Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Divorce hurts health more at earlier ages

Monday, January 30, 2012

Divorce at a younger age hurts people's health more than divorce later in life, according to a new study by a Michigan State University sociologist.

Hui Liu said the findings, which appear in the research journal Social Science & Medicine, suggest older people have more coping skills to deal with the stress of divorce.

"It's clear to me that we need more social and family support for the younger divorced groups," said Liu, assistant professor of sociology. "This could include divorce counseling to help people handle the stress, or offering marital therapy or prevention programs to maintain marital satisfaction."

Liu analyzed the self-reported health of 1,282 participants in Americans' Changing Lives, a long-term national survey. She measured the gap in health status between those who remained married during the 15-year study period and those who transitioned from marriage to divorce, at certain ages and among different birth cohorts, or generations.

Liu found the gap was wider at younger ages. For example, among people born in the 1950s, those who got divorced between the ages of 35 and 41 reported more health problems in relation to their continuously married counterparts than those who got divorced in the 44 to 50 age range.

From a generational perspective, the negative health impact was stronger for baby boomers than it was for older generations ? a finding that surprised Liu.

"I would have expected divorce to carry less stress for the younger generation, since divorce is more prevalent for them," she said.

Liu said this may be because the pressure to marry and stay married was stronger for older generations, and so those who did divorce may have been among the most unhappily married ? and thus felt a certain degree of relief when they did divorce.

Overall, the study found that those who transition from marriage to divorce experience a more rapid health decline than those who remain married. However, those who remained divorced during the entire study period showed no difference than those who remained married.

"This suggests it is not the status of being married or divorced, per se, that affects health, but instead is the process of transitioning from marriage to divorce that is stressful and hurts health," Liu said.

###

Michigan State University: http://www.newsroom.msu.edu

Thanks to Michigan State University for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117180/Divorce_hurts_health_more_at_earlier_ages

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Mexican official stopped with $1.9 million in luggage

A Mexican state official was detained at an airport with $1.9 million crammed into a briefcase and a backpack, prosecutors announced Monday, touching off allegations of campaign finance violations tied to the upcoming presidential election.

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Tomas Ruiz, treasury secretary for Veracruz state, said there was nothing illicit about the money the official was carrying. He said the cash, from state coffers, was destined for a Mexico City advertising firm that agreed to promote festivals to attract tourists to the eastern coastal state, including a well-known carnival in the port city of Veracruz.

Ruiz said the Veracruz government had state official Miguel Morales Robles carry the cash payment on a special flight to Toluca airport outside Mexico City because the advertising work needed to be delivered quickly.

Federal prosecutors said a second state official, Said Zepeda, was briefly detained Friday when he showed up at the airport to demand the release of his colleague and the money.

The two officials were released because there was no evidence they violated any law, but the money remains in prosecutors' custody.

Federal prosecutors said they were trying to confirm the money was from state coffers as part of the investigation. Ruiz said he had sent them documentation.

Veracruz state is governed by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, whose presumptive presidential candidate is considered the front-runner in the July election.

The Democratic Revolution Party, one of the PRI's two main competitors, charged that the money was meant to fuel a secret advertising budget for PRI candidate Enrique Pena Nieto.

The PRI has made strenuous efforts to rebrand itself as a law-abiding and transparent party that has left behind the legacy of corruption that marked much of its seven decades of autocratic rule, which ended with the 2000 presidential election.

Mexico has strict limits on the amounts of money that can be spent on political campaigns ? the PRI's presidential candidate will be limited to spending 495 million pesos ($38.4 million) for the entire campaign.

Political rivals routinely accuse each other of violating the limits, but electoral regulators rarely bring cases to prosecutors.

"We have before us, without a doubt, a diversion of state resources for the presidential candidate of the Institutional Revolutionary Party, Enrique Pena Nieto," the national leadership committee of the Democratic Revolution party said in a statement.

Ruiz strenuously denied that.

"The payment was in cash because of the rush," he told the news station Radio Formula when asked why he hadn't sent an electronic transfer.

With the start presidential campaign season in Mexico, government and party officials are warning about the potential for organized crime to get involved in campaigns and debating how to prevent that.

Prosecutors wouldn't say if the money from Veracruz could possibly be linked to drug trafficking.

President Felipe Calderon last fall said that Veracruz, a state racked by drug violence, had been left in the hands of the Zetas drug cartel before he sent federal troops to restore order.

The state now is the center of a fierce battle between the Zetas and the Sinaloa cartel, Mexico's two most power drug trafficking organizations. Former Gov. Fidel Herrera was accused of being aligned with the Zetas, a charge he often denied.

Separately, a report published on Sunday showed about $50 billion a year is siphoned illegally out of Mexico due largely to tax evasion and trade manipulation.

At least $872 billion has flowed out of Mexico illegally between 1970 and 2010, the Washington-based anti-corruption advocacy group Global Financial Integrity said.

Illicit outflows have skyrocketed since the North American Free Trade Agreement started in 1994, when global companies flocked to Mexico.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46200273/ns/world_news-americas/

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Monday, January 30, 2012

Libya: Justice Ministry to take over prisons

(AP) ? Libyan judicial police have started taking control of makeshift prisons in the country after human rights organizations complained of rampant torture of inmates, the country's deputy justice minister said on Sunday.

The deputy minister, Khalifa Ashour, said uniformed police have been dispatched to some prisons where former rebels have been holding people accused of being loyalists of deposed ruler Moammar Gadhafi.

During last year's civil war, former rebels trying to protect their neighborhoods held anyone deemed suspicious of being a Gadhafi loyalist or mercenary, locking them up in makeshift prisons in schools, homes and empty government buildings.

According to the U.N., various former rebel groups are holding as many as 8,000 prisoners in 60 detention centers around the country.

Bringing all the prisons under control of the new government illustrates the challenge of reuniting Libya after the ouster of Gadhafi.

Ashour said that on Sunday his ministry took over one prison in Misrata and another in Tripoli, but didn't have information on any other prisons which were taken over.

"Some of the prisoners are loyalists of the former regime detained during the revolution, and others were captured after liberation for murder and drug or alcohol possession," Ashour told The Associated Press.

