Giants vs. Patriots II: Does No. 2008 matter? (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS ? That was then. This is now.

That's what players on the Giants and Patriots are saying about their previous Super Bowl meeting, New York's 17-14 stunner over the then-unbeaten Patriots four years ago.

To hear them talk, it has little or no relevance to Sunday's matchup at Lucas Oil Stadium.

` Honestly, for us, that '07 thing was kind of like us coming together as a football team," defensive end Justin Tuck said Monday when the NFC champions arrived in Indy. "We just said we wanted to kill a dynasty, and that's what they were. But now, we've been here before and we felt as though all that is secondary. We just want to come in here and have our mind focused on playing a great football game, and not really getting caught up in all the hoopla around the game."

Or the hoopla still attached the 2007 NFL championship. Replays of David Tyree's incredible ball-against-helmet catch or Plaxico Burress' winning TD reception in the final minute seem to be shown around the clock ? along with the Giants sacking Tom Brady five times.

The Giants (12-7) might need to replicate that performance to stop New England (15-3) from winning its fourth Super Bowl under Bill Belichick and Brady at quarterback.

"We had a lot of hits on him," Tuck said. "Even when we didn't hit him, he didn't have the time to sit back there and allow some of the routes to develop. We know that as a D-line, we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to make sure that we are in his face. He is a hell of a quarterback, and he is going to do a lot of things to throw us off our rhythm.

"You are going to get your shots because they are an explosive offense and they like to take shots downfield, too. We are going to have our chances, and we just are going to have to do a great job of taking advantage of them."

New England didn't take advantage in that Super Bowl, the last time both teams got this far. Dredging up what went wrong not only is painful but, the Patriots say, it's useless.

"Every time you get to this level, it's a special level. You have to enjoy it," defensive tackle Vince Wilfork said. "This is something that is going to stick with you for the rest of your life. 2007 was 2007, now we're in 2012. Both teams are different. I don't think we're looking for revenge."

Belichick is playing down that angle, too ? even if some believe he's constantly reminding his players that the Giants not only beat them in the Super Bowl four years back, but beat them at home in November.

"I've been asked about that game for several days now. All of the games in the past really don't mean that much at this point," said Belichick, 3-1 in NFL championship games. "This game is about this team this year. There aren't really a lot of us coaches and players who were involved in that game, and very few players, in relative terms, between both teams. We are where we are now, and we're different than where we were earlier in the season. The Giants are where they are now, and I think they're different than where they were at different points of the season. To take it back years and years before that, I don't think it has too much bearing on anything."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_super_bowl_here_we_go_again

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Raul Castro defends Cuba's one-party system (AP)

HAVANA ? President Raul Castro delivered a full-throated defense of Cuba's one-party political system on Sunday, and a sharp warning to Communist Party delegates to fight corruption he said was a greater threat to the revolution than anything the United States could dream up.

In a stern closing speech to the party's national conference, Castro reiterated a pledge to institute term-limits for Cuban officials, saying a constitutional amendment would be required but that leaders should begin to adopt the practice even before it is formalized.

Castro has spoken previously about limiting high-ranking officials including himself to two, 5-year terms.

The U.S. threat to Cuba and the limits it placed on reform was a continuing theme of the speech. Cuba's president upbraided those who were hoping to see more fundamental changes come out of the two-day meetings ? or any new faces amid the aged upper ranks of the party and government hierarchy.

"There has been no shortage of criticism and exhortations by those who have confused their intimate desires with reality, deluding themselves that this conference would consecrate the beginning of the dismantling of the political and social system the revolution has fought for for more than half a century," he said.

The Cuban leader said those who want to see Cuba restore a multiparty system are forgetting that it is under siege from a Goliath to the north that would stop at nothing to destroy it.

"To renounce the principle of a one-party system would be the equivalent of legalizing a party, or parties, of imperialism on our soil," he said.

Castro was sharply critical of the United States' democratic system, which he said only concentrated power in the hands of the wealthy. He said that while Cuba had only one party, it sought the participation of all citizens through party and workplace meetings.

"We must promote democracy in our society, starting with the party," he said, urging rank-and-file members to speak up when they disagree with something.

The speech included denunciations of Washington's 50-year trade embargo, its support for dissidents and its imprisonment of Cuban agents who had infiltrated anti-Castro groups in Miami.

Castro also poured water on hopes that a new generation of Cuban politicians were any closer to the brass ring of power, saying the island remained without a backbench of young leaders.

The conference was presided over by the 80-year-old Castro and his 81-year-old chief deputy, Jose Ramon Machado Ventura. The island's third ranking leader, Ramiro Valdes, is 79.

