Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/238355975?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Thursday, July 26, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
'The Voice' Recruits Rob Thomas As Mentor
Matchbox Twenty frontman will be working with Cee Lo Green in third season of the NBC show.
By Cory Midgarden
Rob Thomas
Photo: Neilson Barnard/ Getty Images
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1690436/the-voice-rob-thomas-mentor.jhtml
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Special Send-off for College Football Player Paralyzed In Freak Accident
OVERLAND PARK, Kan. ? An Ottawa University football player gets a special send-off Monday from dozens of his family and friends, and some former Chief?s football players.
Matt Bollig is the center of attention at Overland Park Regional Medical Center. The 20-year-old?s family and friends shower him with love.? They say, he?s a star, especially on the gridiron with the Ottawa University football team.? That is, until last Wednesday.
?I just know that I broke my back, invertebrates were out-of-place and instead of them being stacked on top of each other they were almost, I would say, side by side,? he said.
The freak weightlifting accident leaves Bollig paralyzed at a level considered paraplegic.? Doctors told he and his family that his chances of walking again are slim.? His mother Valerie Bollig, said there is nothing wrong with Bollig?s back now that would prevent him being able to walk again, but it?s whether the spinal cord will heal itself.? She said they are praying.
?It?s been very surreal, actually. You know, I?ve watched him struggle a little bit with certain things. He?s just Matt, I mean, I don?t know how else to say it,? Bollig?s mother said. ?Matt is one that as long as he is breathing, it doesn?t matter,? she said.
His family and friends agree.? The group crammed into a hospital conference room to see him off to a special hospital out-of-state for rehabilitation.
?It?s pretty amazing to see that I have this many people out there that care about? me,? Bollig said.
It?s not just anyone who showed up, but former Chief?s players Bollig has watched growing up.? Bill Maas, Anthony Davis and Ken Kremer, loaded Bollig up with all the Chief?s gear he could ask for.
Kremer said Bollig just has the kind of attitude that scores in any situation.
?It?s not really the adversity itself, it?s how you respond to that adversity, and I think he, this young man, is ready to respond and good things are going to happen,? Kremer said.
?There?s nothing in this world that I didn?t dream about that I need my legs for.? There?s a lot of things out there that I still dream about every night, everyday, that I can still strive for and still do,? Bollig said.
For now, he said he is striving to be back home on Aug. 25.? It?s just in time, Bollig said, to watch Ottawa beat Baker University in the first game of the season.
Bollig, and his mom and dad, are heading to Craig Hospital Tuesday morning in Englewood, CO.?? The hospital is outside of Denver.? The hospital?s website said it specializes in rehabilitation for spinal cord and brain injury.
Valerie Bollig said she has been told rehabilitation could take anywhere from four weeks, to four months.
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Monday, July 23, 2012
Made-in-Space Parts Could Become Space Travel's New Norm
Maybe it's time to shelve the old saying, "you can't leave home without it," when it comes to packing for trips to space.
Say you're hunkered down inside Mars Base-1 and a vital piece of life-support gear breaks down. A hurried search in supply bins proves futile. The next cycler spaceship with equipment is months away. Time is running out.
This disaster scenario could be short-circuited by what's tagged as "additive manufacturing" ? a process to fabricate or 3D print a critical widget layer by layer. Using additive manufacturing equipment, items can be cranked out on the spot, whether they're made of hard plastics or certain metals.
Work is now in progress to demonstrate this possibility ? and the International Space Station?(ISS) may be the ideal spot for perfecting the scheme. [10 Incredible 3-D Printed Products]
Cutting the umbilical
In a televised call to the space station in February, NASA chief Charles Bolden asked two onboard residents at the time, U.S. astronauts Dan Burbank and Don Pettit, to discuss what astronauts need 20 to 30 years from now, based on what they have seen and experienced in their space travels.
"Onboard space station right now, astronauts have to be essentially jacks of all trade," Burbank said. "We need to be able to fix anything and everything that happens."
As people depart from low Earth orbit, Burbank said that one of the key things needed is to essentially cut the umbilical from Earth and be able to maintain spacecraft to the degree "that if something breaks, you can replace a part outright ? you need to be able to fabricate a part."
Crews can't bring along all the pieces and parts that may or may not suffer a breakdown over the course of a long mission, Burbank added.
Field center activity
NASA has a team of researchers from four different space agency centers working on demonstrating the full concept, said Karen Taminger, materials research engineer at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.
Taminger told SPACE.com that the research is geared toward identifying a mechanical component needing to be repaired or replaced, designing the replacement part, fabricating it ? with additive manufacturing ?? finishing and inspecting it, and working to demonstrate remote control of the additive manufacturing process.?
Currently, all of this work is being done in labs on the ground, at NASA's Langley, Glenn, Marshall and Johnson space centers, Taminger said, "but we are working towards demonstrating this capability on ISS."?
Growing support
A demonstration of NASA's concept of an additive manufacturing process, Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication (EBF3), was done in simulated microgravity on parabolic aircraft flights back in 2007.?
"We're now pursuing hardware and procedural changes to make the system more robust and astronaut-friendly," Taminger said.
