Car bomb kills at least 53 in Syrian capital

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian security agents carrying a body following a huge explosion that shook central Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. A car bomb shook central Damascus on Thursday, exploding near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy, eyewitnesses and opposition activists said. (AP Photo/SANA)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows Syrian security agents carrying a body following a huge explosion that shook central Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. A car bomb shook central Damascus on Thursday, exploding near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy, eyewitnesses and opposition activists said. (AP Photo/SANA)

In this photo provided by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian security agents carry a body following a huge explosion that shook central Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. A car bomb shook central Damascus on Thursday, exploding near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy, eyewitnesses and opposition activists said. (AP Photo/SANA)

EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, injured Syrians sit on the ground while flames and smoke rise from burned cars after a huge explosion that shook central Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. A car bomb shook central Damascus on Thursday, exploding near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy, eyewitnesses and opposition activists said. (AP Photo/SANA)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA shows an injured Syrian man lying on the ground after a huge explosion that shook central Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. A car bomb shook central Damascus on Thursday, exploding near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy, eyewitnesses and opposition activists said. (AP Photo/SANA)

This photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, shows flames and smoke rising from burned cars after a huge explosion that shook central Damascus, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013. A car bomb shook central Damascus on Thursday, exploding near the headquarters of the ruling Baath party and the Russian Embassy, eyewitnesses and opposition activists said. (AP Photo/SANA)

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) ? A car bomb exploded Thursday near Syria's ruling party headquarters in Damascus, killing at least 53 people and scattering mangled bodies among the blazing wreckage in one of the bloodiest days in the capital since the uprising began almost two years ago.

Elsewhere in the city, two other bombs struck intelligence offices, killing 22, and mortar rounds hit the army's central command, activists said.

Recent rebel advances in the Damascus suburbs, combined with the bombings and three straight days of mortar attacks, mark the most sustained challenge of the civil war for control of the seat of President Bashar Assad's power.

Syrian state media said the car bombing near the Baath Party headquarters and the Russian Embassy was a suicide attack that killed 53 civilians and wounded more than 200, with children among the casualties. Anti-regime activists put the death toll at 61, which would make it the deadliest Damascus bombing of the revolt.

The violence has shattered the sense of normalcy that the Syrian regime has desperately tried to maintain in Damascus, a city that has largely been insulated from the bloodshed and destruction that has left other urban centers in ruins.

The rebels launched an offensive on Damascus in July following a stunning bombing on a high-level government crisis meeting that killed four top regime officials, including Assad's brother-in-law and the defense minister. Following that attack, rebel groups that had established footholds in the suburbs pushed in, battling government forces for more than a week before being routed and swept out.

Since then, government warplanes have pounded opposition strongholds on the outskirts, and rebels have managed only small incursions on the city's southern and eastern sides.

But the recent bombings and mortar attacks suggest that instead of trying a major assault, rebel fighters are resorting to guerrilla tactics to loosen Assad's grip on the heavily fortified capital.

The fighting in Damascus also follows a string of tactical victories in recent weeks for the rebels - capturing the nation's largest hydroelectric dam and overtaking airbases in the northeast - that have contributed to the sense that the opposition may be gaining some momentum.

But Damascus is the ultimate prize in the civil war, and many view the battle for the ancient city as the most probable endgame of a conflict that according to U.N. estimates has killed nearly 70,000 people.

To defend the capital, Assad is using his most reliable and loyal troops, activists say, including the Republican Guard and the feared 4th Division, commanded by his brother, Maher. Armed checkpoints have sprung up across the city as part of the regime's efforts to keep the rebels at bay.

Thursday's car bomb hit a checkpoint on a bustling thoroughfare in the central Mazraa neighborhood between the Baath Party headquarters and the Russian Embassy. The force of the explosion shattered the balconies of apartment blocks along the tree-lined street and blew out the windows and doors of the party building.

Video of the blast site on Syrian state TV showed firefighters dousing a flaming car with hoses, while lifeless and dismembered bodies were tossed onto the grass of a nearby park. The state news agency, SANA, published photos showing a large crater in the middle of the rubble-strewn street and charred cars with blackened bodies inside.

"It was huge. Everything in the shop turned upside down," one local resident said. He said three of his employees were injured by flying glass that killed a young girl who was walking by when the blast hit.

"I pulled her inside the shop, but she was almost gone. We couldn't save her. She was hit in the stomach and head," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution for talking to foreign media.

Ambulances rushed to the scene of the blast, which sent a huge cloud of black smoke billowing into the sky.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but suspicion will likely fall upon one of the most extreme of Syria's myriad rebel factions, Jabhat al-Nusra.

The group, which the U.S. has designated to be a terrorist organization, has claimed past bombings on regime targets, including the double suicide blast outside an intelligence building in May that killed 55.

Such tactics have galvanized Assad's supporters and made many other Syrians distrustful of the rebel movement as a whole, most of whose fighters do not use such tactics.

The main opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, condemned Thursday's bombing without accusing a specific group of carrying it out. It did, however, suggest that the regime allowed foreign terrorist groups to operate in Syria.

"The terrorist Assad regime bears the most responsibility for all the crimes that happen in the homeland because it has opened the doors to those with different agendas to enter Syria and harm its stability so it can hide behind this and use it as an excuse to justify its crimes," the group said in a statement on its Facebook page.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland condemned the "indiscriminate violence against civilians."

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned "the series of bombings in populated areas in the Syrian capital Damascus today, which resulted in numerous deaths and injuries," and expressed condolences to the families of victims.

Russia's state-owned RIA Novosti news agency quoted a Russian Embassy official as saying its building had been damaged in the blast but no one was hurt.

Among those injured by flying glass was Nayef Hawatmeh, the leader of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical Damascus-based Palestinian group. He suffered cuts to his hands and face, according to an official at his office, which is about 500 yards from the bomb. Hawatmeh was treated at a hospital and released.

In a separate attack, Syrian state TV said mortar shells hit near the Syrian Army General Command but caused no casualties. The report said the building was empty because it was being repaired from a bombing last year.

The Observatory said two mortar rounds struck near the building but it did not report casualties. It also said two more shells landed in the upscale Malki neighborhood, causing no damage or casualties.

Another blast in the northeastern Barzeh neighborhood killed seven people, a security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists inside Syria, said three separate car bombs exploded near different security facilities in Barzeh, followed by intense clashes between rebels and regime forces. It said 22 people were killed, 19 of them security officers.

State media also reported that security forces in Damascus had arrested a second, would-be suicide bomber driving a car full of explosives near the site of the Mazraa bombing.

On Wednesday, two mortar shells exploded next to a soccer stadium in Damascus, killing one player. A day earlier, two shells hit near one of Assad's three palaces in the city, with some damage reported.

In the southern town of Daraa, where Syria's uprising began nearly two years ago, the Observatory said 18 people were killed in an airstrike on a field hospital, included eight rebel fighters, three medics, one woman and a young girl.

A video posted online showed the dead and wounded being loaded into the backs of trucks. Some were bloody and had bandaged heads, while others were carried on stretchers.

The videos appeared to be authentic and corresponded with Associated Press reports of the events depicted.

The conflict began in March 2011 with political protests against the government, and has since evolved into a civil war between Assad's regime and hundreds of rebel groups seeking to topple it.

International diplomacy has failed to slow the fighting.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Thursday that his message to Assad is "it is time to go," and that the senseless killing must be brought to an end through a political process.

He also urged Assad to respond to a dialogue offer made recently by Syrian opposition chief Mouaz al-Khatib.