Castro and his brother Fidel, now retired, have ruled Cuba since their 1959 revolution. There was no sign of the elder Castro at the confab, which was closed to foreign journalists.

Raul Castro has pushed a series of dramatic economic reforms since taking power in 2008, legalizing the sale of private homes and used cars, allowing hundreds of thousands to go into business for themselves, turning fallow government land over to small-time farms, and extending bank loans to entrepreneurs and others.

But many social and political reforms have not materialized. After promising in July to study changes to immigration laws that keep most Cubans from ever leaving the country, Castro told the nation in December that the time was not yet right, citing the continued threat from Washington.

At a Communist Party Congress in April, Castro and brother Fidel raised hopes that a new generation of leaders would soon appear on the horizon. Nine months later, there have been few visible changes.

A Cuban official told The Associated Press recently that despite the lack of movement among cabinet ministers and other senior leaders, many midlevel government posts have quietly changed hands, with younger officials moving up. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly, and his assertions could not be independently confirmed.

Castro spent a large part of his 40-minute speech warning delegates about the evils of corruption, saying graft was "the principal enemy of the revolution, much more damaging than the multimillion-dollar subversive and interfering programs of the U.S. government and its allies."

He said the Interior Ministry was in the midst of several high-profile investigations of graft and other violations, which would become known at the appropriate time.

"To win the battle against corruption we must first stop it and then liquidate it," Castro said. "We have warned that within the law, we will be implacable."

___

Follow Paul Haven at http://www.twitter.com/paulhaven/

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_communist_party_conference

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EU leaders to agree on permanent bailout fund (Reuters)

BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? EU leaders will sign off on a permanent rescue fund for the euro zone at a summit on Monday and are expected to agree on a balanced budget rule in national legislation, with unresolved problems in Greece casting a shadow on the discussions.

The summit - the 17th in two years as the EU battles to resolve its sovereign debt problems - is supposed to focus on creating jobs and growth, with leaders looking to shift the narrative away from politically unpopular budget austerity.

The summit is expected to announce that up to 20 billion euros ($26.4 billion) of unused funds from the EU's 2007-2013 budget will be redirected toward job creation, especially among the young, and will commit to freeing up bank lending to small- and medium-sized companies.

But discussions over the permanent rescue fund, a new 'fiscal treaty' and Greece will dominate the talks.

Negotiations between the Greek government and private bondholders over the restructuring of 200 billion euros of Greek debt made progress over the weekend, but are not expected to conclude before the summit begins at 9:00 a.m. EST.

Until there is a deal between Greece and its private bondholders, EU leaders cannot move forward with a second, 130 billion euro rescue program for Athens, which they originally agreed to at a summit last October.

Instead, they will sign a treaty creating the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), a 500-billion-euro permanent bailout fund that is due to become operational in July, a year earlier than first planned. And they are likely to agree the terms of a 'fiscal treaty' tightening budget rules for those that sign up.

PERMANENT RESCUE FUND

The ESM will replace the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), a temporary fund that has been used to bail out Ireland and Portugal and will help in the second Greek package.

Leaders hope the ESM will boost defenses against the debt crisis, but many - including Italian premier Mario Monti, IMF chief Christine Lagarde and U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner - say it will only do so if its resources are combined with what remains in the EFSF, creating a super-fund of 750 billion euros ($1 trillion).

The International Monetary Fund says an agreement to increase the size of the euro zone 'firewall' will convince others to contribute more resources to the IMF, boosting its crisis-fighting abilities and improving market sentiment.

But Germany is opposed to such a step.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she will not discuss the issue of the ESM/EFSF's ceiling until leaders meet for their next summit in March. In the meantime, financial markets will continue to fret that there may not be sufficient rescue funds available to help the likes of Italy and Spain if they run into renewed debt funding problems.

"There are certainly signals that Germany is willing to consider it and it is rather geared toward March from the German side," a senior euro zone official said.

The sticking point is German public opinion which is tired of bailing out the euro zone's financially less prudent. Instead, Merkel wants to see the EU - except Britain, which has rejected any such move - sign up to the fiscal treaty, including a balanced budget rule written into constitutions. Once that is done, the discussion about a bigger rescue fund can take place.

After nearly three years of crisis, some economists believe the combination of tighter budget rules, a bigger bailout fund and a commitment to broader structural reforms to boost EU productivity could help the region weather the storm.

"The fiscal compact and the ESM will shape a better future," said Carsten Brzeski, a euro zone economist at ING.

"Combined with ongoing austerity measures and structural reforms in peripheral countries, and, of course, with a lot of ECB action, the euro zone could master this stage of the crisis."

Economists say the pivotal act in recent months was the European Central Bank's flooding of the banking sector with cheap three-year money, a measure it will repeat next month.

