Thursday, January 31, 2013

Video: Money In Motion: Trading the Euro Trend

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50653027/

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Cow smuggling ... it's how Bangladesh gets its beef

Beef is a delicacy in Bangladesh, but Hindu-majority India refuses to sell their sacred cows. The demand is so high, however, that a dangerous $920 million cow smuggling trade has popped up. ?

By Shaikh Azizur Rahman,?Contributor / January 26, 2013

An Indian Hindu man stands with a cow as he waits for alms at Sangam, the confluence of the holy rivers Ganges and Yamuna and mythical Saraswati at the Maha Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, India, last week. Cows are everywhere in India, but the cow is considered holy in the Hindu-majority country. There are 26 breeds of cow in India. The hump, long ears, and bushy tail distinguish the Indian cow.

Kevin Frayer/AP

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In Muslim?majority Bangladesh beef is in high demand.?

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More than 90 percent of the 160 million people who live there are Muslims and for them beef is a delicacy.?

The country's meat producers estimate that slaughterhouses need up to 3 million cows every year to feed Bangladeshi appetites, and to help meet demand, Bangladesh is eyeing neighboring India. Cows are everywhere in India, but the cow is considered holy in the Hindu-majority country. In fact, slaughtering cows is banned in many Indian states, and New Delhi refuses to export?them.

That refusal hasn't done much to deter the demand for beef in Bangladesh, however.? In fact, say officials in Dhaka, beef has become so valuable it's spurred a dangerous cow smuggling trade across the India-Bangladesh border.?

More than 2 million cows are smuggled from India to Bangladesh every year and most of the illegal trade takes place through the Indian border state of West Bengal, says Bimal Pramanik, an independent researcher in Calcutta, India.

?Bangladeshi slaughterhouses cannot source even 1 million cows from within the country. If Indian cows do not reach the Bangladeshi slaughterhouses, there will be a big crisis there,? says Mr. Pramanik, adding that 3 out of every 4 cows slaughtered in the country are from India.?

?In this thriving trade, [herds of] cows worth 50 billion rupees [$920 million] are sent across to Bangladesh every year. It?s the sheer economics of the trade that drives the smuggling,??says Pramanik.

Cattle smugglers say they routinely bribe the police, customs, Border Security Force guards, and even some politicians in India to look the other way.

However, locals call this part of the border the ?Wall of Death,? for the smuggling-related tensions that?sometimes?turn into violence. In 2012, security forces killed 48 Bangladeshis along the border, according to the Bangladeshi human rights group Ain o Salish Kendra.?

But Bangladeshis say there is a simple way to end violence along the border.

"If India begins exporting cows to Bangladesh, such untoward incidents will stop," said the Bangladeshi Commerce Minister Golam Mohammad Quader.? "We are really keen to import cows from India, and want all illegal activities involving cow trade across the border to end," he said.

The former head of India's Border Security Forces Utthan Kumar Bansal recently agreed:?

?The menace of smuggling might be best controlled if the trade across the border is made legal. The legalization of export of cows could also help curb tension on the volatile border,? Mr. Bansal said.

Although Bansal?s comment did not trigger any government reaction in India, some right wing Hindu groups said they would never let India export cows to any country.?

Radhakanta Saha, who is a World Hindu Organization leader and heads a volunteer group that aims to prevent cow smuggling in West Bengal, said: ?The cow is our mother. We shall begin country-wide agitation if India decides to export cows to a country where they are likely to be slaughtered for ... meat.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/csmonitor/globalnews/~3/dWCK27Q-FSQ/Cow-smuggling-it-s-how-Bangladesh-gets-its-beef

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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Super Bowl Monday? Man Petitions to Create Football Holiday

If Josh Moore has his way, you won't be at work the day after the Super Bowl.? That's because Moore, who owns the fantasy football website 4for4, has proposed the day after the Super Bowl be made into a national holiday.?

"This has been an issue that my friends and I have been talking about for years," Moore told BusinessNewsDaily. "It seems like every year we talk about how many people watch the Super Bowl and how many people don?t feel like going to work the next day. Then last week, I was actually at the WhiteHouse.gov petition site signing something that was a bit more policy-related and I thought it would be a great platform to get the idea about the Super Bowl thing from talk to actuality."

Moore seems to have the support of more than just his friends on his side. Since posting his petition on the White House We the People page, it has gained closed to 10,000 signatures.? If the petition reaches 100,000 signatures by Feb. 23, it will warrant an official response from the Obama administration.

"I think we have a chance," said Moore, a lifelong Detroit Lions fan who also edits 4for4. "Obviously, we are a long ways away, but I think it seems to be picking up steam and has the chance to start snowballing. I have had hardly any negative feedback. One old lady emailed me and said she didn?t like football, but that is about it."

Though the ultimate goal may seem far-fetched and Moore understands it is an uphill battle, he said that there would be a number of benefits from making the day after Super Bowl a holiday. In particular, Moore says that having the day after Super Bowl Sunday off would promote camaraderie on the day of the game and productivity at work in the days after.?

"I am running on the assumption that the day after the Super Bowl is one of the least productive days of the work year, along with the day before Christmas and New Year's Eve," Moore said. "Having that day off would not make the workforce lose too much productivity." ?

At the time of publication, the petition is only 90,181 signatures away from being eligible for an official response.

This story was provided by BusinessNewsDaily, a sister site to LiveScience. Follow David Mielach on Twitter @D_M89 or BusinessNewsDaily @bndarticles. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

Copyright 2013 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/super-bowl-monday-man-petitions-create-football-holiday-145839014.html

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Sunday, January 6, 2013

96% Argo

All Critics (249) | Top Critics (44) | Fresh (238) | Rotten (11)

Affleck himself turns in a quietly impressive movie star performance. Tony Mendez is a kind of anti-Bourne, comfortable with his anonymity, living off his wits, not his fists.

'Argo' is one of the best movies of the year.

Argo has that solid, kick-the-tires feel of those studio films from the 70s that were about something but also entertained. Only it's as laugh outright amusing as it is sobering.

The movieland satire is laid on thick, but it's also deadly accurate. Schlock has never seemed so patriotic, and Arkin and Goodman have rarely been so good.

Argo is a rollicking yarn, easily the most cohesive and technically accomplished of Affleck's three films so far, but a part of me wishes the director hadn't cast himself in the lead role.

If nothing else, it proves that every so often, the CIA can pull something off - and that yes, Canadians are just about the nicest people on the planet.

Affleck inserts such thoughtful commentary and ideas unobtrusively into his film; there's no ideological ball-peen hammer from the filmmaker to drive his beliefs into the audience.

Argo expertly builds tension and makes you wonder whether the mission will succeed.

There are many heroes in Ben Affleck's spunky, polished political thriller. But the biggest hero is Hollywood itself.

A strong yet uneven effort...

We are invested in this rescue mission not simply because these are fellow Americans in peril, but also because Argo takes the time to make each person behind enemy lines unique and authentic.

