Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Iran sanctions "biting" in recent weeks: CIA chief (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Iran is feeling the bite from economic sanctions imposed over its nuclear program, which is capable of producing a weapon although Iranian leaders have not yet decided to do so, top U.S. intelligence chiefs told Congress on Tuesday.

"The sanctions have been biting much, much more literally in recent weeks than they have until this time," CIA Director David Petraeus said at a Senate intelligence committee hearing.

"What we have to see now is how does that play out, what is the level of popular discontent inside Iran, does that influence the strategic decision-making of the Supreme Leader and the regime, keeping in mind that the regime's paramount goal in all that they do is their regime survival," he said.

Iran's currency, the rial, has lost "considerable value" and there have been "runs on the bank" as Iranians try to dump domestic currency and acquire assets that will hold value better as inflation "takes off," Petraeus said.

But Director of National Intelligence James Clapper acknowledged that sanctions so far had not caused Iran's leaders to change their behavior or policies.

The U.S. hope is that recent sanctions "would have the effect of inducing a change in the Iranian policy towards their apparent pursuit of a nuclear capability," he said.

Senators at the hearing asked about Israel's concerns about Iran's nuclear program, amid speculation that Israel might launch a pre-emptive strike at the country's known nuclear sites.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the panel's chairwoman, and Petraeus said they met recently with the director of Mossad, Israel's intelligence service.

"We're doing a lot with the Israelis, working together with them. And of course for them, this is, as they have characterized, is an existential threat," Clapper said.

Petraeus, appearing with other intelligence community leaders at an annual open hearing on global threats to U.S. security, said that China has reduced imports of Iranian oil but "it remains to be seen whether that continues."

"It appears that Saudi Arabian production is ramping up and can fill some of the demand that might have been met by Iranian exports now that there are the sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran," he said.

The United States imposed the harshest sanctions so far on Iran when President Barack Obama on December 31 signed into law new sanctions on transactions involving Iran's central bank.

The European Union last week imposed a ban on the import, purchase or transport of Iranian oil. Existing contracts can be honored up to July 1.

The West has imposed sanctions over the years due to concerns that Iran's nuclear development program is aimed at building a weapon. Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes.

The latest U.S. sanctions will have a deeper impact because the Central Bank of Iran handles a large volume of foreign bank transactions and receives the revenue for the roughly 70 percent of oil sold by the National Iranian Oil Company, Clapper said.

'CRITICAL YEAR'

"According to most timelines I've heard, 2012 will be a critical year for convincing or preventing Iran's development of a nuclear weapon," Feinstein, a Democrat, said.

Iran is keeping open the option to develop a nuclear bomb but U.S. intelligence agencies do not know whether its leaders ultimately will decide to build one, Clapper said in his written statement to the panel.

New U.S. sanctions were likely to have a greater impact than previous ones, but were not expected to lead to the downfall of Iran's leadership, Clapper said.

"We assess Iran is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons, in part by developing various nuclear capabilities that better position it to produce such weapons, should it choose to do so," he said in written testimony. "We do not know, however, if Iran will eventually decide to build nuclear weapons."

Iran's advances, particularly in uranium enrichment, strengthen the assessment that "Iran is well capable of producing enough highly-enriched uranium for a weapon if its political leaders, specifically the Supreme Leader himself, choose to do so," Clapper said. He referred to the country's most powerful leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"Iran's economic difficulties probably will not jeopardize the regime, absent a sudden and sustained fall in oil prices or a sudden domestic crisis that disrupts oil exports," Clapper's written testimony said.

Iran has sought to "exploit the Arab Spring but has reaped limited benefits, thus far," the testimony said. Tehran's biggest regional concern is ally Syria, where a change in leadership would be a major strategic loss for Iran.

Nearly a year into the unrest, conflict in Syria is unlikely to be resolved quickly, and it is a matter of time before Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad falls, Clapper said.

"I personally believe it's a question of time before Assad falls, but that's the issue, it could be a long time," Clapper said. "Protraction of these demonstrations, the opposition continues to be fragmented, but I do not see how he can sustain his rule of Syria."

CHINA CONCERNED

Arab Spring uprisings fueled concern among Chinese leaders that similar unrest could undermine their rule, prompting Beijing to launch its harshest crackdown on dissent in at least a decade, Clapper said in his written testimony.

At the same time, worries about the global economy helped heighten Beijing's resistance to external pressure and suspicion of U.S. intentions, it said.

China continued a policy of permitting modest appreciation of the renminbi, "although it remains substantially undervalued," the testimony said.

Espionage by China, Russia, and Iran will pose significant security threats to the United States in coming years, the written statement said.

Russia and China are aggressive and successful in economic espionage against the United States, and "Iran's intelligence operations against the United States, including cyber capabilities, have dramatically increased in recent years in depth and complexity," the statement said.

Foreign intelligence services have targeted the unclassified and classified computer networks of U.S. government agencies, businesses and universities. "We assess that many intrusions into U.S. networks are not being detected," the statement said.

(Reporting By Tabassum Zakaria; Editing by Eric Walsh and Eric Beech)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120131/ts_nm/us_usa_intelligence_threats

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Arrests in Oakland protests rise to more than 400 (Reuters)

OAKLAND, Calif (Reuters) ? More than 400 anti-Wall Street protesters were arrested in Oakland during a night of skirmishes in which police fired tear gas and bean bag projectiles, the city said on Sunday, marking one of the biggest mass arrests since nationwide economic protests began last year.

Earlier on Sunday, authorities had said that the arrest figure was between 200 and 300. But the Oakland emergency operations center said in a statement that revised that up to more than 400, and said that Oakland Police were expected to announce a more precise number later on Sunday.

Riot police on Saturday night fought running skirmishes with protesters, injuring three officers and at least one demonstrator.

The scuffles erupted in the afternoon as activists sought to take over a shuttered downtown convention center, sparking cat-and-mouse battles that lasted well into the night in a city that has seen tensions between police and protesters boil over repeatedly.

Oakland has become an unlikely flashpoint of the national "Occupy" protests against economic inequality that began last year in New York's financial district and have spread to dozens of cities across the country.

The protests in most cities have been peaceful and sparked a national debate over how much of the country's wealth is held by the richest 1 percent of the population. President Barack Obama has sought to capitalize on the attention by calling for higher taxes on the richest Americans.

Protests focused on Oakland after a former Marine, Scott Olsen, was critically injured during a demonstration in October. Protesters said he was hit in the head by a tear gas canister but authorities have never said exactly how he was hurt.

The Occupy movement appeared to lose momentum late last year as police cleared protest camps in cities across the country.

Violence erupted again in Oakland on Saturday when protesters attempted to take over the apparently empty downtown convention center to establish a new headquarters and draw attention to the problem of homelessness.

Police in riot gear moved in, firing smoke grenades, tear gas and bean-bag projectiles to drive the crowd back.

"Officers were pelted with bottles, metal pipe, rocks, spray cans, improvised explosive devices and burning flares," the Oakland Police Department said in a statement. "Oakland Police Department deployed smoke and tear gas."

Some activists, carrying shields made of plastic garbage cans and corrugated metal, tried to circumvent the police line, and surged toward police on another side of the building as more smoke canisters were fired.

Oakland city officials said "extremists" were fomenting the demonstrations and using the city as a playground for the movement. Protesters have accused the city of overreacting and using heavy-handed tactics.

Across the country in New York, police said four people were arrested on Saturday night after protesters clashed with police at what demonstrators had called an "OccuParty" inside an abandoned building in the borough of Brooklyn. Protesters knocked over garbage pails and hurled objects at police, slightly injuring six officers, a police spokesman said. The four people were charged with a variety of crimes including inciting a riot.

