'Argo' and 'Lincoln' are neck-and-neck for the ultimate award.
By Amy Wilkinson
Daniel Day-Lewis in "Lincoln"
Photo: DreamWorks
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1702449/oscar-2013-best-picture-predictions.jhtml
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All WWE programming, talent names, images, likenesses, slogans, wrestling moves, trademarks, logos and copyrights are the exclusive property of WWE, Inc. and its subsidiaries. All other trademarks, logos and copyrights are the property of their respective owners. ? 2012 WWE, Inc. All Rights Reserved. This website is based in the United States. By submitting personal information to this website you consent to your information being maintained in the U.S., subject to applicable U.S. laws. U.S. law may be different than the law of your home country. WrestleMania XXIX (NY/NJ) logo TM & ? 2012 WWE. All Rights Reserved. The Empire State Building design is a registered trademark and used with permission by ESBC.
Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/outside-the-ring/wwe-invites-glenn-beck-to-appear-on-raw
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NEW YORK (AP) ? The California standoff involving fugitive Christopher Dorner shortened television's previews of President Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday but did not interrupt coverage of the speech.
CNN, Fox News Channel and MSNBC had set aside the hour before Obama spoke to discuss the annual Washington ritual but instead spent most of that time showing aerial footage of a cabin burning in southern California, marking the apparent end of Dorner's effort at targeting police officers ? even as information on what was actually happening was sketchy.
Fox at one point showed a split screen of the burning cabin on one side with anchor Bill O'Reilly talking to analyst Charles Krauthammer about Obama on the other.
MSNBC stuck with the California story the longest before turning its attention to Washington as Obama began making his way to the podium.
The State of the Union address is "still the big national story," MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews said. "But this one certainly challenged it. This was a saga."
ABC briefly mentioned the Dorner drama before shifting into a discussion of gun violence being on the minds of many attending Obama's speech. CNN's sister network, HLN, presented full-time coverage of the Dorner story when the main network presented the State of the Union.
Following the speech, CNN immediately shifted to Anderson Cooper reporting that Dorner had apparently died, before returning to Washington for a pundit panel on the State of the Union. ABC also briefly reported the Dorner story following the speech.
But no equivalency ? or split screen ? was given to the California story while Obama spoke on the cable news or broadcast networks.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/california-drama-cuts-speech-coverage-024439922.html
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Brits who shop enough at Tesco to be on a first name basis with the clerks may soon have a reward that doesn't require leaving home. The UK retail chain is currently testing Clubcard TV, a web-based movie and TV streaming hub that would be a free perk of Clubcard membership. As it exists in beta form, the Blinkbox-derived service won't have Lovefilm or Netflix quaking in their boots: there's a limited slate of mostly family-oriented fare, and Tesco's notion of TV streaming involves the video output on a laptop. While neither is an issue as long as the trial is limited to staff, we hope there's a richer platform by the time Clubcard TV is open to anyone with a lot of grocery shopping in mind.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Via: The Telegraph
Source: Clubcard TV
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/12/tesco-experiments-with-free-movie-and-tv-streaming/
APWhat might Bills defensive coordinator Mike Pettine be looking for in a safety?
WR Brian Hartline and S Chris Clemons continue to look like the likeliest Dolphins free agents to return next season.
Patriots DT Vince Wilfork?s offseason training program made room for shoveling snow last weekend.
Taking a look at the Jets linebacking corps.
Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti has no problem leaving football matters to G.M. Ozzie Newsome.
Bengals special teams coach Darrin Simmons says there?s no blueprint for going from his job to head coach.
Former Browns coach Sam Rutigliano warns owner Jimmy Haslam not to lose touch with the team.
Should Steelers LB James Harrison stay or go?
Texans LB Brian Cushing will give some updates on his rehab in an interview with the team?s website on Tuesday.
Colts players hosted local students at a show about Jackie Robinson as part of Black History Month.
The Jaguars made some changes in?their front office and announced that Macky Weaver, nephew of former owner Wayne Weaver, will be leaving the team.
Titans QB Matt Hasselbeck is working with former NFL LB Isaiah?Kacyvenski to promote a product designed to help diagnosis head injuries.
Some people don?t get why the Broncos drafted QB Brock Osweiler last year.
The Chiefs added TE Kevin Brock?to their roster.
DT Richard Seymour?s contract voided, but the Raiders still have remnants of it on their cap.
Marty Schottenheimer?s new book spares no criticism of former Chargers G.M. A.J. Smith.
G Charlie Bryant and DT Nick Hayden are the newest additions to the Cowboys roster.
A look at the state of the Giants defensive line.
How is Eagles coach Chip Kelly handling being on the podium during his press conferences?
What is WR Santana Moss? future with the Redskins?
The Bears signed CB LeQuan Lewis, who spent time with the Buccaneers and Cowboys last season.
People are talking about the Lions making a run at signing RB Reggie Bush.
S Charles Woodson and LB A.J. Hawk loom large as the Packers set their strategy for the offseason.
A vote for the Vikings and WR Percy Harvin to part ways.
The Falcons waived DB/LB Matt Hansen, who injured his knee while with the team last offseason.
A letter from Charlotte?s mayor got the ball rolling on the deal that will provide money for the Panthers? desired stadium renovations.
