Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Rotblat's pursuit of nuclear peace

Edwin Lyman, contributor

rotblat.jpgNOBEL laureate and eminent scientist Joseph Rotblat was a man of inexhaustible energy, optimism and dedication. In this new biography, author and radiation oncologist Andrew Brown faithfully captures his character. Keeper of the Nuclear Conscience chronicles Rotblat's journey from his beginnings in a prosperous Jewish family in Warsaw, Poland, before the first world war, to his rapid rise from electrician to internationally prominent nuclear physicist, and ultimately his committed opposition to nuclear weapons.

A prot?g? of neutron discoverer James Chadwick, Rotblat had been one of the scientists on the Manhattan Project. Yet he left in 1944, and after the atomic bombs were dropped on Japan in 1945, his concern about the misuse of nuclear science drove him to become a vocal opponent of nuclear weapons. He went on to pursue a career in medical physics, and with the like-minded Bertrand Russell, organised the first Pugwash conference in 1957 in Canada.

Even as cold war mistrust reached fever pitch, this path-breaking and audacious event brought together Soviet and western scientists to discuss risks from weapons of mass destruction. Its success led to a series of conferences, continuing to this day, that helped lay the groundwork for a number of arms control agreements, including the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty. Rotblat and the Pugwash conferences were jointly awarded the Nobel peace prize in 1995.

Brown's great respect for his subject is apparent, but this is no hagiography. He hints at a personality that could be prickly and arrogant, and also takes a closer look at Rotblat's famous resignation from the Manhattan Project. By Rotblat's own account, he lost interest when Allied intelligence was convinced the Nazis had abandoned their own atomic bomb project. Although his moral qualms clearly were a major motivating factor, Brown presents a more complex story.

Whatever his motivations, Rotblat's departure from the Manhattan Project sealed his fate as an outsider: he learned about its "success" from a news report. Still, he was determined to play a major role in establishing policies to control the bomb that he had helped to develop.

His stature as a nuclear physicist enabled him to provide high-level expert advice and his public warnings about the dangers of fallout from hydrogen bomb tests soon rankled with the US and UK nuclear weapons establishments.

At times, Keeper of the Nuclear Conscience seems as much a history of the Pugwash conferences as a biography of Rotblat. Yet Brown makes a convincing case that the two were so closely intertwined that Rotblat deserves some credit for all its accomplishments.

Beyond its successes, the book also details Pugwash's many internecine conflicts - such as whether the organisation should pursue Rotblat's vision of an internationally verified nuclear weapon-free world or a more pragmatic, incremental approach to arms control. Rotblat, who periodically flirted with the idea of world government, was long concerned that the concept of national sovereignty enshrined in the UN charter hindered the international inspection and enforcement necessary to abolish nuclear weapons, and ultimately war itself. Today, when many nations routinely invoke "national sovereignty" to block international initiatives to slow the proliferation of sensitive nuclear facilities, increase the security of nuclear materials and strengthen the safety of nuclear power plants, it is hard to deny that Rotblat had a point.

Though he could do without so much speculation about the feelings of various players, Brown's use of numerous interviews, including one with Rotblat himself, make for compelling reading. Overall, Keeper of the Nuclear Conscience is a fine work that lucidly depicts the challenges faced by Rotblat and his Pugwash colleagues as they relentlessly pursued a more peaceful world.

Edwin Lyman us a senior scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Washington, DC.

Book Information
Keeper of the Nuclear Conscience: The life and work of Joseph Rotblat
by Andrew Brown
Published by: Oxford University Press
?18.99/$29.95

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Don?t Fret Over Super PACs (Theagitator)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

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Congress exempt from some laws, but others apply (AP)

The Senate is opening debate on legislation to ban insider financial trading by members of Congress, though the Securities and Exchange Commission says lawmakers already are subject to the same prohibitions as other investors. Congress, however, is exempt from provisions of several other federal laws. In 1995, the House and Senate passed the Congressional Accountability Act, which did apply many civil rights, labor and workplace safety statutes to the legislative branch.

Congress is still exempt from:

_The Freedom of Information Act.

_Investigatory subpoenas to obtain information for safety and health probes.

_Protections against retaliation for whistleblowers.

_Having to post notices of worker rights in offices.

_Prosecution for retaliating against employees who report safety and health hazards.

_Having to train employees about workplace rights and legal remedies.

_Record-keeping requirements for workplace injuries and illnesses.

___

The Congressional Accountability Act applied the following provisions to the legislative branch:

_The Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967.

_The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

_Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

_The Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988.

_The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.

_The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993.

_The Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute that allows collective bargaining by some federal workers.

_The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.

_The Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

_The Veterans' Employment and Re-employment Rights Act of 1994.

_The Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act of 1989, which requires employers to provide notice 60 days in advance of covered plant closings and covered mass layoffs.

_Provisions of the Veterans Employment Opportunity Act, which gives veterans a preference for federal jobs.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_go_co/us_congress_under_law

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Monday, January 30, 2012

'All in the Family' director John Rich dies at 86 (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Television director John Rich, who won an Emmy Award for the memorable "All in the Family" scene showing Sammy Davis Jr. planting a kiss on Archie Bunker, has died in Los Angeles at 86.

Rich also won an Emmy for "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

Directors Guild of America spokeswoman Sahar Moridani tells the Los Angeles Times ( http://lat.ms/yg21r5) that Rich died Sunday morning at his Los Angeles home after a brief illness. No other details were released.

His 50-year Hollywood career included "I Married Joan," "Our Miss Brooks," "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza." He also directed episodes or pilots of "The Twilight Zone," "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.," "Gilligan's Island," "The Brady Bunch," "Maude," "Good Times," "The Jeffersons," "Barney Miller" and "Newhart."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_en_tv/us_obit_john_rich

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US stocks down on Europe worries (AP)

NEW YORK ? Stocks dropped and yields for ultra-safe U.S. government debt fell to their lowest level this year Monday while financial markets around the world waited for Greece to nail down a deal to reduce its crushing debt.

Greece and the investors who bought its national bonds were close to a deal over the weekend. The investors would swap their bonds for replacements with half the face value.

Greece needs the deal to secure a crucial installment of bailout loans and avoid missing an upcoming bond payment. But the deal has been in the works for weeks and could still fall apart.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 72 points to 12,588 as of just before 1 p.m. EST, a drop of 0.6 percent. Financial stocks were the worst performers in the broader market, with Bank of America down 3.3 percent.

Borrowing costs for European countries with the largest debt burdens shot higher. The two-year interest rate for Portugal's government debt jumped to 21 percent from 14 percent last week.

U.S. Treasury yields sank to their lowest level this year as traders parked cash in the safest assets. The yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 1.83 percent. It was trading above 2 percent just last week.

