?the looming legal row, which is due to commence on 9 January ...

The judicial review hearing is scheduled to begin on 9 January 2013.

The majority of local politicians and businessmen seem to be behind the plan. Ian Paisley Jr, a Democratic Unionist MP, described the trust?s opposition as a ?disgrace to Northern Ireland?. Golfers are also supportive. Clarke has attacked the trust for trying to block a project that he said would create 360 jobs for the local economy.

Paisley claims that the row has already prompted one potential financial backer to look elsewhere.

The trust, which has four million members around the world, is acutely aware that its decision to take legal action is controversial and almost unprecedented. But Heather Thompson, National Trust director for Northern Ireland, claims the trust had no choice: to walk away from the fight would have been a betrayal of its core beliefs and detrimental to the long-term success of Northern Ireland.

?This issue is wider than about Ireland and even the UK,? she said. ?It?s about how we use the resources we have today to ensure future generations have similar opportunities.?

In a letter to the trust?s 60,000 members in Northern Ireland, she explained: ?We passionately believe that such a development in this protected landscape is wrong ? once it?s gone, it?s gone. If this development is allowed to proceed in this special place, then the message is being dispatched that nowhere in Northern Ireland, no matter how special or protected, is safe from development.?

Unsurprisingly [Alistair Hanna, the New York-based developer behind the scheme], an evangelical Christian, has been critical of the trust?s actions. ?Those who instigate judicial reviews cost taxpayers money and slow down development, despite knowing the process can?t improve the decision,? he said on Twitter.

Source: http://sluggerotoole.com/2012/12/30/the-looming-legal-row-which-is-due-to-commence-on-9-january-could-become-a-defining-event-for-northern-ireland/

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Student Aid Report: Read it and Weep - How Will I Pay for College?

How quickly you receive the SAR depends on how you filed your FAFSA. If you file a paper FAFSA, it may take 2-3 weeks, or more. If you file electronically through the Department of Education website, your SAR can be available in 3 to 10 days. However, if you do not receive your SAR within 4 weeks, ?you should call the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-4-FED-AID or 1-319-337-5665. ?They will ask for some identification information (Social Security number, date of birth, etc), and then they will let you know if your FAFSA has been processed. You can also write to the?Federal Student Aid Information Center?for the status of your FAFSA at:

Federal Student Aid Programs

Washington, DC 52243-4038

The SAR will summarize the information on the FAFSA, and tell ?you how much Pell Grant money you qualify for, your calculated Expected Family Contribution (EFC), as well as a summary of any outstanding loans. Note also that the SAR will contain a Data Release Number (DRN), a four-digit reference number that you will need if you want to send the SAR to additional schools that you did not include when you filed your FAFSA. Students should keep a copy of their SAR in their college folder (you did start a folder, didn't you?).

If you review your SAR and find a mistake, you will need to correct or update your FAFSA. ?You can ?make changes to the FAFSA in one of three different ways:

• Online FAFSA Corrections?You can go to the FAFSA website and make online corrections by selecting "Make FAFSA Corrections" after logging in. This is the fastest way to update your application, and highly recommended. You will need the student PIN you received when initially registering at the FAFSA website.?If the student is a dependent, a parent PIN is required as well.?You can correct anything on the application except for the student's Social Security Number (SSN). If you made a mistake in reporting your SSN, ask the financial aid office at the school you plan to attend whether you should start over again and submit a new FAFSA.?The financial aid office might be able to make other changes for you electronically, as well.?
• Paper FAFSA Corrections?Write the corrections or changes directly on your paper SAR, sign it, and mail it to the address provided on the SAR (keep a copy in your folder, remember?)
• Phone FAFSA Corrections You can add a school to your FAFSA by calling the Federal Student Aid Information Center at 1-800-433-3243. You will need to provide your DRN, which is found both on your SAR and online on the FAFSA website.

After your target schools receive your SAR and prepare your financial aid package, they will send an award letter to you (which you will keep in your folder). This Financial Aid Award Notice can be confusing (perhaps even misleading), though the Department of Education is attempting to clarify and standardize this (see the second paragraph of this post).?

After you receive all of your financial aid notices, you can follow these steps to figure out your ?net cost for each school on a comparable basis, to see which school is most affordable for you.

• First, find the total cost of attendance for your program on the aid letter (you may need to?ask the financial aid office of that school if it is not clearly listed in the letter). Be ?sure it includes what you pay directly to the school (tuition, room & board, and fees) as well as other costs (living expenses, books & supplies, and transportation).
• Next, subtract the grant and scholarship amounts (Pell Grants, FSEOG, school grants/scholarships, etc) on your aid offer from the cost of attendance. This is free money that does not have to be repaid, and reduces your tuition directly. Also subtract any savings you have available to put toward your school costs for the upcoming school year (either a 529 plan or other savings). The remaining amount is your net out-of-pocket cost.
• Finally, compare the net costs for all of the schools you are considering. The net cost is the amount you will have to pay out of your pocket, using earnings from work or from student loans that you will need to apply for (or perhaps from your crowdfunding efforts!)

While all of this government paperwork might remind of filing your income taxes, I highly recommend that you do not hire one of the organizations that offer to fill out your FAFSA (or help you to fill it out). The questions are really quite simple (though some terms and acronyms can slow you down), and many won't apply to you. Just take your time, get educated, and read the paperwork carefully, and you can get through this in no time.

Source: http://www.howwillipayforcollege.com/2012/12/student-aid-report-read-it-and-weep.html

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The ITC's Proposing Some Rough Sanctions Against Patent-Infringing Samsung Phones

The Apple vs. Samsung battle is trucking along, and this time there's more bad news for Samsung. Yesterday, a somewhat censored version of presiding Judge Thomas Pender's suggested sanctions regarding the Apple's complaint to the ITC was published and it includes not only an import and sales ban on the infringing products, but also the posting of a bond for 88 percent of the value of those phones. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/0IpCJbGI-k8/the-itcs-proposing-some-rough-sanctions-against-patent+infringing-samsung-phones

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caramelize paten: victorrusso23: Shopping And Product Reviews

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The Ugly Duckling House | DIY Home Improvement Blog: Saturday ...

I suppose that it's only natural for us to enjoy seeing a little sparkle when the weather turns cold. ?Everything turns wet and gray; I can't help but want to dust a little glitter on everything around the house. ?With that idea in mind, here are six picks with the perfect amount of shimmer.

Sarah

Source: http://www.uglyducklinghouse.com/2012/12/saturday-on-six-winter-shimmer.html

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Phila. police tie construction-site arson to union sabotage

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Former Florida Supreme Court Justice Overton dies

TALLAHASSEE ? Former Florida Supreme Court Justice Ben F. Overton, a Green Bay, Wisc., native who was the first justice elected after merit-retention reforms in the 1970s, died Saturday in Gainesville after complications from heart surgery, the court announced. He was 86.

Overton was a Pinellas County judge elevated to the high court in 1974?by then-Gov. Reubin Askew?in the midst of a?series of scandals involving?justices?allowing campaign-contributors to?write draft opinions,?which prompted the governor to create a merit retention process for appointing judges. The new merit retention process process was later?written into the Constitution to allow the governor to appoint them, and then voters to retain them every six years.

