2013 Ford Fusion Energi gets range of 620 miles: New plug-in hybrid said to achieve 108 mpg-e city rating

New plug-in hybrid said to achieve 108 mpg-e city rating

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Ford
The 2013 Ford Fusion Energi has an all-electric range of 21 miles.

By: Jake Lingeman and Sherrice Gilsbach on 1/17/2013

The hybrid wars continue -- much less exciting than the MyFord Touch -- after the Detroit auto show, and Ford has thrown it latest punch: the 2013 Fusion Energi plug-in hybrid. The Energi is the Blue Oval's fifth electrified vehicle to launch in the past year, and will arrive with a total gas and electric range of 620 miles. That's 120 miles more than the 2014 Honda Accord hybrid and 80 miles more than the Prius hybrid.

Ford says the Fusion Energi can drive up to 21 miles in electric-only mode. By comparison, the Accord promises 10-15 miles on electric power and the Prius will go about 11 miles. The EPA rates the vehicle at 108 mpg-e in the city and 92 mpg-e on the highway. The Fusion Energi also boasts an electric-only top speed of 85 mph.

The plug-in Fusion uses a 2.0-liter DOHC inline four-cylinder, Atkinson-cycle engine that produces a projected 141 hp and 129 lb-ft of torque. That's supplemented by a permanent magnet AC synchronous motor and a high-voltage lithium-ion battery. Total system output is projected at 188 hp.

The 2013 Energi comes standard with active park assist, SYNC and MyFord Touch. It also offers Ford's Smart Gauge, which is designed to help drivers get the most out of the hybrid's capabilities. The right-hand LCD cluster shows green leaves growing as you drive more efficiently. The left displays one of a selection of screens with info about the vehicle including Brake Coach, which helps drivers optimize the regenerative braking system.

Other features on the 2013 Fusion Energi include eco cruise, which flattens acceleration compared to standard cruise control; EV mode button, which switches the car to all-electric operation when available and a charge port with an LED ring that lets you know when the car is fully charged.

Ford claims to have sold more than 20,000 hybrids in December, the second consecutive month that Ford has broken its own record for hybrid sales.

The 2013 Fusion Energi SE costs $39,495 including a destination charge of $795 and is on sale now.

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Source: http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130117/CARNEWS/130119857

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NBA: Hawks suspend top-scorer Josh Smith for 1 game

Associated Press

Chicago Bulls? Joakim Noah (13) struggles with Atlanta Hawks? Josh Smith and Kyle Korver (26) for a rebound during the first half of an NBA basketball game Monday, Jan. 14, 2013, in Chicago. AP/Charles Rex Arbogast

ATLANTA ? The Atlanta Hawks suspended top-scorer Josh Smith for Wednesday night?s home game against the Brooklyn Nets for ?conduct detrimental to the team? following an incident in practice the previous day.

The one-game suspension, which comes with an undisclosed fine, was announced Wednesday by Hawks general manager Danny Ferry.

Hawks coach Larry Drew would provide no details on the incident in Tuesday?s practice.

?I really don?t want to put too much focus on that anymore,? Drew said before the game against the Nets. ?Tomorrow we?ll welcome Josh back with open arms and we?ll move forward.?

Hawks guard Jeff Teague also would provide no details on the incident.

?I don?t even remember,? Teague said. ?I think the whole practice was just a good day. I don?t even remember what happened or how it went down or anything.?

Smith was called for a technical foul in Monday night?s 97-58 loss at Chicago. Only a late basket by Teague saved the Hawks from setting their lowest scoring total in franchise history.

The Hawks have lost six of seven.

?Clearly I am competitive and was frustrated by our recent losses,? Smith said in a statement released by the team. ?I understand and respect the team?s actions and just want to get back on the court to do whatever is necessary to help my teammates. I apologize for letting them down and apologize to our fans for not being available for tonight?s game.?

Smith was not expected to be at Philips Arena on Wednesday night.

Smith, 27, leads the team with 16.5 points and 2.3 blocked shots per game. He also is averaging 8.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists.

Smith, an Atlanta native and nine-year veteran, set career highs with averages of 18.8 points and 9.6 rebounds last season.

Ferry said he expects a positive response to the suspension from Smith.

?Josh and I discussed the issue and he understood and accepted this course of action,? Ferry said. ?We are confident that he will respond positively, learn from this experience and come back with a renewed sense of purpose to the team moving forward.?

Smith can be a free agent after the season, and his future with the team is a key for the Hawks. Ferry could decide to trade the 6-foot-9 forward, especially if the Hawks keep falling in the Eastern Conference standings.

Drew said he hopes Smith remains with the team.

?We look at Josh as we do at any player in the situation of the last year of his contract,? Drew said.?

?Josh is a talented player. He?s a big part of what we do. He?s a guy that we can count on and rely on doing what we do, and hopefully he will be a Hawk for a long time. He?s just a phenomenal talent.?

Ferry traded guard Joe Johnson and forward Marvin Williams before the season. Johnson made his first return to Atlanta with the Nets on Wednesday night.

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Source: http://sports.inquirer.net/82409/nba-hawks-suspend-top-scorer-josh-smith-for-1-game

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Smoke hasn?t cleared yet on facts surrounding China bombing

BEIJING -- Questions have continued to linger this week over one of the largest reported bombings to hit China in recent years, a blast Friday that killed 11 people and wounded more than 30 and was apparently followed by an attempted coverup by local powerbrokers.

Little has been revealed about the alleged culprit, who died in the incident. He is identified in the Chinese press as a disgruntled coal miner named Gao Wanfeng, born in 1958, who is said to have served time in prison in the past and is accused of torching his home early on the morning of the explosion.

The blast ripped into a commuter bus operated by a mining company in the far northeastern province of Heilongjiang about 6:30 a.m. Friday and hit another vehicle in the opposite lane, according to the official Xinhua newswire.

A local newspaper on Tuesday quoted a neighbor of Gao as saying that his most recent job was with the Zhongxing Mineral Industry Co. and that he?d been injured in a mining accident last summer. Although it did not name Zhongxing, which owned the bus, the state-controlled Global Times in Beijing noted that Gao ?had disputes over injury compensation with a mine owner.?

The Global Times on Wednesday referred to Gao in one online report as a ?suicide bomber,? and in another version of the story ? both online and in print ? as a ?bomber.?

If Gao was, in fact, motivated by disagreement with a mining company, his story would fall in line with a deep stretch of public grievances in China rooted in a sense that ordinary people have little recourse when confronted by problems with officials or big business. Although bombings such as the one in Heilongjiang are rare, protests are not.

?It was after reaching no agreement after multiple negotiations that he adopted the extreme act of burning down houses and bombing people,? said one online user based in the city of Shuangyashan, where the explosion happened. ?Now the social divisions are serious, it?s not at all surprising that something like this happened!?

Many others posting on Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like microblog, voiced similar opinions. While not condoning the bloodshed, they viewed it in the context of broader social frustrations.

?He could only release his anger on other people, there will be more things like this later on,? said another person, writing from the southern coastal province of Fujian.

Xinhua ran a report on Tuesday saying that in the aftermath of the explosion, representatives of a coal mine, which was not identified, gave hush money to the injured, told them not to give interviews and threatened to withhold funds for medical treatment if they spoke ?carelessly.? Local officials also offered bribes to one or more journalists, according to Xinhua, presumably to persuade them not to report on the incident.

?Due to the insufficient information being released, the public has many suspicions about the truth of the matter,? according to Xinhua.