Similarly, an enterprising team from Singularity University, a non-profit institution in California's Silicon Valley that works on forward-thinking technologies, has formed a "Made in Space" company, carrying out parabolic flights last year to showcase their 3D printing initiative.
With the National Network for Manufacturing Innovation, there has been increased national focus on 3D printing and additive manufacturing in the past six months, Taminger said. "In addition to helping create manufacturing jobs in the United States, we are pushing to demonstrate this on the ISS, in preparation for longer duration space exploration."
Although these experiments have yet to be funded or scheduled to go to the ISS, "that is certainly where we would like to go," Taminger added.
On-demand demo
Space-based, on-demand fabrication of metallic parts using additive manufacturing was outlined last month during the 1st Annual International Space Station Research & Development Conference held in Denver.
The ISS is an "ideal platform" for testing the value of on-demand additive manufacturing in the space environment, said some experts present.
According to a research paper on the initiative, the EBF3 process NASA is exploring uses an electron beam and wire to fabricate metallic structures. The process efficiencies of the electron beam and the solid wire feedstock make the EBF3 process attractive for use in space, say researchers engaged in studying the manufacturing idea.
Reducing inventory
One technology highlighted by NASA is solid freeform fabrication, a process that could be used to support fabrication and repair of large space structures, spacecraft primary structure and replacement components.
Production of replacement components by ?solid freeform fabrication processes during a mission could reduce or eliminate the need to carry a complete inventory of premanufactured spares. Rather, replacement components would be generated as needed from feedstock material.
As a result, only the total mass of replacements would need to be estimated instead of a prediction of which specific components might be needed. Attempting to predict which components will fail and require replacement will inherently be an inaccurate process and is likely to result in stashing away numerous components that will never be used ? which is wasted mass ? while "under-provisioning" other components, experts said.
"Just as Christopher Columbus brought tools with him to help explore the New World," Taminger concluded,"NASA is developing an on-demand additive manufacturing tool that will allow space explorers to build what they want, when and where they need it."
Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is a winner of last year's National Space Club Press Award and a past editor-in-chief of the National Space Society's Ad Astra and Space World magazines. He has written for SPACE.com since 1999.
Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Source: http://news.yahoo.com/made-space-parts-could-become-space-travels-norm-152059254.html
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Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Montenegro wildfires threaten ancient forest
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/montenegro-wildfires-threaten-ancient-forest-112759022.html
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Friday, July 13, 2012
JPMorgan says bad trade has ballooned to $5.8B
NEW YORK (AP) ? JPMorgan Chase said Friday that a bad trade had cost the bank $5.8 billion this year, almost triple its original estimate, and raised the prospect that traders had improperly tried to conceal the blunder.
"This has shaken our company to the core," CEO Jamie Dimon said.
The bank said managers tied to the bad trade had been dismissed without severance pay and that it planned to revoke two years' worth of pay from each of those executives.
JPMorgan said it had lost $4.4 billion because of the trade from April through June, and its chief financial officer said the bank had lost an additional $1.4 billion in the first three months of the year.
Dimon's original estimate of the loss from the bad trade, disclosed in a surprise conference call with Wall Street analysts in May, was $2 billion.
On Friday, Dimon said he believed the loss was mostly contained. In the worst case, if financial markets deterioriate severely, the bank could lose an additional $1.7 billion, he said. That would bring the total loss to $7.5 billion.
Investors appeared relieved that the mess was mostly behind the bank. They sent JPMorgan's stock price up $1.50, or more than 4 percent, to $35.54. That made it the best-performing stock in the Dow Jones industrial average.
The bank said an internal investigation, including emails and voice messages, had called into question the values that traders placed on certain bets, and that the traders may have been seeking to mask losses.
A spokesman for the Securities and Exchange Commission declined comment. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Dimon told Congress last month that the trade was meant to hedge risk at the company and protect it in case "things got really bad" in the global economy. Instead, the trade has backfired and damaged the bank's reputation.
Speaking broadly about the trading loss on Friday, Dimon told analysts: "We don't take it lightly." He added: "We're not making light of this error, but we do think it's an isolated event."
The bank said that it was reducing its net income for the first quarter by $459 million because it had discovered information that "raises questions about the integrity" of values placed on certain trades.
Dimon said the bank had closed the trading division responsible for the bad trade and moved the remainder of the trading position under its investment banking division.
Overall, JPMorgan said it earned $5 billion, or $1.21 per share, for the second quarter, which covers April through June and includes the bank's disclosure of the trading loss on May 10.
Analysts surveyed by FactSet, a provider of financial data, had expected JPMorgan to earn 76 cents per share.
Investors were also cheered to hear that the bank might resume its plan to buy back its own stock. Dimon said the bank was in discussions with the Federal Reserve and would submit a plan in hopes of buying back stock starting late this year.
The big gain on Friday still left the bank's stock about $5 shy of its closing price of $40.74 on May 10, the day Dimon surprised reporters and stock analysts by holding a conference call to disclose the loss.
The company suspended an earlier plan to buy back $15 billion of its stock after reporting the trading loss.
Just three months ago, JPMorgan was viewed as the top American bank, guided by Dimon's steady hand. Since the disclosure of the trading loss, however, that reputation has been eroded.