S Rafael Bush was to be an exclusive rights free agent, but said he?s already re-signed with the Saints.
Should the Buccaneers keep CB Eric Wright for the 2013 season?
An explanation of why trading WR Larry Fitzgerald doesn?t make sense for the Cardinals.
The Rams have teamed with Washington University to promote heart-healthy nutrition and lifestyles.
The rhino named after 49ers T Alex Boone will be living in an enclosure named after the Ravens as part of the San Francisco Zoo?s Super Bowl bet with the Maryland Zoo.
Eric Williams of the Tacoma News Tribune wonders if the Seahawks and Vikings should be talking about a trade involving QB Matt Flynn and WR Percy Harvin.
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ALLAHABAD, India (AP) ? The death toll from a stampede in a train station rose to 36 on Monday in a northern India city where millions of devotees had gathered for a Hindu festival that is one of the world's largest religious gatherings.
At least 36 other pilgrims were injured in the crush in the city of Allahabad, medical superintendent Dr. P. Padmakar of the main state-run hospital said. Padmakar said 23 of the dead were women.
Tens of thousands of people were in the city's main rail station waiting to board a train when railway officials announced a last-minute change in the platform, forcing people to rush there, eyewitnesses said.
They said police stopped the throng from crowding onto a footbridge and had to use batons to stop the crowds from surging forward.
"We heard an announcement that our train is coming on platform number 4 and when we started moving towards that platform through an overbridge, we were stopped. Then suddenly the police charged us with batons and the stampede started," passenger Shushanto Kumar Sen said.
"People started tumbling over one another and within no time I saw people, particularly women and children, being trampled over by others," Sen said.
The police, however, denied that they had used batons to control the crowd.
"It was simply a case of overcrowding. People were in a hurry to go back and there were not enough arrangements by the railway authorities," said Arun Kumar, a senior police officer.
India's railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said an inquiry has been ordered into what led to the stampede.
Indian television stations showed large crowds pushing and jostling at the train station as policemen struggled to restore order.
"There was complete chaos. There was no doctor or ambulance for at least two hours after the accident," an eyewitness told NDTV news channel.
An estimated 30 million Hindus were expected to take a dip at the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the Saraswati rivers on Sunday, one of the holiest bathing days of the Kumbh Mela, or Pitcher Festival. The festival lasts 55 days and is one of the world's largest religious gatherings.
The auspicious bathing days are decided by the alignment of stars, and the most dramatic feature of the festival is the Naga sadhus ? ascetics with ash rubbed all over their bodies, wearing only marigold garlands ? leaping joyfully into the holy waters.
According to Hindu mythology, the Kumbh Mela celebrates the victory of gods over demons in a furious battle over nectar that would give them immortality. As one of the gods fled with a pitcher of the nectar across the skies, it spilled on four Indian towns: Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar.
The Kumbh Mela is held four times every 12 years in those towns. Hindus believe that sins accumulated in past and current lives require them to continue the cycle of death and rebirth until they are cleansed. If they bathe at the Ganges on the most auspicious day of the festival, believers say they can rid themselves of their sins.
____
Associated Press writer Biswajeet Banerjee contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/36-dead-stampede-hindu-festival-india-041907625.html
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FILE- In this Jan. 21, 2013, file photo, singer Kelly Clarkson performs at the ceremonial swearing-in for President Barack Obama at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. The glitzy Mardi Gras Krewe of Endymion rolled its parade and super float through the Superdome on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013, and Kelly Clarkson performed amid purple, green and gold lights in the first major event at the Superdome in New Orleans since the Super Bowl blackout. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
FILE- In this Jan. 21, 2013, file photo, singer Kelly Clarkson performs at the ceremonial swearing-in for President Barack Obama at the U.S. Capitol in Washington. The glitzy Mardi Gras Krewe of Endymion rolled its parade and super float through the Superdome on Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013, and Kelly Clarkson performed amid purple, green and gold lights in the first major event at the Superdome in New Orleans since the Super Bowl blackout. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)
NEW ORLEANS (AP) ? This time, the lights stayed on in the Superdome.
The glitzy Mardi Gras Krewe of Endymion rolled its parade and super float through the Superdome on Saturday night and Kelly Clarkson performed amid purple, green and gold lights in the first major event at the venue since the Super Bowl blackout.
While the black tie ball was nowhere near the size of the championship game a week ago, it was a test for dome officials and the stadium's electricity provider, Entergy, which has come under scrutiny since the lights went dark for more than a half hour.
The bright stadium lights were dimmed for the ball, but there were no signs of any electrical problems.
Darin Coker and his wife, Jeannine, wondered whether the ball would be affected in any way after the outage.
"I got my dress six months ago," she said. "I was hoping they would get it fixed before tonight, and I was glad to hear they did."
The couple, both former New Orleans residents, drove in for the weekend from their home in Ruston, La., to attend the ball and catch other parades with friends and family. Darin Coker said he loved the sight of the dome's exterior, all aglow in purple, green and gold lights ? traditional colors of Mardi Gras ? and hoped outsiders wouldn't see the blackout as a black eye for a city still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.