Tension was rising in Washington as well, where the National Park Service has said it will bar Occupy protesters in the nation's capital from camping in two parks near the White House where they have been living since October.

That order, if carried out as promised on Monday, could be a blow to one of the highest-profile chapters of the movement.

(Additional reporting by Barbara Goldberg in New York and Kim Dixon and Rachelle Younglai in Washington; Editing by Greg McCune and Corrie MacLaggan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/ts_nm/us_oakland_protests

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Monday, January 30, 2012

Milwaukee's Jackson suspended one game for abusing official (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Milwaukee Bucks forward Stephen Jackson has been suspended one game for verbally abusing an official and failing to leave the court in a timely manner, the National Basketball Association said on Saturday.

The incident occurred at the end of Milwaukee's 107-100 road loss to the Chicago Bulls on Friday night.

Jackson will serve his suspension on Saturday evening when the Bucks host the Los Angeles Lakers at the Bradley Center.

(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in San Diego; Editing by Julian Linden)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/sp_nm/us_nba_bucks_jackson

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"Beasts," "The Surrogate" aim for post-Sundance success (Reuters)

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) ? Dramas "Beasts of the Southern Wild" and "The Surrogate" won big at the Sundance Film Festival over the weekend, giving the event a burst of energy after early movies with grim sagas and star names failed to impress critics.

"Beasts of the Southern Wild," a poetic, mystical tale of the bond between a father and daughter, set in impoverished Louisiana with a cast of non-actors, won the jury prize for best U.S. drama and another for its cinematography.

"The Surrogate" claimed the audience award for U.S. drama with its witty and inspirational look at a man's quest to lose his virginity while confined to an iron lung, and it could prove to be the bigger winner at box offices when it reaches cinemas.

The film, based on the life of poet and journalist Mark O'Brien, fetched what may be the highest selling price at the festival by the time all the deal-making ends -- a reported $6 million from Fox Searchlight, the studio behind current Oscar hopeful "The Descendants."

"Surrogate" stars Helen Hunt as an oft-naked sex therapist, John Hawkes as O'Brien and William H. Macy as a priest, and together they picked up a special Sundance jury prize for ensemble acting.

Director and writer Ben Lewin said after a screening on Saturday that he tried to capture O'Brien's "self-deprecating humor and view of life as the absurd." Upon accepting his trophy at the award ceremony, he quoted a line from his script: "Love is a journey, that's it."

Another festival favorite, the documentary "Searching for Sugar Man," tells a miraculous tale of a quest to find an obscure 1970s Detroit folk singer known as Rodriguez who was rumored to have shot himself on stage. It picked up the audience award for world documentary and also won a special jury prize.

Malik Bendjelloul, making his directing debut, said his film began as a 6-minute TV story but ended up taking five years to turn into a feature film. It's a touching portrait of a modest, inspirational singer who failed to make it in the United States and quit singing before learning he was a huge hit in South Africa.

Other fiction films that impressed the crowds at Sundance included "Smashed," a refreshing comedy drama on alcoholism that picked up a special jury prize, and prison tale "Middle of Nowhere," for which Ava DuVernay won the directing prize.

SEARCHING FOR HITS

Festival winners and movies that premiere at Sundance, which has debuted hits in past years such as "Little Miss Sunshine" and "An Inconvenient Truth," often go on to become some of the most talked-about films for fans of independent cinema.

But this year's festival got off to a slow start, marked by what Robert Redford, whose Sundance Institute for independent filmmaking backs the event, characterized as films that reflected the "dark and grim" times Americans are facing.

Some winners did serve that theme, including documentary winner "The House I Live In" by Eugene Jarecki. It made a case that America's decades-long "war on drugs" had failed and mostly resulted in huge prison populations and hurt poor communities.

"The war on drugs is a terrible scar on America," Jarecki said at Saturday's awards ceremony, citing the large number of unfair drug penalties affecting minorities, as well as police and judges. He called it "tragically immoral and so heartbreakingly wrong and misguided."

"The Invisible War," which tells of previously unknown incidents of rape and sexual assault in the U.S. military, won the U.S. documentary audience award. Director Kirby Dick dedicated it to those in the military who speak out in hope that "this epidemic finally stops."

Among world cinema, Chile's "Violeta Went To Heaven," based on the life of Chilean folk singer Violeta Parra's journey from a poor upbringing to hero, won the jury prize for best drama.

The world fiction audience award went to Kashmiri tale "Valley Of Saints," and "The Law In These Parts," which looks at the system of law administered by Israel on Palestinians, was the jury's pick for best world documentary.

Other world cinema premieres that impressed outside the competition included "Shadow Dancer," British filmmaker James Marsh's look at a mother who's deeply entrenched in the IRA and forced to become an informant.

SHOWBIZ AT SUNDANCE

While Sundance has attracted more foreign films in recent years, its main focus remains its role as the premiere event for U.S. independent films and as a marketplace for buyers and sellers.

This year, while business was brisk, buyers were more cautious after several higher-profile movies from 2011 failed to perform as expected at the box office.

Festival films did not fetch the high dollar figures, and there were fewer deals compared with last year's robust marketplace. But, as in year's past, some deals won't materialize until after the festival's end on Sunday.

A flurry of deals did get done over the closing weekend, with Hollywood showbiz website Deadline reporting that rights to Stephen Frears' "Lay The Favorite" were bought by Weinstein Co. for about $2 million.

But many of the widely hyped films going into the festival, including Spike Lee's "Red Hook Summer" and closing film "The Words," starring Bradley Cooper, were panned by critics.

Others, such as "Arbitrage," starring Richard Gere as billionaire hedge fund magnate whose world falls apart, and "Red Lights," with Robert De Niro playing a blind psychic, received mixed reviews but still found buyers thanks to their star appeal.

(Reporting By Christine Kearney; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Sheri Linden)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/film_nm/us_sundance_close

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

BP emails reveal company veiling spill rate (AP)

NEW ORLEANS ? On the day the Deepwater Horizon sank, BP officials warned in an internal memo that if the well was not protected by the blow-out preventer at the drill site, crude oil could burst into the Gulf of Mexico at a rate of 3.4 million gallons a day, an amount a million gallons higher than what the government later believed spilled daily from the site.

The email conversation, which BP agreed to release Friday as part of federal court proceedings, suggests BP managers recognized the potential of the disaster in its early hours, and company officials sought to make sure that the model-developed information wasn't shared with outsiders. The emails also suggest BP was having heated discussions with Coast Guard officials over the potential of the oil spill.

The memo was released as part of the court proceedings to determine the division of responsibility for the nation's worst offshore oil disaster, which began when the BP-leased Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20, 2010, killing 11 men about 50 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast. The first phase of the trial is set to start Feb. 27.

BP officials declined to comment on the emails late Friday.

The official amount of oil that flowed from the well was pegged at 206 million gallons from at least April 22 until the well was capped on July 15, a period of 85 days. That's a daily flow rate of about 2.4 million gallons ? two-thirds of the way to BP's projection of what could leak from the well if it was an "open hole." BP has disputed the government's estimates.

Having an accurate flow rate estimate is needed to determine how much in civil and criminal penalties BP and the other companies drilling the well face under the Clean Water Act.

In the memo, a BP official urges not to share the flow-rate projections and refers to the "difficult discussions" the company was having at the time with the Coast Guard.

Gary Imm, a BP manager, told Rob Marshall, BP's subsea manager in the Gulf, to tell the modeler doing the estimates "not to communicate to anyone on this."

"A number of people have been looking at this we already have had difficult discussions with the USCG on the numbers," Imm said in the email string, referring to the Coast Guard and flow estimates.

