally Around the Bay site and likes "the community building aspect, which allowed me to give others permission to add content, freeing up my time" as well as "the potential for future ad revenue.
"(It's) very easy to include ads on the side," Kuhlman said in an email. "(A) selling point to advertisers is the targeted audience, for example most of my Kontribune readers are local Marinites."
The co-founders have been self-funding the startup thus far but will consider potential angel investment early next year, Remer said. They hope to be profitable by the end of 2012.
To learn more about Kontribune, go to http://www.kontribune.com/.
Contact Jessica Bernstein-Wax at jbernstein-wax@marinij.com
Source: http://www.marinij.com/novato/ci_19594805?source=rss
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Update on Minneapolis Ford plant renovation
Shanghai News.Net
Thursday 22nd December, 2011 (Source: Star Tribune)
here about the historic Ford Building in Minneapolis ? yes, Minneapolis.
The Ford Center, at 420 Fifth St. North, (otherwise known as adjacent to Target Field) has undergone an extensive, $40-million-plus renovation over the past year or so, and now HGA Architects and Engineers has moved in.
HGA takes up four floors of the 11-story brick st... ...
Read the full story at Star Tribune
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Source: http://feeds.shanghainews.net/?rid=202081297&cat=3a8a80d6f705f8cc
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Thursday, December 22, 2011
DR Congo election: Kabila sworn in as rival challenges his legitimacy
Congo's President Joseph Kabila took the oath of office today for his second term. Opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi?promised to take his own oath Friday, and announced that Kabila's government was 'dismissed.'
Congo has a new president, and by Friday, it might have two.
Skip to next paragraphOn Tuesday, incumbent President Joseph Kabila took the oath of office after the official results from Nov. 28 elections were confirmed by the Supreme Court. The court confirmation closed the door on any investigation of an election process that international observers called ?seriously flawed? and full of irregularities.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement expressing the Obama administration?s ?disappointment? with Mr. Kabila?s decision to take the oath of office without conducting a review of the electoral process. The European Union also expressed disappointment and said the EU would ?reevaluate? its support for Congo in the coming year.
The South African government and Zimbabwe?s President Robert Mugabe, meanwhile, congratulated Kabila. Mr. Mugabe, the only foreign head of state to attend Kabila?s oath of office ceremony, said that Kabila had ?won thunderously against [opposition leader Etienne] Tshisekedi. This must send a clear message to those who had other ideas.?
Now all eyes have turned to Mr. Tshisekedi, the opposition leader. Mr. Kabila has deployed Army tanks on the streets of the capital, Kinshasa, to prevent protests, and Tshisekedi?s spokesman has said the opposition leader still intends on taking his own separate oath of office on Friday.
"I consider myself from this day on the president elected by the Congolese people,? Mr. Tshisekedi reportedly told his supporters on Sunday.
?I ask you to be calm and serene because a winner doesn't get agitated, does not worry, to the contrary, he remains calm,? [he was quoted by Congo News Agency as saying]. ?As for those who are causing our troubles, starting with Mr. Kabila, I ask all of you to look for him, wherever he is in the country, and bring him to me alive. Whoever brings me Kabila here, handcuffed, will receive a very big prize. Also, Mr. Kabila?s government is dismissed from this day on. All officers, lieutenants, corporals and soldiers of the Congolese armed forces, I order you to obey to the legitimate authority. The same goes for the national and sovereign police force.?
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Monday, December 19, 2011
Sniping pits old foes, new allies: France, Britain (AP)
PARIS ? France and Britain escalated an unusual bout of sniping Friday, as Prime Minister David Cameron took a swipe at religious freedoms in France while the French finance minister criticized the U.K. economy.
The latest cross-Channel squabbling ? triggered in part over a tense European Union summit last week ? bared efforts to win political points at home at a time when the financial crisis has pinched both governments.
The rabble-rousing also comes despite the lockstep military effort between the two countries in the NATO-led air campaign that helped spell the end of Moammar Gadhafi's longtime reign in Libya.
France and Britain, rivals for centuries, have been strong ? if at times uncomfortable ? allies since the 20th century. As western Europe's top military powers, they cooperate closely on defense and were joint pillars of the NATO-led air campaign that helped spell the end of Moammar Gadhafi's reign in Libya.
Friday's war of words got going as French Finance Minister Francois Baroin sought to deflect investor fears across the Channel to Britain, hours after the national statistics agency predicted France will slide into recession.
"We would prefer to be French right now than British, in terms of the economy," Baroin told Europe-1 radio.