GREEK DEAL?

While EU leaders are managing to put together pieces of legislation and financial barriers that might help them stave off a repeat of the debt crisis, immediate concerns - especially over Greece and potentially Portugal - remain.

By far the most pressing worry is the seven-month-long negotiation over private sector involvement in the second Greek rescue package. A deal in the coming days may help restore investor confidence, although Greece will still struggle to reduce its debts to 120 percent of GDP by 2020 as planned.

"If there is a deal, the heads of state and government can endorse it, welcome it and say that now it is up to Greece to agree to and deliver on reforms to get the second financing package," the euro zone official said.

Negotiators believe they have until mid-February to strike a deal. Failure to do so by then would likely force Greece to miss a 14.5 billion euro repayment on its debt due in mid-March.

Even if Athens can strike a deal with private bondholders to accept a 50 percent writedown on the nominal value of their bonds, it may still not be enough to close Greece's funding gap.

The IMF has suggested it may be necessary for public sector holders of Greek bonds - including the ECB and national central banks in the euro zone - to write off some of their holdings in order to close the gap.

Such a move would not necessarily involve the ECB or national central banks incurring losses, they would just be expected to forego any profit on the bonds they have bought.

But German ECB board member Joerg Asmussen told Reuters there was no possibility of the ECB taking part in the private-sector restructuring of Greece's debt.

(Reporting By Jan Strupczewski, editing by Mike Peacock)

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

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Sarah Palin: Cannibals Are Bad (Little green footballs)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/192675203?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Drug Approved for Advanced Kidney Cancer (HealthDay)

FRIDAY, Jan. 27 (HealthDay News) -- Inlyta (axitinib) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat advanced renal cell carcinoma in people who haven't responded to another drug.

Renal cell carcinoma is a form of kidney cancer that begins in tissue that lines the kidney's small tubes. Inlyta blocks proteins that help fuel tumor growth in this area, the FDA said in a news release.

Six medications had been sanctioned previously for advanced kidney cancer, the agency said.

In a study of 723 people with the advanced form of kidney cancer, the most common side effects of Inlyta included diarrhea, high blood pressure, fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, loss of voice, weight loss, weakness and constipation.

Among some patients, Inlyta also caused significant bleeding, which in some cases proved fatal. The FDA also warned that people with high blood pressure should make sure the problem is well controlled before taking the twice-daily drug.

People with untreated brain tumors or gastrointestinal bleeding should not take Inlyta, the FDA said.

The drug is marketed by Pfizer.

More information

Medline Plus has more about renal cell carcinoma.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120127/hl_hsn/drugapprovedforadvancedkidneycancer

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Celebrity pot busts put tiny Texas county on map (AP)

SIERRA BLANCA, Texas ? Nestled among the few remaining businesses that dot a rundown highway in this dusty West Texas town stands what's become a surprise destination for marijuana-toting celebrities: the Hudspeth County Jail.

Willie Nelson, Snoop Dogg and actor Armie Hammer have been among the thousands of people busted for possession at a Border Patrol checkpoint outside town in recent years, bringing a bit of notoriety to one of Texas' most sparsely populated counties.

"Once I was in Arizona, and when I said where I was from, they said, `That's where Willie Nelson was busted,'" said Louise Barantley, manager at the Coyote Sunset souvenir shop in Sierra Blanca.

Hudspeth County cameos aren't only for outlaws: Action movie star Steven Seagal, who's already deputized in Louisiana and Arizona for his reality show "Steven Seagal Lawman" on A&E, has signed on to become a county officer.

Locals already have found ways to rub shoulders with their celebrity guests.

Deputies posed for pictures with Snoop Dogg after authorities said they found several joints on his bus earlier this month. When Nelson was busted here in 2010, the county's lead prosecutor suggested the singer settle his marijuana charges by performing "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" for the court. Nelson paid a fine instead, but not before county commissioner Wayne West played one of his own songs for the country music legend.

West acknowledged he's a big fan of Nelson and wanted to capitalize on a golden chance to perform for such a noted "captive audience."

"Willie loved the song, he is a real outgoing individual" he added.

The once-thriving town of Sierra Blanca began to shrink to its current 1,000-person population after the construction of nearby Interstate 10 ? a main artery linking cities from California to Florida ? offered an easy way to bypass the community.

Now the highway is sending thousands of drug bust cases Sierra Blanca's way, courtesy of a Border Patrol checkpoint just outside of town where drug-sniffing dogs inspect more than 17,000 trucks, travelers ? and tour buses ? daily for whiffs of contraband that may have made its wait inland from the border.

Hudspeth County Sheriff Arvin West, younger brother of the musically inclined commissioner, said his office handled about 2,000 cases last year, most of them having to do with drugs seized at the checkpoint.