The euro dropped 0.6 percent against the dollar, and European stocks sank. French and Spanish stocks closed down 1.6 percent, Italian stocks down 1.2 percent and German stocks down 1 percent.

The focus on Greece has shifted attention away from what's going well in the U.S., said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. Companies have reported stronger quarterly earnings, and hiring has picked up.

"Our collective breath has been held for so many months," Ablin said.

While the market is waiting on an agreement to cut Greece's debt and contain a wider European debt crisis, even a messy default could eventually lead to a stronger U.S. stock market, he said.

"If it finally happens and the world doesn't fall apart, maybe we'll have a reason to take risk again," he said. "Once you pull off the Band-Aid, it feels better."

An agreement between Greece and its creditors could serve as a blueprint for other European countries with heavy debt burdens. Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG, pointed to Portugal's soaring bond yields in a note to clients.

"At this rate, Portugal is going to move from the back to front burner in very, very short order," he said.

European leaders are also gathering in Brussels, focusing on how to stimulate economic growth when huge government spending cuts threaten to push many countries back into recession.

The latest data showed Spain's economy shrank in the last three months of 2011.

In other trading in the United States, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index fell nine points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,307. The Nasdaq composite lost 12 points, or 0.4 percent, to 2,804.

The Commerce Department said Americans' income rose in December by the most in nine months. That's slightly better than what economists expected.

Among stocks making big moves Friday:

? The fast food chain Wendy's dropped 2 percent. The Wendy's Co. said Monday that a key measure of earnings dropped 30 percent in the fourth quarter. Charges for selling Arby's offset the effects of a jump in sales.

? PharMerica Corp. plunged 12 percent. The Federal Trade Commission said it was suing to block rival pharmacy company Omnicare Inc. from completing its $457 million takeover of PharMerica. The agency said a merger of the country's two largest long-term care pharmacies would raise the cost of Medicare prescription plans covering drugs for nursing home residents. Stock in Omnicare Inc. inched up less than 1 percent.

? Thomas & Betts Corp. soared 22 percent on news that Swiss engineering group ABB Ltd. agreed to buy the maker of power lines and other electrical products for $3.9 billion in cash.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/us_wall_street

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Iran says to stop some oil sales, inspectors visit (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iran sent conflicting signals in a dispute with the West over its nuclear ambitions on Sunday, vowing to stop oil exports soon to "some" countries but postponing a parliamentary debate on a proposed halt to such sales to the European Union.

The Islamic Republic declared itself optimistic about a visit by U.N. nuclear experts that began on Sunday but also warned the inspectors to be "professional" or see Tehran reducing cooperation with the world body on atomic matters.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection delegation will seek to advance efforts to resolve a row about nuclear work which Iran says is for making electricity but the West suspects is aimed at seeking a nuclear weapon.

Tensions with the West rose this month when Washington and the European Union (EU) imposed the toughest sanctions yet in a drive to force Tehran to provide more information on its nuclear program. The measures take direct aim at the ability of OPEC's second biggest oil exporter to sell its crude.

In a remark suggesting Iran would fight sanctions with sanctions, Iran's oil minister said the Islamic state would soon stop exporting crude to "some" countries.

Rostam Qasemi did not identify the countries but was speaking less than a week after the EU's 27 member states agreed to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1.

"Soon we will cut exporting oil to some countries," the state news agency IRNA quoted Qasemi as saying.

Iranian lawmakers had been due to debate a bill on Sunday that could have cut off oil supplies to the EU in days, in a move calculated to hit ailing European economies before the EU-wide ban on took effect.

But Iranian MPs postponed discussing the measure.

"No such draft bill has yet been drawn up and nothing has been submitted to the parliament. What exists is a notion by the deputies which is being seriously pursued to bring it to a conclusive end," Emad Hosseini, spokesman for parliament's Energy Committee, told Mehr.

Iranian officials say sanctions have had no impact on the country.

"Iranian oil has its own market, even if we cut our exports to Europe," oil minister Qasemi said.

Another lawmaker, Mohammad Karim Abedi, said the bill would oblige the government to cut Iran's oil supplies to the European Union for five to 15 years, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

REFINERS

By turning the sanctions back on the EU, lawmakers hope to deny the bloc a six-month window it had planned to give those of its members most dependent on Iranian oil - including some of the most economically fragile in southern Europe - to adapt.

The Mehr news agency quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying during a trip to Ethiopia: "We are very optimistic about the outcome of the IAEA delegation's visit to Iran ... Their questions will be answered during this visit."

"We have nothing to hide and Iran has no clandestine (nuclear) activities."

Striking a sterner tone, Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, warned the IAEA team to carry out a "logical, professional and technical" job or suffer the consequences.

"This visit is a test for the IAEA. The route for further cooperation will be open if the team carries out its duties professionally," said Larijani, state media reported.

"Otherwise, if the IAEA turns into a tool (for major powers to pressure Iran), then Iran will have no choice but to consider a new framework in its ties with the agency."

Iran's parliament in the past has approved bills to oblige the government to review its level of cooperation with the IAEA. However, Iran's top officials have always underlined the importance of preserving ties with the watchdog body.

Before departing from Vienna, IAEA Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts said he hoped the Islamic state would tackle the watchdog's concerns "regarding the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program."

PARLIAMENT DEBATE

The head of the state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said late on Saturday that the export embargo would hit European refiners, such as Italy's Eni, that are owed oil from Iran as part of long-standing buy-back contracts under which they take payment for past oilfield projects in crude.

"The European companies will have to abide by the provisions of the buyback contracts," Ahmad Qalebani told the ISNA news agency. "If they act otherwise, they will be the parties to incur the relevant losses and will subject the repatriation of their capital to problems."

Italy's Eni is owed $1.4-1.5 billion in oil for contracts it executed in Iran in 2000 and 2001 and has been assured by EU policymakers its buyback contracts will not be part of the European embargo, but the prospect of Iran acting first may put that into doubt.

Eni declined to comment on Sunday.

The EU accounted for 25 percent of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011. However, analysts say the global oil market will not be overly disrupted if parliament votes for the bill that would turn off the oil tap for Europe.

Potentially more disruptive to the world oil market and global security is the risk of Iran's standoff with the West escalating into military conflict.

Iran has repeatedly said it could close the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane if sanctions succeed in preventing it from exporting crude, a move Washington said it would not tolerate.

"CONSTRUCTIVE SPIRIT"

The IAEA's visit may be an opportunity to defuse some of the tension. Director General Yukiya Amano has called on Iran to show a "constructive spirit" and Tehran has said it is willing to discuss "any issues" of interest to the U.N. agency, including the military-linked concerns.

But Western diplomats, who have often accused Iran of using such offers of dialogue as a stalling tactic while it presses ahead with its nuclear program, say they doubt Tehran will show the kind of concrete cooperation the IAEA wants.