Echoing comments from several top French officials this week, Baroin suggested ratings agencies should be paying more attention to Britain: "The economic situation of Britain is worrying today."
With French presidential and legislative elections on tap next spring, President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservatives have been on the defensive in recent weeks amid rumblings that France ? the eurozone's No. 2 economy after Germany ? may soon face a credit-rating downgrade.
Late Friday, Fitch ratings agency said it was keeping France's credit grade at Triple-A, but was revising its outlook on French sovereign debt to negative, from stable.
In Brussels last week, Cameron was the only European Union leader out of 27 to refuse to consider a new treaty that would impose tougher controls on state budgets to avert wider financial crisis. His decision left him isolated.
But in Britain, Cameron has been praised by many for his decision to hardball his European allies over their fiscal pact ? and some opinion polls show his governing Conservative Party winning a clear boost from the tough stance.
In a speech on religion in Oxford, Cameron appeared to take a swipe at France, switching focus from the economy to tolerance for minorities in the two countries. "Many people tell me it is much easier to be Jewish or Muslim here in Britain than it is in a secular country like France," Cameron said.
Britain's deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, leader of the pro-European Liberal Democrats who opposed Cameron's move to snub the European pact, urged French Prime Minister Francois Fillon to end the sniping from Paris.
During a trip to Brazil on Thursday, Fillon ? whose wife Penelope is Welsh ? acknowledged to reporters that France's debt was too high, before pointing to "our British friends who are even more indebted than we are."
"For the moment, the ratings agencies don't seem to notice," he said.
Clegg's office said Fillon had called him from Brazil to say that "it had not been his intention to call into question" Britain's credit rating.
Meanwhile, Clegg told Fillon that the recent remarks by some French officials about the British economy were "simply unacceptable and that steps should be taken to calm the rhetoric," the statement said.
Late Thursday, French statistics agency Insee forecast that the country's economy would shrink this quarter and next amid a worsening outlook for the whole 17-nation eurozone. Insee predicted the economy would contract 0.2 percent in the fourth quarter and 0.1 percent in the first quarter of 2012, and forecast renewed but weak growth in the second quarter.
___
David Stringer in London contributed to this report.
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Subprime scandal: ex-Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac execs accused of fraud
The SEC filed a civil fraud lawsuit Friday against six former top executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying they misled investors about the subprime-loan risks they faced.
Six former top executives at the housing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac misled investors about the subprime-loan risks they faced, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged in a civil fraud lawsuit Friday.
Skip to next paragraphThose charged include the men who were chief executives of these government-chartered mortgage enterprises. Daniel Mudd headed Fannie Mae and Richard Syron led Freddie Mac as the housing boom ended and the financial crisis began.
The lawsuit is significant because some finance experts have sharply criticized the federal government for failing to prosecute more executives who may have contributed to the financial meltdown, and because the future of Fannie and Freddie is now a matter of hot political debate.
"Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives told the world that their subprime exposure was substantially smaller than it really was," said Robert Khuzami, SEC's enforcement director, in filing the suit in New York. "These material misstatements occurred during a time of acute investor interest in financial institutions' exposure to subprime loans, and misled the market about the amount of risk."
Fannie and Freddie play a major role in the US housing market, providing guarantees for the safety of loans that conform to their standards. Banks and other mortgage lenders are able to issue so-called conforming loans and resell them in bundles to investors (who then reap a stream of income from monthly mortgage payments).
By doing this, the companies have cultivated a broad supply of credit for housing, keeping the mortgage market moving even as other private firms were pulling back during the crisis.
But the firms are oddball entities. Before the crisis, they were publicly owned companies, seeking to show profits and strength to their private shareholders. But they also operated with a Congress-derived mandate to play their unique role in the US mortgage business.
The lawsuit alleges that, when it came to talking to their own shareholders, the six executives played down the financial risks. In the end, by late in 2008, Fannie and Freddie were placed under federal conservatorship. They continue to operate, but their long-term future is a matter that Congress will need to address in the coming year or so.
Fannie and Freddie both entered into agreements with the government on Friday, accepting responsibility without admitting or denying the charges. The government-controlled companies also agreed to cooperate with the SEC on the cases against the former executives.
The Justice Department has opened up probes into Fannie and Freddie but has not charged anyone with a crime.
In a statement released through his attorney, Mr. Mudd said the lawsuit "should never have been brought" and said the government reviewed and approved all the financial disclosures of the company.
"Every piece of material data about loans held by Fannie Mae was known to the United States government to the investing public," Mudd said. "The SEC is wrong, and I look forward to a court where fairness and reason ? not politics ? is the standard for justice."
