No More Damaged or Scratched Flooring | Home Improvement

? ? ? ? ? ? When you find out that your flooring is either damaged or scratched, it can be a sign that you need to update the flooring. You do not have to be confused finding the perfect store to get flooring products that fit perfectly to your needs. There is Flooring America Mason City which provides a great selection of flooring products such as ceramic tile, vinyl flooring, hardwood, carpet, laminate, and tile. Thus, it is time to say good bye to damaged or scratched flooring.

??????????? Mason City flooring stores offer an extensive option of flooring products in Mason City. If you still have no idea which flooring product suit best to your needs, you can find help from the educated staff or sales team. The team consists of professional and trained people who are ready to help you choosing the perfect flooring products which can become your long-lasting investment. What is more, you will have no worries in the flooring installation process. There are floor specialists at Flooring America who will assist you to install your flooring products. The sales associates can be your assistant in reviewing your requirements and giving suggestions about flooring products that fit perfectly to your needs and preferences.

Source: http://www.altherpes.org/no-more-damaged-or-scratched-flooring.html

the descendants the descendants homeland homeland packers giants game golden globe winners 2012 ricky gervais golden globes

Student-Loan Delinquencies Now Surpass Credit ... - Financial Sense

As costs of college soars (with thanks to absurd union salaries and benefits, as well as absurd administrator salaries and benefits), those attending college have increasing trouble paying back loans.

The fully expected consequence is Student-Loan Delinquencies Now Surpass Credit Cards.

The proportion of U.S. student loan balances that are in delinquency ? that is, unpaid for 90 days or more ? surpassed that of credit-card balances in the third quarter for the first time, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. [no link provided]

Of the $956 billion in student-loan debt outstanding as of September, 11 percent was delinquent ? up from less than 9 percent in the second quarter, and higher than the 10.5 percent of credit-card debt, which was delinquent in the third quarter. By comparison, delinquency rates on mortgages, home-equity lines of credit and auto loans stood at 5.9 percent, 4.9 percent, and 4.3 percent respectively as of September.

Since the NY Fed?s data began in 2003, the share of student debt which is delinquent has nearly doubled, from a starting level of 6.13 percent, while credit-card delinquency has steadily drifted lower since peaking at 13.74 percent in mid-2010 in the wake of the financial crisis.

Moreover, the actual rate of student loan delinquency is far higher than the official tally suggests. According to the New York Fed [no link provided], ?these delinquency rates for student loans are likely to understate actual delinquency rates because almost half of these loans are currently in deferment, in grace periods or in forbearance and therefore temporarily not in the repayment cycle.?

In other words, the real delinquency rate for loans in the current repayment cycle is ?roughly twice as high,? per the Fed ? which would put it north of 20 percent.

37.5% of Graduates Work in Jobs Requiring No Degree

In its article Student Loan Debt Hits Another New Record: Study, Senior CNBC Correspondent Scott Cohn cites a study noting these facts.

1. The average college student who graduated in 2011 had $26,600 in student loans
2. Two-thirds of last year?s college graduates had student loan debt
3. 37.8 percent of recent graduates are working in jobs that do not require a college degree
4. State budget cuts, which have led to large tuition increases, fewer grants, and an increasing need for college students and their families to borrow money to finance their education
5. 96 percent of graduates from four-year, for-profit colleges took out student loans, borrowing 45 percent more than graduates of other types of colleges.

Cohn mentioned the word "study" fourteen times without once providing a link to the study, or even mentioning the name of the study. I suspect this is some kind of record, jut not one anyone should be proud of.

Such semi-plagiarism is quite frankly inexcusable.

Who is to Blame?

I receive emails from readers all the time blaming the problem on point number four above, state budget cuts.

Nonsense.

Taxpayers are overburdened too much already. States have cut back on the percentage of money to education out of sheer necessity as education costs have risen far faster than anything else including health care and energy.

Here are some charts and comments from my post What Role Does Government Play in Price Inflation?

Inflation Comparison - Select Components Since 1978

Inflation Comparison - Current CPI Components Since 2000

The above charts are from Doug Short at Advisor Perspectives. Doug creates excellent charts every month on various CPI components. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I asked Doug for a set of custom charts.

Specifically, I had asked Doug to go back to 1971 for both charts.

Unfortunately, data for components in the first chart only goes back to 1978, and in the second chart not even that far.

The reason I asked for a starting year of 1971 is that's when I started college.

Tuition at the University of Illinois in Fall of 1971 was $250 a semester for engineers (My degree is in civil engineering). Current University of Illinois Tuition is $8,278 per semester for Illinois residents, $15,349 for non-residents.

Note that tuition difference: $250 in 1971 vs. $8,278 today.

Note Areas of Highest and Lowest Price Inflation

The least government interference is in apparel and recreation. The most government interference in the free market is education and health care.

Education is rife with "no child left behind" madness, free tuition for veterans, and for-profit school scams that flourish only because student loans cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.

Chasing the American Dream, Gone Bust

I have talked about this many times before. One key post is Trading Caps and Gowns for Mops; Why Go to College If There Are No Jobs? Chasing the American Dream

Some People Do Not Belong in College

Pelletier perpetuates the myth everyone belongs in college. Many don't. Arguably at least half don't. In Portland Oregon, ACT scores show less than half of test-takers are ready for college math

Useless Degrees

Pray tell what good is a degree in English, history, PE, or political science other than teaching English, history, PE, or political science? And how many of those teaching jobs are even available?

Yet colleges churn out thousands of graduates, year after year, with perfectly useless degrees.

Debt Slaves

President Obama promotes education as the answer to the unemployment problem. Other presidents have done the same thing. However, throwing money at the problem has done nothing but raise the cost of education for everyone, leaving many graduates debt-slaves for life, with totally useless degrees.

Whenever government sticks its neck into solutions, costs escalate. We saw it in housing, with hundreds of affordable home programs artificially increasing demand, and with Bush's "Ownership Society" artificially increasing demand, etc., etc. We see the same thing now in health care.

Expect such problem to grow until they blow sky high, which appears to be right at hand.

Mish's Six Point Education Proposal?

1. Increase competition by certifying more online schools
2. Make student debt dischargeable in bankruptcy
3. Abolish the student loan program
4. Abolish Pell Grants
5. Get rid of unions driving up costs
6. End all support for for-profit colleges

I assure you that if those actions were taken cost of college education would crash. But no one really wants that, any more than they want affordable housing.

Politicians gain far too much in campaign contributions from unions, from for-profit schools, and from banks wanting to make kids debt-slaves, to really address the problem.

Legislators would rather pretend they want to do something rather than actually doing something because it suits their purpose (getting reelected). Unfortunately, millions of students will pay the price as debt-slaves for life.

Source: Global Economic Analysis

Source: http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/michael-shedlock/student-loan-delinquencies-surpass

Eric Idle rory mcilroy Fatboy Slim Rio de Janeiro Shark Week London 2012 closing ceremony Shark Week 2012

Business spending plans gauge rebounds

1 hr.

Reuters

WASHINGTON - A gauge of planned U.S. business spending increased by the most in five months in October, but a fourth straight month of declines in shipments underscored the damage that fears of tighter fiscal policy next year are inflicting on the economy.

The Commerce Department said on Tuesday non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, rebounded 1.7 percent last month after falling 0.4 percent the prior month.

Economists had expected so-called core capital goods orders to fall 0.5 percent.

Shipments of non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, used to calculate equipment and software spending in the gross domestic product report, slipped 0.4 percent. It was the fourth straight month of declines in shipments.

The Commerce Department said there was no indication that superstorm Sandy, which lashed the East Coast in late October, had an immediate impact on factories in that region.

Businesses are cutting back on capital spending, wary of automatic government spending cuts and tax increases, known as the fiscal cliff, that are scheduled to kick in early next year unless the U.S. Congress and the Obama administration can agree on a plan to cut the budget deficits.

The fiscal cliff could drain about $600 billion from an already fragile economy. Business spending is also being undermined by the long-running debt problems in Europe and slowing global demand, especially in China.

