DoubleLine launches stock management division

NEW YORK (Reuters) – DoubleLine Capital LP, the $ 53 billion firm run by star bond investor Jeffrey Gundlach, said on Wednesday it is now managing stock portfolios in a new division called DoubleLine Equity LP.

The firm, which surpassed $ 50 billion in bond assets last year after launching in 2009, said in a news release that it has tapped former TCW Group Inc portfolio managers Brendt Stallings and Husam Nazer to expand its stock division.

In an interview on Wednesday, Gundlach, DoubleLine‘s chief executive officer and chief investment officer, said stock mutual fund strategies suffer from a lack of new ideas.

“We think the equity business is ripe for creative thinking,” he said.

Gundlach said he plans to start with one or two mutual funds that offer a strategy focusing on U.S. stocks, and quickly follow with a hedge fund whose strategy would focus on “best ideas” in international stock investing.

“We’re really not prepared to do a lot of individual stock selection outside of the United States,” he said.

Gundlach had hinted at the firm’s move into stocks in a webcast on September 11, citing the broad disinterest in equities and their potential as a hedge against inflation.

He said on Wednesday that some of the stock funds he plans to offer will have a strategy that focuses on specific sectors among small and mid-cap stocks, while others will have a broader strategy that could vary widely in its stock selection.

Gundlach said DoubleLine’s business plan had been to build the firm’s bond management side to between $ 50 billion and $ 60 billion in assets before diversifying into areas such as stocks, a goal it has achieved.

“This is our first move to diversify. There’s very likely to be one if not two more over the course of 2013,” Gundlach said. He said he is seeking to reach a maximum of about $ 10 billion in assets within DoubleLine’s equity division.

Gundlach has made pointed calls on stocks in the past, including one at the Ira Sohn investing conference in May to buy natural gas while betting on a decline in the shares of Apple Inc, the world’s most valuable technology company.

On Wednesday, Gundlach recommended trading the volatility in Apple’s stock price.

“Apple’s flopping around like a fish in a boat. When it has a big rally, you should probably sell it. When it goes down a lot, you should probably buy it,” he said, and reiterated a call he on CNBC in November that its stock price may drop to $ 425 a share. Apple’s stock was up 3.2 percent to $ 549.03 at the close of trading on Wednesday.

DoubleLine Total Return Bond Fund, the firm’s flagship, earned a return of 9.2 percent in 2012, beating 97 percent of other U.S. mortgage-focused funds, according to Lipper. The fund, which oversees $ 37.1 billion, took in $ 19.7 billion last year, making it the most popular mutual fund by asset growth.

Pacific Investment Management Co, the world’s largest bond fund manager with $ 1.92 trillion in assets as of September 30, 2012, began moving into equities when it launched its first actively managed stock mutual fund in 2010.

Gundlach told Reuters that his foray into stock investing could also come with a downturn in the stock market, which he said he could overcome through active management.

“There’s a really good argument that you could have a major correction in the S&P 500 in 2013,” he said. He cited the heavy influence of U.S. policymakers on markets.

Stallings and Nazer were previously group managing directors at TCW, the highest title for managers at the firm, where they oversaw $ 5 billion in assets in stock portfolios.

Gundlach founded DoubleLine after a nasty split with TCW, where he was fired as chief investment officer in December 2009. The two sued one another in 2010, but settled in December of that year without disclosing terms.

Private equity firm Carlyle Group struck a deal in August to buy a 60 percent stake in TCW from French bank Societe Generale. TCW management and employees will own the remaining 40 percent stake in the Los Angeles-based investment firm, which has $ 135 billion in assets.

DoubleLine, which is also based in Los Angeles, employs more than 80 people. Stallings and Nazer plan to hire at least five investment professionals this year, the news release said.

Nazer said in an interview on Wednesday that dividend-paying stocks in general and consumer staple stocks are particular bright spots.

(Reporting by Sam Forgione; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Mohammad Zargham)

Business News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: DoubleLine launches stock management division
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/doubleline-launches-stock-management-division/
Link To Post : DoubleLine launches stock management division
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

C. African Republic leader faces rebel threat

DAMARA, Central African Republic (AP) — More than 30 truckloads of troops from Chad line the two-lane highway just outside of Damara, supporting Central African Republic government forces who want to block a new rebel coalition from reaching the capital.

In a display of force, the turbaned fighters hold their rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons they threaten to use if the rebels seeking to oust President Francois Bozize push this far south.

Gen. Jean Felix Akaga, who heads the regional force known as FOMAC, says a push on Damara, just 75 kilometers (45 miles) north of the capital, would be “a declaration of war” on the 10 Central African states.

“For us, Damara is the red line that the rebels cannot cross,” Akaga said Wednesday. “If they attack Damara, we will attack.”

The United Nations called for talks between the government and rebels and the Security Council scheduled closed consultations on the Central African Republic on Thursday afternoon.

The multinational force brought journalists up to Damara, where they touted the strength of the Chadian troops, who along with forces from Republic of Congo and Gabon are helping to stabilize the area.

The rebels, though, appear to be holding their positions after taking a string of towns including Sibut, which is 70 miles (112 kilometers) further north from Damara.

Back in 2003, troops under Bozize seized the capital amid volleys of machine-gun and mortar fire, and he then dissolved the constitution and parliament. Now a decade later it is Bozize who himself could be ousted from power.

On Wednesday, he announced through a decree read on state radio that he was dismissing his son, Francis, as defense minister. Chief of Staff Guillaume Lapo also was being replaced.

The president already has promised to form a coalition government with rebels and to negotiate without conditions. It’s a sign of how seriously Bozize is threatened by the rebel groups who call themselves Seleka, which means alliance in the Sango language.

Bozize says there’s one point not up for negotiation: he does not intend to leave office before his term ends in 2016.

“We can’t destroy the country. I don’t think that a transition is a good solution for the rebels, for Central African Republic or for the international community,” said Cyriaque Gonda, a spokesman for the political coalition behind Bozize.

But mediators for the government and others note the rebels — an alphabet soup of acronyms in French, UFDR, CPJP, FDPC and CPSK — want Bozize gone. And that’s the only issue the disparate group seems unified on. Seleka is a shaky alliance that lumps together former enemies.

In September 2011, fighting between the CPJP and the UFDR left at least 50 people dead in the town of Bria and more than 700 homes destroyed.

“Even if they show unity in the military action, we know that they are politically very disunited, the only thing that holds them together is the opposition to the current president,” said Roland Marchal, a Paris-based expert on Central African Republic. “If they take control of the capital I think that divisions would appear quickly.”

Gonda, who has negotiated on behalf of the government with the rebels, says some of them couldn’t even accept sitting together as recently as 2008.

Meanwhile, in some parts of the capital, Bangui, a city of 700,000, life continued as normal, while in others the military buildup was evident.

Trucks full of soldiers bounced on rutted roads dotted with shacks where people can charge mobile phones. Police officers stopped vehicles at intersections. Troops from neighboring nations have arrived including about 120 soldiers each from Republic of Congo and Gabon to help stabilize the area between rebel and the government forces.

In the Bimbo neighborhood, traders went about their business, selling everything from leafy greens to meat at roadside stands.

“We don’t support what the rebels are doing,” said banana farmer Narcisse Ngo, as a young boy played nearby with a monkey corpse for sale along with other meat. “They should be at the table negotiating without weapons. We are all Central Africans.”