They say Iran may offer limited concessions and transparency to try to ease intensifying international pressure, but that this is unlikely to amount to the full cooperation required.

The outcome could determine whether Iran will face further isolation or whether there are prospects for resuming wider talks between Tehran and the major powers on the nuclear row.

Salehi said Iran "soon" would write a letter to the E.U.'s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to discuss "a date and venue" for fresh nuclear talks.

"Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in this letter, which may be sent in the coming days, also may mention other issues as well," Salehi said, without elaborating.

The last round of talks in January 2011 between Jalili and Ashton, who represents major powers, failed over Iran's refusal to halt its sensitive nuclear work.

"The talks will be successful as the other party seems interested in finding a way out of this deadlock," Salehi said.

(Additional reporting by Hashem Kalantari, Robin Pomeroy and Hossein Jaseb in Tehran, Svetlana Kovalyova in Milan and Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Writing by Parisa Hafezi and Robin Pomeroy; Editing by William Maclean)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/wl_nm/us_iran

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Save Money on Car Insurance with a Lump Sum Payment | Cheap ...

When you purchase a car insurance policy, you are given the option of paying one lump sum payment for your insurance coverage or paying monthly payments. Many people decide that they will pay their auto insurance premiums in monthly installments. However, this can be a costly mistake to make each month.

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On average, people could save around $23.50 per month or $141 for a six month policy. If you add it up then you would save more than $280 a year just by paying for your auto insurance up front. Many people have coverage for 50 years so that could save thousands of dollars.

?

Many people will say that they cannot afford to pay their insurance premiums up front. Times are tough and many families are struggling. They do not see the added benefit to not paying in monthly installments. One great advantage is that you never have to worry about your auto insurance coverage lapsing or being canceled. If you pay up front then you can make sure that your premiums are never late. This is a great safety net for families. If you suddenly become unemployed, at least you know your auto insurance premiums are paid up to date.

?

Many auto insurance companies also charge convenience fees. For example, if you make your premium payments online or by phone, you will typically be charged several dollars. If you use these services every month then the charges really do add up.

?

It is a good idea for people to consider budgeting ahead for their insurance premiums. Every six months, a driver will have to have their auto insurance policy renewed. You can set aside money each month in a savings account so that once your policy comes up for renewal, you can pay for it in one payment.

?

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It is important to remember that saving money needs to be a priority. Always shop around for your car insurance coverage. You do not want to have any regrets if you find an insurance policy with lower insurance premiums somewhere else.

?

If people can search hard for low car insurance rates then they will be more likely to be able to make a lump sum payment. People who are in financial dire straits should not have to pay more because they have limited financial means. Everyone should be able to save as much money as possible and make sure that they can pay their insurance premiums on time.

Source: http://www.cheapcarinsurance.net/save-money-on-car-insurance-with-a-lump-sum-payment/

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ATM Gives Out Dead Mouse [Wtf]

You know the economy is really going to bloody hell when ATMs start to pay bank customers with dead rodents, which is exactly what happened to this guy on the right. He got his cash and the dead Mickey on the left. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/eVkeiqBUdXg/this-atm-gave-out-this-dead-mouse-after-delivering-cash

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Americans want a certifiably smart president (Politico)

Right before his GOP presidential campaign crashed and burned, Texas Gov. Rick Perry joked about his mediocre academic record. If he?d paid attention in class, however, he might have realized that Americans no longer consider poor academic performance a joking matter for a presidential candidate.

Indeed, for all the talk about the weaknesses of the GOP field of contenders, this has been America?s most highly educated group of competitors for a major party presidential nomination.

Continue Reading

Among those vying in the GOP, all but one earned at least one post-graduate degree: valedictorian Mitt Romney, M.B.A.-J.D.; Rick Santorum, M.B.A.-J.D.; former professor Newt Gingrich, history Ph.D.; and Ron Paul, M.D.

The original field included Rep. Michele Bachmann, J.D.-LLM; Herman Cain, M.S.; and Tim Pawlenty, J.D. The slacker of the group, Jon Huntsman, earned only an Ivy League degree.

The academic standards for president have been rising since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Bill Clinton was the first Rhodes scholar. He handed the Oval Office keys to our first M.B.A. president, George W. Bush.

Barack Obama held one of the highest post-graduate honors, editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law Review. The presidential and vice presidential nominees on every Democrat ticket in the past 20 years have a post-graduate degree. This is also true of the only successful GOP ticket in this period, Bush (M.B.A.) and Dick Cheney (M.A.).

There has never been a Ph.D. president during the modern era or anyone holding two post-graduate degrees, or a medical license. President Harry S. Truman never even graduated from college.

In 1968, Duke Law School graduate Richard M. Nixon became the first chief executive in the modern era to have such a post-graduate degree. It took another 24 years before America elected a president with a similar education.

Starting with Clinton, the education of a president changed. Active duty service in our armed forces had been expected for those who would have their finger on the nuclear trigger. But from Clinton on, that is no more.

The office of presidency was unlike any other when devised in 1787. The founders knew George Washington would be our first commander in chief. They gave the power to pick his successors to a small group of elites, dubbed the Electoral College. John Adams, then Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe followed ? all Founding Fathers. But by 1824, a new generation of Americans demanded a more populist process.

The president as ?common man? era dawned with Gen. Andrew Jackson?s election in 1828. It culminated in the election of the ultimate ordinary yet extraordinary man, Abraham Lincoln.

Born with the humblest of origins, Lincoln was not a celebrated general and lacked political titles previously associated with presidents. Not since Jefferson had someone become president by winning the admiration of his peers with a unique, insightful intellect.

Yet Lincoln had no college background. President Grover Cleveland, last elected in 1892, like Lincoln, became a lawyer by ?reading? for the bar.

In 1896, Americans elected William McKinley, an Albany Law School alumnus, as their president. Thus began a new era in the education of a president. Since then, the only chief executive not to get a degree was Truman.

Since Nixon, five out of our past eight presidents had post-graduate degrees. Ronald Reagan, elected in 1980, is the last non-Ivy League grad.

Yet, in the postwar era, the most consequential presidents have been the non-elite educated: Truman, Lyndon B. Johnson and Reagan.

Given the rise of the post-graduate presidency, could any of these giants be elected today?

Paul Goldman is former chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia. Mark J. Rozell is professor of public policy at George Mason University.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories0112_72029_html/44331358/SIG=11mfnvg7l/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/72029.html

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Video: New Quantum Dot Tech Could Boost Current Optical Fiber Band Tenfold

Link Information - Click to View

Video: New Quantum Dot Tech Could Boost Current Optical Fiber Band Tenfold
Current optical communications schemes rely on a narrow 1.55 micron wavelength band of about 10 terahertz, a band in which optical signals can be well controlled and loss of signal/data is fairly low. But to open up optical networks to the high data load of the future, we need to open up the span of available wavelength.