?Justice Overton was one of the most influential members of the Court after the sweeping reforms of the 1970s,? Chief Justice Ricky Polston said in a statement.? ?He will be remembered not only for his far-seeing opinions but also for his efforts in the 1970s to make the state courts more accessible by allowing cameras into our courtrooms.?

Overton served as chief justice and was instrumental in getting the Supreme Court?s oral arguments televised. He retired in 1999 and continued to teach law at his alma mater, the University of Florida.

From the court statement:

Born in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Overton attended the University of Florida and later received his degree from its law school in 1952.? He also earned an LL.M in jurisprudence from the University of Virginia in 1984.
?
Overton served nearly 10 years on the Pinellas County circuit court and, for several years, as its chief judge.? He was well known for his work in legal education and dispute resolution and was Chairman of the Dispute Resolution Section of the American Bar Association.? He was also an active adjunct professor of law at the University of Florida?s Levin College of Law.
?
Predeceased by his wife Marilyn, Overton is survived by his children Judge William H. Overton, Robert M. Overton, and Catherine L. Overton; 2 grandchildren William E. and Brian H.; and one great grandchild, Adelynn.
?
Services will be held on Saturday morning, January 5, 2013 in Gainesville and Justice Overton will lie in state at the Florida Supreme Court on Monday, January 7, 2013. He will be interred in St. Petersburg, Florida on Wednesday, January 9, 2013.

Source: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2012/12/former-florida-supreme-court-justice-overton-dies.html

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Critics: Myriad blocks cancer answers by impeding data sharing ...

Patents ? Utah company says it has aided, not hindered, research, care.

Tory Galloway thought her negative result on a widely-used test sold by Utah-based Myriad Genetics Inc. cleared her DNA as a cause for her fallopian tube cancer.

She happily advised her four sisters that the disease didn?t result from a family trait. The relief from the December 2010 test, though, was short lived. In October, after getting results from a broader scan at the University of Washington that included dozens of genes, she learned the truth: Her cancer was caused by a mutation that wasn?t included in the Myriad product.

"It makes me nuts to even think about it," said Galloway, a landscape designer in Indianola, Wash.

The broader test, created by University of Washington researchers, uses technology to identify as many cancer risks as possible. There?s one problem: Such a test can?t include the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes that are the most common inherited causes for breast and ovarian cancer because Myriad owns the patents on them. This prevents other U.S. laboratories from using them in a commercial test.

In the mid-1990s, Myriad helped kick-start the gene-testing revolution by pinpointing the two BRCA genes. Now, the world?s biggest genetic testing company for breast cancer, with a market value of $2.2 billion, is under attack by researchers, genetic counselors, doctors, and their patients.

Besides stifling competitors from offering combination tests, including the BRCA genes, critics also said the company won?t share data from decades of testing that could aid research into how best to interpret screening. They said Myriad doesn?t adequately respond when other researchers find added BRCA mutations that address risks their current tests don?t cover.

"What is at stake is the way we want our health-care system to work," said Robert Cook-Deegan, a professor of public policy, biology, and medicine at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, who supports limits on gene patents. "The testing has been set up by Myriad to optimize this business model. It is not set up to optimize public health outcomes."

The dispute, which has grown in intensity as more and more cancer-causing mutations are found, has spilled out of the laboratories and clinics into the U.S. Supreme Court. A ruling next year in a case challenging Myriad?s hold on the BRCA patents could either support the company?s profit-driven motives or redefine a nascent industry in a way that affects millions of dollars in revenue.

Myriad officials reject the criticisms, saying they offer faster, more accurate testing for harmful mutations in breast cancer genes than any other laboratory in the world, and that its patents haven?t hindered research or patient care.

"Myriad has never done anything to harm patients," CEO Peter Meldrum said during an interview at his company?s headquarters in Salt Lake City. "We have the most accurate results, we give the fastest results." There has never been a reported case in which Myriad wrongly told that a woman she had a cancer-causing mutation, he said.

story continues below

Carol Mackoff, 70, a Chicago-based managing director for Rice Financial Products Co., says Myriad "saved my life."

Mackoff tested positive on a Myriad test for a BRCA1 mutation in 2002 after visiting an ovarian cancer prevention program at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, she said in a telephone interview. Within weeks, she had her ovaries removed to prevent ovarian cancer, and later in 2009 had a prophylactic double mastectomy.

Without the Myriad test, "I would have had cancer," she said. "The fact that they developed these tests and gave me a tool to work with to allow me to prevent getting cancer, I owe them everything."

Faster, cheaper DNA testing is revolutionizing medical care. Nowhere has the impact been felt more strongly than in breast cancer. A woman who tests positive using Myriad?s tests carries as much as an 80 percent chance that she will get breast cancer in her lifetime. Testing helps women take charge of their medical future, providing options that can include preventative surgery and more extensive monitoring.

Widespread use of the tests has made Myriad an unabashed financial success. The company?s testing business, led by its flagship $3,340 BRCA product, carries an 87 percent gross profit margin that in fiscal 2012 generated $496 million in sales, according to Myriad.

That?s helped boost the company?s shares 30 percent this year.

Next Page >

Copyright 2012 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/55537762-79/myriad-cancer-test-brca.html.csp

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au by KDDI is Japan?s best mobile carrier

By Ken Y-N ( December 30, 2012 at 00:54) ? Filed under Mobile, Polls

This will most likely be the last proper survey for 2012, a look by MMD, Mobile Marketing Data Laboratory, at mobile carrier satisfaction levels, as reported by japan.internet.com.

Demographics

Few demographics were given, just that on the 18th and 19th of December 2012 664 members of the MMD monitor group between the ages of 20 and 59 and who owned a smartphone from either docomo, au or SoftBank completed a private internet-based questionnaire. The results were listed alongside the results of a similar survey from May 2012.

Note that docomo only has seen a significant drop in satisfaction with signal strength and talk area; perhaps one reason is that there has been a number of network outages over the summer, and I still see occassional dropping out of my 3G signal in and around train stations at rush hour.

Research results

Note that the following question was most likely asked as describing how satisified one was, perhaps ?Satisified?, ?Somewhat Satisfied?, ?Can?t say/no answer?, ?Somewhat dissatisfied?, and ?Dissatisfied?. The two percentages for the positive answers were then added together to give the following charts.