The move comes after the U.N.'s top human rights official said Friday that Libya's transitional government must take control of all makeshift prisons to prevent further atrocities against detainees.

"There's torture, extrajudicial executions, rape of both men and women," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Friday.

Pillay said she was particularly concerned about sub-Saharan African detainees whom the brigades automatically assume to be fighters for former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Aid group Doctors Without Borders suspended its work in prisons in the Libyan city of Misrata on Thursday because it said torture was so rampant that some detainees were brought for care only to make them fit for further interrogation and abuse.

Amnesty International said Thursday it had recorded widespread prisoner mistreatment in other cities that led to the deaths of several inmates.

The allegations, which come more than three months after Gadhafi was captured and killed, were an embarrassment to the governing National Transitional Council, which is struggling to establish its authority in the splintered nation.

Ashour said that the Justice Ministry has sent letters to revolutionary brigades guarding makeshift prisons across Libya, setting target dates for handing over the prisons to the ministry, at which point a group of judicial police will take charge.

He didn't have information on how many notices were sent out or if there was a final deadline for handing over prisons to government control.

In November, Libya's leaders acknowledged that some prisoners held by revolutionary forces were abused, but insisted the mistreatment was not systematic and pledged to tackle the problem.

Libya's new leaders have struggled to stamp their authority on the country since toppling Gadhafi's regime. One of the greatest challenges still facing the leadership is how to rein in the dozens of revolutionary militias that arose during the war and now are reluctant to disband or submit to the central authority.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-29-ML-Libya/id-f1ea8720fd4f431599a1a5048f065fa7

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RBS chief waives bonus after UK political storm (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? The chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) has decided to waive a bonus worth almost a million pounds ($1.6 million), the bank said on Sunday, after the handout angered Britons bearing the brunt of government austerity measures.

A spokesman for the partly state-owned bank said CEO Stephen Hester would no longer be taking the bonus, which was awarded at a time when most British workers are suffering wage freezes or sub-inflation rises.

"He's waived the bonus," said the spokesman for RBS, which is 83 percent owned by the British government following a state bailout during the 2008 credit crisis.

Hester had been due for the stock bonus, worth roughly 998,640 pounds based on Friday's closing price of RBS shares, on top of his basic salary of 1.2 million pounds. His decision followed a similar move by RBS Chairman Philip Hampton.

The deal had provoked a row across Britain's political spectrum, with the opposition Labor Party leading the attack.

The Liberal Democrat party, junior partner in the coalition government, also criticized the planned payment and even some members of Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives joined the assault.

RBS made its announcement shortly after Labor stepped up the pressure by saying it would force a parliamentary debate in which it would have called on the government to use its 83 percent stake in RBS to cancel Hester's bonus.

Salaries at RBS and Lloyds (LLOY.L) are particularly controversial as both banks were bailed out with 66 billion pounds of taxpayers' money during the crisis. The British government owns 40 percent of Lloyds, along with its RBS stake.

DEFLECTED ATTENTION

Britain's Conservative finance minister George Osborne welcomed Hester's decision to decline his bonus.

"This is a sensible and welcome decision that enables Stephen Hester to focus on the very important job he has got to do, namely to get back billions of pounds of taxpayers' money that was put into RBS," he said.

Throughout the past week the Conservatives - the senior coalition party - had sought to deflect criticism over the government's handling of the affair by saying it was up to Hester to decide whether or not to take up his bonus.

The government had said overruling the RBS board would risk destabilizing a bank whose balance sheet is as large as Britain's entire economy. It also pointed out that the bonus scheme had been drawn up under the previous Labor government.

Hester, a former Abbey National and Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) banker, joined RBS in October 2008 from property company British Land (BLND.L) as RBS was reeling from its disastrous acquisition of Dutch bank ABN AMRO and the effects of the credit crisis.

Britain used about 45 billion pounds of taxpayers' money to rescue RBS, leading to the eventual resignation of former head Sir Fred Goodwin, who was replaced by Hester.

Hester was given a brief to restructure RBS and restore its fortunes, and the bank has cut more than 30,000 jobs under him.

Like many banks, RBS's share price has fallen sharply over the last year, which again made Hester's bonus hard to justify.

Britain aims to sell its state holdings in RBS and Lloyds back to the private sector, although volatile markets have meant the timing of any disposal is uncertain.

(Editing by David Stamp)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/bs_nm/us_rbs_ceo

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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Video: TODAY?s Home: Fix it or ditch it?

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46173952#46173952

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Video: Buried Secrets, Part 5

Dateline NBC

'Dateline NBC,' the signature broadcast for NBC News in primetime, premiered in 1992. Since then, it has been pioneering a new approach to primetime news programming. The multi-night franchise, supplemented by frequent specials, allows NBC to consistently and comprehensively present the highest-quality reporting, investigative features, breaking news coverage and newsmaker profiles.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032600/vp/46167197#46167197

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Saturday, January 28, 2012

Biden says Democrats can win back control of House (Reuters)

CAMBRIDGE, Maryland (Reuters) ? Vice President Joe Biden told Democratic lawmakers on Friday that he believes their party can regain control of the House of Representatives from the Republicans in the November 6 elections because voters are starting to see the benefits of President Barack Obama's policies.

"I really think we're going to win back the House," Biden told House Democrats at a retreat in Maryland. "I think we will win based purely on the merits of our positions."

(Reporting By David Lawder; Editing by Will Dunham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/democrats/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/pl_nm/us_usa_campaign_biden

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Stock index futures signal steady open (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stock index futures pointed to a steady open on Wall Street on Friday, with futures for the S&P 500 up 0.02 percent, Dow Jones futures up 0.05 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.2 percent at 4 a.m. ET.

European stocks dipped in early trade following strong increases in the previous session, as gains sparked by the Federal Reserve's pledge of low interest rates gave way to worries about Portugal, seen as the potential next domino in the euro zone crisis, and uncertainty over Greek debt talks. (.EU)

The Federal Reserve's latest efforts to bolster the recovery with unprecedented policy tools will hurt the U.S. economy in the long run, a former member of Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's inner circle suggested on Thursday.

