tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23609027153372841272023-11-15T08:03:27.530-08:00Blog Minhashamayim NewsPasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comBlogger418125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-88649619940373000422013-03-02T03:18:00.001-08:002013-03-02T03:18:12.425-08:00‘Star Trek’ Beams Into Oscar Night<br /><div class="home-content-ad"><br /><div class="ad-code"><br /><br /></div></div><br /><p class="first">“<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_1">Star Trek</span>” fans got quite a treat last night during the Academy Awards last night (Feb. 24).</p><br /><p>Actors who portray major characters from the film and television versions of the iconic science fiction series made cameo appearances during the three-hour-long ceremony celebrating the best movies of 2012.</p><div class="home-content-ad"><br /><div class="ad-code"><br /><br /></div></div><br /><br /><p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_2">William Shatner</span>, the actor that played <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_3">Starship Enterprise</span> captain <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_5">James T. Kirk</span> in original series helped open the awards show with host, Seth McFarlane.</p><br /><p>“I’ve come back in time from the 23rd century to stop you from destroying the Academy Awards,” joked Shatner to McFarlane.</p><br /><p>Actors <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_6">Chris Pine</span> and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_4">Zoe Saldana</span> also had a part to play in the festivities. Pine, who plays Kirk in 2009′s “Star Trek” and its sequel “Star Trek Into Darkness “ being released later this year, and Saldana, who plays the Enterprise’s communications officer Uhura, recapped an earlier event they co-hosted on Feb. 10 called the “Sci-Tech Oscars.”</p><br /><p>The smaller ceremony is designed to showcase the technical achievements of designers and technicians on movie sets.</p><br /><p>The newest movie in the Star Trek franchise, “Star Trek Into Darkness,” is set to be released on May 17.</p><br /><p><em>Follow Miriam Kramer on Twitter </em><em>@mirikramer </em><em>or SPACE.com </em><em>@Spacedotcom</em><em>. We’re also on</em> <em>Facebook</em><em> & </em><em>Google+</em><em>. </em></p><br /><p><span>Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</span><br />Space and Astronomy News Headlines – Yahoo! News</p><br /><div><br /><div itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Review-aggregate"><br /><div><br />Title Post: <span itemprop="itemreviewed"><strong>‘Star Trek’ Beams Into Oscar Night</strong></span><br />Url Post: <strong>http://www.news.fluser.com/star-trek-beams-into-oscar-night/</strong><br />Link To Post : <strong>‘Star Trek’ Beams Into Oscar Night</strong><br />Rating: <span itemprop="rating" itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Rating"><br /><span itemprop="average">100%</span><br /></span><br />based on <span itemprop="votes">99998</span> ratings.<br /><span itemprop="count">5</span> user reviews.<br />Author: <b><span class="vcard author"><span class="fn">Fluser SeoLink</span></span></b><br />Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment</div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-34771705236981873122013-03-02T03:16:00.001-08:002013-03-02T03:16:07.965-08:00U.S. evolves on same-sex marriage<br /><!--startclickprintexclude--><br /><br /><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr"><br /><p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS</strong></p><br /><ul class="cnn_bulletbin cnnStryHghLght"><!--google_ad_section_start--><li>The president and the nation have shifted perspectives on same-sex marriage</li><br /><li>Supreme Court ruling on California's same-sex marriage ban a critical test</li><br /><li>Growing public support for gay marriage give proponents hope for change</li><br /><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /></ul></div></div><br /><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--google_ad_section_start--><!--startclickprintinclude--><br /><p><strong>Washington (CNN)</strong> -- The nation's growing acceptance of same-sex marriage has happened in slow and painstaking moves, eventually building into a momentum that is sweeping even the most unlikely of converts.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2">Even though he said in 2008 that he could only support civil unions for same-sex couples, President Barack Obama nonetheless enjoyed strong support among the gay community. He disappointed many with his conspicuously subdued first-term response to the same-sex marriage debate.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">Last year, after Vice President Joe Biden announced his support, the president then said his position had evolved and he, too, supported same-sex marriage.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4">So it was no small matter when on Thursday the Obama administration formally expressed its support of same-sex marriage in a court brief weighing in on California's Proposition 8, which bans same-sex weddings. The administration's effort was matched by at least 100 high-profile Republicans — some of whom in elections past depended on gay marriage as a wedge issue guaranteed to rally the base — who signed onto a brief supporting gay couples to legally wed.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5">Obama on same-sex marriage: Everyone is equal</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6">Then there are the polls that show that an increasing number of Americans now support same-sex marriage. These polls show that nearly half of the nation's Catholics and white, mainstream Protestants and more than half of the nation's women, liberals and political moderates all support same-sex marriage.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">According to Pew Research Center polling, 48% of Americans support same-sex marriage with 43% opposed. Back in 2001, 57% opposed same-sex marriage while 35% supported it.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8">In last year's presidential election, same-sex marriage scarcely raised a ripple. That sea change is not lost on the president.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9">"The same evolution I've gone through is the same evolution the country as a whole has gone through," Obama told reporters on Friday.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10">Craig Rimmerman, professor of public policy and political science at Hobart and William Smith colleges says there is history at work here and the administration is wise to get on the right side.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11">"There is no doubt that President Obama's shifting position on Proposition 8 and same-sex marriage more broadly is due to his desire to situate himself on the right side of history with respect to the fight over same-sex marriage," said Rimmerman, author of "From Identity to Politics: The Lesbian and Gay Movements in the United States."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12">"I also think that broader changes in public opinion showing greater support for same-sex marriage, especially among young people, but in the country at large as well, has created a cultural context for Obama to alter his views."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13">For years, Obama had frustrated many in the gay community by not offering full-throated support of same-sex marriage. However, the president's revelation last year that conversations with his daughters and friends led him to change his mind gave many in that community hope.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14">Last year, the Obama administration criticized a measure in North Carolina that banned same-sex marriage and made civil unions illegal. The president took the same position on a similar Minnesota proposal.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15">Obama administration officials point to what they see as the administration's biggest accomplishment in the gay rights cause: repealing "don't ask, don't tell," the military's ban on openly gay and lesbian members serving in the forces.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16">Then there was the president's inaugural address which placed the gay community's struggle for equality alongside similar civil rights fights by women and African-Americans.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17">"Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law, for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal, as well," Obama said in his address after being sworn in.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18">In offering its support and asserting in the brief that "prejudice may not be the basis for differential treatment under the law," the Obama administration is setting up a high stakes political and constitutional showdown at the U.S. Supreme Court over a fast-evolving and contentious issue.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19">The justices will hear California's Proposition 8 case in March. That case and another appeal over the federal Defense of Marriage Act will produce blockbuster rulings from the justices in coming months.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20">Beyond the legal wranglings there is a strong social and historic component, one that has helped open the way for the administration to push what could prove to be a social issue that defines Obama's second term legacy, Rimmerman said.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21">The nation is redefining itself on this issue, as well.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22">Pew survey: Changing attitudes on gay marriage</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph23">The changes are due, in part, to generational shifts. Younger people show a higher level of support than their older peers, according to Pew polling "Millennials are almost twice as likely as the Silent Generation to support same-sex marriage."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph24">"As people have grown up with people having the right to marry the generational momentum has been very, very strong," said Evan Wolfson, president of Freedom to Marry, a gay rights organization.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph25">That is not to say that there isn't still opposition.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph26">Pew polling found that most Republicans and conservatives remain opposed to same-sex marriage. In 2001, 21% of Republicans were supportive; in 2012 that number nudged slightly to 25%.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph27">Conservative groups expressed dismay at the administration's same-sex marriage support.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph28">"President Obama, who was against same-sex 'marriage' before he was for it, and his administration, which said the Defense of Marriage Act was constitutional before they said it was unconstitutional, has now flip-flopped again on the issue of same-sex 'marriage,' putting allegiance to extreme liberal social policies ahead of constitutional principle," Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said in a statement.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph29">But there are signs of movement even among some high profile Republican leaders</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph30">Top Republicans sign brief supporting same-sex marriage</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph31">The Republican-penned friend of the court brief, which is designed to influence conservative justices on the high court, includes a number of top officials from the George W. Bush administration, Mitt Romney's former campaign manager and former GOP presidential candidate Jon Huntsman.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph32">It is also at odds with the Republican Party's platform, which opposes same-sex marriage and defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph33">Still, with White House and high-profile Republican support, legal and legislative victories in a number of states and polls that show an increasing number of Americans support same sex-marriage, proponents feel that the winds of history are with them.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph34">"What we've seen is accelerating and irrefutable momentum as Americans have come to understand who gay people are and why marriage matters," Wolfson said. "We now have a solid national majority and growing support across every demographic. We have leaders across the spectrum, including Republicans, all saying it's time to end marriage discrimination."</p><br /><p class="cnn_strycbftrtxt">CNN's Peter Hamby, Ashley Killough and Bill Mears contributed to this report. </p><br /><!--endclickprintinclude--><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /><!--no partner--><br /><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-84847925329760992252013-03-02T03:14:00.001-08:002013-03-02T03:14:10.642-08:00Redflex execs out as scandal grows in red light camera firm<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>The president, chief financial officer and top lawyer for Chicago's red light camera company resigned this week amid an escalating corruption scandal that has cost Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. its lucrative, decadelong relationship with the city.</p><br /><p>The resignations came as Redflex said it was winding down a company-funded probe into allegations of an improper relationship between the company and the former city transportation manager who oversaw its contract until 2011, a relationship first disclosed by the Tribune in October. A longtime friend of that city manager was hired by Redflex for a high-paid consulting deal.</p><br /><p>The company recently acknowledged it improperly paid for thousands of dollars in trips for the former city official, the latest in a series of controversial revelations that have shaken Redflex from its Phoenix headquarters to Australia, the home of parent company Redflex Holdings Ltd.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration banned the company from competing for the upcoming speed camera contract and went further last month by announcing that Redflex would lose its red light contract when it expires in June. The Chicago program, with more than 380 cameras, has been the company's largest in North America and is worth about 13 percent of worldwide revenue for Redflex Holdings. Since 2003 it has generated about $100 million for Redflex and more than $300 million in ticket revenue for the city.</p><br /><p>In an email addressed to all company employees, Redflex Holdings CEO and President Robert T. DeVincenzi announced the resignations of three top executives in Phoenix: Karen Finley, the company's longtime president and chief executive officer; Andrejs Bunkse, the general counsel; and Sean Nolen, the chief financial officer. Their exits follow those of the chairman of the board of Redflex Holdings, another Australian board member and the company's top sales executive who Redflex has blamed for much of its Chicago problems.</p><br /><p>"Today's announcement of executive changes follows the conclusion of our investigation in Chicago and marks the dividing line between the past and where this company is headed," said DeVincenzi, who took over as CEO of the Phoenix company. "This day, and each day going forward, we intend to be a constructive force in our industry, promoting high ethical standards and serving the public interest."</p><br /><p>The company also held town hall meetings in Arizona to unveil reforms, including new requirements to put all company employees through anti-bribery and anti-corruption training, hiring a new director of compliance to ensure that employees adhere to company policies and establishing a 24-hour whistle-blower hotline.</p><br /><p>The resignations and a second consecutive halt to public trading of the company's stock are the latest in a string of events that followed Tribune reports last year regarding 2-year-old internal allegations of corruption in the Chicago contract that the company previously said were investigated and discounted.</p><br /><p>The scandal now enveloping the company centers on its relationship to former Chicago transportation official John Bills, who retired in 2011 after overseeing the company's contract since it began in 2003.</p><br /><p>A whistle-blower letter obtained by the Tribune said Bills received lavish vacations directly on the expense report of a company executive and raised questions about improper ties between Bills and a Redflex consultant who received more than $570,000 in company commissions.