Despite the headwinds, the manufacturing sector continues to grow, though modestly. Durable goods orders were unchanged in October as gains in machinery, fabricated metal products, and computer and electronic products offset the drag from automobiles, defense and civilian aircraft.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast orders for durable goods, items from toasters to aircraft that are meant to last at least three years, falling 0.6 percent last month after rising 9.2 percent in September.

Excluding transportation, orders rose 1.5 percent after increasing 1.7 percent in September.?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/economywatch/business-spending-plans-gauge-rebounds-1C7275106

joplin tornado extreme makeover home edition constitution day constitution day coachella 2012 dolly parton stephen colbert running for president

Kuwait to allow protest march on eve of election: PM

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Authorities will allow a protest march to go ahead the day before the December 1 parliamentary election in Kuwait, the Gulf Arab state's prime minister said in a move designed to ease tensions ahead of the poll.

Thousands of people have staged regular demonstrations since late October against a decree issued by Kuwait's ruler, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, which reduced the number of votes allowed per citizen to one from four.

The opposition movement, which includes youth groups and former members of parliament, has called for a boycott of the election in the U.S.-allied major oil producer over the changes.

They say the amendments are an attempt to skew the elections in favor of pro-government candidates. Protesters say they seek reform, not an Arab Spring-style revolution like those that have ousted several Arab rulers since early last year.

The emir says the voting system is flawed and that the changes are constitutional and needed for the sake of Kuwait's "security and stability".

Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Sabah said "the organizers got a license from the concerned security services, so the government had nothing against the march," state news agency KUNA reported late on Monday.

Kuwait allows the most dissent among the Gulf Arab states and its citizens often hold rallies in a designated area outside parliament.

But recent unlicensed protest marches in the streets beyond have been broken up by police using teargas and smoke bombs.

Authorities are keen to prevent the kind of unrest Kuwait experienced on October 21, when thousands of demonstrators attempted to reach government headquarters in the largest protest march and were dispersed by police. At least 29 people were injured during that march, according to a medical source.

CORRUPTION, STALLED DEVELOPMENT

Under the new rules, each voter chooses only one candidate instead of four, a move the parliamentary opposition says will prevent its candidates winning the majority they had in the last election.

They say the four-vote system better enabled candidates to form political allegiances during the election campaign by recommending supporters cast additional ballots for their allies. Such allegiances are important because Kuwait bans political parties, opposition politicians say.

Apart from protesting against the new voting rules, activists have rallied against wider issues such as corruption, the accountability of government ministers and elected officials as well as a lack of infrastructure development.

A long-running row between the government and parliament has stalled implementation of major parts of a 30 billion dinar ($107 billion) development plan, including large infrastructure projects.

The December 1 poll will be the fifth since mid-2006.

"The coming government will include decision makers and bold politicians to scale up the combat against corruption," Sheikh Jaber said, according to KUNA.

"The coming stage will see a quantum leap in economic development and the stage set for implementing mega projects, some of which have already been approved," he said.

The 50-member parliament has legislative powers and the right to summon ministers for questioning. But the emir has the final say in state affairs and can veto laws and dissolve the assembly.

Opposition MPs - whose demands have included an elected cabinet including the prime minister, with at least some top posts held by people other than relatives of the emir - held some 35 seats in the 50-seat parliament elected in February 2012.

The opposition bloc put pressure on government ministers, leading to the resignation of two. The parliament was dissolved by a court ruling in June.

Sheikh Jaber said the last parliament "failed to encourage the government to adopt positive steps ... contrary to the spirit of the constitution which favors cooperation between the legislative and executive authorities," KUNA reported.

(Editing by Mohammad Zargham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/kuwait-allow-protest-march-eve-election-pm-064404322.html

april 18 delonte west vanessa williams nicklas backstrom discovery shuttle allure jane goodall

The Note's Must-Reads for Monday, November 26, 2012

The Note's Must-Reads are a round-up of today's political headlines and stories from ABC News and the top U.S. newspapers. Posted Monday through Friday right here at www.abcnews.com

Compiled by ABC News' Jayce Henderson and Jordan Mazza

PRESIDENT OBAMA: The Hill's Elise Viebeck: " Obama faces huge challenge in setting up insurance exchanges" The Obama administration faces major logistical and financial challenges in creating health insurance exchanges for states that have declined to set up their own systems. The exchanges were designed as the centerpiece of President Obama's signature law, and are intended to make buying health insurance comparable to booking a flight or finding a compatible partner on Match.com. LINK

SUSAN RICE: The New York Daily News' John Lauinger: " McCain softens stance against Susan Rice as potential successor to Clinton as Secretary of State" Sen. John McCain softened his rhetoric Sunday against President Obama's leading candidate to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. McCain has been one of the harshest critics of United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice, arguing that she damaged her credibility after the Sept. 11 terrorist strike on the U.S. consulate in Libya by claiming the attack was merely a spontaneous protest to an anti-Muslim film, not a pre-planned terror attack. LINK

USA Today's David Jackson: " Senators gird for Obama nomination of Rice" Senators continued preparing Sunday for what could be the first big battle of President Obama's second term: The nomination of Susan Rice for secretary of State. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who has opposed the prospect of Rice's nomination, said the United Nations ambassador would get the chance to explain her statements following the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. LINK

FOREIGN AFFAIRS: The Washington Times' Sean Lengell: " Senators threaten to end aid to Egypt" As U.S. political leaders rebuked Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi on Sunday for his decree to assume sweeping new powers, police in central Cairo fired tear gas at protesters who accused him of a blatant power grab. Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, said that while the U.S. is thankful for Mr. Morsi's help facilitating a cease-fire between Israel and the Gaza Strip's Hamas rulers, he criticized Mr. Morsi's decision to give himself near-absolute power, which has prompted days of violent street protests in Egypt. LINK

FISCAL CLIFF: ABC News' David Kerley: " GOP Starting to Rebel Against No-Tax-Hikes Pledge" With the fiscal cliff looming for the United States, some Republican members of Congress said today they are ready to break a long standing pledge not to raise taxes. LINK

CONGRESS: Politico's Alex Isenstadt: " House Democrats face uphill slog in 2014" Nancy Pelosi decided to take one more crack at winning back the House, but a big obstacle stands between the Democratic leader and the speaker's gavel in 2014: the six-year itch. Pelosi's party will be swimming against the riptide of history. The party controlling the White House during a president's sixth year in office has lost seats in every midterm election but one since 1918, when Woodrow Wilson occupied the Oval Office. LINK

GOP: Bloomberg's Greg Giroux: " McCain Says Republicans Need 'Bigger Tent' After Election" Republican losses in U.S. elections this month show the party needs "a bigger tent" and "a much more positive agenda," Senator John McCain said today. "It can't be just being against the Democrats" including President Barack Obama, McCain, an Arizona Republican who opposed Obama for the White House in 2008, said on "Fox News Sunday." LINK

BOOKMARKS: The Note: LINK The Must-Reads Online: LINK Top Line Webcast (12noon EST M-F): LINK ABC News Politics: LINK The Political Punch (Jake Tapper): LINK George's Bottom Line (George Stephanopoulos): LINK Follow ABC News on Twitter: LINK ABC News Mobile: LINK ABC News app on your iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad: LINK

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/notes-must-reads-monday-november-26-2012-084302685--abc-news-politics.html

burmese python national signing day ferris bueller god bless america earned income credit super bowl commercials florida primary 2012

Amid Hurricane Sandy, a Race to Get a Liver Transplant

It was the best possible news, at the worst possible time.

The phone call from the hospital brought the message that Dolores and Vin Dreeland had long hoped for, ever since their daughter Natalia, 4, had been put on the waiting list for a liver transplant. The time had come.

They bundled her into the car for the 50-mile trip from their home in Long Valley, N.J., to NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children?s Hospital in Manhattan. But it soon seemed that this chance to save Natalia?s life might be just out of reach.

The date was Sunday, Oct. 28, and Hurricane Sandy, the worst storm to hit the East Coast in decades, was bearing down on New York. Airports and bridges would soon close, but the donated organ was in Nevada, five hours away. The time window in which a plane carrying the liver would be able to land in the region was rapidly closing.