"A political agreement on a transition is the way forward in Syria to bring to an end this terrible and unacceptable loss of life," he said.

Al-Khatib has said he is open to talks with the regime as a way of removing it from power. The government has refused, insisting the talks should be without preconditions and inside the country.

The Syrian National Coalition met in Cairo on Thursday to try to firm up its position on whether to engage with the regime in talks. A final decision was expected Friday.

____

Lucas reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Ben Hubbard and Zeina Karam in Beirut, Bradley Klapper in Washington and Edith Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-21-ML-Syria/id-ea9ffeb7cbf94defaa100804042fe637

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For a bad time, visit America's 'saddest,' 'most miserable' cities

Rebecca Cook / Reuters file

Forbes ranked Detroit as the "most miserable" city in the U.S., citing its violent crime rate and falling home prices, both of which are the worst in the country.

By M. Alex Johnson, staff writer, NBC News

Michigan has a serious PR problem on its hands, if you believe two studies this week that ranked its cities among the saddest, most depressed in America.

Forbes magazine hit the state with a top two finish Friday in its annual rankings of the "most miserable" cities in the U.S. Detroit ranked No. 1. Flint ranked No. 2.

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Forbes' rankings are based mainly on economic factors, including unemployment, foreclosures, income and property taxes and home prices, in addition to violent crime. Detroit ranked high on violent crime and the rate at which home prices are falling.

"Right now, it's all about survival," Mayor Dave Bing told Forbes.

Read the full Forbes list and see the 10 happiest and saddest cities in the U.S.

In a separate study this week, mathematicians at the University of Vermont ranked the 373 "saddest" cities in the U.S., based on a quantitative analysis of keywords in more than 10 million geotagged posts on Twitter.?

Detroit finished 29th. Flint was even sadder ? its residents were the sixth-saddest in the country, according to the Vermonters.

(Adding insult to injury, Warren, Mich., shows up at seventh on Forbes' list.)

The Midwest, in fact, is heavily represented in both lists. Forbes' 20 most miserable cities also include Rockford, Ill. (third); Chicago (fourth); Lake County, Ill. (ninth); Toledo, Ohio (11th); St. Louis (12th); Milwaukee (14th); Cleveland (17th); Gary, Ind. (19th) and Youngstown, Ohio (20th).

Battle Creek, Mich. (eighth), and Lima, Ohio (ninth), also show up in the 20 saddest cities.

"This is not a league in which we want to play ball," Chuck Sweeny, political editor of The Rockford (Ill.) Star, wrote in a column Friday.

"We know what's wrong: too much poverty, too few college graduates, too few opportunities to get a college degree here, high crime in certain areas, an inability to work together to coordinate economic development and school districts considered poor or just average," Sweeny wrote.

"Add to that a crumbling inner city and thousands of substandard homes, and you've got a problem when the ratings folks come to town, or more likely, Google us."

At least "we are nothing like Flint," he added.

From Flint, the counterargument:

"This is ridiculous. I am proud to be from Flint, MI," Manuel Gatica of New York ? a Flint native ? commented on Facebook. "I enjoy going back to visit and I live in New York, New York. I am a very happy person. The writer at Forbes must have a miserable life."

Detroiters, however, generally seemed to agree with their ranking, at least as indicated in comments at NBC station WDIV of Detroit:

The happiest city in America is Napa, Calif., the Vermont researchers concluded. The saddest? Beaumont, Texas. It's just one of many Deep South municipalities at the bottom of the list ? and many in the region aren't happy about it.

"Albany is home. I wouldn't imagine being anywhere else," said Layne Tumlin of Albany, Ga., which ranked second on the saddest cities list.

"I did leave and come back," Tumlin told NBC station WALB of Albany. "I left for a few years, about eight, and traveled ? got it out of my system, but the whole time I was gone, I kept thinking about home."

"I hate that we have such a stigma like that," said Nancy Jane Karam, who told NBC station KSLA of Shreveport, La. ? No. 4 on the Vermont list.

Bill McCown, a psychology professor at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, said he was dumbfounded at Monroe's No. 5 ranking on the "saddest" list.

"If you would have said this about New York, I would have believed it," McCown told the News-Star newspaper. "But not Monroe."

Related:

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/22/17058747-looking-for-a-bad-time-visit-americas-saddest-most-miserable-cities?lite

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Particle physics research sheds new light on possible 'fifth force of nature'

Feb. 21, 2013 ? In a breakthrough for the field of particle physics, Professor of Physics Larry Hunter and colleagues at Amherst College and The University of Texas at Austin have established new limits on what scientists call "long-range spin-spin interactions" between atomic particles. These interactions have been proposed by theoretical physicists but have not yet been seen. Their observation would constitute the discovery of a "fifth force of nature" (in addition to the four known fundamental forces: gravity, weak, strong and electromagnetic) and would suggest the existence of new particles, beyond those presently described by the Standard Model of particle physics.

The new limits were established by considering the interaction between the spins of laboratory fermions (electrons, neutrons and protons) and the spins of the electrons within Earth. To make this study possible, the authors created the first comprehensive map of electron polarization within Earth induced by the planet's geomagnetic field.

Hunter -- along with emeritus Amherst physics professor Joel Gordon; postdoctoral fellow Stephen Peck; student researcher Daniel Ang '15; and Jung-Fu "Afu" Lin, associate professor of geosciences at UT Austin -- co-authored a paper about their work that appears in this week's issue of the journal Science. The highly interdisciplinary research relies on geophysics, atomic physics, particle physics, mineral physics, solid-state physics and nuclear physics to reach its conclusions.

The paper describes how the team combined a model of Earth's interior with a precise map of the planet's geomagnetic field to produce a map of the magnitude and direction of electron spins throughout Earth. Their model was based in part on insights gained from Lin's studies of spin transitions at the high temperatures and pressures of Earth's interior.

Every fundamental particle (every electron, neutron and proton, to be specific), explained Hunter, has the intrinsic atomic property of "spin." Spin can be thought of as a vector -- an arrow that points in a particular direction. Like all matter, Earth and its mantle -- a thick geological layer sandwiched between the thin outer crust and the central core -- are made of atoms. The atoms are themselves made up of electrons, neutrons and protons that have spin. Earth's magnetic field causes some of the electrons in the mantle's minerals to become slightly spin-polarized, meaning the directions in which their spins point are no longer completely random, but have some net orientation.

Earlier experiments, including one in Hunter's laboratory, explored whether their laboratory spins prefer to point in a particular direction. "We know, for example, that a magnetic dipole has a lower energy when it is oriented parallel to the geomagnetic field and it lines up with this particular direction -- that is how a compass works," he explained. "Our experiments removed this magnetic interaction and looked to see if there might be some other interaction that would orient our experimental spins. One interpretation of this 'other' interaction is that it could be a long-range interaction between the spins in our apparatus, and the electron spins within the Earth, that have been aligned by the geomagnetic field. This is the long-range spin-spin interaction we are looking for."

So far, no experiment has been able to detect any such interaction. But in Hunter's paper, the researchers describe how they were able to infer that such so-called spin-spin forces, if they exist, must be incredibly weak -- as much as a million times weaker than the gravitational attraction between the particles. At this level, the experiments can constrain "torsion gravity" -- a proposed theoretical extension of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity. Given the high sensitivity of the technique Hunter and his team used, it may provide a useful path for future experiments that will refine the search for such a fifth force. If a long-range spin-spin force is found, it not only would revolutionize particle physics but might eventually provide geophysicists with a new tool that would allow them to directly study the spin-polarized electrons within Earth.