Reporting on the incident has been at times confusing.

A short initial story from Xinhua on the day of the attack said that people were killed ?after a minibus collided with a coach.? Later on Friday, Xinhua acknowledged that previous reports blaming the collision for the explosion ?proved to be inaccurate.?

Police said that ?Gao Wanfeng is suspected of placing the explosives on a commuter bus,? Xinhua subsequently reported, but gave no details of what sort of materials he might have used. A separate Xinhua piece said that authorities had concluded the detonation ?was not an accident.?

Researcher Joyce Zhang in Beijing contributed.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/01/16/3185871/smoke-hasnt-cleared-yet-on-facts.html

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WWE honors U.S. Troops at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland

WWE honored members of the United States Army at Fort George G. Meade in Maryland on Tuesday.

WWE Executive Vice President of Creative Stephanie McMahon and WWE Superstar David Otunga joined business leaders, senior military leaders, representatives and elected officials to help the USO of Metropolitan Washington open the doors to a new, expanded USO Center at Fort Meade. McMahon, a member of the USO-Metro Board of Directors, and Otunga were on hand for a ribbon-cutting event at a new recreation center where they presented a WWE Championship to Installation Commander Col. Edward Rothstein. (PHOTOS)

"Only the best, most determined and talented individuals achieve this most competitive title," Otunga said. "The way you identify a champion is by the championship title they wear."

McMahon added, "WWE is definitely a champion of the USO in that we believe your support of our men and women in uniform is of utmost importance and a cause that for years, we at WWE, continue to support."

"After hearing the story from Elaine [Rogers, USO-Metro president] about how this center came to be, we determined that Team Meade is a champion by the commitment, dedication and passion they exude for the USO," she added. ?

The new center will serve the more than 500,000 U.S. troops and their families in the Washington-Baltimore area. It has amenities like a movie theater, gaming center, computer lab and a patio. For the past eight years, USO-Metro has provided programs for military families and children at Fort Meade.

Later in the day, Otunga visited Wounded Warriors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Washington.

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Source: http://www.wwe.com/inside/overtheropes/wweinyourcorner/stephanie-mcmahon-david-otunga-fort-meade

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Maine governor unveils jobs-bonds plan

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) ? Gov. Paul LePage on Tuesday announced a wide-ranging jobs plan, which includes repayment of a hospital debt approaching $500 million, release of voter-approved bonds for highways and other public improvements, and construction of a new prison to replace the aging, inefficient one in Windham.

Speaking at a press conference at the construction site of a University of New England College dental medicine building, LePage said his plan will inject $700 million into Maine?s economy in 2013. The proposal will be of particular help to hospitals, which can hire workers to fill the positions of those who were laid off because of the state debt.

??This puts Maine on the right track to pay its bills,?? LePage said. ??By paying the state?s bills we strengthen our economy and the hospitals that care for and employ Maine people.??

The Republican governor said he wants to get his proposals enacted quickly by the Democratic-majority Legislature, noting that timing on the hospital debt is critical to ensure the state gets the full federal match.

He?s submitted an emergency bill to cover $186 million the state owes to hospitals for Medicaid services dating to 2009, which would trigger $298 million in federal funding. He would get the state?s share of the money from bonds to be paid off with future liquor sales. The state will regain control over liquor sales in mid-2014.

With the full $484 million repaid, the governor would release $105 million in voter-approved bonds for transportation, land conservation, clean water and energy-efficiency projects. Democrats, who have made jobs the centerpiece of their agenda, have been pressuring LePage to allow the voter-approved bonds to go to market in hopes of stimulating the economy.

Finally, LePage is proposing $100 million in government facilities bonds to build a replacement for the minimum- and medium-security Maine Correctional Center in Windham.

The current compound, whose mostly-male population totals 622 inmates, has been expanded and modified in piecemeal fashion for several decades, compromising efficiency. Preliminary plans call for eight of the prison?s Maine Correctional Center?s 11 buildings to be demolished.

Source: http://feeds.boston.com/click.phdo?i=584f9fb0b6d329cde6ac9e8355cee076

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Boeing 787 makes emergency landing in Japan

January 15, 2013

(Reuters) ? All Nippon Airways Co. is grounding all 17 of its Boeing 787 planes for inspection after one of its Dreamliners made an emergency landing in western Japan on Wednesday, the Japanese air carrier told Reuters.

ANA said instruments on a domestic flight early Wednesday indicated a battery error, but all passengers and crew evacuated safely by using the plane's inflatable slides, ANA said.

The incident comes on top of a slew of recent problems with Boeing's new Dreamliner aircraft. The sophisticated new plane, the world's first mainly carbon-composite airliner, suffered two fuel leaks, a battery fire, a wiring problem, brake computer glitch and cracked cockpit window last week.

ANA said it evacuated 129 passengers and eight crew members from the Dreamliner after measuring instruments in the flight's cockpit indicated there was a battery malfunction and the pilot smelled something strange. The company said it is still checking whether there was any smoke emitted into the cockpit.

Wednesday's flight 692 bound for Haneda Airport near Tokyo left Yamaguchi Airport in western Japan shortly after 8 a.m. JST (2300 GMT Tuesday) but made an emergency landing in Takamatsu at 8:45 after smoke appeared in the cockpit, an Osaka airport authority spokesman said.

Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel told Reuters: "We've seen the reports, we're aware of the events and are working with our customer."

Japan is the biggest market so far for the Dreamliner, with ANA and Japan Airlines Co. flying 24 of the 50 Dreamliners delivered to date.

Japan's transport minister had previously acknowledged that passenger confidence in Chicago-based Boeing's new 787 Dreamliner jet is at stake, as both Japan and the United States have opened broad and open-ended investigations into the plane after a series of incidents that have raised safety concerns.

Japanese authorities said on Monday they would investigate fuel leaks on a 787 operated by JAL, and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said later its agents would analyse the lithium-ion battery and burned wire bundles from a fire aboard another JAL 787 at Boston's Logan International Airport last week.

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Source: http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20130115/NEWS10/130119847/boeing-787-makes-emergency-landing-in-japan

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Mali Islamists counter-attack, threaten France

BAMAKO/PARIS (Reuters) - Al Qaeda-linked Islamist rebels in Mali launched a counter-offensive on Monday after three days of strikes by French fighter jets on their strongholds in the desert north, vowing to drag France into a long and brutal ground war.

France intensified its air raids on Sunday using state-of-the-art Rafale planes and Gazelle attack helicopters to pummel training camps at the heart of the vast area seized by rebels in April, while pouring hundreds of its ground troops into the capital Bamako.

Paris is determined to end Islamist domination of northern Mali, which many fear could act as a launchpad for attacks on the West and a base for coordination with al Qaeda in Yemen, Somalia and North Africa.

Launching a counter-attack far to the southwest of recent fighting, the Islamists clashed fiercely with government forces on Monday in the central town of Diabaly, residents and Malian military sources said.

"The Islamists are fighting with the army inside the town," said one local resident. "They started to infiltrate the town last night by crossing the river in little groups."

A spokesman for the MUJWA Islamist group, one of the main factions in the rebel alliance, promised French citizens would pay for Sunday's air strikes in their stronghold of Gao. Dozens of Islamist fighters were killed when rockets struck a fuel depot and a customs house being used as their headquarters.

"They should attack on the ground if they are men. We'll welcome them with open arms," Oumar Ould Hamaha told Europe 1 radio. "France has opened the gates of hell for all the French. She has fallen into a trap which is much more dangerous than Iraq, Afghanistan or Somalia."