Q: For each of the following headings, are you satisfied with your carrier?s offerings?

au by KDDI users

?	Dec 2012	May 2012
Billing plans	45.7%	45.7%
Signal strength	66.1%	64.4%
Talk area	71.7%	73.1%
Handset line-up	50.0%	37.9%
Handset price	30.7%	22.8%
Aftercare	42.9%	37.0%
Exclusive services	35.8%	?
Brand image	62.3%	?
Overall satisfaction	64.6%	55.2%

NTT docomo users

?	Dec 2012	May 2012
Billing plans	27.3%	36.8%
Signal strength	59.0%	67.2%
Talk area	68.8%	76.6%
Handset line-up	40.2%	45.0%
Handset price	17.9%	21.5%
Aftercare	44.9%	49.7%
Exclusive services	21.4%	?
Brand image	62.1%	?
Overall satisfaction	48.4%	52.8%

SoftBank users

?	Dec 2012	May 2012
Billing plans	46.4%	57.2%
Signal strength	32.1%	29.2%
Talk area	37.8%	36.9%
Handset line-up	42.8%	43.7%
Handset price	33.2%	38.5%
Aftercare	24.0%	31.1%
Exclusive services	24.5%	?
Brand image	52.6%	?
Overall satisfaction	46.9%	45.6%

Read more on: au,docomo,mmd,softbank

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/WhatJapanThinks/~3/vS2jyPmRGk4/

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REAL ESTATE: Foreclosure review filing deadline is Dec. 31 ... - blog

Posted on | December 29, 2012 | Comments

This is it, the last call.
Borrowers who believe they suffered financial harm because of errors over foreclosure action taken against them in 2009 and 2010 by any one of 27 banks or mortgage servicers have until Monday, Dec. 31, to submit a form to request a free, independent review of what happened.

If the Independent Foreclosure Review shows missteps, compensation or remediation may be awarded to the borrower in the form of a lump-sum payment, suspension or rescission of a foreclosure, a loan modification or loss mitigation help, correction of credit reports and deficiency records.

Payments can range from $500 to $125,000, plus equity, for the most egregious cases.

Since April 2011 when enforcement actions were taken by the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the deadline for eligible borrowers to apply for this review was extended from April 30 to Dec. 31 by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

The Federal Reserve imposed the extensions to encourage as much participation as possible.

More than 4.4 million people had a foreclosure filing over those two years by one of the 27 firms ? 14 banks and 13 of their subsidiaries ? over the two years. Letters were mailed to alert consumers of potential errors due to such tactics as ?robo-signing.?
Yet, only 5 percent of the potential beneficiaries sought a review before the extension was announced.
Critics claimed the letters were too obscure or too technical for consumers to understand; others accused the federal agencies of flying the Independent Foreclosure Review program under the radar to protect banks.

Even now, the number for filers is slim.
As of Dec. 19, a Federal Reserve spokeswoman said there were 405,262 homeowners or former homeowners across the United States who filed for a review.

As of Sept. 27, only 234,323 requests had been made for a review. Of 769,593 California borrowers who could be affected ? 78,222 in Riverside County and 62,643 in San Bernardino County ? only 42,402 requests had been made.

In the two-county region, only 4,343 requests had been made by Riverside County based borrowers and only 3,661 had been made by San Bernardino County based borrowers as of Sept. 27, according to the OCC.

Rose Mayes, executive director of Riverside Fair Housing Council, said she thinks the low response was due to a lack of awareness on the part of homeowners about the review process and a strong view by homeowners who?d lost their homes to move on.
?A lot of people either didn?t know they might be eligible for those funds, or, went on there way and tried to put that behind them.?
Others say they were afraid their request for a review would preclude them from taking other actions related to their foreclosures.
That?s not so: A servicer is not permitted to require a borrower to sign a waiver of the borrower?s ability to pursue claims against the servicer in order to receive compensation under the Independent Foreclosure Review.

So what?s the take-out from this?
There?s still time to apply for this no-cost review: More information, including how to apply online, is available at http://www.independentforeclosurereview.com

The official Independent Foreclosure Review website has produced a bilingual video detailing the program.

Here are some more particulars on the process, and a link offering answers to frequently asked questions:

Borrowers are eligible for an independent foreclosure review if they meet this criteria:
1. The property securing the loan was the borrower?s primary residence.
2. The mortgage was in the foreclosure process ? initiated, pending or completed ? between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2010.
3. The mortgage was serviced by any one of the following: America?s Servicing Co., Aurora Loan Services, BAC Home Loans Servicing, Bank of America, Beneficial, Chase, Citibank, CitiFinancial, CitiMortgage, Countrywide, EMC Mortgage Corp., EverBank/EverHome Mortgage, Financial Freedom, GMAC Mortgage, HFC, HSBC, IndyMac Mortgage Services, MetLife Bank, National City Mortgage, PNC Mortgage, Sovereign Bank, SunTrust Mortgage, U.S. Bank, Wachovia Mortgage, Washington Mutual, Wells Fargo Bank, Wilshire Credit Corp.
If you previously filed a complaint with these servicers about foreclosures pending during the review period, you may still seek an independent review of your foreclosure. There are no costs associated with being included in the review; the review is a free program. Beware of anyone who wants payment to assist you in connection with the independent foreclosure review or any other foreclosure assistance program.
Letters were mailed out to potentially eligible borrowers in November and December 2011. If you believe you meet the criteria, but did not get a letter, call 888-952-9105 on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. (ET) and Monday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. (ET)

For more information, and the online link to apply for the review, www.IndependentForeclosureReview.com.

?

Written by: Debra Gruszecki on December 29, 2012.on December 28, 2012.

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Source: http://blog.pe.com/real-estate/2012/12/29/real-estate-foreclosure-review-filing-deadline-is-dec-31/

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Say cheese! Mars Rover snaps amazing self-portrait

NASA has snapped its most amazing self-portrait yet of the Curiosity rover on Mars, showing the robot posing with its ultimate destination: a huge Martian mountain.

The new view of Curiosity on Mars is actually a mosaic of dozens of high-definition color photos taken by the rover between Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. The image shows Curiosity surrounded by the tracks of its wheels, with the 3-mile-high (5 kilometers) Mount Sharp rising into the sky in the distance.

NASA featured the latest Curiosity portrait as its image of the day Thursday (Dec. 27) after releasing the photo earlier this month.

The prominent Mount Sharp is the central peak of Curiosity's vast Gale Crater landing site. Another mountain in the image, on the rover's left, makes up the northern wall of the expansive crater.

To create the eye-popping Mars photo, Curiosity used its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), a powerful camera mounted at the end of the rover's robotic arm. Curiosity turned the camera on itself much like a human tourist might when traveling alone, snapping a series of photos that rover team members then stitched together into a high-definition composite view.

The rover had to move its robotic arm through more than 50 positions in a single day to capture its entire car-size body on camera. ?NASA scientists used a test version of Curiosity on Earth to practice the Martian photo session.

NASA unveiled an earlier version of Curiosity portrait, composed out of 55 separate images, in early November, but the latest view includes significantly more detail and a wider view.

The Mars rover Curiosity is headed toward a spot near the base of Mount Sharp called Glenelg, and will continue to perform experiments along the way. The $2.5 billion rover's primary mission is to determine if its Gale crater landing site could have ever supported primitive microbial life.

Follow SPACE.com on Twitter?@Spacedotcom. We're also on?Facebook?&?Google+.