Border Patrol agents say people busted with small amounts of pot often say they have medical marijuana licenses from California, Arizona or New Mexico ? three states along I-10 that, unlike Texas, allow for medicinal pot prescriptions ? and claim to believe the licenses were valid nationwide.

Nelson's publicists declined to comment about the specifics of the singer's case. Representatives for Snoop Dogg, who will pay a fine and court costs after being cited for possession of marijuana paraphernalia, did not return several messages seeking comment.

County authorities have not yet decided whether to prosecute or issue a citation for Hammer, who starred in the 2010 film "The Social Network" and more recently played FBI's number two man in "Edgar J." He was arrested in November after authorities said they found marijuana-laced brownies and cookies on his way to his wife's bakery in San Antonio. His attorney Kent Schaffer has called the case a "total non-issue."

Local officials say they're not on a celebrity witch hunt, but some residents are enjoying the publicity from the high-profile arrests. They say the once forgotten town of Sierra Blanca should take pride in not pandering to famous people caught breaking the law.

"We get attention because something is being done right," resident Adolfo Gonzalez said while shopping at a local convenience store. "It'd be worse if we'd let them go because they are celebrities."

That's not expected to change when Segal comes to town. Sheriff West insists the "Under Siege" star hasn't indicated any plans to film his show here ? but the sheriff isn't ruling it out.

"If he wants to, we can do it but that's not what he said this was about," West said.

West's spokesman, Rusty Flemming, said Seagal will patrol the area and train colleagues in martial arts and weapons techniques. The actor is expected to arrive in Hudspeth County within months, once he's done filming a new movie in Canada.

Segal's management agency did not return calls and emails seeking comment about his plans in Texas.

Commissioner West, meanwhile, is keeping his musical skills sharp ? just in case another performer pays a surprise visit to the county jail. The lead guitarist and vocalist of a local band, West said he regrets not having a chance to sing for Snoop Dogg, but wasn't sure if the rapper would have enjoyed the performance anyway.

"Our stuff is laid back," he said. "Mas o menos (more or less) country."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_en_ot/us_celebrity_checkpoint

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Holocaust remembered across the world

ITN's Sue Saville reports.

The world marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day on Friday. In Great Britain there was a promise never to forget the genocide at?Auschwitz during World War II.

Friday was the 67th anniversary of the Nazi camp's liberation by Soviet troops. Jan. 27 was designated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day by the United Nations in 2005, and marked with ceremonies across Europe.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/27/10252029-holocaust-remembered-across-the-world

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Android tablets closing in on iPad: researcher (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Tablet computers using Google's Android software narrowed the lead of Apple's iPad on the global market in the fourth quarter, research firm Strategy Analytics said on Thursday.

Global tablet shipments reached an all-time high of 26.8 million units in the fourth quarter, growing 2-1/2 fold from 10.7 million a year earlier, the research firm said.

"Dozens of Android models distributed across multiple countries by numerous brands such as Amazon, Samsung, Asus and others have been driving volumes," analyst Neil Mawston said in a statement.

Android's market share rose to 39 percent from 29 percent a year earlier, while Apple's share slipped to 58 percent from 68 percent a year before.

The tablet computer market grew 260 percent last year to 66.9 million units as consumers are increasingly buying tablets in preference to netbooks and even entry-level notebooks or desktops.

Strategy Analytics said Microsoft had a 1 percent share of the global tablet market last quarter.

(Reporting By Tarmo Virki; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/software/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/wr_nm/us_tablets_research

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Israel says Iran 'drifting' toward nuke goal line (AP)

DAVOS, Switzerland ? Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Friday the world must quickly stop Iran from reaching the point where even a "surgical" military strike could not block it from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Amid fears that Israel is nearing a decision to attack Iran's nuclear program, Barak said tougher international sanctions are needed against Tehran's oil and banks so that "we all will know early enough whether the Iranians are ready to give up their nuclear weapons program."

Iran insists its atomic program is only aimed at producing energy and research, but has repeatedly refused to consider giving up its ability to enrich uranium.

"We are determined to prevent Iran from turning nuclear. And even the American president and opinion leaders have said that no option should be removed from the table and Iran should be blocked from turning nuclear," Barak told reporters during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum.

"It seems to us to be urgent, because the Iranians are deliberately drifting into what we call an immunity zone where practically no surgical operation could block them," he said.

Barak called it "a challenge for the whole world" to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran but stopped short of confirming any action that could further stoke Washington's concern about a possible Israeli military strike.

Separately, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged a resumption of dialogue between Western powers and Iran on their nuclear dispute.