</p><br /><p>Bills and the consultant, a longtime friend, have denied wrongdoing.</p><br /><p>The company told the Tribune in October that its investigation into the 2010 letter found only one instance of an inadvertent expenditure for Bills, a two-day hotel stay at the Arizona Biltmore expensed by the executive. Redflex lawyer Bunkse told the newspaper that the company responded by sending the executive to "anti-bribery" training and overhauling company expense procedures.</p><br /><p>But after additional Tribune reports, the company hired a former Chicago inspector general, David Hoffman, to conduct another investigation. Hoffman made an interim report of his findings to company board members this month. That report prompted the company officials to acknowledge a much deeper involvement with Bills, including thousands of dollars for trips to the Super Bowl and White Sox spring training over many years.</p><br /><p>The chairman of the company's Australian board of directors resigned, trading on company stock was temporarily suspended and the company acknowledged that it is sharing information with law enforcement.</p><br /><p>Trading was halted again this week pending more details about the company's latest actions.</p><br /><p><em>dkidwell@tribune.com</em></p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-68378048523539609542013-03-02T03:12:00.001-08:002013-03-02T03:12:11.364-08:00Venezuela rejects "absurd" rumors over Chavez's death<br /><p class="first">CARACAS (Reuters) - Senior aides and relatives of <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362193218284_2">Venezuela</span>'s <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362193218284_1">Hugo Chavez</span> countered on Friday a crescendo of <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362193218284_7">rumors</span> that the socialist president may be dead from cancer, saying he was still battling for his life.</p><br /><p> "There he is, continuing his fight, his battle, and we are sure of victory!" his older brother <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362193218284_3">Adan Chavez</span>, the governor of Barinas state, told cheering supporters.</p><br /><p> Speculation about Chavez, 58, hit fever pitch this week, fed in part by assertions from Panama's former ambassador to <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362193218284_9">the Organization of American States</span> (OAS), <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362193218284_5">Guillermo Cochez</span>, that the Venezuelan leader had died.</p><br /><p> "The launching of absurd and bizarre rumors by the right wing simply discredits them and isolates them further from the people," said Chavez's son-in-law Jorge Arreaza, adding that the president was "calm" in a hospital with his family and doctors.</p><br /><p> Apart from one set of photos showing Chavez lying in a Havana hospital bed, he has not been seen nor heard from in public since December 11 surgery in Cuba, his fourth operation.</p><br /><p> The president made a surprise pre-dawn return to a military hospital in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362193218284_6">Caracas</span> last week, with none of the fanfare that had accompanied his previous homecomings after treatment.</p><br /><p> Vice President <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362193218284_4">Nicolas Maduro</span>, the OPEC nation's de facto leader and Chavez's preferred successor, urged Venezuelans to stay calm, patient and respectful of the president's state.</p><br /><p> "The treatments Commander Chavez is receiving are tough, but he is stronger than them," Maduro said after a Catholic Mass in Chavez's honor at a chapel in the hospital.</p><br /><p> "He's in good spirits, battling ... . Leave him in peace. He deserves respect for his treatments, because he's a man who has given everything for our fatherland."</p><br /><p> Opposition politicians accuse the government of being deceitful about Chavez's condition, and compare the secrecy over his medical details with the transparency shown by other Latin American leaders who have suffered cancer.</p><br /><p> "Maduro has lied repeatedly to the president's supporters and to Venezuelans about his real situation," opposition leader <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1362193218284_8">Henrique Capriles</span> said on Friday. "Let's see how they explain to the nation in coming days all the lies they have told."</p><br /><p> Panamanian diplomat Cochez said Chavez's relatives had switched off his life support several days ago after he had been in a vegetative state since the end of December. He challenged officials to prove him wrong by showing the president in public.</p><br /><p> HIGH STAKES</p><br /><p> Across the South American nation of 29 million people, Venezuelans are extremely anxious, speculating almost non-stop about Chavez's condition and wondering what the potential end of his 14-year rule might mean for them.</p><br /><p> Adding to the tension, several dozen opposition-supporting students have chained themselves together in a Caracas street, demanding to see the president and arguing that Maduro has no right to rule because he was not elected.</p><br /><p> With the country on edge, the relatively routine shooting by police of a murder suspect during a gun battle in downtown Caracas on Friday forced Information Minister Ernesto Villegas to take to Twitter to issue reassurances.</p><br /><p> "(Some people) took advantage of the episode to try to sow panic in the city center," he said. "The situation is calm."</p><br /><p> Should Chavez die or step down, a vote would be held within 30 days, probably pitting Maduro against Capriles for leadership of the country which boasts the world's biggest oil reserves.</p><br /><p> The stakes are high for the region, too. Chavez has been the most vocal critic of Washington in Latin America and financed hefty aid programs for leftist governments from Cuba to Bolivia.</p><br /><p> Amid the flurry of rumors, Spain's ABC newspaper said on Friday that Chavez had been taken to a presidential retreat on La Orchila island in the Caribbean off Venezuela's coast with his closest family to face the "final stages" of his cancer.</p><br /><p> Venezuelan officials have frequently lambasted ABC as being part of an "ultra-right" conspiracy spreading lies about Chavez.</p><br /><p> "The bourgeoisie harass him and they assault him constantly," added Maduro, singling out ABC and Colombia's Caracol radio for particular criticism.</p><br /><p> "Stop the attacks on the commander! Stop the rumors, stop trying to create instability!"</p><br /><p> In the latest of a series of short updates on Chavez's health, the government said last week that his breathing difficulties had worsened, and he was using a tracheal tube.</p><br /><p> Officials say he suffered a severe respiratory infection following the six-hour operation he had in December for a cancer that was first detected in his pelvic region in June 2011.</p><br /><p> Chavez has never said what type of cancer he has.</p><br /><p> Remarkably, two opinion polls this week showed that a majority of Venezuelans - 60 percent in one survey, 57 percent in another - believe he will be cured.</p><br /><p> Chavez's millions of passionate supporters, who love his down-to-earth style and heavy spending of oil revenue on welfare policies, are struggling to imagine Venezuela without him.</p><br /><p> "Of course, he's coming back, back to government," said Jose Urbina, 47, though he was also buying photos of Chavez at a pro-government rally as mementoes. "I want to remember him. I want to put them in my house."</p><br /><p> (Additional reporting by Girish Gupta; Editing by Kieran Murray and Xavier Briand)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-40150172473052372852013-03-01T03:18:00.001-08:002013-03-01T03:18:26.747-08:00‘Star Trek’ Beams Into Oscar Night<br /><div class="home-content-ad"><br /><div class="ad-code"><br /><br /></div></div><br /><p class="first">“<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_1">Star Trek</span>” fans got quite a treat last night during the Academy Awards last night (Feb. 24).</p><br /><p>Actors who portray major characters from the film and television versions of the iconic science fiction series made cameo appearances during the three-hour-long ceremony celebrating the best movies of 2012.</p><div class="home-content-ad"><br /><div class="ad-code"><br /><br /></div></div><br /><br /><p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_2">William Shatner</span>, the actor that played <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_3">Starship Enterprise</span> captain <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_5">James T. Kirk</span> in original series helped open the awards show with host, Seth McFarlane.</p><br /><p>“I’ve come back in time from the 23rd century to stop you from destroying the Academy Awards,” joked Shatner to McFarlane.</p><br /><p>Actors <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_6">Chris Pine</span> and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_4">Zoe Saldana</span> also had a part to play in the festivities. Pine, who plays Kirk in 2009′s “Star Trek” and its sequel “Star Trek Into Darkness “ being released later this year, and Saldana, who plays the Enterprise’s communications officer Uhura, recapped an earlier event they co-hosted on Feb. 10 called the “Sci-Tech Oscars.”</p><br /><p>The smaller ceremony is designed to showcase the technical achievements of designers and technicians on movie sets.</p><br /><p>The newest movie in the Star Trek franchise, “Star Trek Into Darkness,” is set to be released on May 17.</p><br /><p><em>Follow Miriam Kramer on Twitter </em><em>@mirikramer </em><em>or SPACE.com </em><em>@Spacedotcom</em><em>. We’re also on</em> <em>Facebook</em><em> & </em><em>Google+</em><em>. </em></p><br /><p><span>Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</span><br />Space and Astronomy News Headlines – Yahoo! News</p><br /><div><br /><div itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Review-aggregate"><br /><div><br />Title Post: <span itemprop="itemreviewed"><strong>‘Star Trek’ Beams Into Oscar Night</strong></span><br />Url Post: <strong>http://www.news.fluser.com/star-trek-beams-into-oscar-night/</strong><br />Link To Post : <strong>‘Star Trek’ Beams Into Oscar Night</strong><br />Rating: <span itemprop="rating" itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Rating"><br /><span itemprop="average">100%</span><br /></span><br />based on <span itemprop="votes">99998</span> ratings.<br /><span itemprop="count">5</span> user reviews.<br />Author: <b><span class="vcard author"><span class="fn">Fluser SeoLink</span></span></b><br />Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment</div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-54175732678511387122013-03-01T03:16:00.001-08:002013-03-01T03:16:24.364-08:00Identity politics after Lee's Oscar win<br /><!--startclickprintexclude--><br /><br /><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr"><br /><p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS</strong></p><br /><ul class="cnn_bulletbin cnnStryHghLght"><!--google_ad_section_start--><li>Ang Lee's name beamed on building in Taiwan after Oscar win</li><br /><li>Lee, born in Taiwan, won award for best director for "Life of Pi"</li><br /><li>Lee's win created excitement in Taiwan and China, both claimed him as their own</li><br /><li>Ryan: "In some ways it feels like 'Linsanity' all over again"</li><br /><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /></ul></div></div><br /><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--google_ad_section_start--><!--startclickprintinclude--><br /><p class="cnnEditorialNote"><em><strong>Editor's note:</strong> Andrew Ryan is a host and producer at Radio Taiwan International, a government-owned station that broadcasts in several languages and countries. He first came to Taiwan in 1996 as a Fulbright scholar and has spent the last 16 years as a translator and observer of politics and culture.</em></p><br /><p><strong>Taipei (CNN)</strong> -- It's not every territory in the world that puts an Oscar-winning director's name up in lights on a towering building. But that's just the sort of thing that happens in Taiwan -- and it did on Monday night after Ang Lee picked up his second "Best Director" Oscar, this time for "Life of Pi."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2">The moment wasn't just celebrated in grand statements, but in small scenes played out in front of televisions across Taiwan when his name was announced.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">I was at a TV station in Taipei that was broadcasting live coverage of the Oscars, working with a team of translators that was creating the subtitles for the rebroadcast. When Lee's name was announced the office erupted in applause. Down the hallway, more cheering could be heard.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4">READ: Oscar winners: Analysis of who won</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5">I couldn't help but think back to the Athens Games in 2004, when Chen Shih-hsin won Taiwan's first ever Olympic gold medal (under the team name "Chinese Taipei"). Even veteran news anchors shed tears when the young taekwondo star defeated her Cuban rival.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6">It would be reductive to suggest that these displays of patriotism are simply the response of a small country that just doesn't crank out that many Oscar winners or Olympic golds. It also speaks of a place that has been largely marginalized in the international community.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">Today, Taiwan has just 23 official diplomatic allies -- mostly other marginalized nations, in Central America and Africa. That's because China still sees Taiwan as part of its territory more than 60 years after the Chinese Nationalists retreated to the island at the end of a Civil War against the Communists. The Nationalists -- or Kuomintang -- are now the ruling party in a democratic Taiwan, which is officially called the Republic of China (ROC) -- not to be confused with the People's Republic of China on the Mainland.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8">Having lost its seat at the United Nations to the PRC in 1971, the ROC found itself with a diminished voice in the international community. It turned to manufacturing and technology in the 1980s, spurring on what is now referred to as an "economic miracle." Today, with its economy struggling to move past the global economic downturn, Taiwan has added the arts, sports, and even baking to its repertoire.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9">READ: Oscars 2013: Hollywood gets political</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10">What's striking about Lee's win is that it's not just people in Taiwan who were quick to claim him as one of their own. In China, the state-run Xinhua news agency referred to him as "Chinese-American." While Taiwanese media latched onto the portion of Lee's acceptance speech when he thanked Taiwan and the central city of Taichung where much of the movie was filmed, Xinhua's main story included Lee's line of thanks to the 3,000 people who worked on the film for "believing this story and sharing this incredible journey with me."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11">In some ways it feels like "Linsanity" all over again, when Taiwan and China both claimed basketball star Jeremy Lin as their own, leaving the international media struggling to chart the dangerous waters of identity politics to correctly describe him.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12">VIEW: Photos from the red carpet</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13">A very small voice at the fringe of the discussion wonders why it's important for people to know that Lin's paternal grandmother lives in Taiwan and referred to him as "a real Taiwanese," or that Lee grew up in Tainan and still loves to visit his favorite noodle shop there. Others in Taiwan question why a nation's confidence should be based on its success in the international community.</p><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylctcquote" readability="7.5"><div class="cnn_strylctcqcntr" readability="10"><br /><p>When Ang Lee's name was announced, the office erupted in applause. Down the hallway, more cheering could be heard.<br/><span>Andrew Ryan</span></p><br /></div></div></div><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14">With China looming to the north, now the world's second biggest economy and wielding an influence that's verging on "superpower" status, the metaphor of Jonah and the whale comes to mind. The Taiwanese electorate is sharply divided on how it feels about the way ties with China have warmed ever since President Ma Ying-jeou first took office in 2008. The benefits are obvious, considering China is Taiwan's largest trade partner, but some worry that it could lead to a loss in autonomy.