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/cheese-mars-rover-curiosity-snaps-amazing-self-portrait-172022583.html

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10 Great Apps for a Teacher?s New iPad | iPad Apps for School

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Samsung offers free flip covers and TecTiles for GS III and Note II device registrations

If you just received a Galaxy S III or a Note II this holiday season, you could do yourself a favor and register it on Samsung's Facebook page to get even more goodies from Santa Sammy. What do you get in exchange for handing over some personal details and giving the Korean company access to your timeline? Why, a free flip cover and six TecTiles, which usually go for about $15 for a pack of five. We haven't heard much about wide adoption of these programmable NFC tags, but maybe it'll gain some traction after a recent 3.0 app update and this promotional giveaway. We're not sure why the offer doesn't extend to other Samsung phones, but maybe they just don't have enough of those pastel covers to go around.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

Comments

Via: Android Central

Source: Facebook (Samsung)

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/JxxlflCl5Es/

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Senate approves $60.4 billion Sandy aid bill

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Senate on Friday approved a $60.4 billion emergency spending aid package for victims of Hurricane Sandy that had been backed by Senate Democrats.

Democrats had to turn back Republican efforts to cut programs such as $150 million in fisheries aid that Republican lawmakers said was unrelated to the storm that hammered the East Coast late in October. The measure cleared the Senate on a 62-32 vote, with 12 Republicans supporting the bill. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., was the only Democrat to vote against the bill, but he later switched his vote to support the measure.

The bill faces uncertain prospects in the House, where GOP leaders appear reluctant to move quickly on a big spending bill in the final days of a lame duck session. Congress' attention is focused on talks over the so-called fiscal cliff of tax hikes and automatic spending cuts.

Sandy was blamed for at least 120 deaths and battered coastline areas from North Carolina to Maine. New York, New Jersey and Connecticut were the hardest hit states and suffered high winds, flooding and storm surges. Sandy damaged or destroyed more than 72,000 homes and businesses in New Jersey. In New York, 305,000 housing units were damaged or destroyed and more than 265,000 businesses were affected.

Senate Republicans failed on an amendment for a smaller package of about $24 billion in aid for Sandy, which was the most costly natural disaster since Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and one of the worst storms ever in the Northeast.

House GOP leaders have not said how they plan to proceed. But House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers of Kentucky has said Congress should probably begin with a smaller aid package for immediate recovery needs and wait until more data can be collected about storm damage before approving additional money next year.

Rep. Paul Ryan, the 2012 GOP vice presidential nominee and a leading House fiscal conservative, has criticized the Democratic bill as "packed with funding for unrelated items, such as commercial fisheries in American Samoa and roof repair of museums in Washington, D.C."

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., urged House leaders to "put this bill on the floor quickly and allow a vote." If the House balks, Schumer said, the Senate bill provides "very good groundwork" for seeking Sandy aid next year.

The measure includes $11.5 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency's chief disaster relief fund and $17 billion for community development block grants, much of which would help homeowners repair or replace their homes. Another $11.7 billion would help repair New York City's subways and other mass transit damage and protect them from future storms. Some $9.7 billion would go toward the government's flood insurance program. The Army Corps of Engineers would receive $5.3 billion to mitigate flood future risks and rebuild damaged projects.

Senate Republicans said much of the spending in the Democratic bill was for projects unrelated to Sandy, such as $150 million for fisheries disasters that could go to Alaska as well as Gulf Coast and New England states. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., sought to strip the fisheries funding, but his amendment failed.

To court votes, Democrats last week broadened some of their bill's provisions to cover damage from Hurricane Isaac, which struck the Gulf Coast earlier this year. A provision was added to the $2.9 billion allotted to Army Corps of Engineers projects to reduce future flooding risks; the coverage area for that program will now include areas hit by Isaac in addition to Sandy. Democrats also shifted $400 million into a community development program for regions suffering disasters, beyond areas struck by Sandy.

A Coburn amendment to reduce the federal share of costs for the Army Corps of Engineer projects to reduce future flooding risks also failed.

Most of the money in the $60.4 billion bill ? $47.4 billion ? is for immediate help for victims and other recovery and rebuilding efforts. The aid is intended to help states rebuild public infrastructure like roads and tunnels, and help thousands of people displaced from their homes.

"It will actually put people to work in their own communities, rebuilding their own communities," said Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.

GOP Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Coburn, two frequent critics of government spending, targeted what they called "questionable" spending in the Democratic bill, including $2 million for roof repairs at Smithsonian Institution museums and $58 million in subsidies for tree planting on private properties. A McCain amendment to strip the tree subsidies failed.

Republicans also criticized $13 billion in the Democratic bill for projects to protect against future storms, including fortifying mass transit systems in the Northeast. Republicans said however worthy such projects may be, they are not urgently needed and should be considered by Congress in the usual appropriations process next year.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that only about $9 billion of the $60.4 billion proposed by Democrats would be spent over the next nine months. The Democratic bill included many large infrastructure projects that often require years to complete, but Republicans said the CBO estimate of such drawn-out spending undercuts the urgency of the Democrats' aid package.

More than $2 billion in federal funds has been spent so far on relief efforts for 11 states and the District of Columbia. FEMA's disaster relief fund still has about $4.3 billion, and officials have said that is enough to pay for recovery efforts into early spring.

New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, District of Columbia, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, New Hampshire, Delaware, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts are receiving federal aid.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-approves-60-4-billion-sandy-aid-bill-000348278.html

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Business Planning & Execution for a Building Materials Firm

Product : uPVC Windows (Building Materials)

Challenge : A small Indian company was struggling with this business and was not clear on the path forward direction and actions. They hired us to frame a business plan and assist them in executing to turnaround the business.

?Action Plan : An initial assessment on Market ( size & trend), Channel (distribution & end customers), Competition ( price, product, presence), Suppliers ( materials, machines, labor), Government ( regulations) was done in association with the client. Based on the outcome from this research and analysis, the business proposal was done- which included giving them :

?a projection over next 5 years for uPVC market in the relevant geography,

• this showed some healthy trends due to high rate of construction and
• penetration of uPVC in traditional windows market replacing other traditional products like Al, Wood
• coming up of major builders in the region meant higher usage of these windows and a more discerning customer, moving up from price consideration alone
• the market survey revealed that while the market was competitive there was a space for one local brand to emerge as the leader provided they could differentiate themselves analysis on market attractiveness and competitiveness was done to figure out the right sales & marketing strategy.
• Organization SWOT revealed certain internal processes and systems to be realigned as per market needs.

Results

The discussions brought a lot of insight for the client in many ways as they had a better grip of market size and directions (as a result of quantification of opportunity) . This helped them align to making changes in line with market needs. Based on these inputs a business plan was prepared for next 5 years, which clearly identified the revenue, profitability and cash flows potential from the business. The market opportunity plan have been drawn up and getting aligned with all stakeholders. This will be followed with the 3 year business plan and execution.

Source: http://www.expandinindia.net/blog/business-planning-execution-for-building-materials-firm/

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Your Primer to Large Format Photography ? Tuts+ Premium | Design ...

We have another?Photo Premium tutorial exclusively available to Premium members today. In this tutorial, we?ll be taking a look at large format photography and why it?s still relevant. Learn more after the jump!

In this tutorial, we?ll take a step-by-step look at a common large format, the 4?5 Speed Graphics camera, how it?s used, and why people still shoot with them. This will give you a good foundation to decide if large format photography is right for you, and it will help you get started if you want to try it.

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This is a really interesting technique to perfect, and you?ll be really pleased with the result! This Premium tutorial will help you get started with ease.