He said Friday that Tehran must comply with Security Council resolutions and prove conclusively that its nuclear development program is not directed to making arms.

"The onus is on Iran," said Ban, speaking at a press conference. "They have to prove themselves that their nuclear development program is genuinely for peaceful purposes, which they have not done yet."

Ban expressed concern at the most recent report of the International Atomic Energy Agency that strongly suggested that Iran's nuclear program, which it long has claimed is for development of power generation, has a military intent.

IAEA chief Yukiya Amano said at a Davos session that "we do not have that much confidence if Iran has declared everything" and its best information "indicates that Iran has engaged in activities relevant to nuclear explosive devices."

"For now they do not have the capacity to manufacture the fuel," he said. "But in the future, we don't know."

In spite of his tough words to Iran, Ban said that dialogue among the "three-plus-three" ? Germany, France and Britain plus Russia, China and the United States ? is the path forward.

"There is no other alternative for addressing this crisis than peaceful ... resolution through dialogue," said Ban.

Ban noted that there have been a total of five Security Council resolutions so far on the Iranian nuclear program, four calling for sanctions.

As tensions have been on the rise recently, some political leaders in Israel and the United States have been speaking increasingly of the possibility of a military strike to eliminate, or at least slow down, what they allege is a determined effort by Iran to obtain nuclear weapons.

___

John Daniszewski contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_eu/eu_davos_forum_iran

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Quantum dots: A big boost to solar tech?

Susan Montoya Bryan / AP file

Solar panels at a 2-megawatt photovoltaic array in Albuquerque, N.M. are shown. Charged quantum dots could increase the efficiency of solar cells by 45 percent, according to researchers.

By John Roach

Itsy bitsy particles with a built-in charge could provide a big boost to the efficiency of solar cells, according to researchers aiming to take their innovation to market.

The particles, called charged quantum dots, are embedded into conventional solar cells, and increase their efficiency by up to 45 percent, the team from the University at Buffalo reports.

The boost comes because the dots permit harvesting of infrared light, which is otherwise lost, and the charge on the dots prevent them from absorbing free-flowing electrons in the cell.

"These two special effects we can use to increase solar cell efficiency," Andrei Sergeev, an electrical engineer at the university, told me Monday.?

He and colleagues published their findings in May 2011 in Nano Letters and recently created a company, OPtoElctronic Nanodevices, to commercialize the technology.

The company aims to develop solar cells with the tiny particles and then license them to manufacturers.

"These cells will be at least 50 percent and up to 100 percent more efficient than current solar cells," according to a presentation given at an energy conference in October.

Such improved cells could be a boost to the U.S. military, which is on the lookout for light and powerful energy technologies for use on the battlefield.?

In fact, researchers with the U.S. Air Force and Army collaborated on the project.

Key to the team's success is doping their quantum dot, which is made of semiconductor materials, so that it has a charge.?

"This built-in charge is beneficial because it repels electrons, forcing them to travel around the quantum dots," the University of Buffalo explains in a news release.

"Otherwise, the quantum dots create a channel of recombination for electrons, in essence 'capturing' moving electrons and preventing them from contributing to electric current."

The team calls their quantum dot with a built-in charge Q-BICs.?

Working in the lab, the team has demonstrated a "substantial increase in photovoltaic efficiency," Sergeev said. They now hope to scale it up and make it a viable technology.?

"This is only the beginning," he added.

In other words, whether this solar breakthrough will be the one that succeeds in the marketplace remains unknown. To check out more ideas in the solar technology landscape, see the stories below.

More on solar technology:

?

---

John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

?

?

Next-gen nuclear plants could provide carbon-free energy, but the painfully slow process of approving better, safer reactors ? not to mention real anxiety over meltdowns and waste ? threaten to derail projects before they can be built.

Source: http://futureoftech.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/23/10218592-quantum-dots-a-big-boost-to-solar-tech

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Obama re-election ad targets Koch brothers, touts ???green tech??? jobs (Daily Caller)

There are 10 months to go before election day, and the Obama re-election campaign has already begun running a self-congratulatory TV ad.

The 30-second ad, titled ?Unprecedented,? frames President Barack Obama as a leader who kept his 2008 campaign promises to subsidize the green-tech energy industry.

?President Obama has taken steps to make us energy independent and create an economy that?s built to last,? the Obama campaign said on the Web page where the ad is hosted. It is already running in several swing-states, including Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The campaign website began promoting the new ad on the same day Obama announced he would continue to freeze plans to build the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada to the United States.

GOP leaders slammed Obama for that decision, saying he wiped out 20,000 construction jobs.

Watch the new Obama re-election ad:

Researchers at the Republican National Committee quickly countered Obama?s new ad, declaring in an email blast that ?Obama?s first campaign ad [is] a lot like his term so far ? a whole lot of talk to thwart attention from Obama?s failed record.?