Bozize, who seized power while the democratically elected president was traveling outside the country, managed to win elections in 2005 but in the years since he has faced multiple low-level rebellions that have shattered security across the northern part of this large but desperately poor country.

He won the 2011 election with more than 64 percent of the vote, though the United States said the voting was “widely viewed as severely flawed.” The U.S. evacuated its diplomats from Bangui last week.

The most prominent among the rebel groups in Seleka is the UFDR, or Union of Democratic Forces for Unity.

Human Rights Watch, which has documented abuses by both government forces and rebel groups operating in the country’s north, says the UFDR rebellion “has its roots in the deep marginalization of northeastern CAR, which is virtually cut off from the rest of the country and is almost completely undeveloped.”

The rebels, though, also have included some of Bozize’s former fighters who helped bring him to power in 2003 but later accused him of failing to properly pay them, among other grievances, Human Rights Watch says.

For the people now caught in the middle, they want life to return to normal.

“Everyone is suffering here — we have nothing to eat,” said Daniel Ngakou, 55, as he watched the Chadian troops patrol his hometown of Damara. “The women are searching in the bush all day for food. We just don’t know what will happen.”

The United Nations called on the government and the rebels Wednesday to focus on dialogue that can avert violence and lead to a peaceful resolution of the conflict and respect for the 2008 Libreville Comprehensive Peace Agreement. That deal was signed by the government and three major rebel groups.

U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky reiterated the U.N. Security Council’s call last week for all parties to refrain from any acts of violence against civilians, respect human rights and seek a peaceful solution.

“We welcome regional efforts to seek a political solution and reinforce security,” Nesirky told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.

While the United Nations has temporarily withdrawn its staff from Central African Republic, Nesirky said the world body remains engaged in efforts to resolve the crisis.

He said U.N. special representative Margaret Vogt “has remained in close dialogue with the key parties in the Central African Republic and the region and has offered support to political negotiations,” he said.

___

Associated Press writer Oleg Cetinic in Paris and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Africa News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: C. African Republic leader faces rebel threat
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/c-african-republic-leader-faces-rebel-threat/
Link To Post : C. African Republic leader faces rebel threat
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Poll: Would you buy a blue, pink or yellow iPhone 5S?

Title Post: Poll: Would you buy a blue, pink or yellow iPhone 5S?
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/poll-would-you-buy-a-blue-pink-or-yellow-iphone-5s/
Link To Post : Poll: Would you buy a blue, pink or yellow iPhone 5S?
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Jay-Z composing original score for “The Great Gatsby”

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – If you liked the music in the trailer for Baz Luhrmann‘s “The Great Gatsby,” you’ll be happy to hear Jay-Z isn’t just lending a few of his songs to the soundtrack, he’s composing the upcoming film’s entire original score.

The rapper is, apparently, hard at work to accomplish the task with another artist, who goes by the name The Bullitts.

The latter broke the news on Twitter in the early morning hours Sunday.

“Jay-Z and myself have been working tirelessly on the score for the upcoming #CLASSIC ‘The Great Gatsby,’” Bullitts exclaimed. “It is too DOPE for words!”

Don’t expect the collaborators to start producing tunes from the Roaring Twenties. The trailer certainly indicates otherwise and Luhrmann mixed in modern music for “Romeo + Juliet,” as well as the musical period piece “Moulin Rouge!”

It appears the flappers in Luhrmann’s latest film will be dancing to a very different beat than what F. Scott Fitzgerald imagined while writing his classic novel.

“The Great Gatsby,” starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire, hits theaters on May 10.

Warner Bros. and Jay-Z‘s rep did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

Music News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Jay-Z composing original score for “The Great Gatsby”
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/jay-z-composing-original-score-for-the-great-gatsby/
Link To Post : Jay-Z composing original score for “The Great Gatsby”
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Bayer’s Nexavar meets goal in thyroid cancer trial

FRANKFURT (Reuters) – German drugmaker Bayer said its drug Nexavar reached a goal of improving the survival of patients with a certain type of thyroid cancer in a late-stage trial.

It said on Thursday it plans to submit data from the trial as the basis for marketing approval of Nexavar to treat radioactive iodine refractory differentiated thyroid cancer.

(Reporting by Maria Sheahan)

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Bayer’s Nexavar meets goal in thyroid cancer trial
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/bayers-nexavar-meets-goal-in-thyroid-cancer-trial/
Link To Post : Bayer’s Nexavar meets goal in thyroid cancer trial
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

World stocks jump as US staves off ‘fiscal cliff’

BANGKOK (AP) — World markets registered relief Wednesday over the U.S. congressional vote to stop hundreds of billions of dollars in automatic tax increases and spending cuts that risked plunging the world’s biggest economy into recession.

Benchmarks in Australia and Hong Kong boomeranged on the first trading day of the year, just before Congress passed an emergency measure to avert much of the impact of tax-and-spending changes that were so steep they were dubbed the “fiscal cliff.” Asian markets had slipped on Monday, fearing that negotiations over the measure might collapse.

Economists have been warning that the tax increases and spending cuts could take a chunk out of the U.S. economy; some experts predicted financial markets would plunge unless a clear-cut deal was reached.

Instead, markets in Asia and Europe blessed the stopgap measure approved late Tuesday in Washington to retroactively counter some of the “fiscal cliff” effects. The bill Congress passed awaits President Barack Obama‘s signature.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index shot up 2.9 percent to close at 23,311.89, its highest finish since June 1, 2011. Australia‘s S&P/ASX 200 surged 1.2 percent to close at 4,705.90, its strongest finish in 19 months. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.7 percent to 2,031.10.

European stocks jumped shortly after opening. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1.6 percent to 5,989.24. Germany’s DAX advanced 1.7 percent to 7,740.12 and France’s CAC-40 also gained 1.7 percent at 3,701.90.

“People are very relieved this morning because the U.S. is very likely to fix its own problems in the next few days, so investors in Hong Kong are pretty optimistic,” said Jackson Wong, vice president of Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong.

But some analysts said that expectations for a compromise were so low that any deal was viewed as positive.

“Among business leaders, I’m gonna say this deal isn’t enough to move the needle on confidence. It may improve consumer confidence a little, investors obviously are celebrating a tentative deal but you know how transitory investor confidence can become,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Group.

Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, India, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia posted solid gains. Markets in Japan and mainland China reopen Friday.

Uncertainty about the outcome of negotiations drove down Asian regional stocks Monday, the last trading day of 2012.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5 percent to close at 4,648.90, as investors sold off stocks to lock in profits. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed marginally lower. Singapore, New Zealand and India also declined. Japan and South Korea were closed.

The bill that Congress approved calls for higher taxes on incomes over $ 400,000 for individuals and $ 450,000 for couples, a victory for Obama. Earnings above those amounts would be taxed at a rate of 39.6 percent, up from the current 35 percent. It also delays for two months $ 109 billion worth of across-the-board spending cuts that had been set to start affecting the Pentagon and domestic agencies this week.

Lorraine Tan, director at Standard & Poor’s equity research in Singapore, said she believes U.S. growth in 2013 will be able to offset the impact of the tax increases and that companies would feel freer to spend now that the U.S. has taken a step back from the edge of the cliff.