"If the long-range spin-spin interactions are discovered in future experiments, geoscientists can eventually use such information to reliably understand the geochemistry and geophysics of the planet's interior," said Lin.

Possible future discoveries aside, Hunter said that he was pleased that this particular project enabled him to work with Lin. "When I began investigating spin transitions in the mantle, all of the literature led to him," he explained. "I was thrilled that he was interested in the project and willing to sign on as a collaborator. He has been a good teacher and has had enormous patience with my ignorance about geophysics. It has been a very fruitful collaboration."

Lin had his own take: "The most rewarding and surprising thing about this project was realizing that particle physics could actually be used to study the deep Earth."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Amherst College.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. L. Hunter, J. Gordon, S. Peck, D. Ang, J.-F. Lin. Using the Earth as a Polarized Electron Source to Search for Long-Range Spin-Spin Interactions. Science, 2013; 339 (6122): 928 DOI: 10.1126/science.1227460

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://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/kRqfrY6qU1w/130221192736.htm

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Lafarge speeds up savings drive, sees 2013 growth

PARIS (Reuters) - Lafarge predicted that stronger demand in emerging markets would help lift the cement market in 2013 after it posted forecast-beating fourth-quarter earnings.

The world's largest cement maker said it would speed up its cost-cutting drive and confirmed its aim to reduce debt to below 10 billion euros ($13.4 billion) "as soon as possible" in 2013.

The French group has sold non-core assets including its European and South American gypsum units, refocused on the cement and concrete business, and cut costs after losing its investment-grade debt rating in 2011.

By the end of 2012, Lafarge's debt had decreased 5 percent from a year earlier to 11.32 billion euros.

The group managed close to 900 million euros worth of divestments last year and will shortly exceed its target of 1 billion euros of disposals, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

Further assets are expected to go on the block in 2013, Chief Executive Bruno Lafont told reporters without giving a specific target.

"Our debt will decrease thanks to cash flow, a tight control on investments, our actions on working capital needs and the continuation of our targeted disposals," he said.

To speed up its debt-cutting drive, Lafarge lifted its cost-savings goal for 2013 by 100 million euros and said it would achieve its overall savings plan a year early in 2014.

Lafarge also surprised investors by doubling its 2012 dividend to 1 euro a share.

"This should be sufficient to reassure investors and support the share in the short term," Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts wrote in a note.

At 1019 GMT, Lafarge shares, which have risen around 36 percent in the past year, topped the best-performing shares on Paris' benchmark CAC 40 index <.fchi>, trading 6.2 percent higher at 49.63 euros.

In its outlook for 2013, Lafarge predicted that cement demand would move higher, driven by emerging countries as well as the recovery of housing in the United States, and said it would charge higher prices to customers.

It also predicted that volumes in its cement markets would grow between 1 and 4 percent this year compared with 2012, despite the economic slowdown in Europe.

Quarterly net profit was 100 million euros, compared with a loss of 3 million in the same period a year earlier, while sales declined 1 percent to 3.8 billion.

Full-year sales rose 3 percent to 15.81 billion.

($1 = 0.7487 euros)

(Reporting by Elena Berton; Additional reporting by Matthieu Protard; Editing by Christian Plumb and Helen Massy-Beresford)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lafarge-speeds-savings-drive-sees-2013-growth-102412006--finance.html

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Insight: Rome will burn, regardless of Italian election result

By Michael Stott

ROME | Wed Feb 20, 2013 11:57am EST

ROME (Reuters) - Regardless of who wins next weekend's parliamentary election, Italy's long economic decline is likely to continue because the next government won't be strong enough to pursue the tough reforms needed to make its economy competitive again.

Bankers, diplomats and industrialists in Rome and Milan despair at how Italians are shifting allegiances ahead of the February 24-25 vote to favor anti-establishment upstarts and show disgust with the established parties.

That makes it more likely that no bloc will have the political strength to tackle Italy's deep-rooted economic crisis, which has made it Europe's most sluggish large economy for the past two decades.

Final opinion polls predict that the vote will deliver a working majority in both houses for a centre-left coalition governing in alliance with technocrat former prime minister Mario Monti. Political risk consultancy Eurasia assigns this scenario a 50-60 percent probability.

But Italy's election for both chambers of parliament has the potential to tip the euro zone back into instability if the outcome does not produce that result.

The colorful cast of candidates includes disgraced media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi, one of the world's richest men, the bespectacled academic Monti, anti-establishment comedian Beppe Grillo who campaigns from a camper van, and Nichi Vendola, a former communist poet who is the governor of Puglia.

Investors have so far taken a relaxed view, relying on polls produced until the legal deadline for surveys of Feb 10.

One of the best indicators that they are not worried: Italian benchmark 10-year bond yields, which topped six percent during the country's worst political moments in 2011, are now trading around 4.4 percent, almost a full percentage point lower than those of Spain.

Italian stocks have performed broadly in line with the wider European market since January, despite the election and a wave of scandals which has engulfed several leading Italian groups.

But observers in Italy are increasingly nervous that the rosy election scenario favored by investors may not work out.

A jaded electorate, angry about political corruption, economic mismanagement and a national crisis that has impoverished a once-wealthy member of the G7 club of rich nations, could produce a surprise.

Pier Luigi Bersani, the standard-bearer for the centre-left, is a worthy but lackluster former minister whose party has been linked to a banking scandal in the mediaeval Tuscan town of Siena. Support for his party now seems to be fading.

Opponents have latched on to the fact that the ailing bank, Monte dei Paschi, was run by a foundation dominated by political appointees from the centre-left and accused Bersani's party of presiding over a debacle that will cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of euros.

CAMPER VAN POLITICS

Monti, dubbed "Rigor Montis" by one opponent for his austerity policies which critics say hurt growth, is stuck in fourth place and slipping. Detractors say he comes across poorly on the hustings and has been hurt because he formed an election alliance with two discredited centrist politicians who are emblematic of the traditional politics which Monti disavows.

The big gainer in the final days before the election, according to private surveys quoted by experts, is stand-up comedian Beppe Grillo and his anti-establishment 5-Star Movement. Grillo has been on a "tsunami tour" of Italy in a camper van, filling piazzas with his ringing denunciations of the country's political class. He campaigns mainly on the Internet, where his widely read blog features a list of Italy's parliamentarians convicted of a crime (it features 24 names).

"The big question is: what happens to Grillo?" said one senior banker in Milan, speaking on condition of anonymity. "He won't win but he could stop Bersani and Monti from getting enough seats to form an effective government."

Under the electoral law in force for this poll, which almost all Italians agree is in need of reform, voters cast ballots for a party list. The coalition with the most votes is awarded top-up seats in the lower house to give it a 55 percent majority. But in the Senate, the top-up premium applies by region.

Pollsters say the race is too close to call in a few battleground regions but there is a good chance the centre-left will fall short of a majority in the Senate, which has equal law-making powers to the lower house.

A substantial vote for Grillo's movement - and some experts suggest he could top 20 percent - could mean the new parliament is filled with new, inexperienced, anti-establishment deputies who may refuse to do deals with other politicians and block legislation. Bersani and Monti could find themselves without a workable majority in the Senate even in alliance - a scenario which Eurasia believe has a 20-30 percent probability.

"It's hard to see Grillo's movement as a source of stability," said one diplomat, speaking off the record. "There is no chance they would be part of a coalition."