The first Obama re-election ad came out in late November, and simply showed the president appealing for more campaign volunteers.

The new ad is partly intended to shield Obama from criticism about his energy policies, which have curbed opportunities for oil companies, nudged up gas prices and heavily subsidized risky green-tech companies, including the failed Solyndra solar-tech company.

That purpose is highlighted in the ad?s first few words, which claims ?secretive oil billionaires are attacking President Obama with ads fact-checkers say are not tethered to the facts.?

Those ?secretive oil billionaires,? according to the campaign?s website, are David and Charles Koch ? a pair of libertarian?brothers who run an huge oil-services company and openly declare their opposition to Obama?s energy policies.

On Jan. 18, as Obama?s ad was released, the brothers? main political arm, Americans For Prosperity, rolled out its own seven-day campaign.

The campaign is intended to highlight Obama?s ?worst offenses to the principles of limited government and free market enterprise? during the week prior to Obama?s 2012 State of the Union speech, according to a statement from the group.

?President Obama seems to have ?conveniently forgotten? that he has been president for the past three years, and refuses to take responsibility for the economic woes, regulatory burdens, and skyrocketing national debt we face as a nation,? said Americans For Prosperity president Tom Phillips.

Obama?s new TV ad suggests the president should get credit for 2.7 million ?green tech jobs? that the center-left Brookings Institute has?claimed exist in the United States.

Most of these jobs, however, existed prior to 2008, and many are only tangentially linked to low-pollution technology. Using the same study cited by Obama?s TV new ad, the Republicans??response showed that the total number of all green-tech jobs only grew 3.4 percent between 2007 and 2010.

The Obama ad also touts a reduction in the nation?s energy imports. ?For the first time in thirteen years,? it claims, ?our dependence on foreign oil is below fifty percent.?

But that decline was a natural outgrowth of the nation?s economic recession, which has curbed energy consumption.

The increased production was spurred by President George W. Bush, and by the private sector ? where natural gas companies have delivered increased volumes of gas from U.S. gas fields ? rather than by Obama?s policies, according to the GOP response.

Obama re-election ad targets Koch brothers, touts 'green tech' jobs

TheDC top ten: Juicy bits in the Romney opposition-research file

Likely Giffords challenger: 'We need someone up there to fight for us'

Tea party activists coalescing behind Newt in South Carolina

SC treasurer on Romney endorsement: 'There were some problems'

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/dailycaller/20120118/pl_dailycaller/obamareelectionadtargetskochbrotherstoutsgreentechjobs

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NATO urges Iran to ensure security of oil supply (Reuters)

BRUSSELS (Reuters) ? NATO urged Iran on Wednesday to ensure the security of energy supplies through the Strait of Hormuz but said the Western military alliance had no plans to intervene in the area.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Brussels it was of "utmost importance to make sure energy supplies continue to grow through the vital waterway."

"I would like to stress that the Iranian authorities have a duty to act as responsible international actors," he told a news conference after meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. "NATO has no plans of intervention."

(Reporting by Justyna Pawlak; editing by John O'Donnell)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120118/wl_nm/us_iran_nato

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'Glee'-Cap: Will Pops The Question

And he isn't the only one — check out our musical recap of the latest episode!
By Jim Cantiello

The cast of "Glee" on Tuesday's episode
Photo: FOX

Tuesday night's "Glee" was all about Will Schuester's proposal to longtime germaphobe girlfriend Emma, and since he apparently lacks any adult friends, he enlisted his glee-club "family" to help out. They pitched potential songs, ranging from a kick-ass "Moves Like Jagger/ Jumping Jack Flash" mash-up to a sensitive Rachel Berry cover of David Guetta and Usher's "Without You." But it was the girls' "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" that awakened Mercedes' old feelings for Trouty Mouth.

Meanwhile, Becky went after the man she loves — fellow handi-capable student Artie — and viewers sat and watched their brief relationship sour. Bummer. Bigger bummer? Finn's mom revealed the real way his soldier dad died. Biggest bummer? No Klaine.

It was an intense episode filled with belly laughs, several Kleenex-grabs, synchronized swimming, random guest stars and a shocking Finn/Rachel proposal cliffhanger. And it inspired this piano ballad musical "Glee"-cap. Hit play on the embedded video below to check it out, and sing along with the lyrics.