France has said its sudden intervention on Friday, after Mali's president appealed for urgent aid in the face of a rebel advance, stopped the Islamists from seizing the capital Bamako. It has pledged to continue air strikes in coming days.

President Francois Hollande says France's aim is simply to support a mission by West African bloc ECOWAS to retake the north, as mandated by a U.N. Security Council resolution in December. Under pressure from Paris, regional states have said they hope to have soldiers on the ground in coming days.

France convened a U.N. Security Council meeting for Monday to discuss Mali.

Hollande's intervention has won plaudits from Western leaders but raises the threat level for eight French hostages held by al Qaeda allies in the Sahara and for the 30,000 French expatriates living in neighbouring, mostly Muslim states. Concerned about reprisals at home, France has tightened security at public buildings and on public transport.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/france-bombs-islamist-strongholds-deep-north-mali-052016965.html

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Cheney man dying of cancer fulfills dream of meeting NBA superstar

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Long before Joey Cawyer, of Cheney, was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer he was a LeBron James fan.

?Joey has loved LeBron since his senior year in high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary's (High School in Akron, Ohio),? one of Joey's best friends Drew Peterson said.

When Peterson and Thang Nguyen realized that their friend didn't have much time left they decided to attempt something special: To arrange a meeting with his favorite NBA player.

?Our friend tried to write LeBron on Facebook, but with those fan pages you never know who's behind those,? Peterson said.

So the guys settled on a Twitter campaign in hopes of getting LeBron's attention. The hashtag #MeetJoey took off, beyond what the young men ever could've imagined, according to Peterson. They got support from broadcaster Dick Vitale, GU men's basketball players Kevin Pangos and Sam Dower and Seahawk Jeron Johnson, among others.

?We didn't think anything was going to happen of it,? Peterson said.

Peterson credited several people for advancing their cause: Including Jordyn King, who reached out to Heat guard Norris Cole, and Haley Merriam, who is family-friends with Chris Hansen, who made it possible to get courtside seats for Joey, Peterson and Nguyen.

Joey and his mother Cindy Anderson had planned to attend the game before the Twitter campaign, and said that the Portland Trailblazers staff was ?incredibly gracious.?

?They arranged everything we could've possibly needed,? Cindy said. ?We exchanged so many emails and phone calls, it was like we knew them before we ever had even seen them.?

After the game, the young men and Cindy were escorted to the bowels of the Rose Garden Arena to wait for LeBron amid fans and autograph-seekers outside of the locker room.

?Everybody had their Sharpies out, and LeBron just kept saying to them, 'Thanks but I'm looking for Joey.' ?

Cindy described the scene as ?the happiest I've seen Joey in a long, long time.?

?(LeBron) was extremely friendly, compassionate and empathetic,? Cindy said. ?He took time with Joey, signed his hat and jersey, took a ton of pictures. LeBron and Dwyane Wade told him to keep up the good fight saying, 'you're strong.' ?

Joey's doctors have told his family that he needs to be put into hospice care, which made Thursday night's meeting that much more important.

?I haven't seen a lot of expression from Joey in the last two weeks because of the effects of his brain cancer,? Cindy said. ?Last night you could see he was so ? not just happy ? but he was elated and content. He smiled so much. He was really, really, really happy.?

With so much negativity spread via social media, it was rewarding for Peterson and Nguyen to accomplish something so touching through Twitter.

?Joey's been our best friend our whole lives and to see him struggling like this is tough,? Peterson said. ?To see him have that moment when he forgot about everything, for that one moment when he didn't think about fighting cancer, it was really emotional. To see him have that dream come true was really special.?

According to Cindy, the first thing Joey did Friday morning after meeting his hero was put on his autographed hat and jersey. Even though Joey has had a lot of trouble speaking recently, he ?couldn't stop saying, 'wow, that was great.' ?

Cindy said that Joey is in his ?end-stages? of his battle with cancer, and that they are going to return to Cheney and ?take care of him the best we can.?

?It couldn't of all happened at a more opportune time,? Cindy said. ?I knew that he always wanted to see the Miami Heat, and it was extremely important that it happened right now. It wasn't just him getting his wish of meeting LeBron, it affected everyone that was involved.?

Cindy and Peterson both made a point of expressing thanks to everyone that helped them make Joey's dream a reality.

?We've always given Joey a lot of flak for liking LeBron because we're Kobe fans,? Peterson said. ?But after last night, I think we're LeBron fans too.?

Source: http://spokanecounty.kxly.com/news/people/85837-cheney-man-dying-cancer-fulfills-dream-meeting-nba-superstar

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Dropbox Android app adds photo albums and batch deleting

Sponsored links, if any, appear in green.

The Dropbox for Android app has been updated to include the option to delete multiple photos at once, or group several photos stored in the Camera Uploads section into custom albums. The Photo Tab in Dropbox previously stored a single stream of images and grouped them according to date that they were uploaded to the service. The latest version of the app gives users the option to create more traditional photo albums that store images according to their preference.

Dropbox creates new albums by long-pressing on one photo and then tapping other images that will be added to the album. Tapping the Albums logo, a square with a '+' sign on top of it, then leads to another page where a user can create a name for the album, add more photos, or share a link to another app or Android service. The original images are not moved or restored, so they are still visible in the standard chronological view of the Camera Uploads. Albums is a way of organizing images according to tags and simplifying the process of sharing multiple images at once.

Download from Google Play

Source: http://www.mobileburn.com/21120/news/dropbox-android-app-adds-photo-albums-and-batch-deleting-

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Microsoft's OEMs focus on Windows 8, but the future is Surface

Samsung cancels US Windows RT tablet plans
Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/12/13 22:53 UTC
Well, this can't be a good sign. Samsung has told CNET that the company will not be launching its Windows RT tablet in the United States, citing a lack of demand and consumer confusion. After I spent an afternoon in my country's largest electronics retailer, it's hard not to agree with Samsung. 7??Read More ? 47 Comment(s)

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'Safari is released to the world' Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/11/13 17:28 UTC After relying on third parties for several years - Internet Explorer, Netscape - Apple decided that it was time to take matters into its own hands. It was time Apple created its own browser (again). And so, Safari was born, and released unto the world ten years ago. These past few weeks, Don Melton, the project lead for Safari and WebKit, has been sharing a lot of interesting stories about the origins and development of Apple's browser. 4??Read More ? 24 Comment(s)

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Nokia sold 4.4 million Lumias in Q4 2012 Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/10/13 17:10 UTC Nokia has just sent out a few preliminary comments about the company's performance during the fourth quarter of 2012. Nokia's figures are a good indicator for how well Windows Phone 8 is doing, and, in all honesty, I'm not exactly blown away. Apparently, neither was Nokia itself, since the company decided to redefine their Asha phones from feature phone to smartphone to prop up their smartphone sales figures. 0??Read More ? 78 Comment(s)

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Windows RT jailbreak: let the games begin Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/08/13 23:27 UTC So, a rudimentary jailbreak for Windows RT made its way onto the web these past few days. Open source applications were ported right away, and it was confirmed that Windows RT is the full Windows - it's exactly the same as regular Windows, except that it runs on ARM. Microsoft responded to the jailbreak as well. 2??Read More ? 95 Comment(s)