An edge-of-your-seat thriller not to be forgotten at Oscar time!

'Argo' only clocks in at a two-hour running time and tells a much better story than the films that over-stuffed audiences with nearly three-hours.

Second billing to unabashed jingoism

This may be the most geek-friendly movie that never did the rounds at Comic-Con.

When Tony (Ben Affleck) lands in Tehran and trains the frightened Americans to play their parts as a Canadian film crew, Argo compares the ruses run by governments and movie studios.

The whole thing is paced like a whip, and the third act may literally be the most suspenseful piece of film I've ever seen - and yes, I have seen Rear Window. Recommended without any reservation for every and any cinemagoer.

A terrific supporting cast, especially the non A-list actors, make the dramatic license taken justified and redeem Affleck for miscasting himself in the hero's role.

A brilliant thriller that's based on a historical incident, 'Argo' is one of the best films of 2012.

A wonderfully lively and engrossing movie ...

An enthralling and deliciously entertaining movie -- and a deserved triumph for its star and director.

The details make for a rip-roaring story, which Affleck invests with old-school directorial ?lan.

Ben Affleck leaps on to the A-list of directors with this relentlessly entertaining thriller, combining comedy and nerve-jangling suspense to maximum effect.

If you're a nailbiter, bring gloves, because the suspense will see you reach your knuckles.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/argo_2012/

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Saturday, January 5, 2013

1 Boring Old Man ? speaking of persistence?

I had a long and complicated look at Major Depressive Disorder, the Bereavement Exclusion, and the proposal to remove it in the DSM-5 a few days ago [the what is absurd?]. I realized how angry I am that they want to take out the Bereavement Exclusion yet neglect their real task ? revising the whole category [MDD]. I proposed [along with many before me] that MDD itself is a remnant of a political negotiation from long ago rather than a real psychiatric disorder. Adding Grief into the already overcrowded MDD neighborhood seems insulting to patients and colleagues, over and above being irrational. It is so predictably an open invitation for overmedication that their motives and logic don?t even really matter. Even if they actually believe the forced logic that grieving people with profound symptoms won?t get necessary treatment [eg antidepressants], they should be able to see that risk/benefit considerations are prohibitive. Add to that ? nobody wants them to do this other than a few people on the DSM-5 Mood Disorders Work Group. I was actually glad to see that Dr. Frances retains a level-headed approach to the problem:

Psychology Today: DSM5 in Distress
by Allen Frances, M.D.
January 3, 2013

In my list of the 10 worst things about DSM 5, its decision to confuse normal grief with clinical depression earned a very high ranking at second place. DSM 5 will go to press at the end of January. The American Psychiatric Association has just four more weeks to reverse this dreadful mistake that flies in the face of clinical common sense and is unsupported by the limited available science.

The DSM 5 medicalization of grief has been opposed by editorials and scientific papers in the major medical and psychiatric journals, by hundreds of newspapers articles, and by the 200,000 grievers who viewed a moving blog by Joanne Cacciatore that went viral. So far, APA has lived in its cocoon ? stubbornly sticking to its senseless decision, oblivious to the intense opposition both from the experts in the field and from the many people it will mislabel. Making grief a mental disorder will be a bonanza for drug companies, but a disaster for grievers.

The decision is also self destructive for DSM 5 and further undermines the credibility of APA. Psychiatry should not be mislabeling the normal. Instead, our field should focus attention on getting more resources for the treatment of patients with clear and severe mental disorders- those who are now receiving far too little care as mental health budgets are slashed. This final plea to reason comes from the three people who have been most active in protecting grief from being mislabeled as mental illness.

Dr. Frances reports on the thoughts of three people with hard-won expertise in the treatment of the bereaved:

The first is Joanne Cacciatore ? psychologist, researcher, clinician , bereaved parent, and founder of the MISS Foundation and Center for Loss & Trauma?:

"It is simply outrageous that DSM 5 will diagnosis mental disorder in the normally bereaved as early as two weeks following their loss- thus encouraging the massive misdiagnosis of grief as Major Depressive Disorder. Under trained primary care doctors are particularly likely to confuse grief and depression and to over treat with psychotropic medication. Drugs are necessary for the severe symptoms of depression in some individuals, but there is no evidence they are good for expectable grief. In fact, the research shows that the bereaved are already being medicated earlier than can be justified." "We issue an ardent appeal to DSM 5. Please, do not medicalize normal grief. It is not at all pathological to have symptoms that closely resemble mild depression during bereavement. The Bereavement Exclusion is absolutely necessary to protect against the false positive over diagnosis of depression. Keep it in place. The bereaved are already vulnerable. So, please take to heart your responsibility to them- ?first do no harm?."

The second email is from Russell Friedman: co-founder of The Grief Recovery Institute Educational Foundation and co-author of ?The Grief Recovery Handbook? and ?When Children Grieve?:

"One of the very few defenders of the indefensible DSM 5 decision to pathologize grief is quoted as saying : ?Well-trained clinicians will be able to make this distinction [between normal grief and depression] and most have done so without the help of DSM-5 for many years.?"

"This is far too optimistic an appraisal ? true only for the distinction between grief and severe depression. Not even the best trained clinicians can distinguish grief from mild depression. And a totally untrained and ill-equipped GP, in his 6-8 minute consultation with the new widow or widower, might as well be blindfolded and throw darts at targets marked MDE or Normal Grief, while prescribing unnecessary meds that will bury the griever?s feelings- where they will likely fester. In its zealous attempt never to miss any possible patient, DSM 5 endorses further loosening of what are already too loose criteria for depression ? thus mislabeling grief and potentially hurting many millions of grievers."

The third email is Jerry Wakefield, Professor Of Social Work and Psychiatry at New York University:

"DSM 5 claims that its decision to relabel mild depressive feelings during grief as clinical depression was based on scientific evidence. This is simply not true. In fact, the evidence goes strongly against the decision. For example, two critical features of clinical depression are that it predicts a higher likelihood of later recurrence of new depressive episodes and a highly elevated rate of suicide attempts. Studies show that the depressive feelings during grief that the DSM 5 is going to relabel clinical depression do not predict higher rates of either of these problems.

"The scientific literature documents that on many other important measures as well, such grief is unlike clinical depression and more like intense normal emotions that improve on their own with time. Similar normal feelings of sadness occur in reactions to other losses, such as marital dissolution, romantic betrayal, job loss, financial trouble, natural disaster, and a terrible medical diagnosis. Such reactions are currently diagnosed as psychiatric disorders when in fact studies show they too are often normal responses. The evidence indicates that DSM 5 should be narrowing the category of clinical depression, not broadening it."

"Grieving individuals need and deserve support and frequently consult general physicians seeking help with sleep or other symptoms. The provision of such help should not be distorted by a spurious medical diagnosis that is not supported by the scientific evidence."