Source: POPSCI
Posted on: Friday, Jan 27, 2012, 8:55am
Views: 8

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117146/Video__New_Quantum_Dot_Tech_Could_Boost_Current_Optical_Fiber_Band_Tenfold

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Ford Motor Co.'s 2011 profits at a glance (AP)

Ford Motor Co.'s 2011 profits at a glance - Yahoo! News Skip to navigation ? Skip to content ? AP By The Associated Press The Associated Press ? 1?hr?8?mins?ago
Ford Motor Co. released its full-year earnings on Friday. This shows the automaker's operating profits, by region, and the comparison to profits in 2010.
Region 2011 Operating Profit/Loss 2010 Operating Profit Percent change
North America $6.2 million $5.4 billion 15 percent
South America $861 million $1 billion -14 percent
Europe -$27 million $182 million -114 percent
Asia-Pacific/Africa -$92 million $189 million -148 percent
Source: Ford Motor Co.
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  • Copyright ? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_ford_glance

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    British police arrest 5 in tabloid bribery probe (AP)

    LONDON ? The criminal investigation into British tabloid skullduggery turned full force on a second Rupert Murdoch publication Saturday, with the arrest of four current and former journalists from The Sun on suspicion of bribing police.

    A serving police officer was also held, and authorities searched the newspaper's offices as part an investigation into illegal payments for information.

    The arrests spread the scandal over tabloid wrongdoing ? which has already shut down one Murdoch paper, the News of the World ? to Britain's best-selling newspaper.

    London police said two men aged 48 and one aged 56 were arrested on suspicion of corruption early in the morning at homes in and around London. A 42-year-old man was detained later at a London police station.

    Murdoch's News Corp. confirmed that all four were current or former Sun employees. The BBC and other British media identified them as former managing editor Graham Dudman, former deputy editor Fergus Shanahan, current head of news Chris Pharo and crime editor Mike Sullivan.

    A fifth man, a 29-year-old police officer, was arrested at the London station where he works.

    Officers searched the men's homes and the east London headquarters of the media mogul's British newspapers for evidence.

    The investigation into whether reporters illegally paid police for information is running parallel to a police inquiry into phone hacking by Murdoch's now-defunct News of the World.

    Police said Saturday's arrests were made based on information provided by the Management and Standards Committee of Murdoch's News Corp., the internal body tasked with rooting out wrongdoing.

    News Corp. said it was cooperating with police.

    "News Corporation made a commitment last summer that unacceptable news gathering practices by individuals in the past would not be repeated," it said in a statement.

    In an email to staff after the arrests, Tom Mockridge ? chief executive of Murdoch's British operation, News International ? said the internal investigation into wrongdoing at The Sun "is well advanced."

    "News International is confronting past mistakes and is making fundamental changes about how we operate which are essential for our business," Mockridge said.

    "Despite this very difficult news, we are determined that News International will emerge a stronger and more trusted organization," he added.

    Thirteen people have now been arrested in the bribery probe, though none has yet been charged. They include Rebekah Brooks, former chief executive of Murdoch's News International; ex-News of the World editor Andy Coulson ? who is also Prime Minister David Cameron's former communications chief; and journalists from the News of the World and The Sun.

    Two of the London police force's top officers resigned in the wake of the revelation last July that the News of the World had eavesdropped on the cell phone voicemail messages of celebrities, athletes, politicians and even an abducted teenager in its quest for stories.

    Murdoch shut down the 168-year-old tabloid amid a wave of public revulsion, and the scandal has triggered a continuing public inquiry into media ethics and the relationship between the press, police and politicians.

    An earlier police investigation failed to find evidence that hacking went beyond one reporter and a private investigator, who were both jailed in 2007 for eavesdropping on the phones of royal staff.

    But News Corp. has now acknowledged it was much more widespread.

    Last week the company agreed to pay damages to 37 hacking victims, including actor Jude Law, soccer star Ashley Cole and British politician John Prescott.

    The furor that consumed the News of the World continues to rattle other parts of Murdoch's media empire.

    As well as investigating phone hacking and allegations that journalists paid police for information, detectives are looking into claims of computer hacking by Murdoch papers.

    News Corp. has admitted that the News of the World hacked the emails as well as the phone of Chris Shipman, the son of serial killer Harold Shipman. And The Times of London has acknowledged that a former reporter tried to intercept emails to unmask an anonymous blogger.

    News Corp. is preparing to launch a new Sunday newspaper ? likely called the Sunday Sun ? to replace the News of the World.

    ___

    Jill Lawless can be reached at: http://twitter.com/JillLawless

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_phone_hacking

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    Unsold goods weigh on future growth

    By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer

    ?

    The U.S. economy perked up late last year as hiring accelerated?and factories ramped up production.?Unfortunately, a lot of what those factories made is still sitting in warehouses and on store shelves.

    That doesn?t bode well for growth in the coming months. ?

    At first blush, the numbers posted by the Commerce Department for gross domestic product in the last three months of 2011 looked strong. Overall growth advanced by 2.8 percent on an annual basis, a little weaker than economists had expected based on a series of other positive economic reports. That was much better than the 1.8 percent pace in the third quarter and the best showing since the second quarter of 2010.

    But much of the fourth quarter growth came from businesses restocking inventories, which swelled by $56.0 billion, adding nearly 2 percentage points to GDP growth. The so-called ?final sales? number, which tracks how much was actually sold, rose a meager 0.8 percent.

    ?The pickup in GDP growth doesn't look half as good when you realize that most of it was due to inventory accumulation," said Paul Ashworth, chief U.S. economist at Capital Economics. ?Despite the apparent improvement in some of the incoming economic data, it still looks like ... another disappointing year."

    Ashworth is among a number of private economists who see the fourth quarter growth spurt easing this year. He expects to see U.S. GDP advance by just 1.5 percent in 2012.

    Federal Reserve officials echoed that prediction this week, though they?re?a bit more optimistic. The central bank is looking for growth of 2.7 percent in 2012, but the latest forecast was trimmed by two-tenths of a percentage point. The Fed expects unemployment to drop as low as 8.2 percent by the end of the year.

    Vote: Will the economy continue to accelerate?

    The lowered growth forecast prompted central bankers to extend their pledge to keep interest rates at or near zero for another year; they now expect to hold rates at rock bottom until at least 2014 to try to encourage businesses and consumers to borrow and spend more money.

    Business investment slowed sharply in the fourth quarter after heavy spending earlier last year.

    Consumers continued to do their part; consumer spending grew at a 2 percent annual rate, up a bit from the third quarter. Car sales zoomed ahead as the average age of the cars and light trucks on the road hit record levels. The replacement of those worn-out vehicles helped boost car sales by 14.8 percent.