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15">INTERACTIVE: Oscars by numbers</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16">The Ma administration has been mindful of the nationalistic rhetoric of the opposition, and although the president was born in Hong Kong, he has referred to himself in the past as "Taiwanese as well as Chinese." Ma was also quick to congratulate Lee following the Oscars, and to urge others to follow in the director's footsteps and "work hard at promoting Taiwan to the world."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17">Lee is just one name on a growing list of national heroes that both the government and the private sector have celebrated in recent years for putting Taiwan on the map: people like fashion designer Jason Wu, who moved to Canada from Taiwan and has created garments for U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama; master baker Wu Pao-chun, who beat the French patissiers at their own competition -- Les Masters de la Boulangerie in 2010; Yani Tseng, the world's number one female golfer; and even the humble vegetable seller-turned-philanthropist Chen Shu-chu, who was selected by Time Magazine as one of its heroes of 2010.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18">So what are people saying when they embrace these heroes as Taiwanese? They are saying "Taiwan may be small and diplomatically isolated, but it deserves to have a voice in the international community." While Lee may not speak about politics and no longer creates movies about Taiwan, he does have a voice and people do listen. And that's worth spreading in lights across the world's second-tallest building.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19">Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20">Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.</p><br /><p class="cnn_strycbftrtxt">The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Andrew Ryan.</p><br /><!--endclickprintinclude--><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /><!--no partner--><br /><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-64059672696263287452013-03-01T03:14:00.001-08:002013-03-01T03:14:27.280-08:00Tax on pack of cigarettes sold in Chicago up $1 to $6.67<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> On the eve of a $1-per-pack Cook County cigarette tax increase, County Board President Toni Preckwinkle stood in the glow of X-rays showing damaged lungs, surrounded by some of Stroger Hospital's top pulmonary specialists as she discussed how smoking shortens people's lives.<p>The setting and talking points made clear the message Preckwinkle wanted to convey Thursday: This is a public health problem, one she plans to fight by giving smokers an incentive to quit and teens a reason not to start.</p><p>But the county's tax increase is more than just a campaign to protect people from emphysema and lung cancer. Preckwinkle is counting on $25.6 million this year from the move to help balance the budget. The history of cigarette tax increases suggests the county will be lucky to get that much in 2013 and should expect diminishing returns in the years ahead.</p><p>Smokes are a financial well that public officials have gone to repeatedly to shore up shaky finances at the local and state level. When the county tax increase takes effect Friday, a pack of cigarettes purchased in Chicago will come with $6.67 tacked on by the city, county and state. That's just behind New York City's nation-leading $6.86 in taxes per pack. It will also push the cost of a pack of cigarettes in Chicago to as much as $11.</p><p>Recent cigarette tax increases have had only a short-term benefit to the government bottom line. Some people quit, while others buy cigarettes online or outside the county or state.</p><p>When the county last raised the cigarette tax — by $1 per pack in 2006 — collections initially shot up by $46.5 million, hitting $203.7 million, county records show. But by 2009, the county collected $20.4 million less than it had in 2005.</p><p>Mayor Richard M. Daley bumped up the city of Chicago's share of the cigarette tax by 32 cents in 2005 and another 20 cents in 2006, to 68 cents per pack. He saw collections rise from $15.6 million in 2004 to $32.9 million in 2006, according to a city report. But city cigarette tax revenue fell to $28.4 million in 2007, and continued dropping to $18.7 million by 2011, records show.</p><p>At the state level, Quinn pushed through a $1-a-pack hike in June.</p><p>Before that, state lawmakers and Gov. George Ryan agreed on a 40-cent increase in 2002. Cigarette tax proceeds went up by more than $178 million in 2003, to $643.1 million, and rose to $729.2 million in 2004. The revenue then fell steadily to $549 million by 2010 before edging back up to $580 million last year, according to state records.</p><p>The county is preparing for the windfall from the $1 increase to be strong this year, then decline. County officials project that after bringing in $25.6 million for the remainder of this budget year, the increase will net about $29 million for 2014, $21 million in 2015, $15 million in 2016 and just $9 million in 2017.</p><p>Preckwinkle says that's OK with her.</p><p>"My hope would be that over the long run this is no longer a way in which governments look to raise money, because fewer and fewer people are smoking," she said. "So I would hope that we have the effect of reducing our revenue because more people quit."</p><p>The county could end up saving money as cigarette tax revenue falls because uninsured people with ailments related to smoking are such a heavy financial burden to the public hospital system, Preckwinkle said.</p><p>In the meantime, Preckwinkle pledged to hire more staff this year to crack down on stores selling untaxed packs and large-scale tobacco smuggling from surrounding states. "We anticipate that there may be some noncompliance, as there always is when you institute an increase like this," she said.</p><p>Preckwinkle also acknowledged that the higher tax rate will push some smokers into surrounding counties or Indiana to pick up their packs, but she predicted such cross-border runs will not last.</p><p>"While people may initially, when the prices rise, go to other states — Indiana, Wisconsin or wherever — over time that trek gets very tiresome and time-consuming, and they return to their former habits of buying their cigarettes nearby," Preckwinkle said.</p><p>But David Vite, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association, said he thinks the cigarette taxes in Cook County are now so high compared with surrounding areas that smokers will continue to make the longer drive, and Illinois stores near jurisdictions with lower taxes will struggle even more.</p><p>"You might see people return to their old patterns if we were talking about a slight disparity, say 25 cents a pack," Vite said. "But now we're talking about a difference of nearly $3 a pack compared to Indiana, almost $30 a carton. You're going to see guys working in factories saying, 'It's my week to make a run,' heading to Indiana and coming back with $1,500 worth of cigarettes for all their co-workers."</p><p><em>jebyrne@tribune.com</em></p><p><em>Twitter @_johnbyrne</em><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> </p>Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-23036945511931704452013-02-28T03:18:00.001-08:002013-02-28T03:18:18.240-08:00‘Star Trek’ Beams Into Oscar Night<br /><div class="home-content-ad"><br /><div class="ad-code"><br /><br /></div></div><br /><p class="first">“<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_1">Star Trek</span>” fans got quite a treat last night during the Academy Awards last night (Feb. 24).</p><br /><p>Actors who portray major characters from the film and television versions of the iconic science fiction series made cameo appearances during the three-hour-long ceremony celebrating the best movies of 2012.</p><div class="home-content-ad"><br /><div class="ad-code"><br /><br /></div></div><br /><br /><p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_2">William Shatner</span>, the actor that played <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_3">Starship Enterprise</span> captain <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_5">James T. Kirk</span> in original series helped open the awards show with host, Seth McFarlane.</p><br /><p>“I’ve come back in time from the 23rd century to stop you from destroying the Academy Awards,” joked Shatner to McFarlane.</p><br /><p>Actors <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_6">Chris Pine</span> and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_4">Zoe Saldana</span> also had a part to play in the festivities. Pine, who plays Kirk in 2009′s “Star Trek” and its sequel “Star Trek Into Darkness “ being released later this year, and Saldana, who plays the Enterprise’s communications officer Uhura, recapped an earlier event they co-hosted on Feb. 10 called the “Sci-Tech Oscars.”</p><br /><p>The smaller ceremony is designed to showcase the technical achievements of designers and technicians on movie sets.</p><br /><p>The newest movie in the Star Trek franchise, “Star Trek Into Darkness,” is set to be released on May 17.</p><br /><p><em>Follow Miriam Kramer on Twitter </em><em>@mirikramer </em><em>or SPACE.com </em><em>@Spacedotcom</em><em>. We’re also on</em> <em>Facebook</em><em> & </em><em>Google+</em><em>. </em></p><br /><p><span>Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</span><br />Space and Astronomy News Headlines – Yahoo! News</p><br /><div><br /><div itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Review-aggregate"><br /><div><br />Title Post: <span itemprop="itemreviewed"><strong>‘Star Trek’ Beams Into Oscar Night</strong></span><br />Url Post: <strong>http://www.news.fluser.com/star-trek-beams-into-oscar-night/</strong><br />Link To Post : <strong>‘Star Trek’ Beams Into Oscar Night</strong><br />Rating: <span itemprop="rating" itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Rating"><br /><span itemprop="average">100%</span><br /></span><br />based on <span itemprop="votes">99998</span> ratings.<br /><span itemprop="count">5</span> user reviews.<br />Author: <b><span class="vcard author"><span class="fn">Fluser SeoLink</span></span></b><br />Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment</div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-8713809771921889462013-02-28T03:16:00.001-08:002013-02-28T03:16:17.184-08:00Taiwan ebullient over Ang Lee's Oscar<br /><!--startclickprintexclude--><br /><br /><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr"><br /><p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS</strong></p><br /><ul class="cnn_bulletbin cnnStryHghLght"><!--google_ad_section_start--><li>Ang Lee's name beamed on building in Taiwan after Oscar win</li><br /><li>Lee, born in Taiwan, won award for best director for "Life of Pi"</li><br /><li>Lee's win created excitement in Taiwan and China, both claimed him as their own</li><br /><li>Ryan: "In some ways it feels like 'Linsanity' all over again"</li><br /><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /></ul></div></div><br /><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--google_ad_section_start--><!--startclickprintinclude--><br /><p class="cnnEditorialNote"><em><strong>Editor's note:</strong> Andrew Ryan is a host and producer at Radio Taiwan International, a government-owned station that broadcasts in several languages and countries. He first came to Taiwan in 1996 as a Fulbright scholar and has spent the last 16 years as a translator and observer of politics and culture.</em></p><br /><p><strong>Taipei (CNN)</strong> -- It's not every territory in the world that puts an Oscar-winning director's name up in lights on a towering building. But that's just the sort of thing that happens in Taiwan -- and it did on Monday night after Ang Lee picked up his second "Best Director" Oscar, this time for "Life of Pi."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2">The moment wasn't just celebrated in grand statements, but in small scenes played out in front of televisions across Taiwan when his name was announced.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">I was at a TV station in Taipei that was broadcasting live coverage of the Oscars, working with a team of translators that was creating the subtitles for the rebroadcast. When Lee's name was announced the office erupted in applause. Down the hallway, more cheering could be heard.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4">READ: Oscar winners: Analysis of who won</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5">I couldn't help but think back to the Athens Games in 2004, when Chen Shih-hsin won Taiwan's first ever Olympic gold medal (under the team name "Chinese Taipei"). Even veteran news anchors shed tears when the young taekwondo star defeated her Cuban rival.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6">It would be reductive to suggest that these displays of patriotism are simply the response of a small country that just doesn't crank out that many Oscar winners or Olympic golds. It also speaks of a place that has been largely marginalized in the international community.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">Today, Taiwan has just 23 official diplomatic allies -- mostly other marginalized nations, in Central America and Africa. That's because China still sees Taiwan as part of its territory more than 60 years after the Chinese Nationalists retreated to the island at the end of a Civil War against the Communists. The Nationalists -- or Kuomintang -- are now the ruling party in a democratic Taiwan, which is officially called the Republic of China (ROC) -- not to be confused with the People's Republic of China on the Mainland.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8">Having lost its seat at the United Nations to the PRC in 1971, the ROC found itself with a diminished voice in the international community. It turned to manufacturing and technology in the 1980s, spurring on what is now referred to as an "economic miracle." Today, with its economy struggling to move past the global economic downturn, Taiwan has added the arts, sports, and even baking to its repertoire.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9">READ: Oscars 2013: Hollywood gets political</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10">What's striking about Lee's win is that it's not just people in Taiwan who were quick to claim him as one of their own. In China, the state-run Xinhua news agency referred to him as "Chinese-American." While Taiwanese media latched onto the portion of Lee's acceptance speech when he thanked Taiwan and the central city of Taichung where much of the movie was filmed, Xinhua's main story included Lee's line of thanks to the 3,000 people who worked on the film for "believing this story and sharing this incredible journey with me."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11">In some ways it feels like "Linsanity" all over again, when Taiwan and China both claimed basketball star Jeremy Lin as their own, leaving the international media struggling to chart the dangerous waters of identity politics to correctly describe him.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12">VIEW: Photos from the red carpet</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13">A very small voice at the fringe of the discussion wonders why it's important for people to know that Lin's paternal grandmother lives in Taiwan and referred to him as "a real Taiwanese," or that Lee grew up in Tainan and still loves to visit his favorite noodle shop there. Others in Taiwan question why a nation's confidence should be based on its success in the international community.</p><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylctcquote" readability="7.5"><div class="cnn_strylctcqcntr" readability="10"><br /><p>When Ang Lee's name was announced, the office erupted in applause. Down the hallway, more cheering could be heard.<br/><span>Andrew Ryan</span></p><br /></div></div></div><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14">With China looming to the north, now the world's second biggest economy and wielding an influence that's verging on "superpower" status, the metaphor of Jonah and the whale comes to mind. The Taiwanese electorate is sharply divided on how it feels about the way ties with China have warmed ever since President Ma Ying-jeou first took office in 2008. The benefits are obvious, considering China is Taiwan's largest trade partner, but some worry that it could lead to a loss in autonomy.