"I was watching the game from home, and I was like, oh no, we were doing so good. The city looked so good," he said. "The city has come so far, and I hate to hear people say, 'Oh look at them, they just can't get it together.'"
Entergy said the blackout appeared to have been caused by a problem with a device the company installed to prevent power outages. It's still unclear whether the device had a design flaw or a manufacturing defect, causing an outage to about half of the stadium during the NFL's championship game between the Baltimore Ravens and San Francisco 49ers.
Entergy removed the equipment that failed, "and we're looking forward to hosting the Endymion ball," said Eric Eagan, spokesman for the Superdome.
The dome looked much different than a week ago, set up for a crowd of more than 30,000. The turf was covered with a floor and tables were set up where the field usually is.
The only hiccup Saturday occurred when the Endymion float had trouble negotiating a turn along its parade route on the way to the dome. The 330-foot float ? the largest-ever for Mardi Gras ? had to be separated and then re-attached to resume its journey.
The parade has 25 floats that roll through the dome, as revelers aboard them toss beads and trinkets to ball attendees gathered at tables and lower-level stadium seats.
Clarkson, the first winner of TV's "American Idol," was the parade's celebrity grand marshal. Her hits include "Because of You" and "Since You've Been Gone." She is one of several stars serving as celebrity riders in this year's Carnival parades.
On Sunday, actor G.W. Bailey of TNT's "Major Crimes" and the "Police Academy" movies is scheduled to reign as the king of the Bacchus parade.
On Monday, actor Gary Sinise and New Orleans musicians Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews and Harry Connick Jr. will ride in the Krewe of Orpheus parade with Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning actress Mariska Hargitay.
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By Richard Weitz The latest meeting of the Kazakhstani-US Energy Partnership Commission took place in Washington on October 15-16, 2012. The two delegation heads, Kazakhstan's Minister of ...
By Margarita Assenova Russia is moving rapidly to start building the South Stream natural gas pipeline before the end of the year. On October 29, Serbia became the first Gazprom partner to ...
By John Helmer MOSCOW - Blimps long ago lost their value as a means of cargo transportation, military reconnaissance, or anti-aircraft defense; whilst the helium that fills them - more safely ...
All Central Asian roads lead to Muscovy By Himar Arjun Singh Speaking Freely is an Asia Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have their say. Please ...
By Georgiy Voloshin On October 2 and 3, Kazakhstan's capital hosted an annual gathering of the Kazenergy Association, which is comprised of 50 of the biggest players in the oil and gas ...
By M K Bhadrakumar A multi-billion dollar arms deal with Iraq, a summit meeting with Turkey, a fence-mending exercise with Saudi Arabia, a debut with Egypt's Sphinx-like Muslim Brothers - ...
Went to town Now, the intriguing part is that it was left to a third party to resort to shrill rhetoric - the United States. The State Department spokeswoman in Washington used harsh language to ...
By Sergei Blagov Russian officials have reiterated pledges to boost economic cooperation with Tajikistan. Meanwhile, the authorities in Dushanbe seem to remain hesitant on some issues, notably ...
Moscow beckons Pakistan's Kiani By M K Bhadrakumar The phrase coined by the 17th-century English philosopher Francis Bacon is: "If the mountain won't come to Mohammed, then ...
By Dmitry Shlapentokh The policies of Islam Karimov, the strongman of Uzbekistan, are not easy to decipher, at least in regard to foreign policy. He recently noted in conversation with Nursultan ...
By Fozil Mashrab Kyrgyz leaders are expected to play host to Russian President Vladimir Putin today, September 20, when he is due in Bishkek to oversee the signing of inter-governmental ...
By Sergei Blagov Russian and Kazakhstani leaders have reiterated plans to further develop bilateral commerce, relying on the free-trade arrangements of their Customs Union. Two-way trade, ...
serious implications for regions far away from the Caspian shores. Turkmenistan has come into possession of considerable amounts of gas, which it is anxious to sell to Europe. Indeed, European ...
By Zhulduz Baizakova Kazakhstan plans to build an international nuclear fuel bank in Ust-Kamenogorsk (Oskemen), in the country's east, at the site of Ulba Metallurgic Plant, part of the ...
By Tom Balmforth MOSCOW - Bek Takhirov knows all too well the problems that migrant workers face. The 38-year-old ethnic Uzbek came to Russia in 2004 and worked illegally, stacking cargo in a ...
By Jacob Zenn On December 4, 2012, the deputy chairman of Kazakhstan's National Security Committee, Kabdulkarim Abdikazymov, said that Jund al-Khilafa was a "real threat" to ...
Joanna Lillis Girls enjoy an afternoon break at a caf in Almaty's Esentai Mall with a view of the snow covered Tien Shan mountain range in the distance. Joanna Lillis is a freelance writer who ...
increasingly vocal opposition, many believe Azerbaijan is in for a lot more political turmoil in the year to come. "The opposition political parties hope to expand their electoral base by ...
reforms and intends to spend US$13 billion to double gross domestic product (GDP) in five years, drawing on aid and investment to fund projects in agriculture, mining, transport, power and other ...
By Anar Valiyev Last month, Baku hosted the 12th summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO). The presidents of Azerbaijan, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, as well as the ...