On April 23, 2010, the Coast Guard, relying on BP's remotely operated vehicles, said no oil was leaking from the well a mile under the sea. A day later, Coast Guard Rear Adm. Mary Landry announced that oil was leaking an estimated rate of 42,000 gallons a day. The Coast Guard and BP did not divulge how they reached that figure.

In the second week after the spill, the official flow rate was increased to 210,000 gallons a day, an estimate the government continued to use until May 27.

On May 24, BP informed Congress they used an "undisclosed method to generate much higher figures" than the official estimates, according to a report from a presidential commission investigating the spill. BP estimated that the flow rates were between 210,000 gallons and 1.6 million gallons a day, the January 2011 report said.

As the spill grew into weeks and months, and soiled fishing grounds, beaches and coastal marshes, independent scientists questioned the official flow rates. Eventually, the federal government convened teams of government and independent scientists to determine how much oil leaked out of the well. They came up with an official estimate of about 2.4 million gallons of oil a day on average.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_us/us_gulf_oil_spill_flow_rate

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Video: Buried Secrets, Part 1

Dateline NBC

'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/vp/46166603#46166603

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James, Wade lead Heat over Knicks, 99-89

Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade (3) goes up for a dunk over New York Knicks' Bill Walker (5) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Miami Heat's Dwyane Wade (3) goes up for a dunk over New York Knicks' Bill Walker (5) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Miami Heat's Shane Battier (31) falls to the court as he passes the ball against New York Knicks' Steve Novak (16) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

Miami Heat's LeBron James (6) goes up for a dunk in front of New York Knicks' Amare Stoudemire (1) during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

New York Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni reacts during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Miami Heat, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

(AP) ? LeBron James scored 31 points, Dwyane Wade scored 28 in his return from a sprained right ankle, and the Miami Heat beat the 3-point-obsessed New York Knicks 99-89 on Friday night.

Chris Bosh scored 13 points and James finished with eight rebounds and seven assists for Miami, which plays host to Chicago on Sunday in a rematch of last season's Eastern Conference finals.

Bill Walker scored 21 points for New York, which took 43 shots from 3-point range, the most in the NBA this season and a total that had the Knicks flirting with Dallas' NBA record of 49 set in 1996. The Knicks connected on 18 from beyond the arc, Walker making seven of them.

Toney Douglas scored 16 points, Landry Fields had 14 and Amare Stoudemire finished with 12 for New York, which tried more 3's than 2-point shots (41).

Wade shot 11 for 19 from the field in his return, after missing six games with the ankle issue. The Heat were outscored 54-6 from 3-point range, but held the Knicks to 36 percent shooting and only 18 points in the final quarter.

New York played without Carmelo Anthony, who expects to miss at least two games while dealing with ankle, thumb and wrist problems. Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni said Anthony would not return before Tuesday, so barring a change of plans that would rule him out of New York's game at Houston on Saturday.

Wade and James went on a highlight display in the first quarter, setting each other up for dunks in the opening minutes and combining for five slams in Miami's first seven field goals. Wade showed no rust from his layoff, scoring eight points in the first nine minutes.

Miami went to the rim. The Knicks stayed outside ? way outside.

D'Antoni said before the game that the Knicks simply had to manufacture more offense, especially now that Anthony will be sidelined for at least the next few days.

Hence, the game plan ? shoot 3's, and shoot them in bunches.

Of New York's first 33 shots, 19 were from 3-point range. That's right: The Knicks had exactly two 2-pointers in the first 15-plus minutes. Over a stretch of nearly 6 minutes in the first half, the Knicks had 13 consecutive 3-point attempts, nothing inside the arc.

Desperate times, desperate measures, perhaps.

By halftime, the Knicks had tried 23 from long range ? the most in the NBA this season and the most ever in a first half against Miami.

Walker's season high had been 15 points. He got there early in the third quarter on Friday, part of a wild personal burst in which he scored nine points in 69 seconds to give the Knicks a 62-58 lead. He connected on three 3-pointers, banking in the last one from 27 feet, talking animatedly to no one in particular after each one.

The Knicks were so committed to the 3-pointer that on one possession midway through the second half, the 7-foot Chandler had the 6-foot-4 Wade posted up, and kicked the ball to Walker for a corner 3 anyway. A few moments later, Chandler had Wade alone in the post again, no one else within about 3 feet of them, and still didn't get the ball for what likely would have been an easy score or at least trip to the foul line.

By the time the Heat made their first 3-pointer of the night late in the third quarter, New York had made 14 ? a surreal 42-point discrepancy.

New York's plan nearly worked. In the end, the Knicks simply did not have an answer for Wade.

He missed in the lane with 7 minutes left, but tipped in his own rebound for a seven-point lead, Miami's largest of the night. About 2 minutes later, Bosh got the ball to James in transition as Wade called for a lob ? which James perfectly provided for a two-handed dunk and an 88-79 edge that left the Heat firmly in control.

Notes: Celebrities were everywhere, especially from the baseball world. Alex Rodriguez sat courtside with Heat CEO Nick Arison, while Miami Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and one of his former players Miguel Cabrera ? soon to be Detroit's third baseman ? chatted at halftime. Also in the crowd was former Knicks coach and current Florida International boss Isiah Thomas. ... Miami PG Norris Cole was bloodied after getting struck near his left eye in the first half. He returned to play. ... Knicks C Tyson Chandler was back in the building for the first time since helping Dallas win the NBA title in Miami in June. "Good memories and good vibes," said Chandler, who was staying in the same hotel and ate breakfast Friday in the same spot he did during the Mavs' run last season.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-27-BKN-Knicks-Heat/id-d46bb0ba779e4f58b5ec5436e621426d

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Friday, January 27, 2012

Song of the week (Balloon Juice)

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New Consultants Expand Equipment Finance Advisory Services in ...

New Consultants Expand Equipment Finance Advisory Services in Mexico, Colombia for The Alta Group Latin America Region

The Alta Group Latin American Region, LLC (Alta LAR) has appointed three new consultants to enlarge capabilities where business growth is occurring for equipment leasing and finance operations in Latin America.

The new consultants are Ulises Quezada in Mexico, and Juan Nicolas Uribe-Holguin and Carlos Jos? Sosa in Colombia, noted professionals who are experienced in helping companies manage business challenges and seize business opportunities in their countries.

?At this time when Latin America is moving forward as one of the leading growth centers for the equipment financing industry, these new consultants will expand Alta?s scope and breadth of capabilities, bringing more granular focus to project implementation,? said Rafael Castillo-Triana, CEO of Alta LAR. ?We provide clients with sound advice to build sustainable business models and structures in Latin America that prepare for risk and enable them to be resilient as changes occur in economic or political climates of Latin American countries. In addition to our current leadership in the field, bringing in these new professionals helps our clients to eliminate learning curves and seize the potential of their expanded business in Latin America without delays and with sound and solid bases.?

Quezada, with more than 20 years of experience in the equipment and financing market, is the former commercial director of CIT Vendor Finance in Mexico. He joins Alta LAR?s team formed by Raul Valencia del Toro and Carlos Ruiz in the Mexican office. Quezada brings to the team his skills in day-to-day management of vendor financing operations in Mexico.

Both Uribe-Holguin and Sosa will reinforce the Colombian office headed by Rafael Ramirez.

Uribe-Holguin, with more than 30 years of experience in the banking and financing industry, is a former officer of Citibank, Financiera Colpatria, Multifinanciera and Banco del Pacifico, where he led the corporate credit divisions. He is well known as an expert in workouts, restructures, and liquidations. Uribe-Holguin is an active management consultant in the financial services industry and a graduate of the business administration program at Boston University.