Dimon, who originally dismissed concerns about the bank's trading as a "tempest in a teapot," appeared before Congress twice to apologize and explain himself, and several government agencies have launched investigations.
Under close questioning from lawmakers in June about his own role in setting up the investment division responsible for the mess, Dimon declared: "We made a mistake. I'm absolutely responsible. The buck stops with me."
The trading loss has raised concerns that the biggest banks still pose risks to the U.S. financial system, less than four years after the financial crisis erupted in the fall of 2008.
JPMorgan stock has lost about 15 percent of its market value since the loss came to light.
Dimon said Friday that Ina Drew, the bank's former chief investment officer, who left after the loss came to light, had volunteered to return as much of her pay as was allowed under the so-called clawback provision in her contract.
That amount was unclear, but Drew made more than $30 million combined in 2010 and 2011, according to an Associated Press analysis of regulatory filings.
In addition, the bank said it would revoke two years' worth of pay for three other senior managers in the division of the bank where the trade occurred. It would be the first time JPMorgan exercised such a procedure.
Those three senior managers have the bank, and four others are expected to leave soon. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the trader known as the "London whale," for the size of the bets he placed, was among those who had left.
___
AP Business Writer Daniel Wagner contributed to this report from Washington.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/jpmorgan-says-bad-trade-ballooned-5-8b-131951378--finance.html
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Thursday, July 12, 2012
Execution of Afghan woman occurred under Western noses
Parwan Province, home of NATO's massive Bagram Air Field, had been thought secure. This weekend, it hosted a Taliban-style public execution of a woman for adultery.
Men in the crowd watch as a man, who Afghan officials say is a member of the Taliban, fires his rifle at a woman accused of adultery during her execution in a village outside Kabul in this still image taken from undated footage released July 7.
via Reuters TV/Reuters
EnlargePart of what is so shocking about the public execution of an Afghan?woman for alleged adultery is where it took place.
Skip to next paragraph Ben ArnoldyDeputy International Editor
Ben Arnoldy is the Deputy International Editor at The Christian Science Monitor. He has served as the Monitor's bureau chief in India and Northern California.?
Recent posts
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The close-up shooting took place in Parwan Province before a crowd of?150 onlookers who cheered the killers as ?mujahideen? as the woman was?shot nine times. The Afghan government says the incident, captured on?video, was the work of the Taliban; a Taliban spokesman denies this.
Parwan Province lies just north of the capital Kabul and houses Bagram?Air Field, a massive US base. This incident took place directly under?the noses of the Afghan government and the international community.
Since the Taliban?s ouster in 2001, the province has always been the?most obvious place for foreigners?looking?to work or relax?outside Kabul. It?s one of the safest places in the country, with the?large security footprint, good connectivity to the capital, and the?mostly-Tajik ethnic makeup.
I have made the journey a half dozen times since 2005. There?s a?lovely ice cream shop off one of the rotaries, and a decent restaurant?serving fish and kebabs overlooking the Panjshir River.
The province has received a lot of development assistance, both by?nongovernmental organizations based out of nearby Kabul and from the?military Provincial Reconstruction Team operating out of Bagram.
A local elder in Parwan once told me how the foreigners had now built?three girls? schools within a mile of each other. Girls schools are a?popular project for foreigners, and Parwan is a popular place to put?them, given the relative security, but there weren?t enough girls in?the area to fill three, the elder claimed. Instead, the security guard?at one of the schools did nothing but protect the squirrels and birds?who nested in the empty building.
So if there?s any place where the international community might expect?to wield influence and blunt the rougher edges of village life, Parwan?would be it.
But the execution follows a number of disturbing events in Parwan that suggest slipping Western influence.
- When news emerged that US soldiers had inadvertently burned some?Qurans at Bagram, a member of Parliament from Parwan named Abdul?Sattar Khawasi declared that ?jihad against Americans is an?obligation.?
- More than 80 schoolgirls were hospitalized in 2009 after feeling ill?and reporting a strange odor in their classroom. The Afghan government?has claimed these incidents are Taliban poisonings, but a recent World?Health Organization investigation concluded these periodic incidents?are ?mass hysteria? not uncommon in conflict zones.
- The Long War Journal website notes that the security situation has?grown ?especially perilous? since last year. NATO turned over security?responsibilities for the province to the Afghans in December of 2011.
Parwan presents a problem for those who argue that foreign militaries need to stay to hold the country together and protect its women. As regional expert Christine Fair told CNN in the wake of the execution, ?We can ask the question what will happen when we leave, but let?s remember that this is actually happening while we?re still there.?
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Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Mars rover landing will be?Seven Minutes of Terror?
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/mars-rover-landing-seven-minutes-terror-194446094.html
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Washington Monument may stay closed until 2014
WASHINGTON?? Repairs to the Washington Monument will require massive scaffolding to be built around the 555-foot obelisk and may keep it closed into 2014 after it was damaged by an earthquake last year, the National Park Service said Monday.
A damage assessment by engineers who inspected the stone structure by rappelling from the top last September found scaffolding is necessary to provide workers access to the top of the monument, said park service spokeswoman Carol Johnson. The engineers determined the heaviest damage is between 475 feet and 530 feet on the structure, but panels are damaged from top to bottom.