    Consumers are feeling a bit better about the outlook for the economy. A separate report Friday showed the University of Michigan consumer sentiment index edging up for the fourth straight month. But the level of confidence remains weak.

    ?Despite the rise, this and other confidence measures remain in recession territory due to global sovereign debt fear, Congressional dysfunction, and high food and energy prices,? said economist Mike Englund at Action Economics

    Consumers have also fallen back on car loans and credit cards to maintain their spending.?Consumer borrowing jumped by $20.4 billion in November, the Federal Reserve said Monday. That was the third straight increase and the largest monthly gain in a decade. Consumers have boosted borrowing in 13 of the past 14 months.

    The gradual improvement in the job market may explain some of the rise in borrowing. But many households are also leaning harder on debt because their wages are rising as fast as the price of the goods and services they need to buy.

    A breakdown of the fourth quarter GDP numbers, with Mark Olson, Treliant Risk Advisors co-chairman/former Fed governor; CNBC's Steve Liesman & Rick Santelli

    Personal incomes rose at an 0.8 percent annual rate, according to Friday?s GDP report, after falling for the last two quarters. Consumer prices are climbing at an annual rate of 3 percent, according to the latest government data.

    Much of that spending appears to represent people buying goods, not services. That's a sign that households are sticking to necessities, according to Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors.

    ?The clearest sign that households remain cautious was in services spending,? he said. ?This is the largest component of consumer demand and it fairly budged.? People are not yet comfortable buying the little luxuries in life.?

    With consumers tapped out and cautious, the economy faces other headwinds in the coming year. The housing industry remains stuck in the worst recession since the 1930s. A separate report Friday showed that the pace of new home sales fell in December, making 2011 the worst sales year since the Commerce Department first began collecting the data in 1963. Sales in December fell to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 307,000 ? less than half the 700,000 that economists say represents a healthy pace.

    Slack sales have forced builders to slash prices, which has kept many would-be buyers on the fence until they see signs that the market has bottomed. The median sales prices for new homes dropped in December by 2.5 percent to $210,300.

    Though ultra-low mortgage rates have made home buying more affordable than it has been in decades, mortgage bankers remain very choosy about to whom they?ll lend. Some 12 million potential ?move-up? buyers are stuck with mortgages that are bigger than their homes are worth.

    Growth in the fourth quarter was also held back by big cuts in government spending, which lopped 0.9 percent from fourth-quarter GDP.? That belt-tightening will likely continue.

    What are your thoughts on the short term economic future? Share your thougts on Facebook.

    Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/27/10251908-unsold-goods-weigh-on-future-economic-growth

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    Woman gets life sentence in Md. yoga shop murder (AP)

    ROCKVILLE, Md. ? A woman convicted of killing her co-worker at an upscale yoga clothing shop in the Washington suburbs, then spinning an elaborate lie about being attacked by two masked men, was ordered Friday to spend the rest of her life behind bars.

    Brittany Norwood choked back tears as she apologized to her family and that of her victim in her first public statements since her arrest in March. A jury in November convicted Norwood of first-degree murder for bludgeoning and stabbing 30-year-old Jayna Murray, a co-worker at the Lululemon Athletica shop in Bethesda. Murray had more than 330 distinct wounds.

    The judge was unmoved by Norwood's tears, telling the 29-year-old that her crime "exemplified the worst of human nature." He stoutly rejected defense pleas that she was capable of rehabilitation and deserved an eventual shot at freedom.

    "You mutilated this woman. And with every blow, you had a chance to think about what you were doing," said Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Robert Greenberg in imposing a sentence of life without the possibility parole.

    The violent nature of the crime, and the initial accounts by Norwood of two murderers and rapists on the run, rattled the community.

    Prosecutors said Norwood attacked Murray with at least five weapons, including a knife and a hammer, during a fight March 11 after they closed the shop for the day. They said Norwood lured Murray back to the store by falsely claiming that she has forgotten something inside and needed to be let back in. Norwood savagely beat Murray for at least 20 minutes and then doctored the scene overnight to support her story that intruders had attacked and sexually assaulted them.

    Murray was found the next morning in a pool of blood at the back of the store. Her wounds included a knife strike to the head that served as the death blow. Norwood was found nearby, moaning in apparent pain and tied up, with superficial ? and self-imposed ? wounds on her body. Blood was found tracked throughout the store, something police later determined was part of Norwood's attempt to throw them off her trail

    The jury didn't hear a motive for the killing, but prosecutor John McCarthy said Murray had confronted Norwood after finding a pair of stolen pants while checking her bag. Norwood feared the discovery would cause her to be fired and derail her planned career as a personal trainer.

    "It was more than a pair of pants," McCarthy said. "It was the unraveling of a life that she had set for herself."

    Norwood, wiping away tears and speaking softly as a row of family members sobbed, briefly apologized, saying "My hope for your family is that someday you'll be able to find forgiveness in your heart."

    Norwood's account of the attack set off panic in Bethesda, an affluent suburb where violent crime is rare. Montgomery County police went on a manhunt and fielded hundreds of tips. Some residents and shoppers who frequented the bustling corridor of high-end shops and trendy restaurants where Lululemon is situated admitted to feeling anxious at night.

    "Businesses operated differently," McCarthy said.

    Norwood stared to the ground as eight of Murray's friends and family detailed how their once joyful lives have become overcome with nightmares, anxiety, depression and feelings of emptiness. Her father, David Murray, showed the courtroom a series of photographs ? his daughter as a smiling young girl, shooting a bow and arrow, bungee jumping, posing alongside a trophy and in her cap and gown. He said they illustrated his daughter's zest for life and talents as a student, swimmer, dancer and gymnast.

    "March 11, 2011 was our family's Sept. 11, 2001," Murray's brother, Hugh, told the judge. "Nothing will ever return to normal. Nothing will ever be the same."

    Murray's other brother, Dirk, said his two young sons adored their aunt but were starting to ask difficult questions about her death. When they go to bed at night, he said, the family doesn't check the closets for an anonymous bogeyman. "We check for Brittany Norwood," he said.

    The family described how their initial empathy for Murray's surviving co-worker turned ? her father said he even contemplated sending Norwood flowers at the hospital ? transformed into horror and rage when they learned that Norwood was the attacker, not the victim.

    "Of the many stages of grief, I have not moved away from rage," David Murray said.

    Norwood's tale unraveled within days as police identified her as their sole suspect. Workers at an adjacent Apple store told police that they heard two women ? though they were castigated by the judge Friday for failing to call for help. Investigators found only two sets of footprints in the store. An examination did not back up Norwood's claim of being sexually assaulted. And Norwood's DNA was found inside Murray's car, which Norwood had driven away from the store as part of her ruse.

    She was arrested a week after the murder.