A Wolfe loose as Miami meets Moscow Back to Blood: A Novel by Tom Wolfe Reviewed by John Helmer MOSCOW - The value difference and profit opportunity between a genuine piece of art and a fake ...
ensure students do not fall prey to supposedly subversive ideas. She's not thrilled about the task. "Students spend so much time playing games featuring violence, such as a ...
Source: http://www.turkmenistannews.net/index.php/sid/212481573/scat/929bcf2071e81801
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GAO, Mali (AP) ? Black-robed Islamic extremists armed with AK-47 automatic rifles invaded Gao in wooden boats Sunday to launch a surprise attack on the most populous city in northern Mali, two weeks after French and Malian troops ousted the jihadists.
Gunfire echoed for hours across the city of mud-walled buildings. The combat started at about 2 p.m. in downtown Gao and the fighting was continuing as night fell. Later the sound of gunfire was replaced by the clattering of French military helicopters overhead.
The attack in Gao shows the Islamic fighters, many of them well-armed and with combat experience, are determined and daring and it foreshadows a protracted campaign by France and other nations to restore government control in this vast Saharan nation in northwest Africa.
The Islamic radicals fought against the Malian army throughout the afternoon and were seen roaming the narrow streets blanketed in sand and on rooftops in the center of Gao, which had a population of 90,000 before the conflict caused thousands to flee.
Families hid in their homes. One family handed plastic cups of water through the locked iron gate to others hiding on their patio. Piles of onions lay unattended where market women fled when the Islamists arrived. There were no signs of civilian casualties.
The fighting appeared to center near the police headquarters, where Malian soldiers with rocket propelled grenades traded fire with the combatants believed to be from the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, or MUJAO. The only sound in the city was gunfire and the bleating of goats. Soldiers were positioned at every corner in the neighborhood.
Ever since French forces took Gao on Jan. 26, the Islamic rebels had clashed with security forces on the city's outskirts. This was the first time they succeeded in entering the strategic city.
The Islamic fighters used pirogues, large wooden dugouts with motors, and other boats to cross the Niger River and penetrate Gao, according to French Gen. Bernard Barrera, who cited Malian officials.
The Islamic radicals had already tried to spread violence into Gao. On Saturday night, a suicide bomber detonated himself at a checkpoint at the entrance to the city, killing himself and wounded one Malian soldier. An earlier suicide bomber on a motorcycle also blew himself up at the same security spot on Friday, killing only himself.
Besides Gao, French and Malian forces have also retaken the fabled city of Timbuktu and other northern towns, pushing the Islamic extremists back into the desert, where they pose a constant threat to Malian and allied forces. But the Islamic fighters made strategic retreats and are dug into desert hideouts, from where they are expected to continue challenging the control of the cities by French, Malian and allied forces. Several African nations have contributed troops to battle the extremists, who imposed their harsh version of Islamic Shariah law when they controlled the northern cities.
The armed Islamic fighters seized the northern half of Mali in April 2012, sending poorly disciplined and equipped Malian forces retreating in disarray. France launched its military intervention in its former colony on Jan. 11 when the Islamic radicals, many of whom had fought for ex-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, began encroaching on the south, threatening the capital Bamako which lies deep in southern Mali, 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) from Gao.
France has said that it wants to hand over responsibility to the Malian military and other African nations who have contributed troops and has raised with the United Nations Security Council the possibility of establishing a U.N. peacekeeping operation in Mali.
Sunday's open combat and the two suicide bomb explosions have frightened many Gao residents.
Fears of suicide bombing attacks in Gao have been high since the discovery of industrial-strength explosives in the city last week. Four Malian soldiers also were killed by a land mine in the town of Gossi, raising fears the militants were planting explosives in the road.
Friday's suicide bomber had been living at a known jihadist hideout in Gao, according to local residents. A guard at the home said that it had been visited three months ago by the one-eyed terror leader Moktar Belmoktar, who claimed responsibility for the attack on the BP-operated natural gas plant in Algeria last month.
Other jihadist leaders from MUJAO also had stayed in the luxurious two-story home with a verdant courtyard, which the militants took over when they captured Gao last year, the guard said.
On Sunday, crowds of nearby residents gathered under the shade of a few trees by the site of the suicide bombing attack. It was the second time in as many days that their homes had been shaken by blasts from suicide bombers.
"I am really afraid. You hear about these kinds of things in Pakistan or Afghanistan," said Maouloud Dicko, 30, as he sat on his motorcycle. "Gao is becoming like Pakistan."
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/islamists-attack-malian-troops-gao-171411995.html
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Yahoo! News is gathering brief first-person accounts, photos and video from the severe winter weather in the northeastern United States. Here's one resident's story.
FIRST PERSON | The blizzard promised to be epic. It fulfilled its promise with parts of Connecticut seeing 38 inches of snowfall from the monster storm. I was up much of the night, watching and listening to the howling winds, wondering what daybreak would bring.
Fortunately, we never lost power. At about 3:30 in the morning, I took a measurement of the snowfall. It had reached 24 inches. With hours left of snowfall, I was certain this snowfall would surpass the epic snowstorm of '78. I remember that storm; we had more than 27 inches of snow and the roof of the Hartford Civic Center collapsed. We thought roof collapses were almost unheard of then. However, just two years ago, with an epic winter for New England, we had more than give feet of snow at times, and hundreds of roofs collapsed throughout the state. It started with some office buildings, one in Middletown, and spread throughout the coming weeks, into homes, car dealerships, barns, churches and all sorts of businesses.