And then adds his own commentary:

Many thanks to all three correspondents for this and for their previous efforts to save DSM 5 from itself. The need to preserve Freud?s valuable distinction between ?Mourning" and "Melancholia? seems self evident to everyone except the people responsible for DSM 5. There was no previous problem in DSM IV that needed fixing. Grievers who have severe and urgent symptoms- suicide risk, psychotic symptoms, severe agitation. Inability to function- have always qualified for the diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder; while those having typical symptoms of grief were appropriately regarded as having a normal, human reaction to a grave loss. As Dr Wakefield points out, the criteria for mild forms of Major Depressive Disorder are already too loose when people are experiencing any kind of loss ? DSM 5 now makes the strange choice of making them looser.

After 40 years and lots of clinical experience, I can?t distinguish at two weeks between the symptoms of normal grief and the symptoms of mild depression ? and I challenge anyone else to do so. This is an inherently unreliable distinction. And I know damn well that primary care doctors can?t do it in a 7 minute visit. This should have been the most crucial point in DSM 5 decision making because primary care docs prescribe 80% of all antidepressants and will be most likely to misuse the DSM 5 in mislabeling grievers. Drug companies will probably jump at this golden opportunity to mount a disease awareness ?educational campaign? spreading the false DSM 5 gospel that depression can be reliably diagnosed among normal grievers. And the instinct of primary care docs is always to reach for their prescription pads or the free samples on the shelf as the quickest way to get the griever out of the office. Grief is a normal and inescapable part of the human condition, not to be confused with psychiatric illness. Let us respect the dignity of mourning and treat it medically only when it becomes melancholia.

APA needs to reconsider a really bad decision that will seriously reduce its credibility and encourage the DSM 5 boycott I am told is now in its planning stages.

When I looked at the articles by the Mood Disorder Work Group authors a few days ago [the what is absurd?], the ten year old article using Wellbutrin to treat grief struck me:

OBJECTIVE: The present study was conducted to assess whether DSM-IV-defined bereavement responds to bupropion sustained release [SR].

METHOD: Twenty-two subjects who had lost their spouses within the previous 6 to 8 weeks and who met DSM-IV symptomatic/functional criteria for a major depressive episode were evaluated. Subjects completed the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression [HAM-D], the Clinical Global Impressions scale, the Texas Revised Inventory of Grief, and the Inventory of Complicated Grief at baseline and follow-up. Subjects were treated with bupropion SR, 150 to 300 mg/day, for 8 weeks.

RESULTS: Improvement was noted in both depression and grief intensity. For the intent-to-treat group. 59% experienced a reduction of > 50% on HAM-D scores. The correlations between changes in the HAM-D scores and the grief scale scores were high, ranging from 0.61 [p = .006] to 0.44 [p = .054].

CONCLUSION: Major depressive symptoms occurring shortly after the loss of a loved one [i.e., bereavement] appear to respond to bupropion SR. Treatment of these symptoms does not intensify grief; rather, improvement in depression is associated with decreases in grief intensity. The results of this study challenge prevailing clinical wisdom that DSM-IV-defined bereavement should not be treated. Larger, placebo-controlled studies are indicated.

That study had no control group so it really shouldn?t even be in the mix, but there was something else, "Twenty-two subjects who had lost their spouses within the previous 6 to 8 weeks and who met DSM-IV symptomatic/functional criteria for a major depressive episode were evaluated." Even they waited a considerably greater time than they?re suggesting in their appeasment plans for the DSM-5.

Another thing that I thought as I read through all those articles was:

    "The fact that they interpreted their results as meaning the Bereavement Exclusion needs to be abolished is a telling, and very discouraging. To me it means that they have come to see the DSM-III, DSM-IV, and now DSM-5 definition of Major Depressive Disorder as a sacrosanct entity unto itself rather that just a list made at some point in history for reasons having to do with an anachronistic political squabble within psychiatry. They?ve confused the signifier with the signified?"

I still feel surprised that they can be this far off the mark and apparently not know it. They?re missing the boat about Grief, plain and simple. They?re off the mark about the motives of Dr. Frances who is trying his best to keep them from jumping into the deep end of the pool without knowing how to swim. And they?re assuming a right to make an arbitrary and counter-intuitive change with neither scientific evidence nor credible argument. If they persist and send the DSM-5 to the printer with the Bereavement Exclusion removed, they are as much as admitting that it is no longer the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. It?s something else, maybe a Manual of Psychiatric Opinion ? APA style, and they?d best make a drastic cut in the number of copies they order, because they are claiming an authority that they haven?t earned. They?ve spent a lot of time and money on this revision, and they?re about to throw it all away for no apparent reason. The vote is in and counted?

Source: http://1boringoldman.com/index.php/2013/01/04/speaking-of-persistence/

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Princess Diana Photo Published, Set For Auction After 31 Years

Source:

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Internet Retailing ? Online sales rise post-Christmas ? but could ...

Early indications suggest Boxing Day was the busiest online shopping day ever in the UK, though traffic appears to have fallen short of predictions.

Information service experience Experian reported 113m visits to retailers? websites during December 26 ? 17% up on the same day in 2011. Meanwhile High Street traffic for the same day rose by just 0.64%, according to Experian. The organisation, working with IMRG, forecast?126m visits on Boxing Day. That would have equated, the two forecast, to spending of ?472.5m.

The 113m visits made on Boxing Day were also only slightly ahead of the 112m site visits that Experian?detected?on Cyber Monday.

Experian also reported high levels of traffic on Christmas Eve, when 84m visits were made to retail websites (86% up on the same day in 2011), and on Christmas Day (107m visits, 71% up).

James Murray, digital insight manager at Experian said the figures were evidence of ?sales creep?. ?Five years ago we called it the January sales, before it became the Boxing Day sales, now retailers have to call it the winter sales as discounting starts earlier to encourage higher spending,? said Murray.

Figures from IBM analysed web transactions on 150 retail sales to focus on sales. It suggested that Boxing Day sales were 44.95% up on the same day last year. Its data, drawn from the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark, also found 30.72% of consumers visited retail sites using a mobile device, while 24.73% of consumers used those devices to make a purchase.

The iPad generated more traffic than other tablets or smartphones, with 15.84% of online shopping taking place over the tablet on Boxing Day. And 0.19% of all online sales came from social network referrals, from sites including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

?These figures don?t come as a surprise,? said Chris Withers, head of Smarter Commerce UK, IBM. ?Retailers started their promotions early this year, but shoppers have still been holding out for the best prices around and after Christmas. Going online is one way of ensuring they get these deals.? He continued: ?The combination of an increase in use of smartphones and tablets, better retail websites, and devices such as the iPad being top of most gift lists this year has created a perfect storm of factors for healthy Boxing Day online trading. Retailers now need to ensure they keep on providing the best customer service possible across all of the places their customers shop.?

Data from delivery management specialist MetaPack measured deliveries following on from those post-Christmas sales. It found record volumes sent in the period between Christmas and New Year, up by 69% on the same time last year, with sales growth strongest in the clothing, footwear, ?home and garden and sports and leisure sectors.