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Google blocks Windows Phone from Maps, limits Gmail Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/05/13 14:53 UTC And so this situation is starting to get ridiculous - and consumers are, as usual, caught in the middle of it all. Google has just blocked Windows Phone devices from accessing Google Maps on their phones. In addition, it also seems Windows Phone users are now restricted to the basic HTML version of the mobile GMail website. While understandable from a defensive perspective - Microsoft's extortion scheme targeting Android device makers and all that - it's still a massive dick move that only hurts consumers. Update: the media attention has worked - Google is backpedalling, and will remove the redirect. "We periodically test Google Maps compatibility with mobile browsers to make sure we deliver the best experience for those users. In our last test, IE mobile still did not offer a good maps experience with no ability to pan or zoom and perform basic map functionality. As a result, we chose to continue to redirect IE mobile users to Google.com where they could at least make local searches. The Firefox mobile browser did offer a somewhat better user experience and that’s why there is no redirect for those users. Recent improvements to IE mobile and Google Maps now deliver a better experience and we are currently working to remove the redirect. We will continue to test Google Maps compatibility with other mobile browsers to ensure the best possible experience for users." 3??Read More ? 247 Comment(s)

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Icaros Desktop 1.5 released Linked by paolone on 01/04/13 20:56 UTC Icaros Desktop, the popular distribution of the AROS Research Operating System, has recently released its version 1.5, a new milestone since it finally allows to run classic Amiga software and games on full screen or perfectly integrating them into the host AROS desktop. 6??Read More ? 36 Comment(s)

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Shocker: Android SDK binaries still proprietary Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/04/13 18:29 UTC A blog post on the Free Software Foundation Europe site is making the rounds around the web. The blog post, written by Torsten Grote, claims that 'the Android SDK is now proprietary', because upon download, you have to agree to terms and conditions which are clearly not compatible with free and/or open source software. What Grote fails to mention - one, these terms have mostly always been here, and two, they only apply to the SDK binaries. The source is still freely available. 1??Read More ? 19 Comment(s)

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Canonical unveils Ubuntu for phones Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/02/13 19:05 UTC Expected, but still insanely cool: Canonical has just announced Ubuntu for phones. This is a new mobile phone operating system, with its own user interface and development platform. It's built around Qt5 and QML, and the interface reminds me of MeeGo on the N9. It's supposed to be on the shelves in early 2014, but the developer preview is out today. 20??Read More ? 120 Comment(s)

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Ode to Skulpture Linked by Thom Holwerda on 01/01/13 18:19 UTC I tend to believe that the best interfaces have already been made. Behaviourally, CDE is the best and most consistent interface ever made. It looked like ass, but it always did exactly as you told it to, and it never did anything unexpected. When it comes to looks, however, the gold standard comes from an entirely different corner - Apple's Platinum and QNX' PhotonUI. Between all the transparency, flat-because-it's-hip, and stitched leather violence of the past few years, one specific KDE theme stood alone in bringing the best of '90s UI design into the 21st century, and updating it to give everything else a run for its money. This is an ode to Christoph Feck's Skulpture. 6??Read More ? 50 Comment(s)

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Quick Guide to Fixing Hardware Linked by Howard Fosdick on 12/31/12 20:26 UTC Last month, I explained why I use generic desktops and laptops running open source software. They're reliable and inexpensive. But this presumes you can fix them. I believe that even those with no hardware training (like me), can identify and fix most hardware problems. To prove it, here's a quick guide. Feel free to add whatever I've missed. 6??Read More ? 34 Comment(s)

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Source: http://osnews.com/story/26695/Microsoft_s_OEMs_focus_on_Windows_8_but_the_future_is_Surface

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Suspects to appear at Indian gang rape hearing

NEW DELHI (AP) ? Defense lawyers say the cases of five men charged in the fatal gang rape of a young woman on a moving New Delhi bus are expected to be shifted to a fast track court.

A hearing on whether to move the cases was to be held Monday. It had been set for last week but was rescheduled when it turned out that the official list of charges was not completely legible.

Five men have been charged with the Dec. 16 attack on the young woman, who died later in a Singapore hospital. They could face the death penalty if convicted. A sixth suspect, who says he is 17 years old, is likely to be tried in a juvenile court if medical tests confirm he is a minor.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-14-India-Gang%20Rape/id-b416cc7102d540e9a16dd42a565de2d0

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Ryan gives Rubio?s immigration reform outline a thumbs up

Former vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan says he supports "the principles" of an immigration reform proposal from Republican Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, a sign that the party may be coalescing around its own plan to overhaul the nation's laws.

"Senator Rubio is exactly right on the need to fix our broken immigration system," the congressman wrote on his Facebook page on Monday, with a link to a Wall Street Journal article that includes Rubio's key immigration goals. "I support the principles he?s outlined: modernization of our immigration laws; stronger security to curb illegal immigration; and respect for the rule of law in addressing the complex challenge of the undocumented population. Our future depends on an immigration system that works."

Republicans and Democrats are both in the early stages of building coalitions for support for what could be a major immigration bill later this year.

Rubio and Ryan, considered among Republicans to be possible future presidential candidates, appeared together at a dinner in Washington, D.C., in December, where they both outlined their visions for the party's future.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/aboard-paul-ryan-supports-marco-rubio-immigration-reform-222004852--election.html

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Kidnapping victim returns to family's church in Burlington Township

BURLINGTON TOWNSHIP?? Faith has been a constant for the Rev. Michel Louis, a tool that guided him through a childhood in the impoverished country of Haiti and a terrifying kidnapping ordeal in Egypt earlier this year.

"God is real. He exists," Louis, 62, said before he delivered a sermon at Trinity Pentecostal Church on Sunday during the congregation's weekly service at Burlington Township High School.

The visit from Louis?? a husband and father of four who serves as pastor for two Boston-area churches?? marked the first time he'd seen his New Jersey family members since his fateful trip in July. With his wife, Frederick, by his side, Louis reunited with his nephew Joel Valme, who is the pastor of Trinity Pentecostal Church, and his brother, Alexander Valme, both of Willingboro.

Louis, along with a fellow American tourist and their guide, was kidnapped from a bus July 13 in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula during the pastor's yearly visit to the Holy Land. The captives were released three days later to the relief of family members in Boston and Willingboro.

The kidnapper had taken the hostages as a way to force a relative's release from jail. The abduction highlighted the unrest that has shaken the country following the last year's ouster of President Hosni Mumbarek.

While squeezing his brother's shoulder, Alexander Valme recalled the panic the family felt before Louis was released.

"We just had to pray," he said.

Joel Valme was thrilled that his uncle was able to make the trip to South Jersey. "I'm so glad to see him," he said.

In his sermon, Louis urged the flock to prioritize faith above all.?

"We live in a world where everyone is always looking for new things. But we have to look for the kingdom of Christ first. After that, everything will come," said Louis, who moved to the United States from Haiti in the 1970s.

He expressed gratitude for all of those involved in his safe return, including family members, authorities in Egypt and the United States, and elected officials.

The congregation on Sunday was also celebrating the ninth anniversary of the church, which counts nearly 100 Haitians as members. Trinity Pentecostal Church is affiliated with Assemblies of God, a global network of Pentecostal communities with 62 million members.

The Trinity Pentecostal Church members began meeting at a member's home and later held regular services at Samuel M. Ridgway School in Edgewater Park and First Christian Assembly in the township. Joel Valme said the congregation is trying to raise money for a permanent home.

"As you can see, we are growing," he said.