Today, in Milford, weather.com noted 38 inches of snow. The storm has brought at least two deaths in Connecticut, and all the roads are to remain closed until further notice by order of the governor. He's called the National Guard out to help stranded motorists, including some emergency vehicles.
In Bolton, we have about 34 inches of snow. I spoke to the local news in the middle of the night to tell them we had 24 inches. They indicated the whole state was clobbered, with snow plows getting stuck and stranded cars strewn about. Many gas stations were without gas, and even the smaller plows were having a hard time finding gas.
As the plow comes to clear the drive here, it gets stuck in the mass of snow. The driver needs a few people to dig him out. It's been a crazy storm. We've had so many epic storms these last years, with Hurricane Irene, Hurricane Sandy, Tropical storm Albert, and now Blizzard Nemo; it's been a wild ride in Connecticut. In the last few mega-storms, the state has looked like a tree apocalypse has struck! We have yet to see how many trees will come down from this monster snowstorm. I think global warming is way off base here.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/first-person-nemo-buries-parts-connecticut-204900287.html
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BEIJING (AP) ? The annual Lunar New Year fireworks barrage in Beijing was notably muted Sunday following government appeals to reduce the smoky celebrations after air pollution rose to near catastrophic levels over recent weeks.
The holiday was also being celebrated in Vietnamese and Korean communities, and in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, streams of residents offered flowers and bowed deeply before giant statues of national founder Kim Il Sung and his son and late leader Kim Jong Il.
In Jakarta, Indonesia, where Chinese cultural observances had been suppressed before 1998, ethnic Chinese flocked to the city's oldest temple to pray for health and success.
China's capital saw almost twice the number of smoggy days as usual in January, with levels of small particle air pollution going off the charts at times. That prompted calls for restraint, along with a reduction in the number of licensed fireworks sellers and the amount of fireworks on sale.
The fusillades that began on Lunar New Year's eve on Saturday night started later than usual but still grew to furious intensity at midnight. They also died out earlier than usual on Sunday morning, and relatively few explosions were heard during the day.
Setting off fireworks to celebrate renewal and ward off evil spirits is a traditional part of the celebration that marks China's most important family holiday.
Sales of fireworks from Tuesday to Saturday fell 37 percent over the same period last year, from 410,000 cartons to just 260,000, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing figures from the city government. The city authorized 1,337 fireworks stands this year, down from 1,429 last year, and allowed 750,000 cartons of fireworks to go on sale, down from 810,000.
The Beijing Daily, the city government's official newspaper, carried appeals last week for residents to hold off on fireworks celebrations, saying not doing so would significantly worsen levels of PM2.5 particle pollution forecast to be in the hazardous zone. City environmental bureau readings showed levels well above 200 in most parts of the city Sunday, dangerous but still well below readings of more than 700 seen last month, when Beijing experienced 23 days of smog, up from 10 the previous January.
Beijing was largely helpless in the face of the January smog, while schools canceled outdoor activities, some factories closed and government cars were ordered off the streets. Scores of people, especially the young and elderly, were treated at hospitals for respiratory problems, elevated blood pressure and heart complaints.
Last year's fireworks display created a thick haze that sent 2.5 microgram pollution levels as high as 1,500.
Beijing on Saturday night also saw just 25 injuries and 83 fire emergencies related to fireworks, down almost 29 percent and 45 percent, respectively, from last year.
Beijing permits fireworks displays over a 16-day period surrounding the Lunar New Year, but largely restricts them to suburban areas outside the densely populated city center.
The holiday will continue through the week, with government and businesses shut down and millions of Chinese traveling to their home towns to visit family. Many foreign residents also leave the city, taking the opportunity to enjoy warmer weather in Southeast Asia or travel to Japan and South Korea for skiing holidays.
Chinese leaders have made few public appearances in recent days, although state broadcaster CCTV said new Communist Party leader Xi Jinping visited Saturday with policemen, subway construction workers, taxi drivers and street cleaners in Beijing to thank them for their service.
Premier Wen Jiaobao, who has made a point of spending the holiday eve with workers and the poor, celebrated the last such occasion of his term in office with victims of earthquakes and landslides in western China, CCTV said. Wen steps down in March.
The holiday took on a strong political flavor in North Korea, where current leader Kim Jong Un, the son of Kim Jong Il, who died in December 2011, recently marked his second year in office.
"My longing for our great leader and general has grown stronger as I visited their statues," Pyongyang resident Kim Son Sil told The Associated Press at Mansu Hill, which overlooks the city. "After this Lunar New Year's Day, I will work harder, true to the leadership of Marshal Kim Jong Un."
Crowds of children also packed a Pyongyang plaza and played traditional Korean games and watched singing and dancing performances, with the capital's streets covered in snow that had fallen Saturday.
Along North Korea's border with China last week, impoverished residents could be seen returning home by bicycle ferry and oxcart. North Korea's economy is on the brink of collapse, and the country remains dependent on China for food and fuel supplies.