3M Co's (MMM.N) board of directors are divided over whether to extend the contract of chief executive George Buckley once it expires in a month, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

The economy likely grew at its fastest pace in nearly two years at the end of 2011, but a rebuilding of stocks by businesses and weak exports could be early warning signs of a slowdown in early 2012. U.S. gross domestic product is expected to have expanded at a 3.0 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, according to a Reuters poll.

The yield on the benchmark U.S. Treasury note was steady in Asia on Friday, while the yield on five-year paper was slightly above a multi-decade low as investors awaited U.S. data later in the session that is likely to show the economy has picked up.

Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Jeffrey Lacker said on Friday he voted against the central bank's decision this week to keep rates near zero until at least late 2014 because he believes rates will need to rise before then.

Juniper Networks (JNPR.N) and Riverbed Technologies (RVBD.O) disappointed investors with gloomy first quarter outlooks that were below expectations, raising fears that demand for companies that help manage Internet traffic may be weak for some time.

Cirrus Logic Inc (CRUS.O) forecast fourth-quarter revenue higher than analysts' estimates as the analog chipmaker expects to launch several new products during the period.

Delphi Automotive PLC (DLPH.N) reported a nearly four-fold increase in fourth-quarter earnings on stronger sales of vehicle electronics and engine systems in its first results since returning as a public company.

Sallie Mae (SLM.O), the largest U.S. student lender, raised its quarterly dividend and said its board authorized a $500 million share buyback program.

A Brazilian prosecutor plans to file criminal charges against Chevron Corp (CVX.N) and some of its local managers within weeks, adding the threat of prison sentences to an $11 billion civil lawsuit as punishment for a November offshore oil spill.

A month-long rally on Wall Street appears to be sputtering as stocks slipped on Thursday in what investors called a possible warning of weakness ahead. Weaker-than-expected home sales figures and a group of mixed earnings reports tempered the market's recent buying interest.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) was down 22.33 points, or 0.18 percent, at 12,734.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) was down 7.60 points, or 0.57 percent, at 1,318.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) was down 13.03 points, or 0.46 percent, at 2,805.28.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by Helen Massy-Beresford)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

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Friday, January 27, 2012

Google strikes deal to bring 27,000 Chromebooks to US schools in three states

It remains to be seen if they'll be the big game-changer in education that Google hopes they will be, but the company is making some progress at getting its Chromebooks into schools. The latest push is a deal with three US school districts, which will see some 27,000 Chromebooks land in the hand of students in Iowa, Illinois and South Carolina. As CNET reports, South Carolina's Richland School District Two is making by far the biggest investment of the lot, ordering 19,000 Chromebooks that will be used as part of a three-year program for students in the third through twelfth grades. As for Google itself, it still isn't being too specific on the total number of Chromebooks now being used by schools, noting only that "hundreds" of schools across 41 states are using them in at least one classroom.

Google strikes deal to bring 27,000 Chromebooks to US schools in three states originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/0NRhSLgbJpM/

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Thursday, January 26, 2012

Marla Sokoloff?s Blog: My Pregnancy Must-Haves

Due in two weeks, Marla Sokoloff makes a list of her pregnancy must-haves in her latest blog.

Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/QX4em-Skvq8/

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Google to unify privacy policy across products (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Google Inc plans to unify its privacy policy and terms of service across its online offerings, including its flagship search, Gmail and Google+ products, to make them easier to use, but the move could attract greater scrutiny from anti-trust regulators.

In an online blog post, Google said it expects to roll out the revised guidelines in over a month's time, consolidating more than 60 separate privacy policies it uses for its online products.

Google currently has more than 70 privacy policies covering all of its products.

Right now, users of Google products have to agree to a new set of privacy policy and terms of services almost every time they sign up for a new service.

This leaves them with an option to opt out of certain services like Google+ or Picasa.

After the new policy comes into effect, user information from most Google products will be treated as a single trove of data, which the company could use for its targeted advertising dollars, raising potential red flags for anti-trust regulators.

"If you're signed in, we may combine information you've provided from one service with information from other services," Google's director of privacy, product and engineering, Alma Whitten wrote in blog post.

"In short, we'll treat you as a single user across all our products, which will mean a simpler, more intuitive Google experience."

The announcement comes days after Google's decision to personalize its search feature drew criticism over privacy and anti-trust issues.

Online privacy has come under scrutiny from anti-trust regulators as a handful of web giants have been accused of compromising user privacy to attract advertisers.

Late last year, Facebook settled with the U.S. FTC agreeing to be regulated for a period of 20 years whenever it decided to change its privacy policy.

In 2010, the FTC settled charges with Twitter, after the agency alleged that the social networking service had failed to safeguard users' personal information.

U.S. regulators are reportedly looking into whether Google manipulates its search results to favor its own products and have expanded the probe to include Google+.

"Regulators globally have been calling for shorter, simpler privacy policies - and having one policy covering many different products is now fairly standard across the Web," Whitten said in the post.

The revised policy will take effect on March 1, the blog post said.

(Reporting by Himank Sharma in Bangalore; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier, Viraj Nair)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120124/wr_nm/us_google

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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Obama backs shale gas drilling (Reuters)

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama on Tuesday pledged support for the U.S. shale gas boom, but said government must focus on safe development of the energy resource.

In his State of the Union address, Obama called for government to develop a roadmap for responsible shale gas production and said his administration would move forward with "common-sense" new rules to make sure drillers protect the public.

"America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk," Obama said.

Obama's proposals on natural gas were similar to previous administration comments, and would do little to satisfy oil and gas industry backers who argue that the federal government needs to stay out of the way of burgeoning shale development.

Some industry groups had hoped Obama might streamline government oversight or offer specific plans to increase access for oil and gas drilling.

Instead, Obama pressed again for ending tax breaks for the oil and gas industry in his speech, something he has pushed for repeatedly without success.

The American Petroleum Institute, the top oil and gas lobbying group, said the policies Obama promoted in his speech are at odds with expanding energy output.

"It's a contradiction because he calls for further regulation that will slow down the production of energy and then increasing costs by raising taxes," said the institute's president, Jack Gerard.

Chris Jarvis, president of Caprock Risk Management in Rye, New Hampshire, said Obama avoided tackling key issues regarding natural gas, such as switching to using more gas in transportation.

"He was basically using his discussion on energy to deflect away from his critics versus really doing major changes with the U.S. energy sector and natural gas," Jarvis said.