"It is difficult to get to, and it's difficult to repair," Johnson said. "Panels stressed during the earthquake will have to have anchors installed."
The park service offered the $15 million project up for bids from contractors on June 29. The agency hopes to award a contract and begin mobilizing the work in September. From there it will take 12 to 18 months to complete the repairs.
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Robert Vogel, superintendent of the National Mall and Memorial Parks, said the $15 million price tag remains a firm estimate for the repair project. Reopening the monument as soon as possible remains a top priority for the park service, he said.
"We're pretty much on track and trying to keep it moving as fast as it can," Vogel said. "We obviously will have some greater clarity on the timeframe as soon as the contract is actually awarded in September."
The monument usually has about 700,000 visitors a year who take turns riding an elevator or climbing stairs to the top.
A 5.8-magnitude earthquake centered in Virginia shook the marble and granite monument on Aug. 23, 2011, causing deep cracks to form near the top and loosening some pieces of stone and mortar. Visitors were inside the monument when the earthquake struck and fled down flights of stairs. No one was seriously injured. The monument has been closed to visitors ever since.
One cracked corner of the monument is held together by a lead joint and a lightning protection line that was also bent out of shape in the earthquake, according to the damage assessment. In some places, masonry anchors will be installed to strengthen the damaged stone.
The scaffolding that will be built for the repair project will be similar to one used when the monument's exterior was refurbished in 1999 and 2000. Officials hope to use a decorative cover for the metal scaffolding, similar to a covering used 12 years ago that proved popular with the public when it was lit at night.
A circular stone plaza at the base of the monument and some flagpoles and benches will have to be removed to install scaffolding.
Plans for the earthquake repair project were released Monday for public comment. Engineers have not recommended further strengthening of the monument against future earthquakes, according to the repair plan.
Park service officials may install a web camera near the top of the monument to show the work being done online. They are also looking at other ways to keep visitors to the National Mall informed about the project.
Congress has allocated $7.5 million for the repair project. In January, Washington businessman David Rubenstein pledged another $7.5 million to complete the work.
Construction of the monument took from 1848 through 1884. The completed monument was the world's tallest structure until 1889, when the Eiffel Tower was built.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48136192/ns/travel-news/
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Falling prices may be sign of trouble ahead
By John W. Schoen, Senior Producer
The slowing global economy is putting downward pressure on costs for businesses and consumers alike. It?s also squeezing profits and incomes.
The weak job market has helped keep wage costs flat since the recession ended three year ago. Now, with widening evidence that the global economy is entering a new slowdown, the cost of a wide range of commodities?from oil to copper to coffee?is falling rapidly.
While that's good news for consumers, the across-the-board price drops are further evidence that demand is drying up as the world economy continues to slow. China?s once booming economy has cooled sharply this year. That has driven prices down sharply in the world?s second-largest economy and has raised worries about deflation, which can be as intractable a problem as too much inflation.
Recent data on factory production and job growth point to a further slowing in an already weak U.S. economy. And the ongoing financial turmoil in Europe has sparked a widening recession that shows no signs of easing.
One widely watched index tracking two dozen commodities -- everything from energy and metals to food -- has fallen more than 10 percent in the last three months. The prices of corn, cocoa, oats, cotton, rubber, coffee, aluminum, silver, zinc and nickel are all more than 20 percent lower than a year ago.
Some of the biggest savings have been in the price of oil, one of the most widely used commodities, which has fallen roughly 20 percent this year.
The drop is expected to continue as demand weakens further.
?Economic slowdown is always going to put pressure on oil prices," said Robert Montefusco, a commodities broker at London-based Sucden. ?If we don?t sort this euro crisis out, oil prices will come down further because there won?t be any demand. We?ll have static growth.?
For the average household, which burns through about 1,200 gallons of gasoline a year, each dime of lower pump prices adds up to about $120 annual savings, according to the Oil Price Information Service. Those savings could help spur growth if they translate into higher consumer spending.
So far that hasn't happened, largely because a weak?job market in the U.S. has sent consumer confidence falling again. The latest sales results from retailers confirm that households are keeping a tight rein on spending until the economic outlook improves.
Companies should get a boost from falling raw materials costs too. But for many, demand appears to be slowing faster than costs are falling. For large companies, especially those with a large presence in Europe, the upcoming round of earnings reports is expected to reflect? the impact of the global slowdown on the bottom line. ?
?There's a lot of negative headwinds heading into this earnings season," said Ashwani Kaul, at Kaul Advisory Group, a research firm. ?With the negative impact of the euro, it?s just not just because companies are seeing a slowdown in Europe. They?re seeing currency translation issues -- companies like Starbucks, McDonald?s, Procter and Gamble -- companies that rely heavily on the euro.?
While the drop in commodities recently reversed course, prices have retraced only a portion of the drop so far this year. Part of that came in response to recent moves by central banks around the world to spur global growth by pumping more money into the banking system.
But credit continues to contract in Europe as investors in the credit markets grow increasingly weary of repeated announcements by Europe?s leaders that fail to provide solutions.