For those unfamiliar, the family of Tuts+ sites runs a premium membership service. For $19 per month, you gain access to exclusive premium tutorials, screencasts, and freebies from Phototuts+,?Nettuts+,?Psdtuts+,?Cgtuts+,Activetuts+,?Aetuts+,?Audiotuts+, and?Vectortuts+! For the price of a pizza, you?ll learn from some of the best minds in the business.

Become a Premium member and download this tutorial today!

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Is there a specific technical aspect of photography that you really want to learn more about? How about a very advanced technique that you could never quite grasp fully?

We really want to make our Premium content as relevant and useful to you as possible, so do send through your comments and requests to?photo@tutsplus.com. Let us know what you want to see, and we?ll commission top-notch photographers to teach you!

Source: http://design.findfollowtweet.com/your-primer-to-large-format-photography-tuts-premium/

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Can You Fire An Employee After Your BDSM Fling Sours ...

Yeah, if anyone asks it's a yo-yo.

A toy store tryst involving rough sex has resulted in a wrongful termination lawsuit.

Ever been in a relationship that was terrible, and your partner wasn't necessarily good in bed but knew the stuff you liked? Right then, I ? I mean you ??stuck around because the thought of admitting to a new person what you were into was terrifying and then teaching them how to do it properly was a headache just to contemplate. I ? again, you ? have all been there. Unfortunately, a New York toy shop manager took things a bit too far.

More from YourTango: Post-Christmas Shopping: What To Buy With Your Gift Cards

Per Canoe, a 26-year-old toy store employee is suing her former boss because he wanted to fire her after she broke up with him when their relationship veered into territory well-explored by the feature film Secretary. The vigorous rogering was one thing but their trysts went down a painful path. The suit references these bad times as, "increasing acts of 'rough' sexual activities, including hitting, slapping and biting."

But of course there is another wrinkle to this story. The store's boss thought that he had purchased his employee's complicity in indulging his sexual proclivities by way of a raise, from doubling her income to $60K (before taxes, she's not playing for the Yankees) to even covering some of her other expenses including rent. As you can imagine, he was not pleased with getting dumped. The suit alleges that he soon began putting his ducks in a row to terminate from employment as she terminated him from their dangerous sexual arrangement (allegedly).

What can we learn from this? Obviously, there's that old thing about not pooping wear you sleep/eat. But mostly, it reminds me that grown men who hang around toys all the time can turn violent and horny.

More from YourTango: Matchmaking Tips: How to Set Up Your Friends

Given this new information, it's a surprise that Santa's workshop can make it until December 26th to commence their two-week coke-fueled BDSM orgy.

More juicy stories from Yourtango:

Source: http://www.yourtango.com/2012169143/weird-news-can-you-fire-employee-after-your-bdsm-fling-sours

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7 Strategic Ways to Seek Startup PR | Business 2 Community

? by picturing_it

It feels great to be covered by the media, but unless there?s a business goal for getting press, it often doesn?t lead to any useful outcome ? aside from allaying your parents? fears that you don?t have a real job.

Often, the goal of PR for startups is not for the obvious reasons. Here are the 7 objectives I?ve seen startups reach using PR ? and how you can apply them to your strategy.

Goal #1: User or customer acquisition

This is the most common reason startups seek press, but it?s often misguided, or entrepreneurs? expectations are set too high. Viral and word-of-mouth marketing are usually more powerful channels for startups, but press is a great way to get the loop going. Every virus needs a patient zero.

Jason M. Lemkin, the CEO and founder of EchoSign wrote that press, ?mainly TechCrunch? along with networking, ?over time generated perhaps 25 percent of our first $100k [in annualized revenue] directly or indirectly.? After about a year, EchoSign?s top source of new revenue was viral.

Where to target: Whatever your perspective customers or users read. A tool for small business might pitch Inc., while a sports app could target ESPN.

Goal #2: Boosting SEO rankings

If you know anything about search engines post-AltaVista, you know your site will be ranked more highly based on how many credible sites link to it. Getting wide press coverage across a verity of press outlets is a great way to build links. If this is your goal, make sure the press outlet actually links to your company. If they don?t, email the journalist after the article is published and politely ask them add a link to their mention.

It?s even better if you can get linked to from articles that have SEO friendly-titles. Muck Rack still gets a lot of traffic from a 2009 article on Journalistics titled ?Where to Stalk Journalists on Twitter? since people keep discovering it for the first time via search.

Where to target: Focus on low-hanging fruit to build a lot of links. It?s often easier to get a quick hit in a publication?s online-only blog rather than its print or TV arms.

Goal #3: Building credibility and trust

Companies including Kickstarter and Mint list the press outlets that have covered them on their front page. Even Temple Run, one of the most popular iPhone games with over a million user ratings, lists press quotes on its App Store page. If they still need a credibility boost despite their tremendous scale, your tiny startup might too.

Where to target: Go for big names. It?s doubtful NPR is anywhere near the top traffic referrer for Kickstarter, but it?s the perfect endorsement for the crowd they?re targeting.

Goal #4: Attracting advertisers

If you?re a programmer building an ad-supported business, you?ll soon learn that media buyers don?t read Hacker News to learn how to do their job better like you do. They read their own set of ?ad rags? aimed at the mad men and women of today, and get ideas about which new companies to call up about their next ad buy. Even ubiquitous companies like Facebook and Twitter with little to gain in general notoriety from media will put a tremendous amount of effort to getting the right kind of coverage in Ad Age.

Where to target: Ad Age, Adweek and Digiday.

Goal #5: Raising money

Many venture capitalists and angel investors spend a tremendous about of time reading news about the industries they invest in. Union Square Venture?s Fred Wilson wrote, ?I do read news pretty much non stop throughout the day.? Prominent angel investor Chris Dixon went further and said, ?A person mentioning news that I didn?t know about, that is relevant to me, is a failure in my newsreading methods.?

A story can be aimed at investors perhaps by mentioning impressive usage metrics or key hires. VC associates who don?t have decision-making power may then reach out to you, so you?ll usually be better off getting introduced to a partner, but having well-timed press can generate more excitement as your meetings are happening.

Where to target: TechCrunch, PandoDaily, GigaOm and the Wall Street Journal.

Goal #6: Hiring strategies

Similar to investors, potential employees will want to get involved with companies they hear good things about. People actively looking for their next job will start reading almost as much as VCs.

Zendesk provided Business Insider with a tour of their office, which inevitably got turned into a slideshow with an impressive 70,000+ views. Potential customers won?t care much about Zendesk?s two fully-stocked kitchens, but it?s surely a nice recruiting tool.

Where to target: Whatever your potential employees read. If you?re hiring developers, aim for the sources that get quoted a lot in Hacker News and Techmeme.

Goal #7: Testing out a new idea

I recently met with the managing director of an accelerator that strives to adhere to the lean startup?s minimum viable product (MVP) philosophy. He lamented that the whole point of the MVP is to validate an idea or learn from users and customers, but many startups only get the products out to their friends and family for feedback. Without a bunch of users, and for consumer apps a wide variety of users, how can you know if your MVP?s right for the market? Imagine if Pinterest had relied only on their techie friends for feedback rather than getting it out more broadly across the country.