Companies “can start to move ahead with any expansion plans they may have,” Tan said. “You’ll see some of that pent-up spending in 2013. And I think there’s a lot of relief related to that.”

Even if Washington bypasses the fiscal cliff, the next crisis is just around the corner, in late February or early March, when the government reaches a $ 16.4 trillion ceiling on the amount of money it can borrow.

Republicans say they won’t go along with raising the limit on government borrowing unless the increase is matched by spending cuts to help attack long-term debt. Failing to raise the debt ceiling could lead to a first-ever U.S. default that could roil financial markets and shake worldwide confidence in the United States.

“Republicans vow not to raise the limit without sharp cuts in spending and Obama vows not to cut spending without further tax hikes. Two more months of shenanigans and waffling / seasick markets? It certainly looks that way,” analysts at DBS Bank Ltd. in Singapore said in a market commentary.

U.S. stocks shot higher Monday on the belief that lawmakers would work out a deal. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 1.3 percent to 13,104.14. The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 1.7 percent to 1,426.19. The Nasdaq composite index rose 2 percent to 3,019.51.

Political gridlock has been rattling U.S. markets and shaking consumer and business confidence the past two years.

To end a 2011 standoff over raising the federal debt limit, lawmakers agreed to a Jan. 1, 2013 deadline to reach a deal over taxes and spending. If there was no agreement, more than $ 500 billion in tax increases would hit the economy in 2013 alone, along with $ 109 billion in cuts from the military and domestic spending programs — hence the fiscal cliff.

After a fight over raising the debt limit last year, the credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s took the unprecedented step of lowering the U.S. government’s AAA bond rating because of the lack of a credible plan to reduce the federal government’s debt.

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson

Economy News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: World stocks jump as US staves off ‘fiscal cliff’
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Israeli-Palestinian clashes erupt in West Bank

TAMOUN, West Bank (AP) — An arrest raid by undercover Israeli soldiers disguised as vegetable vendors ignited rare clashes in the northern West Bank on Tuesday, residents said, leaving at 10 Palestinians wounded.

Israeli army raids into Palestinian areas to seize activists and militants are fairly common. The raids are normally coordinated with Palestinian security forces, and suspects are usually apprehended without violence.

The clashes began early Tuesday after Israeli forces disguised as merchants in a vegetable truck arrested one man. Regular army forces then entered the town, prompting youths to hurl rocks to try to prevent more arrests.

Israeli forces fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live ammunition as youths set tires and bins on fire to block the passage of military vehicles. In several hours of clashes, dozens of masked youths hid behind makeshift barriers, hurling rocks and firebombs at soldiers.

Faris Bisharat, a resident of Tamoun, said 10 men were wounded, some by live fire. Bisharat said the wanted men belong to Islamic Jihad, a violent group sworn to Israel’s destruction. It wasn’t clear how many men Israeli forces sought to arrest. There were no immediate details on how seriously the 10 were hurt.

The Israeli military said it arrested a “terrorist affiliated with the Islamic Jihad terror group.” It said two soldiers were injured during the raid.

The fighting, which broke out in several parts of the town of some 8,000 people, were a rare, angry response. It was also unusual for Israeli forces to use live fire toward Palestinian demonstrators. Israel says it uses live fire only in extremely dangerous situations.

Middle East News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Israeli-Palestinian clashes erupt in West Bank
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

All of 2012 in One 4-Minute Video

We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:  

RELATED: ‘Roseanne’ Predicted Internet Addiction; A Weather Alert from Hell

Filmmaker Ryan James Yezak boiled down the biggest stories of 2012 into four minutes. And, yes, Honey Boo Boo made it in there:

RELATED: Even Batman Gets Tripped up by Apple Maps

RELATED: The Videos You Shouldn’t (and Probably Couldn’t) Try at Home

So, raise your hand if you knew Patrick Stewart and company were having this much fun behind the scenes at Star Trek: The Next Generation. 

RELATED: Here’s a Video of George Takei Reading ’50 Shades of Grey’

RELATED: Cookie Monster Batman and the Dog You Wish You Had

Marvel’s Stan Lee — the guy who created characters like the Amazing Spider-Man, Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Iron Man, and the X-Men — turned 90 the other day. In honor of him and his heroes, here are all his cameos from all of the Marvel movies he helped create: 

And, finally, it’s 2013 somewhere… right? Please take caution when announcing that news to this very excitable baby. Happy New Year!

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: All of 2012 in One 4-Minute Video
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

LA photographer killed while shooting Bieber’s car

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Police say a paparazzo was hit by a car and killed after taking photos of Justin Bieber‘s white Ferrari on a Los Angeles street.

Los Angeles police Officer James Stoughton says the photographer, who was not identified, died at a hospital shortly after the crash Tuesday evening. Stoughton says Bieber was not in the Ferrari at the time.

The sports car was parked on the side of Sepulveda Boulevard near Getty Center Drive after a traffic stop. The photographer was struck as he walked across the boulevard after taking pictures.

Stoughton says no charges are expected to be filed against the motorist who hit the man.

A call to a spokesperson for the singer was not immediately returned Tuesday night.

Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: LA photographer killed while shooting Bieber’s car
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Analysis: In era of gridlock, Congress “created a monster”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Setting a looming deadline to avert self-created calamity has become a frequent device for the U.S. Congress to get things done in recent years. When all else fails, as it often does, it’s supposed to frighten members into action.

That was the idea when Congress created the “fiscal cliff” in August, 2011 to resolve a partisan struggle, also with a deadline and also self-created, over raising the federal debt ceiling.

Catastrophic budget cuts, timed to coincide with the threat of hefty income tax increases, would finally produce big cuts in the soaring federal budget by December 31, 2012, or else.

It didn’t work.

Congress scared everyone but Congress, which while cutting taxes for most and raising them for a few, made no pretense of trying to make any progress toward reducing the deficit.

“We created a monster,” Democratic Representative Charles Rangel of New York said on the floor of the House of Representatives on Tuesday night just before a House vote averted most of the effects of the fiscal cliff.

“This fandango was an immense embarrassment,” American Enterprise Institute scholar Norm Ornstein said in an interview with Reuters, calling it “cringeworthy.”

And “the fact that we are going to have another disastrous confrontation over the debt limit in two months, with the radical right wing of the House Republicans determined to send us over the edge if they don’t get their way, is actually frightening.”

“This House could have done worse, by rejecting the plan” to avoid the cliff, he said, “but it has done nothing to challenge its record as at minimum the worst Congress in our lifetimes.”

The next confrontation to which Ornstein referred is likely to start heating up in a matter of weeks in anticipation of the need to once again raise the borrowing limit for the government beyond the current level of about $ 16 trillion. The risk will be a default by the government.

‘PSYCHOLOGICAL FALLOUT’

Republicans in Congress, many of whom acknowledged publicly that they took a beating from President Barack Obama in the contest over the cliff, are promising to pursue spending cuts with extra vigor as a condition for approving the debt ceiling increase in the Republican-controlled House.

Historically, each partisan grudge match over spending has tended to make the next one even more bitter.

Alice Rivlin, a former U.S. budget director and Brookings Institution budget expert, also worries about “psychological fallout” from the battle over the cliff that could spill over into the debt ceiling struggle as well as contribute to the global perception that when it comes to the economy, the U.S. can’t govern itself.