"Unity" is how he describes the spirit of the church members, who meet regularly for Bible study and make an annual missionary trip to Haiti. Joel Valme recently returned from a trip to his native country, where he helped out at an orphanage and a warehouse that supplies food for schools.

The anniversary filled Louis with pride for his nephew.

"Nine years means good work by Pastor Joel," he said.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50449864/ns/local_news-delaware_valley_pa_nj/

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Oscar snubs leave Golden Globes with also-ran nominees who won ...

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - Hollywood's Golden Globes features quite a different cast than next month's Academy Awards.

Sunday night's Golden Globes are in a rare place this season, coming after the Oscar nominations, which were announced earlier than usual and threw out some shockers that have left the Globes show a little less relevant.

Key Globe contenders lined up largely as expected, with Steven Spielberg's Civil War saga "Lincoln" leading with seven nominations and two CIA thrillers ? Kathryn Bigelow's "Zero Dark Thirty" and Ben Affleck's "Argo" ? also doing well.

All three films earned Globe nominations for best drama and director. Yet while "Lincoln," ''Argo" and "Zero Dark Thirty" grabbed best-picture slots at Thursday's Oscar nominations, Bigelow and Affleck were snubbed for directing honours after a season that had seen them in the running for almost every other major award.

The Globe and Oscar directing fields typically match up closely. This time, though, only Spielberg and "Life of Pi" director Ang Lee have nominations for both. Along with Spielberg, Lee, Bigelow and Affleck, Quentin Tarantino is nominated for directing at the Globes. At the Oscars, it's Spielberg, Lee, "Silver Linings Playbook" director David O. Russell and two surprise picks: veteran Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke for "Amour" and first-time director Benh Zeitlin for "Beasts of the Southern Wild."

That forces some top-name filmmakers to put on brave faces for the Globes. And while a Globe might be a nice consolation prize, it could be a little awkward if Affleck, Bigelow or Tarantino won Sunday and had to make a cheery acceptance speech knowing they don't have seats at the grown-ups table for the Feb. 24 Oscars.

That could happen. While "Lincoln" has the most nominations, it's a purely American story that may not have as much appeal to Globe voters ? about 90 reporters belonging to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association who cover entertainment for overseas outlets.

The Bigelow and Affleck films centre on Americans, too, but they are international tales ? "Zero Dark Thirty" chronicling the manhunt for Osama bin Laden and "Argo" recounting the rescue of six U.S. embassy workers trapped in Iran amid the 1979 hostage crisis.

Globe voters might want to make right on a snub to Bigelow three years ago, when they gave their best-drama and directing prize to her ex-husband James Cameron's science-fiction blockbuster "Avatar" over her Iraq war tale "The Hurt Locker."

Bigelow made history a month later, becoming the first woman to win the directing Oscar for "The Hurt Locker," which also won best picture.

Globe voters like to be trend-setters, but they missed the boat on that one. Might they feel enough chagrin to hand Bigelow the directing trophy this time?

Spielberg already has won two best-director Globes, so that might be a further inducement for the foreign-press members to favour someone else this time.

Their votes were locked in before the Oscar nominations came out. Globe balloting closed Wednesday, the day before the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced its awards lineup.

The Globes feature two best-picture categories ? one for drama and one for musical or comedy. Most of the Globe contenders also earned Oscar best-picture nominations, including all of the drama picks: "Argo," ''Lincoln," ''Life of Pi," ''Django Unchained" and "Zero Dark Thirty."

Yet only two of the Globe musical or comedy nominees ? "Les Miserables" and "Silver Linings Playbook" ? are in the running at the Oscars. That's not unusual, though, since Oscar voters tend to overlook comedy. The other Globe nominees for musical or comedy are "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," ''Moonrise Kingdom" and "Salmon Fishing in the Yemen."

Acting contenders include Daniel Day-Lewis, Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones for "Lincoln"; Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway for "Les Miserables"; Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams and Philip Seymour Hoffman for "The Master"; Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence for "Silver Linings Playbook"; Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz for "Django Unchained"; Alan Arkin for "Argo"; and Jessica Chastain for "Zero Dark Thirty."

Globe acting recipients usually are a good sneak peek for who will win at the Oscars. All four of last season's Oscar winners ? Meryl Streep for "The Iron Lady," Jean Dujardin for "The Artist," Octavia Spencer for "The Help" and Christopher Plummer for "Beginners" ? took home a Globe first.

Jodie Foster will receive the Globes' Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement at the 70th Globes ceremony, airing live from 8-11 p.m. EST (0100-0400 GMT) on NBC.

There will be a friendly rivalry between the hosts of the Globe ceremony, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who worked together on "Saturday Night Love." The co-stars of the 2008 big-screen comedy "Baby Mama" both are nominated for best actress in a TV comedy or musical series, Fey for "30 Rock" and Poehler for "Parks and Recreation."

The Globes present 14 film awards and 11 television prizes.

Source: http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/celebrity/Oscar+snubs+leave+Golden+Globes+with+alsoran/7813300/story.html

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France bombs Mali rebels, African states ready troops

BAMAKO/PARIS (Reuters) - French aircraft pounded Islamist rebels in Mali for a second day on Saturday and neighboring West African states sped up their plans to deploy troops in an international campaign to prevent groups linked to al Qaeda expanding their power base.

France, warning that the control of northern Mali by the militants posed a security threat to Europe, intervened dramatically on Friday as heavily armed Islamist fighters swept southwards towards Mali's capital Bamako.

Under cover from French fighter planes and attack helicopters, Malian troops routed a rebel convoy and drove the Islamists out of the strategic central town of Konna, which they had seized on Thursday. A senior army officer in the capital Bamako said more than 100 rebel fighters had been killed.

A French pilot died on Friday when rebels shot down his helicopter near the town of Mopti. Hours after opening one front against al Qaeda-linked Islamists, France mounted a commando raid to try to rescue a French hostage held by al Shabaab militants in Somalia, also allied to al Qaeda, but failed to prevent the hostage being killed.

French President Francois Hollande made clear that France's aim in Mali was to support the West African troop deployment, which is also endorsed by the United Nations, the European Union and the United States.

Western countries in particular fear that Islamists could use Mali as a base for attacks on the West and expand the influence of al Qaeda-linked militants based in Yemen, Somalia and North Africa.

"We've already held back the progress of our adversaries and inflicted heavy losses on them," Hollande said. "Our mission is not over yet."

A resident in the northern city of Gao, one the Islamists' strongholds, reported scores of rebel fighters were retreating northward in pickup trucks on Saturday.

"The hospital here is overwhelmed with injured and dead," he said, asking not to be identified for fear of reprisals.

In Konna, a shopkeeper reported seeing scores of dead Islamist fighters piled in the streets, as well as the bodies of dozens of uniformed soldiers.

A senior official with Mali's presidency announced on state television that 11 Malian soldiers had been killed in the battle for Konna, with around 60 others injured.

With Paris urging West African nations to send in their troops quickly, Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara, chairman of the regional bloc ECOWAS, kick-started a U.N.-mandated operation to deploy some 3,300 African soldiers.

TROOPS BY MONDAY

The mission had not been expected to start until September.

"By Monday at the latest, the troops will be there or will have started to arrive," said Ali Coulibaly, Ivory Coast's African Integration Minister. "Things are accelerating ... The reconquest of the north has already begun."

The multinational force is expected to be led by Nigerian Major-General Shehu Abdulkadir and draw heavily on troops from West Africa's most populous state. Burkina Faso, Niger and Senegal each announced they would send 500 soldiers.