Sosa, with more than 25 years of experience in management consulting, is a former officer of Maraven (a PDVSA subsidiary). He entered the management consulting business with James Martin & Co., Ernst & Young, then worked with EDS Consulting, where he was assigned as regional consultant in both Colombia and Venezuela. Sosa has been providing management consulting advisory services since moving to Colombia.?He is a computer science graduate with a master?s of business administration degree from the Universidad Central de Venezuela.

About The Alta Group

The Alta Group is the equipment leasing and finance industry?s preeminent global consultancy, offering clients the unique combination of experience, expertise and executable counsel. Alta?s more than 90 executives worldwide have held senior management positions in public and private equipment leasing companies, manufacturers, banks and other financial services institutions. The Alta Group?s major practice areas include mergers and acquisitions; vendor and captive finance; legal support services, professional development; and management consulting. The firm is observing its 20th anniversary in 2012. To learn more, please visit www.thealtagroup.com.

Source: http://www.worldleasingnews.com/news/new-consultants-expand-equipment-finance-advisory-services-in-mexico-colombia-for-the-alta-group-latin-america-region/

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

I Wanna Do Bad Things With You [IC]

Dusk was still early for full darkness, and yet the building already stirred with life. Lucretia had long emerged from the basement to give activity to the dark estate, lighting the lamps with slow precision. Each night and day melted into one another, a painful existence with no apparent end. The only solace, it seemed, would be to walk into daylight, ending that eternal suffering. Yet, Lucy lived on, if not for herself, then it was for her "family", they've all grown increasingly fond of each other over the decades, though there are times when they do clash. A few years ago, Lucy had met a young man by sheer accident, and the moment they locked eyes, each painful memory of her youngest son flooded her vision. She'd watched her baby grow up and grow old and this young man was the epitome of her child. A child she had never experienced, for he was only eight months old when the woman was forced to leave her life. She had to have this young man for herself, to have her son again, eternally. And so she did, and he went willingly for his life already had an expiration date. The past six years had been easier for Lucy with Dominic around, and although Sally had once brought life to their home, Dominic had that special role in Lucy's life.

So there she was, awake early, when the sun had just disappeared beneath the horizon, but it was still fairly light outside. After lighting a few lamps in the hallway, Lucy stepped out into the shadowed back patio, it was facing south, so the purple-red hue, the remnants of sunlight, lingered in the distance, teasing the nocturnal creatures with something they could never experience again. Lucy always felt nostalgic at this time of night, remembering the sight of sun was a foggy memory, but as years passed, she began to expect this feeling, much like a routine. Just as her "family" would begin to rise from the basement, where they slumbered in safe darkness during the day, Lucy would be heading out to catch her dinner.

It wasn't everyday that the woman would eat, instead stretching on her hunger for as long as she could; three, maybe four days. Tonight was the third night, and Lucy had grown increasingly weak over time what with restricting herself the elixir of life. There was no clear motive on why she did what she did, be it love for mortals, or even the need to harden herself against the demands of her hunger, no way to truly pin point her thoughts and desires. Lucy had gotten herself into casual skinny jeans, donned some high-heeled leather boots, a simple black blouse and a cropped leather jacket to finish off the look. Her long black hair in untamed curls drowned her shoulders, framing her pale face. Those green eyes that looked on from beneath thick lashes were intense and yet empty. Whoever was the first to meet her upstairs would only be given a curt nod and Lucy would disappear out the door, getting into her simple black car. The drive to the city wasn't too long, she'd spend the time blasting classical music through her speakers as she drove. It was one of the only luxuries of the modern world that she enjoyed.

Public parking wasn't one of it, but once she did find a spot, she'd rather take a stride through the city to physically find her suitable dinner. Although Lucretia certainly wasn't a city person, respectively, she did enjoy the variety she was allowed with the crowd. It was easier to feed, and easier to catch, and even easier to choose. Taking long strides along the sidewalk, she'd blend into the crowd of pedestrians, much like she did every time she fed. That playful smile, that gaze that stops even the stoniest men in their tracks, those were all tools for survival, truly. But before Lucy could find her dinner, much less begin searching even, she was halted in her tracks so sharply, the person walking behind her almost slammed into her, swiveling out of the way. The brunette inhaled sharply, closing her eyes then opened them to gaze upward into the vast expanse of the sky, she stood like a statue in the middle of pedestrian traffic. What made her stop? A familiar sense, a connection so deep, it drew Lucy almost inevitably.

Eventually, she began walking, slowly at first, then faster and faster, until she broke into a run, following the pull. Adrian, she thought, it had to be him, she was so sure he was here, and she had to find him. Fueled by hate and revenge, Lucy breezed along the sidewalks, brushing past people, across the streets, missing cars as they honked in response. And then she stopped sharply, in front of an entrance to a pub. Glancing up at the title of the pub, she couldn't comprehend anything besides the need to bring this man to his death. She entered with care, brushing past people, yet she wasn't quite there, all sounds muted. Once she was in, her eyes narrowed onto a man, who's back was facing her, bent over a bar counter. It was him, she knew it, she felt it. With a determined stride, Lucy crossed the bar area, pushed past people, grabbed his shoulder and jerked it, "Adrian!" She barked.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/g7UGLG81eDs/viewtopic.php

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One year on, Egypt will demonstrate and celebrate

Mohamed Omar / EPA

An Egyptian protester holds a banner on the morning of the first anniversary of the uprising in Tahrir square, Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 25. Demonstrators gathered in the square to mark the anniversary.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

CAIRO-- Egyptians head to Tahrir Square on Wednesday to mark the first anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak with some seeking a new revolt against army rule and others celebrating the changes already achieved.

It is a year since protesters inspired by an uprising in Tunisia took to the streets in Egypt and the January 25 anniversary has exposed divisions in the Arab world's most populous country over the pace of democratic change.

Concerned the generals are obstructing reform to protect their interests, the pro-democracy activists behind the "January 25 revolution" plan marches to Tahrir Square to demand the military council that replaced Mubarak hand power to civilians immediately.

But well-organized Islamist parties which dominated Egypt's most democratic election since army officers overthrew the king in 1952 are among those who oppose a new uprising.

Signs of friction were on show as hundreds of people began to congregate in Tahrir Square late on Tuesday, pitching tents in winter rain and hanging the national flag from buildings.

"The military council is Mubarak," said Amr al-Zamlout, a 31-year-old protester clutching a sign declaring "there is no change" and stating his aim was to topple the army rulers.

Mohamed Othman, an accountant, stopped to put forward a different view based on the idea that Egypt needs stability for economic recovery, not more protests.

"The council will leave power in any case. Sure the revolution is incomplete but it doesn't mean we should obstruct life," he said. His criticism quickly drew a crowd and touched off an argument.

Grocery stores were unusually busy as shoppers stocked up, reflecting concern at the prospect of a repeat of last year when protests went on for 18 days before Mubarak was forced to step down on February 11.

Protests against the military council turned violent in November and December.

White House praise
The United States, a close ally of Egypt under Mubarak, praised "several historic milestones in its transition to democracy" this week, including the convening of parliament.

"While many challenges remain, Egypt has come a long way in the past year, and we hope that all Egyptians will commemorate this anniversary with the spirit of peace and unity that prevailed last January," a White House statement said.

Headed by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, the military council has said it will cede power to an elected president by the end of June, thus completing a democratic transition.

Yet pro-democracy activists doubt their intentions, pointing to a surge in military trials and the use of violence against protesters as signs of autocratic ways familiar from the Mubarak era.

Tantawi, for two decades Mubarak's defense minister, again defended the military from such accusations during a televised speech on Tuesday. "The nation and the armed forces had one aim: for Egypt to become a democratic state," he said.