“It’s very bad for the economy,” she said in an interview with Reuters, “and for our image in the world. We don’t look like a country in charge of its own destiny. That’s hard to quantify but it’s bad.”

“This is a Congress that can barely get its work done – especially when confronting the most important issues of the day,” said Sarah Binder, a George Washington University expert on Congress.

“In many ways, public disgust with Congress is already baked in: the public’s expectations are so low that it’s hard for Congress to surprise us,” she said in an interview with Reuters.

That wasn’t the way Minority Leader Mitch McConnell – the chief architect of the cliff – expressed it on August 1, 2011 as he spoke on the Senate floor.

“It might have appeared to some as though their government wasn’t working,” he said, “but in fact the opposite was true. The push and pull Americans saw in Washington these past few weeks was not gridlock, it was the will of the people working itself out in a political system that was never meant to be pretty.”

Republican Representative David Dreier of California expressed a similar sentiment Monday night as the House closed the loop on the plan McConnell designed.

“This is the greatest deliberative body known to man,” he said.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Analysis: In era of gridlock, Congress “created a monster”
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Insight: How Colombian drug traffickers used HSBC to launder money

(Reuters) – When several Colombian men were indicted in January 2010 on money-laundering charges, the case in Brooklyn federal court drew little attention.

It looked like a bust of another nexus of drug traffickers and money launderers, with mainly small-time operatives paying the price for their crimes.

One of the men was Julio Chaparro, a 48-year-old father of four who owned three factories that made children’s clothing in Colombia.

But to U.S. authorities the case was anything but ordinary. Chaparro, prosecutors alleged, helped run a money-laundering ring for drug traffickers that took advantage of lax controls at UK-based international banking group HSBC Holdings Plc. It was one of the most important leads for U.S. investigators pursuing a case against the bank that eventually led to a $ 1.9 billion settlement on December 11.

Chaparro was “basically putting the orchestra together” and investigators saw “him as a major player in terms of cleaning a lot of money,” said James Hayes, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New York. Known as ICE, the agency and its task force led the probe.

The Colombian’s lawyer, Ephraim Savitt, said Chaparro was a middleman in the operation, but disputed the extent of his client’s role, saying he was the “page turner of sheet music for the conductor.”

Chaparro, who was arrested in Colombia in 2010 and extradited to the United States in 2011, pleaded guilty to a money-laundering conspiracy count in May and is awaiting sentencing in 2013.

An HSBC spokesman declined comment.

Much about the trail that drug traffickers used to move U.S. dollars – the proceeds from drug sales – through HSBC and other banks remains unclear. By design, the process is layered to evade detection.

But a review of confidential investigative records that originate from two U.S. Attorney office probes and federal court filings in New York and California, as well as interviews with senior law-enforcement officials, shows how investigators tracing the activities of people who allegedly worked with Chaparro were able to expose large-scale money laundering at one of the world’s biggest banks.

The federal law-enforcement task force – named after El Dorado, the mythical city of gold in South America – used wire taps, email and computer searches, information from at least one inside source, and old-fashioned surveillance, to piece together the ring’s operations.

SMUGGLED ACROSS BORDER

Drug cartels sold narcotics in the United States and routed the cash to Mexico, often using couriers to smuggle it across the border. That cash would then be put into bank accounts at HSBC‘s Mexico unit, where large deposits could be made without arousing suspicion, according to U.S. Department of Justice documents.

In one filing, U.S. prosecutors said, Chaparro and others allegedly utilized accounts at HSBC Mexico to deposit “drug dollars and then wire those funds to … businesses located in the United States and elsewhere. The funds were then used to purchase consumer goods, which were exported to South America and resold to generate ‘clean’ cash.”

In a typical transaction, a middleman in a drug cartel would offer to deliver consumer goods, such as computers or washing machines, to Colombian businesses on favorable terms. Another person in the United States would buy the goods from firms using funds from drug trafficking, and fulfill those orders.

Money launderers exploited the laxness of HSBC in policing shadowy money flows, the Department of Justice said earlier this month. Failures included not conducting due diligence on customers, not adequately monitoring wire transfers or cash shipments and not having enough employees to run anti-money laundering systems. U.S. Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer called the lapses “stunning failures of oversight.”

The situation was so bad, according to the Department of Justice, that in 2008, the head of HSBC‘s Mexican operations was told by Mexican regulators that a local drug lord described the bank as “the place to launder money.”

The Chaparro probe, led by ICE and the Justice Department, converged over the past two years with two other investigations – led by federal prosecutors and investigators in West Virginia and by the Manhattan district attorney – resulting in this month’s settlement with HSBC.

HSBC and its employees avoided criminal indictments, as the bank agreed instead to a deferred-prosecution deal that forces it to strengthen controls and accept a compliance monitor.

Today, Chaparro sits in a federal detention center in Brooklyn, reading the Bible and awaiting sentencing, said Savitt, a former U.S. prosecutor in Brooklyn, who submitted a list of questions to Chaparro for Reuters.

“He is contrite, regretful and ashamed about his crimes,” Savitt said. “He wants to serve his time and rejoin his family. He understands that a prison term could prevent that from happening for many years.”

Under federal guidelines, he could face 15 to 18 years in prison.

ON CHAPARRO’S TRAIL

The El Dorado federal task force, based in a building on the west side of Manhattan near Chelsea Piers, serves as an umbrella organization for some 250 law-enforcement officials from state, local and federal agencies.

One of the task-force supervisors is Lieutenant Frank DiGregorio, a former New York detective who spent years tracking the so-called Black Market Peso Exchange, which is used to convert dollars to Colombian pesos through trading in goods. DiGregorio along with two younger investigators – Graham Klein and Carmelo Lana – led the HSBC case.

The overall probe began in 2007 when investigators analyzed how courier companies ferried cash through airports in Miami and Houston, a person familiar with the case said. They ultimately tracked that to HSBC‘s operations in Mexico and then connected it to funds moving through New York.

A tipping point in the investigation came in 2009 when El Dorado agents arrested a man named Fernando Sanclemente. Two sources familiar with the case say Sanclemente was an operative in Chaparro’s network.

Sanclemente, who was charged with allegedly conducting financial transactions tied to narcotics trafficking, is free on bail with a $ 200,000 bond, according to the latest court docket entry, which dates to January 2012. His lawyer, James Neville, declined to discuss the status of the case.

According to a criminal complaint filed against him by Lana, the El Dorado agent, on June 30, 2009, task force agents followed Sanclemente for more than two hours as he drove around Queens in New York to ferry cash from drug sales.

Sanclemente first met with a person for about “30 seconds” on one street corner, and left with a yellow plastic bag. Later that night, he drove to a Dunkin’ Donuts near LaGuardia Airport, where a black livery cab pulled up and the driver handed him a black bag.

The El Dorado team followed Sanclemente to Laurel Hollow, New York, some 40 minutes away, where the investigators stopped and searched him, finding about $ 153,000 in the two bags. At Sanclemente’s apartment, investigators said they found ledgers and documents consistent with money laundering.

With the arrest, investigators gained insight into Chaparro’s alleged transactions. At one point, investigators set up undercover bank accounts where they were able to get Chaparro’s network to wire proceeds that could be traced back to HSBC‘s Mexico operations, according to people familiar with the situation and a Department of Justice filing in the HSBC case.