SHALE GAS REVOLUTION

Improvements in drilling techniques have transformed the U.S. energy landscape in recent years by unlocking the country's immense shale oil and gas reserves.

But the drilling boom has raised concerns about the safety of natural gas extraction techniques like hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which environmentalists say could pollute water supplies.

Still, with fracking mostly exempt from federal oversight and most shale gas production occurring on private lands, the Obama administration is limited in its authority over the practice.

Obama said the administration would move forward with rules that would require companies to disclose chemicals used during the fracking process on public lands.

In wide-ranging comments about the energy industry, Obama also said he would direct his administration to open 75 percent of the country's potential offshore oil and gas resources to drilling.

This proposal would be carried out in the latest offshore drilling plan released by the Interior Department in November.

PROMOTING CLEAN ENERGY

Obama strongly defended his record in investing in renewable energy.

The high profile collapse of solar-panel maker Solyndra last year - after the company received $535 million in loan aid from the administration - led critics to argue that government should not be in the business of backing energy companies.

"Some technologies don't pan out; some companies fail," Obama said. "But I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy ... I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here."

Though Congress failed to move on a proposal he put forward last year to set a target for power plants to produce mostly clean electricity by 2035, Obama said the administration would establish zones to develop 10 gigawatts of solar and wind power projects on public lands.

In addition, the Defense Department will purchase one gigawatt of renewable energy, with the Navy purchasing enough capacity to power a quarter of a million homes a year.

(Additional reporting by Eileen Houlihan; Editing by David Storey and Eric Beech)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/ts_nm/us_usa_obama_speech_energy

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BlackBerry maker's CEOs hand reins to insider (Reuters)

WATERLOO, Ontario (Reuters) ? Research In Motion's Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie have bowed to investor pressure and resigned as co-CEOs, handing the top job to an insider with four years at the struggling BlackBerry maker.

Thorsten Heins, a former Siemens AG executive who has risen steadily through RIM's upper management ranks since joining the Canadian company in late 2007, took over as CEO on Saturday, RIM said on Sunday.

The shift ends the two-decade long partnership of Lazaridis and Balsillie atop a once-pioneering technology company that now struggles against Apple and Google.

With RIM's share price plummeting to eight-year lows, a flurry of speculation that RIM was up for sale has enveloped the company in recent months. But investors have pointed to the domineering presence of Lazaridis and Balsillie as one reason a sale would prove difficult.

Activist investors have clamored in recent months for a new, "transformational" leader who could revitalize RIM's product line and resuscitate its once cutting-edge image. It remains to be seen whether RIM has found such a leader in Heins, analysts said.

"It's the first positive thing that they have done in months," said Charter Equity analyst Ed Snyder, even as he expressed caution over the choice of Heins, a longtime lieutenant of Lazaridis and Balsillie. "My feeling is that it's a figure-head change."

Michael Urlocker, an analyst with GMP Securities, questioned whether Heins had the right background for the job that faces him. "I am not sure that an engineer as new CEO really gets to the central issues faced by RIM," he said.

Lazaridis and Balsillie also gave up their shared role as chairman of RIM's board. Barbara Stymiest, an independent board member who once headed the Toronto Stock Exchange, will take over in that capacity.

The pair, who together built Lazaridis' 1985 start-up into a global business with $20 billion in sales last year, have weathered a storm of criticism in recent years as Apple's iPhone and the army of devices powered by Google's innovative Android system eclipsed their email-focused BlackBerry.

"There comes a time in the growth of every successful company when the founders recognize the need to pass the baton to new leadership. Jim and I went to the board and told them that we thought that time was now," Lazaridis said in a hastily arranged interview at RIM's Waterloo headquarters, flanked by Balsillie and Heins and with Stymiest joining via telephone.

DEPICTED AS ORDERLY TRANSITION

The executives were keen to paint the shuffle as an orderly transition on a succession plan mapped out at least a year ago, and not a retreat in the face of a plummeting share price, shrinking U.S. market share and criticism of their products.

Both Lazaridis and Balsillie - two of RIM's three largest shareholders with more than 5 percent each - will remain board members, with Lazaridis keeping a particularly active role as vice-chair and head of a newly created innovation committee.

Lazaridis said he plans to buy an additional $50 million of RIM shares on the open market.

In the group interview announcing the change, Heins said his most immediate concern is to sell RIM's current lineup of BlackBerry 7 touchscreen devices, deliver on a promised software upgrade for its PlayBook tablet computer by February, and rally RIM's troops to launch the next-generation BlackBerry 10 phones later this year.

"Their problems are deep-rooted, and it's going to take time," Snyder said.

In the longer term, Heins, previously one of RIM's chief operating officers, said he would push for more rigorous product development and place greater emphasis on executing on the company's marketing and development plans.

"We need to get a bit more disciplined in our own processes," he said in a YouTube video posted by RIM. "We are a great, innovative but sometimes we innovate too much while we are building a product." (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUFwhpcrCTw)

Heins said RIM, which suffered a damaging outage of much of its network last year, has embarked on a global search for a chief marketing officer to improve advertising and other communication with consumers. Consumers now account for the majority of RIM's sales even though the BlackBerry built its reputation as a business tool.

For RIM critics, the focus on customers may seem long overdue. The company seemed blindsided by Apple's introduction of the iPhone in 2007 and was also slow to launch a competitor to the iPad. When its PlayBook tablet finally hit the market last spring, it was not equipped with RIM's trademark email service. The reviews were scathing, sales were anemic and the company has been forced to offer steep discounts.

Heins said it would be wrong of RIM to focus on licensing its software or integrated email package, a strategy that many analysts and investors have thought the company might pursue. Even so, the new CEO said the company would certainly be open to discussions of that nature.

Neither Lazaridis nor Basillie detailed any future plans outside RIM, with Lazaridis particularly eager to point out his still-active role as a confidante to the new CEO.

Both have other interests outside of RIM. Lazaridis donated hundreds of millions of dollars to set up an independent theoretical physics institute and also a quantum computing institute attached to his alma mater, the University of Waterloo. Balsillie heads a think-tank in international governance and long dreamed of owning a National Hockey League franchise.