In an apparent attempt to appease reformist demands, the military council has in recent days pardoned some 2,000 people convicted in military courts since Mubarak was toppled. On Tuesday it announced a partial lifting of a state of emergency.

But it kept a clause saying emergency laws in place since 1981 would still apply in cases of "thuggery," a vague term that triggered calls for clarification from Washington and more criticism from human rights groups.

The activist movement, a coalition of groups united in calls for deeper and faster reform, have been fighting back in the run-up to the anniversary against what they describe as state efforts to present them as foreign-backed trouble makers.

The leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group which won nearly half the seats in the parliament, said last week he was against calls for a new revolt against the military.

"I hope we will go down together to be joyful at what we have accomplished, to guard our Egypt and to complete the demands of the revolution," Mohamed Badie said in an interview with Egypt's Dream TV.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/24/10228383-one-year-on-egypt-will-demonstrate-and-celebrate

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Beyonce's Body: Bouncing Back To Bootylicious

Celebrity fitness trainer shares her advice for Blue Ivy Carter's mama.
By John Mitchell


Beyonce arrives at her , "I Am ... World Tour" DVD screening on Sunday
Photo: Jemal Countess/Getty Images

<P>Now that <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/knowles_beyonce/artist.jhtml">Beyonc&#233;</a> and <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/jay_z/artist.jhtml">Jay-Z</a> have welcomed <a href="/news/articles/1676906/beyonce-jay-z-baby-born-ivy-blue.jhtml">Blue Ivy Carter</a> into the world, it's time to get back to work. In the days since Blue's birth, Jay has already released a track, <a href="/news/articles/1677163/beyonce-jay-z-baby-blue-carter-glory-song.jhtml">"Glory,"</a> featuring his baby girl, making her the youngest person ever to appear on a <i>Billboard</i> chart. But for new mom Bey, the road back to headlining tours and music videos starts with getting her enviable physique back in tip-top shape. </p><div class="player-placeholder right" id="vid:725377.id:1676907" width="240" height="211"></div><p> Beyonc&#233; is known for many things, and her bangin' body is right at the top of the list &#8212; hers was the bod that inspired a new word, "Bootylicious," after all. The pop superstar has always been the picture of health and happiness, and to celebrity trainer <a href="http://www.thehollywoodtrainer.com" target="_blank">Jeanette Jenkins</a> &#8212; who helped Pink and "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol" star Paula Patton get back in shape after their pregnancies &#8212; that's half the challenge. "Working out should have been a part of a new mom's regimen before she got pregnant, while she was pregnant, and for the rest of her life," Jenkins told MTV News. "It should be part of your daily life, just like brushing your teeth or combing your hair. It's your internal hygiene. "The goal should not be to lose weight," she added. "The goal should be to live a healthy life, and by working out and eating healthy, you will be happy and the weight will just fall off because you are making healthy choices." So, where should Beyonc&#233; start in her quest to get her fantastic abs and toned legs back? With her doctor, according to Jenkins. "A new mother should first wait until she gets clearance from her doctor, and she can immediately start by making healthy food choices. Once a mother receives clearance from her doctor, then her starting point depends on her fitness level," Jenkins said. "A weekly workout regimen should include all of the components of fitness &#8212; cardio, flexibility, muscular strength and muscular endurance &#8212; for overall functional health and fitness and for maximum results." Jenkins prescribes a strict training and diet program to her celebrity clients &#8212; a four- or five-day-a-week mix of cardio, endurance exercises like circuit training, and strength and flexibility training, including yoga and Pilates &#8212; but understands that the outcome will be more successful if the new mom is enjoying the regimen and has realistic expectations. "A new mother has to eat healthy for herself and for her child, but she also has to live and have a good time too," Jenkins said. "From my experience, if you make healthy food choices 80 percent of the time and eat whatever you like 20 percent of the time, then you will have great results. I recommend to my clients to eat healthy Monday through Friday and then let go on the weekend and enjoy yourself." </p><div class="player-placeholder right" id="vid:724613.id:1676907" width="240" height="211"></div><p> The trainer also noted that "when people are having a good time, they are more likely to stick to their program." "The goal is to find activities and workouts that you enjoy so that you keep it a part of your life forever. Consistently mix it up, and enjoy working out," she advised. "Try yoga, Pilates, playing in the park with your kids, hiking and kickboxing." She also recommended dancing, which we know Queen B has down to a science. For those not lucky enough to have a personal trainer or unable to sneak away to the gym, Jenkins said, "A walk with the baby in a stroller is good enough. It will help a mother lose their extra baby weight by boosting metabolic rate and increasing caloric expenditure, but more importantly it will give you a boost of happy hormones so you feel great and it cleans out your internal organs, improving your body's pH balance and decreasing your risk of illness and disease." For Jenkins, the keys to a successful workout program are progression and variety. "Training for peak condition is just like training an athlete for peak performance. It has to be done in a healthy progression to maximize results and decrease risk of injury," she added. "For the best weight-loss and toning results, it is important to train the entire body head to toe through all of the components of fitness with an emphasis on using the core at all times. It doesn't matter if she is power walking, doing yoga or cooking in the kitchen, the core needs to be consistently engaged. Always pull your navel to your spine." Beyonc&#233; reportedly maintained a healthy diet throughout <a href="http://newsroom.mtv.com/2011/12/16/jay-z-supports-beyonce-by-going-on-strict-healthy-diet">her pregnancy</a>, and just days before giving birth at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital was spotted <a href="/news/articles/1676647/beyonce-pregnant-new-years.jhtml">looking "amazing"</a> while dining out with her hubby in Brooklyn. If she keeps up her tireless work ethic, there's reason to believe she'll be back in bootylicious shape in no time.</p>

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677865/beyonce-post-pregnancy-body.jhtml

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Romney's mountain of wealth could cause loud echo

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at National Gypsum Company in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks at National Gypsum Company in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Graphic shows what Romney earned and paid federal income tax in

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, speaks at National Gypsum Company in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, hands back 11-month-old Anabelle Troyer to her mother Ann as he campaigns in Lehigh Acres, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

(AP) ? Mitt Romney's tax returns tell the tale: Yes, he's rich ? really rich.

His returns, spanning more than 500 pages and released under political pressure Tuesday, represent an extraordinary financial accounting of one of the wealthiest U.S. presidential candidates in generations, with his annual income topping $20 million.

It remains unclear how the details of Romney's fortune will play among American workers, who on average earn less in a lifetime than Romney paid in taxes in 2010 alone. Meanwhile, the typical taxpayer pays a similar share of his income to Uncle Sam as he does, roughly 15 percent.

Romney's returns ? which include a 2011 tax estimate ? spilled out new details of his scattered holdings, tax strategies and charitable donations. Romney paid about $3 million in federal income taxes in 2010, having earned more than seven times that from his investments.

The documents quickly became fodder for his opponents, with Democrats chiding the former Massachusetts governor for not disclosing more about his financial history. The White House also weighed in about tax fairness as President Barack Obama prepared for his State of the Union Address.

Romney is hardly the only wealthy American seeking the presidency, though he's on a level all his own.

Republican rival Newt Gingrich, who had publicly pressed him to release his tax information, released his own return for 2010 last week. It revealed that Gingrich earned more than $3.1 million, mostly from $2.5 million paid by his companies, partnerships and investments, and paid just under $1 million in federal tax, a rate of about 31 percent.

Obama and his wife, Michelle, reported income of $1.73 million last year, mostly from the books he's written, and paid $453,770 in federal taxes.

Romney's tax returns showed he continues to profit from Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded but no longer runs; from a Swiss bank account closed just as he launched his campaign and from new listings of investment funds set up overseas.