Federal agents would ultimately home in on $ 500 million that had moved from HSBC Mexico to HSBC‘s operations in the United States, according to the confidential investigative records.

Between October 6, 2008 and April 13, 2009, Chaparro and others conducted money laundering transactions totaling $ 1.1 million tied to narcotics trafficking, the indictment against Chaparro alleged.

(Reporting By Carrick Mollenkamp and Brett Wolf of the Compliance Complete service of Thomson Reuters Accelus; Additional reporting by Tomas Sarmiento Cordero in Mexico City and Aruna Viswanatha in Washington; Editing by Paritosh Bansal and Martin Howell)

Business News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Insight: How Colombian drug traffickers used HSBC to launder money
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

20 WTF New Year’s Resolutions

Ringing in 2013 properly requires a few things: bottom-shelf champagne, “I survived the apocalypse” t-shirts, excessive sequins and — most importantly — New Year’s resolutions that may or may not last beyond February.

[More from Mashable: These Are the Worst Case Scenarios for New Year’s Eve]

You promise to lose weight or quit smoking or stop stalking your ex on Facebook, but what about those people that shoot for a slightly different goal in the new year? Sometimes these resolution-makers come up with brilliant challenges and other times — well, ummm — they share goals that are more “WTF?” than an adult dressed like the New Year’s baby.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

BONUS: 14 Solutions to Your New Year’s Midnight Kiss

Find a Baby

There’s got to be one crawling around somewhere. What’s cuter than kissing a baby’s fat cheek? Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images

Click here to view this gallery.

Image Credit: Mashable composite. Photos via iStockphoto, Adventure_photo and Seanicer

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: 20 WTF New Year’s Resolutions
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

DiDonato a luminous Mary Stuart at Met

NEW YORK (AP) — The Metropolitan Opera may have pretty much turned opening night over to the glamorous Anna Netrebko, but New Year’s Eve belongs to a very different diva — Joyce DiDonato.

Last year the Kansas-born mezzo-soprano headlined a starry lineup in the baroque pastiche “The Enchanted Island.” On Monday night she brought a gala audience to its feet with a luminous performance in the title role of Donizetti’s “Maria Stuarda.”

Never before performed at the Met, this second opera in the composer’s so-called “Three Queens” trilogy portrays the lethal conflict between Mary, deposed queen of Scotland, and Queen Elizabeth I of England.

From the moment she makes her entrance in the second scene, singing of her joy in strolling outside her prison in Fotheringay Castle, DiDonato rivets attention. She imbues every syllable with a concentrated eloquence that makes her compact voice seem larger than it is. She displays seemingly effortless command of coloratura embellishments throughout a wide vocal range. And she is equally impressive in fiery outbursts and in hushed, long-held phrases — like the ones she spun out as she sang through the chorus in the final scene.

The opera’s dramatic heart is a confrontation between the two queens that never took place in history but that figures in the Friedrich Schiller play on which the libretto is based. Mary at first abases herself in hope of winning a pardon; then, as Elizabeth hurls insults, her pride reasserts itself and she seals her doom by denouncing her rival as “figlia impura di Bolena” (“impure daughter of Anne Boleyn”) and “vil bastarda” (“vile bastard”).

DiDonato was impressive in this scene when she sang the role for the first time last spring in Houston, but her performance Monday night was even better — more confident and more filled with vocal and dramatic shadings. There was a wonderful touch when, after she had spent her fury, she allowed herself a beatific smile, as if to convey: “There! I said it and I’m glad!”

Of course, it takes two to stage a confrontation, and DiDonato’s partner at the Met is Elza van den Heever, a South African soprano making her debut. She has a voice that’s impressive in many respects, with a large and vibrant upper register. But she tended to fade out in the lower part of her range, where much of Elizabeth‘s music lies.

More damagingly, she was victimized by a quirk of David McVicar’s production that has Elizabeth lurching awkwardly about the stage for much of the evening, as if thrown off balance by John Macfarlane‘s elaborate period costumes. Perhaps this bizarre gait is intended to contrast with Mary’s immaculate poise, but it mainly proves distracting.

The opening scene in Elizabeth’s palace is garishly staged, with what look like red rafters hanging down from the ceiling and gratuitous acrobats in devil costumes, but once past this, matters improve. For the scene outside Fotheringay, Macfarlane fills the stage with spindly trees barren of leaves and provides a painted backdrop that evokes a cloudy landscape. The final tableau is also striking: Mary, shorn of her long hair and wearing a simple red dress, climbs a staircase with her back to the audience to meet her executioner and the chopping block.

Though the two queens dominate the opera, there are some other characters, and they are all in extremely good hands. Having the elegant tenor Matthew Polenzani take on the thankless role of the ineffectual Leicester is luxury casting indeed. Bass Matthew Rose is warmly sympathetic as Mary’s confessor, Talbot; baritone Joshua Hopkins sings with robust tone as her nemesis, Cecil; and mezzo Maria Zifchak lends her customary strong support as Mary’s attendant, Anna.

Maurizio Benini conducts a lithe and lively performance of the score, even if he can’t quite disguise the fact that the second half of the opera is decidedly anti-climactic.

There are seven more performances, including a matinee on Saturday, Jan. 19, that will be broadcast live in HD to movie theaters around the world.

Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: DiDonato a luminous Mary Stuart at Met
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Obama calls on House to pass fiscal deal “without delay”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama called on Tuesday for the House of Representatives to follow the Senate‘s lead and pass a “fiscal cliff” deal to extend tax cuts for middle-class Americans and raise tax rates on top earners.

“While neither Democrats nor Republicans got everything they wanted, this agreement is the right thing to do for our country and the House should pass it without delay,” Obama said in a statement after the Senate voted overwhelmingly to approve the legislation.

“There’s more work to do to reduce our deficits, and I’m willing to do it. But tonight’s agreement ensures that, going forward, we will continue to reduce the deficit through a combination of new spending cuts and new revenues from the wealthiest Americans,” Obama said.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; Editing by Eric Walsh)

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Obama calls on House to pass fiscal deal “without delay”
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Publisher Tribune to emerge from bankruptcy on December 31

(Reuters) – U.S. media giant The Tribune Co, owner of the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, said late on Sunday it will emerge from bankruptcy on December 31, ending four years of Chapter 11 reorganization.

Chicago-based Tribune said it will emerge from the Chapter 11 process with a portfolio of profitable assets that will include eight major daily newspapers and 23 TV stations. The company will also have a new board of directors.

“Tribune will emerge as a dynamic multi-media company with a great mix of profitable assets, powerful brands in major markets, sufficient liquidity for operations and investments and significantly less debt,” Eddy Hartenstein, Tribune’s chief executive officer, said in an email to employees. “In short, Tribune is far stronger than it was when we began the Chapter 11 process.”

As part of the Chapter 11 exit, the company will close on a new $ 1.1 billion senior secured term loan and a new $ 300 million asset-based revolving credit facility.

The term loan will be used to fund certain payments under the plan of reorganization and the revolving credit facility will be used to fund ongoing operations, the company said.

Upon exiting bankruptcy, Tribune will have issued to former creditors a mix of about 100 million shares of new class A common stock and new class B common stock and new warrants to purchase shares of new class A or class B common stock.