French army chief Edouard Guillaud said France had no plan to chase the Islamists into the north with land troops, and was waiting for ECOWAS forces. France has deployed some special forces units to the central town of Mopti and sent hundreds of soldiers to Bamako in "Operation Serval" - named after an African wildcat.

Concerned about reprisals on French soil, Hollande announced he had instructed Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault to tighten security in public buildings and on public transport in France.

Hollande's intervention in Mali could endanger eight French nationals being held by Islamists in the Sahara. A spokesman for one of Mali's rebel groups, Ansar Dine, said there would be repercussions.

"There are consequences, not only for French hostages, but also for all French citizens, wherever they find themselves in the Muslim world," Sanda Ould Boumama told Reuters. "The hostages are facing death."

The French Defense Ministry said its failed bid on Friday night to rescue a French intelligence officer held hostage in Somalia since 2009 was unrelated to events in Mali.

The ministry said it believed the officer had been killed by his captors along with at least one French commando. But the Harakat Al-Shabaab Al-Mujahideen insurgent group that was holding Denis Allex said he was alive and being held at a location far from the raid.

RED ALERT

The French Foreign Ministry stepped up its security alert on Mali and parts of neighboring Mauritania and Niger on Friday, extending its red alert - the highest level - to include Bamako.

France advised its 6,000 citizens in Mali to leave. Thousands more French live across West Africa, particularly in Senegal and Ivory Coast.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Friday urged an "accelerated international engagement" and said the bloc would speed up plans to deploy 200 troops to train Malian forces.

A U.S. official said the Pentagon was weighing options such as intelligence-sharing with France and logistics support. French officials suggest U.S. surveillance capacity, including unmanned drones, would prove valuable in vast northern Mali.

Military analysts voiced doubt, however, about whether Friday's action was the start of a swift operation to retake northern Mali - a harsh, sparsely populated terrain the size of France - as neither equipment nor ground troops were ready.

"We're not yet at the big intervention," said Mark Schroeder, of the risk and security consultancy Stratfor.

More than two decades of peaceful elections had earned Mali a reputation as a bulwark of democracy - an image that unraveled in a matter of weeks after a military coup last March that paved the way for the Islamist rebellion.

Interim President Dioncounda Traore, under pressure for bolder action from Mali's military, declared a state of emergency on Friday. Traore canceled a long-planned official trip to Paris on Wednesday because of the violence.

"Every Malian must henceforth consider themselves a soldier," he said on state TV.

On the streets of Bamako, some cars were driving around with French flags draped from the windows to celebrate Paris's intervention.

"It's thanks to France that Mali will emerge from this crisis," said student Mohamed Camera. "This war must end now."

(Additional reporting Adama Diarra, Tiemoko Diallo and Rainer Schwenzfeier in Bamako, Mathieu Bonkoungou in Ouagadougou, Joe Bavier in Abidjan and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Kevin Liffey)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/malian-army-beats-back-islamist-rebels-french-help-005555808.html

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Prolific Michu lighting up Premier League

By STEVE DOUGLAS

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 12:12 p.m. ET Jan. 10, 2013

LONDON (AP) -When Swansea announced the signing of Miguel Perez Cuesta from Spanish struggler Rayo Vallecano in July last year, it barely caused a ripple in English football.

At 2 million pounds ($3.2 million), many will have presumed that Michu - as he is better known - was simply another journeyman foreigner soon to be swallowed up in the world's richest league.

Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson had never heard of him. He wasn't on the radar of Arsenal's scouting network either. Other clubs deliberated about signing him but eventually declined.

What an oversight.

The lanky forward is now established as one of the Premier League's most lethal finishers, scoring 16 goals in all competitions this season, and is in line for a call-up by world and European Spain for the Feb. 6 friendly against Uruguay.

Michu is being spoken of in the same breath as Robin van Persie, Luis Suarez and Sergio Aguero and, unsurprisingly, is being linked to a move to one of Europe's top teams in the offseason. He won't be easy to prise away, though.

"We all know the situation, the economic situation in the world, so there really aren't that many clubs who can buy him," Swansea manager Michael Laudrup said. "There are some here (in England); in Spain, there are only two (Barcelona and Real Madrid). Italy? I don't think so. They're trying to sell. Bayern Munich in Germany ... so only a few, few clubs."

Considering Michu was a sensation in Spanish football last season, scoring 15 goals to help Rayo avoid relegation on the last day of the season, the continent's powers missed an absolute bargain to highlight glaring blind spots within their scouting departments.

"It hurts me to hear Arsene Wenger say that nobody here had heard of Michu," Guillem Balague, a Spanish football expert with Sky Sports, told The Associated Press. "It is a failure in the scouting system in England that nobody could see his potential.

"It's something for these clubs to analyze, that somebody who cost ?2.5 million cannot be worth it for their team. There are players like that in Spain now - they should sharpen their views."

Goal-scoring midfielders are always godsends, and Michu is proving he is up there with the best. He has the cool finishing ability of a striker despite never having played in the position on a regular basis.

Laudrup, though, has pushed him further upfield and Michu is now Swansea's main forward as the unheralded Welsh team continues to impress in the Premier League while closing in on a place in the League Cup final. On Wednesday, the Swans won 2-0 at Chelsea in the first leg of the semifinals - and yes, Michu scored.

"He is a coach that has given me a lot of freedom and that is important," Michu recently said of Laudrup, arguably Denmark's greatest ever player. "Sometimes he plays during practice and you are amazed, he still sees passes where no one else does.

"I am still learning."

Michu started out playing for home-town club Real Oviedo in 2006-07 and then spent four years in Spain's second division with Celta Vigo. Rayo had him for just one season, before the economic problems engulfing Spanish football forced the club to sell its most precious asset at a knockdown fee.

"I would never expect a new player to come in and score so many goals, but I can't say what expectation I had for Michu," said Laudrup, who knew Spanish football well from his time as coach of Getafe and Mallorca. "What he is doing, in terms of goals, is incredible - particularly when you think he's never been a No. 9."

Swansea has been a haven for Spanish players for the past five years, ever since Spaniard Roberto Martinez joined as manager and attempted to implement a playing style similar to that of mighty Barcelona.

Martinez plucked Angel Rangel, Andrea Orlandi and Guillem Bauza from the Spanish lower leagues - they were quickly labeled the "Three Amigos" - and three more Iberians joined in Jordi Gomez, Gorka Pintado and Albert Serran.

Laudrup has followed the same path, bringing in not just Michu but center back Chico Flores and winger Pablo Hernandez from Spain.

"It is a very humble club, like Rayo," said Michu, who chipped in to buy of Real Oviedo shares when the club was on the brink of bankruptcy. "We train at the city sports center and change with people from the street that are going to the pool, for example.

"Perhaps we don't have a lot of luxuries and the facilities are not the best, but all of us are rowing in the same direction and we are one big family."

Laudrup doesn't expect to lose Michu in the January transfer window but knows anything is possible in the offseason.

"He's happy where he is, so I'm really not afraid because I'm so sure he will stay with us for the next five or six months," Laudrup said. "I don't know how much he is worth. Ask my chairman.

"He was the bargain of the season, we know that."