Romney had long refused to disclose any federal tax returns, then hinted he would offer a single year's return in April. Yet mounting criticism from his rivals and a hard loss in last week's South Carolina primary forced his hand.

"Governor Romney has paid 100 percent of what he owes," said Benjamin Ginsberg, the campaign's legal counsel. Ginsberg and other advisers said Romney did not use any aggressive tax strategies to help reduce or defer his tax income.

For 2011, Romney will pay about $3.2 million with an effective tax rate of about 15.4 percent, the campaign said. Those returns haven't yet been filed yet with the Internal Revenue Service. In total, he would pay more than $6.2 million in taxes on $45 million in income over the past two years, his campaign said.

Romney had been cast by his GOP opponents as a wealthy businessman who earned lucrative payouts from his investments while Bain slashed jobs in the private sector. Romney concedes that some companies Bain invested in were unsuccessful but says others created large numbers of jobs.

As for his own tax payments, he said in Monday night's debate in Tampa, "I pay all the taxes that are legally required and not a dollar more. ... I don't think you want someone as the candidate for president who pays more taxes than he owes."

He added, "You'll see my income, how much taxes I've paid, how much I've paid to charity."

Romney's 2010 return showed about $4.5 million in itemized deductions, including $1.5 million contributed to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Romney's charitable giving is above average, even for someone at his income level, according to IRS data.

Romney's GOP rivals did not immediately comment on his tax disclosures. But House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, defended him, telling reporters that Romney's tax rate is close to the 15 percent rate most Americans pay on long-term capital gains from the sale of investments.

Romney's advisers stressed that he met all his federal tax obligations, provided maximum transparency and did not take advantage of what they described as "aggressive" strategies often used by the ultra-rich. Still, for millions of taxpayers grappling with their own returns as tax season looms, Romney's multimillion dollar wealth provides a window into an unfamiliar world.

His 2010 return shows a number of foreign investments, including funds in Ireland, Switzerland, Germany and Luxembourg. Most of Romney's vast fortune is held in a blind trust that he doesn't control. A portion is held in a retirement account.

Romney's advisers acknowledged Tuesday that Romney and his wife, Ann, had a bank account in Switzerland as part of her trust. The account was worth $3 million and was held in the United Bank of Switzerland, said R. Bradford Malt, a Boston lawyer who makes investments for the Romneys and oversees their blind trust, which was set up to avoid any conflicts of interest in investments during his run for the presidency.

In 2009, UBS admitted assisting U.S. citizens in evading taxes and agreed to pay a $780 million penalty as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department.

The political discussion over releasing Romney's tax information highlighted an argument that Democrats are already starting to use against him ? that he is out of touch with normal Americans. And it may well have hurt him in the South Carolina primary, where he lost by 12 percentage points to Gingrich after spending several days resisting calls to release the returns.

Asked during a round of television interviews about Romney's relatively modest tax rate, Obama adviser David Plouffe said: "We need to change our tax system. We need to change our tax code so that everybody is doing their fair share." Obama planned to talk about economic fairness in his State of the Union speech to Congress Tuesday night.

Other Democratic Party voices were less restrained. "He used every loophole in the book available to the wealthy and corporations to avoid paying his fair share," said Democratic National Committee Executive Director Patrick Gaspard.

On the other hand, Romney's wife, Ann, had told supporters at a Florida rally on Sunday: "I want to remind you where we know our riches are. Our riches are with our families."

___

Associated Press writers Stephen Ohlemacher and Alan Fram in Washington and Kasie Hunt in Tampa, contributed.

___

Follow Jack Gillum at http://twitter.com/jackgillum

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-24-US-Romney-Taxes/id-bd21d4160884410ea1461f788d36eb46

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Halliburton rides oil boom to 4Q profit (AP)

NEW YORK ? Halliburton's net income spiked 50 percent in the final three months of 2011 as one of the world's biggest oilfield services companies shifted its focus from natural gas to oil, with a barrel of crude again trading near the triple digit mark yet again.

Energy companies are capitalizing on new technology to reach crude that was once prohibitively expensive to pump, especially in the United States, and Halliburton has benefited immensely.

The Houston company posted earnings of $906 million, or 98 cents per share, for the fourth quarter. That compares with $605 million, or 66 cents per share, for the same part of 2010.

Excluding a $15 million charge for an "environmental-related matter," Halliburton Co. earned $1 per share in the quarter. Revenue increased 36.9 percent to $7.06 billion.

The boom in shale drilling across regions of North America boosted Halliburton's 2011 earnings to $2.84 billion, or $3.08 per share, compared with $1.84 billion, or $2.02 per share, in 2010. Annual revenue increased 38.1 percent to $24.8 billion.

Hydraulic fracturing, still a relatively new technology, has allowed energy companies to get to oil and natural gas from fields that had been left behind with most of the remaining resources trapped in shale rock. Halliburton and others use a mix of highly pressurized water and chemicals to break apart those shale formations and free the resources contained within.

That has reshaped the industry enormously in recent years, and those changes continued Monday with the announcement that oil and gas producer Apache Corp. would buy privately held Cordillera Energy Partners III LLC in a deal valued at $2.85 billion. Apache wants access to Cordillera's approximately 254,000 net acres in the Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle, where the company sees a strong potential for producing new sources of oil.

Increasingly, the industry has been turning away from natural gas fields in favor of wells that produce more oil. Oil prices increased more than 10 percent in the fourth quarter while natural gas prices dropped by 13 percent.

Benchmark crude traded above $99 per barrel on Monday.

"We are proactively moving equipment from dry natural gas to liquids plays in North America in response to recent rig moves," Halliburton CEO Dave Lesar said."

Halliburton also saw an increase in drilling in Gulf of Mexico during the fourth quarter. Operating income also grew in Latin America, while falling in Europe and North Africa and holding steady in the Middle East.

Overall, the company's completion and production business increased profits 58 percent while its drilling and evaluation business increased profits by 35.6 percent.

Lesar said he expects the company to increase revenue worldwide in 2012.

Schlumberger Ltd., another major oil services firm, reported a 36 percent jump in fourth-quarter profits last week.

Halliburton shares fell 35 cents to $35.85 in premarket trading.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_halliburton

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Mexican cleric: criminals should respect pope trip (AP)

MEXICO CITY ? A Mexican archbishop is asking criminals not to hurt people traveling to see Pope Benedict XVI during his first visit to the country.

Archbishop Jose Guadalupe Martin Rabago says he is confident that drug-cartel members will respect his call Sunday not to abuse worshippers and cause sorrow and death. He oversees the diocese of Leon, which the pope will visit.

Martin Rabago told reporters that the pope's trip will bring "times of peace and grace." The pope will arrive in Leon on March 23. The area has not seen the levels of drug violence other states have, but has seen some attacks on highways, which Martin Rabago mentioned in his comments.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_pope

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Monday, January 23, 2012

Researchers help solve questions about Ethiopians' high-altitude adaptations

Monday, January 23, 2012

Over many generations, people living in the high-altitude regions of the Andes or on the Tibetan Plateau have adapted to life in low-oxygen conditions. Living with such a distinct and powerful selective pressure has made these populations a textbook example of evolution in action, but exactly how their genes convey a survival advantage remains an open question. Now, a University of Pennsylvania team has made new inroads to answering this question with the first genome-wide study of high-altitude adaptations within the third major population to possess them: the Amhara people of the Ethiopian Highlands.

Surprisingly, all three groups' adaptations appear to involve different genetic mutations, an example of convergent evolution.

"These three groups took different genetic approaches to solving the same problem," said senior author Sarah Tishkoff, a Penn Integrates Knowledge professor with appointments in the genetics department in Penn's Perelman School of Medicine and the biology department in the School of Arts and Sciences.