Falling prices and mounting evidence of slower U.S. growth have increased speculation that the Federal Reserve may soon announce another round of easy-money policies, the third since the financial collapse of 2008. Though the move may provide a short-term boost for investors, most Fed watchers and economists don?t expect those moves will do much to spur growth.
?The global environment is weakening and I?m afraid were getting negative synergies among the major economic zones of the world,? said Charles Dallara, managing director of the Institute of International Finance.? ?I think what we?re seeing on the central bank front is positive but it is not enough to alter fundamentally weak outlooks.?
A look at the latest market moves from the trading floor, including the trade on corn prices, with Phillip Streible, RJO Futures.
?
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Friday, July 6, 2012
Gold Prices Fall as Investors Expect Robust Job Data ... - Stock Market
Gold Prices fell on Friday as better than expected U.S. labor market data in the preceding session hinted that the jobs report for June, slated to be released today, will be a strong one, dashing the expectations of further monetary easing from the Fed. Meanwhile, silver prices are also lower in trading today.
Meanwhile, gold prices were also weighed by falling euro following a statement from ECB President Mario Draghi on Thursday where he said that euro zone?s economy remains vulnerable. Last week, EU leaders approved series of measures aimed at stimulating monetary union?s economy, including recapitalization of banks directly from area?s rescue fund instead of adding onto government debts.
Nevertheless, after initial euphoria, market sentiment on euro zone still remains gloomy. The?dollar index?climbed up more than 1 percent ? its biggest intraday rise in almost eight months ? in the previous session, even as the euro hit near five-week lows against the U.S. dollar.
As most commodities, including gold are traded in U.S. dollars in international market, a gain in the U.S. unit lessens the demand for gold as it becomes expensive to buy for those dealers who deal in currencies other than U.S. dollar which in turn weighs on gold?s prices.
Furthermore, a series of rate cuts from three central banks (China, U.K., Euro Zone?s) on Thursday also failed to excite the bullion investors as they expected much aggressive policy response.
At last check, U.S. gold futures for August delivery lost 1.07%, at $1,592.20 an ounce.
According to Wang Tao, a technical analyst for Reuters, gold prices could fall as low as $1,586 an ounce level.
In the physical side, market remained muted as buyers avoided buying no sooner metal crossed $1600 an ounce while sellers looked for $1620 price range.
Commenting over this matter, Peter Tse, ??director at ScotiaMocatta in Hong Kong, said to Reuters, ?The current price level isn?t attractive enough to lure buyers back?. And they (jewelers) are likely to enter the market if prices drop to $1,550-$1,560.?
Silver futures also dropped 1.13%, at $27.36 an ounce, at last check.
In pre-market trading in New York, the iShares Silver Trust (ETF) (NYSE: SLV) is down 0.82%, the ProShares Ultra Silver (ETF) (NYSE: AGQ) is down 1.78%, and the ProShares UltraShort Silver (ETF) (NYSE: ZSL) is up 1.79%.
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Post Written By: Ed Liston Ed Liston is a senior contributing editor at TheStockMarketWatch.com. An active market watcher and investor, Ed guides an independent team of experienced analysts and writes for multiple stock trader publications. He is widely quoted in various financial publications on the Internet. When Ed is not writing about stocks, investing in stocks, talking about stocks, or otherwise doing something stock related, he likes to go sailing and fishing in his yacht. |
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Samsung expects record earnings for Q2 thanks to all those Galaxy phone sales
Samsung's complete earnings results for the April - June 2012 period won't come out until July 27th, but Reuters reports its early guidance to investors estimates the company's profit at a record 6.7 trillion won ($5.9 billion). That's mostly due to strong sales of the ever-expanding (and increasingly targeted by lawsuits) line of Galaxy smartphones. Sales forecasts are slightly below earlier estimates, and while there's no specific numbers for each division, a Bloomberg breakdown of analyst predictions suggests there should be more good news to go around later this month.
Samsung expects record earnings for Q2 thanks to all those Galaxy phone sales originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 05 Jul 2012 20:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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How to Choose Which Trust Is Right for Your Estate | Charitable Trust
One, or more, are often included trusts, to give more control and clarity of a succession plan. If you are considering the inclusion of a trust in your estate plan, to decide which type of trust can be complicated to use. Although only able to complete a thorough consultation with an experienced and qualified estate planning lawyer of your choice in confidence, there are a number of questions you should ask yourself before you contact your attorney.
? When you have confidence to enter into force? A testamentary trust is not effective if you die while an inter vivos trust occurs, or a living trust in force during the preparation by the trustor or after a triggering event during the lifetime of the settlor, in some cases.
? To what extent do you trust? It?s a simple enough question, but an important issue. All Trusts offer a degree of control over the property under the trust was created. However, if you change to be able to modify or terminate the trust in the future, then you have a revocable trust and an irrevocable trust not.
? What is the main purpose of your trust? A trust can serve many purposes at once. For example, it can be used, among other things, tax planning, probate avoidance and protection of beneficiaries. That is, it?s a good idea to get your goals for the confidence that they can not prioritize all work well together. Discuss this with your estate planning attorney.