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15">INTERACTIVE: Oscars by numbers</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16">The Ma administration has been mindful of the nationalistic rhetoric of the opposition, and although the president was born in Hong Kong, he has referred to himself in the past as "Taiwanese as well as Chinese." Ma was also quick to congratulate Lee following the Oscars, and to urge others to follow in the director's footsteps and "work hard at promoting Taiwan to the world."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17">Lee is just one name on a growing list of national heroes that both the government and the private sector have celebrated in recent years for putting Taiwan on the map: people like fashion designer Jason Wu, who moved to Canada from Taiwan and has created garments for U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama; master baker Wu Pao-chun, who beat the French patissiers at their own competition -- Les Masters de la Boulangerie in 2010; Yani Tseng, the world's number one female golfer; and even the humble vegetable seller-turned-philanthropist Chen Shu-chu, who was selected by Time Magazine as one of its heroes of 2010.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18">So what are people saying when they embrace these heroes as Taiwanese? They are saying "Taiwan may be small and diplomatically isolated, but it deserves to have a voice in the international community." While Lee may not speak about politics and no longer creates movies about Taiwan, he does have a voice and people do listen. And that's worth spreading in lights across the world's second-tallest building.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19">Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20">Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.</p><br /><p class="cnn_strycbftrtxt">The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Andrew Ryan.</p><br /><!--endclickprintinclude--><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /><!--no partner--><br /><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-56911415202027414912013-02-28T03:14:00.001-08:002013-02-28T03:14:20.399-08:00Chicago archdiocese to close 5 schools in cost-cutting move<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>Budget cuts announced Wednesday by the Archdiocese of Chicago signal that the area's Roman Catholics are entering a period of austerity when there will be less money for their parishes and schools.</p><br /><p>The cuts, which were officially announced as Cardinal Francis George and other leaders of the church gathered at the Vatican to select a new pope, include closing five schools, eliminating 75 positions at the archdiocese's headquarters and placing a moratorium on loans to parishes from the archdiocese bank for three years. Other changes include creating stricter guidelines for local parishes applying for subsidies and reducing the number of the agencies in the archdiocese.</p><br /><p>George, who spoke publicly about the cuts when asked by reporters in Rome, said they are needed to address the archdiocese's chronic financial problems. The archdiocese has run deficits of more than $30 million annually over the last four years, including being $40 million in the red for the fiscal year ending in June 2012.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>All told, the measures will save tens of millions of dollars over the next few years, officials said.</p><br /><p>“The expenses have gone up, and the income is pretty well flat,” George said after a news conference in Rome about Pope Benedict XVI's last audience Wednesday in St. Peter's Square. “We tried to ride out the recession without making any changes — and we can't do that. We're giving more grants to parishes and schools that need more money. The budget is not balanced. Not just layoffs, but a lot of other things being done, other ways to use the resources we have.”</p><p>The archdiocese sold $150 million in bonds in 2012 that helped it get through a cash-flow problem, but ultimately that wasn't enough, George said. He hopes the cuts will enable the archdiocese to balance its budget in two years.</p><p>Although the cardinal's announcement made headlines, the archdiocese's financial situation has been no secret to its priests. Several clergymen said they knew the archdiocese had planned to scale back loans to parishes.</p><p>“We have already made adjustments,” said the Rev. Dennis Ziomek of St. Barbara Parish in Chicago's Bridgeport neighborhood. “We have to be responsible stewards with the money.”</p><p>In a letter posted on the archdiocese website, the cardinal thanked parishioners for their generosity and asked them to pray for the employees now out of a paycheck.</p><p>At the archdiocese's Pastoral Center headquarters on Wednesday, people funneled in and out of the building during their lunch breaks but declined comment on the layoffs. Before the announcement, staffers received memos asking them to report to their desks early Wednesday.</p><p>Of the 75 positions, 55 were full-time jobs. Sixty people were let go, while the remaining posts had been vacant. Those cuts are expected to save $11 million to $13 million annually by fiscal 2015, George wrote in his letter.</p><p>Employees who received pink slips will get job counseling, extended health benefits and generous severance packages.</p><p>“We're keeping up counseling for helping people find jobs, looking for places where they might look for jobs,” George said.</p><p>Along with the layoffs, the archdiocese will reduce the number of capital loans and grants it gives parishes, while creating “stricter criteria” for them to qualify for the financial assistance.</p><p>A Parish Transformation initiative in the works for at least two years will also try to save money by laying out measures to provide more financial stability, though the letter did not give details.</p><p>Those cuts are expected to save an additional $13 million to $15 million annually by fiscal 2015, the letter states.</p><p>By next year, the archdiocese will reduce its aid to Catholic schools by $10 million. It plans to give scholarships to children affected by the five school closings so they can attend nearby Catholic schools. Officials said low enrollment was a key factor for closing the schools: St. Gregory the Great High, St. Paul-Our Lady of Vilna Elementary and St. Helena of the Cross Elementary in Chicago, plus St. Bernardine in Forest Park and St. Kieran in Chicago Heights. </p><p>Now, Catholic schools will start relying on scholarships for student financial aid instead of grants from the archdiocese to make tuition affordable, Superintendent Sister Mary Paul McCaughey said.</p><p>She pointed to a new partnership with the Big Shoulders Fund, a charity supporting urban Catholic schools, that will help families pay for school with scholarships.</p><p>McCaughey did not expect tuition at other Catholic schools to immediately rise because grants from the archdiocese have been reduced. About two-thirds of schools already have posted their tuition rates for the upcoming school year, she added.</p><p>“Although things are challenged, I think (Chicago) is a Catholic community that's always supported its schools,” McCaughey said. “I think the support will be there.”</p><p>Outside of St. Bernardine Elementary in west suburban Forest Park, one of the schools that will close this summer, Maria Maxham said she was devastated when she heard last month that she'd have to send her children, one in second grade and the other in fourth grade, to a different school.</p><p>Maxham, who lives in Forest Park, said she is not sure the two will attend another local Catholic school because some lack what she thought was St. Bernardine's strength.</p><p>“There is so much diversity at St. Bernardine, and that's part of what makes it so fantastic,” Maxham said. “It was a special place and a second family for us.”</p><p>The school, which has been open since 1915, has about 100 students currently enrolled in its preschool-through-eighth-grade classrooms.</p><p>Administrators, teachers and parents were notified of the closing in January, when McCaughey led a meeting at the school and explained the large amount of money that the archdiocese needed to reduce from the schools budget, Principal Veronica Skelton Cash said.</p><p>One family left the school shortly after hearing the news, she added.</p><p>Cash, who joined the school in the fall, said there was much frustration among staff members afterward. Many believed they would have at least a few years to turn things around.</p><p>“I could see a lot of things changing for the better at this school,” Cash said. “The culture of the community is changing, and we were getting more and more inquiries about the school. There was momentum going forward.”</p><p>Current employees were given guidance on severance and benefits by the archdiocese's human resources officials, Cash said. Teachers without jobs will also be placed on a priority list for future employment with the archdiocese, she said.</p><p>“I'm incredibly disheartened,” said Daniel Kwarcinski, who hopes to find a job at another private school after teaching art for seven years at St. Bernardine. “There's a need for a school like this where we are at.”</p><p>In Rome, George said the decisions to let people go and reduce aid were not easy. But he reiterated that the archdiocese's financial situation drove the decision.</p><p>“We have to balance the budget, especially if it's precarious,” he said. “The growth being very slow means we can no longer ignore the kinds of deficit situations that have been imposed on us. We have to take action.”<em/></p><br /><p><em>Tribune reporter Manya A. Brachear reported from Rome, with Tribune reporters Bridget Doyle and Jennifer Delgado in Chicago.</em></p><br /><p><em>mbrachear@tribune.com </em></p><br /><p><em>bdoyle@tribune.com</em></p><br /><p><em>jmdelgado@tribune.com</em></p><br /><br/>Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-10698193385203461152013-02-27T03:23:00.001-08:002013-02-27T03:23:13.512-08:00Stock index futures signal mixed open<p class="first">LONDON (Reuters) - <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361961186749_1">Stock index futures</span> pointed to a mixed <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361961186749_7">Wall Street open</span> on Wednesday, with futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 indexes slipping 0.1 percent, while futures for the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361961186749_2">Dow Jones</span> rose 0.1 percent by 0933 GMT.</p><br /><p> U.S. durables goods and homes data due out at 1330 and 1500 GMT respectively should provide further clues on the health of the world's largest economy.</p><br /><p> The <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361961186749_6">Pentagon</span> program chief for the F-35 warplane slammed its commercial partners <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361961186749_4">Lockheed Martin</span> <lmt.n> and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361961186749_3">Pratt & Whitney</span> on Wednesday, accusing them of trying to "squeeze every nickel" out of the U.S. government and failing to see the long-term benefits of the project.</lmt.n></p><br /><p> Pratt & Whitney is 99 percent sure the fan blade problem that grounded the Pentagon's 51 new F-35 fighter jets was not caused by high-cycle fatigue, which could force a costly design change, according to two sources familiar with an investigation by the enginemaker.</p><br /><p> Airbus parent EADS <ead.pa> predicted higher profit this year on the heels of stronger than expected 2012 earnings and a clampdown on costs, with the development of its A350 jet remaining the biggest wild card in its bid to match rival Boeing <ba.n>.</ba.n></ead.pa></p><br /><p> Partner Communications <ptnr.o>, Israel's second-largest mobile phone operator, reported weaker-than-expected quarterly profit and said it could have weak earnings throughout 2013 due to fierce competition that has slashed calling rates.</ptnr.o></p><br /><p> The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.fteu3> was up 0.1 percent at 1,151.69 points by 1010 GMT on Wednesday while the euro zone's <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361961186749_5">Euro STOXX 50 index</span> <.stoxx50e> also advanced 0.1 percent, although concerns over Italy's political stalemate were likely to cap gains.</.stoxx50e></.fteu3></p><br /><p> The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 115.96 points, or 0.84 percent, to 13,900.13 at the close on Tuesday. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> rose 9.09 points, or 0.61 percent, to 1,496.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> advanced 13.40 points, or 0.43 percent, to close at 3,129.65.</.ixic></.spx></.dji></p><br /><p> (Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta; Editing by Susan Fenton)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-19587215168229350522013-02-27T03:21:00.001-08:002013-02-27T03:21:16.085-08:00Minnesota takes down No. 1 Indiana 77-73<br /><p class="first">MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Retaining that No. 1 national ranking has been elusive throughout this wild season in college basketball, and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361954108614_2">Indiana</span> was the latest to lose at the top — again.</p><br /><p>Most important and maybe more challenging for the Hoosiers, however, is holding on to first place in the tough-as-ever <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361954108614_7">Big Ten</span>.</p><br /><p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361954108614_1">Trevor Mbakwe</span> had 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting and 12 rebounds to help <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361954108614_3">Minnesota</span> take down top-ranked Indiana 77-73 on Tuesday night, the seventh time the No. 1 team in the Associated Press poll has lost this season. Three of those losses were by the Hoosiers, who were No. 1 when they fell to Butler and Wisconsin earlier this season. All three opponents were unranked at the time.</p><br /><p>Indiana (24-4, 12-3) has held the No. 1 ranking for 10 of the 17 polls by the AP this season, including the last four, and that will likely change next week. But fending off <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361954108614_8">Michigan</span>, Michigan State and Wisconsin is what's on the minds of the Hoosiers, who'll take a one-game lead in the conference race into Saturday's game against Iowa.</p><br /><p>"Winning the Big Ten was going to be tough whether we won today or lost," said star guard <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361954108614_6">Victor Oladipo</span>, who had 16 points. "We knew it was going to be tough from the jump. Now it's even tougher. But I think my team is ready for it. We just have to go back and see what we did wrong and correct it."</p><br /><p>Andre Hollins added 16 points for the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361954108614_4">Gophers</span> (19-9, 7-8), who outrebounded <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361954108614_5">Cody Zeller</span> and the Hoosiers by a whopping 44-30 and solidified their slipping NCAA tournament hopes with an emphatic performance against the conference leader. The fired-up fans swarmed the court as the last seconds ticked off, the first time that's happened here since a 2002 win over Indiana.</p><br /><p>"There were just too many times when that first shot went up and they were there before we were because we didn't get into their bodies," Hoosiers coach Tom Crean said. "We weren't physical enough on the glass. That's the bottom line."</p><br /><p>Zeller, the second-leading shooter in the Big Ten, went 2 for 9. He had nine points with four turnovers. Minnesota had 40 points in the paint to Indiana's 22.</p><br /><p>Mbakwe, a sixth-year senior, had a lot to do with that. While positing his conference-leading seventh double-double of the season, the 24-year-old Mbakwe was a man among boys in many ways in this game, dominating both ends of the court when the Gophers needed him most. He grabbed six of Minnesota's 23 offensive rebounds, two of them to keep a key possession alive. His off-balance put-back drew contact for a three-point play with 7:22 left that gave the Gophers a 55-52 lead.</p><br /><p>Mbakwe was called for a loudly questioned blocking foul, his fourth, with 4:39 remaining on Zeller's fast-break layup and free throw that put the Hoosiers up 59-58. But Austin Hollins answered with a pump-fake layup that drew a foul for a three-point play and a two-point advantage for the Gophers.</p><br /><p>The Hoosiers didn't lead again, and Joe Coleman's fast-break dunk with 2:35 left gave Minnesota a 68-61 cushion that helped it withstand a couple of 3-pointers by Christian Watford and one by Jordan Hulls in the closing minutes. That was the only basket Hulls made after halftime. He had 17 points.