In a hospital room, Natalia watched cartoons. Her parents watched the clock, and the weather. ?Our anxiety was through the roof,? Mrs. Dreeland said. ?It just made your stomach into knots.?

The Dreelands, who are in their 60s, became Natalia?s foster parents in 2008 when she was 7 months old, and adopted her just before she turned 2. They have another adopted daughter, Dorothy Jane, who is 17.

Natalia is a ?smart little cookie? who loves school and dressing up Alice, her favorite doll, her mother said. At age 3, Natalia used the word ?discombobulated? correctly, Mr. Dreeland said.

Natalia?s health problems date back several years. Her gallbladder was taken out in 2010, and about half her liver was removed in 2011. The underlying problem was a rare disease, Langerhans cell histiocytosis. It causes a tremendous overgrowth of a type of cell in the immune system and can damage organs. Drugs can sometimes keep it in check, but they did not work for Natalia.

In her case, the disease struck the bile ducts, which led to progressive liver damage. ?She would have eventually gone into liver failure,? said Dr. Nadia Ovchinsky, a pediatric liver transplant specialist at NewYork-Presbyterian. ?And she demonstrated some signs of early liver failure.?

The only hope was a transplant.

Dr. Tomoaki Kato, Natalia?s surgeon, knew that the liver in Nevada was a perfect match for Natalia in the two criteria that matter most: blood type and size. The deceased donor was 2 years old, and though Natalia is nearly 5, she is small for her age. Scar tissue from her previous operations would have made it very difficult to fit a larger organ into her abdomen.

Though Dr. Kato had considered transplanting part of an adult liver into Natalia, a complete organ from a child would be far better for her. But healthy organs from small children do not often become available, Dr. Kato said. This was a rare opportunity, and he was determined to seize it.

But as the day wore on, the odds for Natalia grew slimmer. The operation in Nevada to remove the liver was delayed several times.

At many hospitals, surgery to remove donor organs is done at the end of the day, after all regularly scheduled operations. The Nevada hospital had a busy surgical schedule that day, made worse by a trauma case that took priority.

At the hospital in New York, Tod Brown, an organ procurement coordinator, had alerted a charter air carrier that a flight from Nevada might be needed. That company in turn contacted West Coast carriers to pick up the donated liver and fly it to New York.

Initially, two carriers agreed, but then backed out. Several other charter companies also declined.

Mr. Brown told Dr. Kato that they might have to decline the organ. Dr. Kato, soft-spoken but relentless, said, ?Find somebody who can fly.?

Dr. Kato used to work in Miami, where pilots found ways to bypass hurricanes to deliver organs. Even during Hurricane Katrina, his hospital performed transplants.

?I asked the transplant coordinators to just keep pushing,? he said.

Mr. Brown said, ?Dr. Kato knew he was going to get that organ, one way or another.?

As the trajectory of the storm became clearer, one of the West Coast charter companies agreed to attempt the flight. The plan was to land at the airport in Teterboro, N.J. The backup was Newark airport, and the second backup was Albany, from where an ambulance would finish the trip.

The timing was critical: organs deteriorate outside the body, and ideally a liver should be transplanted within 12 hours of being removed.

Early Monday, as the storm whirled offshore, the plane landed at Teterboro. Soon a nurse rushed to tell the Dreelands that she had just seen an ambulance with lights and sirens screech up to the hospital. Someone had jumped out carrying a container.

At about 5 a.m., the couple kissed Natalia and saw her wheeled off to the operating room.

Three weeks later, she is back home, on the mend. The complicated regimen of drugs that transplant patients need is tough on a child, but she is getting through it, her father said.

Recently, Mr. Dreeland said, he found himself weeping uncontrollably during a church service for the family of the child who had died. ?Their child gave my child life,? he said.

Though only time will tell, because the histiocytosis appeared limited to Natalia?s bile ducts and had not affected other organs, her doctors say there is a good chance that the transplant has cured her.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/health/amid-hurricane-sandy-a-race-to-get-a-liver-transplant.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

ufc on fox 2 weigh ins brandi glanville convulsions john tyler chuck elisabeth hasselbeck fran drescher

Lei Zhengfu Sex Tape Bribery Scandal - Business Insider

Last week, Chinese Communist Party member Lei Zhengfu was forced out of his role as the boss of Chongqing?s Beibei District after a tape showing him having sex with an 18-year old mistress circulated online.

The tape was apparently made in 2007, and though Lei had claimed it was doctored, the party decided that it was not and he was sacked.

But there may be more than just the sexual proclivities of a politician in this story.

Now the citizen journalist who broke the story, Zhu Ruifeng, is claiming that the girl was offered up to Lei as part of a bribe for contracting work.

Shanghaiist summarizes Zhu's claim:

Between 2002 and 2006, while Lei was Dianjiang County Party Secretary, he allegedly took advantage of his position to grant a number of lucrative contracts to his brother's construction company, pocketing a large sum of money for himself in the process. By 2007, after Lei had been promoted to Vice Party Secretary of Chongqing's Jiulongpo District, Lei's personal fortune had grown to the extent that developers effectively found him impossible to bribe.

One developer discovered Lei's weakness for women however, and set about hiring a number of attractive young girls, all under 20-years-old, and using them to set a "honey trap" for Lei. The women, after becoming Lei's mistresses, would secretly video themselves having sex with the corrupt official, giving their employer leverage over Lei.

Zhu also claims to have sex tapes showing 5 other party members.

Even more intriguing is that Lei apparently went to his former boss Bo Xilai (whose name you should know) a few years ago, and confessed the whole thing to get out in front of the story.

Bottom line, this story could end up being about a lot more than sex.

For more background, see here >

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/lei-zhengfu-sex-tape-bribery-scandal-2012-11

wiz khalifa taylor allderdice mixtape reggie wayne taylor allderdice vincent jackson vicki gunvalson pierre garcon brown recluse spider

UN to launch new round of talks on global warming

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2012 file photo, conference flags are displayed ahead of the Doha Climate Change Conference, in Doha, Qatar. As nearly 200 countries meet in oil-and-gas rich Qatar for annual talks on curbing climate change, one of the main challenges will be raising hundreds of billions of dollars to help poor nations adapt to a warming world that may damage their health, agriculture and economies. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal, File)

FILE - In this Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2012 file photo, conference flags are displayed ahead of the Doha Climate Change Conference, in Doha, Qatar. As nearly 200 countries meet in oil-and-gas rich Qatar for annual talks on curbing climate change, one of the main challenges will be raising hundreds of billions of dollars to help poor nations adapt to a warming world that may damage their health, agriculture and economies. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal, File)

In this Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2012 photo, a conference flags is displayed ahead of the Doha Climate Change Conference, in Doha, Qatar, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2012. The eighteenth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 18) will take place from Monday, Nov. 26 to Friday, Dec. 6, 2012.(AP Photo/Osama Faisal)

DOHA, Qatar (AP) ? As nearly 200 countries meet in oil-and-gas-rich Qatar for annual talks starting Monday on slowing global warming, one of the main challenges will be raising climate aid for poor countries at a time when budgets are strained by financial turmoil.

Rich countries have delivered nearly $30 billion in grants and loans promised in 2009, but those commitments expire this year. And a Green Climate Fund designed to channel up to $100 billion annually to poor countries has yet to begin operating.

Borrowing a buzzword from the U.S. budget debate, Tim Gore of the British charity Oxfam said developing countries, including island nations for whom rising sea levels pose a threat to their existence, stand before a "climate fiscal cliff."

"So what we need for those countries in the next two weeks are firm commitments from rich countries to keep giving money to help them to adapt to climate change," he told The Associated Press on Sunday.

Creating a structure for climate financing has so far been one of the few tangible outcomes of the two-decade-old U.N. climate talks, which have failed in their main purpose: reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases that scientists say are warming the planet, melting ice caps, glaciers and permafrost, shifting weather patterns and raising sea levels.

The only binding treaty to limit such emissions, the Kyoto Protocol, expires this year, so agreeing on an extension is seen as the most urgent task by environment ministers and climate officials meeting in the Qatari capital.

However, only the European Union and a few other countries are willing to join a second commitment period with new emissions targets. And the EU's chief negotiator, Artur Runge-Metzger, admitted that such a small group is not going to make a big difference in the fight against climate change.