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/50421369/ns/sports-soccer/

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Updated Android-based I'm Watch, new I'm Here GPS tracker make their debut

We got a look at the first version of the Android-based I'm Watch at CES last year, and the Italy-based company is back again this year with an updated version and another new accessory. As you can see, the new I'm Watch appears to be largely identical to its predecessor on the outside, but it promises a number of others improvements courtesy of the new I'm Droid 2 operating system (no word on the Android version it's based on just yet), including a "smart tethering" feature designed to minimize battery use, new "i'music" and "i'mages" apps, and a new "i'market" app store. Making its debut alongside it is the company's I'm Here device, a GPS tracker equipped with a SIM card that can be used by adventurers or those simply concerned with safety -- it'll also let you make an emergency call at the push of a button. Look for it to be available sometime in May for $169. We're hoping to get our hands on both of them shortly, but you can find some additional details in the press release after the break and at the source link below in the meantime.

Continue reading Updated Android-based I'm Watch, new I'm Here GPS tracker make their debut

Filed under: GPS, Wearables

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Source: I'm Watch

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/08/updated-android-based-im-watch-new-im-here-gps-tracker-make-t/

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Insight: In "fiscal cliff" bill, White House was key to corporate tax breaks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - As the Congress rushed last week to approve a "fiscal cliff" tax bill that raised income taxes on the wealthy, Washington lobbyists were fretting over a drama that was playing out within the negotiations: whether the bill would include about $64 billion in tax breaks for businesses.

The bill extended several tax breaks backed by both parties, including $14.3 billion in credits for research and development projects for thousands of U.S. businesses. But it also had other provisions - breaks for companies involved in wind energy, auto racing, rum, Hollywood films and much more.

In the end, the bill approved by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama included all of those things, thanks partly to the White House's interest in promoting wind and other alternative sources of energy, and in subsidizing research and development costs for companies.

It also became a lesson in how Washington's taste for dishing out favors to special interests is alive and well, despite bipartisan calls for the government to reduce the tax credits it gives businesses and individuals at a time when the nation's debt tops $16 trillion and is growing.

Some business lobbyists told Reuters they were surprised that the package of tax credits - which had been approved by the Democrat-led Senate Finance Committee in August - survived the negotiations over the tax bill. The main part of the bill extended Bush-era income tax cuts for individuals with incomes of less than $400,000 and couples who make less than $450,000.

The longer the negotiations dragged on, lobbyists for various causes had figured, the more likely the bill would focus solely on the core issues of the talks: raising income taxes on the wealthy, allowing a payroll tax cut for all Americans to expire, and extending unemployment insurance benefits.

The lobbyists' expectations also were lowered by the emergence of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, as a key negotiator in the talks.

McConnell has spoken on the Senate floor about the need to rethink Congress' approach to various tax breaks, saying that many had been "reflexively extended" for years "without any meaningful review or oversight."

His words were echoed in September by 47 House Republicans who had urged Republican Speaker John Boehner to eliminate the wind energy tax credit, which had split the Republican Party and drawn criticism from Mitt Romney, the Republican nominee for president.

But in the final hours of the negotiations over the fiscal cliff bill, lobbyists pushing the additional tax breaks appear to have had a key ally: President Obama, who during his re-election campaign had touted the need to increase the nation's investment in alternative energy sources such as wind.

Tax credits for the energy industry make up a big chunk of the "add-ons" that were attached to the fiscal cliff bill - about $18.1 billion worth, of which $12.1 billion represents a dramatic expansion of write-offs for wind energy investments.

McConnell's spokesman, Don Stewart, said the White House insisted that it would a "deal breaker" if the entire package of tax credits was not in the bill. Stewart also said the White House initially wanted to make all of the tax breaks permanent, rather than extend them only through the end of this year.

"The White House ... can't deny that the only reason the (business tax breaks were) included in the final agreement is because the president insisted" they be in there, Stewart said.

White House spokesman Jay Carney on Monday said that Obama supported the overall package of tax breaks for businesses. He emphasized that the president favored the wind energy credit and tax benefits for research and development to encourage "job-creating research investments."

Carney also said that many of the tax breaks in the fiscal cliff bill had bipartisan support.

"It would strain the credulity of everyone in this room to suggest that Republicans did not support or want tax credits for business," Carney said during his daily briefing to reporters.

Some Democratic strategists said that given the rush to get a fiscal cliff bill through Congress before U.S. financial markets opened for the new year last Wednesday, it likely seemed unrealistic to pick apart the package of tax credits - known as "extenders" - that had passed the Senate Finance Committee on a bipartisan, 19-5 vote.

So the package - with its $222 million credit for the rum industry, a $78 million write-off for the owners of NASCAR auto racing tracks and tax credits for the film industry that could total $248 million, among other things - survived intact, like a holiday bonus to Washington's lobbyists.

"I reacted, like, 'Wow,' " said Rich Gold of Holland & Knight, who lobbied for tax breaks for wind energy and railroad maintenance.

He represented the Juno Beach, Florida-based company NextEra Energy as well as the Greenwich, Connecticut-based Genesee & Wyoming, a freight rail company.

"The (fiscal cliff) package had gotten so skinny," Gold said, "that I just didn't expect it to happen at the end of the day."

THE WAY WASHINGTON WORKS

Outrage over the tax breaks flowed from small-government advocates and conservative voices such as the Wall Street Journal's editorial page, which called the tax credits a "crony capitalist blowout."

Such business tax breaks are called extenders because lawmakers usually extend them all at once, adding them to other tax bills as they move through Congress. Government budget analysts project their total costs over 10 years, even though many of the breaks are extended for only one or two years at a time.

During a session in which a bitterly divided Congress had trouble passing any legislation, let alone a controversial tax bill, the fiscal cliff package was the only vehicle for such tax breaks in the final hours of the session that ended Wednesday. A new Congress, including House and Senate members just elected in November, began meeting Thursday.

Critics and supporters alike said that tucking expensive tax incentives into last-minute bills is how Washington has worked for years.

"They always do this," said Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste. The difference this time was that more people were watching the high-stakes talks over the fiscal cliff bill, he said.

"Many people are being made aware of these tax breaks," Schatz said.

Republican strategist John Feehery, who favors the wind energy tax credit, said the fiscal cliff deal was never expected to reform the U.S. tax code, as some in Washington had hoped.

"This was not going to be a tax reform package. This was going to be an agreement or disagreement over whether we keep the current tax policies in place. And these extenders are, by and large, keeping current policy in place," said Feehery, who leads a group called the Red State Renewable Alliance, which touts the benefits of the wind industry in conservative states.

'CORPORATE WELFARE'?

Like Feehery and White House spokesman Carney, supporters of tax credits for wind energy and other industries argue that such incentives often boost the economy and create jobs.

Critics argue that the breaks are "corporate welfare," handed out to whoever can hire the best lobbyists or contribute the most to lawmakers' campaigns.

During the past two years, the American Wind Energy Association spent $4.5 million lobbying and gave more than $335,000 in campaign contributions to federal candidates, most of them members of Congress, according to the Senate's lobbying database and the watchdog group Center for Responsive Politics.

Fiscal conservatives aren't the only ones lobbying against such tax breaks.

Those opposing the wind energy credits include some in the nuclear power industry, which itself has received more than $100 billion in federal subsidies since the 1940s, according to the watchdog group Taxpayers for Common Sense.

Chicago-based Exelon Corp, the largest nuclear power operator in the United States, spent $6.4 million on lobbying during the first 10 months of 2012, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Exelon also is investing in wind energy but was a vocal voice against the tax credit approved by Congress, saying in a statement that "wind energy can and should stand on its own in competing with other clean energy alternatives."

Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, a member of the Senate Finance Committee who first proposed the wind energy tax credit back in 1992, said that such provisions are not a giveaway by the U.S. Treasury because they encourage investments that might not otherwise be made.

"Using the tax code to stimulate investment is altogether different than appropriating money," he said.

LAWMAKERS TORN

Even so, Grassley's vote on the fiscal cliff bill reflected how some lawmakers were torn over the legislation to prevent income tax increases on most Americans.

Last summer, Grassley joined five other Republicans and 13 Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee in voting for the package of tax credits that wound up being included in the fiscal cliff bill.

But when the Senate voted 89-8 last week to approve the bill, Grassley was among the eight senators opposing it even though it included the wind energy credits he calls crucial to a developing industry in his state.

"The big picture is what ruled as far as I was concerned," Grassley told Reuters in an interview. "The bill does nothing on the expenditure side. ... It didn't cut down on the deficit."

By contrast, Arizona Republican Senator John McCain, a longtime critic of special-project spending known as "earmarks," said he reluctantly voted for the "flawed" agreement because he didn't want to see income taxes go up on all Americans.

Without action by Congress, the Bush-era tax cuts that save middle-class families about $2,000 a year would have expired at the end of 2012.

McCain's distaste for the tax credits in the bill was clear.

"It's hard to think of anything that could feed the cynicism of the American people more than larding up must-pass emergency legislation with giveaways to special interest and campaign contributors," he said in a statement.

After the Senate approved the fiscal cliff deal early on New Year's Day, it moved to the House, where some Republicans complained about the "bloated" package during a closed-door party meeting. But the objectors decided they did not have the votes to amend the bill, House Republican aides said.

The deal passed the House on a vote of 257-167, with opponents of the wind energy credit making up a good chunk of the Republicans' "no" votes. Some are vowing to return to the issue in the new congressional session.

"With taxpayers on the hook for unsustainable corporate welfare, there's no question we're going to come back to it in the new Congress," Representative Mike Pompeo, a Kansas Republican, said in an e-mail.

(Additional reporting by Kim Dixon and Roberta Rampton; Editing by David Lindsey and Lisa Shumaker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/insight-fiscal-cliff-bill-white-house-key-corporate-003955271--finance.html

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"Django Unchained" Action Figures Spark More Racial Outrage

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" has already been the subject of criticism for its bloody violence and frequent use of the N-word, but now action figures from the film are causing the next wave of outrage.

The National Entertainment Collectibles Association, Inc. (NECA) - a company that has produced toys for movies including "Hunger Games," "Predators" and "Rocky" - partnered with the Weinstein Company to release eight-inch tall figurines for sale on Amazon and people aren't happy about it.

Najee Ali, director of the advocacy group Project Islamic Hope, told AP that the collectible line of movie merchandise is "a slap in the face of our ancestors" and is hoping for their removal from the market.

And unlike Spike Lee, who refuses to watch Tarantino's latest out of respect for his ancestors, Ali wasn't opposed to Tarantino's depiction of slavery or use of racial slurs in the revenge tale. He admits to seeing it twice, but feels the plastic personifications of the characters in the film "trivializes the horrors of slavery and what African Americans experienced."

So far, customer reviews on Amazon agree.

"Slavery is not something to play with," one of many comments in the same vein read. "These toys will fall in the hands of people who may think it is ok to mimic how slaves were treated. Please take these dolls off the market."

Others, however, don't have any issue with the figurines portraying Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington and others who starred in the movie.

"If fans of this film want to collect memorabilia and action figures based off of a movie they enjoyed, it is a far stretch to say that the makers of this movie are attempting to make money off of slavery," one supportive collector wrote. "There is nothing racist about making a toy based off of a character from a movie."

As the racial debate over "Django Unchained" continues, the movie is raking in big bucks at the box office. With over $108 million accumulated domestically, Tarantino's latest is on pace to become his biggest success yet at the box office.

Due to the sensitive subject matter, it is on track to becoming Tarantino's most controversial, too.

The Weinstein Company did not immediately respond to TheWrap's request for comment on the action figures, while NECA responded with no comment "at the moment."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/django-unchained-action-figures-spark-more-racial-outrage-001944465.html

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New telescopes to give researchers glimpse of the beginning of time

Jan. 8, 2013 ? Where do we come from? What is the universe made of? Will the universe exist only for a finite time or will it last forever? These are just some of the questions that University of California, San Diego physicists are working to answer in the high desert of northern Chile. Armed with a massive 3.5 meter (11.5 foot) diameter telescope designed to measure space-time fluctuations produced immediately after the Big Bang, the research team will soon be one step closer to understanding the origin of the universe. The Simons Foundation has recently awarded the team a $4.3 million grant to build and install two more telescopes. Together, the three telescopes will be known as the Simons Array.

?The Simons Array will inform our knowledge of the universe in a completely new way,? said Brian Keating, associate professor of Physics at UC San Diego?s Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences. Keating will lead the project with Professor Adrian Lee of UC Berkeley.

Fluctuations in space-time, also known as ?gravitational waves,? are gravitational perturbations that propagate at the speed of light and can penetrate ?through? matter, like an x-ray. The gravitational waves are thought to have imprinted the ?primordial soup? of matter and photons that later coalesced to become gases, stars and galaxies?all the structures that we now see. The photons left over from the Big Bang will be captured by the telescopes to give scientists a unique view back to the universe?s beginning.

The telescopes of the Simons Array?named in recognition of the grant?will focus light onto more than 20,000 detectors, each of which must be cooled nearly to absolute zero. The result will provide an unmatched combination of sensitivity, frequency coverage and sky coverage.

Last year, the first POLARBEAR (for Polarization of Background Radiation) telescope, which will comprise one third of the Simons Array, was set up in Chile?s Atacama Desert. The site is one of the highest and driest places on Earth at 17,000 feet above sea level, making it one of the planet?s best locations for such a study. The site?s high elevation means that it lies above half of the Earth?s atmosphere. Because water vapor absorbs microwaves, the dry climate allows the already thin atmosphere to transmit even more of the faint cosmic microwave background radiation. Since March 2012, the telescope has recorded data to identify an imprint of primordial gravitational waves on the cosmic microwave background radiation, the relic radiation remaining from the Big Bang.

While POLARBEAR was a major technological achievement, the single telescope is sensitive to just one frequency. Additional detectors in the new telescopes will measure the cosmic microwave background at different frequencies so that researchers can compare the data and subtract out contaminating radiation emitted from the Milky Way Galaxy. Together, the three telescopes will also be much more sensitive to the elusive gravitational wave signals, offering deeper insight into the origin of the universe.

Keating continued, ?The Simons Array will have the same or better capabilities as a $1 billion satellite, and with NASA?s budget constraints, there are no planned space-based missions for this job.?

Scientists from UC San Diego, UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Colorado, McGill University in Canada and the KEK Laboratory in Japan are collaborating on the project.

Based in New York City, the Simons Foundation was established in 1994 by Jim and Marilyn Simons. The foundation?s mission is to advance the frontiers of research in mathematics and the basic sciences. The Foundation is delighted to be able to help support this innovative investigation into the earliest moments of the universe.

Initial funding for the first POLARBEAR telescope came from the National Science Foundation, the James B. Ax Family Foundation and an anonymous donor.

For more information on the Simons Array, visit cosmology.ucsd.edu. More information on the Simons Foundation can be found at simonsfoundation.org.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California, San Diego. The original article was written by Jade Griffin.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/bAUo3fcmmFk/130108141955.htm

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