</p><br /><p>"Just the way we bounced back is unbelievable. We showed that we can beat one of the best teams in the country. Now we have to build off this," said Mbakwe, whose team lost eight of its previous 11 games starting with an 88-81 loss at Indiana on Jan. 12. The Gophers were ranked eighth then. They didn't even receive a vote in the current poll. That could change next week.</p><br /><p>The Hoosiers are still in position for their first outright Big Ten regular-season championship since 1993. With another home game against Ohio State on March 5, Indiana could still clinch the title before the finale at Michigan on March 10.</p><br /><p>For now, though, the Hoosiers have to regroup and re-establish their inside game after the trampling in the post they endured here.</p><br /><p>"They were relentless on the glass. We just didn't do a great job of boxing them out," Oladipo said.</p><br /><p>___</p><br /><p>Follow Dave Campbell on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/DaveCampbellAP</p><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-67216819901285032802013-02-27T03:18:00.001-08:002013-02-27T03:18:18.153-08:00‘Star Trek’ Beams Into Oscar Night<br /><div class="home-content-ad"><br /><div class="ad-code"><br /><br /></div></div><br /><p class="first">“<span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_1">Star Trek</span>” fans got quite a treat last night during the Academy Awards last night (Feb. 24).</p><br /><p>Actors who portray major characters from the film and television versions of the iconic science fiction series made cameo appearances during the three-hour-long ceremony celebrating the best movies of 2012.</p><div class="home-content-ad"><br /><div class="ad-code"><br /><br /></div></div><br /><br /><p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_2">William Shatner</span>, the actor that played <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_3">Starship Enterprise</span> captain <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_5">James T. Kirk</span> in original series helped open the awards show with host, Seth McFarlane.</p><br /><p>“I’ve come back in time from the 23rd century to stop you from destroying the Academy Awards,” joked Shatner to McFarlane.</p><br /><p>Actors <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_6">Chris Pine</span> and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361827447006_4">Zoe Saldana</span> also had a part to play in the festivities. Pine, who plays Kirk in 2009′s “Star Trek” and its sequel “Star Trek Into Darkness “ being released later this year, and Saldana, who plays the Enterprise’s communications officer Uhura, recapped an earlier event they co-hosted on Feb. 10 called the “Sci-Tech Oscars.”</p><br /><p>The smaller ceremony is designed to showcase the technical achievements of designers and technicians on movie sets.</p><br /><p>The newest movie in the Star Trek franchise, “Star Trek Into Darkness,” is set to be released on May 17.</p><br /><p><em>Follow Miriam Kramer on Twitter </em><em>@mirikramer </em><em>or SPACE.com </em><em>@Spacedotcom</em><em>. We’re also on</em> <em>Facebook</em><em> & </em><em>Google+</em><em>. </em></p><br /><p><span>Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</span><br />Space and Astronomy News Headlines – Yahoo! News</p><br /><div><br /><div itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Review-aggregate"><br /><div><br />Title Post: <span itemprop="itemreviewed"><strong>‘Star Trek’ Beams Into Oscar Night</strong></span><br />Url Post: <strong>http://www.news.fluser.com/star-trek-beams-into-oscar-night/</strong><br />Link To Post : <strong>‘Star Trek’ Beams Into Oscar Night</strong><br />Rating: <span itemprop="rating" itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Rating"><br /><span itemprop="average">100%</span><br /></span><br />based on <span itemprop="votes">99998</span> ratings.<br /><span itemprop="count">5</span> user reviews.<br />Author: <b><span class="vcard author"><span class="fn">Fluser SeoLink</span></span></b><br />Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment</div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-48808733339386746962013-02-27T03:16:00.001-08:002013-02-27T03:16:13.304-08:00Yahoo CEO right to cut remote work?<br /><!--startclickprintexclude--><br /><br /><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr"><br /><p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS</strong></p><br /><ul class="cnn_bulletbin cnnStryHghLght"><!--google_ad_section_start--><li>Raymond Fisman: Marissa Mayer needs to revive Yahoo, and face time at the office is key</li><br /><li>Fisman: Granted, this goes against Utopian vision of everyone working from cafes </li><br /><li>Fisman: In-person work means innovations, avoids misunderstood directives</li><br /><li>He says more jobs will get done and it'll encourage those who work in a half-empty office</li><br /><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /></ul></div></div><br /><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--google_ad_section_start--><!--startclickprintinclude--><br /><p class="cnnEditorialNote"><em><strong>Editor's note:</strong> Raymond Fisman is the Lambert Family professor of social enterprise at the Columbia Business School. He is the co-author, with Tim Sullivan, of "The Org: The Underlying Logic of the Office."</em></p><br /><p><strong>(CNN)</strong> -- When Yahoo's relatively new CEO Marissa Mayer decreed that workers would be required to show up at the office rather than work remotely, the immediate backlash from outsiders was mostly on the side of the angry Yahoo employees who were losing the comfort and convenience of telecommuting. Inside the company, reactions were mixed.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2">It struck a deep chord, contrary as it was to the techno-utopian impulse that has helped define Silicon Valley: the idea that someday soon we'll all be working in coffee shops or at kitchen tables, with broadband connections replacing in-person interactions.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">Mayer may have been extreme in her demands for face time at the office, but it's the right call for a leader who is working to turn around one of the Internet's laggards.</p><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylccimg214"><br /><img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130226111459-raymond-fisman-left-tease.jpg" alt="Raymond Fisman" border="0" class="box-image" height="122" width="214"/><p>Raymond Fisman</p><br /></div></div><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4">First, let's consider what's at stake for the company and what Mayer is hoping to accomplish. Yahoo is famous for having bungled its position as a one-time Internet leader. Mayer was brought on specifically to revitalize the benighted company after the departure of Jerry Yang; the firing of Carol Bartz, and the departures of another CEO who inflated his resume and an interim director. All the while, Yahoo has been a company in search of a direction.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5">What does the end of telecommuting have to do with giving the company a sound footing? The reasons go well beyond the obvious issue of reining in slackers who have taken advantage of Yahoo's reportedly lax monitoring of work done from home.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6">Talk Back: Is Yahoo wrong to end telecommuting?</p><br /><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">Jackie Reses, Yahoo's head of human relations, has it exactly right in the memo she wrote to employees about the policy: Personal interaction is still the most effective way of conveying a company's direction, and keeping tabs on what different parts of the organization are up to. And that's what Mayer has to do with all of Yahoo's 11,500 employees to succeed.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8">What do in-person meetings accomplish that e-mail can't? Part of the answer lies in time use surveys of CEOs that go back nearly 40 years.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9">Management scholar Henry Mintzberg was among the first to track how top managers spend their time in the early 1970s. Much to his surprise, he found that around 80% of their time was spent in face-to-face meetings; the subjects of his study had few stretches of more than 10 minutes at a time to themselves.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10">More recent time use studies by researchers at Harvard, the London School of Economics and Columbia have found that little has changed. Despite the IT revolution, business leaders still spend 80% of their time in face-to-face meetings.</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11">The reason is that there's only so much that one can glean from a written report or a spreadsheet. To cut through the hidden agendas, and office politics, most of the time you need to look someone in the eye and ask them, "Really? How exactly would that work?" It is this probing and questioning that allows effective managers to gather the scraps of information needed to understand what's really going on.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12">Similarly, all the way down the organizational chart, person-to-person interactions are crucial to ensure that an organization's change of direction isn't misrepresented or garbled in its retelling.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13">The bland proclamations made in reports and e-mails are given clearer meaning through the way they're communicated in the "high fidelity" that only personal interaction will allow. In-person meetings can also help teams avoid misunderstandings: As one of our friends who runs a virtual workplace puts it, with e-mail exchanges alone, everyone starts to get a bit paranoid.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14">Finally, the Yahoo memo notes that it's hard to innovate via e-mail exchanges or the occasional agenda-filled meeting. New ideas spring up through chance encounters in the cafeteria line and impromptu office meetings. It's an assertion that's backed up by academic research highlighting the importance of physical proximity in driving scientific progress.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15">Work at home? Share productivity tips</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph16">Yet there are rarely benefits without cost. Lots of tasks are easily managed from a distance. A large number of the affected Yahoo employees are customer-service representatives who aren't going to be driving innovation at the company anyway.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph17">In one study of telecommuting at a Chinese online travel agency, customer-service reps were both happier and more productive when working from home -- probably Yahoo service reps aren't any different from their Chinese counterparts in this regard. And every Yahoo employee surely has some aspects of their jobs that could be done just as well at the kitchen table as in an office cubicle.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph18">But it's hard to create a norm of "physically together" if the office is always half-empty. And once it becomes that way, the half that have been showing up will be less and less inclined to bother. Finally, such a shocking and provocative directive will most certainly have the effect of imbuing the organization with the sense of urgency it needs to get the job done.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph19">Will Yahoo employees come around to appreciating the change? Not necessarily the ones that liked to sleep in or work on a startup on Yahoo's dime, but it may be welcomed by the ones already showing up. Will it be damaging to morale? Possibly, though it may help Yahoo employees to remember that, if they're successful, the change is likely to be temporary.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph20">But the job of the CEO isn't to maximize worker happiness. It's to make sure they get their jobs done. And in driving change at Yahoo, Mayer thinks they need to show up at the office.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph21"><i>Follow </i><i>@CNNOpinion on Twitter.</i></p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph22"><i>Join us at </i><i>Facebook/CNNOpinion.</i></p><br /><p class="cnn_strycbftrtxt"><i>The opinions in this commentary are solely those of Raymond Fisman.</i></p><br /><!--endclickprintinclude--><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /><!--no partner--><br /><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-91276450880956872942013-02-27T03:14:00.001-08:002013-02-27T03:14:13.347-08:00Winter storm: Lingering snow could mean messy commute<p>Tom updates Tuesday's storm. (WGN - Chicago)</p><div id="story-body-text" readability="115.57195572"><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>The storm that socked the Chicago area with the season's biggest snowfall by Tuesday evening has tapered off but not disappeared completely, and forecasters expect an additional inch or more to fall today.</p><br /><p>That means the morning rush hour could be a bit messy, though it shouldn't be nearly as bad as Tuesday evening's commute was for motorists like Bob Reed, of Geneva. Speaking from a cellphone as he crawled west on Interstate 90, Reed blamed sloppy drivers more than sloppy roads.</p><br /><p>"When it snows like this, it's like there are no traffic laws at all," Reed said. "Normally we have very aggressive drivers, but now we've got people going the wrong way down one-way streets, people jumping out of line to pass you."</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>The northern suburbs were hit hardest by the storm, with Waukegan reporting 11 inches of snow accumulation.</p><br /><p>By midnight, 4.8 inches had fallen at O'Hare International Airport, according to the National Weather Service. That brought the official total for the season to 18.4 inches, and February's total to 14.9 inches.</p><br /><p>Many city and suburban schools closed early and canceled sports games and practices. By 9 p.m., more than 500 departing flights had been canceled at O'Hare and Midway airports, with about the same number of arrivals also canceled, according to FlightStats, which gathers data from airports and airlines.</p><br /><p>Cars and buses slid into ditches and crashed into each other on slick roads. The Illinois Tollway and Chicago's Department of Streets and Sanitation dispatched their full fleets of snowplows and salt trucks.</p><br /><p>Snow fell at about 2 inches an hour in some northern suburbs. Any snow Wednesday or the rest of the week won't be nearly that intense, said meteorologist Casey Sullivan of the National Weather Service. Leaving early for the morning commute, however, won't be a bad idea, he said.</p><br /><p>In a winter of sparse snowfall, some welcomed the storm with enthusiasm — particularly those who stand to profit from it. James Koch, the owner of Jimbo's Plowing Service in Tinley Park, said the snow was a gift in a winter that's been a bust for plow truck drivers.</p><br /><p>Koch bought a new truck and plow after the record snowfall during the 2011 Groundhog Day blizzard. Since then he has failed to realize the returns he expected on his investment, he said.</p><br /><p>"It ain't like what it used to be," Koch said. "Chicago always had a good snowfall, and now we're not getting snow until January. If you don't get a big snow in December in this business, you're basically playing catch-up all year."</p><br /><p>The snow also gave fresh life to plans for winter recreation. Gloria Morison, of Highland Park, was at a brunch Tuesday morning when she saw the first flakes fall. She said she immediately started making plans to try out a new pair of cross country skis, thinking she could go down her street before the plows came to get to the Green Bay Trail.</p><br /><p>Chicago Transit Authority buses had a hard time navigating some roads Tuesday. A few buses got stuck near North Stockton Drive and West Dickens Avenue, police said.</p><br /><p>"Obviously, we're advising operators to drive with caution," CTA spokeswoman Lambrini Lukidis said.</p><br /><p>With snow forecast to fall periodically Wednesday and Thursday, drivers should continue to heed that advice, said Sullivan of the weather service. Even after the storm passes there could be more in store, with unrelated lake-effect snow possible Friday, he said.</p><br /><p>"We'll see."</p><br /><p><em>Tribune reporters Ryan Haggerty and Naomi Nix contributed.