CONVICTION POLITICIAN

Ironically Grillo himself will not be entering parliament regardless of how well his movement does. The shaggy-haired 63-year-old was convicted of manslaughter after three passengers died when a jeep he was driving crashed in 1981, making him ineligible for election under his own party's rules barring convicted criminals from parliament.

"Grillo's agenda is just silly," said one leading Italian columnist, speaking anonymously because his publication did not allow him to be quoted in other media before the vote.

"It's a fuck off policy. He wants to leave Europe, set up people's tribunals, halve public employees. It's the most visible symptom of Italy's political crisis."

The 5-Star Movement is not the only anti-establishment force threatening to make Italy ungovernable. The federalist Northern League, which favors greater autonomy for northern Italy, is polling around five percent nationally. Its leader Roberto Maroni told Reuters last week he would use his seats in parliament in alliance with the centre-right to block a centre-left coalition and prevent it from governing.

The League is particularly important in the Senate as its home region of Lombardy, where the party polls about 15 percent, returns by far the most senators - 49 out of a chamber of 319.

Should Grillo's movement and the Northern League win enough seats to deprive a centre-left coalition with Monti of an overall majority, the most likely outcome is a "grand coalition" of left and right, experts say.

Such a result would unsettle investors because it would be likely to bring centre-right leader former premier Berlusconi, 76, back into government in a key role and Monti would be unlikely to join it.

Berlusconi's own party has boosted its standing in polls over the past month, helped by the former premier's veteran campaigning skill and his dominance of the country's private TV channels. But nobody apart from his own supporters believes he is likely to win this time.

POPE FACTOR

Pope Benedict's unexpected resignation this month has pushed the parliamentary election off the front pages in Italy, giving Berlusconi less print space and TV air time to press his populist message. The main beneficiary appears to be Grillo, whose strategy of ignoring mainstream media and campaigning on the Internet has been unaffected by the news from the Vatican.

Investors above all want a government which will tackle the reasons for Italy's lackluster performance. Italy has hardly grown since the birth of the euro in 1999 and its economy has slumped faster since the 2007 financial crisis than any other in Europe except Greece. Last year, Italy contracted by 2.2 percent, according to official statistics.

Businessmen complain of three main obstacles: stifling bureaucracy, labor laws which offer workers so much protection that they encourage slack performance, and a dysfunctional court system which makes it hard to enforce contracts and collect debts. All are deep-rooted problems and none is likely to be tackled effectively by a weak and divided government.

"Nobody in Italy is ready to make the reforms our country needs right now," said the chief executive of a major Italian company, speaking off the record.

"I am deeply convinced that without a major change in labor flexibility, we will not be able to increase productivity. My personal experience is that Italian labor is fantastic. But if you take a very good worker and tell him his job is completely safe, you will turn him into a slacker."

Italy's byzantine court system - where cases can languish for years - and its legendary bureaucracy are major obstacles to foreign investment and competitiveness, business people and diplomats say. "Foreign companies are surprised by how hard it is to get things done here which we all thought had been agreed in Brussels 20 years ago," said one senior European diplomat.

Monti's technocratic government won plaudits from business for reforming Italy's pension system but its efforts to reform labor laws did not enjoy similar success. Monti's government lasted 13 months until Berlusconi's bloc triggered its collapse by withdrawing support. Some observers in Italy don't believe that the next parliament's make-up will be nearly as conducive to reform as the outgoing one.

MUDDLE-THROUGH OUTCOME

"I want to be optimistic but my best guess is that they will keep to this muddle-through scenario in the next parliament with lackluster results for the economy," said a second senior diplomat. "This country needs a new generation of political leaders."

Key among the concerns of diplomats and business people is the disparate nature of the centre-left coalition leading in polls.

Bersani's election alliance is made up of four main parties, stretching from the former communist Vendola through the Christian left to socialists and centrists. If it is unable to govern alone, as most polls predict, it will need the support of Monti's bloc - itself made up of three parties.

Bankers fear that a government made up of seven different groups of widely varying political hues is highly unlikely to agree on the tough, radical reform measures the country needs.

"If we have a government made up of Bersani, Monti and Vendola, they will argue all the time," said the chief executive. "Bersani and Vendola's capacity for reform is almost zero." Comparing the present Italian centre-left candidate to the former German chancellor whose successful labor reforms belied his socialist roots, he added: "Bersani is no Schroeder".

Bersani's economic spokesman Stefano Fassina insists that the centre-left fully understands the urgency of Italy's economic plight and is committed to deliver on measures to stop the rot. But he puts the emphasis on making the public sector more efficient and persuading Berlin to tone down budget austerity at a European level rather than pursuing labor reform in Italy. Fassina insists that public commitments by Bersani and Vendola on an agreed program will minimize disagreements but he does admit to concern about how a centre-left administration could work with Grillo's unpredictable forces.

"It's impossible to have any discussions with Grillo as a party," he said. "We hope that in parliament some of his MPs will be pragmatic enough to agree on reasonable measures."

With so much uncertainty about the election and the chances fading of it returning a strong, stable reformist government, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that Italy's slow, steady economic decline will continue regardless of the result.

"We've seen a steady economic decline in Italy over the past 20 years and it's very hard to see any outcome from this election which will reverse that. The reforms which would really get the country going again are out of reach," concluded the European diplomat.

(Editing by Peter Millership and Giles Elgood)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/topNews/~3/nOafn4vygrA/us-italy-election-idUSBRE91J08820130220

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Inaccurate Sales Forecasts ? Don&#39;t Wait? - Morton Kyle Limited

Accurate Sales Forecasts, building a Qualified Sales Pipeline, Filling the Sales Funnel, Proactive Sales Lead Generation, Sales Audit, Sales Performance Improvement, Sales Team Management

In Sales Audit, Sales Consultancy, Sales Management, Sales Strategy, Sales Training on February 19, 2013 at 2:34 pm

In good times a sales forecast could be regarded as a rough road map.

In an?extended period of economic?uncertainty?an accurate and authentic sales forecast is the shining light in the darkness?not just for internal purposes but also to manage external business relationships and expectations.

Major issues arise in dealing with inaccurate, disappointing or poorly judged sales forecasts; and these issues are compounded as a business will only truly know how accurate a sales forecast has been post event?.unfortunately managing sales historically is rarely a wise option.

Things to consider:

• A sales forecast is a proactive, dynamic document, and should be?referenced daily

• There should be a defined set of company wide criteria that everyone adheres to about what should be included in the sales forecast and what information should be obtained, i.e. quantity, order size, payment terms, delivery details, special?conditions?etc??obviously?the more details the better

• Within any month, think about grading the prospects A, B, C. Therefore movement in the sales forecast is not just from month to month but from A to B to C (and potentially back again).

• Beware of the sales person who starts of with lots of A?s and B? s sales prospects and ends up with lots of C?s at the end of the month. Poor judgement is very dangerous in a sales environment. Whilst their intentions will rarely be malicious, this type of behaviour could indicate their inability to close, ask smart questions or engage in details in specific sales conversations with the prospect.

• Equally, be wary of the sales persons forecast where the bottom line says ?Xk will be delivered but they don?t know where from yet!!!

• A sales forecast is a document that is used to drive the rest of the business, manage resources, manage relationships with the bank, as a proactive decision-making tool ? there are high levels of accountability attached to a sales forecast?and?there?should be high levels of accountability attached to poor reporting or false reporting

• Sales Managers often fall foul of believing the sales forecast ? as a Sales Manager do what you need to do in order to convince yourself of the authenticity of the sales forecast before you put your name to it. This may include receiving indications of intent from the prospect, reviewing email trails, accompanying the sales person on key visits, speaking to the prospect about operational details?a careful hand is needed, of course. The cost of misjudging the sales forecast is all to well known by too many Sales Managers.