In addition to Tishkoff, the research was led by Laura B. Scheinfeldt, a research scientist in the genetics department at the Perelman medical school. Other members of the genetics department who contributed to the research are Sameer Soi, Simon Thompson, Alessia Ranciaro, William Beggs, Charla Lambert and Joseph P. Jarvis.

The Penn team collaborated with Dawit Wolde Meskel, Dawit Abate and Gurja Belay of the Department of Biology of Addis Ababa University.

Their research was published today in the journal Genome Biology.

One of the guiding principles behind evolution is natural selection; the more an organism is suited to its environment, the more likely it is to survive and pass on its genes. In high-altitude environments, oxygen concentration is low, a condition that can rapidly sicken ? even kill ? individuals who are not acclimated.

"As genetic anthropologists," Scheinfeldt said, "we know what patterns of genetic variation we expect to see after positive, or Darwinian, selection has occurred. Then we look for those patterns in the genome and try to make biological sense of what we find.

"The easiest way for us to do this is to look at situations where there's been very strong selective pressure: a disease with a really high mortality rate, or here at high-altitude where there are hypoxic conditions. This kind of situation makes a dramatic difference in terms of who passes on their genes, so it gives us more power to find the genetic signatures left behind."

Pregnant women are especially susceptible to the physiological pressure represented by hypoxia, which influences the birth weight and health of their children. Yet people have been living in the high-altitude regions of the Andes and the Tibetan Plateau for generations, with little apparent ill effect.

Anthropologists, notably, Cynthia Beall, of Case Western University, and Lorna Moore, of Wake Forest University, have therefore extensively documented their physiological traits, trying to understand how these groups offset the problems pregnant women would normally have in hypoxic environments. More recently, geneticists have attempted to correlate these physical traits, or phenotypes, with the genes that are responsible for them, or genotypes.

Researchers have long wanted to add additional populations for comparison, and while the people of the Ethiopian Highlands met the criteria, living at over 3,000 meters above sea level, economic, linguistic and geographic hurdles stood in the way of collecting the data.

"This was an extremely challenging study. The logistics alone, getting permits and permission to do this trip, took us many years," Tishkoff said.

"Sampling from these remote populations was also very difficult," said Simon Thompson, who was part of the group's field team. "Roads were impassable and we spent a lot of time just trying to find the groups that were living at the highest altitude possible."

The researchers compared the genotypes and phenotypes of Amhara participants with those of two other Ethiopian groups that live at lower altitudes. They also compared the Amhara group with Nigerian and European groups that live at or around sea level.

"We make these comparisons," Scheinfeldt said, "to figure out where in the genome the high-altitude group looks distinct from the other groups. Those distinct areas are candidate regions for genetic variants contributing to high altitude adaptation. Two of the top candidates are involved in the HIF-1 pathway, a pathway that is initiated in hypoxic conditions."

Both the Andean and Tibetan populations had mutations related to the HIF-1 pathway as well, but all three groups differed in both genotype and phenotype. One difference in phenotype had to do with hemoglobin, the part of the blood that transports oxygen. Ethiopians and Andeans had hemoglobin levels that were higher than low-altitude populations, but the Tibetans had average levels.

The researchers also discovered a variant in the Ethiopian groups in a gene involved in mitochondrial function. Mitochondria regulate the production of ATP, the chemical cells use for energy, making this gene another interesting candidate for playing a role in adaptation to high altitude.

These differences all seem to play a role in how well a body can maintain homeostasis in low-oxygen conditions, but even seemingly clear advantages, such as higher levels of hemoglobin, are only proxies for more complex phenotypic changes. Putting them together into the big picture of how certain genes translate into a survival advantage will require more focused research based on the Tishkoff lab's findings.

We're chipping away at this question," Scheinfeldt said. "Every little bit helps."

Such research holds promise beyond understanding the history of these populations.

"There's a lot of interest in this kind of research from the biomedical community, in terms of lung physiology and oxygen transport," Tishkoff said. "If one can understand how it is that people who have these genetic adaptations can do fine at these high altitudes while the rest of us suffer, it could help us better understand one of the body's vital systems."

###

University of Pennsylvania: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews

Thanks to University of Pennsylvania for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116918/Researchers_help_solve_questions_about_Ethiopians__high_altitude_adaptations

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South Carolina Primary Results: Newt Gingrich Upsets Mitt Romney, Shakes Up GOP Race


Mitt Romney was likely never as much of a lock as the mainstream media seems to believe, but Saturday's South Carolina primary results still came as a surprise.

Newt Gingrich rose from the political ashes for the second time with two strong debate performances this week and pulled off an unlikely win in the Palmetto State.

With 40 percent of the vote to Mitt's 27, and nearly all precincts reporting, Newt won big and turned the fluid Republican presidential race on its head once again.

Newt Gingrich Photo

Only a week ago, Romney seemed likely to win all three of the initial contests, a scenario that would have put him on a relatively clear path to the nomination.

But with Thursday’s announcement that Rick Santorum actually won Iowa, followed by today's results, Romney is now a front-runner who has lost two of three.

The result marked a swift, extraordinary turnaround in Gingrich’s fortunes, after he finished well out of the top three in both Iowa and New Hampshire.

So maligned was his candidacy that Newt himself had conceded his campaign might be over for good by tonight if he failed to turn in a strong performance.

He did turn in such a performance, and as such, the quest to represent the GOP against President Barack Obama in November is quite far from over.

This marks the first time that three different Republican candidates have won the first trio of contests in what has been an unpredictable race from the start.

Since 1980, every South Carolina GOP primary winner has gone on to win the nomination, but whether Gingrich can continue that streak is far from certain.

Romney has by far the most formidable financial resources and organization, giving him a big edge Florida, which holds its primary January 31, and beyond.

Santorum finished third and Ron Paul fourth in South Carolina. The candidates square off in a debate once again Monday night in Tampa. Stay tuned ...

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/south-carolina-primary-results-newt-gingrich-upsets-mitt-romney/

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Top health issues in 2012 session (Star Tribune)

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Ask and Answer Questions About Your Favorite Backup Methods [Help Yourself]

Ask and Answer Questions About Your Favorite Backup MethodsEvery day we're on the lookout for ways to make your work easier and your life better, but Lifehacker readers are smart, insightful folks with all kinds of expertise to share, and we want to give everyone regular access to that exceptional hive mind. Help Yourself is a daily thread where readers can ask and answer questions about tech, productivity, life hacks, and whatever else you need help with.

Regularly backing up your computer is crucial to keeping your data safe. In a moment's notice, your computer's hard drive can go from living to dead, and the important data you have accrued over the life of the hard drive will likely be lost forever. In the past, we've told you about one of our favorite backup methods, and have provided you with a few choices for backing up via the cloud, but we realize everyone has their own personal techniques and services for backing up important files.

So how do you backup your all-important data? Do you use an external hard drive, a cloud storage service such as Dropbox, or do you use a combination of offline and cloud storage to get the job done? Ask and answer questions about your favorite backup methods in the comments.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/APCwA2NtdQw/ask-and-answer-questions-about-your-favorite-backup-methods

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Saturday, January 21, 2012

Nora Zelevansky: Project Runway All Stars Recap: Miss Piggy Guest Judges

Note: Do not read on if you have not seen Episode 3 of Lifetime's "Project Runway All Stars."

In this body-conscious fashion world, there's not generally much room for pigs. But that all changed on this week's trough-breaking episode of "Project Runway All Stars."

As the 11 remaining designers gaze up from their folding chairs beside the runway, host Angela Lindvall explains that they'll be creating "flamboyant cocktail dresses" for "one of the most famous fashionistas in the world." (I wish someone would just erase that "f" word from the world's vocabulary.)