Mr. Syron's lawyers said the case was "without merit" and said the term "subprime had no uniform definition in the market" at that time.
According to the lawsuit, Fannie told investors in 2007 that it had roughly $4.8 billion worth of subprime loans on its books, or just 0.2 percent of its portfolio. The SEC says that Fannie actually had about $43 billion worth of products targeted to borrowers with weak credit, or 11 percent of its holdings. The suit cites similar numbers for Freddie.
SEC documents on Friday quoted a Freddie Mac legal counsel warning the firm's CEO in May 2007, "We should reconsider making as sweeping a statement as we have 'basically no subprime exposure.' " In a speech, Syron still used the line, "basically no subprime exposure," according to the SEC.
So far, the companies have cost taxpayers almost $150 billion ? the largest bailout of the financial crisis. They could cost up to $259 billion, according to its government regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
In July, Citigroup paid just $75 million to settle similar civil charges with the SEC. The company's chief financial officer and head of investor relations were accused of failing to disclose more than $50 billion worth of potential losses from subprime mortgages. The two executives charged paid $100,000 and $80,000 in civil penalties.
Such lawsuits are just part of America's coming to terms with the financial crisis.
Finance experts say that fraud played a role in the housing bubble and crisis, but that other causes were also prominent.
The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, tasked by Congress to determine the causes of the crisis, reached a split verdict.
Its report cited failures of corporate governance and ethics. But it also cited broader problems such as failed risk-management practices.
"The crisis was a result of human mistakes, misjudgments, and misdeeds," the report said in part.
? Material from wire services was used in this report.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Sprint Nukes Carrier IQ [Carrier Iq]
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/YJ3d6ejx-ik/sprint-nukes-carrier-iq
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Euro zone decline eases, recession still looks certain: PMI (Reuters)
LONDON (Reuters) ? The decline in the euro zone's private sector eased a little this month, but a recession still looks inevitable with the region's periphery struggling badly, a key business survey showed on Thursday.
Markit's Eurozone Composite Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), which measures the activity of thousands of euro zone companies, rose for a second month in December to 47.9 from 47.0, confounding expectations for a fall to 46.5.
But the preliminary reading lingered well below the 50 mark that divides growth and contraction for a fourth month.
Survey compiler Markit said France and Germany were responsible for the improved headline figure, while debt-laden peripheral countries remained firmly in contraction territory.
"It's an encouraging sign that (the index) didn't fall any further. Quite what will happen henceforth remains highly uncertain," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.
But overall the data point to a deep contraction.
"The euro zone suffered its worst quarter for two and a half years in the final three months of 2011, with the PMI data suggesting that the region's economy is likely to have contracted by 0.6 percent."
That forecast is worse than the median consensus of 0.3 percent in a Reuters poll of economists on Wednesday.
Williamson pointed to steep falls in incoming new orders and very low levels of confidence about the year ahead in the services industry as reasons to expect more decline.
"Whether the rates of decline continue to moderate or accelerate is largely in the hands of the political leaders, and financial markets in their reaction to any changes in the sovereign debt situation," said Williamson.
EU leaders last Friday took a historic step towards fiscal union at a summit last week, but economists have warned this will do little to repair a debt crisis that is choking off market funding for Spain and Italy.
Williamson warned that further weakness in these peripheral economies could yet knock the stronger core economies of France and Germany off track.
Taking a step back, he said the surveys could be viewed as a sign that the euro zone economy is beginning to restructure itself although improvements in output so far haven't been forthcoming.
Perhaps the notable bright spot in the composite PMI was the jobs index, which rose to 50.9 from 50.1 in November. Williamson said this was encouraging, but he noted that this also was largely due to Franco-German strength, with dole queues lengthening in the periphery.
The services PMI, which accounts for the bulk of the euro zone economy, rose to 48.3 in December from 47.5. But the survey's business expectations index stayed at 53.5, low by historical standards.
The manufacturing index also rose modestly, to 46.9 from 46.4, but still its fifth month below the breakeven 50 point.
Its output component, which feeds directly into the composite PMI, showed a bigger rise -- to 47.1 from 45.7.
Factory order books continued to shrink sharply, however, albeit at a slightly reduced pace, with that sub-index rising to 43.3 from 42.4 in November, which was its lowest since May 2009.
Overall, Williamson cautioned against reading the improvement in the headline figures as a meaningful step towards growth.
"It's really too early to say whether this represents a proper turning point and that the situation won't deteriorate in the coming months," he said.
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