Happy Selling!!

Carol Griffiths ? Lead Consultant and Director

Morton Kyle Limited

0779 002 1885

carol@mortonkyle.com

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Source: http://mortonkylesalesimprovement.wordpress.com/2013/02/19/inaccurate-sales-forecasts-dont-wait-it-may-be-too-late/

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Photos: Life in Detroit

On last week's Access Hollywood Live , Julianne Hough revealed she had her first date at 16, with a young man named Creed Archibald. Today, Creed -- who lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma as a seventh grade teacher -- shared his side of their first date story with Access Hollywood's Billy Bush.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/life-in-detroit-slideshow/

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Nerdy CEO-turned-governor faces the Detroit challenge

LANSING, Michigan (Reuters) - In today's partisan environment, many U.S. politicians tend to hew close to their base and not worry about angering their opponents, but Michigan Governor Rick Snyder possesses a rare talent for raising hackles on both sides.

In early December, the Republican governor angered the state's powerful labor unions by signing so-called "right-to-work" legislation allowing workers to opt out of union membership. Then earlier this month, Snyder annoyed Michigan's small-government conservatives with a plan to expand Medicaid and raise the gas tax for road repairs.

Snyder, 54, merely smiles when asked about this knack.

"I'm here to deliver results to my customers," Snyder said in a recent interview. "My customers are the citizens of Michigan."

"That's the simple way I look at it, it's about giving great customer service."

Now he has in his hands the fate of 700,000 customers - the residents of Detroit. A Snyder-appointed review panel said on Tuesday the city is in financial crisis and needs outside help, leaving it to the governor to decide if he will name an emergency manager to take over its finances.

"There is very limited political upside to appointing an emergency manager," said University of Michigan political scientist Michael Traugott. "But I think Snyder is prepared to do it."

LONG-TERM VISION

A CEO-turned-politician, Snyder does not easily fit into an ideological slot. Many of those who know him describe a long-term thinker who approaches politics through the eyes of a businessman and does not avoid tough decisions.

Vic Strecher recalled that when Snyder's venture capital firm invested $2.5 million in 1998 for 30 percent of his fledgling online healthcare coaching business HealthMedia Inc (now owned by Johnson & Johnson), Snyder took a hands-off approach, telling Strecher to get on and run the firm.

When "dotcom turned to dotbomb" in 2000, Strecher said Snyder was "always a steady force" with a vision for his firm.

"He said we needed to stay focused on the long-term vision of getting customers good value," he said.

For Snyder's foes on the left such as United Auto Workers president Bob King, the governor has pursued a right-wing agenda after running as a moderate in 2010. King says his goal in 2014 is to prevent Snyder from gaining a second term.

"He told people he was a moderate and he has done the exact opposite, passing some of the most extreme right-wing legislation," King said. "We'll back a candidate (in 2014) who is for 100 percent of the people, not just the top 1 percent."

Conservatives have opposed Snyder for taxing pensioners and supporting a health exchange for Michigan that is part of Democratic President Barack Obama's healthcare reforms. But they like the fact he has fixed the state's budget mess.

Long-time conservative operative Jack Hoogendyk says Snyder is a "bit of an enigma."

"He does a lot of things true conservatives support and a lot of things conservatives disagree with," he said. "But I think he views the state's problems through the lens of a businessman and has taken a level-headed approach to running Michigan Inc."

'ONE TOUGH NERD'

When Snyder, formerly CEO of venture capital firm Ardesta and one-time executive at computer company Gateway, decided to run for governor in the 2010 election, he went into the primaries as a political unknown considered the most moderate Republican in a crowded field of five.

Joe Lehman, president of conservative, free-market Michigan think-tank the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, recalls Snyder appearing at one of the group's regular breakfast meetings in 2009 ahead of the gubernatorial race. Snyder "was the only politician ever to stick to our rule that they not give a speech."

"I thought there's no way this guy is ever going to be governor," Lehman said.

Snyder's campaign, much of it self-funded, included a 2010 Super Bowl ad in Michigan describing him as "One Tough Nerd" who could fix Michigan's fiscal mess.

The nerd in Snyder was on display February 7 in Lansing as he fielded questions from reporters about his new proposed budget. With no papers in front of him, he quoted figures from the budget and the justification for them with ease.

Snyder says his decisions are based on the simple question of what is best for Michigan, not partisan politics.

Medicaid expansion, he says, will save the state money because it will provide primary care to poorer Michiganders rather than force them into expensive emergency care that drives premiums up for everyone else.

While ordinary families get that, "you go here," he says pointing out the window of his office at the state capitol "and it's this huge controversy."

"Doesn't that show the political culture's kind of messed up?"

On the issue of Detroit, Snyder reiterates a statement from his 2010 campaign that "Detroit needs to be a great city."

He highlights recent transportation investments in the city and the need for a new bridge to boost trade and create jobs.

"So let's get the city government's finances fixed," he said. "And we are going to get them fixed."

How he handles Detroit's future could be a factor in his likely bid for re-election. And he has to contend with falling approval ratings in the wake of the "right-to-work" bill.

But when it comes to running for a second term, Snyder isn't so enigmatic.

"I haven't formally announced," he said. "But I've got more work I'd like to do."

(Editing by Mary Milliken and Claudia Parsons)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nerdy-ceo-turned-governor-faces-detroit-challenge-231047325.html

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Cal?s Basketball Coach Shoved His Own Player, And They Came Back And Won

NCAA BasketballVideo

Cal basketball was down 12 to USC last night, with 16:19 to go. Golden Bears coach Mike Montgomery wasn?t happy with the play of star guard Allen Crabbe, so he took him out and got in his face. Then Montgomery shoved him with two hands. Crabbe was pissed off, but later returned and scored 10 points in the final 4:20 of a comeback win over the Trojans.

So, genius motivational tactic, or embarrassing mistake?

Montgomery wouldn?t apologize after the game, saying, ?Worked, didn?t it?? But he was forced to apologize by Cal?s AD later on. Crabbe, though, said ?there was nothing wrong with it.?

So, was he wrong? Obviously, Montgomery went over the edge of what?s commonly accepted. He shouldn?t have shoved Crabbe, but he honestly was doing it for motivation. It wasn?t malicious, it was just a little too much. He gave his fake apology, he hopefully won?t to do it again, and all will be well.

It?s not like Crabbe was hurt. I?m sure if Montgomery really went over the edge, Crabbe wouldn?t have much trouble defending himself ? it?s not he?s a little league baseball player out there. (And don?t get any motivational ideas, little league coaches of America. Keep your hands to yourselves.)

[The Dagger]

Source: http://www.sportsgrid.com/ncaa-basketball/cal-basketball-coach-shoves-player-mike-montgomery/

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Sports Briefing | Womens Basketball: Brittney Griner Lifts Baylor Over UConn

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Source: www.nytimes.com --- Monday, February 18, 2013
Brittney Griner scored 25 points, including the 3,000th of her career, to help No. 1 Baylor beat third-ranked Connecticut. ...

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/19/sports/ncaabasketball/brittney-griner-lifts-baylor-over-uconn.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Yen Weakens After Japan Avoids Direct Criticism at G-20 Meeting

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Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323495104578311192381297724.html?mod=europe_home

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Men's basketball brings home victory against American University

The men?s basketball team earned a hard-fought win Wednesday night against American University to improve to 18-5 overall and 8-1 in the Patriot League.