At Jakarta's 350-year-old Buddhist temple, Vihara Dharma Bhakti, thousands of celebrants from the Indonesian capital and surrounding regions prayed before burning incense sticks and performed other rituals.
"Our hope for this new year is for our health, well-being and success to be even better than last year," worshipper Nio Ju-ie said.
The Lunar New Year could be celebrated only in private under Gen. Suharto's brutal 32-year dictatorship, but the occasion is now a national holiday in Indonesia, honoring the country's small but highly influential Chinese community.
___
Associated Press writer Hyung-jin Kim contributed to this report from Seoul, South Korea.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fewer-fireworks-polluted-beijing-114005504.html
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FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012 file photo, Members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq organization chant slogans and hold banners during a tour organized by the Iraqi government for foreign diplomats in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraqi police on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 say assailants have fired rockets at a refugee camp for an Iranian exile group outside Baghdad, killing at least six people and wounding more than 40. The camp houses members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, the militant wing of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban, File)
FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012 file photo, Members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq organization chant slogans and hold banners during a tour organized by the Iraqi government for foreign diplomats in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraqi police on Friday, Feb. 8, 2013 say assailants have fired rockets at a refugee camp for an Iranian exile group outside Baghdad, killing at least six people and wounding more than 40. The camp houses members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, the militant wing of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban, File)
FILE - In this Tuesday, Sept. 11, 2012 file photo, members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq organization are seen inside the Liberty refugee camp in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraqi police say assailants have fired rockets at a refugee camp for an Iranian exile group outside Baghdad, killing at least six people and wounding more than 40. The camp houses members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, the militant wing of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran. (AP Photo/ Hadi Mizban, File)
BAGHDAD (AP) ? Assailants fired rockets and mortar rounds at a refugee camp for Iranian exiles outside Baghdad on Saturday, killing six people and wounding dozens, police and a camp spokesman said.
Nearly three dozen rockets and mortar shells struck the camp, home to some 3,100 people, before daybreak, said camp spokesman Shahriar Kia. He said more than 100 were wounded, several in serious condition. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
It was the first reported deadly attack against the camp. The facility houses members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq or MEK, the militant wing of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran. Iraq's Shiite-led pro-Iranian government considers the MEK a terrorist group and is eager to have it out of the country.
The refugee camp is located in a former American military base known as Camp Liberty, adjacent to Baghdad's international airport. It is meant to be a temporary way station while the United Nations works to resettle the residents abroad. They are unlikely to return to Iran because of their opposition to the regime.
Two police officials confirmed that six people were killed in Saturday's attack and said more than 40 were hurt, including three Iraqi policemen. They spoke anonymously because they were not authorized to share information with the media.
The Iranian opposition group provided amateur video and photos it said showed the aftermath of the attack. One photo showed six bodies swaddled in blankets lying on the ground in a hallway. Amateur video showed wounded, some with blood-covered faces, being treated at a small clinic.
Kia, the camp spokesman, said Iraqi authorities refused to let the wounded be taken to area hospitals for treatment. Iraqi government officials were not immediately available for comment.
The U.N. envoy in Iraq, Martin Kobler, said he asked the Iraqi authorities to ensure medical care for the wounded. Kobler's office said in a statement that Iraqi officials assured him the wounded were hospitalized.
Kobler also called for a speedy investigation of the attack.
The camp was set up in 2012. Before being moved by the government to the Baghdad area, members of the MEK had lived in northeastern Iraq, near the Iranian border. Iraq's government says its members are living in Iraq illegally.
The group, which is also called the People's Mujahedeen of Iran, opposes Iran's clerical regime and has carried out assassinations and bombings in Iran. It fought in the 1980s alongside Saddam Hussein's forces in the Iran-Iraq war, and several thousand of its members were given sanctuary in Iraq by Saddam.
The group renounced violence in 2001 and the Obama administration took the MEK off the U.S. terrorism list in late September.
___
Associated Press writer Karin Laub in Baghdad contributed reporting.
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Microsoft's cloud storage service SkyDrive has hit a significant numerical landmark: over a billion Office documents are now hosted on it. To celebrate, Redmond has made is a little easier to edit files using Office Web Apps -- you no longer need to sign in using a Microsoft account (unless the sharing party wants you to), so if you've got the right link, you can start tweaking with minimal fuss. A billion Office files sounds like a big number, but we'd really like the details of how many users that's spread over. As many as DropBox? Who knows.
Filed under: Internet, Software, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Ft7ZFsU-JlQ/
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MATHEMATICS TEACHER (PART TIME)
Education: Middle/High School, PT Employee
Paul VI Catholic High School (Fairfax, VA)
MATHEMATICS (PART TIME)
Paul VI Catholic High School is seeking a part-time (1/2 time) Mathematics teacher for the 2013-2014 school year. We are instituting a new one-to-one laptop program that integrates technology into teaching and learning with teachers and students using laptops on a daily basis in the classroom. Applicants must be willing to teach in this integrated technology classroom environment. We seek applicants with a degree in mathematics. A Virginia teaching license in mathematics education is preferred. Interested candidates should submit a cover letter and resume including references to Mr. Opfer, our Dean of Academics, at [email?protected] (14)
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FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012 file photo, traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
FILE - In this Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012 file photo, traders work on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Stocks slumped on Wall Street Thursday, suggesting that the rally which has pushed indexes close to record levels may have run its course.