</em></p><br /><p><em>ehirst@tribune.com</em></p><br /><p><em>jhuston@tribune.com</em></p><br /><p><em>agrimm@tribune.com</em></p><br /><br/></div>Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-38226835145206837622013-02-26T03:23:00.001-08:002013-02-26T03:23:08.943-08:00Stock index futures point to small rebound<p class="first">LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. stock index futures pointed to a slightly higher open on <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361871666388_3">Wall Street</span> on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500, the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361871666388_1">Dow Jones</span> and the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361871666388_5">Nasdaq</span> 100 up 0.3-0.4 percent at 0916 GMT.</p><br /><p> U.S. stocks had suffered their biggest drop since November on Monday after later results pointed to a strong showing in Italian elections by groups opposed to the country's economic reforms. That triggered worry that Europe's debt problems could once again destabilize the global economy.</p><br /><p> European markets were playing catchup with that move in early trade on Tuesday, falling sharply as a result.</p><br /><p> Standard & Poor's releases its S&P Case/Shiller Home Price Index for December at 1400 GMT, expected to show a rise of 0.5 percent versus a 0.6 percent rise in the previous month.</p><br /><p> One hour later, the Conference Board's February consumer confidence was forecast to come in at 61.0 compared with 58.6 in January.</p><br /><p> Also at 1500 GMT, new home sales data for January were seen at 381,000 annualized units, compared with 369,000 in December.</p><br /><p> <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361871666388_2">Ben Bernanke</span> delivers the first of two days of congressional testimony on the Federal Reserve's semi-annual monetary policy report. Investors will examine Bernanke's words before the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361871666388_6">Senate Banking Committee</span> closely for any sign he is growing nervous that the potential costs of the U.S. central bank's bond buying might soon outweigh its benefits.</p><br /><p> <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361871666388_4">Goldman Sachs Group Inc</span> <gs.n> will begin its annual job cutting process as early as this week, sources familiar with the matter said on Monday, with its equities-trading business bracing for bigger cuts than fixed-income trading.</gs.n></p><br /><p> <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361871666388_7">JPMorgan Chase</span> <jpm.n> chief executive Jamie Dimon leads his new team of managers in an annual day of presentations to Wall Street about the outlook for businesses operated by the biggest U.S. bank. The firm named a new head of auto finance on Monday.</jpm.n></p><br /><p> Intel Corp <intc.o> has agreed to make chips on behalf of Altera ALTR.O, a significant step toward opening its prized manufacturing technology to customers on a larger scale, potentially including <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361871666388_8">Apple</span> .</intc.o></p><br /><p> Fuelled by a 48 percent rise in fourth-quarter earnings, the top executive of securities firm Stifel Financial Corp's <sf.n> defended his aggressive acquisition spree on Monday.</sf.n></p><br /><p> Retailer <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361871666388_9">Home Depot</span> is expected to post a $0.14 rise in quarterly earnings per share, seen at of $0.64, one day after rival Lowe's reported better-than-expected profit and boosted its outlook for revenue this year.</p><br /><p> The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> dropped 216.40 points, or 1.55 percent, to 13,784.17 on Monday. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> lost 27.75 points, or 1.83 percent, to 1,487.85. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> fell 45.57 points, or 1.44 percent, to 3,116.25.</.ixic></.spx></.dji></p><br /><p> (Reporting by Francesco Canepa; editing by Patrick Graham)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-9427301385669937532013-02-26T03:21:00.001-08:002013-02-26T03:21:11.387-08:00AP source: Tom Brady gets 3-year extension<br /><p class="first"><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361833566141_1">Tom Brady</span> will be a Patriot until he is 40 years old.</p><br /><p>Brady agreed to a three-year contract extension with <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361833566141_4">New England</span> on Monday, a person familiar with the contract told The Associated Press. <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361833566141_7">The extension</span> is worth about $27 million and will free up nearly $15 million in salary cap room for the team, which has several younger players it needs to re-sign or negotiate new deals with.</p><br /><p>The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the extension has not been announced.</p><br /><p>Sports Illustrated first reported the extension.</p><br /><p>The 35-year-old two-time league MVP was signed through 2014, and has said he wants to play at least five more years.</p><br /><p>A three-time Super Bowl champion, Brady will make far less in those three seasons than the going rate for star quarterbacks. Brady currently has a four-year, $72 million deal with $48 million guaranteed.</p><br /><p>Drew Brees and <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361833566141_6">Peyton Manning</span> are the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361833566141_2">NFL</span>'s highest-paid quarterbacks, at an average of $20 million and $18 million a year, respectively.</p><br /><p>Brady has made it clear he wants to finish his career with the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361833566141_3">Patriots</span>, whom he led to <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361833566141_8">Super Bowl</span> wins for the 2001, 2003 and 2004 seasons, and losses in the big game after the 2007 and 2011 seasons. By taking less money in the extension and redoing his current contract, he's hopeful New England can surround him with the parts to win more titles.</p><br /><p>Among the Patriots' free agents are top receiver Wes Welker and his backup, Julian Edelman; right tackle Sebastian Vollmer; cornerback Aqib Talib; and running back Danny Woodhead.</p><br /><p>Brady has been the most successful quarterback of his era, of course, as well as one of the NFL's best leaders. His skill at running the no-huddle offense is unsurpassed, and he's easily adapted to the different offensive schemes New England has concentrated on through his 13 pro seasons.</p><br /><p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361833566141_5">The Patriots</span> have gone from run-oriented in Brady's early days to a deep passing team with Randy Moss to an offense dominated by throws to tight ends, running backs and slot receivers.</p><br /><p>Brady holds the NFL record for touchdown passes in a season with 50 in 2007, when the Patriots went 18-0 before losing the Super Bowl to the Giants. He has thrown for at least 28 touchdowns seven times and led the league three times.</p><br /><p>Last season, Brady had 34 TD passes and eight interceptions as the Patriots went 12-4, leading the league with 557 points, 76 more than runner-up Denver.</p><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-69950405028663132602013-02-26T03:16:00.001-08:002013-02-26T03:16:08.049-08:00Vatican 'Gay lobby'? Probably not<br /><!--startclickprintexclude--><br /><br /><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr"><br /><p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS</strong></p><br /><ul class="cnn_bulletbin cnnStryHghLght"><!--google_ad_section_start--><li>Benedict XVI not stepping down under pressure from 'gay lobby,' Allen says</li><br /><li>Allen: Benedict is a man who prefers the life of the mind to the nuts and bolts of government </li><br /><li>However, he says, much of the pope's time has been spent putting out fires</li><br /><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /></ul></div></div><br /><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--google_ad_section_start--><!--startclickprintinclude--><br /><p class="cnnEditorialNote"><em><strong>Editor's note:</strong> John L. Allen Jr. is CNN's senior Vatican analyst and senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter.</em></p><br /><p><strong>(CNN)</strong> -- Suffice it to say that of all possible storylines to emerge, heading into the election of a new pope, sensational charges of a shadowy "gay lobby" (possibly linked to blackmail), whose occult influence may have been behind the resignation of Benedict XVI, would be right at the bottom of the Vatican's wish list.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2">Proof of the Vatican's irritation came with a blistering statement Saturday complaining of "unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories," even suggesting the media is trying to influence the papal election.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">Two basic questions have to be asked about all this. First, is there really a secret dossier about a network of people inside the Vatican who are linked by their sexual orientation, as Italian newspaper reports have alleged? Second, is this really why Benedict XVI quit?</p><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylccimg214"><br /><img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120528080343-john-l-allen-jr-left-tease.jpg" alt="John L. Allen Jr." border="0" class="box-image" height="122" width="214"/><p>John L. Allen Jr.</p><br /></div></div><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4">The best answers, respectively, are "maybe" and "probably not."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5">It's a matter of record that at the peak of last year's massive Vatican leaks crisis, Benedict XVI created a commission of three cardinals to investigate the leaks. They submitted an eyes-only report to the pope in mid-December, which has not been made public.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6">It's impossible to confirm whether that report looked into the possibility that people protecting secrets about their sex lives were involved with the leaks, but frankly, it would be surprising if it didn't.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">There are certainly compelling reasons to consider the hypothesis. In 2007, a Vatican official was caught by an Italian TV network on hidden camera arranging a date through a gay-oriented chat room, and then taking the young man back to his Vatican apartment. In 2010, a papal ceremonial officer was caught on a wiretap arranging liaisons through a Nigerian member of a Vatican choir. Both episodes played out in full public view, and gave the Vatican a black eye.</p><br /><br /><div id="expand18" class="cnnGalleryContainer cnn_strylftcntnt"><br /><div class="cnnStoryElementBox"><br /><div id="expandableTarget18" class="cnnArticleExpandableTarget"><br /><br /><br /><div class="cnnArticleGalleryCaptionControl"><br /><p>Pope Benedict XVI</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>HIDE CAPTION</p><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><p><span><<</span></p><br /><p><span><</span></p><br /><div class="articleGalleryNavContainer"><br /><p><br /><br /><span>1</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>2</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>3</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>4</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>5</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>6</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>7</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>8</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>9</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>10</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>11</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>12</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>13</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>14</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>15</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>16</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>17</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>18</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>19</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>20</span><br /></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><p><span>></span></p><br /><p><span>>></span></p><br /><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8">In that context, it would be a little odd if the cardinals didn't at least consider the possibility that insiders leading a double life might be vulnerable to pressure to betray the pope's confidence. That would apply not just to sex, but also potential conflicts of other sorts too, such as financial interests.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9">Vatican officials have said Benedict may authorize giving the report to the 116 cardinals who will elect his successor, so they can factor it into their deliberations. The most immediate fallout is that the affair is likely to strengthen the conviction among many cardinals that the next pope has to lead a serious house-cleaning inside the Vatican's bureaucracy.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10">It seems a stretch, however, to suggest this is the real reason Benedict is leaving. For the most part, one should probably take the pope at his word, that old age and fatigue are the motives for his decision.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11">That said, it's hard not to suspect that the meltdowns and controversies that have dogged Benedict XVI for the last eight years are in the background of why he's so tired. In 2009, at the height of another frenzy surrounding the lifting of the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying traditionalist bishop, Benedict dispatched a plaintive letter to the bishops of the world, voicing hurt for the way he'd been attacked and apologizing for the Vatican's mishandling of the situation.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12">Even if Benedict didn't resign because of any specific crisis, including this latest one, such anguish must have taken its toll. Benedict is a teaching pope, a man who prefers the life of the mind to the nuts and bolts of government, yet an enormous share of his time and energy has been consumed trying to put out internal fires.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13">It's hard to know why Benedict XVI is stepping off the stage, but I doubt it is because of a "gay lobby."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14"><i>Follow us on </i><i>Twitter @CNNOpinion.</i><i> </i></p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15"><i>Join us on </i><i>Facebook/CNNOpinion.</i></p><br /><p class="cnn_strycbftrtxt">The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John L. Allen Jr. </p><br /><!--endclickprintinclude--><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /><!--no partner--><br /><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-70056950617362444702013-02-26T03:14:00.001-08:002013-02-26T03:14:09.292-08:00Chicago could see 6 inches of snow in Tuesday storm<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>Abundant sunshine and temperatures close to 50 degrees in the past few days teased sober Midwestern sensibilities.</p><br /><p>Encouraged perhaps by spring training photos, some people deliberately ventured outside. Some even hopped on bicycles for spins. Maybe they dared to think that spring could break a little early this year.</p><br /><p>But on Tuesday morning, for the second time in less than a week, a blustery mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow is forecast to hit the Chicago area. Accumulations could reach 6 inches.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>Sure, weather predictions being what they are around here, many will shrug off the warnings and be brazenly optimistic. But it might be best to recall the adage that those who ignore history are sure to be victimized by it.</p><br /><p>Chicago has plenty of late-season snow history and, regardless of what materializes, the prudent will keep their salt dry, snow shovels handy and snowblowers primed for the next couple of months.</p><br /><p>National Weather Service records from 2011 show that 54 of the previous 139 years — nearly 40 percent — experienced at least one day with an inch or more of snowfall on or after March 25. A total of 17 of those years brought multiple days with more than an inch of snow to Chicago.</p><br /><p>One year, 1926, included six days when more than an inch of snow fell after March 25.</p><br /><p>And, like some cruel trick, the later in the season the snow falls, the heavier and deadlier it tends to be. On the other hand, it also generally melts faster.