(Reporting by Alastair Sharp; Additional reporting by Edwin Chan in Los Angeles; Editing by Frank McGurty and Janet Guttsman)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/bs_nm/us_rim

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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Analysis: Megaupload shutdown unlikely to deter piracy (Reuters)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) ? The crackdown on file-sharing site Megaupload is expected to do little to reduce overall piracy of music, software and Hollywood movies, while potentially stifling emerging means of distributing content online.

In the wake of last week's surprising indictment of the digital storage company and seven executives, other companies have begun changing their policies even as Megaupload officers maintained their innocence in a first court appearance in New Zealand.

Filesonic.com stopped allowing people to download files that they had not uploaded themselves, while Uploaded.to blocked access from Internet locations in the United States.

However, just 3 percent of U.S. Internet users relied on digital lockers like Megaupload in the third quarter, according to NPD market research, compared with 9 percent who used peer-to-peer networks, which allow sharing of files among consumers' computers with little or no central organization.

Peer-to-peer systems, including BitTorrent and PirateBay, might gain more activity after the Megaupload charges, analysts said, while users may be afraid to upload content to lockers for fear they will lose access in a similar shutdown.

"I don't think you'll see more file sharers per se, but the amount downloaded over the torrents might rise," said NPD's Russ Crupnick.

But the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America said at least some users would balk at the higher complexity of peer-to-peer sites.

Lockers are "more user friendly. I doubt there will be a wholesale shift" to torrents, said MPAA Senior Vice President Kevin Suh.

PirateBay appeared to ignore the demise of Megaupload in its communications with users on Monday. In its blog, writers posted about how PirateBay saw the future of copying - evolving beyond digital format to physical objects it dubbed "physibles" - and

about what artists it might promote in coming months.

In a press release issued last week about proposed anti-piracy legislation in the U.S., PirateBay compared its role to the founding fathers of the U.S. and took the position that it fights for freedom of speech and the equality of all people.

SKIP HOLLYWOOD MIDDLEMEN

Though Megaupload has been around since 2005, lockers have only gone mainstream in the past year. Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc and Google Inc all adopted some version of the technology that permits digital content to be uploaded for the purpose of backing up user data or making content available to multiple devices or outsiders.

For some content producers, the new avenues are a way to skip the middlemen in Hollywood and reach their fans directly.

Last month, the comedian Louis C.K., complaining of a lack of royalties from conventional DVD sales, offered downloads of a one-man show for $5 from his own website and sold more than $1 million worth.

Megaupload supporters in the past have included major recording artists, such as Macy Gray and Sean "Diddy" Combs, who lent their voices to a popular video touting Megaupload by name.

Rapper Busta Rhymes signaled his support on Twitter even after the arrests last week, tweeting that Megaupload "could create the most powerful way 4 artist 2 get 90% off of every dollar despite the music being downloaded 4 free."

Until the middle of last year, Megaupload offered "rewards" for those who uploaded the most popular content. The indictment said this induced piracy, because the most popular content was likely to infringe copyrights.

But Jennifer Granick, a longtime Internet attorney who is now general counsel for a site devoted to hip-hop, said the idea that only infringing material would be popular was "ridiculous".

"This is a way for artists of all kinds to get out of these record-label deals that can be really limited. These can be a really important way to try to make money and get their stuff out there."

Julie Samuels, an attorney for the civil liberties nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation, said it was unusual for the Justice Department to bring a criminal case for an alleged conspiracy over copyright violations, which are usually handled in civil court.

The EFF filed an amicus brief defending another locker service, MP3Tunes, against a record label that sued over a related issue, the "de-duplicating" that saves resources by preserving only one copy of a file that is uploaded by many.

The court ruled that MP3Tunes was in the clear as long as it abided by Digital Millennium Copyright Act requirements for responding to takedown requests, blocking repeat infringers and the like.

Samuels said she was not surprised that other file-storage services were dropping reward programs and in some cases limiting downloads to users' own files.

But she said that was bad for innovation and bad for users.

"The worst part here is that if the lockers are legally unstable then users will be hesitant," she said. "What's really been troubling is that the third parties who are using Megaupload for legitimate reasons no longer have access to their own content. In this case it's the government, but often it's traditional industries that are squelching innovation in what may be an expansion of ways for artists to get paid."

(Reporting by Joseph Menn and Sara McBride in San Francisco, Jeremy Pelofsky in Washington and Jim Finkle in Boston; Editing by Tiffany Wu, Bernard Orr)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120124/tc_nm/us_megaupload_impact

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Lawyer says ousted Egypt leader still president (AP)

CAIRO ? Hosni Mubarak's lawyer concluded his defense on Sunday, arguing that the ousted leader should be acquitted of criminal charges because he is technically still the president of Egypt.

Mubarak, who stepped down nearly a year ago, is charged along with his security chief and four police commanders of complicity in the killing of protesters during an 18-day uprising in January and February. They could face the death penalty if convicted. Mubarak and his two sons are facing separate charges of corruption in the same case.

Farid el-Deeb, Mubarak's chief defense lawyer, said during the closure of arguments that spanned five court sessions that Mubarak did not formally resign and should enjoy immunity from prosecution.

He said Mubarak gave verbal instructions to his vice president Omar Suleiman to announce that he was delegating the armed forces to "run the affairs of the nation," something that he said did not amount to a resignation.

"This court is not qualified to try him and he must be acquitted," said el-Deeb, a suave celebrity lawyer.

El-Deeb received a round of applause from other defense lawyers when he finished his statements. Lawyers for the victims responded with chants of, "Execution, execution," and, "Down, down with Mubarak."

Addressing Mubarak, a former air force chief and a decorated war hero who ruled Egypt for 29 years, el-Deeb said: "You, Mubarak, are a wounded eagle in the sky. Don't be sad, be tough, for you are not any better than the Prophet."

He was alluding to the persecution endured by Islam's seventh-century Prophet Muhammad during the early days of his prophecy in what is now Saudi Arabia.

El-Deeb has argued in previous hearings that a 1979 law issued by Mubarak's predecessor Anwar Sadat gave the ousted leader immunity from being tried before a civilian court as a hero of the nation's 1973 war against Israel.