"I think we cover at most 14 percent of global emissions," he said.

The U.S. rejected Kyoto because it didn't cover rapidly growing economies such as China and India. Some hope for stronger commitments from U.S. delegates in Doha as work begins on drafting a new global treaty that would also apply to developing countries including China, the world's top carbon emitter. That treaty is supposed to be adopted in 2015 and take effect five years later.

Climate financing is a side issue but a controversial one that often deepens the rich-poor divide that has hampered the U.N. climate talks since their launch in 1992. Critics of the U.N. process see the climate negotiations as a cover for attempts to redistribute wealth.

Runge-Metzger said the EU is prepared to continue supporting poorer nations in converting to cleaner energy sources and in adapting to a shifting climate, despite the debt crisis roiling Europe. But he couldn't promise that the EU would present any new pledges in Doha and said developing countries must present detailed "bankable programs" before they can expect any money.

Sometimes, developing countries seem to be saying, "OK give us a blank check," he told AP.

Climate aid activists bristled at that statement, saying many developing countries have already indicated what type of programs and projects need funding.

"They need the financial and technical support from the EU and others. Yet they continue to promise 'jam tomorrow' whilst millions suffer today," said Meena Raman of the Third World Network, a nonprofit group.

Countries agreed in Copenhagen in 2009 to set up the Green Climate Fund with the aim of raising $100 billion annually by 2020. They also pledged to raise $30 billion in "fast-start" climate financing by 2012.

While that short-term goal has nearly been met by countries including the EU, Japan, Australia and the U.S., Oxfam estimates that only one-third of it was new money; the rest was previously pledged aid money repackaged as climate financing. Oxfam also found that more than half of the financing was in the form of loans rather than grants, and that financing levels are set to fall in 2013 as rich countries rein in aid budgets amid debt problems and financial instability.

Meanwhile, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere keeps going up. It has jumped 20 percent since 2000, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil, according to a U.N. report released last week.

A recent projection by the World Bank showed temperatures are on track to increase by up to 4 degrees C (7.2 F) this century, compared with pre-industrial times, overshooting the 2-degree target on which the U.N. talks are based.

___

Follow Karl Ritter at www.twitter.com/karl_ritter

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-11-25-Climate%20Talks/id-af66118044e845a889c99f7330f76c3a

apple store down apple live blog ohio primary cell phone jammer g8 summit netanyahu aipac

Page Not Found - Yahoo!

Please check the URL for proper spelling and capitalization. If you're having trouble locating a destination on Yahoo!, try visiting the Yahoo! homepage or look through a list of Yahoo!'s online services.

Please try Yahoo Help Central if you need more assistance.

Source: http://rss.news.yahoo.com/rss/weightloss

paul pierce strawberry festival knicks strikeforce tate vs rousey ciaa the monkees strikeforce

Video: Ambassador Rice addresses Benghazi comments

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

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49933490/

Sam Mikulak London 2012 diving Tim Berners-Lee Olympics 2012 Schedule Kenneth Branagh Lupe Ontiveros London 2012 China

Novel mechanism through which normal stromal cells become cancer-promoting cells identified

Novel mechanism through which normal stromal cells become cancer-promoting cells identified

Thursday, November 22, 2012

New understanding of molecular changes that convert harmless cells surrounding ovarian cancer cells into cells that promote tumor growth and metastasis provides potential new therapeutic targets for this deadly disease, according to data published in Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

"New approaches for treating patients with ovarian cancer are desperately needed," said Ernst Lengyel, M.D., Ph.D., professor in the department of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Chicago. "There have been no new approaches introduced into the clinic for quite some time, and we have seen no major improvements in patient survival over the years."

According to Lengyel, greater understanding of the biology of ovarian cancer should provide new therapeutic targets. He and his colleagues set out to learn how normal stromal cells are transformed into cancer-associated fibroblasts, which are found in the tissue immediately surrounding the ovarian cancer cells. Intimate cross talk between cancer-associated fibroblasts and cancer cells boosts tumor growth and metastasis.

"The strength of our study lies in the fact that we used cells from patients, rather than cell lines," said Lengyel. "This means that our model system reflects as closely as possible the clinical situation in patients."

Initial analysis indicated that cancer-associated fibroblasts from patients with ovarian cancer had altered patterns of expression of small molecules called microRNAs compared with normal and tumor-adjacent fibroblasts.

MicroRNAs are important regulators of gene expression because they help direct that cell's function. Thus, modified patterns of microRNA expression change cell function.

Lengyel and colleagues further studied the microRNA most upregulated in cancer-associated fibroblasts and the two microRNAs most significantly downregulated. When they changed the pattern of expression of these three microRNAs in normal fibroblasts to mimic the pattern they had seen in cancer-associated fibroblasts, they found that the normal fibroblasts were converted into cells with in-vitro characteristics of cancer-associated fibroblasts. Moreover, the cells reprogrammed to become cancer-associated fibroblasts by altering microRNA expression enhanced the growth of tumor cells in a mouse model of ovarian cancer.

Conversely, restoring the pattern of expression of the three microRNAs to normal in cancer-associated fibroblasts reduced their cancer-promoting characteristics.

"Therapeutic approaches targeting microRNAs in cancer cells are under development," said Lengyel. "Our work suggests that it might be possible to modify microRNA expression in cancer-associated fibroblasts for therapeutic benefit."

Lengyel added that treatments targeting microRNAs in cancer-associated fibroblasts may be particularly effective because these cells are genetically stable, unlike cancer cells, therefore, the risk that cancers will become unresponsive to these treatments is less than for treatments targeting cancer cells.

###

American Association for Cancer Research: http://www.aacr.org

Thanks to American Association for Cancer Research 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.

This press release has been viewed 12 time(s).

Source: http://www.labspaces.net/125416/Novel_mechanism_through_which_normal_stromal_cells_become_cancer_promoting_cells_identified

sasha baron cohen oscars oscar winners the artist sacha baron cohen oscars the old curiosity shop jane russell meryl streep

Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office West Bank crime report, Nov. 22 ...

This information reflects initial calls for service reported by the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office for the west bank of Jefferson Parish. Locations are approximate due to automated location methods and address inconsistencies, the Sheriff's Office says. Burglar alarm calls are excluded.