MetaPack reported that Debenhams, Boohoo, House of Fraser, The White Company, Barratts, Missguided, Sports Direct and Asos were among the retailers who had warehouse operations running everyday post Christmas with Asos even preparing goods for despatch on Christmas Day.

?Internet shopping goes from strength to strength, with people having the confidence to leave their Christmas shopping later and then looking for bargains for themselves even after cut-off dates have passed. And where it may not be possible to get out to the shops on the public holidays the ease of getting online and buying from home seems to win out and the online retailers that are exploiting this fact will be the winners in 2013,? said Patrick Wall, MetaPack chief executive and founder.

But some are now looking ahead to what happens after the deliveries, predicting that up to 40% of clothing and between 5% and 10% of electrical goods and homewares bought via the internet or catalogues are returned to stores by shoppers who change their mind.

Simon Irwin, an analyst at Credit Suisse, told the Guardian: ?Product returns no doubt have a small part to play in why December has been consistently stronger for retailers relative to the months after it.?

In the same piece, however, John Stevenson, a retail analyst at Peel Hunt, said returns do not change the fact that online sales are growing far faster than the high street, and returns do not, in fact, make a big impact on sales. ?I would be amazed if we get to the year end and find out there has been an issue with returns,? he said.

Heikki Haldre, founder and chief executive of virtual fitting room provider Fits.me, commented:
?If the returns rate for clothing in January is really only 40% then I think most retailers would breathe a sigh of relief ? anecdotally I have heard of rates approaching 70% in January as unwanted or incorrect Christmas gifts and spontaneous purchases made during post-Christmas sales are returned. Irrespective of how return rates are reported or accounted for, or whether they are 40% or 70%, such levels must be crippling for retailers ? just the impact on cash flow must be painful.

?The clothing sector has seen the proportion of sales made online rise from 10% in 2010 to 12% in 2011, and it may easily have exceeded 15% in 2012 ? this is perfectly plausible since research shows that more than half of retailers say their online sales are growing at 25% or more. But since return rates for clothing sold online is predictably higher than for items sold in-store, it?s inevitable that returns as a proportion of overall sales will increase, and ? if it?s not already ? it will quickly become a problem for those retailers that find themselves doing more and more of their business online.?

No related posts.

Source: http://internetretailing.net/2013/01/online-sales-soar-post-christmas-but-could-returns-burst-the-bubble/

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Friday, January 4, 2013

Facebook Messaging on iOS gets voice chat (in Canada)

6 hrs.

Facebook issued an update Thursday for its iOS?Messenger app that lets users speak to one another or leave short recorded messages. This puts the app in competition with such major services as Skype and Vonage ? but is only available in Canada for now.

Of course you can already make calls to people using your phone, but this would let you call any other Facebook Messenger user worldwide, at least if people outside Canada had access to it. It's likely that Facebook limited it to our neighbor to the north in order to test it on a smaller scale before rolling it more widely over the next few weeks.

The rest of the world will be getting?a more minor update allowing short recorded messages to be sent to other Messenger users, which isn't quite as powerful but still could be useful.

Facebook's app is only one of many apps that aims to improve upon and eventually replace text messaging. With billions (perhaps trillions) of texts being sent every month, it's a huge market to break into ? and consumers are eager to leave behind fees for SMS services which many consider excessive.

The app update is available to interested Canadians in the App Store now.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBCNews Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/facebook-messaging-ios-gets-voice-chat-canada-1B7821890

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US drones kill senior Taliban figure in Pakistan

ALTERNATE CROP - In this April, 20, 2007 file photo, Pakistani militant commander Maulvi Nazir meets his associates in South Waziristan, Pakistan near the Afghani border. Five Pakistani security officials said the commander, Nazir, was reportedly among nine people killed in a missile strike on a house in the village of Angoor Adda in the South Waziristan tribal region early Thursday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. (AP Photo/Ishtiaq Mahsud)

ALTERNATE CROP - In this April, 20, 2007 file photo, Pakistani militant commander Maulvi Nazir meets his associates in South Waziristan, Pakistan near the Afghani border. Five Pakistani security officials said the commander, Nazir, was reportedly among nine people killed in a missile strike on a house in the village of Angoor Adda in the South Waziristan tribal region early Thursday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. (AP Photo/Ishtiaq Mahsud)

Map locates North Waziristan and South Waziristan, where U.S. drones killed 13 people

In this April, 20, 2007 file photo, Pakistani militant commander Maulvi Nazir meets his associates in South Waziristan, Pakistan near the Afghani border. Five Pakistani security officials said the commander, Nazir, was reportedly among nine people killed in a missile strike on a house in the village of Angoor Adda in the South Waziristan tribal region early Thursday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media. (AP Photo/Ishtiaq Mahsud)

ISLAMABAD (AP) ? An American drone strike in Pakistan has killed a top Taliban commander who sent money and fighters to battle the U.S. in Afghanistan but had a truce with the Pakistani military, officials said Thursday.

The death of Maulvi Nazir is likely to be seen in Washington as affirmation of the necessity of the controversial U.S. drone program. It is likely to be viewed in a different light by military officials in Pakistan, however, because Nazir did not focus on Pakistani targets.

Nazir was killed when two missiles slammed into a house in a village in South Waziristan while he was meeting with supporters and fellow commanders. Eight other people were killed, according to five Pakistani security officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The U.S. rarely comments on its secretive drone program, and Pentagon spokesman George Little said he could not confirm Nazir's death, but he added that if true, it would be "a significant blow" to extremist groups in the region.

He said it would be helpful not only to the U.S. and to Afghanistan but also to Pakistan, because "this is someone who has a great deal of blood on his hands."

At least four people were killed in a separate drone strike Thursday in the North Waziristan tribal region.

America's use of drones against militants in Pakistan has increased substantially under President Barack Obama, and the program killed a number of top militants in the past year.

But the drone strikes infuriate many Pakistanis who see them as a violation of their country's sovereignty. Many Pakistanis complain that innocent civilians have also been killed, something the U.S. rejects.

Nazir's killing could cause even more friction in the already-tense relationship between Washington and Islamabad.

A Pakistani official said while his government continues to object to the drone strikes, it does not object to removing Nazir from the battlefield, because despite his reported cooperation with the Pakistani government, he was suspected to have aided groups who attack Pakistani troops. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

The official said a U.S.-Pakistani working group seeking to craft a drone policy acceptable to Pakistan has made little progress, but that intelligence cooperation with the U.S. military and CIA had been improving, warming further after December's high-level bilateral meeting of defense and intelligence officials in Peshawar cleared the way to release a long-delayed payment of $688 million in U.S. funds to the Pakistan military. The money is part of a regular program to reimburse some of Pakistan's financial outlays in fighting militants and patrolling the Afghan border.