The current chief executive officer, Eddy Hartenstein, will remain in his role until the new board ratifies the company’s executive officers.

The company announced a seven-person board that includes Hartenstein, former Fox Entertainment chairman Peter Liguori, former Yahoo interim CEO Ross Levinshohn and Peter Murphy, Walt Disney’s former top strategic planning executive.

Liquori is expected to be named Tribune’s new chief executive officer.

In November, Tribune received regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to transfer its broadcast licenses to the owners who will take over the company when it emerges from bankruptcy.

The company’s plan of reorganization was confirmed by the Delaware bankruptcy court in July. Tribune’s emergence from bankruptcy was conditional on the FCC approving the transfer of the broadcast licenses to new owners.

The case is In re: Tribune Co et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 08-13141.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Matt Driskill)

Business News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Publisher Tribune to emerge from bankruptcy on December 31
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Canadian job creation seen sharply lower in December

OTTAWA (Reuters) – Canada‘s job market is expected to slow markedly in December to reflect the sluggish economy and employers’ fears about the U.S. fiscal crisis following outsized gains of over 50,000 jobs in two of the previous three months.

The median forecast in a Reuters poll is for the economy to add just 5,000 jobs in the month, with forecasts ranging from a loss of 20,000 positions to a gain of 21,000.

The forecast compares with employment growth of 59,600 in November, 1,800 in October and 52,100 in September.

The unemployment rate is seen ticking higher in the final month of the year to 7.3 percent from 7.2 percent.

Derek Holt, vice president of economics at Scotiabank, said he’s been surprised by the strength of job growth which he estimates to be the equivalent in the United States of about 1.5 million non-farm payroll jobs over the last three months.

“Here we are with the conundrum where we have zero growth in the Canadian economy, long predating the appearance of the greatest fiscal-cliff risks and yet we’re heaping on jobs like there’s no tomorrow,” Holt said.

Unlike the United States, Canada has long recovered all the jobs lost during the 2008-09 recession but the pace of hiring in 2012 was unsteady.

Benjamin Reitzes, economist at BMO Capital Markets, said if the 5,000-job forecast was accurate, it would put 2012 job growth at just 1.1 percent, “the weakest non-recession year since 1996.”

Canadian employers have faced uncertainty in one form or another during the recovery and are now fretting about the U.S. fiscal cliff, a set of tax hikes and spending cuts that will automatically take effect and could throw the United States into recession unless the White House and Congress reach an alternative agreement.

“For as long as Washington cannot agree on the new tax rules and spending focus, they’re not going to give business the confidence to go out and hire and engage in capital spending projects and that’s going to impede the pace of recovery until we get more clarity,” said Holt.

With the Canadian economy now expected to grow by far less in the fourth quarter than the Bank of Canada‘s projection of 2.5 percent, annualized, the blockbuster jobs growth of recent months looks suspect. The six-month trend shows more sustainable gains of about 21,000 a month.

The moderation means the Bank of Canada will be in no hurry to raise its benchmark interest rate, which it has held at 1.0 percent since September 2010.

Market players surveyed by Reuters in late November predicted the bank would resume hiking rates in the fourth quarter of 2013.

(Reporting by Louise Egan; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Canada News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Canadian job creation seen sharply lower in December
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Top 5 Kids Apps: Best Games

1. Bugs and Bubbles

Ages 3-up Overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars Why we like it: Fun, fast and good for building emerging math skills, Bugs and Bubbles contains 18 leveled sorting, classification games set in Uncle Bob’s Bubble Factory. The goal is to collect stickers by harvesting bubbles, requiring kids to apply skills of counting, sorting and remembering patterns in an elegant fashion. Need to know: The better you do, the greater the challenge, and progress can be saved over time on different devices. Watch a video review of this app here. Ease of use: 10/10 Educational: 10/10 Entertaining: 10/10 $ 2.99

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: 7 Bad Moves That Hurt Facebook in 2012]

Chris Crowell is a veteran kindergarten teacher and contributing editor to Children’s Technology Review, a web-based archive of articles and reviews on apps, technology toys and video games. Download a free issue of CTR here.

While you’re at the grownup table this holiday season, the kids could be eating their vegetables and sitting quietly — what’s more likely is they’ll be playing on their smart devices.

[More from Mashable: 40 Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed]

So we’ve rounded up the best 5 games that were included in this year’s Top 5 Kids Apps. All these games are not only a lot of fun, they’re also educational for your kids. The top game, Bugs and Bubbles, got 5 stars out of 5 for its perfect mix of entertainment and math teaching. There’s also room for pure fun with games like Build and Play and Rush Hour.

SEE ALSO: Mobile Apps Under Scrutiny: Is Your Kid’s Privacy at Risk?

Our friends at Children’s Technology Review shared with us these 5 top apps from their comprehensive monthly database of kid-tested reviews. The site covers everything from math and counting to reading and phonics.

Check back next week for more Top Kids Apps from Children’s Technology Review

Photo via Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Top 5 Kids Apps: Best Games
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Kanye West, Kim Kardashian expecting 1st child

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — A kid for Kimye: Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are expecting their first child.

The rapper announced at a concert Sunday night that his girlfriend is pregnant. He told the crowd of more than 5,000 at Revel Resort‘s Ovation Hall in song form: “Now you having my baby.”

The crowd roared. And so did people on the Internet.

The news instantly went viral on Twitter and Facebook, with thousands posting and commenting on the expecting couple.

Most of the Kardashian clan also tweeted about the news, including Kim’s sisters and mother. Kourtney Kardashian wrote: “Another angel to welcome to our family. Overwhelmed with excitement!”

West, 35, also told concertgoers to congratulate his “baby mom” and that this was the “most amazing thing.”

Representatives for West and Kardashian, 32, didn’t immediately respond to emails about the pregnancy.

The rapper and reality TV star went public in March.

Kardashian married NBA player Kris Humphries in August 2011 and their divorce is not finalized.

West’s Sunday night show was his third consecutive performance at Revel. He took the stage for nearly two hours, performing hits like “Good Life,” ”Jesus Walks” and “Clique” in an all-white ensemble with two band mates.

___

AP Writer Bianca Roach contributed to this report.

Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Kanye West, Kim Kardashian expecting 1st child
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Short and social workouts led fitness trends in 2012

NEW YORK (Reuters) – From mud races to sweat parties to CrossFit competitions, workouts turned smarter, shorter and more social in 2012, experts say, as fitness was sweetened with a little help from smart phones and friends.

“Everything is about making fitness fun,” said Jenna Autuori-Dedic, senior fitness editor at Fitness Magazine.

Even those grueling indoor cycling classes were a chance to mingle.

“I truly think that spinning was one of the biggest things to come out of 2012,” said Autuori-Dedic. “They (fitness studios) made it fun. You can go with your friends, match your workout to the music. When you work out with friends, you don’t realize you’re working out.”

She said 2012 also saw the rise of the sweat party.

“Instead of hitting the bars for that bachelorette party or night out with the girls, women are going in groups to fitness studios,” she explained. “You don’t have to choose between working out and meeting your friends, you can do both.”

Working women have begun treating clients to boot camp classes in lieu of happy-hour, she added, and more co-workers host conference room workouts at lunchtime.