Lehigh cruised to an easy 8-point lead at the half led by senior forward Gabe Knutson who had 12 points (4-4, from 3-point range). Lehigh proceeded to go on an 8-0 run to begin the 2nd half to increase their lead to 16 points with just over 17 minutes remaining in the game. Yet, stellar 3-point shooting and tough defense produced a 15-5 run for American University.

Led by senior forward Stephen Lumpkins, the Eagles narrowed the gap to a mere 6 points with 11 minutes remaining and continued their run to tie the game up at 43 from two 3-pointers that were capped off by senior forward Mike Bersch.

After a timeout by head coach Brett Reed, Lehigh quickly regained its composure, led by heady plays from junior guard Anthony D?Orazio who answered with a swift drive that resulted in two made free throws. Knutson?s gutsy, physical play and aggressive offensive rebounding also fired up the Hawks, propelling Lehigh to a 4-point lead. And Lehigh never looked back.

A combination of costly turnovers for American and strong 3-point shooting from the Mountain Hawks resulted in a deficit that seemed too great for American to handle.

Lead by a newly energized crowd, Lehigh cruised the rest of the way to a 60-47 win, ending the game on a 17-4 run. Knutson led Lehigh in scoring with 18 points while also contributing 4 rebounds in 33 minutes. D?Orazio put together a strong performance finishing 15 points, 2 assists, 2 steals, 3 rebounds and a block.

This win boosted Lehigh to 9-1 in its last 10 games, and extended Hawks? winning streak to 4 games. With the loss, American University dropped to 9-15 overall, and 4-5 in the Patriot League.

The team battles the Bucknell University Bison for Patriot League dominance Feb. 18 at Stabler Arena.

Story by Brown and White sports writer Matthew LoBello, ?15.

Source: http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/thebrownandwhiteblog/index.ssf/2013/02/mens_basketball_brings_home_vi.html

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Bird, human tweets come from similar parts of the brain

Genetics study finds parallels in birdsong and language

By Erin Wayman

Web edition: February 16, 2013

BOSTON ? ?Birdbrain? may not be much of an insult: Humans and songbirds share genetic changes affecting parts of the brain related to singing and speaking, new research shows. The finding may help scientists better understand how human language evolved, as well as unravel the causes of speech impairments.

Neurobiologist Erich Jarvis of Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., and colleagues discovered roughly 80 genes that turn on and off in similar ways in the brains of humans and songbirds such as zebra finches and parakeets. This gene activity, which occurs in brain regions involved in the ability to imitate sounds and to speak and sing, is not present in birds that can?t learn songs or mimic sounds. Jarvis described the work February 15 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Songbirds are good models for language because the birds are born not knowing the songs they will sing as adults. Like human infants learning a specific language, the birds have to observe and imitate others to pick up the tunes they croon. The ancestors of humans and songbirds split some 300 million years ago, suggesting the two groups independently acquired a similar capacity for song.

With the new results and other recent research, Jarvis said, ?I feel more comfortable that we can link structures in songbird brains to analogous structures in human brains due to convergent evolution.?

Jarvis? team analyzed tissue from throughout the brains of three humans, measuring the amount of particular molecules made by a given gene to determine how active it is. They compared the results with brain tissue from bird species capable of vocal imitation and song learning ? such as songbirds, hummingbirds and parrots ? as well as birds that don?t, such as doves and quails.

Enlarge

Songs on the brain

Humans and songbirds like the zebra finch (shown) share genetic changes in brain structures related to speaking and singing, new research shows.

Credit: Peripitus/Wikimedia Commons

The vocal-learning birds and humans share a distinct pattern of activity in roughly 40 genes in analogous regions called Area X in birds and the anterior striatum at the base of the forebrain in humans. These structures are involved in imitation.

The team also found similar patterns of activity in a different set of about 40 genes in regions involved in speech and song production. For birds that was in the robust nucleus of the acropallium, or RA nucleus, and for humans, the laryngeal motor cortex. ?Previous studies have found connections between the laryngeal motor cortex, which is located in a part of the brain that controls voluntary movement, and brainstem nerve cells that control muscles of the larynx, the organ that produces sound. Similar connections have been found in the analogous regions of bird brains.

?It?s one of the most fundamental neural connections that leads to the evolution of human language,? Jarvis said. In the future, he plans to investigate how the activity of the 80 genes influences these connections and other brain circuitry related to speaking and singing.

The new work also has practical implications, said Simon Fisher of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in the Netherlands. It?s ?exciting stuff,? he said, because scientists could combine data on gene activity in the brain with studies that have decoded the entire genetic instruction book of people with various speech disorders to pinpoint how these problems arise.

---

Suggested Reading

S. Milius. Trunk in cheek, elephant mimics Korean. Science News. Vol. 182, December 15, 2012 p. 12.
[Go to]

T.H. Saey. First songbird genome arrives with spring. Science News. Vol. 177, April 24, 2010, p. 16.
[Go to]

T.H. Saey. A gene critical for speech. Science News. Vol. 176, November 21, 2009, p. 11. [Go to]

Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/348340/title/Bird_human_tweets_come_from_similar_parts_of_the_brain

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Outrage among pet owners in Seattle after dog burned by cayenne ...

By Zahib Arab, KING 5 News

SEATTLE -- Pet owners in the Greenwood neighborhood of Seattle are outraged after someone purposely dumped cayenne pepper all over an area.?

They claim it burnt a dog's paws and could make others sick.?

"It's absolutely despicable, their intentions is what scares me," said Monica Gujral Wallace, who's dog was burnt by the pepper.?

Emptied out bottles of pepper are scattered on the ground. Piles of the spice were purposely put there for pets.?

Read original story on KING5.com

"How does that even get into your head? Are you that evil?" said Gujral Wallace.?

Gujral Wallace was walking her dog Buddha on Sunday when she came in contact with it.?

"It's burned the legs of my dog, it's caused several hundred dollars in vet bills," she said.?

While cayenne pepper isn't toxic, veterinarians say it causes a burning sensation and can be worse if swallowed.?

"It upsets the stomach, burns the inside and may cause a little diarrhea," said Dr. Zile Singh, a veterinarian at Greenwood Animal Hospital.?

Fredda Starr is the person responsible.?

The property manager of the "Greenwood Court Manor" apartments says people weren't picking up after their pets.?

"I do love dogs, but I don't like all the poo that they leave over the ground," said Starr.?

She agreed to stop.?

"I'm sorry that it hurt the little dog, what I'm going to do is dilute it as best I can and put up some signs," she said.?

Gujral Wallace says she plans to get the community involved in keeping the area clean.?

While a complaint was filed with Seattle Police, Starr wasn't charged with any crimes.?

Source: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/16/16986127-outrage-among-pet-owners-in-seattle-after-dog-burned-by-cayenne-pepper

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Video: Obama's 'No-Growth' SOTU

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50828589/

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Six more women say they are victims of Bethlehem's Facebook rape suspect

By The Morning Call

February 13, 2013

Authorities say six more women have come forward in the investigation of a serial rape suspect in Bethlehem who police say targeted his victims through Facebook.

Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli said Monday no additional charges have been filed against 20-year-old David Martinez of Bethlehem.

"I think we are going to see even more young women come forward," Morganelli said.

Martinez remains in Northampton County Prison under $200,000 bail in two rapes he was charged with last week. Police said his victims were 14 and 17 when they were attacked last year at Martinez's home at 421 Maple St. after agreeing to meet him face to face for the first time after becoming acquainted with him over Facebook.