? What are the assets that you want to use to fund the trust? There are a variety of assets that are used can be a trust fund, but some assets to work better with certain types of trusts. For example, there are foundations and other planning strategies that are specific to the proceeds from life insurance and those who developed the well with real estate, for example.
? Are you interested in leaving one of the trust assets to charity? There are a number of foundations that are designed specifically for donations to charity. You can use a trust, which used only for donations to charity, or you can have one, the rest are creating for charity, after a long period of time.
? Who are your beneficiaries? As for the trust assets can be almost any beneficiary. Although some trusts have developed over the years to meet certain addressees. A pet trust, it is not surprising, is created when your pets the intended recipient, for example. A generation skipping trust, as the name suggests, is ideal for leaving your active grandchildren. Have received special funds are also available for people with disabilities that provide valuable services to the public, beneficiaries and even young beneficiaries in need of addiction problems, financial problems or worries you, family status available.
An attorney experienced and qualified real planning are familiar with all these concerns and planning capabilities and can lead to the correct solution to your goals and concerns of justice.
from your own site.
Source: http://www.oruwoca.org/how-to-choose-which-trust-is-right-for-your-estate
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Thursday, July 5, 2012
73 Georgians hospitalized after chlorine leak
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/73-georgians-hospitalized-chlorine-leak-070245146.html
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GlaxoSmithKline to pay $3B for health fraud
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) ? British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline will pay $3 billion in fines ? the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history ? for criminal and civil violations involving 10 drugs that are taken by millions of people.
The Justice Department said Monday that GlaxoSmithKline PLC will plead guilty to promoting popular antidepressants Paxil and Wellbutrin for unapproved uses. The company also will plead guilty to failing to report to the government for seven years some safety problems with diabetes drug Avandia, which was restricted in the U.S. and banned in Europe after it was found in 2007 to sharply increase the risks of heart attacks and congestive heart failure.
In addition to the fine, Glaxo agreed to resolve civil liability for promoting Paxil, Wellbutrin, asthma drug Advair and two lesser-known drugs for unapproved uses. The company also resolved accusations that it overcharged the government-funded Medicaid program for some drugs, and that it paid kickbacks to doctors to prescribe several drugs including Flovent for asthma and Valtrex for genital herpes.
Sir Andrew Witty, Glaxo's CEO, expressed regret Monday and said the company has learned "from the mistakes that were made."
This is the latest in a string of settlements related to drug companies putting profits ahead of patients. In recent years, the government has cracked down on drugmakers' tactics, which include marketing medicines for unapproved uses. While doctors are allowed to prescribe medicines for any use, drugmakers cannot promote them in any way that is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
"Let me be clear, we will not tolerate health care fraud," Deputy Attorney General James M. Cole said Monday during a news conference at the Justice Department in Washington.
Glaxo is scheduled to plead guilty to the criminal charges and have the settlement approved at a hearing Thursday in U.S. District Court in Boston. In addition to the $3 billion penalty ? which includes a $1 billion criminal fine and forfeiture and $2 billion to resolve civil claims ? Glaxo agreed to be monitored by the government for five years to ensure that it complies with marketing and other rules.
The case against Glaxo was originally brought in January 2003 by two whistleblowers, former Glaxo sales representatives Greg Thorpe and Blair Hamrick. In January 2011, the federal government joined in the case.
Prosecutors said Glaxo illegally promoted Paxil for treating depression in children from 1998 to 2003, even though it wasn't approved for anyone under age 18. The company also promoted Wellbutrin from 1999 through 2003 for weight loss, sexual dysfunction, substance addictions and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, although it was only approved for treatment of major depression.
Starting in 2001, Thorpe reported to his district manager, then to Glaxo's human resources department and finally to Glaxo's chief of global compliance about a number of improper marketing practices. The compliance chief began an internal investigation, which confirmed Thorpe's allegations through various ways including marketing materials and interviews with Hamrick and other sales representatives, according to lawyers for the two men.
Brian Kenney and Tavy Deming, attorneys for the two salesmen, said top management did nothing to stop the illegal practices, pressured Thorpe to resign and later fired Hamrick for allegedly not cooperating with the company's investigation of one kickback allegation.
According to Deming, Hamrick reported that at a 2000 regional meeting of sales representatives in Las Vegas, they were directed to promote Wellbutrin as the drug that makes patients happy, skinny and sexually turned on, part of a catchy national slogan repeated to doctors.
Thorpe said in a statement Monday that he was penalized after he reported kickbacks being paid to doctors and sales reps encouraging doctors to promote drugs for unapproved uses, including using Paxil and Wellbutrin in children.
"In the end, I was told that my concerns were not valid. I was put on leave" after a 24-year career, Thorpe said. He added that he was told to either "take a severance package or go back to work for the same people, doing the same things I had reported to management."
Thorpe and Hamrick ? and two other sales rep whistleblowers who joined the case shortly after them ? will receive an as-yet undecided portion of the $3 billion settlement.