4600 block of 10th Street - Nov. 22, 8:04 p.m., theft.
2400 block of 4th Street - Nov. 22, 5:04 p.m., assault.
Acre Road and Silver Lily Lane - Nov. 22, 3:39 p.m., suspicious person.
Ames Boulevard and Lapalco Boulevard - Nov. 22, 9:28 a.m., vehicle wreck.
August Lane and Semonia Street - Nov. 22, 9:02 p.m., battery.
900 block of Avenue A - Nov. 22, 4:45 p.m., disturbing the peace.
400 block of Avenue B - Nov. 22, 2:39 p.m., theft.
Avondale Garden Road and U South 90 Highway - Nov. 22, 1:28 a.m., suspicious person.
1400 block of Barataria Boulevard - Nov. 22, 4:19 p.m., disturbing the peace.
2000 block of Basie Drive - Nov. 22, 3:24 p.m., disturbing the peace.
2000 block of Belle Chasse Highway - Nov. 22, 12:52 p.m., suspicious person.
1600 block of Blk Barataria Boulevard - Nov. 22, 11:26 a.m., suspicious person.
6600 block of Blk Barataria Boulevard - Nov. 22, 6:16 p.m., drug law violation.
1600 block of Blk Gretna Boulevard - Nov. 22, 8:07 p.m., vehicle wreck.
1500 block of Blk Manhattan Boulevard - Nov. 22, 7:22 p.m., suspicious person.
2300 block of Blk Rochelle Avenue - Nov. 22, 5:51 p.m., suspicious person.
1500 block of Bridge City Avenue - Nov. 22, 1:51 a.m., disturbing the peace.
Bridge City Avenue and River Road - Nov. 22, 6:22 p.m., disturbing the peace.
3800 block of Burntwood Drive - Nov. 22, 7:29 p.m., criminal damage.
10 Camelia Lane - Nov. 22, 4:55 p.m., disturbing the peace.
1700 block of Carol Sue Avenue - Nov. 22, 7:05 p.m., residence burglary.
1900 block of Charleston Drive - Nov. 22, 11:14 p.m., battery.
1900 block of Charleston Drive - Nov. 22, 11:52 p.m., suspicious person.
3700 block of Clover Lane - Nov. 22, 11:14 p.m., burglary.
Dolores Drive and Barataria Boulevard - Nov. 22, 3:00 p.m., suspicious person.
2100 block of Euclid Street - Nov. 22, 12:17 a.m., battery.
600 block of Farmington Place - Nov. 22, 5:13 p.m., vehicle wreck.
Goucher Street and Carol Sue Avenue - Nov. 22, 2:10 a.m., suspicious person.
3800 block of Greenbriar Lane - Nov. 22, 11:10 a.m., battery.
Grefer Avenue and 9th Street - Nov. 22, 5:42 p.m., disturbing the peace.
1300 block of Gretna Boulevard - Nov. 22, 6:43 p.m., suspicious person.
Harvey Boulevard and Manhattan Boulevard - Nov. 22, 8:38 p.m., suspicious person.
2600 block of Highland Meadows Drive - Nov. 22, 11:11 p.m., disturbing the peace.
Homeplace Drive and Edgewood Court - Nov. 22, 1:35 p.m., vehicle wreck.
800 block of Jean Lafitte Boulevard - Nov. 22, 1:04 a.m., suspicious person.
Jean Lafitte Boulevard and Fisher Street - Nov. 22, 10:17 a.m., suspicious person.
Julie Street and Second Zion Avenue - Nov. 22, 12:50 a.m., suspicious person.
800 block of Kathy Street - Nov. 22, 10:06 a.m., battery.
4200 block of Lac Couture Drive - Nov. 22, 8:06 p.m., disturbing the peace.
1500 block of Lapalco Boulevard - Nov. 22, 12:28 a.m., suspicious person.
Lapalco Boulevard and Bellemeade Boulevard - Nov. 22, 10:16 a.m., suspicious person.
Lincoln Avenue and Ames Boulevard - Nov. 22, 2:53 a.m., suspicious person.
Live Oak Manor Drive and River Road - Nov. 22, 8:30 p.m., suspicious person.
2200 block of Manhattan Boulevard - Nov. 22, 11:02 p.m., suspicious person.
2300 block of Manhattan Boulevard - Nov. 22, 12:26 p.m., vehicle wreck.
Meadowbrook Drive and Timberlane Drive - Nov. 22, 12:37 a.m., suspicious person.
2600 block of Oakmere Drive - Nov. 22, 3:37 a.m., residence burglary.
2300 block of Old Compton Road - Nov. 22, 3:28 a.m., vehicle wreck.
Seven Oaks Boulevard and River Road - Nov. 22, 9:19 a.m., vehicle wreck.
1300 block of Silver Lily Lane - Nov. 22, 10:00 a.m., battery.
Sorbonne Drive and Rennes Drive - Nov. 22, 10:32 p.m., disturbing the peace.
Stumpf Boulevard and Wright Avenue - Nov. 22, 10:53 a.m., suspicious person.
Stumpf Boulevard and Wright Avenue - Nov. 22, 11:00 a.m., suspicious person.
1100 block of Tensas Drive - Nov. 22, 12:48 p.m., criminal damage.
100 block of Terry Parkway - Nov. 22, 4:11 p.m., suspicious person.
400 block of Terry Parkway - Nov. 22, 12:20 p.m., suspicious person.
Terry Parkway and Browning Lane - Nov. 22, 2:56 p.m., suspicious person.
100 block of Third Emanuel Street - Nov. 22, 3:43 p.m., disturbing the peace.
5900 block of Three Oaks Court - Nov. 22, 8:51 p.m., disturbing the peace.
400 block of Timberlane Drive - Nov. 22, 1:33 a.m., suspicious person.
400 block of Travis Drive - Nov. 22, 6:51 p.m., vehicle wreck.
3900 block of U South 90 Highway - Nov. 22, 2:04 a.m., vehicle wreck.
U South 90 Highway and Highway 90 - Nov. 22, 11:28 p.m., suspicious person.
500 block of Wall Boulevard - Nov. 22, 6:11 p.m., battery.
Wall Boulevard and Lapalco Boulevard - Nov. 22, 12:53 p.m., vehicle wreck.
Watling Drive and Connaught Drive - Nov. 22, 4:57 p.m., suspicious person.
1600 block of Westbank Exp - Nov. 22, 3:00 a.m., disturbing the peace.
7100 block of Westbank Exp - Nov. 22, 1:41 p.m., suspicious person.
Westbank Exp and Mac Arthur Avenue - Nov. 22, 12:07 p.m., vehicle wreck.
Westbank Exp and Manhattan Boulevard - Nov. 22, 1:22 a.m., suspicious person.
Westbank Exp and Manhattan Boulevard - Nov. 22, 4:18 p.m., suspicious person.
Whippletree Drive and South Chipwood Drive - Nov. 22, 10:55 p.m., suspicious person.
4000 block of North Woodbine Street - Nov. 22, 4:14 a.m., vehicle burglary.
2000 block of Woodmere Boulevard - Nov. 22, 12:41 p.m., vehicle wreck.
200 block of Wright Avenue - Nov. 22, 3:12 a.m., battery.

Source: http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2012/11/jefferson_parish_sheriffs_offi_1163.html

university of alabama national championship game bcs game lsu vs alabama college football college football ncaa football

Parrots imitate individuals when addressing them

ScienceDaily (Nov. 21, 2012) ? Whether living with pirates or in the wild, parrots have exceptional abilities to mimic the sounds they hear. One species, the orange-fronted conure, may have evolved this ability in order to communicate with specific individuals in other flocks, according to research published November 21 in the open access journal PLOS ONE by Thorsten Balsby from the University of Aarhus, Denmark and colleagues from the University of Copenhagen.

In the wild, orange-fronted conures live in dynamic flocks where individuals flit in and out, so each parrot encounters many different individuals every day. Each animal also has its own unique call. Both in the wild and in the researcher's experiments, parrots that heard an imitation of their own calls responded more frequently and faster to the calling individual than parrots that did not hear this imitation. Based on these observations, the authors suggest that the parrots may have evolved their abilities as mimics so they could 'begin a conversation' with a specific individual by mimicking their call.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Public Library of Science.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Thorsten J. S. Balsby, Jane Vestergaard Momberg, Torben Dabelsteen. Vocal Imitation in Parrots Allows Addressing of Specific Individuals in a Dynamic Communication Network. PLoS ONE, 2012; 7 (11): e49747 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0049747

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/Asewt8IzySY/121121210259.htm

vanna white michael robinson joe paterno memorial service taco bell breakfast menu ener1 national chocolate cake day epstein

Stocks edge up ahead of Thanksgiving break

NEW YORK (AP) ? The stock market crept higher Wednesday ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday. Major market indexes got a slight lift after news broke of a cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The truce was announced by Egypt's foreign minister and confirmed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. A week of fighting has killed more than 140 Palestinians and five Israelis.

The Dow Jones industrial average climbed 48.38 points to 12,836.89. Three of the most expensive stocks in the average ? Boeing, IBM and United Technologies ? each rose more than 60 cents. Higher-priced stocks in the Dow carry more weight.

The Labor Department said that first-time applications for unemployment benefits fell by 41,000 last week to 410,000. The figure remains temporarily high because of Superstorm Sandy and was in line with what economists had expected.

"The news today didn't mess anything up," said Harry Clark, CEO of Clark Capital Management, an investment advisory firm in Philadelphia. "With no bad news, this market will drift higher."

That's partially because investors have stopped worrying as much about the "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and government spending cuts that are set to take effect Jan. 1, Clark said.

Over the past week, congressional Republicans and Democrats have made conciliatory remarks and raised hopes that they will reach a deal to stave off the full effect of the budget-tightening measures.

While the cuts would hurt the economy gradually, they could be enough to push the U.S. back into recession next year, economists have warned.