The official said the U.S. had also shared some intelligence leading to successful operations against Pakistani terrorist targets, but the surveillance and raids against such targets are now done only by Pakistani security and intelligence operatives. The official said there has been no return to the joint Pakistani-CIA raids that took place before last year's deadly border incident in which the U.S. fired on Pakistani troops, a controversial shooting of two Pakistanis by a CIA contractor, and the Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad.

Nazir earned the enmity of the U.S. by sending fighters to attack American forces in neighboring Afghanistan. He's also believed to have given shelter to al-Qaida members fleeing Afghanistan after the U.S. invasion and has maintained close relations with Arab members of the militant group.

But in Pakistan, many members of the military had a more favorable view of Nazir and similar militant chiefs who focus their attacks in Afghanistan and don't strike Pakistani targets. Pakistan is believed to have reached a nonaggression pact with Nazir ahead of its 2009 military operation against militants in South Waziristan.

Still, Nazir outraged many Pakistanis in June when he announced that he would not allow any polio vaccinations in territory under his control until the U.S. stops drone attacks in the region.

Pakistan is one of three countries where polio is still endemic. Nine workers helping in anti-polio vaccination campaigns were killed last month, and the killings this week of five female teachers and two aid workers may also have been linked to the immunization campaigns.

As many as 10,000 people attended Nazir's funeral in the town of Angoor Adda, where the strike happened. One resident who was there, Ahmed Yar, said Nazir's body was badly burned and his face was unrecognizable.

Reports of individual deaths in such cases are often difficult to verify independently.

Nazir was active in many parts of Afghanistan and had close ties with the Afghan Taliban, said Mansur Mahsud, the head of the Islamabad-based FATA Research Centre, which studies the tribal regions.

"His death is a great blow to the Afghan Taliban," he said.

The Taliban is a widely diverse group. The Afghan Taliban is made up mostly of Afghans who fight against U.S. and NATO troops.

Within Pakistan, it's a bit more complex. The Tehrik-e-Taliban is an umbrella group consisting of militants who have been fighting for the overthrow of the Pakistani government because they believe it's too closely allied with the U.S. They would like to install a hard-line Islamist government and have been behind much of the violence tearing apart Pakistan in recent years.

Nazir and another senior Taliban commander, Hafiz Gul Bahadur, broke away from the TTP in 2009 and struck a truce with the Pakistani military. Instead they focus their fighters and money on battling U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Nazir was believed to be about 40 years old, with three children and property in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. One of his brothers was also killed in a drone strike. Nazir used to be a member of Hizb-e-Islami, a powerful militant Islamist group in Afghanistan run by former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Nazir had survived several assassination attempts, including at least two U.S. drone strikes.

In November, a suicide bomber wounded him in an attempted assassination in Wana.

No group claimed responsibility, but suspicion immediately fell on rival militants including the head of the TTP, Hakimullah Mehsud. He has been jockeying with Nazir for power ever since Nazir's nonaggression pact allowed the Pakistani military to launch a massive operation in South Waziristan that drove Mehsud from the region.

In retaliation for the assassination attempt, Nazir expelled members of Mehsud's tribe from Wana. Nazir was meeting with supporters to discuss how to deal with the TTP when the missiles struck Wednesday, according to the FATA center's Mahsud.

Nazir's group quickly appointed his close aide, Bawal Khan, as a replacement, according to one of Nazir's commanders. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

But it remains to be seen what the new leader's policies will be and whether the tension with the TTP could lead to a power struggle in the region.

The former chief of intelligence in northwest Pakistan, retired brigadier Asad Munir, said Nazir's killing will complicate the fight against militants in the tribal region and could prompt Nazir's group to carry out retaliatory attacks against the Pakistani army.

It will also raise questions among military commanders here who would like the U.S. to use its firepower against the Pakistani Taliban, which attacks domestic targets, and not against militants like Nazir who aren't seen as much of a threat to the state, Munir said.

He added that the risk now for Pakistan is that the remnants of Nazir's group could join ranks with the Pakistani Taliban in its war with the government and army.

Drone strikes have been on the rise under Obama.

According to the Long War Journal, which tracks such attacks, there were 35 strikes in Pakistan during 2008, the last year President George W. Bush was in office. That number grew to 117 in 2010, then fell to 64 in 2011 and 46 last year.

The program has killed a number of top militant commanders, including al-Qaida's then-No. 2, Abu Yahya al-Libi, who died in a drone strike in June.

Badruddin Haqqani, who has been described as the day-to-day operations commander of the Haqqani network, was killed by a drone attack in August. The Haqqani network has been blamed by the U.S. for carrying out some of the highest-profile attacks against American and NATO troops in Afghanistan.

__

Mahsud reported from Dera Ismail Khan. Associated Press writers Asif Shahzad and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Rasool Dawar in Peshawar and AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-03-AS-Pakistan/id-9a27067e9d21446b898d4564f50c1f07

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Kitsilano home transformed by renovation | Westcoast Homes ...

January 4, 2013

Location and price were key attractions for buyers

2407 Yew St., Vancouver

Type: 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom detached
Size: 1,812 sq. ft.
B.C. Assessment, 2012: $989,300
Listed for: $1,200,000
Sold for: $1,175,000
Sold on: Oct. 18
Days on market: 15
Listing agent: Stephen Burke at Sutton Group ? West Coast Realty
Buyers agent: Fran?oise Robertson at Dexter Associates Realty

The big sell: This Kitsilano property started off life around the turn of the 20th Century as a cottage for workers at the nearby Molson brewery, and was purchased as a ?tear down? for $400,000 in 1998. In 2006, it was transformed into a three-storey heritage-style home on the 45-by-50-foot lot with significant renovations. It now has solid birch flooring, a gas fireplace, stained-glass windows, an open-plan layout, gourmet kitchen and skylights. Additional enhancements include a one-bedroom in-law suite on the ground floor that could be easily joined to the main part of the house to create family and media/entertainment rooms. There is a large deck off the dining room, as well as two patios that feature landscaping and a sprinkler system.

According to listing agent Stephen Burke, the two big draws for the buyers were the convenient location and the price, which got them a single-family house for the price of a half duplex in the area.

These transactions were compiled by Nicola Way of?BestHomesBC.com?and?AssignmentsCanada.ca.
Realtors ? send your recent sales to?nicola@besthomesbc.com

Source: http://www.homesanddesign.ca/featured-homes/kitsilano-home-transformed-by-renovation/

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Hospital Impact - Investing in your healthcare workers' health

by Scott Kashman

What if I told you I'd guarantee you 5 percent on your investment? How about 10 percent? Would this interest you? So here's the catch ... you are investing in your own health.

I'm working with one of our physicians to explore an interesting concept--improving population health. We are looking to directly share healthcare cost savings with participating employees.

Let me know what you think. These small successes should lead us to real sustainable improvement in our own and our community's health.