We?ve been able to use press coverage to quickly learn from users how to improve good products, and also to learn quickly if a product is a dud and needs to be completely rethought. The faster you get users the more quickly you can learn.

Where to target: Blogs that cover new product launches like The Next Web, BetaKit and Mashable.

PR?s not the answer to everything, and I?m not advocating you necessarily use PR for any of these functions since it depends on the dynamics of your startup.

But if you are going to use PR as many startups have done very effectively, it?s essential you know what you want to accomplish with it ? so that you get more than a Google Alert out of it.

Gregory Galant is the Co-Founder of Muck Rack, a social network for journalists and companies seeking press, and the executive producer of the Shorty Awards. To help fellow entrepreneurs, he also created Venture Voice, a podcast with the founders of Twitter, LinkedIn, The Vanguard Group and more. He is a mentor for TechStars NY. BusinessWeek named him one of the ?Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs of 2010.?

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world?s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

Source: http://www.business2community.com/public-relations/7-strategic-ways-to-seek-startup-pr-0361857

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Super-Tasting Science: Find Out if You're a Supertaster!

A taste test from Science Buddies

By Science Buddies

To supertasters, the flavors of foods are much stronger than to average tasters. Image: flickr/veteze.com

• 

  How does a Venus flytrap know when to snap shut? Can it actually feel an insect?s tiny, spindly legs? And how do cherry blossoms know when to bloom? Can they...

  Read More??

Introduction
Have you ever noticed that some people are a lot pickier about the food they eat than other people are? They might be more selective because they are supertasters! To supertasters, the flavors of foods are much stronger than to average tasters. Whether or not someone is a supertaster comes down to the taste buds on his or her tongue, and you can actually investigate a person's supertaster status by looking at this. Are you a supertaster? Find out with this tongue-based activity!
??
Background
Do you hate the taste of broccoli? Or think that grapefruit is extremely bitter? If so, you may be able to blame it on your taste buds! Taste buds, located on small bumps on the tongue called fungiform papillae, are each made up of about 50 to 150 taste receptor cells. On the surface of these cells are receptors that bind to small molecules related to flavor. Each receptor is best at sensing a single flavor: sweet, salty, bitter, sour, or umami. The sum total of these sensations is the "taste" of the food.

The number of taste buds varies from person to person. People who have relatively more taste buds are called supertasters. To supertasters, foods may have much stronger flavors, which often leads to supertasters having very strong likes and dislikes for different foods. Supertasters often report that foods like broccoli, cabbage, spinach, grapefruit and coffee taste very bitter. The opposite of supertasters are non-tasters. Non-tasters have very few taste buds and, to them, most food may seem bland and unexciting. The people in the middle are average tasters. Which kind of taster do you think you are? What about your friends and family?

Materials

• Paper-hole reinforcers (one for each volunteer)?or clean wax paper, a standard hole puncher and scissors (instructions below)
• Water and soap
• At least five volunteers (such as friends and family)
• Blue food coloring
• One glass of water for each volunteer
• Magnifying glass
• A bright light or flashlight
• Scrap of paper and a pen or pencil

Preparation

• If you do not have paper-hole reinforcers, wash your hands with soap, take a clean piece of wax paper, and punch one hole in it for each volunteer. Cut out each hole so that you have at least five, small wax paper "rings."

Procedure

• Wash your hands thoroughly with soap.
• Have the first volunteer open his or her mouth. Place a drop of blue food coloring on the tip of his or her tongue. Do not let the tip of the food coloring tube touch the volunteer's tongue.
• Have the volunteer take a mouthful of water, swish it around in his or her mouth, and then spit it out.
• Ask the volunteer to make his or her tongue relatively dry by swallowing a couple of times. The remaining dye should stain all of the tongue blue except for the fungiform papillae, which will look like relatively large, lighter blue or pink bumps (in a sea of dark blue). These papillae are where the taste buds are.
• Put a wax paper ring (that you prepared) or a paper-hole reinforcer on the tip of the volunteer's tongue, in the area that has been dyed.
• Using a magnifying glass under bright light, count the number of papillae within the hole. How many papillae are within the hole? Write this number down along with the volunteer's name. Tip: Don't count the really tiny bumps ? just count the larger ones.
• Your volunteer can now remove the paper ring or paper-hole reinforcer from his or her tongue.
• Repeat the entire procedure with at least four more volunteers. Before testing each volunteer, wash your hands thoroughly with soap, and use a new cup with fresh water for each person. If you want to try this on yourself, have someone else count your papillae, or count them in a mirror.
• How many papillae did most people have? Did people have different amounts of papillae, with some having a lot more than others? Knowing that if a person has more than 30 papillae they are considered a supertaster, were there any supertasters in your volunteer group? If so, how many?
• Extra: Repeat this activity with at least 25 more volunteers, for a total of at least 30 people. What percentage of people in this larger group turns out to be supertasters? What percentage are non-tasters, having fewer than 15 papillae? What percentage has between 15 and 30 papillae, and are average tasters?
• Extra: Try this activity again but this time use an equal number of male and female volunteers, with at least 15 of each. Do males and females have the same likelihood of being a supertaster?
• Extra: Look into how different foods, like spinach and chili peppers, taste to the different types of tasters. Based on this, can you make a taste-test to figure out who is a supertaster? Check how accurate your taste-test is by also counting the papillae for each person.
• Extra: You can use a person's body mass index (BMI, formulas for which can be found online) and their results from this activity to try to figure out if there is a correlation between people's weight and the type of taster they are (supertaster, non-taster, or average taster). Do you find a correlation? Are supertasters more likely to be underweight, average, or above weight?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=26b2ce15e9c30cc1d961ff33fe2c2ffa

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Concrete Patio Designs | Home Improvement | Patio Design Ideas

A good placement concrete patios can turn into extremely appealing areas of a certain landscape. If you achieve it correctly, concrete patio designs could possibly be very economic but attractive. Considering that concrete is actually long lasting, it?ll be capable to resist significant forces of weather. Home owners will enjoy this concrete patio plenty of years. Today?s, concrete is actually one of the most multipurpose building resources for patios, considering that most of the outdoor routines ? particularly in your backyards, get well carried out on concrete and you?ll effortlessly purchase it. Repairs and maintenance of the concrete is pretty simple as you have to do is wash and clean frequently.

There are many of well-known concrete patio designs where you could possibly choose to create your own design and style. You may use a smooth surface to the patio; you only need to make it softer by using a bit of acid etching and sandblast. A mix of both can produce good quality concrete patio flooring. Regardless of this, imprinting is another alternative to create concrete patio floor. It can be actually a method to produce a customized look over imprinting. Between the most commonly used imprinting recommendations are generally stones, plain/decorative tiles, wood or bricks. There is a way to adding permanent color towards the concrete is giving a bit of color in to the blend just before pouring it. There are lots of color choices; still smooth and also all-natural colors generally appear excellent to handle with concrete improving patio. Various other wonderful options might be shades among light grey or cream-colored and smooth peach.