Mubarak and his two sons, wealthy businessman Alaa and one-time heir apparent Gamal, were arrested in April following mass protests calling on the generals who took control of Egypt to detain them and try them. The trial began on Aug. 3.

Nearly 40 stalwarts of the Mubarak regime, including two former prime ministers and several key cabinet ministers and regime-linked businessmen, are currently held in a prison south of Cairo. Some of them have been convicted and are serving jail terms, while others are awaiting trial.

However, activists behind the uprising that toppled Mubarak's regime say the ruling generals, led by the ousted leader's defense minister of 20 years, are not serious about dismantling the former regime.

They say the generals remained beholden to Mubarak, whose consent was essential to their rise through the ranks.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_mubarak_trial

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Monday, January 23, 2012

In Paterno death apology, a lesson for CEOs

Companies screw up all the time, and have to write up statements to apologize for their mistakes. But all too frequently, the apologies are weak, conditional and completely insincere.

Saturday night, a kid from a little student-run website at Penn State showed everybody how you're supposed to apologize for a terrible mistake.

It started when the site, Onward State, reported on its Twitter account that Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who is in the hospital and near death, had passed away.

The news was picked up by CBS Sports without attribution, and published an obituary of Paterno. It spread nationally from there (check out Poynter's full breakdown of how things went down).

Turns out, it wasn't true. The Paterno family debunked the report, and Onward State made an official retraction. Paterno died Sunday morning, following the incident.

21-year-old Onward State managing editor and Penn State senior Devon Edwards then published a letter on the Onward State website and Facebook page that every CEO and PR pro needs to read.

This is how you apologize for a mistake:

A Letter from the Managing Editor of Onward State
Earlier this evening, Onward State reported that Joe Paterno had passed away; however, the mountain of evidence stacked opposite that report became too much to ignore. At this time, I would like to issue an official retraction of our earlier tweets.

I never, in a million years, would have thought that Onward State might be cited by the national media. Today, I sincerely wish it never had been. To all those who read and passed along our reports, I sincerely apologize for having mislead you. To the Penn State community and to the Paterno family, most of all, I could not be more sorry for the emotional anguish I am sure we at Onward State caused. There are no excuses for what we did. We all make mistakes, but it?s impossible to brush off one of this magnitude. Right now, we deserve all of the criticism headed our way.

In this day and age, getting it first often conflicts with getting it right, but our intention was never to fall into that chasm. All I can do now is promise that in the future, we will exercise caution, restraint, and humility.

I can only hope and pray that the outstanding work our writers and photographers do on a day-to-day basis is not overshadowed by the events of tonight. I understand that our reputation is in serious question, but I hope you will continue to stand by us as we do everything in our power to make amends.

To begin that process, I will be stepping down from my post as Managing Editor, effective immediately. I take full responsibility for the events that transpired tonight, and for the black mark upon the organization that I have caused.

I ask not for your forgiveness, but for your understanding. I am so very, very, sorry, and we at Onward State continue to pray for Coach Paterno.

Sincerely,

Devon Edwards

There's not a line of bull in there.

Did he need to resign? Perhaps not. Either way, it's sincere, heartfelt and human. There are no conditions set, no distancing and no excuses. He screwed up, and he accepted full responsibility.

Why is it so hard for big-time CEOs (and media folks, for that matter) to do the same when something happens on their watch?

Please follow War Room on Twitter and Facebook.

Copyright 2012 by Business Insider, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduced with permission from Business Insider, Inc.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46091333/ns/business-us_business/

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SC voters take in topsy-turvy week before primary (AP)

CAYCE, S.C. ? For weeks, Renee Boling was sure she was going to vote for Mitt Romney in South Carolina's Republican presidential primary. But a series of events this week changed her mind, and seemingly the minds of many others across the state.

Romney repeatedly refused to release his income tax return and was on the defensive in two debates, while Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum made forceful arguments that led Boling to rethink whether the former Massachusetts governor was really the best candidate the GOP could offer. The 37-year-old administrative assistant said Friday she was leaning toward Santorum, but could change her mind in the hours before she votes.

"He just didn't back down," Boling said of Santorum's performance at Thursday night's debate. "He stood his ground."

The dynamics of South Carolina's campaign have shifted dramatically in the last week after a series of events threw the race into turmoil and left countless voters undecided about who to support. Romney was positioned to win here after his commanding victory in New Hampshire. But polls now show he has slipped from the front of the pack to what he described Friday as a neck-and-neck contest with Gingrich. Santorum and Texas Rep. Ron Paul trail in surveys.

The chaos of the South Carolina campaign was clear on Thursday alone.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry dropped out of the race and endorsed Gingrich, who had to fend off his ex-wife's accusations that he had asked her for an "open marriage." Romney, meanwhile, spent the day repeatedly resisting calls to release his tax returns immediately. A cantankerous debate ? the second of two this week ? capped off the surreal day.

Perhaps illustrating the new reality of the race here, the raucous debate audience booed Romney as he answered a question about his refusal to release the tax returns. The crowd gave two standing ovations to Gingrich as he defended himself against his ex-wife's allegations.

All this in a state where the Republican establishment constantly reminds the rest of the nation that "we pick presidents," given that whoever wins South Carolina has gone on to win the party's nomination since the primary was established in 1980.

"I've never seen anything like it. It is funny, I suppose," marveled Colette Kent, a 78-year-old from Fort Mill, who turned out Friday to meet Santorum. She said values were the reason she was backing him, calling the former Pennsylvania senator "a good and decent man" and "a Christian man."

At first glance, the allegations by Gingrich's ex-wife would appear to be deadly in a state smack in the middle of the Bible Belt. But more than a million people have poured into South Carolina over the past 20 years, increasing the population by nearly 33 percent and watering down some of its evangelical fervor.

Stephanie Irick, 55, was among those still sticking by Gingrich. She thinks Romney is a flip-flopper and the allegations by Gingrich's ex-wife didn't shake her support.

"Do I believe it? I don't have a clue," Irick said while at a Gingrich rally in Walterboro on Friday. "What goes on in people's bedroom is their own business."

Others said the timing smelled bad.

"This comes out now, after he's been running how long? It doesn't seem like a coincidence," said Mike Smith, 52. The Fort Mill resident who backed President Barack Obama over Sen. John McCain four years ago planned to vote for Santorum. Smith shrugged at the rollicking nature of the race, saying the real issues were about paying the mortgage and feeding families.