According to court records, the 17-year-old victim filed for a protection-from-abuse order against Martinez last year. She wrote that after chatting with Martinez via Facebook, she agreed to "hang out" with him, but told him she wasn't interested in having sex.

She said that after watching a movie at his home, Martinez became aggressive and raped her even though she repeatedly told him to stop.

Distributed by MCT Information Services

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Source: http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130213/NEWS90/302130334/-1/rss01

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LinkedIn's 4Q gets rave reviews from investors

FILE - In this Monday, May 9, 2011 file photo, LinkedIn Corp., the professional networking Web site, displays its logo outside of headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Linkedin is reporting their fourth quarter 2012 earnings on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

FILE - In this Monday, May 9, 2011 file photo, LinkedIn Corp., the professional networking Web site, displays its logo outside of headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Linkedin is reporting their fourth quarter 2012 earnings on Thursday, Feb. 7, 2013. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Online professional-networking service LinkedIn's fourth-quarter performance added another line to its sterling resume as a public company.

The results announced Thursday extended LinkedIn Corp.'s uninterrupted streak of exceeding analysts' projections for both earnings and revenue. It marked the seventh consecutive quarter since LinkedIn's May 2011 IPO that the company has pulled that off, to the delight of investors.

The run of pleasant surprises is one of the reasons that LinkedIn's stock has tripled from its initial public offering price of $45. The shares surged $11.71, or 9.4 percent, to $135.80 in extended trading after the numbers came out.

Besides a 66 percent increase in earnings from the previous year, the latest quarter was highlighted by an influx of 15 million accounts to propel LinkedIn's total membership beyond 200 million. Visitors to LinkedIn's website also viewed 67 percent more pages than the previous year, an indication that the company's efforts to add more business news and career tips from top business executives are paying off.

Wall Street's embrace of LinkedIn contrasts with the cold response given to other Internet services that have gone public during the past few years. Most of them are trading below their IPO prices. The most notable is Facebook Inc., whose stock is worth about 25 percent less than it was when it made its market debut in May.

Although both run websites devoted to connecting people with common interests, LinkedIn and Facebook are targeting different audiences. Facebook focuses mostly on letting friends and family share good times and swap stories, while LinkedIn concentrates on helping people advance their careers and helping companies fill jobs.

Facebook, which is based in Menlo Park, is the larger of the two services, with more than 1 billion active users and $5.1 billion in revenue last year. LinkedIn, which is based in Mountain View, Calif., has 202 million accountholders and revenue of $972 million in 2012.

But LinkedIn is growing more quickly, partly because it's less dependent on advertising than Facebook and most Internet services. In the fourth quarter, advertising accounted for 27 percent of LinkedIn's revenue. The remainder comes from various tools that it sells to help recruit workers and glean more insights from the information that its users post on its website.

Reflecting its belief that the member data are becoming increasingly valuable, LinkedIn said Thursday that it intends to raise some prices this year. Setting up a member profile remains free. The price increase reflects the additional information that the company has accumulated as its membership has more than doubled in less than two years, according to Steve Sordello, LinkedIn's chief financial officer. The company provided no specifics on the increases.

LinkedIn earned $11.5 million, or 10 cents per share, during the final three months of last year. That compared to $6.9 million, or 6 cents per share, a year earlier.

If not for the costs of employee stock compensation and certain other charges, LinkedIn said it would have earned 35 cents per share. That was far above the average estimates of 19 cents per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Revenue soared 81 percent from the previous year to $304 million ? about $24 million above analyst forecasts.

LinkedIn's revenue outlook for the current quarter and all of 2013 were roughly in line with analyst estimates, setting the stage for the company to clear those financial hurdles once again.

Management's forecast for annual revenue of $1.4 billion this year appears conservative, given that it would translate into an increase of about 45 percent from last year. In 2012, LinkedIn's annual revenue rose 86 percent.

"We are trying to utilize a prudent approach to year-over-year growth," Sordello told analysts during an analyst conference call.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-07-US-Earns-LinkedIn/id-fef9fa0048da4fb3b660f24ef31df0f6

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Superstorm Aftermath Pushes FCC To Ensure Reliable ... - Teltek

Superstorm Sandy threw all of us for a loop. The chaos and destruction resulting from that catastrophic event affected thousands and many of the victims had no one to call?literally.

Following the power loss caused by Sandy were massive?service failures at cellphone networks in the Northeast. Almost 1/4 of the cell towers were not working at some point after the storm. The cell towers without power survived briefly on?battery backup systems and generators, but those alternatives soon gave out as well leaving many storm survivors without the ability to communicate with the outside world for several days.

Earlier this week, the Federal Communications Commission met with representatives of phone service providers, public utilities and city governments in New York to?review the widespread disruption of broadband and cell services during the storm and discuss ways to prevent that kind of communication loss in the future.

Some of the topics covered were how to prevent network failures and speed restoration of service.

New York City?s chief information and innovation officer suggested that the carriers install longer-lasting backup batteries since?batteries the carriers use now last only eight hours.

After Hurricane Katrina, the FCC recommended that carriers install backup batteries that last 24 hours, but?some cities? zoning policies do not allow enough room at cell sites for batteries that large. Zoning restrictions will need to be revised before 24 hour batteries can be installed.

Other solutions available include utilizing portable cell towers, known as COWs (Cell On Wheels) and allowing cell phone users to temporarily use other networks, as AT&T and T-Mobile did following Superstorm Sandy.

The bottom line is that collaboration?and flexibility are key to recovering from a traumatic event. In the event of natural disasters, solutions must be creative and quickly implemented.

If you are in need of a creative communications solution for your office, call Teltek today! Our skilled consultants and technicians?are here to evaluate your communications system and help you overcome any obstacles you may encounter. From voice and data cabling to phone system installation and?repairs, Teltek?is your comprehensive technology partner!

Teltek is a Certified Avaya Business Partner, NEC Dealer, and Microsoft Partner with three locations in the Baltimore and DC Metropolitan areas. We specialize in providing one call technology support for small to mid-sized businesses and nonprofits in Maryland, Washington, DC, Virginia and Pennsylvania.

Our dedicated team of experts enables Teltek to provide, install and repair business phone systems & computer networks, run voice and data cabling and coordinate local, long-distance, and internet service providers.

?

By: Carrie Green February 7, 2013.

Tags: battery backups, Cell On Wheels, cell towers, COWs, FCC, Federal Communications Commission, Superstorm Sandy, Teltek

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2013 at 3:07 pm and is filed under Teltek News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Source: http://myteltek.com/blog/2013/02/superstorm-aftermath-pushes-fcc-to-ensure-reliable-communication/

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Nikkei: BlackBerry to stop selling phones in Japan, no longer able to justify the cost (updated)

It looks like Japan won't be a part of BlackBerry's BB10 launch plans now or anytime in the foreseeable future. According to a report from Nikkei, BlackBerry has decided to stop selling phones in the country, at least in part because it wasn't able to justify the cost of making the necessary language modifications to its new operating system. As Nikkei also notes, however, BlackBerry has seen a particularly steep drop in market share in Japan, where it now stands at just 0.3 percent. We've reached out to BlackBerry about the news and are awaiting comment.

Update: We've received a statement from BlackBerry confirming that it has no plans to launch to launch BB10 devices in Japan at this time, although it adds that it will continue to support its customers in the country. The complete statement is as follows:

We are in the process of launching BlackBerry 10 globally in key markets and we are seeing positive demand for the BlackBerry Z10 in countries where it has already launched. Japan is not a major market for BlackBerry and we have no plans to launch BlackBerry 10 devices there at this time. However, we will continue to support BlackBerry customers in Japan.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Blackberry

Comments

Source: Reuters

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/07/nikkei-blackberry-to-stop-selling-phones-in-japan-no-longer-ab/

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What the super bowl commercials should teach you about making ...