    Norwood's lawyers conceded at the outset of the trial that Norwood had killed Murray, but said she had simply "lost it" in a moment of irrationality and didn't have the required forethought to be convicted of first-degree murder. A jury rejected that argument after about an hour of deliberation.

    Her attorney, Doug Wood, urged a judge to grant her the possibility of parole, though he acknowledged that there was a minimal chance of her ever being granted it. Giving her and her family at least a glimmer of hope is part of the community's collective healing, Wood argued.

    A sentence of life without parole, he argued, "forecloses hope. It forecloses redemption. It forecloses forgiveness. It allows anger, hatred and fear to win out."

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_us/us_yoga_shop_killing

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    Friday, January 27, 2012

    Caterpillar 4Q profit rises, tops Wall St. view (AP)

    NEW YORK ? Caterpillar Inc. said Thursday that its fourth-quarter profit jumped 60 percent, boosted by pent-up demand for new equipment and continuing growth in developing countries.

    The performance of the world's largest maker of construction and mining equipment is an indicator of the strength of the global economy. Along with strong fourth-quarter earnings, Caterpillar issued rosy guidance, saying that it expects the global economy to grow faster this year and construction activity to continue to improve in most parts of the world.

    Caterpillar, based in Peoria, Ill., reported net income of $1.55 billion, or $2.32 per share, up from $968 million, or $1.47 per share, in the same quarter last year.

    Sales and revenue jumped 35 percent to $17.24 billion, as sales volume increased at all three of the company's major businesses. Revenue from mining equipment company Bucyrus International Inc., which Caterpillar acquired in July, totaled $1.39 billion.

    Caterpillar's results easily topped Wall Street predictions for profit of $1.76 per share and $15.95 billion in revenue, according to FactSet. That sent its shares higher and made it one of the biggest gainers in the Dow Jones industrial average on Thursday. The stock rose $2.17, or 2 percent, to $111.22 in heavy afternoon trading, after hitting $114 earlier in the day, within a few dollars of its 52-week high of $116.55.

    Caterpillar said that despite the ongoing downturn in the construction industry, many of its customers had to replace their aging equipment during the quarter. In addition, the company continued to get a boost from rapid economic growth in developing parts of the world.

    Construction sales rose 31 percent to $5.26 billion, while resource industries sales, which include Bucyrus, jumped 80 percent to $5.06 billion. Sales of power systems were up 22 percent to $5.67 billion.

    Caterpillar expects the global economy to grow about 3.3 percent this year, with the U.S. economy expanding by at least 3 percent. In addition U.S. construction spending, which has been declining since 2004, should finally begin to recover, the company said.

    But Caterpillar warned that even with the slight recovery, construction spending will remain depressed. And while Europe's economic crisis probably won't trigger a global recession, economic growth in eurozone counties is unlikely to improve until the second half of this year.

    Edward Rapp, Caterpillar's chief financial officer, said that despite the ongoing financial crisis in Europe, the company still stands to benefit from projects there.

    "It just depends on how much longer this chaos in southern Europe goes on," Rapp said in a conference call with analysts. "It's been going on a long time and hasn't tanked the place yet. We don't think it will."

    Caterpillar sees China's economy growing by 8.5 percent in 2012, with more construction and rising demand for commodities bringing more machine sales.

    Caterpillar estimates its 2012 profit will be $9.25 per share with $68 billion to $72 billion in revenue. The outlook includes about $6 billion in revenue from Bucyrus and from Motoren-Werke Mannheim Holding GmbH, which Caterpillar also bought last year. Analysts polled by FactSet expect profit of $9.07 per share on $66.99 billion in revenue for Caterpillar this year.

    The company said sales of new machines and equipment will continue to improve as customers in developed counties rebuild their fleets. Low interest rates and the expected increase in construction activity are also expected to boost demand.

    Caterpillar noted that production of some of its products will be limited by its current capacity to make them, though it added that it's making investments to expand capacity.

    In addition, the company expects demand for its mining equipment to continue to be strong globally, as companies around the world increase production.

    Morgan Stanley analyst Vance Edelson backed his "Overweight" rating for Caterpillar stock. He said that the company is unique, because it's poised to do well if the economy improves but will remain more stable than expected, if things take a turn for the worse.

    "We believe there is upside potential to the implied earnings per share figure," Edelson wrote in a note to investors. "We also note the record sales expectations despite still lackluster construction activity in the U.S. and Europe."

    For the full year 2011, Caterpillar earned $4.93 billion, or $7.40 per share, up from $2.7 billion, or $4.15 per share, in 2010. Sales and revenue increased to $60.14 billion from $42.59 billion.

    Excluding Bucyrus, Caterpillar earned $7.79 per share and posted $57.61 billion in sales.

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_caterpillar

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    Dana White calls out Internet hackers, they respond by releasing his alleged personal info

    CHICAGO -- The war is on between the UFC and Internet hackers.

    On Sunday, UFC.com was re-routed several times to the website UGnazi. The site's organizers, who White called terrorists several times during the "UFC on Fox 2" press conference, said the hacking of UFC.com is a result of the company's support of SOPA and PIPA. The wide-ranging bills are aimed at stopping online piracy.

    White lashed out at the hackers.

    Update: White dug in deeper during a conversation with The Score's Mauro Ranallo (13:30 mark).

    "Keep hacking our site, do it again. Do it tonight," said White. "These guys look like terrorists now and a bill that was about to die, is about to come back."

    The hacker taking credit for the UFC hit, @joshthgod, went a different route after the challenge, posting White's personal info, including a Social Security number, a list of residential addresses, a vehicle identification number and a personal phone number.

    That followed a tweet that said White is now the target.

    "@danawhite We don't want your site anymore. We are going after YOU! Follow me for tonights exciting events! #ufc #sopa #acta #pipa,"

    [Related: Why SOPA, PIPA aren't answer to MMA's piracy problem]

    White said the hackers are only hurting their own cause by alerting politicians that there's a serious issue. He's willing to risk his own safety to stop the online pilfering.

    "Is SOPA the perfect bill? No, it's not. The only thing that we're focused on is piracy. Piracy is stealing. If you walk into a store and you steal a gold watch, it's the same as stealing a pay-per-view. I don't care what your twisted, demented idea of stealing is," White said. "These kids who grew up on the Internet never had to pay for anything, so they don't think that you should have to."

    White closed by saying he's not afraid of the Internet, it's where cowards live.

    Other popular content on the Yahoo! network:
    ? ThePostGame: George Clooney's bewildering Olympic ticket dilemma
    ? Wetzel: Rob Lowe's tweet sparks feud between Peyton Manning and Colts owner
    ? Video: NFL's breakout stars set to shine in Pro Bowl
    ? Work + Money: Why one parent should stay at home

    Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/dana-white-calls-internet-hackers-respond-releasing-personal-142312772.html

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    Bristol-Myers reports rise in 4th-quarter profit (AP)

    NEW YORK ? Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. reported a 76 percent increase in the fourth-quarter profit Thursday, driven in part by sales of a recently-approved diabetes drug and hefty charges a year earlier, though the drugmaker still fell short of Wall Street's expectations.