I think I hit my head while watching "Glee" this week
'Cause things got cray
A "Grease" homage, but Sam is way more buff than Travolta
And not as gay (happy)

Enter Coach NeNe Leakes
She's funnier and draggier than anything Eddie Murphy's done in years
Then Helen Mirren speaks as Becky's brain
I guess Ryan Murphy's "no guest stars" rule disappeared

Will asks the kids to pick a song for his proposal
'Cause he has no real friends and it's starting to freak me out
And in the last half-hour of the show, things got extra dark
And they tried really hard to bum me out

Surprise! Your dad died!
He OD'd thanks to PTSD from the Army
Not cool
Artie leads Becky on
She gets confused 'cause she has Downs
Then Artie almost drowns in a pool

I'm getting whiplash from the tone
LMAO-ing then, hell no, now I'm crying!
And then Finn proposed
NOOOOOOOOOOO!
If there's a double wedding, to the door I am heading

I think I hit my head while watching "Glee" this week
'Cause things got cray
It broke my mind so now I'll just be here
And dancing like Lana Del Rey

[Jim slowly turns in a circle, occasionally touching his hair, looking like a cat paralyzed in fear.]

What did you think of this week's "Glee"? Leave your thoughts in the comments!

Related Videos

• Musical 'Glee'-Caps Of Season 3

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677478/glee-recap.jhtml

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Facebook Study Reveals Facebook Is Not An Echo Chamber (For Some Values Of ?Echo Chamber?)

Some of Facebook's scholars-in-residence have published an analysis of approximately 283 million Facebook users' sharing habits. The study, which has to do with the paths by which information is caught up and shared — which types of friends share the most, where you post the most content from, and so on. The study itself was, no doubt, spurred by honest intellectual curiosity, but the summary on Facebook a slightly editorializing bent that suggests things were more purposeful.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/M0DVVKVu3Jk/

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CES 2012: interview roundup (video)

The Engadget stage was home to many an interview at this year's CES. Many, many interviews. Given the deluge of guests we hosted in Las Vegas this year, you could be forgiven for not keeping up -- for throwing up your hands in exasperation and making a sandwich to heal the hurt. You could, but you won't. That's because this year, we thought it'd be a good idea to corral all of our CES 2012 interviews into one big metallic box, and hand-pick only the plumpest, juiciest and most eyebrow-arching ones for your enjoyment. We then took those select few and put them in a smaller, spotlit box, which was affixed atop the aforementioned metallic box with a butterfly shaped bow and maybe some duck fat. Add some mood lighting, a splash of bourbon, and voilà. It's the CES 2012 interview roundup, and it's after the break.

Continue reading CES 2012: interview roundup (video)

CES 2012: interview roundup (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/URzH1G7DXcs/

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Project to pour water into volcano to make power (AP)

Geothermal energy developers plan to pump 24 million gallons of water into the side of a dormant volcano in Central Oregon this summer to demonstrate new technology they hope will give a boost to a green energy sector that has yet to live up to its promise.

They hope the water comes back to the surface fast enough and hot enough to create cheap, clean electricity that isn't dependent on sunny skies or stiff breezes ? without shaking the earth and rattling the nerves of nearby residents.

Renewable energy has been held back by cheap natural gas, weak demand for power and waning political concern over global warming. Efforts to use the earth's heat to generate power, known as geothermal energy, have been further hampered by technical problems and worries that tapping it can cause earthquakes.

Even so, the federal government, Google and other investors are interested enough to bet $43 million on the Oregon project. They are helping AltaRock Energy, Inc. of Seattle and Davenport Newberry Holdings LLC of Stamford, Conn., demonstrate whether the next level in geothermal power development can work on the flanks of Newberrry Volcano, located about 20 miles south of Bend, Ore.

"We know the heat is there," said Susan Petty, president of AltaRock. "The big issue is can we circulate enough water through the system to make it economic."

The heat in the earth's crust has been used to generate power for more than a century. Engineers gather hot water or steam that bubbles near the surface and use it to spin a turbine that creates electricity. Most of those areas have been exploited. The new frontier is places with hot rocks, but no cracks in the rocks or water to deliver the steam.

To tap that heat ? and grow geothermal energy from a tiny niche into an important source of green energy ? engineers are working on a new technology called Enhanced Geothermal Systems.

"To build geothermal in a big way beyond where it is now requires new technology, and that is where EGS comes in," said Steve Hickman, a research geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif.

Wells are drilled deep into the rock and water is pumped in, creating tiny fractures in the rock, a process known as hydroshearing.

Cold water is pumped down production wells into the reservoir, and the steam is drawn out.

Hydroshearing is similar to the process known as hydraulic fracturing, used to free natural gas from shale formations. But fracking uses chemical-laden fluids, and creates huge fractures. Pumping fracking wastewater deep underground for disposal likely led to recent earthquakes in Arkansas and Ohio.