</p><br /><p>Among the grimmest of those late snowfalls was the deadly storm of April 15-17, 1961, when a rainy low-pressure system stalled and kept looping over the Chicago region. It transformed cold rain into nearly 7 inches of snow. Six people died from the storm's effects; four were victims of snow-shoveling heart attacks.</p><br /><p>That storm remains the latest major snowfall of 6 inches or more in the Chicago area.</p><br /><p>More recently, the area was hit with nearly 2 inches of snow on March 27, 2008. On March 29, 2009, 1.2 inches accumulated. A week later, more than 2 inches of snow fell.</p><br /><p>Tuesday's forecast, which calls for heavier snow north of Interstate 80 and winds whipping up to 35 mph, weighed on Jason Marker's mind while he stood at the Downers Grove Metra station Monday.</p><br /><p>"I have a job interview tomorrow," said Marker, 30, of Downers Grove. "It's going to be tough getting there because I have to ride my bike."</p><br /><p>Still, he said the winter has been a moderate one so far, "but maybe it will catch up with us tomorrow."</p><br /><p>Ashley Feuillan and Bernard Thomas, also of Downers Grove, will be commuting in opposite directions Tuesday morning. Thomas commutes to a job in Aurora, which he starts at 7 a.m. Feuillan hops the train to Columbia College Chicago three times a week.</p><br /><p>Both said they plan to leave earlier Tuesday.</p><br /><p>"I actually like the snow," said Feuillan, 24, "but it can be a hassle when you're trying to get someplace."</p><br /><p>Rather than focusing on what could be a nasty storm, Thomas, 40, kept an upbeat perspective.</p><br /><p>"It hasn't been a bad winter," he said. "We haven't really had any big snowstorms."</p><br /><p>If the forecast is accurate, Jake Weimer could receive a little relief.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-76238347437535970452013-02-25T03:23:00.001-08:002013-02-25T03:23:23.613-08:00Stock index futures point to flat to higher open<p class="first">LONDON (Reuters) - <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361784125992_4">Stock index futures</span> pointed to a mixed open on <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361784125992_1">Wall Street</span> on Monday, with futures for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 up 0.1 and 0.2 percent respectively by 0856 GMT, while those for <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361784125992_2">Dow Jones</span> were steady.</p><br /><p> * The U.S. <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361784125992_7">stock market</span> closed higher on Friday, with the S&P 500 adding 13.18 points, or 0.88 percent, to 1,515.60 <.spx>, after comments from Fed officials allayed fears that the central bank would curtail stimulus measures.</.spx></p><br /><p> * Prospects of continued stimulus also lifted Asian and European equity markets on Monday, with the EuroSTOXX 50 benchmark of euro zone blue chips up 0.7 percent <.stoxx50e>. However, uncertainty over the outcome of Italian elections, which close on Monday, kept a lid on the gains.</.stoxx50e></p><br /><p> * With days left before $85 billion is slashed from U.S. government budgets, the White House on Sunday issued more dire warnings about the harm the cuts will do to Americans. But Republicans, who advocate budget cuts, said the warning was overplayed and called on President Barack Obama to apply what is known as the "sequester" in a more careful way, rather than slashing budgets across the board.</p><br /><p> * A relatively light calendar features the Chicago Fed's national activity index for February at 1330 GMT, alongside earnings from <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361784125992_6">Autodesk Inc</span> and Lowe's Companies.</p><br /><p> * Barnes & Noble Inc <bks.n><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361784125992_5">Chairman Leonard Riggio</span> is considering a bid for the company's bookstore business, the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361784125992_3">Wall Street Journal</span> reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the situation.</bks.n></p><br /><p> * Disney's <dis.n> movie "Brave" won the Oscar on Sunday for Best Animated Feature.</dis.n></p><br /><p> * BlackRock Inc. <blk.n>, the world's largest money manager, has got approval from the U.S. securities regulator to list a copper-backed exchange-traded fund, potentially getting the jump on JPMorgan, whose listing of a similar product has been delayed by industry objections.</blk.n></p><br /><p> * Knight Capital Group <kcg.n>, which recently agreed to be bought for $1.4 billion by Getco Holding Co, has struck a deal to sell its credit-brokerage unit to Stifel Financial Corp <sf.n>, according to a person familiar with the matter.</sf.n></kcg.n></p><br /><p> * Hewlett-Packard <hpq.n><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361784125992_8">Chairman Ray Lane</span> and fellow board members plan to meet with about 20 of the computer maker's big investors Monday in hopes of heading off a campaign to unseat Lane and two other directors, the Wall Street Journal reports.</hpq.n></p><br /><p> * Office Depot Inc <odp.n> said late on Friday that following talks with the largest holder of its common stock, Starboard Value LP, it is extending the deadline for nominating candidates for its board at its annual meeting.</odp.n></p><br /><p> * Dick's Sporting Goods Inc <dks.n> shares could rise 23 percent within the next year if the largest publicly traded U.S. sporting goods retailer continues to boost profit at a mid-teens percentage rate, Barron's said.</dks.n></p><br /><p> (Reporting By Toni Vorobyova; Editing by Hugh Lawson)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-25831304865667208352013-02-25T03:21:00.001-08:002013-02-25T03:21:22.667-08:00A fickle format that produces the right winner<br /><p class="first">MARANA, Ariz. (AP) — For such a fickle format, the Match Play Championship sure does seem to produce the right winner.</p><br /><p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361780828130_1">Matt Kuchar</span> had reason to pack a full suitcase for the high desert of Arizona based on his record in this tournament. He is the only player to reach the quarterfinals each of the last three years, and he wound up losing to the eventual champion the previous two times.</p><br /><p>Sunday he went the distance to capture his first World Golf Championship.</p><br /><p>Kuchar became only the second player in the 15-year history of the Match Play to win without ever seeing the 18th hole except in a practice round, or when the courtesy van ferrying him in after winning a match drove past the closing hole on the way to the clubhouse.</p><br /><p>He played 96 holes in six rounds and only trailed after four of them.</p><br /><p>He built a 4-up lead over <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361780828130_2">Hunter Mahan</span> in the championship match and held off a fierce rally on the back nine at <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361780828130_5">Dove Mountain</span> to close him out, 2 and 1, and add his name to an impressive list of winners.</p><br /><p>"Match play I find to be such an amazing, unique format, so much fun to play and so much pressure," Kuchar said. "It seems like each hole there's so much momentum riding and so much pressure on every hole. To come out on top after six matches of playing the top 64 guys in the world, it's an incredible feeling."</p><br /><p>One reason the PGA Championship abandoned match play in 1958 was that the field was cut in half after each round, giving the crowd fewer players to watch. And it was miserable for television when the biggest stars were eliminated.</p><br /><p>That much hasn't changed.</p><br /><p><span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361780828130_7">Tiger Woods</span> left on Thursday for the second year in a row, and the only reason he lasted that long was because of a snowstorm on Wednesday. He lost in the first round, as did Rory McIlroy, the No. 1 player in the world. By the weekend, the highest seed remaining was Masters champion Bubba Watson.</p><br /><p>But a closer look will show that this tournament is won by some of the best in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361780828130_4">match play</span>.</p><br /><p>Kuchar's record improved to 15-3.</p><br /><p>His last win came at the expense of Mahan, who had won 11 straight matches in this event — 12 overall dating to his singles win in the 2011 Presidents Cup — and had a staggering streak of 169 holes without trailing.</p><br /><p>The previous four winners were Luke Donald, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361780828130_3">Ian Poulter</span>, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361780828130_6">Geoff Ogilvy</span> and Woods, all of them considered the best in the head-to-head game that many believe to be the purest form of golf.</p><br /><p>Donald has a 17-8 record in this tournament alone, which doesn't speak to his prowess in the Ryder Cup. Poulter had a 19-3-2 record in match play worldwide the last three years, though he wound up losing twice in one day on Sunday — to Mahan in the semifinals, and to Jason Day in a consolation match.</p><br /><p>Ogilvy was disheartened at failing to qualify this year, and it's easy to see why. He has a 20-5 record at the Match Play, with two wins and three trips to the championship match. Ogilvy has never lost in singles in the Presidents Cup, with two of those wins over Steve Stricker.</p><br /><p>Woods, of course, needs no introduction when it comes to Match Play. He won six straight USGA titles as an amateur, and even with a recent slump at Dove Mountain — he has failed to get out of the second round since he won in 2008 — his overall record in this format as a pro is 48-15-2.</p><br /><p>Mahan had to take down Poulter in the semifinal, and it was no picnic. Mahan twice hit tough chips to within 6 feet to win a hole, and he chipped in from 70 feet behind the 12th green to grab a 3-up lead and coast in against the Englishman, who was off his game in that match. As tough as Poulter is in match play, Mahan knew that Kuchar would be just as difficult in his own way.</p><br /><p>"It was definitely a different vibe, for sure," Mahan said. "Kooch and I had more conversation on the first hole than I did with Poulter all day. But that's the difference between the two guys. There's nothing wrong with it either way. Poults is very steely out there. He motivates himself in a different way than Kooch does."</p><br /><p>Poulter and Mahan learned an old lesson the hard way. There is no good time in this tournament to have a bad day. Some players can get away with one in the early rounds, but not late in the bracket when those who are left got there for a reason.</p><br /><p>When Mahan hit a weak pitch up the slope on No. 4 and made bogey, he paid for it more ways than one. It was the first time he trailed in any match since the sixth hole of the opening round last year. And he trailed Kuchar, who doesn't make many mistakes.</p><br /><p>Kuchar built a 4-up lead at the turn on the strength of two good birdies and two bad bogeys from Mahan, but the defending champion fought back. He won the next two holes, both into a fierce, cold wind, which the cut deficit in half and gave Mahan loads of momentum. And then he hit an 8-iron into 10 feet on the par-3 12th.</p><br /><p>That's where the match turned in Kuchar's favor. He followed with an 8-iron to just inside 15 feet, still a difficult putt.</p><br /><p>"The shot was certainly good, but the putt was really crucial, and when that went in, I felt like I was still in control of the match," Kuchar said. "Had that putt not gone in, it would have been only a 1-up lead, and I think the match was in anybody's hands at that point."</p><br /><p>Mahan kept fighting and trailed by one hole when they got to the 17th, and an exciting back nine ended with a thud. Both hit into the fairway bunker on 17, but Mahan's ball was slightly sunk in the sand, and his approach never came close to reaching the green. Instead, it rolled through a patch of desert until it lodged in a bush. Mahan took four shots to reach the green and conceded the match.</p><br /><p>Kuchar won for the fifth time in his career, pocketing just over $3.2 million for his last two titles — the WGC and The Players Championship. He moved to No. 8 in the world and is sure to be looked up on as a contender in the majors this year.</p><br /><p>And now, no one will be deceived by Kuchar's easy smile and happy-go-lucky nature when they return to Dove Mountain next year.</p><br /><p>"He does it differently," Mahan said. "He's more like a fuzzier, Peter Jacobsen kind of guy who likes to talk. He's super competitive, there's no doubt about it. He plays golf to win, and he works hard at it."</p><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-5165148729648636962013-02-25T03:18:00.001-08:002013-02-25T03:18:23.835-08:00Asteroid-Smashing Mission Picks Space Rock Target<br /><div class="home-content-ad"><br /><div class="ad-code"><br /><br /></div></div><br /><p class="first">A mission that aims to slam a spacecraft into a near-Earth asteroid now officially has a target — a <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361771286617_5">space rock</span> called Didymos.</p><br /><p>The joint European/U.S. <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361771286617_3">Asteroid Impact</span> and Deflection Assessment mission, or <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361771286617_2">AIDA</span>, will work to intercept <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361771286617_7">Didymos</span> in 2022, when the space rock is about 6.8 million miles (11 million kilometers) from Earth, <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361771286617_1">European Space Agency</span> officials announced Friday (Feb. 22).</p><div class="home-content-ad"><br /><div class="ad-code"><br /><br /></div></div><br /><br /><p>Didymos is actually a binary system, in which a 2,625-foot-wide (800 meters) asteroid and a 490-foot (150 m) space rock orbit each other. Didymos poses no threat to Earth in the foreseeable future.</p><br /><p>The proposed asteroid-smashing AIDA mission will send one small probe crashing into the smaller asteroid at about 14,000 mph (22,530 kph) while another spacecraft records the dramatic encounter. Meanwhile, Earth-based instruments will record so-called ”ground-truthing” observations.</p><br /><p>The goal is to learn more about how humanity could ward off a potentially dangerous space rock. The necessity of developing a viable deflection strategy was underlined in many people’s minds by the events of last Friday (Feb. 15), when the 130-foot (40 m) asteroid 2012 DA14 gave Earth a historically close shave just hours after a 55-foot (17 m) object exploded above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk, injuring 1,200 people and damaging thousands of buildings.</p><br /><p>The AIDA impact will unleash about as much energy as that released when a big piece of space junk hits a satellite, researchers said, so the mission could also help improve models of space-debris collisions.</p><br /><p>“The project has value in many areas, from applied science and exploration to asteroid resource utilization,” Andy Cheng, AIDA lead at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, said in a statement.</p><br /><p>The <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361771286617_4">European Space Agency</span> (ESA) has asked scientists around the world to propose experiments that AIDA could carry in space or that could increase its scientific return from the ground. Researchers have until March 15 to pitch their ideas.</p><br /><p>Johns Hopkins’ <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361771286617_6">Applied Physics Laboratory</span> is providing AIDA’s impactor, which is called DART (short for Double Asteroid Redirection Test). The observing spacecraft is known as AIM (Asteroid Impact Monitor) and will come from ESA.</p><br /><p><em>Follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter</em> <em>@michaeldwall</em><em> or SPACE.com</em> <em>@Spacedotcom</em><em>. We’re also on</em> <em>Facebook</em><em> and </em><em>Google+</em><em>. </em></p><br /><p><span>Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</span><br />Space and Astronomy News Headlines – Yahoo! News</p><br /><div><br /><div itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Review-aggregate"><br /><div><br />Title Post: <span itemprop="itemreviewed"><strong>Asteroid-Smashing Mission Picks Space Rock Target</strong></span><br />Url Post: <strong>http://www.news.fluser.com/asteroid-smashing-mission-picks-space-rock-target/</strong><br />Link To Post : <strong>Asteroid-Smashing Mission Picks Space Rock Target</strong><br />Rating: <span itemprop="rating" itemscope="" itemtype="http://data-vocabulary.org/Rating"><br /><span itemprop="average">100%</span><br /></span><br />based on <span itemprop="votes">99998</span> ratings.