"Everything else is a distraction," he said. "We need jobs, not gossip."

That's what Gingrich seemed to argue at Thursday's debate in Charleston when he tore into CNN moderator John King for making the opening question about Gingrich's former wife.

A few days earlier at a debate in Myrtle Beach, Gingrich also earned the biggest cheers of the night by tangling with Fox News Channel contributor Juan Williams, who asked Gingrich to defend his comments that Obama was "the greatest food stamp president." Williams also asked Gingrich to defend as not racist his suggestion that poor children could earn money by doing janitorial work at their schools.

"He hit that out of the park. It has nothing to do with race," said 62-year-old Ed Cheek, a hospital chaplain who was at a Santorum rally Friday in Lexington but planned to vote for Gingrich.

Santorum, for his part, has been presenting himself as a good alternative to voters bothered by Gingrich's three marriages and affairs and who think Romney is too moderate.

Deborah Braun was at Santorum's rally because she thinks he can beat Obama and has the kind of values she wants in a president. The 62-year-old mother of five and grandmother of 10 said Gingrich "has too much baggage. He's not trustworthy."

All the discussion of tax returns and cheating spouses have drowned out Paul's supporters.

"He is ready to do the hard things that we need to do to turn things around," said David Oberly, a 40-year-old geologist who was eating lunch in a West Columbia restaurant. "I don't care what a person does in their private life. It's issues that matter."

There was one final wrinkle that has turned the South Carolina race into even more of a circus.

Comedian Stephen Colbert attracted thousands to a rally Friday in his hometown of Charleston. Write-ins aren't accepted on the ballot, so Colbert is asking his supporters to vote for Herman Cain, who dropped out of the race last month.

Caroline Simmel attended Colbert's rally. The 18-year-old College of Charleston student voting in her first election said the events of the past few days had left her more confused.

"I don't know that I like any of the candidates out there right now," Simmel said. "I think I would rather have Stephen Colbert running the country."

___

Associated Press writers Charles Babington in Lexington, Philip Elliott in Fort Mill, Shannon McCaffrey in Walterboro and Bruce Smith in Charleston contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_el_pr/us_sc_the_voters__take

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Chris Ladd: Evaluating the Merits of Private Equity

Mitt Romney's career as a private equity manager has suddenly become a hot issue in a party that normally avoids any criticism of the business community. We've heard Rick Perry describe private equity as "vulture capital." Newt Gingrich has painted Romney's former firm as a business equivalent of the Grim Reaper while subtly connecting it to the '08 bailouts.

A wild and weird Republican primary season just keeps getting wilder and weirder.

Sean Hazlett who writes at Reflections of a Rational Republican is an investment banker and analyst. He's put together a fantastic explanation of what private equity is and why it's an issue.

Why private equity is seldom an option for middle income investors:

Anyone can gain access to the public equity markets, but only those with a high net worth or annual income can invest in private equity transactions. The American people can thank the United States government for these restrictions, which set criteria for "accredited investors". In other words, the government has erected barriers to entry for people to invest in this asset class based entirely on net worth and/or income. However, that is a topic for another day.

The objectives of private equity firms:

Both venture capital and buyout firms have an exit orientation. In other words, they can only truly make money for their investors by selling the companies they help fund or turnaround. They can either sell these companies to other private equity firms or public companies or to public market investors by floating shares in an IPO. If the company turns out to be a dud, they can liquidate that company's assets, often for pennies on the dollar.

Hazlett goes on to explain how different types of private equity players might approach a particular business and why some may be more resented than others. On the merits of private equity he reaches the conclusion:

In most cases, buyouts still likely save more jobs than they destroy for the simple reason that many mismanaged companies would have gone out of business in the absence of a buyout firm's rescue. Of course, there will always be exceptions, but in the end, the buyout side of private equity can be either a force for good or evil, depending on how one uses its tools.

The GOP candidates who criticize Romney over his involvement with Bain are largely missing the point. The interesting question isn't whether Bain created or destroyed jobs. It did both at different times and under varying circumstances. The greater concern is that we may have built perverse incentives into our business law and the tax code that reward liquidation over business development.

The fact that Republicans are debating (or almost sort-of debating) the merits of certain business practices is a ground-breaking development all by itself. Hopefully it will build into some wider soul searching about economic assumptions that have gone unquestioned for too long.

?

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-ladd/romney-private-equity_b_1211720.html

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Sunday, January 22, 2012

Following 10 News investigation, Citizens Insurance reverses ...

TAMPA BAY, Florida - Following a series of 10 News reports investigating rate increases and coverage decreases at state-run Citizens Insurance, the agency is reversing a controversial policy regarding replacement cost value of homes.

State Sen. Mike Fasano, R-New Port Richey, who had said Citizens was unfairly inflating the replacement cost value of homes, said the change of tune was "great news" for Floridians and thanked 10 News for the help.

Now, instead of having to rely on replacement cost estimates from the insurance agency, Floridians will once again have the option to use their own estimators.? It will provide homeowners more options for insurance at a time many are having trouble paying their ever-growing bill.

In a press release Friday, Citizens' President and CEO Scott Wallace said, "For most Floridians, their home is their most valuable asset. Our policyholders need to make sure that they can repair or replace their homes in the event of a catastrophic loss. It is important to provide our customers with a range of reconstruction cost options when determining insured value."

Previous Reports:

?

You Might Be Interested In

Source: http://www.wtsp.com/rss/article/233469/8/Citizens-Insurance-reverses-controversial-policy

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Friday, January 20, 2012

BP seen agreeing $20-25 billion oil spill deal with DoJ (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? Oil giant BP will likely agree to pay the U.S. Department of Justice $20-$25 billion next month to settle all civil and criminal charges around the Deepwater Horizon rig blast and Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a leading industry analyst predicted on Thursday.

Martijn Rats, head of European oil research at Morgan Stanley said in a research note that he saw a 70-80 percent chance that the two sides would agree a deal sometime between BP's full year results on February 7, and the scheduled start of legal hearings in New Orleans on February 27.

BP sources have told Reuters that talks are ongoing with the Department of Justice about a possible settlement and that the London-based company's board has shifted to weekly meetings to discuss progress.