The Glaxo case underscores how aggressive the Justice Department has become in going after similar cases. In a May settlement, Abbott Laboratories pleaded guilty and agreed to pay the government a $700 million criminal fine and forfeiture for promoting Depakote, approved for bipolar disorder and epilepsy, for use in patients with dementia and autism. That was on top of civil settlements with numerous states and the federal government totaling $800 million.
Prior to the Glaxo settlement, the record-setting case involved Pfizer Inc., the world's biggest drugmaker. It paid the government $2.3 billion in 2009 in criminal and civil fines for improperly marketing 13 different drugs, including erectile-dysfunction drug Viagra and cholesterol fighter Lipitor, the top-selling drug in the world for years. Pfizer was accused of encouraging doctors to prescribe its drugs with free golf, massages and junkets to posh resorts.
"For far too long, we have heard that the pharmaceutical industry views these settlements merely as the cost of doing business," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Stuart F. Delery, head of Justice's civil division. "Today's resolution seeks not only to punish wrongdoing and recover taxpayer dollars, but to ensure GSK's future compliance with the law."
___
Associated Press writer Jesse J. Holland in Washington contributed to this story.
___
Linda A. Johnson can be followed at http://twitter.com/LindaJ_onPharma
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Yak genome provides new insights into high altitude adaptation
ScienceDaily (July 5, 2012) ? An international team, led by Lanzhou University, comprising BGI, the world's largest genomics organization, Institute of Kunming Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences as well as the other 12 institutes, has completed the genomic sequence and analyses of a female domestic yak, which provides important insights into understanding mammalian divergence and adaptation at high altitude.
This study was recently published online in Nature Genetics.
As an iconic symbol of Tibet and of high altitude, the yak (Bos grunniens) is the most important domesticated species for Tibetans living at high altitude in China's Qinghai Province, which could provide meat and other basic resources, such as milk, transportation, dried dung for fuel, and hides for tented accommodation. Yaks have many anatomical and physiological traits that enable them live at high altitude, including high metabolism, acute senses, impressive foraging ability, enlarged hearts and lungs, and a lack of blood vessel constriction in the lungs when faced with relatively low oxygen conditions.
In the study, researchers sequenced the genome of a female domestic yak using high-throughput sequencing technology. The genomic data yielded 2,657Mb draft yak genome assembly that had 65-fold coverage. They also conducted transcriptome sequencing on RNA samples derived from fresh heart, liver, brain, stomach, and lung tissues collected from the same yak. Based on the transcriptome data, researchers estimated that the yak genome contains 22,282 protein-coding genes and 2.2 million heterozygous SNPs.
In order to understand evolutionary adaptation of yak to the high-altitude, the team conducted the comparative genomic analyses between yak and cattle, a closely related animal that typically lives at much lower altitudes. Although the yak and cattle were estimated to have diverged around 4.9 million years ago, many of the yak and cattle genes have remained very similar, with the two animals sharing 45 percent protein identity and 99.5 percent protein similarity. However, they identified distinct gene expansions related to sensory perception and energy metabolism-related in yak.
In addition, researchers also found an enrichment of protein domains related to the extracellular environment and hypoxic stress. Especially, they found the orthologous genes in yak related to hypoxia and nutrition metabolism had undergone positively selected and rapid evolution. For example, they found three genes that may play important roles in regulating body's response to hypoxia, or oxygen deprivation, at high-altitudes, and five genes that were related with the optimization of the energy from the poor foods in the extreme plateau.
Researchers referred that the study on high-altitude adaptation may help to improve current understanding, treatment, and prevention of altitude sickness and other hypoxia-related diseases in humans. Moreover, the yak genome provided a valuable resource for accelerating the genetic improvement of milk and meat production of this important animal.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by BGI Shenzhen.
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Journal Reference:
- Qiang Qiu, Guojie Zhang, Tao Ma, Wubin Qian, Junyi Wang, Zhiqiang Ye, Changchang Cao, Quanjun Hu, Jaebum Kim, Denis M Larkin, Loretta Auvil, Boris Capitanu, Jian Ma, Harris A Lewin, Xiaoju Qian, Yongshan Lang, Ran Zhou, Lizhong Wang, Kun Wang, Jinquan Xia, Shengguang Liao, Shengkai Pan, Xu Lu, Haolong Hou, Yan Wang, Xuetao Zang, Ye Yin, Hui Ma, Jian Zhang, Zhaofeng Wang, Yingmei Zhang, Dawei Zhang, Takahiro Yonezawa, Masami Hasegawa, Yang Zhong, Wenbin Liu, Yan Zhang, Zhiyong Huang, Shengxiang Zhang, Ruijun Long, Huanming Yang, Jian Wang, Johannes A Lenstra, David N Cooper, Yi Wu, Jun Wang, Peng Shi, Jian Wang, Jianquan Liu. The yak genome and adaptation to life at high altitude. Nature Genetics, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/ng.2343
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120705144619.htm
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Didn't send your kid to war? Maybe you can send $$
WASHINGTON (AP) ? If you have military-age children who have not served in this decade's wars, then you owe a debt ? meaning money ? to those who did. That's the premise of a new fundraising effort by three wealthy American families who want to help U.S. veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Every non-military family should give something, they said. The affluent should give large sums. No one should think of it as charity, but rather a moral obligation, an alternative way to serve, perhaps the price of being spared the anxiety that comes with having a loved one in a war zone.