As the old saying goes you can run down the hill and catch one cow or you can walk down the hill slowly and catch them all.

?

Just like catching cows, strategy is the most important ingredient to successfully making money online.

It?s not about what you do but HOW you do it.

?

It doesn?t matter if you?re making $100 per month or $100,000 it all boils down to executing a winning strategy.

?

Watching the super bowl commercials?this past Sunday should have been like being a kid at Disney World for an internet marketer or anyone interested in making money online.

?

If you got caught up in ?the Harbaugh bowl??and missed it here?s what you should have learned about making money online:

?

1. Pre promote major launches.

Beyonc??was announced as the headliner for the Super Bowl on October 16, 2012 about four months ago. ?So if you?re thinking about launching a new product and you?re wondering how long to pre promote before your launch date, ?DING?. ?There?s your answer.

?

2. Integrate branding and partnerships.

The statement from the the NFL read, ?Beyonc? to perform Pepsi Super Bowl XLVII halftime show?. ?This immediately captured in your mind who was involved and the fact that the show itself is a separate product. If you read the press release at the bottom it says, ?The Pepsi Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show is an NFL Network production?. ?

If you?re thinking about creating a collaborative product with someone else this year and you want to know how to brand it, ?DING?, there?s your answer.

?

3. Use tiered advertising options.

The NFL uses a?hierarchical?structure for its super bowl advertisers.

The premier advertising main event is the halftime show which the NFL partnered with PEPSI to produce. ?Then, the NFL took the money it raised from selling headliner advertising space to PEPSI and signed?Beyonc? as the keynote performer.

You could sell ad space on your blog and then take the money to create new interesting content to attract new viewers.

If you sold a headline banner for $75 you could pay someone on YouTube to sing a song or something for your blog and that could bring in new traffic for years. ?Who know?s it could even go viral? ?Remember Tyres?s original Coca-Cola ad?

Who should you approach about buying ad space on your site?

Lets say you?re making $10/month off of Google?s adsense, just call the companies who?s ads you notice on your site. ?Explain that you can offer them a better advertising deal direct.

Offer tiered advertising options, remember the Super Bowl. ?Offer a premier headline banner, a featured section, and a standard ?value? option. ?This is comparable to headlining the Super Bowl halftime show, sponsoring a special in-game segment, or just running a 30 sec commercial.

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4. ?It?s all about cross marketing,?niches?.

The ads from the super bowl reinforce my theory that while people have an ever shrinking attention span ?they have an ever growing interest span.

This means people are interested in more and more diverse topics and subjects than ever.

It?s like everybody has multiple random personalities or something.

If you?re focusing only on growing your audience within the boundaries of your niche you could be making a big mistake. The biggest opportunity could be found by cross marketing outside of your core niche audience.

In the old days you could successfully peg someone?s interest by knowing their demographic. ?Things have changed again, I would expect to see more cross marketing campaigns like the Budweiser Pepsi collaboration.

When it comes to expanding your audience the key is to bring in the new without losing the old unless the old are STALE and inactive, then they gotta go.

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WHAT TO DO: ?

Don?t assume that you already know what cross markets will be interested your niche, use the scientific approach.

Researching ?keywords? is too boring and it takes too long.

If you follow this process you?ll save time and actually enjoy blogging while connecting with your audience and new visitors at the same time.

1. Start creating content that is inspired by current events and trending topics. Ex what ?Lance Armstrong? taught me about ?Cell phone companies?.?
2. Review your statistics to determine which posts generated the best response in terms of traffic, email signups, and social media shares.
3. Make a note of the ?cross market niches? and create more content like this in the future, especially when the keyword is trending.

EXAMPLE: ?If your blog is about electronic gadgets but Kim Kardashian?is trending you may want to write about the phone that she uses and your reaction to finding out she stopped using an iPhone.

When it?s done right, this type of consumable content is a great ice breaker for new visitors and it?s a ?fun? way to mix things up for your existing audience. ?You don?t want a party full of wall flies. ?

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5. The big dogs pay to play.

Errrrr the Big Dog pays to play I should say.

GoDaddy is the biggest domain name registrar by far with over 30% of the market share. ?What separates them from everyone else is their spicy super bowl commercials.

• You can call their ads a lot of things but easy to forget is not one of them.
• You can call their company a lot of things but complacent is not one of them.

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What can you learn from Godaddy?s super bowl commercials?

Arbitrage!

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The 2013 super bowl ads were reported to cost $3.8 million for one 30 second spot. ? GoDaddy invested who knows how many millions of dollars to produce and run their commercial during the Super Bowl.

This resulted in who knows how many millions of new visitors to their website. ?This new traffic generated who knows how many millions of dollars in new sales; due to their high conversion rates which justify and provide the means for the super bowl ad?investment.?

It?s really simple actually, and you can copy their strategy and use it for your online business.

No, you don?t have to spend $4 million dollars on a super bowl ad.

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You just have to understand two very important things:

1. How many NEW visitors does it take you to earn one sale.

Think about McDonald?s restaurants, there are very few people who visit without placing an order. ?You need to know how many NEW people visit your website before they buy something. ?You should know this number. You have to shrink this number.

2. How much does it cost you to get a new batch of visitors?

A ?batch? is the amount of new people it takes you to earn one sale. ?If you want another sale you just need another batch. How much money does it cost you to attract another batch of people??You should know this number. You have to shrink this number.

EXAMPLE: ?If it costs you $25 to attract a batch of visitors and there are 100 new visitors in a batch you can make more money multiple ways:

1. Increase the VALUE/QUALITY of your product and raise the price. ?This will earn you more money even with the same traffic. ?If your product sells for $45 just add new features and charge $55. ?Tip: ?Upgrade your eBooks to include a premium video series.
2. Decrease the number of visitors it takes to make one sale. ?You have to convert browsers into buyers at an increasingly more effective rate. ?If there are too many browsers this is a sign of a problem. ?The goal here is to get things headed in the right direction and keep it that way. ?Understand it will take some time to get your buyer/browser ratio in an ?ideal? range. ?Tip: ?Offer a time sensitive special discount or a coupon promotion.
3. Decrease the amount of money it costs to attract a batch of new visitors. ?Remember, ?it?s ?trash in, ?trash out?. ?Attracting the wrong batch of visitors will screw up your whole system so don?t go the cheap route, use strategy instead. ?Tip: ?Focus your marketing dollars locally first then regionally. This will save money. ?Once you establish your baseline performance in one area simply take what works best and grow into another location. ?

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Now it?s over to you. ?What did you learn from watching the Super Bowl commercials that will help you make money online?

PS:

I picked the Ravens to Win.

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About the author...

Darnell Jackson ? who has written 1 posts on ShoeMoney.com.

Darnell Jackson is the founder of Your Online Business Resource. He often says, "We come from absolute greatness. Accomplishing the extraordinary is the least that we should expect from ourselves." In 2012 he also started TruckLicense.net which has redefined how to get qualified for a CDL?without going to expensive trucking school. Darnell also created the #IBCT International Blogger Championship Tournament which features the top 64 blogs worldwide in a competitive comparative analysis.

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Source: http://www.shoemoney.com/2013/02/06/what-the-super-bowl-commercials-should-teach-you-about-making-money-online

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