    The company focused attention on rapid sales growth for its three-year-old oral diabetes drug Onglyza, which increased 110 percent to $153 million. But results were dominated by two established products, blood thinner Plavix and the psychiatric drug Abilify.

    Net income rose to $852 million, or 50 cents per share, up from $483 million, or 28 cents per share, in the 2010 quarter.

    The New York company said fees and discounts under the U.S. health care overhaul reduced earnings per share by 4 cents in the latest quarter. The year-earlier results were weighted down by $324 million in expenses, including charges for streamlining global operations, depreciation and shutdown costs, licensing payments and a tax charge.

    Adjusted income rose 12 percent to $906 million, or 53 cents per share, from $807 million, or 47 cents per share, for the same period of 2010. Total sales increased 7 percent to $5.45 billion from $5.11 billion.

    Those results were slightly short of analyst expectations as polled by FactSet, which called for 55 cents per share on sales of $5.51 billion.

    "Investors weren't expecting much and they didn't get much," said Erik Gordon an analyst and professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. "A couple of products beat their sales estimates by a hair and a couple missed by a hair."

    Bristol-Myers said it expects 2012 full-year earnings per share between $1.90 and $2.00. Analysts are looking for $1.98 per share, on average.

    Company shares fell 22 cents to close at $32.48 Friday.

    Bristol-Myers and French partner Sanofi SA jointly market Plavix, the world's second-best-selling drug, which posted a 3 percent drop in sales to $1.67 billion. The drug loses U.S. patent protection in May and Bristol has initiated a dozen or more partnerships and deals aimed at developing new revenue-generating products.

    Among the most highly anticipated of those drugs is the anti-clotting pill Eliquis, which is approved in the European Union for preventing clots in patients getting hip or knee replacement surgery. Bristol and its partner on the drug, Pfizer Inc., are seeking U.S. approval for the drug for stroke prevention, which would allow them to market it for millions more patients. The Food and Drug Administration has given Eliquis a priority review, with a March 28 target date for a ruling.

    Also scheduled to lose patent protection in the coming year is the blood pressure drug Avapro. Sales of that drug and its foreign counterpart Avalide fell 23 percent, to $195 million. That's because they have generic competition in Canada, a rival's similar drug has generic competition in many countries, and one of the three dosage forms isn't available due to a recall.

    Sales of the company's second biggest product, schizophrenia and bipolar drug Abilify, rose 4 percent to $737 million.

    For full-year 2011 the company earned $3.71 billion, or $2.16 per share, on sales of $21.24 billion. Excluding one-time items income was $2.28 per share.

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_bristol_myers

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    Gingrich unloads on Romney, ads, in Florida speech (AP)

    MOUNT DORA, Fla. ? Newt Gingrich on Thursday dramatically ramped up his attacks on Mitt Romney, saying the former Massachusetts governor is guilty of lies, desperation and hypocrisy that should make "every American angry."

    Gingrich, the former House speaker, said he was infuriated by a barrage of attack ads that are blistering him on Florida TV stations ahead of Tuesday's GOP presidential primary. Most are funded by an outside organization backing Romney, but some are from Romney's own campaign. Unable to match Romney's money machine, Gingrich implored Florida Republicans to punish his chief rival for what Gingrich called callously dishonest ads.

    "This is the desperate last stand of the old order," Gingrich told an outdoor crowd of more than 1,000 northwest of Orlando. "This is the kind of gall they have to think we're so stupid and we're so timid."

    The nature and volume of the attack ads are similar to those that badly damaged Gingrich in Iowa a month ago.

    "I think all the weight of his negative advertising and all the weight of his dishonesty has hurt us some," Gingrich said. But "I am not going to allow the moneyed interests that are buying those ads to come in here and to come into other states to misinform people and then to think we are too dumb to fight back."

    Romney steered clear of his rival during a subsequent campaign appearance.

    Gingrich later told reporters he decided to sharpen his criticisms after Romney's tax returns showed investments held in Cayman Island accounts, the government-backed mortgage company Freddie Mac and other entities.

    "Here's a guy who owns Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae stock," Gingrich said. "He owns a Goldman Sachs subsidiary, which is foreclosing on Floridians. And on that front he decides to lie about my career? There's something about the hypocrisy that should make every American angry."

    Romney has been hammering Gingrich for consulting work he performed for Freddie Mac and telling Florida voters that Gingrich was paid by a company that contributed to the state's poor housing market.

    The acerbic remarks came three days after Gingrich took a much more moderate tone in a televised debate in Tampa, when Romney sharpened his own attacks. Gingrich strongly hinted he will be more aggressive in a CNN debate scheduled for Thursday night in Jacksonville.

    Romney, meanwhile, toured a Jacksonville factory that is closing because of the economy before he addressed several hundred people gathered outside. He acknowledged that the live audience at Thursday's debate may be fairly raucous, a dynamic that seems to favor Gingrich and his populist, us-against-the-media and us-against-the-establishment style.

    "There may be some give and take," Romney said. "That's always fun and entertaining, I know. If you all could get there, we'd love to see you all there cheering."

    In his remarks, Romney criticized President Barack Obama and steered clear of Gingrich. He called Obama's administration a "Groundhog Day" presidency in which nothing gets better.

    Polls suggest the Florida primary is close, coming 10 days after Gingrich beat Romney by 12 percentage points in South Carolina. Asked if he felt Florida was slipping toward Romney, Gingrich said, "I feel that it's useful for people to look at the totality of his record and ask yourself, `How can a guy who literally owns stock in a Goldman Sachs investment fund that forecloses on Floridians run the ads he's been running?'"

    Goldman Sachs employees and their families contributed $367,200 to Romney's campaign through Sept. 30, his largest source of campaign contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

    Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul also were participating in Thursday's debate, the final one before the GOP presidential primary in Florida on Tuesday. But both candidates have set their sights elsewhere and have largely stayed away from the Romney-Gingrich drama.

    Whoever wins Florida will score something no one has yet claimed in a tumultuous primary season: a second victory. The first three contests have been won by three different candidates. Only Paul has yet to score a win.

    The hits for Romney and Gingrich were coming from many directions.

    The "super" political action committees backing them have spent more than $10 million combined on ads to date in Florida, far more than their respective campaigns. The Romney-leaning Restore Our Future has spent $8.8 million in ads as of late Tuesday, bringing to $14 million the total spent on ads supporting Romney in the state. That doesn't include money already spent on radio and Internet advertising.