We will consider the staining alternative right now. Many folks discover concrete staining a good choice for toning his or her concrete or wood floor appear completely new, great-looking and also making an matured seem greatly quite like all natural stones. Furthermore, staining may possibly also shield the concrete from numerous severity of rough weather. Stain coats sometimes need to be put on the concrete to shield from sunlight, rainfall, or any other bad weather which usually decrease the colors that are being used. Some individuals discover ?scoring? valuable. It?s all around producing designs of elegant squares and is thus an alternative idea between stunning concrete patio designs. Squares could possibly be designed with many different shapes or dimensions.

Recommended suggestion is to begin with square designs ranging among eighteen and twenty four inches. To prevent your concrete becoming cracked all the construction hinge or joints it must be combined with each other within the scoring design. Doing this way, the structuring process can mix properly with bigger ranges of landscape design patios and also decks with swimming pool. Stamped concrete is one more option. Almost, people discover this kind of design attractive, because these patterns tend to be easily reachable. It?s all around pouring the piece concrete to the patio and after that impressing different of designs or texture ahead of things become tough and also dried out.

Today?s, almost all of the folks are considering using concrete for improving and decorating their house. The best factor regarding concrete is that you could set a variety of shapes, colors and also textures which can be very easy to design. This can get quite tough as well as simple to manage giving you have correctly used the procedure. Make use of your creativity to create the perfect appearance concrete patio designs.

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Source: http://www.atarimdesign.com/concrete-patio-designs.html

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CAR rebels say they don't intend to seize capital

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) ? A leader for the rebels seizing towns across Central African Republic said Wednesday that his fighters do not intend to advance on the capital and remain open to dialogue with the government.

The announcement comes as fear grows in Bangui, a city of about 600,000 people, that government forces could face off against rebels here.

While the rebels have taken hold of at least 10 towns, the closest one is still 385 kilometers (240 miles) away.

Rebel Col. Djouma Narkoyo said Wednesday that his forces have continued taking towns in recent days because government forces are attacking their positions.

"Our intention is not to take Bangui," he said, when reached by phone. "We still remain open to dialogue."

There is unease, though, in the capital of Bangui. Residents here say they're skeptical about the claim the rebels don't intend to try and seize this city.

"We are afraid by what we see happening in our country right now," said Leon Modomale, a civil servant in the capital. "It's as if the rebels are going to arrive in Bangui any moment now because there are too many contradictions in their language."

Protesters gathered outside the French and U.S. embassies in Bangui on Wednesday, calling on the countries to help halt the rebel advance.

The rebel advance began earlier this month, with a push by the Union for the Democratic Forces for Unity, known by its French acronym of UFDR in this former French colony.

The group signed an April 13, 2007 peace accord, which paved the way for the fighters to join the regular army, an accord that the group's leaders say was never properly implemented.

Central African Republic is a desperately poor, landlocked country that has suffered numerous rebellions since independence from France.

Despite the nation's wealth of gold, diamonds, timber and uranium, the government remains perpetually cash-strapped.

U.S. special forces troops have deployed to Central African Republic among other countries in the region in the hunt for Joseph Kony, the fugitive rebel leader of the notorious Lord's Resistance Army.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/car-rebels-dont-intend-seize-capital-151130464.html

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France: Protecting interests, not regime in CAR

BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) ? French President Francois Hollande said Thursday that France wants to protect its interests in Central African Republic and not a regime, casting doubt that the former colonial power will come to the aid of the government facing a rapid rebel offensive.

The rebels already have seized at least 10 towns across the sparsely populated north of this deeply impoverished country, and residents in the capital of 600,000 people now fear the insurgents could attack at any time.

On Wednesday, protesters threw rocks at the French Embassy in Bangui, the capital, criticizing France for failing to do more.

About 200 French soldiers are already in the country, providing technical and logistical support and helping to train the local army, according to the French defense ministry.

France, though, is focusing its efforts for the time being on encouraging peace talks.

"France is calling on all parties in the Central African Republic to negotiate in good faith at the talks that will begin shortly in Libreville (Gabon)," the French foreign ministry said Thursday.

Central African Republic has suffered decades of army revolts, coups and rebellions since it gained independence in 1960. The rebels behind the most recent instability signed a 2007 peace accord, allowing them to join the regular army, but the group's leaders say the deal wasn't fully implemented.

The rebel Union for the Democratic Forces for Unity, known by its French acronym of UFDR, claims its attacks are justified in light of the "thirst for justice, for peace, for security and for economic development of the people of Central African Republic."

Among their demands is that the government make payments to ex-combatants, suggesting that their motives may also be for personal financial gain.

Rebel Col. Djouma Narkoyo insisted Wednesday that "our intention is not to take Bangui. We still remain open to dialogue."

Bangui residents, though, are skeptical.

"We are afraid by what we see happening in our country right now," said Leon Modomale, a civil servant in the capital. "It's as if the rebels are going to arrive in Bangui any moment now because there are too many contradictions in their language."

President Francois Bozize, a former military commander, came to power in a 2003 rebel war that ousted his predecessor, Ange-Felix Patasse.

Despite the nation's wealth of gold, diamonds, timber and uranium, the government remains perpetually cash-strapped.

U.S. special forces troops have deployed to Central African Republic among other countries in the region to assist in the hunt for Joseph Kony, the fugitive rebel leader of the notorious Lord's Resistance Army.

___

Associated Press writers Lori Hinnant in Paris and Krista Larson in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/france-protecting-interests-not-regime-car-091633565.html

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Iraq: New protests break out in Sunni heartland

RAMADI, Iraq (AP) ? Thousands of Iraqi demonstrators massed in a Sunni-dominated province west of Baghdad Wednesday, determined to keep up the pressure on a Shiite-led government that many accuse of trying to marginalize them.

It was the third major protest in less than a week in Anbar, Iraq's largest province, once the heart of the deadly Sunni insurgency that erupted after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The unrest is part of a larger picture of sectarian conflicts that threaten the stability of the country, a year after the last U.S. troops left.

The demonstrations follow the arrest last week of 10 bodyguards assigned to Finance Minister Rafia al-Issawi, who comes from Anbar and is one of the central government's most senior Sunni officials. The case is exacerbating tensions with Iraq's Sunnis, who see the detentions as politically motivated.

Protesters turned out Wednesday near the provincial capital Ramadi, 115 kilometers (70 miles) west of Baghdad. The city and nearby Fallujah were the scenes of some of the deadliest fighting between U.S. troops and Iraqi insurgents.

Demonstrators gathered along a highway linking Baghdad with neighboring Jordan and Syria. They held banners demanding that Sunni rights be respected and calling for the release of Sunni prisoners in Iraqi jails. "We warn the government not to draw the country into sectarian conflict," read one. Another declared: "We are not a minority."

Al-Issawi made an appearance at the rally, arriving in a long convoy of black SUVs protected by heavily armed bodyguards. He condemned last week's raid on his office and rattled off a list of grievances aimed at Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government.

"Injustice, marginalization, discrimination and double standards, as well as the politicization of the judiciary system and a lack of respect for partnership, law and constitution ... have all turned our neighborhoods in Baghdad into huge prisons surrounded by concrete blocks," he declared.