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 118 points at 13,870 as of 12:04 p.m. The index has shed almost 1 percent since the start of the week, after logging its best January in almost two decades.
The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 11 points to 1,502 and the Nasdaq composite dropped 24 points to 3,145.
"We had such a big January, some type of weakness, or consolidation, make sense here to us," said Ryan Detrick of Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati.
The S&P 500 has lost an average of 0.58 percent in February over the last 20 years, making it the weakest month for stocks, according to research by Schaeffer's.
News Corp. fell 63 cents to $27.59 after the media conglomerate cut its forecast for annual earnings. The company said weakness at several businesses, including its Fox broadcast network, would offset a gain in earnings in the most recent quarter. Auto parts retailer O'Reilly Automotive surged $8.95 to $101.5 after it reported earnings late Wednesday that beat analysts' forecasts.
Stocks fell even after a report showed that applications for unemployment benefits declined.
Fewer Americans sought unemployment benefits last week, a sign that layoffs are easing. Applications for unemployment benefits fell 5,000 to 366,000. Worker productivity also shrank in the final three months of 2012, although the decline was caused by temporary factors.
Comments from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi also caught the attention of investors. The central banker pledged to keep a close eye on the economic impact of the rise of the euro, fearing that the currency's rally in recent month could hurt export sales and harm the region's fragile economy further.
Stocks also fell on Monday, partly because of a spike in borrowing costs for Italy and Spain. That reignited concerns that those countries won't be able to service their debts.
As stocks slumped, bonds rallied. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, fell 2 basis points to 1.94 percent.
Among other stocks making big moves;
? Akamai Technologies Inc., which helps websites deliver online content, plunged $6.71 to $34.91, after reporting earnings late Wednesday. Net income rose, but revenue missed forecasts.
? Sprint Nextel Corp., the country's third-largest wireless carrier, fell 8 cents to $5.69. Sprint lost $1.3 billion in its fourth quarter as it revamped its network to take on its larger competitors. The company also lost 243,000 customers in contract-based plans in the quarter.
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Posted on February 7, 2013 By Joseph Blumberg
Deborah Blum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist and the author of The Poisoner?s Handbook, will speak on Monday, February 11, 2013, at 5 p.m. in Room 201 at the Class of 1978 Life Sciences Center. Blum will speak about poisons, science communication, and chemistry at the event, which is free and open to the public.
Deborah Blum is the author of ?The Poisoner?s Handbook.? (Photo courtesy of Deborah Blum)
?Blum has come to Dartmouth to interview our researchers for an article she is doing for Discover Magazine on arsenic in food,? says Laurie Rardin, research translation coordinator of the Dartmouth Toxic Metals Superfund Research Program. ?We wanted the Dartmouth community to benefit from her vast experience in communicating science to lay audiences, so we asked her if she would be willing to do a public talk.?
Blum, the Helen Firstbrook Franklin Professor of Journalism at the University of Wisconsin, attended the University of Georgia and graduated in 1976 with a major in journalism and a double minor in political science and anthropology. She has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, and New Scientist, among other publications. She has served as co-editor of a widely used guide to science journalism, A Field Guide for Science Writers.
The Poisoner?s Handbook, published in 2010, was named one of the top 100 books of the year by Amazon. The following year it became a New York Times paperback best seller. The book follows two exceptionally determined scientists who, in the 1920s and 30s, sought to put an end to the golden age of poisoners?the period from the turn of the 20th century to World War II, prior to development of analytical techniques that chemically identify toxic substances used in homicides.
Source: http://now.dartmouth.edu/2013/02/pulitzer-prize-winning-science-writer-to-speak-at-dartmouth/
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FILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013 file photo, Paul Cook, right, head of Acceptance for Visa in Asia Pacific, central Europe, Middle East and Africa; Somboon Krobteeranon, second from right, country manager of Myanmar and Thailand; and two unidentified officials pose for photo with an oversized Visa card during a launching ceremony of the use of Visa cards for payments in Myanmar. Visa reports their fourth quarter 2012 earnings on Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win, File)
FILE - In this Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013 file photo, Paul Cook, right, head of Acceptance for Visa in Asia Pacific, central Europe, Middle East and Africa; Somboon Krobteeranon, second from right, country manager of Myanmar and Thailand; and two unidentified officials pose for photo with an oversized Visa card during a launching ceremony of the use of Visa cards for payments in Myanmar. Visa reports their fourth quarter 2012 earnings on Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Visa's profit jumped 25 percent in the last three months of 2012 as consumers hit stores for the holidays, using their credit cards and debit cards more often.
The payments processing company is also expanding a program to buy back its stock, Visa said Wednesday.
Shares slipped 52 cents to $160.30 in after-hours trading. The stock ended regular trading up $1.29 at $160.82.
Visa, which is based in Foster City, Calif., makes money by processing card transactions. Its results provide insight into how consumers are spending.
Revenue from data processing, international transactions and service all rose from a year earlier in the October-December quarter, when consumers ramp up spending for the holidays.