Chief Executive Bob Dudley has previously said BP would like to settle, although not at any price. When asked about the matter by reporters on Wednesday, he declined to make any comment, saying it was a sensitive time to be discussing it.

When contacted by Reuters, BP had no comment to make over the likelihood or size of a settlement.

BP senses the U.S. administration would like to settle the matter, not least because it is a U.S. presidential election year, the sources said but any outcome is still seen as uncertain.

The estimated level of settlement in the Morgan Stanley note - the most detailed analysis Reuters has seen on the potential cost of the spill - is much higher than other analysts have predicted, and around double the amount BP has taken a provision for.

Senior company sources last year told Reuters that the company was prepared for a massive payout. One source predicted BP would offer "the mother of all settlements."

Another said the settlement would likely be the second-largest in U.S. legal history, putting it between the $206 billion the tobacco industry agreed to pay U.S. states for treating smoking-related illnesses and the $7.2 billion banks agreed to pay to settle litigation related to Enron's collapse.

SHARES LAG

BP has the money to pay a $20-25 billion settlement - it is sitting on cash pile of more than $20 billion and has billions of dollars worth of assets on the block as part of its restructuring.

Nonetheless, Morgan Stanley predicts the larger-than- expected size of the payout will weigh on BP's shares. It rates the shares "underweight" and has a target price of 435 pence, against a Wednesday close of 481 pence.

The shares traded down 0.6 percent at 0905 GMT, against a flat STOXX Europe 600 Oil and Gas index.

BP investors are expecting the company to announce a dividend hike at its full year results, after Dudley said late last year that it had reached a turning point after the oil spill and was now returning to growth mode.

A big settlement would limit BP's ability to lift the shareholder payout.

Morgan Stanley believes the DoJ deal will cover all criminal and civil proceedings being pursued by the government against BP under the Clean Water Act, Alternative Fines Act, other laws and BP's obligation to make good any natural resources damages.

(Reporting by Tom Bergin; Editing by Hans-Juergen Peters and Mike Nesbit)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120119/ts_nm/us_bp

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Saddam musician jailed for Australian burglaries (AP)

MELBOURNE, Australia ? A wedding musician who once served as a music teacher to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been jailed in Australia for burglarizing the homes of two women.

Esam Moshi pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary and recklessly causing injury and was sentenced Friday to five years in jail over the 2010 incidents.

Victorian County Court Judge Michael Bourke said Moshi grew up in Baghdad and taught music to Hussein and Hussein's family. Bourke says Moshi and his family moved to Australia after Hussein's regime fell.

Bourke said Moshi talked his way into the Melbourne homes of both an 87-year-old woman and a 60-year-old woman and shoved both to the floor during the separate burglaries.

He will be eligible for parole in three years.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oceania/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_re_as/as_australia_saddam_musician_jailed

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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Sony schedules PSN maintenance today, wants you to know this time it's on purpose

Sony knows you're likely scarred for life after its many security snafus, so it's doing all it can to keep you in the loop in regards to its PSN. The network will be experiencing a temporary outage today to make room for "routine scheduled maintenance" starting at 11AM ET and ending at approximately midnight. As usual in these scenarios, you won't have access to any PlayStation services on your PS3 or PSP, including PlayStation Home and Sony's Music and Video Unlimited offerings. That said, if you were shootin' and slashin' fools before the downtime, you should have no hassle continuing with your current session -- though access to any of the aforementioned services is still out of the question. Desperate to know exactly when the PSN will be back up and running? Keep it locked on the Playstation Twitter feed to find out.

Sony schedules PSN maintenance today, wants you to know this time it's on purpose originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/sony-schedules-psn-maintenance/

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Hospital to study health benefits of video games

A Rhode Island hospital is investigating whether popular video games that make users jump, dance and exert themselves have any health benefits.

Researchers at Miriam Hospital in Providence say they want to know whether players of so-called "exergames" are more likely to increase their physical activity than those participating in standard aerobic exercises.

Lead investigator Beth Bock says existing research shows exercise video games can lead to the same positive health impact as traditional exercise. But it's unclear whether adults are willing to play such games often enough to see the benefits.

The project is being funded by a $2.6 million grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

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

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46014120/ns/technology_and_science-games/

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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

More Chinese living in cities than countryside

FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2012 file photo, people rush to catch their train at Beijing station in Beijing, China as millions of Chinese are expected to cramp onto China's train network in the coming weeks to return home for the Chinese lunar new year that starts on Jan. 23, 2012. Beijing says more Chinese are living in cities than in the countryside for the first time in the nation's history. The National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday, Jan. 17, that urban dwellers accounted for 51.27 percent of China's 1.34 billion people at the end of last year. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2012 file photo, people rush to catch their train at Beijing station in Beijing, China as millions of Chinese are expected to cramp onto China's train network in the coming weeks to return home for the Chinese lunar new year that starts on Jan. 23, 2012. Beijing says more Chinese are living in cities than in the countryside for the first time in the nation's history. The National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday, Jan. 17, that urban dwellers accounted for 51.27 percent of China's 1.34 billion people at the end of last year. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2012 file photo, people carry luggage to catch their train upon arrival at Beijing station as millions of Chinese are expected to cramp onto China's train network in the coming weeks to return home for the Chinese lunar new year that starts on Jan. 23, 2012. Beijing says more Chinese are living in cities than in the countryside for the first time in the nation's history. The National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday, Jan. 17, that urban dwellers accounted for 51.27 percent of China's 1.34 billion people at the end of last year. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)

(AP) ? Beijing says more Chinese are living in cities than in the countryside for the first time in the nation's history.

The National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday that urban dwellers accounted for 51.27 percent of China's 1.34 billion people at the end of last year. That was an increase of 1.32 percentage points over 2010.

The total figure includes 252.78 million migrant workers, although it wasn't clear how those were classified. China requires all citizens to be registered as either urban or rural, but the distinction has blurred as residency restrictions are loosened to keep up with migration trends.

Some Chinese regions have urged rural Chinese to move to cities in return for giving up their claim on farmland, but the offer has not been widely embraced.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-17-AS-China-Urban-Population/id-5f7b6ca493c344f28febb74bc580e089

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