Mud runs were another 2012 trend that Autuori-Dedic expects to grow in the new year, along with fun obstacle-type races in general, during which participants can get blasted with paint or chased by “zombies,” often for charity.

Donna Cyrus, senior vice president of programming at the Crunch national chain of fitness centers, said dance classes and short, results-driven workouts dominated group fitness.

“Going into 2012 everybody was looking for the next Zumba,” said Cyrus of the Latin-based dance fitness craze. “We find that people are looking for fun easy-to-follow dance moves.”

Crunch created 2FLY, a dance class based on music of the ‘80′s and ‘90′s that strives to feel more like a house party than a workout.

The other big trend from 2012, according to Cyrus, is the 30-minute workout.

“Everybody is realizing that you can get results in 30 minutes,” she said, so this year was also about hard core, body-sculpting, CrossFit-type classes.

CrossFit is an intense, constantly varied, strength and conditioning program.

Autuori-Dedic said the CrossFit games, which are competitions that grew out of the workout regimen, mushroomed from only 4,000 participants to nearly 70,000 this year.

Richard Cotton, national director of certification programs for the American College of Sports Medicine, said 2012 signaled a welcome shift back to the basics of training people to be prepared for daily living.

“We’re finally getting smart about what functional exercise actually is,” Cotton said. “Simpler and basic, easier to do at home, there are fewer silly ball exercises, (such as) balancing on a ball while doing bicep curls.”

Cotton said personal trainers increasingly apply troubleshooting, motivational interviewing and coaching techniques to their sessions with clients.

Autuori-Dedic said 2013 will see more trainers displaying their wares online.

“Trainers are live-streaming workouts and putting things on Twitter, iTunes, everywhere,” she said.

And sophisticated tracking apps are here to stay.

Autuori-Dedic cited a study showing that people lost an average of 15 pounds and kept it off for at least a year just by tracking their statistics with an app.

“It used to be that stepping on a scale once a week would tell you how far you’ve come,” she said. “Now with our smartphones we can log in at any time and see how we’re doing every step of the way.”

(Editing by Patricia Reaney and Vicki Allen)

Health News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Short and social workouts led fitness trends in 2012
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Sudan’s oil production rises to almost 140,000 bpd: minister

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudan has managed to boost oil production to almost 140,000 barrels per day and plans to add another 10,000 bpd next year, its oil minister said on Saturday after the African country launched a new oilfield.

Sudan has been stepping up oil and gas exploration after losing three-quarters of its former output, or 350,000 bpd, when South Sudan seceded last year. The loss of oil revenue, the main source of state income and the hard currency needed to fund imports, has thrown the economy into turmoil.

“Our current production is between 136,000 and 140,000,” Awad al-Jaz told reporters, adding that new discoveries had been made. Sudan last put its output in October at 120,000 bpd.

Chinese-owned Petro Energy E&P recently launched production at the Hadida oilfield in western Sudan with a daily output of 10,000 bpd.

For next year, Sudan plans to reach 150,000 bpd, Jaz said. “This is our budget (plan),” he said.

Initially Sudan had planned 180,000 bpd by the end of this year but missed the target after fighting with South Sudan in April damaged the key Heglig oilfield and its central processing plant on the Sudan side of their disputed border.

In July, Sudan signed oil exploration and production-sharing deals with Canadian company Statesman Resources Ltd as well as with Chinese, Nigerian, Australian, Brazilian and French companies.

Jaz said Sudan wanted to boost oil cooperation with Brazilian firms, especially to explore for oil and gas in the Red Sea.

Norway is helping Sudan improve its pumping recovery rate, but analysts are skeptical about any big output jump soon because new fields need first to be explored. A scarcity of the dollars is hampering efforts to bring in better equipment.

The minister also said South Sudan’s oil exports could resume once both sides reach an agreement on border security. “There is no problem,” he said, when asked whether from a technical point of view exports could flow.

South Sudan, which has no export pipelines or access to the sea, needs to export its oil through Sudan. It shut down its output of 350,000 in January after failing to agree with Sudan on fees.

In September both countries agreed to resume oil exports, but they have failed so far to set up a demilitarized zone at the disputed border, a condition for crude flows.

Economy News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Sudan’s oil production rises to almost 140,000 bpd: minister
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Suspected US drone kills 3 al-Qaida men in Yemen

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Three al-Qaida militants were killed in a suspected U.S. drone strike in southern Yemen, Yemeni security officials said, the fourth such attack this week and a sign attacks from unmanned aircraft are on the upswing in the country.

The officials said the three men were hit as they were riding in a Land Cruiser in el-Manaseh village on the outskirts of Radda in Bayda province. Dozens of local al-Qaida-linked fighters protested the drone strikes after traditional Islamic Friday prayers.

Earlier this week another suspected U.S. drone strike killed two militants in Radda itself, Yemeni security officials say, and seven were killed in two other strikes in the southeastern province of Hadramawt. Four suspected drone strikes a week is uncommon in Yemen.

According to statistics gathered by the Long War Journal before Saturday’s attacks, the United States “is known to have carried out 41 airstrikes” this year against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), as the group’s branch in Yemen is known. That makes for an average of around three to four strikes per month.

The Journal, a product of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies that was founded by former U.S. officials, says that since December 2009, the CIA and the US military’s Joint Special Operations Command are known to have conducted at least 54 air and missile strikes inside Yemen, excluding Saturday’s suspected attack.

AQAP overran entire towns and villages — including Radda — last year by taking advantage of a security lapse during nationwide protests that eventually ousted the country’s longtime ruler. Backed by the U.S. military, Yemen’s army was able to regain control of the southern region but al-Qaida militants continue to launch deadly attacks on security forces that have killed hundreds.

Also on Saturday, two gunmen on a motorbike shot and killed an intelligence officer in the southeast, security officials said. They said that the officer, Mutea Baqutian, was on his way to work in Mukalla, capital of Hadramawt province, when the men stopped his car, gunned him down, and fled.

The government has blamed al-Qaida militants for similar assassinations of several senior military and intelligence officials this year. The bullet-riddled body of Major al-Numeiry Abdo al-Oudi, deputy director of the security department of al-Qitten in Hadramawt, was found in the town’s suburbs last week. He had been kidnapped earlier in the month.

All officials spoke on condition of anonymity according to regulations.

Meanwhile, Maj. Gen. Ahmed Seif, who is commander of Yemen’s central military region, said the Defense Ministry has deployed an infantry brigade in the northeastern province of Marib to stop armed tribesmen who maintain cordial ties with al-Qaida from attacking oil pipelines and power generating stations, as well as to counter al-Qaida militants.

State TV meanwhile aired a meeting between President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and eight Yemeni sailors who were rescued last week by forces of Somalia’s semiautonomous Puntland region after being held for nearly three years by Somali pirates.

The Puntland government says that its forces captured the hijacked Panama-flagged MV Iceberg 1 on Sunday after a siege that lasted two weeks. They freed the eight Yemeni sailors together with five Indians, two Pakistanis, four Ghanaians, two Sudanese and a Filipino. The ship was hijacked March 29, 2010.

Hadi congratulated the eight sailors for their safety and ordered the government to compensate them for their suffering.

Eqbal Yassin, a relative of one of the freed sailors, told The Associated Press that the hijackers had allowed some sailors to phone their relatives and convey the pirates’ demand for $ 5 million ransom. He said he was told by his relative that the hijackers killed a Yemeni sailor who tried to escape. He gave no further details.