"Both sides appear to have extended an olive branch," said JJ Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at TD Ameritrade. "The assumption now is that, it may not be pretty, but at the end of the day they'll get some compromise worked out."

In other Wednesday trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 index gained 3.22 points to 1,391.03. Utilities fell the most, while telecommunication companies rose the most, but no category moved more than 0.6 percent.

The Nasdaq composite index rose 9.87 points to 2,926.55. In the bond market, the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note inched up to 1.68 percent.

The quiet trading followed a largely uneventful Tuesday. The Dow dropped as much as 94 points after a warning from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about federal budget talks, then recovered to end with just a seven-point loss.

The stock market will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving and will close early Friday. Congress has the week off and will take up budget negotiations after its members return from the break next week.

Among companies making news:

? Deere, the maker of tractors and other farm and construction equipment, dropped 4 percent. It reported a quarterly profit of $1.75 per share, missing Wall Street expectations of $1.88.

? Chipotle Mexican Group, the restaurant chain, climbed 3 percent. It announced late Tuesday that it would buy back an additional $100 million of its own stock. That's in addition to a $100 billion buyback plan launched Oct. 18.

? Zale plunged 30 percent after the jewelry store chain reported a larger loss than analysts had expected. The company, which runs Zales stores and Piercing Pagoda kiosks, posted weaker sales. Jewelry store sales sank during the recession and have yet to recover.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/stocks-edge-ahead-thanksgiving-break-192049542--finance.html

miguel cabrera Karrueche Tran dodd frank Lark Voorhies Jennifer Livingston Orlando Cruz MLB Playoff Schedule

Spectacular Website Design Sydney Company for Business Website

Website design is a first impression of your whole website. A website must have enough capability to retain its visitor to that particular page. According to reliable survey, the majority of visitors first observes the website design and logo, if they found reliable and unique then they go ahead to visit further pages. Make your website visit able by every visitor. When a visitor gets praise with the design, he checks services and products of the company. This is the reason, why web design is not a small part of the website. Sonic Interactive is an imaginative Web Site Designers Sydney company. We are also on the top of outsourcing centers in Australia. We have specialists for every type of design. We assign particular task to its specialists. We always give uniqueness to a website which also represents your business theme.

We also provide total business solutions with website design. Main services of Sonic Interactive Website Design Sydney are: Website design and Development which includes content management system (CMS), eCommerce website, interactivity & multimedia, mobile friendly websites, customer web application development etc. Online Marketing and Strategies services are internet marketing and delivering services like online marketing and strategies, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, Google analytics and traffic analysis. Fashion Design and Interactive Design includes Logo Design and graphic design, advertisement design, PowerPoint presentation design, building & vehicle signage, Corporate eCards, eNewsletter design etc. Our online Marketing team is experienced and gives you the best rank on the first page of your desired search engine.

Sonic Interactive mainly concentrates on web designing and this is the field for which we are recognized as the most excellent Website Designers Sydney Company in Australia. We earn a reputation through our commitment and our quality work. We deliver services from our Sydney located branches. Whatever your country doesn?t matter, quality is guaranteed. You can hire our designers and also outsource your project to our development center. We give you the best competitive price. We offer you scalable services with round the clock support. If you are an initiator in the business and have problem of finance then we can manage all your requirements in your budget. You can visit our website or come personally to visit us for your project. We have designed thousands of websites from various industries and our designers have enough experience to fulfill all requirements of clients.

During the web designing process we keep silent with us via video call or chatting. Every module design first goes to clients, once they finalize we go for further designing. We always keep your business theme in our mind. If you are starting your new business then we also design your business logo. You will save money if you deal with us. We also design Catalogues, Leaflets, Brochures, postcards, Presentation, Annual Reports, Posters, Large format banners, Illustrations and icon development, Building and vehicle Signage, Template design for software: letterhead and fax templates, PO?s, invoices etc. Our valued clients are Qantas, Ticketek, Sabre Pacific and Australian Wool Innovation.

Call us on 1300 855 842.

Website design is the pillar of any website development. Sonic Interactive is a Website Design Sydney company who provides all types of web designing services with experienced Website Designers Sydney.

Source: http://www.shvoong.com/internet-and-technologies/websites/2335906-spectacular-website-design-sydney-company/

super bowl halftime show 2012 ahmad bradshaw tom brady halftime super bowl 2012 super bowl score madonna super bowl performance superbowl commercials

Video: SAC's Cohen Caught in the Crosshairs

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

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/49917476/

moonshine news channel 4 radar weather morosini death jacoby ellsbury jacoby ellsbury lionel richie

Hughes Showcases Satellite-based Airborne Solutions at Global ...

Hughes Executive to Discuss BLOS SATCOM and MicroSat Technologies for Fixed and Rotary Wing Applications

Germantown, Md., November 20, 2012 ?[ASDWire]? Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) will showcase its highly innovative range of satellite-based airborne communications solutions at the 14th annual Global MilSatCom Conference and Exhibition, which will be held at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel and Conference Centre, London from 27-29 November 2012.

ASDNews

Firetrench Directory

In his keynote speech, Hughes senior director of its Defense and Intelligence Systems Division (DISD), Daniel Losada, will focus on the importance of innovation in the growing military airborne market. In particular, he will look at the latest developments from Hughes in high-throughput beyond-line-of-site (BLOS) solutions that have applications for fixed and rotary wing aircraft as defense organizations look to improve their intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capability. He will also discuss MicroSat technologies suitable for C2 communications-on-the-move (COTM) and patrol manpack applications, as well as data extraction terminals for unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) missions.

WHAT: ?Innovations in SATCOM Technology for Beyond-Line-of-Sight C2 and ISR Missions

WHO: Daniel Losada, senior director, DISD, Hughes

WHEN: Thursday, 29 November 2012 at 11:50

WHERE: Millennium Gloucester Hotel and Conference Centre, London, UK

?Airborne ISR capabilities are critical to protect national security, keep warfighters safe and assist in emergency response activities,? said Losada. ?Hughes continues to develop advanced capabilities, many of which provide efficient and cost-effective solutions for our military customers. Our global networks allow us to work at home and in theater, providing continuous coverage for our customers.?

Hughes solutions are integrated with a robust portfolio of secure managed services, providing governments with expert, proven support.

?Hughes is especially strong in the area of airborne communications,? added Losada. ?We have integrated with a number of antenna systems developers, enabling deployment of high-throughput SATCOM systems across a range of manned and unmanned airborne platforms. We have also undertaken a number of waveform implementations for more challenging applications such as rotary wing. Other specialized waveforms have been developed to meet the need for ultra-small apertures. As a result, less power and decreased weight have enabled bandwidth efficient, interoperable tactical systems to be deployed in theater.?

Hughes will also exhibit its diverse range of tactical COTM high-bandwidth solutions for worldwide deployment. At a time of continuing budgetary constraints, the company?s solutions support the vital mission requirements of land-mobile, maritime and airborne network-centric communications, while reducing operational costs through initiatives such as bandwidth optimisation.

Global MilSatCom is the largest event of its type in Europe and will include a wide range of military leaders addressing the attendees. For more information, please visit www.globalmilsatcom.com

Source: http://aerospace.firetrench.com/2012/11/hughes-showcases-satellite-based-airborne-solutions-at-global-milsatcom-2012/

stock market Google News Obama Acceptance Speech 2012 alabama football danielle fishel dow jones Bbc News

Repositioning the telecoms industry in Nigeria by broadband ...

Home ? Features ? Repositioning the telecoms industry in Nigeria by broadband expansion

---

Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Eugene Juwah, Nigerian Communications Commission

In the last 15 years, Nigeria has been participating in the ITU Telecom World event; however, the Country had its first National Pavilion in 2004 where ICT/ Telecom Stakeholders were Pavilion Partners, and in 2011ITU Telecom World in Geneva, Switzerland, Nigeria announced its Broadband Initiatives to the Global World.

This year, because of Nigeria?s Broadband initiative; aimed at rapidly changing lives and approach to businesses through increased efficiency and attracting investment, the ITU Telecom World event is on a different note.

The Nigerian Communications Commission took the campaign for Broadband investment to ITU Telecom World 2012, Dubai, UAE in order to attract investors in the Broadband deployment across the country.