[More:]

Your Health Portfolio: A Collaborative Shared-Risk Model

Pilot Overview:

- Identify and complete population health pilot with thirty eligible participants* (see notes) in an effort to improve health and associated health costs of participants.

- The financial gains would be split among the participants up to 10 percent.

- The remaining gains would be split between the health system and a nutrition-focused educational partner--based on the one-year pilot and associated health plan cost reductions during the same time frame.

- Each eligible health plan participant will pay $50/month with a chance to earn 10 percent on their investment.

- Nutritional education group

  • Provides 18-week education to eligible participants
  • Absorbs total charge of $600/participant
  • Includes food, labs, marketing, education facilitation

- Health system

  • Provides membership to local wellness/fitness centers
  • Provides (2) fitness assessments (pre/post)
  • Includes a designated fitness coach who will provide four exercise programs (quarterly) and check-in coaching each quarter (four hours)
  • Absorbs total cost of $700/participant

- Eligible participants

  • Meets determined criteria set by health system and nutrition education group
  • Pays $50 per pay period or $1,300 for one year which goes into pilot study
  • Gets $600 paid back upon successful completion of 18-week educational program

Financial Model:

- Eligible and selected pilot participants: 30

- Total contribution of partners

  • Education partner: $600 per participant and up to $18,000 total
  • Health system: $700 per participant up to $21,000 total
  • Participant: $1,300 per participant and $39,000 total (paid into health system pilot)

Rewards/Recognition

- Education group estimates average improvements of $3,000 per participant based on improving health (e.g, diabetes, obesity, congestive heart failure)

- 30 x $3,000 = $90,000

- 10 percent back to participants up to $130 per participant (above their $1,300 investment); total up to $3,900

- Remaining savings after participant's distribution is split 50/50 between the health system and education group up to $43,050 each

- The model does not account for improvement in productivity and engagement with improved health

* Notes:

  • $600 paid back to participant after completion of 18-week education program
  • Remaining $700 paid to participant after financial gains above $700 are met
  • $700 per participant paid to local wellness/fitness centers to provide services from health system

Are you ready to diversify your health portfolio?

Scott Kashman serves as the Chief Administrative Officer of Cape Coral Hospital, part of the Lee Memorial Health System in southwest Florida.

Source: http://www.hospitalimpact.org/index.php/2013/01/01/title_83

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Thursday, January 3, 2013

RolePlayGateway?

Previously on Cartwright Falls.

Have a bit of music while you read.

The body of missing Teenager Julian Bishop is discovered across state lines resulting in the FBI being called to help investigate the crime. The Local Sheriff Eli Carter is pleased to receive support as Julian?s girlfriend Karen is still missing.

Agents Barton and Temple arrive on the scene and quickly take control of the case. Barton teams up with Deputy Adams and investigates a local bar while Temple teams up with Deputy Montgomery to investigate the body.

Sherriff Carter goes to the Bishop house to see if he can be any help to the grieving family of Julian Bishop which consists of his mother and twin sister. Temple and Montgomery meanwhile find that the mutilated body Julian is covered in numerous occult symbols including one from the past of Cartwright Falls.

An eye.

In the Woods a man called Kyle Renner is losing his mind and a voice tells him to go and kill. He obliges and soon encounters Sheriff Carter and Nathaniel Alexander, a local high school student who is paying his respects to the Bishops. In the ensuing firefight Carter is critically wounded Alexander sustains minor injuries and the Bishop house is reduced to rubble. Renner escapes into the woods.

Drawn by the battle the Law enforcement soon arrives on scene while Carter, Alexander and Juliet Bishop are rushed to hospital. Cassandra Bishop is already there.

Barton and Adams find a wallet belonging to Renner and Barton does some digging. He learns Renner is wanted for murder in California. Adams meanwhile learns were Renner?s camp was from an eye witness and they hatch a plan for a man hunt.

Temple and Montgomery question Alexander and Juliet Bishop but learn little. They then return to the Sheriff?s department were plans are underway for the man hunt.

Cassandra Bishop meanwhile suffers a psychological break and injects poison into Sheriff Carter who quickly succumbs to his injuries. Carter finds himself in a strange hotel talking to his High school sweetheart who died in a car accident years ago. She tells him he has a job to do.

Nathaniel Alexander meanwhile has gone home but attracted the attention of Mysterious couple?

Source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/RolePlayGateway

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FEMA Unveils New Flood Zone Maps For Long Island's South Shore ...

Damage from Sandy in Lindenhurst, Long Island - Nov. 29, 2012 (credit: Sophia Hall / WCBS 880)

Damage from Sandy in Lindenhurst, Long Island ? Nov. 29, 2012 (credit: Sophia Hall/WCBS 880)

VALLEY STREAM, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) ? The Federal Emergency Management Agency has unveiled its new flood zone map for Nassau County?s south shore.

At a FEMA community meeting Wednesday night at Valley Stream Village Hall, the federal agency displayed two new maps that showed thousands of south shore properties no longer listed in the flood zone.

WCBS 880 Long Island Bureau Chief Mike Xirinachs reports

Valley Stream resident James McKnight?s home was not among the homes taken off the list and he said he is baffled by it.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE FEMA MAP SERVICE CENTER

?I have to get flood insurance. It costs me an extra $2,000 [per year],? McKnight told WCBS 880 Long Island Bureau Chief Mike Xirinachs. ?We?ve never flooded, we?ve never had anything. You can ring every doorbell. There?s never been a flood here.?

McKnight has been living in Valley Stream for 27 years. He said the cost of flood insurance affects people?s ability to sell their homes.

?I?ve seen a lot of sales go down the drain,? McKnight added.

More than 4,000 properties on the south shore, including Cedarhurst, Lynbrook and Valley Stream, have been removed from the new federal flood zone maps.

Parts of the south shore were battered in superstorm Sandy, with widespread flooding and power outages.

FEMA recently completed its analysis of the New York City coastline, which led to revisions of the flood insurance and flood zone maps.

Sen. Charles Schumer sponsored a measure that required FEMA to look at data from Jamaica Bay to update Nassau County?s flood maps.

About 60 properties were added to the new flood maps.

FEMA is expected to publish the maps later this month so property owners can check the status of their homes, the agency announced.

According to the agency?s website, FEMA has given more than $90 million in individual assistance to New York residents affected by superstorm Sandy.

Residents can call 877-FEMA-MAP for more information.

Please share your comments below?

Source: http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2013/01/03/fema-unveils-new-flood-zone-maps-for-long-islands-south-shore/

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Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Unleash Your Creative Thinking | Nightingale Conant Audio And ...

Creative ThinkingPeople seem to have the misconception that only a few people are able to unleash creative genius. That is not true at all. The fact is that creativity is much like a muscle that needs to be exercised in order to give out great results. If you don?t practice creative thinking, this skill will atrophy into nonexistence. But keep it working and this skill will soon blossom into self improvement.