Middle East News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Suspected US drone kills 3 al-Qaida men in Yemen
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Michigan Passes Law to Protect Social Media Accounts

Michigan passed a bill on Friday that prohibits employers and schools from asking employees and students for login information to their personal social media accounts.

House Bill 5523, signed by Governor Rick Snyder and introduced by state Rep. Aric Nesbitt, “prohibit[s] employers and educational institutions from requiring certain individuals to grant access to, allow observation of, or disclose information that allows access to or observation of personal internet accounts.”

[More from Mashable: An Epic Walk From Beijing to London Fueled by Social Media]

This means an employer or institution cannot require that you provide them with your username or passwords for sites like Facebook and Twitter. The bill is known as the “internet privacy protection act.”

“Potential employees and students should be judged on their skills and abilities, not private online activity,” Snyder said in a press release.

[More from Mashable: Facebook in 2013: More Growing Pains Ahead]

Michigan isn’t alone in adapting laws to the changing Internet social sphere.

Earlier this year, Delaware banned public and private schools from requiring students’ social media account information. The bill passed through the House in a unanimous vote. Months earlier, Maryland introduced a similar bill that would particularly benefit student athletes.

In September, California passed a law that barred companies from asking its workers to surrender their social media account passwords.

Will bills and acts similar to these become more commonplace in our local and national legislature? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

1. Alcohol Overload

You’re out of college, it’s not cool anymore – just ask your boss.

Click here to view this gallery.

Photo via iStockphoto, DNY59

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Michigan Passes Law to Protect Social Media Accounts
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Hot spots draw believers, but not doomsday

As the sun rose from time zone to time zone across the world on Friday, there was still no sign of the world’s end — but that didn’t stop those convinced that a 5,125-year Mayan calendar predicts the apocalypse from gathering at some of the world’s purported survival hot spots.

Many of the esoterically inclined expected a new age of consciousness — others wanted a party. But, in some places said to offer salvation from the end, fewer people showed up than officials had predicted — much to the disappointment of vendors hoping to sell souvenirs.

Here are some key places being marked by the fascination over doomsday rumors:

MEXICO

In an area of Mexico that was once the ancient Mayan heartland, spiritualists gathered in the darkness before dawn on Friday to prepare white clothes, drums, conch shells and incense. They believed the sunrise would herald the birth of a new and better age as a vast cycle in the Mayan calendar comes to an end.

Many people who came to Yucatan for the occasion were already calling it “a new sun” and “a new era.”

FRANCE

According to one rumor, a rocky mountain in the French Pyrenees will be the sole place on Earth to escape destruction. A giant UFO and aliens are said to be waiting under the mountain, ready to burst through and spirit those nearby to safety. But there is bad news for those seeking salvation: French gendarmes, some on horseback, blocked outsiders from reaching the Bugarach peak and its village of some 200 people.

Eric Freysselinard, head of local government, said the security forces had “partially stopped the new age enthusiasts as well as curious people from coming to the area.”

Meanwhile, some Bugarach residents dressed up like aliens, with tinfoil costumes and funnels and fake antenna on their heads, strolling around their village Friday to make light of the rumored UFO prophecy.

RUSSIA

Doomsday rumors have prompted some people across Russia to stock up on candles, water, canned foods and other non-perishable foods. The apocalypse has proven a good business, with some shops selling survival aid packages that include soap and vodka.

In Moscow, salvation has also been promised in the underground bunker for the former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin — with a 50 percent refund if nothing happens. An underground stay was originally priced at 50,000 rubles ($ 1,625) but dropped to 15,000 ($ 490) a week ahead of the feared end.

The bunker, located 65 meters (210 feet) below ground, was designed to withstand a nuclear attack. Now home to a small museum, it has an independent electricity supply, water and food — but no more room, because the museum has already sold out all 1,000 tickets.

BRITAIN

Hundreds of people have converged on Stonehenge for an “End of the World” party that coincides with the Winter Solstice.

Arthur Uther Pendragon, Britain’s best-known druid, said he was anticipating a much larger crowd than usual at Stonehenge this year. But he doesn’t agree that the world is ending, noting that he and fellow druids believe that things happen in cycles.

“We’re looking at it more as a new beginning than an end,” he said. “We’re looking at new hope.”

Meanwhile, end-of-days parties will be held across London on Friday. One event billed as a “last supper club” is offering a three-course meal served inside an “ark.”

SERBIA

Some Serbs are saying to forget that sacred mountain in the French Pyrenees. The place to be Friday is Mount Rtanj, a pyramid-shaped peak in Serbia already drawing cultists.

According to legend, the mountain once swallowed an evil sorcerer who will be released on doomsday in a ball of fire that will hit the mountain top. The inside of the mountain will then open up, becoming a safe place to hide as the sorcerer goes on to destroy the rest of the world. In the meantime, some old coal mine shafts have been opened up as safe rooms.

On Friday a New Age group called “The Spirit of Rtanj” was holding a conference there. Participants, however, said they expect not the end of time but the start of a new time cycle. Locals turned out to sell brandy and herbs.

“There will be no tragedy, no doomsday,” said resident Dalibor Jovic. “It was supposed to happen at 12:12 and I think that time has passed. So, we can now go on with our lives and be happy to be alive.”

TURKEY

A small Turkish village known for its wines, Sirince, has also been touted as the only place after Bugarach that would escape the world’s end. But on Friday journalists and security officials outnumbered cultists. This outcome disappointed local business people who had prepared a range of doomsday products to sell, including a specially labeled Doomsday wine and Turkish delight candy whose “best before” date was Dec. 21, 2012. One restaurant prepared a special “last meal” menu that included a “heaven kebab” and “forbidden fruit dessert.”

ITALY

Another spot said to be spared: Cisternino, a beautiful small town in southern Italy in an area of trulli, traditional dry stone huts with conical roofs. The notion that Cisternino could be a safe haven at world’s end derives from an Indian guru, Babaji, who said “Cisternino will become an island” at world’s end. His followers built a community in Cisternino centered on an ashram built in 1979. Hotel bookings are up this weekend.

Mayor Donato Baccaro told the AP that the beauty of the place has inspired many foreigners to live there. “This confirms that this place has a special energy,” he said.

CHINA

A fringe Christian group has been spreading rumors about the world’s impending end, prompting Chinese authorities to detain more than 500 people this week and seize leaflets, video discs, books and other material.

Those detained are reported to be members of the group Almighty God, also called Eastern Lightning, which preaches that Jesus has reappeared as a woman in central China. Authorities in the province of Qinghai say they are waging a “severe crackdown” on the group, accusing it of attacking the Communist Party and the government.

U.S.

Dozens of Michigan schools canceled classes for thousands of students to cool off rumored threats of violence and problems related to doomsday. The fears were exacerbated by the recent shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, which “changed all of us,” the school system in Genesee County said. “Canceling school is the right thing to do.”

___

Associated Press writers Florent Bajrami in Bugarach, France; Mansur Mirovalev in Moscow; Peppino Ciraci in Cisternino, Italy; Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey; Paisley Dodds in London; and Dejan Mladenovic in Mount Rtanj, Serbia, contributed to this report.

Entertainment News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Hot spots draw believers, but not doomsday
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..