At the event, Omobola Johnson, Minister of Communication Technology, recommended basic connectivity, affordable access devices and service plans for greater inclusion of Nigerian women in the knowledge-based economy driven by ICTs just like their counterparts cross the globe.

She made this recommendation at the Ministerial Roundtable discussion on ?The Importance of Women in ICT?

According to her, ?reaching women through ICT demands basic connectivity, affordable access devices and service plans and encouraging adoption by making ICT relevant to women?s live through applications in health, literacy and economic empowerment.?

Also, at the event, the indigenous computer manufacturing company, Zinox,? got the attention of the government.

The Vice president Nnamadi Sambo, upon learning that some of the products on display, the Zinox Smart and the Smart Convertible, both of them entry level notebooks, cost less than N50,000 and were specifically designed for pupils and students, said the federal government would partner with state governments to see how the computers could be adopted in schools nationwide. A very visible interest in the broadband development in Nigeria schools, no doubt. The vice president said the federal government is irrevocably committed to quality education driven by ICT as, according to him, this is one way Nigeria can make bolder impressions in the global technology map.

According to him, the federal government?s commitment to the education of the Nigerian child propelled it to establish nine federal universities and increase funding to the existing ones. Zinox is a multiple award-winning company which has brought more honour to Nigeria in the area of computer design and assembly. It came to Dubai brandishing high-end notebooks including its flagship models of laptops, the Ultrabook range of notebooks, the mid-range laptops (Zinox Legacy and Zinox Pride) as well as the trail-blazing Zinox Bijimi Pro which comes bundled with bull-strength batteries. The company is also the first company in sub-Sahara Africa to obtain the Microsoft Windows Hardware Quality Lab Certification (WHQL) in addition to being the largest Microsoft OEM system builder Partner in West Africa

Omobola Johnson, Minister of Communication Technology

Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Eugene Juwah said recently in a gathering, ?With widespread deployment of broadband services in Nigeria, the future holds greater prospects for the telecoms industry. This is why we are currently sparing no efforts to achieve a robust deployment of broadband services across the length and breadth of Nigeria.?

While noting that the Commission acknowledged the huge prospects that abound in the availability of affordable and pervasive broadband services in a vast geographical spread such as Nigeria, Juwah said the regulator was interested in bringing broadband access to all citizens a reality in the country.

He said telecoms sector, as evident in the last 12 years of telecoms deregulation, portends much more prospects for the nation in terms of Gross Domestic Product Contribution (GDP).

According to him, everyone is a witness to the greater strides that telecoms sector has helped us to achieve as individuals, and as a nation. We are witnesses to the access which telecoms services have made available with the revolution that has attended the industry in the last decade.

?We have seen how businesses have thrived with the availability of Information and Communication Technology. We are all full of admiration with the huge private sector investments that the industry has witnessed, rising from about $500,000 in 2001 to over $25 billion as at present and how it has transcended to the nation?s economic environment.

?By this, we mean the contributions of telecoms to the economy by way of job opportunities, human capacity development, improved business transactions with associated cost savings and most importantly, its contribution to the nation GDP profile where it has taken over from the financial sector,? he said.

To reiterate the government?s effort in making the dream come true and in align with the United Nations? campaign? that countries should strive to ensure even and rapid penetration of broadband by 2015 through the implementation of national broadband policies, Nigeria?s President Goodluck Jonathan? inaugurated a 14-member broadband committee saddled with responsibility of articulating acceptable definitions and perspectives of broadband and related issues that are current and dynamic for the country

At the inauguration, Communications Technology minister, Mrs. Omobola Johnson stated that the importance of broadband to socio-economic development couldn?t be overemphasised.

Omobola Johnson, Minister of Communication Technology, Hamadoun Tour? Secretary-General,Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Eugene Juwah, Nigerian Communications Commission

Johnson noted that increase in broadband penetration is directly linked to increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP).? She stressed that empirical evidence shows that 10 per cent penetration in broadband penetration leads to about 1.3 per cent increase in GDP.

According to her, ICT remains a tool that Nigeria can deploy to leapfrog to a digital economy. She informed Nigerians that the Ministry is working hard to change the face of ICTs in Nigeria and the inauguration of the Committee is a reflection of the importance of ICTs to the transformation agenda of President Jonathan.

Chairman of the Committee, Ernest Ndukwe , said that the Committee would work to carry out the task assigned to it speedily and with dedication. He promised that the committee would proffer effective ways to achieve universal digital Inclusion in Nigeria by identifying and suggesting ways to eliminate obstacles to digital inclusion in Nigeria. He added that the committee would also outline an Action Plan to take the issue of digital inclusion into mainstream development plans across all sectors.

The success story is not unnoticed by industry analysts. For example, New analysis from Frost & Sullivan ?West African Broadband Market Tracker?, covering Nigeria, Cameroun and Cote d?Ivoire, finds that the market earned revenues of $929.9 million in 2009 and estimated this to reach $1.932 billion in 2016.

The research stated that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) still remain the dominant players in the region, except for Nigeria where mobile broadband connections have outpaced fixed broadband connections.

?In comparison to other countries, high investments are made in infrastructure development and broadband services present the highest areas for growth opportunities due to the decline in voice revenues,? the report said.

The analysts said these investments [in undersea cables] would unlock the constraints in the West African telecommunications market and catalyse the economic potential of the region. They stressed that a compelling opportunity exists to lower the restrictive cost of international telecommunications and significantly expand Internet access via submarine cable, which will lead to greater efficiency and more competitive business.

Source: http://www.mobileworldmag.com/repositioning-the-telecoms-industry-in-nigeria-by-broadband-expansion.html

limbaugh aaron smith wilt chamberlain joe arpaio cat in the hat green eggs and ham wiz khalifa and amber rose

Brent steady above $111 on US fiscal deal hopes, Mideast tension

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Brent crude held steady above $111 a barrel on Tuesday, less than a dollar away from a one-month top hit in the previous session, on hopes a U.S. budget crisis will be averted and on supply worries triggered by tensions in the Middle East.

Global stock markets and commodities rallied on Monday, boosted by expectations U.S. lawmakers will reach a deal to avert $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts due to start in January - the "fiscal cliff" that threatens to send the U.S. economy back into recession.

Oil prices found additional support from the growing Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Brent crude edged down 11 cents to $111.59 per barrel by 0351 GMT, 61 cents away from previous session's one-month top of $112.20. U.S. crude fell 21 cents to $89.07.

"The overnight rally in the U.S. equity market is still supporting the oil market with ongoing tensions in the Gaza Strip posing some geopolitical risks," said Natalie Rampono, a commodity strategist at ANZ.

"Even though the violence is not near oil producing nations, the consensus is that it could lead to tensions in the region ... so I'm surprised that prices haven't rallied like they did in the past."

Big armoured bulldozers with blades tall enough to plough through houses and carve a path for tanks and infantry were lined up on Israel's border with Gaza on Monday, ready to invade if given the order.

Investors are waiting to find out if it will be truce or war. Mediator Egypt says a deal to end the fighting could be close. Israel says it is prepared to move troops into Gaza but prefers a diplomatic solution.

Optimism that debt-laden Greece will get more funding also helped brighten the outlook for oil demand, but price gains were checked as the euro fell after Moody's stripped France of its prized triple-A rating.

A stronger dollar makes commodities priced in the greenback less appealing to holders of other currencies.

"While there was not much news to trigger the rally, there are a lot of nervous investors who are underweight equities and other risk assets," Ric Spooner, chief market analyst at CMC Markets said in a note on Tuesday, referring to Monday's rally.

"Investors in this situation are very conscious of the positive event risk represented by a good outcome on the fiscal situation and the Greek government being successfully funded. In this situation, rising prices themselves attract investors nervous about missing out on a major rally."

Euro zone finance ministers will give a tentative go-ahead for the disbursement of 44 billion euros in emergency loans to Greece on Tuesday, but the money will only be paid on December 5 if the country meets all remaining conditions.

U.S. DATA

Promising data from the United States, the world's top oil consumer, also helped keep oil prices near the peak reached in the previous session.