Who could it be? Well, Miss Piggy, of course. And apparently, she's had powerhouses like Burberry and Prada custom design for her in the past. Big hooves to fill.

Austin exclaims, "Miss Piggy!" April is thrilled. Kenley's nieces are gonna flip. But I'm confused: The diva Muppet is supposedly looking for a dress in which to promote her new movie ... which is not new at all. It's been out for weeks, if not months. Me thinks something got pushed in the scheduling department.

Anyway, Anthony feels challenged and in his southern lilt, remarks, "'Project Runway All Stars' is pulling out the talent from our toenails, honey. They're pulling it from our feet on up. I'm going to get to design a dress for a Muppet." Why yes you are, Anthony! But you can create it for your model and it will be modified for Miss Piggy's figure. Phew. (You can just imagine the complaints from nervous designers if that wasn't the case: "I just don't usually design for size 14 stuffed animals.")

About Miss Piggy, Michael Costello says, "I'm so excited to meet her. She's like fashion's dream client!" I'm starting to worry about him. Does he know that she's fictional or is this going to be like a five-year-old learning the truth about Santa Claus?

The gang heads back to sketch: Mila is thinking '60s mod, something not too silly or costume-like. She's worried about translating her POV for the Muppet. Kenley is excited because Miss Piggy reminds her of herself. April is considering Miss Piggy's "vavavoom."

At Mood, Gordana notes that a lot of people are buying black. She and Austin go for pink. "Why not?" she asks. "Pink is a happy color!" She also says that while a lot of the designers are doing structure, she's going to stay true to her personal style. ]"I'm more about youthful and free-flowing and showing the feminine side of the women," Gordana explains.

Immediately, her little frock looks a bit ... ethereal for the diva pig. Pink is a happy color, but Gordana has picked more of a mauve and, if Michael Kors was around, I could just hear him calling the dress "sad." Mondo describes it as "pretty and quiet," but not right for the challenge, adding, "It doesn't make enough of a statement."

Rami says the vibe in the workroom is serious: "The pressure is on." It's oink or be bacon out there. And apparently, he's right because Mondo and Kara (who is in fact South African, as you all corrected in the comments) are bickering over pink gloves from the Neiman Marcus accessory wall. Mondo let's her have them, but he's not pleased and Kara is too busy trying to "sex Miss Piggy up and show some skin" to notice.

Rami is using orange and pink polka dot organza, which he describes as "happy." That seems to be a common word this week. Michael thinks it's pretty, but a little safe.

Anthony feels he's comfortable with this challenge because it fits his mantra: "I always say, 'Being a lady never goes out of style.'" April was in the bottom two last week, so she's got her eyes on the prize, making sure the garment is impeccable.

Joanna Coles shows up to mentor and announces that she thinks this is "one of the best challenges in the history of 'Project Runway.'" Wow. They're really trying to sell this thing. I guess Disney paid Bravo a lot of cash.

Mondo says he appreciates Joanna's sophistication.

Gordana's critique is first. About Miss Piggy she says, "I want to show off her legs because I've noticed in pictures that she has really pretty legs."

I'm sorry. Is this an alternate universe? We're still talking about a puppet here, right? Don't get me wrong, I love "The Muppets" too. A lot. But this is bordering on delusional.

Anyway, Joanna says it looks like a nightgown. I agree. She adds: "I don't think comfort should really matter when you're dressing a mega-celebrity like Miss Piggy." Again, she's stuffed, people!

Mila considers creating a headband, but Joanna reminds her of Miss Piggy's big ears. Austin says, "Mila's aesthetic is really so severe that I'm concerned whether she'll be able to bring the humor and whimsy." He, on the other hand, feels that he and Miss Piggy are kindred spirits. He says, "I like to pepper my conversation with little French phrases. Sometimes I refer to myself as 'moi.'" Wait? Is Miss Piggy modeled after a gay man like they say about Samantha on 'Sex and The City'?

Anthony thinks Michael's dress is amateurish.

Michael thinks Gordana's dress could be from a regular department store.

Mila is annoyed that Kara and Kenley are becoming "quite codependent." She adds, "This isn't a team competition. Only one person can win."

I think they should all stop worrying about each other and actually create something that's not fugs. We watch clips of them laughing harmoniously back at the hotel ... blah blah blah.

Back at the workroom in the morning, Anthony says he felt "convicted" about eating bacon for breakfast. I think he means "conflicted." But whatev.

There's more accessory drama for Kara, when Austin takes her pearls and purse by accident.

Kenley feels that she'll probably win. "I always feel confident!" she says. But April doesn't agree about Kenley's princess-seamed number in a pink giraffe print. She thinks it's "just like the dresses she has already done."

The Runway:

This process is probably always difficult, but now they're being ripped apart by a puppet, so it seems a little more humiliating potentially. But maybe it brings levity.

Isaac is gone for the week, so the judges are Georgina Chapman of Marchesa, Eric Daman (costume designer on "Gossip Girl") and, well, Miss Piggy natch, who is oddly dressed like a First Lady in a gray blazer, pearls, crystal broach and a red maxi skirt.

The runway show commences and I personally am kind of into Jerrell's dress which looks very flapper, but with a bit of Belle Epoque feathered shoulders. Rami's looks to me like a child's birthday party vomited all over itself and it could not be more over-accessorized. It's very Easter Parade. And Gordana's dress -- which she calls "happy" again -- does in fact look like a pouty little nightgown.

The top and bottom six are called out:

Austin's combo of pink (again, sad mauve) and gray is criticized. Georgina says the construction is beautiful, but the pink is wrong. Eric Daman says the bows on either side are going to accentuate the hips. (In private during the judges deliberation, he calls it "90's redux," good for "Pigs In Space." I'm kinda liking this guy. He's funny!
Miss Piggy's Take: "Can you hula hoop in that?"

Michael's dress is more sophisticated. Georgina likes the zipper down the back. They wonder if there's too much black.
Miss Piggy's Take: "I love the dress. It looks like a present!"

Kenley's color was great, they think, and they love the fabric and mesh hat; but they're worried about the construction in the boob area. Eric says the hat is good "because she's sensitive about her ears." Miss Piggy objects to that. I actually like this dress best of the top six maybe. It's cute for a Muppet.
Miss Piggy's Take: "I do love the hat though because after a big night out on the town, I can use the hat to clean my pots and pans."

Rami's dress is a huge success (a big surprise to me). Georgina says he went for it and Eric calls it "Parisian Hog Couture." (Georgina does admit that under other circumstances, the dress would not/em>have made sense.)
Miss Piggy's Take: "The most garish, outlandish, ridiculous thing I have ever seen and I love it. It looks like a candy store exploded." Hey. That's what I thought! (But in a bad way.)

Mila's dress is missing the flamboyance. It's too black and white. She didn't really complete the challenge, which was about pleasing the client ... a puppet.
Miss Piggy's Take: "I like that it's retro. It just doesn't scream Miss Piggy!"

Then, after Miss Piggy attacks Eric Daman for talking about her ears, they come to a decision:

The Winner: Michael. I guess they realized that it's still a fashion competition, so Rami's dress is a close second, but doesn't win.

Going Home: It's between Mila and Gordana. And ultimately, Gordana goes home because they feel she didn't push the envelope.

After a strong handshake from Angela, Gordana leaves with these parting words from Miss Piggy: "You really are an all star, Gordana. Remember that."

She will, Miss Piggy. She will.

"Project Runway All Stars" airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. EST on Lifetime.

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Follow Nora Zelevansky on Twitter: www.twitter.com/missnoraz

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nora-zelevansky/project-runway-all-stars-recap-miss-piggy_b_1217978.html

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