    As of late Tuesday, the Gingrich-backing Winning Our Future had booked $1.8 million in television ads in Florida, a check made possible by a new donation from Miriam Adelson. She and her husband, Sheldon, this month gave $5 million apiece to the group, which supports Gingrich but legally must remain independent.

    Santorum, meanwhile, seemed to be recognizing that he stood almost no chance of winning Florida. He and his advisers planned no advertising in the state and instead were focused on raising money and calling potential supporters in upcoming states. He all but gave up trying to woo a network of pastors and was scaling back his schedule in Florida.

    Chuck Laudner, an influential adviser who helped Santorum score an upset victory in the Iowa caucuses, was returning to the Midwest to start piecing together coalitions in Missouri and Minnesota. Both states have media markets that overlap with Iowa, where Santorum proved to be the big story.

    Paul, virtually absent from Florida except for appearances built around the debates, was concentrating instead on caucus states where his loyal backers can carry a louder voice.

    ___

    Associated Press writers Charles Babington, Philip Elliott, Kasie Hunt and David Espo in Florida contributed to this report. Jack Gillum contributed from Washington.

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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    Thursday, January 26, 2012

    Art Brodsky: PIPA And SOPA Were Stopped, But The Web Hasn't Won (Huffington post)

    Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

    Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/191372605?client_source=feed&format=rss

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    Pharma's niche focus spurs US aid for antibiotics (AP)

    WASHINGTON ? The pharmaceutical industry won approval to market a record number of new drugs for rare diseases last year, as a combination of scientific innovation and business opportunity spurred new treatments for diseases long-ignored by drug companies.

    Drug companies are increasingly taking advantage of the commercial benefits of developing so-called orphan drugs, which include extra patent protections, higher pricing and a streamlined review process by FDA. Among the innovative treatments approved in the past year were the first new drug for lupus in 50 years and the first new drug for Hodgkin's lymphoma in 30 years.

    But the focus on specialty drugs has put pressure on the U.S. government to ramp up its own spending on vaccines, antibiotics and drugs for more widespread health threats, which are less profitable for companies.

    Since 2006, government spending on research for familiar diseases like staph infections, smallpox and botulism has increased more than 660 percent, from $54 million to $415 million last year

    "Many of these are everyday, general diseases that we thought we had conquered decades ago, but we've seen some of them pop up again," said Dr. Robin Robinson, director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which is tasked with acquiring vaccines, drugs and other necessities for public health emergencies.

    Since 2005, BARDA has awarded $3.5 billion to outside companies to encourage research and production of antibiotics, flu vaccines and other products that are seen as less profitable than specialty drugs.

    "We have pushed the envelope more toward diminishing the risk for companies so that they'll be more interested in getting involved with us and developing things like vaccines and antivirals," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institutes of Health, which funds research into bird flu, tuberculosis and other potential pandemics. The government's role in developing new therapies goes beyond awarding contracts and includes offering assistance in designing trials and recruiting test subjects.

    The need for such assistance stems in part from a new focus among pharmaceutical companies on drugs for rare diseases or unusual strains of common diseases.

    Eleven of the 30 new drugs approved last year, or 37 percent, were for rare medical conditions, the highest percentage on record since the FDA began offering incentives to develop such therapies, known as orphan drugs, about 30 years ago. Additionally, nearly half of the 30 drugs were cleared under FDA's "fast track" program reserved for drugs that fill an unmet medical need.

    "The companies are saying `this is actually a viable model.' Whereas back in the nineties they were skeptical, now they seem convinced," said Mark Schoenebaum, an analyst with International Strategy & Investment.

    Analysts credit scientific advances and looming patent expirations with the spate of innovative products. Drugs worth a mammoth $255 billion in global annual sales are set to go off patent before 2016, according to EvaluatePharma Ltd., a London research firm.

    The pharmaceutical industry reached its peak of profitability in the 1990s with heavily marketed drugs for common afflictions, like AstraZeneca PLC's Nexium pill for heart burn and Pfizer Inc.'s Lipitor for high cholesterol. In the last decade drugmakers managed to extend the patents on those drugs by tweaking their formulations, resulting in so-called `follow-on' drugs. But with most of those products on the cusp of losing patent protection, drugmakers have finally been forced to innovate, often turning to hard-to-treat diseases for which there are few existing therapies.

    The FDA grants companies seven years of exclusive, competition-free marketing for each newly approved orphan drug, as well as tax breaks on the costs of developing the drugs. Orphan drugs also typically command much higher prices than other drugs. Last year French drugmaker Sanofi paid $20 billion to acquire specialty drugmaker Genzyme, whose products range from $100,000 to $300,000 for one year's supply.

    One side effect of the focus on developing drugs for rare diseases is increased investment by the government to spur research into more common public health threats with the potential to cause mass outbreaks of illness. One such threat comes from so-called superbugs, or bacteria that have grown resistant to antibiotic drugs.

    Robinson says government support is needed to spur antibiotic development because of how sparingly the products are used in medical practice. After decades of routine use, many first-generation antibiotics like penicillin are no longer effective against common bacterial strains, such as the staphylococcus aureaus, which causes staph infections. Physicians are encouraged to use newer antibiotics only in critical situations so that superbugs have less chance to build a resistance to them. As a result, drugmakers do not see a large commercial market for new antibiotics. Now the federal government is providing an incentive.

    BARDA has awarded a series of contracts to encourage development of new antibiotics that can be stockpiled for use in a natural outbreak or during a bioterrorism attack.

    ? The agency has allocated up to $64 million to Achaogen, a San Francisco startup, for development of a new antibiotic against tularemia, a bacterium that can cause pneumonia and urinary tract infections. Public health officials are especially focused on Tularemia because it could also be used in a potential bioterrorism attack. Robinson says the contract is an example a new strategy of encouraging companies to produce therapies with dual uses: as federal preparatory measures and as commercial medical products.

    Achaogen has received $155 million in research contracts and has several antibiotics in early and mid-stage, though none are currently available for sale.

    ? Under a $38.5 million contract awarded in September, BARDA will help GlaxoSmithKline PLC test an experimental antibiotic against both bioterrorism agents and infections like hospital-acquired pneumonia.

    The U.S. government has used a similar pump priming strategy to encourage investment in flu vaccines. The Department of Health and Human Services wants to be able to provide enough vaccine for the entire U.S. population within six months of a flu pandemic. To meet that goal the government has tried to boost vaccine production by encouraging more Americans to get the standard flu vaccine each year. The government's hope is that by making the shots routine for more Americans, companies will invest in larger vaccine facilities that can ramp up production in the event of a pandemic.

    Last month Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG opened the first U.S. vaccine facility equipped with cell culture technology, a faster method for producing vaccines than the traditional technique using chicken eggs. The U.S. government provided half of the $1 billion investment for the facility, as part of its preparations for a potential flu pandemic.

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_he_me/us_dread_disease_aid

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