Iraq's majority Shiites rose to power following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein's Sunni-dominated regime, though the country's minority Sunni Arabs and Kurds do hold some posts in the government.

Many Sunnis see the arrest of the finance minister's guards as the latest in a series of moves by the Shiite prime minister against their sect and other perceived political opponents. Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, one of the country's highest-ranking Sunni politicians, is now living in exile in Turkey after being handed multiple death sentences for allegedly running death squads ? a charge he dismisses as politically motivated.

"This sit-in will remain open-ended until the demonstrators' demands are met, and until the injustice against ends," cleric Hamid al-Issawi told The Associated Press at the protest. He accused al-Maliki's government of trying to create rifts between Sunnis and Shiites.

"These practices are aimed at drawing the country into a sectarian conflict again by creating crisis and targeting prominent national figures," the cleric said.

Al-Maliki has defended the arrests of the finance minister's guards as legal and based on warrants issued by judicial authorities. He also recently warned against a return to sectarian strife in criticizing the responses of prominent Sunni officials to the detentions.

In a recent statement, the prime minister dismissed the rhetoric as political posturing ahead of provincial elections scheduled for April and warned his opponents not to forget the dark days of sectarian fighting "when we used to collect bodies and chopped heads from the streets."

The political tensions are rising at a sensitive time. Iraq's ailing President Jalal Talabani is incapacitated following a serious stroke last week and is being treated in a German hospital. The 79-year-old president, an ethnic Kurd, is widely seen as a unifying figure with the clout to mediate among the country's ethnic and sectarian groups.

Also Wednesday, the United Nations mission to Iraq said its monitors have determined that a hospital that treated a member of an Iranian exile group who died this week at a refugee camp near Baghdad did not consider his health condition serious enough to warrant hospitalization when he arrived for treatment in November.

An organization representing the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq exile group on Monday accused Iraqi authorities of preventing 56-year-old Behrooz Rahimian from being hospitalized, and alleged that the U.N. failed to take sufficient steps to intervene. Iraq considers the MEK a terrorist group and wants its members out of the country.

The U.N. mission in Baghdad said in a statement Wednesday that it "does not have any indication so far that treatment was obstructed by the Iraqi authorities." It noted that representatives for the refugee residents told U.N. monitors that Rahimian "appeared to be in good condition until the time of his death."

___

Associated Press writers Adam Schreck and Sinan Salaheddin contributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-protests-break-sunni-heartland-094604805.html

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Toyota seeks to settle acceleration cases for $1.1 billion

DETROIT (Reuters) - Toyota Motor Corp plans to spend $1.1 billion to resolve sweeping U.S. class-action litigation over claims that millions of its vehicles accelerate unintentionally, as the Japanese automaker looks to turn the page on the biggest safety crisis in its history.

About 16 million Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles sold in the United States spanning the model years 1998 to 2010 are covered by the action, according to court filings made public on Wednesday. Thirty nameplates are affected, including the top-selling Toyota Camry midsize sedan and Corolla compact car.

Toyota, the No. 3 automaker in the U.S. market, admitted no fault in proposing the settlement, one of the largest of U.S. mass class-action litigation in the automotive sector. Investors snapped up shares of Toyota and its stock rose 2 percent in early trading.

"This was a difficult decision, especially since reliable scientific evidence and multiple independent evaluations have confirmed the safety of Toyota's electronic throttle control systems," Christopher Reynolds, general counsel for Toyota Motor Sales, USA, said in a statement.

"However, we concluded that turning the page on this legacy legal issue through the positive steps we are taking is in the best interests of the company, our employees, our dealers and, most of all, our customers."

The figure eclipses other settlements in the auto industry including Bridgestone Corp's $240 million payout to Ford Motor Co in 2005 over Ford's massive Firestone tire safety recall in 2001. Ford replaced 13 million Firestone tires, installed mostly as original equipment on the company's popular Explorer SUV, in one of the biggest recalls in U.S. history.

Toyota said it would take a one-time pretax charge of $1.1 billion to cover the costs. The company said it plans to book the charge as operating expenses in its October-December third quarter.

Hagens Berman, the law firm representing Toyota owners who brought the lawsuit in 2010, issued a statement saying that the settlement was valued between $1.2 billion and $1.4 billion. In a memo filed in court, the lawyers said the settlement was "a landmark, if not a record, settlement in automobile defect class action litigation in the United States."

Toyota's recall of more than 10 million vehicles between 2009 and 2011 hurt the company's reputation for reliability and safety. Toyota faces an estimated $10 billion in potential civil liability in U.S. courts, for consumer fraud, personal injury and wrongful death claims stemming from acceleration complaints.

Wednesday's $1.1. billion settlement does not cover the wrongful death or injury claims.

LINGERING EFFECTS

The effect of the recalls on sales and loyalty remains "difficult to isolate," IHS Automotive analyst Rebecca Lindland said.

"A lot of their growth through the early 2000s were first-time Toyota buyers," she said. "Those are the people that were most vulnerable to saying, 'I'll never own a Toyota again.' The long term effects won't fully be realized until all of the cars that have been impacted by the recall have been retired."

The biggest safety crisis in Toyota's history began to get public notice in August 2009 when an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer Mark Saylor and three members of his family were killed in a Lexus ES 350 that crashed at a high speed.

A separate lawsuit over the death of the Saylor family was settled out of court. A handful of wrongful death and personal injury cases are still pending, but the vast majority of the litigation over this issue will be finished if the proposed settlement is approved, said a person with knowledge of the remaining lawsuits who wished to remain anonymous.

Within a half year of the Saylor family crash, Toyota President Akio Toyoda and other company executives were questioned in a high-profile U.S. Congressional hearing, and Toyoda made a public apology.

Toyota maintained all along that its electronic throttle control system was not at fault. It reiterated that on Wednesday.

A study by U.S. safety regulator the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and NASA found no link between the reports of unintended acceleration and Toyota's electronic throttle control system.

INCREASINGLY COMMON

The settlement, which must be approved by a California federal judge, includes direct payments to customers as well as the installation of a brake override system in more than 2.7 million vehicles, according to the settlement agreement filed in court.

The terms include a $250 million fund for former Toyota owners who sold vehicles at reduced prices and a separate $250 million fund for owners not eligible for the brake override system.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs are slated to receive up to $200 million in fees and $27 million in costs, according to court documents.

Richard Cupp, a professor at Pepperdine University School of Law, said the settlement was large for the automotive sector but was dwarfed by other litigation involving economic loss claims. State cases against the tobacco industry, for instance, amounted to more than $200 billion.

"That could mean that lawsuits like these could become increasingly common, even where there is not provable physical injury on large scale," Cupp said.

The case is In re: Toyota Motor Corp. Unintended Acceleration Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, U.S. District Court, Central District of California, No. 10-ml-02151.

(Reporting by Deepa Seetharaman and Bernie Woodall; Additional reporting by Dan Levine and Jonathan Stempel, and Yoko Kubota in Tokyo; Editing by Dan Grebler, Cynthia Osterman and Chris Gallagher)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/toyota-seeks-settle-acceleration-cases-1-1-billion-010149158--finance.html

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