So how do you unleash creative thinking? Well, the first thing is to take in as much knowledge and learning as you can find. Read everything available, both good and bad, and keep your mind open to all the possibilities of the universe. The more you know, the more you want to know, and the more your faculty of awe will be exercised through self improvement. Prepare to be amazed at all the little facts that add color into your life.

Focus on a creative activity every day. Even doodling is creative. Don?t let anything stop you. Practice drawing for a little while each day. Bring out your camera and start snapping photos. Keep a diary and write in it religiously. Pretty soon those things will become a part of your self improvement and you?ll be addicted.

Try something new every day and let your experiences expand your perspective. Explore a new area in your neighborhood. Chat up someone new on the bus. Open up to other people around you. As you move yourself out of your comfort zone more each day, your sense of adventure will grow and so does your zest for life. When was the last time you did something new for the first time? If it?s been a while, you?ve been missing out on a whole lot that could?ve added to your growth and personal development ? emotionally, mentally, physically, or spiritually.

Creativity is really breaking through barriers. Yes, this includes the bizzarre as well as the downright strange, though it?s important that your creativity doesn?t get you detached from the real world completely.

Perhaps this article will inspire you to start thinking beyond your ?limits.? If you follow these steps soon you?ll be living a life of interesting adventures through personal development.

Unleashing your own creative thinking will bring about a brand new zest for living life.

????????????

Source: http://nightingale-conant.makingit.info/blog/personal-development/unleash-your-creative-thinking/

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Senate approves 'fiscal cliff' deal, crisis eased

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate moved the U.S. economy back from the edge of a "fiscal cliff" on Tuesday, voting to avoid imminent tax hikes and spending cuts in a bipartisan deal that could still face stiff challenges in the House of Representatives.

In a rare New Year's session at around 2 a.m. EST (0700 GMT), senators voted 89-8 to raise some taxes on the wealthy while making permanent low tax rates on the middle class that have been in place for a decade.

But the measure did little to rein in huge annual budget deficits that have helped push the U.S. debt to $16.4 trillion.

The agreement came too late for Congress to meet its own deadline of New Year's Eve for passing laws to halt $600 billion in tax hikes and spending cuts which strictly speaking came into force on Tuesday.

But with the New Year's Day holiday, there was no real world impact and Congress still had time to draw up legislation, approve it and backdate it to avoid the harsh fiscal measures.

That will need the backing of the House where many of the Republicans who control the chamber complain that President Barack Obama has shown little interest in cutting government spending and is too concerned with raising taxes.

All eyes are now on the House which is to hold a session on Tuesday starting at noon (1700 GMT).

Obama called for the House to act quickly and follow the Senate's lead.

"While neither Democrats nor Republicans got everything they wanted, this agreement is the right thing to do for our country and the House should pass it without delay," he said in a statement.

"There's more work to do to reduce our deficits, and I'm willing to do it. But tonight's agreement ensures that, going forward, we will continue to reduce the deficit through a combination of new spending cuts and new revenues from the wealthiest Americans," Obama said.

Members were thankful that financial markets were closed, giving them a second chance to return to try to head off the fiscal cliff.

But if lawmakers cannot pass legislation in the coming days, markets are likely to turn sour. The U.S. economy, still recovering from the 2008/2009 downturn, could stall again if Congress fails to fix the budget mess.

"If we do nothing, the threat of a recession is very real. Passing this agreement does not mean negotiations halt, far from it. We can all agree there is more work to be done," Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, told the Senate floor.

A new, informal deadline for Congress to legislate is now Wednesday when the current body expires and it is replaced by a new Congress chosen at last November's election.

The Senate bill, worked out after long negotiations on New Year's Eve between Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, also postpones for two months a $109 billion "sequester" of sweeping spending cuts on military and domestic programs.

It extends unemployment insurance to 2 million people for a year and makes permanent the alternative minimum tax "patch" that was set to expire, protecting middle-income Americans from being taxed as if they were rich.

'IMPERFECT SOLUTION'

The tax hikes do not sit easy with Republicans but conservative senators held their noses and voted to raise rates for the rich because not to do so would have meant increases for almost all working Americans.

"It took an imperfect solution to prevent our constituents from a very real financial pain, but in my view, it was worth the effort," McConnell said.

House Speaker John Boehner - the top Republican in Congress - said the House would consider the Senate deal. But he left open the possibility of the House amending the Senate bill, which would spark another round of legislating.

"The House will honor its commitment to consider the Senate agreement if it is passed. Decisions about whether the House will seek to accept or promptly amend the measure will not be made until House members ... have been able to review the legislation," Boehner and other House Republican leaders said in a statement.

Boehner has struggled for two years to get control over a group of several dozen Tea Party fiscal conservatives in his caucus who strongly oppose tax increases and demand that he force Obama to make savings in the Medicare and Social Security healthcare and retirement programs.

A campaign-style event held by Obama in the White House as negotiations with Senate leaders were taking place on Monday may have made it more difficult for Republicans to back the deal. In remarks to a group of supporters that resembled a victory lap, the president noted that his rivals were coming around to his way of seeing things.

"Keep in mind that just last month Republicans in Congress said they would never agree to raise tax rates on the wealthiest Americans. Obviously, the agreement that's currently being discussed would raise those rates and raise them permanently," he said to applause before the Senate deal was sealed.

Obama's words and tone annoyed Republican lawmakers who seemed to feel that the Democrat was gloating.

"That's not the way presidents should lead," said Republican Senator John McCain, Obama's rival in the 2008 election.

A deal with the House on Tuesday, while uncertain, would not mark the end of congressional budget fights. The "sequester" spending cuts will come up again in February as will the contentious "debt ceiling," which caps how much debt the federal government can hold.

Republicans may see those two issues as their best chance to try to rein in government spending and clip Obama's wings at the start of his second term.

(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan, Mark Felsenthal, Rachelle Younglai, Kim Dixon and Jeff Mason; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-heading-off-fiscal-cliff-despite-senate-efforts-025641568--business.html

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Court Rejects Apple?s False Advertising Claim In ?App Store? Trademark Lawsuit

images-screenshots-captures-amazon-appstore-logo-21032011_00B4000000001978The court has rejected Apple's earlier claim that Amazon's use of "Appstore" to describe its Android application marketplace was false "false advertising," according to a Bloomberg news alert. Apple had filed a trademark lawsuit in 2011, stating that Amazon's use of the term "appstore" could cause confusion among consumers. In September, 2012, Amazon asked a federal judge to dismiss Apple's Fifth Cause of Action in the case - the aforementioned "false advertising" claim.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/vQm5dnoGPjA/

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Tuesday, January 1, 2013

5 issues small business owners face in 2013 | GoErie.com/Erie ...

Lawmakers have been haggling over what's called the "fiscal cliff," the combination of billions of dollars in tax increases and budget cuts. Even if Congress reaches an agreement, small-business owners won't have the certainty they need, according to Todd McCracken, president of the National Small Business Association, a group that lobbies on behalf of small companies.
One of the most important tax provisions for small businesses, what's known as the Section 179 deduction, will shrink to $25,000 in 2013 from $125,000 in 2012. The deduction, which applies to equipment purchases, was $500,000 in 2011.