"We have three able-bodied, wonderful, wonderful children, all of whom are devoted to doing very, very good things around social justice; and we could not be more proud of them," said Philip Green, a local businessman who devised the fundraising idea. "We're also delighted that none of them had to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan."
Green says he and his wife came to look at that as unfair: "I realized that there were parents just like me down the street, down the block ... who did not have that luxury" and were suffering sleepless nights and anxiety, "which I was able to avoid."
Green, president of health care consultancy PDG Consulting, and his wife Dr. Elizabeth Cobbs, head of geriatrics at Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, teamed with two other couples to start the fund-raising. Together, they donated a total of $1.1 million. Contributing with Green and Cobbs were Glenn Garland, head of Texas-based CLEAResult energy consultancy, and wife, Laurie, and Jim Stimmel, CLEAResult's executive vice president, and wife, Patty.
They hope to raise $30 million for five organizations they say are among the best at providing medical, financial and other help to veterans, active duty troops and their families. With the Fourth of July celebration approaching, they held a news conference with one of the five organizations, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA).
"Millions of Americans and their families have sacrificed so much in the conflicts and they have such needs," Stimmel said. "By contrast, so many affluent Americans have not made a commensurate sacrifice; and they should."
The issue of unequal national sacrifice has been a recurring theme during current and past conflicts and it always touches on at least two questions: Who serves in America and who doesn't? What's the responsibility of those who don't?
Most people aren't interested in joining the military. A recent Pentagon survey shows only 18 percent of American youths say they'll definitely or probably join, very low compared to decades ago. The culture surrounding service was transformed in part by the end of conscription and mandatory service.
"Clearly, young people would prefer to be doing other things," said Beth Asch, a senior economist at RAND Corporation who specializes in defense manpower issues.
The military also doesn't want most Americans. It says 75 percent of the target recruit-age population of 17-24 year-olds is unqualified due to health problems (mostly related to obesity), drug or alcohol histories, or too little education (no high school diploma).
In the end, the Pentagon says it has assembled an armed force pretty much mirroring the society it defends. That is, major racial and ethnic groups make up about the same percentage of the military as they do the society at large. The same goes for income, with one exception, Asch says: "The 20 percent (of society) with the lowest income are the least likely to serve." They're generally unqualified due to lower education and aptitude ratings. Recruits from neighborhoods where the average household income is over $100,000 also are rare, making up roughly 3 percent of the total, studies have shown.
Asch believes that not requiring all qualified people to serve makes the system inherently unfair. That today's force is all-volunteer takes some of the edge off of that but doesn't speak to inequity.
The families starting the new fundraising noted their lack of service.
Stimmel and Green didn't go to Vietnam; their sons and daughters didn't join the military during the latest conflicts. Green was disqualified during Vietnam because of health issues. Stimmel never was called because he drew a high number in that era's draft lottery. Garland watched older friends go and come home unappreciated and says he now has enormous appreciation for military families.
"We feel that supporting our troops is more than sticking a yellow sticker on the back of your car that says 'Support the Troops'," Stimmel said.
"Patty and I are challenging at least 1,000 affluent families out there to contribute 1 percent of their net worth to do their part," he said.
Every successful business person in America "has enjoyed that success because of the sacrifice of someone else's sons and daughters" in uniform, Garland said. The argument echoes a concern repeated often over the decade: War efforts have fallen on the shoulders of the few, while the lives of the many went largely unencumbered. Or as some troops have been fond of saying: "We went to war, America went to the mall."
But it's also true that there's widespread support shown today's troops and vets, especially compared to the vitriol heaped on those in uniform during Vietnam. Thousands of support groups now have sprung up around the nation ? one study estimates there are some 40,000. They provide welcoming parties as troops arrive home at airports, free housing, telephone cards, children's camps, employment help, airline miles, "nights out" for wives caring for their wounded husbands, counseling, cash and more.
Some long-established organizations have added new missions. The United Service Organization (USO), known for decades for sending entertainers to lighten the hearts of troops on the battlefield, focuses more now on care for the wounded. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce sponsors job fairs.
What it all amounts to in giving and spending is not known.
Officials and military families fear that as more troops arrive home from the ongoing drawdown in Afghanistan, Americans will lose interest or consider the problem solved.
"The veteran space (in giving) is kind of similar to the AIDS space 35 years ago," said Paul Rieckhoff, a former infantryman who served in Iraq and founded the IAVA. "You have an explosion of public health need that's impacting a small percentage of the population that most Americans don't feel."
"And in many ways the country kind of thought that AIDS was just a problem for the gay community in the same way many Americans think that veterans (are) just a problem for the military community," he said.
Many also assume the government will handle it ? something experts in the field say isn't possible as needs spiral in a struggling economy.
Rieckhoff said there's a group of donors dedicated to veteran issues, but few who give six- and seven-figure sums. The new fundraising aims not only to attract large donations, but recast the giving as a moral obligation rather than an option.
"It's not a question of, Is there money out there'," Green said. "And it's not a question of whether people should give the money. It's only a question of finding them and convincing them to give it."
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