Volume of credit and debit card transactions rose to $1.7 billion from $1.6 billion in the same quarter of 2011.
In November, consumers increased their borrowing by $16 billion from September to a seasonally adjusted record of $2.77 trillion. Americans took on more debt to buy cars and to attend school but remained cautious in their credit card use. The Federal Reserve is scheduled to report figures for December on Thursday.
Some economists are concerned that consumer spending could slow this year as a result of higher Social Security taxes. Most paychecks have been reduced because Congress and the White House allowed a two-year reduction in Social Security payroll taxes to lapse at the end of December.
For the three months ended Dec. 31, Visa reported net income of $1.3 billion, or $1.93 per share. That compares with net income of $1.03 billion, or $1.49 per share, a year earlier.
These company's latest results included a tax benefit representing 11 cents per share.
Revenue rose nearly 12 percent to $2.85 billion.
Analysts polled by FactSet had forecast earnings of $1.79 per share on revenue of $2.82 billion.
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ARBIL, Iraq (Reuters) - Iraqi Kurdistan will press ahead with building its own oil export pipeline to Turkey, the region's energy minister said on Thursday, despite U.S. objections due to fears the project could lead to the break-up of Iraq.
The autonomous Kurdish region is locked in a turf war with the central government in Baghdad over how to exploit Iraq's hydrocarbon riches and divide up the proceeds.
Baghdad says it alone has the authority to control exports of the world's fourth largest oil reserves, while the Kurds say their right to do so is enshrined in Iraq's federal constitution, drawn up following the U.S.-led invasion of 2003.
"We want to have an oil pipeline to ourselves," Iraqi Kurdish Minister for Natural Resources Ashti Hawrami said at a news conference in the regional capital Arbil. "It is currently in the works and we will continue until it is completed."
Crude from the Kurdistan region used to be shipped to world markets through a Baghdad-controlled pipeline to Turkey, but exports via that channel dried up in December, from a peak of around 200,000 barrels per day (bpd) due to a row over payments with Baghdad.
The United States says the solution lies in a national hydrocarbons law that has been delayed for years by a power struggle between Iraq's Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish factions, which has intensified since U.S. troops withdrew a year ago.
"The Iraqis have been struggling to pass a hydrocarbons law. It is very important that they succeed in that," U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Francis J. Ricciardone said in Ankara on Tuesday.
Reluctant to wait, Kurdistan has been looking to resource-hungry Turkey for answers. A broad energy partnership between them ranging from exploration to export has been in the works since last year.
Majority Sunni Turkey's deepening ties with the Kurdistan region in northern Iraq have heightened tensions between Ankara and the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad.
"If Turkey and Iraq fail to optimize their economic relations... There could be more violent conflict in Iraq and the forces of disintegration within Iraq could be emboldened," Riccardione said.
Kurdistan is already bypassing the federal pipeline network by trucking small quantities of crude over the Turkish border in exchange for refined oil products.
"The issue is that we are entitled to 17 percent of (Iraq's)refined products, but the central government sends us only 3 percent and our refining capacity is not enough to satisfy domestic demand," Hawrami said.
(Reporting by Isabel Coles in Arbil and Nick Tattersall in Ankara; Editing by Anthony Barker)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraqi-kurds-press-oil-pipe-turkey-despite-u-131031817.html
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(Reuters) - BCE Inc
But the Bell Canada parent said it expected revenue to stagnate or grow by at most 2 percent this year, compared with 3 percent growth in 2012.
The company, which together with Rogers Communications Inc
For the final quarter of the year, profit was in line with expectations as strong performances in wireless and media more than offset Bell's weaker wireline business.
Net postpaid wireless subscribers rose 9 percent, with the addition of nearly 144,000 Bell Canada customers. Postpaid subscriber figures are watched closely because those customers, who often sign multi-year contracts, typically pay more each month than prepaid subscribers.
BCE is still waiting for regulators to rule on its proposed acquisition of Astral Media Inc , its biggest content provider. The company announced a C$3 billion deal for Astral last March, but broadcast regulators blocked the bid. The companies filed a revised application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission in November.
BY THE NUMBERS
Fourth-quarter net earnings rose to C$708 million ($710 million), or 91 Canadian cents a share, from C$486 million, or 62 Canadian cents, a year earlier.
The bottom line benefited from a C$248 million non-cash gain related to a joint venture with Rogers to bring wireless broadband to remote communities and rural areas.
Excluding that gain and other items, adjusted earnings rose to 65 Canadian cents a share, from 62 Canadian cents a year earlier. Analysts, on average, had expected earnings of 66 Canadian cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
For 2013, BCE expects adjusted earnings per share from C$2.97 to C$3.03 for 2013. Restated to reflect a new pension accounting standard, adjusted earnings in 2012 were C$2.96 a share.
BCE's operating revenue dipped to C$5.16 billion from with C$5.17 billion a year earlier, slightly less than with expectations.
The company raised its quarterly dividend 2.6 percent to C$0.5825 a share, over and above a 4.6 percent increase announced in August.
(Reporting by Allison Martell; Editing by Frank McGurty and Grant McCool)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bell-canada-parent-profit-rises-strong-wireless-unit-142343911--sector.html
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