HEALTH CARE
Health care has been another source of uncertainty for small-business owners. The new year will bring some, but probably not all, of the answers to questions about how the new health-care law will affect them.
"They'll have to get their arms around the law, look at their options, learn more about the exchanges," says John Arensmeyer, CEO of Small Business Majority, a lobbying group.
Under the law, companies with 50 or more employees will be required to provide affordable health-care insurance for their employees starting Jan. 1, 2014. During 2013, federal and state health insurance exchanges will be set up, and owners will be able to see how much it will cost them to buy insurance.

LENDING
Don't look for the small-business lending climate to get easier in 2013. Owners who are uneasy about the economy, taxes and health care aren't expected to significantly increase their borrowing.
Depressed lending levels may be with us well beyond 2013, says James Schrager, a professor of entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
The problem isn't just that banks are cautious about small-business loans. Schrager notes that home equity loans, a traditional source of money for people starting or expanding a business, remain difficult to get, the result of the collapse in the mortgage market in 2008.

SKILLED WORKER SHORTAGE
While companies' caution has weighed on the job market, many company owners who actually want to hire say it's hard to find workers to fill some positions.
It's becoming more difficult to find people who have the skills they need, these owners say. Many new manufacturing jobs require high-tech skills. They include positions at factories where computers are used to create products like airplane parts and machinery. And some require several years of training, says Shane, the Case Western Reserve professor.

Source: http://www.goerie.com/article/20130101/BUSINESS05/301019946/5-issues-small-business-owners-face-in-2013

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North Korean leader, in rare address, seeks end to confrontation with South

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for an end to confrontation between the two Koreas, technically still at war in the absence of a peace treaty to end their 1950-53 conflict, in a surprise New Year's broadcast on state media.

The address by Kim, who took power in the reclusive state after his father, Kim Jong-il, died in 2011, appeared to take the place of the policy-setting New Year's editorial published annually in the past in leading state newspapers.

But North Korea has offered olive branches before and Kim's speech does not necessarily signify a change in tack from a country which vilifies the United States and U.S. ally South Korea at every chance.

Impoverished North Korea raised tensions in the region by launching a long-range rocket in December it said was aimed at putting a scientific satellite in orbit, drawing international condemnation.

North Korea, which considers the North and South one country, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, is banned from testing missile or nuclear technology under U.N. sanctions imposed after its 2006 and 2009 nuclear weapons tests.

"An important issue in putting an end to the division of the country and achieving its reunification is to remove confrontation between the north and the south," Kim said in an address that appeared to be pre-recorded.

"Past records of inter-Korean relations show that confrontation between fellow countrymen leads to nothing but war," he said, speaking from an undisclosed location.

The New Year's address was the first in 19 years by a North Korean leader, following the death of Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-un's grandfather. Kim Jong-il rarely spoke in public and disclosed his national policy agenda in editorials in state newspapers.

MAY BE LINKED TO CALL FOR AID

Kim's statement "apparently contains a message that he has an intention to dispel the current face-off (between the two Koreas), which could eventually be linked with the North's call for aid" from the South, said Kim Tae-woo, a North Korea expert at the state-funded Korea Institute for National Unification.

"But such a move does not necessarily mean any substantive change in the North Korean regime's policy towards the South."

There was no immediate reaction from Washington.

Bruce Klingner, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, said, "Kim Jong-un's New Year's message was different in format but not in content." It offered further evidence the young leader is following in the footsteps of his grandfather, rather than his father, he said.

While the younger Kim's public diplomacy resonates well with the North Korean public, "the new North Korean leader's impact on the outside world is undermined by North Korea's continued provocations and bombastic rhetoric," Klingner said.

The two Koreas have seen tensions rise to the highest level in decades after the North bombed a Southern island in 2010, killing two civilians and two soldiers.

The sinking of a South Korean navy ship earlier that year was blamed on the North but Pyongyang has denied it and accused Seoul of waging a smear campaign against its leadership.

Last month, South Korea elected as president Park Geun-hye, a conservative daughter of assassinated military ruler Park Chung-hee, whom Kim Il-sung had tried to kill at the height of their Cold War confrontation.

Park has vowed to pursue engagement with the North and called for dialogue to build confidence but has demanded that Pyongyang abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions, something it is unlikely to do.

Conspicuously absent from Kim's speech was any mention of North Korea's nuclear arms program.

(Additional reporting by Sung-Won Shim, and Paul Eckert in Washington; Editing by Nick Macfie and Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/north-korean-leader-rare-address-seeks-end-confrontation-024100592.html

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Food and drink prices to rise in 2013 : Kaieteur News

?

Food prices went up by 3.3 per cent in 2012 and are expected to increase by 4.5 per cent in 2013, according to Prestige Purchasing?s annual food inflation report.
David Read, CEO of Prestige Purchasing, presented the findings to members of the catering and hospitality industry at the Goring Hotel in London last night.
The rate of inflation for vegetables hit 5.5 per cent in 2012, while the price of potatoes, pork and alcohol are expected to rise considerably over the next year.
Read said: ?Personally, I have really felt the impact of climate change this year ? it is having a major impact on food pricing and, if anything, the weather will become more volatile.?
Poor harvests in 2012 led to an increase in the price of vegetables, with potatoes particularly hit due to chip manufacturers competing for the highest quality potatoes to supply to caterers.
The report found that the rate of inflation for drinks rose to four per cent, partly due to rising commodity costs of some grains and sugars used in alcohol production and also poor grape harvests in France, Italy and Argentina. Over the next six months, wine is expected to rise by 30-40 pence per bottle. The dairy industry has also been hit as the supermarkets drive prices down, which is having a knock-on effect on associated products such as cheese and yogurt. Read said caterers and hospitality operators are expected to feel the biggest impact.
Read added that markets are suffering from speculators seeking profits. ?People betting on future prices of commodities is a major source of volatility for food prices. Instability is bad for farmers but great for traders,? he told SM.
Population growth is forecast to double in the next 50 years, which will put more pressure on food resources, and increased trade in the third world is also having an impact on prices.
But there was some good news for buyers as the prices of oils and fats are expected to continue to fall as palm oil stocks are high. Producers are also switching to soya for feed because it is cheaper than grain and a by-product is soya oil, which is easing prices in the market.
Read recommended three options for organisations to overcome rising prices; optimising distribution; benchmarking and insight; and source optimisation. Depending on the size of a business and the amount of purchasing power it has, Read said there are four buying options; cash and carry; wholesale; hybrid; and central distribution.
He recommended that businesses with a low-spend take a cash-and-carry approach while large buyers should buy products direct from the supplier to get the best value.

Source: http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2013/01/01/food-and-drink-prices-to-rise-in-2013/

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