<br /><span itemprop="count">5</span> user reviews.<br />Author: <b><span class="vcard author"><span class="fn">Fluser SeoLink</span></span></b><br />Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment</div><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-7185287200187438592013-02-25T03:16:00.001-08:002013-02-25T03:16:23.638-08:00Vatican 'Gay lobby'? Probably not<br /><!--startclickprintexclude--><br /><br /><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr"><br /><p><strong>STORY HIGHLIGHTS</strong></p><br /><ul class="cnn_bulletbin cnnStryHghLght"><!--google_ad_section_start--><li>Benedict XVI not stepping down under pressure from 'gay lobby,' Allen says</li><br /><li>Allen: Benedict is a man who prefers the life of the mind to the nuts and bolts of government </li><br /><li>However, he says, much of the pope's time has been spent putting out fires</li><br /><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /></ul></div></div><br /><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--google_ad_section_start--><!--startclickprintinclude--><br /><p class="cnnEditorialNote"><em><strong>Editor's note:</strong> John L. Allen Jr. is CNN's senior Vatican analyst and senior correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter.</em></p><br /><p><strong>(CNN)</strong> -- Suffice it to say that of all possible storylines to emerge, heading into the election of a new pope, sensational charges of a shadowy "gay lobby" (possibly linked to blackmail), whose occult influence may have been behind the resignation of Benedict XVI, would be right at the bottom of the Vatican's wish list.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph2">Proof of the Vatican's irritation came with a blistering statement Saturday complaining of "unverified, unverifiable or completely false news stories," even suggesting the media is trying to influence the papal election.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph3">Two basic questions have to be asked about all this. First, is there really a secret dossier about a network of people inside the Vatican who are linked by their sexual orientation, as Italian newspaper reports have alleged? Second, is this really why Benedict XVI quit?</p><br /><div class="cnn_strylftcntnt"><div class="cnn_strylctcntr cnn_strylccimg214"><br /><img src="http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/120528080343-john-l-allen-jr-left-tease.jpg" alt="John L. Allen Jr." border="0" class="box-image" height="122" width="214"/><p>John L. Allen Jr.</p><br /></div></div><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph4">The best answers, respectively, are "maybe" and "probably not."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph5">It's a matter of record that at the peak of last year's massive Vatican leaks crisis, Benedict XVI created a commission of three cardinals to investigate the leaks. They submitted an eyes-only report to the pope in mid-December, which has not been made public.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph6">It's impossible to confirm whether that report looked into the possibility that people protecting secrets about their sex lives were involved with the leaks, but frankly, it would be surprising if it didn't.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph7">There are certainly compelling reasons to consider the hypothesis. In 2007, a Vatican official was caught by an Italian TV network on hidden camera arranging a date through a gay-oriented chat room, and then taking the young man back to his Vatican apartment. In 2010, a papal ceremonial officer was caught on a wiretap arranging liaisons through a Nigerian member of a Vatican choir. Both episodes played out in full public view, and gave the Vatican a black eye.</p><br /><br /><div id="expand18" class="cnnGalleryContainer cnn_strylftcntnt"><br /><div class="cnnStoryElementBox"><br /><div id="expandableTarget18" class="cnnArticleExpandableTarget"><br /><br /><br /><div class="cnnArticleGalleryCaptionControl"><br /><p>Pope Benedict XVI</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><p>HIDE CAPTION</p><br /><br /></div><br /><div><br /><p><span><<</span></p><br /><p><span><</span></p><br /><div class="articleGalleryNavContainer"><br /><p><br /><br /><span>1</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>2</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>3</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>4</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>5</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>6</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>7</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>8</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>9</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>10</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>11</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>12</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>13</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>14</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>15</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>16</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>17</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>18</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>19</span><br /></p><br /><p><br /><br /><span>20</span><br /></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div><br /><p><span>></span></p><br /><p><span>>></span></p><br /><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /></div><br /></div><br /><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph8">In that context, it would be a little odd if the cardinals didn't at least consider the possibility that insiders leading a double life might be vulnerable to pressure to betray the pope's confidence. That would apply not just to sex, but also potential conflicts of other sorts too, such as financial interests.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph9">Vatican officials have said Benedict may authorize giving the report to the 116 cardinals who will elect his successor, so they can factor it into their deliberations. The most immediate fallout is that the affair is likely to strengthen the conviction among many cardinals that the next pope has to lead a serious house-cleaning inside the Vatican's bureaucracy.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph10">It seems a stretch, however, to suggest this is the real reason Benedict is leaving. For the most part, one should probably take the pope at his word, that old age and fatigue are the motives for his decision.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph11">That said, it's hard not to suspect that the meltdowns and controversies that have dogged Benedict XVI for the last eight years are in the background of why he's so tired. In 2009, at the height of another frenzy surrounding the lifting of the excommunication of a Holocaust-denying traditionalist bishop, Benedict dispatched a plaintive letter to the bishops of the world, voicing hurt for the way he'd been attacked and apologizing for the Vatican's mishandling of the situation.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph12">Even if Benedict didn't resign because of any specific crisis, including this latest one, such anguish must have taken its toll. Benedict is a teaching pope, a man who prefers the life of the mind to the nuts and bolts of government, yet an enormous share of his time and energy has been consumed trying to put out internal fires.</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph13">It's hard to know why Benedict XVI is stepping off the stage, but I doubt it is because of a "gay lobby."</p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph14"><i>Follow us on </i><i>Twitter @CNNOpinion.</i><i> </i></p><br /><p class="cnn_storypgraphtxt cnn_storypgraph15"><i>Join us on </i><i>Facebook/CNNOpinion.</i></p><br /><p class="cnn_strycbftrtxt">The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of John L. Allen Jr. </p><br /><!--endclickprintinclude--><!--google_ad_section_end--><br /><!--no partner--><br /><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-29883304790481244762013-02-25T03:14:00.001-08:002013-02-25T03:14:23.272-08:00State lawmaker's bill seeks to limit use of drones to fight crime<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>SPRINGFIELD — As the Obama administration comes under fire for its use of unmanned drones in foreign lands, a state senator is pressing to have Illinois join the national debate on whether states should regulate drones to ensure the high-tech snooping isn't used to invade the privacy of ordinary citizens on U.S. soil.</p><br /><p>Democratic Sen. Daniel Biss has introduced legislation that would require police to get a search warrant before using a drone to gather evidence. Along with banning the use of lethal and nonlethal weapons on the drones — except in emergencies — the proposal would require information a drone gathers to be destroyed unless it is part of an investigation.</p><br /><p>Under the legislation, Illinois would step up to combat the issue of drones flying over U.S. airspace. President Barack Obama signed a Federal Aviation Administration mandate last year requesting the agency integrate unmanned aircraft into the national system.</p><br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> <p>With the possibility of drones becoming the latest aircraft traversing the skies, Biss said this is "the exact moment states should be looking into" unmanned aircraft legislation.</p><br /><p>"We're heading into a world where technology surveillance is unreal," the Evanston lawmaker said.</p><br /><p>More than 20 states are pursuing similar legislation, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. While some states are trying to regulate unmanned aircraft use, others are trying to impose moratoriums that ban them, Biss said.</p><br /><p>Virginia lawmakers approved a two-year moratorium on the aircraft in the state last week to allow time for a study. The legislation awaits the governor's signature.</p><br /><p>In Illinois, authorities in Cook and Champaign counties are considering the use of drones to combat crime.</p><br /><p>Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart is in the "exploratory stages" of looking into drone technology for future operations, spokesman Frank Bilecki said. If the county were to employ any drones, they would be "specifically for law enforcement use" and not to invade personal privacy, Bilecki said.</p><br /><p>Dart's thinking is that drones would be cheaper to use and cost less taxpayer money than using helicopters for aerial operations, Bilecki said. A small, unmanned aircraft used for search and rescue can cost on average between $38,000 and $50,000, much less than in years past, said James Hill, president of AirCover Integrated Solutions, a California-based drone manufacturer.</p><br /><p>To gain traction at the Capitol, Biss potentially might have to overcome resistance from law enforcement leaders. To that end, Biss said he's talking with police chiefs, the Illinois State Police and other police agencies to iron out any wrinkles.</p><br /><p>The American Civil Liberties Union thinks the time is ripe to look at drone regulations.</p><br /><p>"Technology is changing," said Ed Yohnka, spokesman for the ACLU's Illinois chapter. "And the idea is we need to get ahead of the technology to be better prepared."</p><br /><p><em>raguerrero2@tribune.com</em></p><br /><br id="tinymce" class="mceContentBody "/>Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2360902715337284127.post-40432722923575862302013-02-24T03:23:00.001-08:002013-02-24T03:23:13.459-08:00Investors face another Washington deadline<p class="first">NEW YORK (Reuters) - Investors face another Washington-imposed deadline on <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361587027450_3">government spending</span> cuts next week, but it's not generating the same level of fear as two months ago when the "fiscal cliff" loomed large.</p><br /><p> Investors in sectors most likely to be affected by the cuts, like defense, seem untroubled that the budget talks could send stocks tumbling.</p><br /><p> Talks on the U.S. budget crisis began again this week leading up to the March 1 deadline for the so-called sequestration when $85 billion in automatic federal spending cuts are scheduled to take effect.</p><br /><p> "It's at this point a political hot button in <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361587027450_4">Washington</span> but a very low level investor concern," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co. in Lake Oswego, Oregon. The fight pits <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361587027450_1">President Barack Obama</span> and fellow Democrats against congressional Republicans.</p><br /><p> Stocks rallied in early January after a compromise temporarily avoided the fiscal cliff, and the Standard & Poor's 500 index <.spx> has risen 6.3 percent since the start of the year.</.spx></p><br /><p> But the benchmark index lost steam this week, posting its first week of losses since the start of the year. Minutes on Wednesday from the last Federal Reserve meeting, which suggested the central bank may slow or stop its stimulus policy sooner than expected, provided the catalyst.</p><br /><p> National elections in Italy on Sunday and Monday could also add to <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361587027450_6">investor concern</span>. Most investors expect a government headed by Pier Luigi Bersani to win and continue with reforms to tackle Italy's debt problems. However, a resurgence by former leader <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361587027450_5">Silvio Berlusconi</span> has raised doubts.</p><br /><p> "Europe has been in the last six months less of a topic for the <span class="yshortcuts" id="lw_1361587027450_2">stock market</span>, but the problems haven't gone away. This may bring back investor attention to that," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.</p><br /><p> OPTIONS BULLS TARGET GAINS</p><br /><p> The spending cuts, if they go ahead, could hit the defense industry particularly hard.</p><br /><p> Yet in the options market, bulls were targeting gains in Lockheed Martin Corp <lmt.n>, the Pentagon's biggest supplier.</lmt.n></p><br /><p> Calls on the stock far outpaced puts, suggesting that many investors anticipate the stock to move higher. Overall options volume on the stock was 2.8 times the daily average with 17,000 calls and 3,360 puts traded, according to options analytics firm Trade Alert.</p><br /><p> "The upside call buying in Lockheed solidifies the idea that option investors are not pricing in a lot of downside risk in most defense stocks from the likely impact of sequestration," said Jared Woodard, a founder of research and advisory firm condoroptions.com in Forest, Virginia.</p><br /><p> The stock ended up 0.6 percent at $88.12 on Friday.</p><br /><p> If lawmakers fail to reach an agreement on reducing the U.S. budget deficit in the next few days, a sequester would include significant cuts in defense spending. Companies such as General Dynamics Corp <gd.n> and Smith & Wesson Holding Corp <swhc.o> could be affected.</swhc.o></gd.n></p><br /><p> General Dynamics Corp shares rose 1.2 percent to $67.32 and Smith & Wesson added 4.6 percent to $9.18 on Friday.</p><br /><p> EYES ON GDP DATA, APPLE</p><br /><p> The latest data on fourth-quarter U.S. gross domestic product is expected on Thursday, and some analysts predict an upward revision following trade data that showed America's deficit shrank in December to its narrowest in nearly three years.</p><br /><p> U.S. GDP unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter, according to an earlier government estimate, but analysts said there was no reason for panic, given that consumer spending and business investment picked up.</p><br /><p> Investors will be looking for any hints of changes in the Fed's policy of monetary easing when Fed Chairman Ben Bernake speaks before congressional committees on Tuesday and Wednesday.</p><br /><p> Shares of Apple will be watched closely next week when the company's annual stockholders' meeting is held.</p><br /><p> On Friday, a U.S. judge handed outspoken hedge fund manager David Einhorn a victory in his battle with the iPhone maker, blocking the company from moving forward with a shareholder vote on a controversial proposal to limit the company's ability to issue preferred stock.</p><br /><p> (Additional reporting by Doris Frankel; Editing by Kenneth Barry)</p><br /><br />Pasukan News Sebelashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07244922633027862920noreply@blogger.com