U.S. home resales rose in October and a gauge of homebuilder sentiment climbed to a six-year high in November, signs of surprising vigour in the country's still-struggling housing market.

Traders are now eyeing U.S. oil inventory data. A Reuters poll of analysts showed U.S. crude oil stockpiles were expected to have risen by 900,000 barrels in the week to November 16.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brent-steady-above-111-us-fiscal-deal-hopes-045919336--finance.html

obamacare Todd Akin Register To Vote Fox News Live Obama 2016 Who Is Winning The Election 2012 Election Coverage 2012

Economy Has Green Shoots From China to US

Business Week - The U.S. and China, the world?s traditional twin sources of growth, are planting seeds to lift the world economy from its midyear slowdown.

Among the green shoots indicating faster expansion: stronger housing demand and hiring in the U.S. and accelerating factory output and retail sales in China. Responsible for a third of the world economy, the two countries are now providing ballast internationally as Europe and Japan stagnate.

?China and the U.S. are both improving, which is extremely good news,? Jim O?Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, said in a telephone interview. ?If we could pretend Europe and Japan didn?t exist, the world would be fine.?

In a sign the world economy is emerging from its rough patch faster than economists anticipated, Citigroup Inc. gauges of whether incoming data exceeds or undershoots forecasts show U.S. and China indicators are increasingly proving stronger than anticipated. The so-called surprise index for the U.S. is at 57, up from a 2012 low of minus 65.30 in July, while China?s has risen to 27.30 from minus 87.80 in May.

Behind the upward turn is continued stimulus from monetary policy makers and a potential recovery in industrial growth after manufacturing production fell 2.6 percent in the three months through September, said David Hensley, director of global economic coordination at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. Order books and inventories suggest the slide may now begin reversing.

?We?re quite confident about the signs of stabilization,? Hensley said in a telephone interview. ?We expect some modest acceleration and we?re seeing signs of it if not full confirmation.?

If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/advancednano/~3/KSaAAT7pVzs/economy-has-green-shoots-from-china-to.html

Samantha Steele yankees Tagg Romney Bosses Day Cabin Fever 2 nhl Alexis Wright Zumba

Holiday campaign aims at preventing elder financial abuse ...

Posted on 16 November 2012

By Mark Miller

Permanent URL of this article: http://retirementrevised.com/money/holiday-campaign-aims-at-preventing-elder-financial-abuse

Law enforcement, regulators and the financial industry have all stepped up ?efforts in recent years to protect seniors against devastating financial loss due to scams. But holiday get-togethers present a great opportunity for family members to do their own preventive check up on the financial security of elders.

As part of its 10th Annual Home for the Holidays campaign, the Eldercare Locator, a public service of the U.S. Administration on Aging that is administered by the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (N4A), is encouraging older adults, caregivers and their families to use their time together this holiday season to discuss and get informed about strategies to prevent financial exploitation.

The National Center on Elder Abuse partnered with the Eldercare Locator to produce a consumer guide that is now available to help inform this discussion with seniors during the holiday season. ?Click here to download the guide as a PDF file.

?Financial exploitation is a threat to the health, safety, dignity and independence of vulnerable older adults,? said Kathy Greenlee, Administrator, Administration for Community Living and Assistant Secretary for Aging. ?This holiday season, we encourage families to spend some time asking older family members some basic questions to ensure that their finances are in good hands and that if there are signs of abuse, that the right steps are taken to stop it.?

There are several signs of financial exploitation for families to look out for, including financial activity that is inconsistent with an older adults past financial history; confusion about recent financial arrangements; changes to key documents that have not been authorized; a caregiver or beneficiary who refuses to use designated funds for necessary care and treatment of an older adult; and an older adult who feels threatened by a caregiver or another individual who is seeking to control their finances.

?Unfortunately, financial exploitation is often committed by a person you know and trust, which makes it even more difficult,? said Sandy Markwood, CEO of N4A. ?There are steps older adults and their families can take and resources available to help identify and remedy this serious problem.?

Resources

Click here for the RetirementRevised.com guide to elder abuse prevention.

?

Related posts:

1. Elder financial abuse often a family matter
2. Senior financial scams often all in the family
3. LGBT caregiving portal launches
4. Free webinar: Top 10 mistakes in hiring a financial adviser
5. How to protect your assets from cognitive decline

Tags | elder abuse

Source: http://retirementrevised.com/money/holiday-campaign-aims-at-preventing-elder-financial-abuse

nfl hall of fame 2012 ufc diaz vs condit super bowl start time target jason wu gi joe jason wu for target collection jason wu

Britney Spears reportedly 'calls off' her planned December wedding

Like with many stories about Britney Spears, CB and I have different thoughts on the current round of gossip about Britney?s relationship/engagement to Jason Trawick. CB?s take is that Jason is a sketchball who probably fools around on Britney. While I agree that could be happening, I think there?s a ?reason? why Jason might be getting some on the side ? perhaps because that?s the arrangement that he and Britney have always had? I tend to believe that Jason is now and has always been more of Britney?s caretaker than her boyfriend/fianc?. But tabloids still try to convince us that Britney and Jason have a for-real relationship, and that the relationship is rocky/weird/sketchy. Which might be true. Who knows? Us Weekly claims this week that Britney wants Jason to ?check in? more:

He won?t be a slave for her! Britney Spears? constant demands that fiance Jason Trawick ?check in with her? have him fuming, a source tells Us Weekly.

?The romance is gone,? says the insider. Trawick, 40, ?puts her on speakerphone so friends can hear her nagging.?

(A rep for the X Factor star, 30, denies this, and an insider insists, ?That?s not Jason?s style. They?re happy.?)

But the source contends there?s turbulence ahead: ?I?d be shocked if they got married.?

Spears, who is a mom to Sean Preston, 7, and Jayden James, 6, (with ex-husband Kevin Federline) got engaged to Trawick in December 2011, but have yet to set a date.

[From Us Weekly]

I don?t know? it sounds kind of reasonable in this particular situation that they BOTH would want to check in with each other, right? And isn?t? Jason WITH Britney on the set of The X Factor anyway? As for the wedding? it?s my understanding that Britney, Jason and her team were waiting until all of the legal issues with Sam Lufti were over before they got married ? and Lufti?s case was just thrown out of court earlier this month. So what?s the hold up?

Britney Spears and Jason Trawick had planned a romantic and intimate winter wedding, but after incessant fighting between the two, the impending nuptials have been called off, RadarOnline.com is exclusively reporting.

?Britney and Jason had planned to get married at the end of December, but they have been fighting non-stop so the wedding has now been called off,? a source close to the situation tells Radar.

?They are telling their friends it?s being postponed, but they will probably never make it down the aisle. Britney doesn?t think Jason is any fun and resents him because he acts more like a second father than a romantic partner, or equal.

?Britney and Jason have been sleeping in separate bedrooms for a very long time. She has been staying in a hotel during the week because of the live X Factor shows, and although Jason stays at the same hotel, he is in a room adjacent to hers. Jason feels like he is Britney?s babysitter and it?s pretty much just a business arrangement at this point. Jason does love Britney and the boys, but he just can?t see himself spending the rest of his life with her,? the source says.

?Britney?s parents are absolutely devastated that the wedding has been called off,? the source continues. ?Lynne is very close to Jason and views him as one of her children. Meanwhile, Jamie feels that Jason shouldn?t have proposed to Britney if his heart wasn?t in it, and feels a little betrayed. It doesn?t help matters that both Jamie and Jason are co-conservators of Britney. The whole situation is just sad for everyone.?

[From Radar]

Yeah. I believe this. Maybe not the details about ?calling off the wedding? but I believe Radar?s assessment of this relationship. It?s more of a business relationship, and he?s more like her caretaker, emotionally, romantically and legally. Remember, Jamie Spears allowed Jason to join as joint conservator for Britney, and the judge cosigned it. So even if Britney says ?the wedding?s off!? it?s much, much more complicated than that.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet and WENN.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Source: http://www.celebitchy.com/263848/britney_spears_reportedly_calls_off_the_december_wedding_she_planned_with_jason/

zimmerman website miami marlins marlins marlins facebook buys instagram kevin systrom fibonacci sequence