Fears persist that cracking rock deep underground through hydroshearing can also lead to damaging quakes. EGS has other problems. It is hard to create a reservoir big enough to run a commercial power plant.

Progress has been slow. Two small plants are online in France and Germany. A third in downtown Basel, Switzerland, was shut down over earthquake complaints. A project in Australia has had drilling problems.

A new international protocol is coming out at the end of this month that urges EGS developers to keep projects out of urban areas, the so-called "sanity test," said Ernie Majer, a seismologist with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. It also urges developers to be upfront with local residents so they know exactly what is going on.

AltaRock hopes to demonstrate a new technology for creating bigger reservoirs that is based on the plastic polymers used to make biodegradable cups.

It worked in existing geothermal fields. Newberry will show if it works in a brand new EGS field, and in a different kind of geology, volcanic rock, said Colin Williams, a USGS geophysicist also in Menlo Park.

The U.S. Department of Energy has given the project $21.5 million in stimulus funds. That has been matched by private investors, among them Google with $6.3 million.

Majer said the danger of a major quake at Newbery is very low. The area is a kind of seismic dead zone, with no significant faults. It is far enough from population centers to make property damage unlikely. And the layers of volcanic ash built up over millennia dampen any shaking.

But the Department of Energy will be keeping a close eye on the project, and any significant quakes would shut it down at least temporarily, he said. The agency is also monitoring EGS projects at existing geothermal fields in California, Nevada and Idaho.

"That's the $64,000 question," Majer said. "What's the biggest earthquake we can have from induced seismicity that the public can worry about."

Geologists believe Newberry Volcano was once one of the tallest peaks in the Cascades, reaching an elevation of 10,000 feet and a diameter of 20 miles. It blew its top before the last Ice Age, leaving a caldera studded with towering lava flows, two lakes, and 400 cinder cones, some 400 feet tall.

Although the volcano has not erupted in 1,300 years, hot rocks close to the surface drew exploratory wells in the 1980s.

Over 21 days, AltaRock will pour 800 gallons of water per minute into the 10,600-foot test well, already drilled, for a total of 24 million gallons. According to plan, the cold water cracks the rock. The tiny plastic particles pumped down the well seal off the cracks. Then more cold water goes in, bypassing the first tier, and cracking the rock deeper in the well. That tier is sealed off, and cold water cracks a third section. Later, the plastic melts away.

Seismic sensors produce detailed maps of the fracturing, expected to produce a reservoir of cracks starting about 6,000 feet below the surface, and extending to 11,000 feet. It would be about 3,300 feet in diameter.

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management released an environmental assessment of the Newberry project last month that does not foresee any problems that would stop it. The agency is taking public comments before making a final decision in coming months.

No power plant is proposed, but one could be operating in about 10 years, said Doug Perry, president and CEO of Davenport Newberry.

EGS is attractive because it vastly expands the potential for geothermal power, which, unlike wind and solar, produces power around the clock in any weather.

Natural geothermal resources account for about 0.3 percent of U.S. electricity production, but a 2007 Massachusetts Institute of Technology report projected EGS could bump that to 10 percent within 50 years, at prices competitive with fossil-fuels.

Few people expect that kind of timetable now. Electricity prices have fallen sharply because of low natural gas prices and weak demand brought about by the Great Recession and state efficiency programs.

But the resource is vast. A 2008 USGS assessment found EGS throughout the West, where hot rocks are closer to the surface than in the East, has the potential to produce half the country's electricity.

"The important question we need to answer now," said Williams, the USGS geophysicist who compiled the assessment, "is how geothermal fits into the renewable energy picture, and how EGS fits. How much it is going to cost, and how much is available."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120115/ap_on_re_us/us_geothermal_volcano

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Russian space probe descending to Earth

MOSCOW?? A failed Russian probe designed to travel to a moon of Mars but stuck in Earth orbit is due to come crashing down within the hour, creating a shower of fragments that could survive the fiery re-entry.

The unmanned Phobos-Grunt probe is one of the heaviest and most toxic space derelicts ever to crash to Earth, but space officials and experts say the risks are minimal, as its orbit is mostly over water and most of the probe's structure will burn up in the atmosphere anyway.

Russia's space agency, Roscosmos, said that Phobos-Grunt ("Phobos-Soil") will crash between 12:50 and 1:34 p.m. ET. Other sources suggested re-entry might come even earlier than that window. The probe could come down anywhere along an orbit that would place it over the Pacific Ocean, South America, the Pacific and southern Europe. The rest of the world, including the U.S. and Canada, is outside the risk zone.

"The resulting risk isn't significant," said Heiner Klinkrad, head of the European Space Agency's Space Debris Office that is monitoring the probe's descent.

He couldn't say where exactly the probe may enter the atmosphere, but said that "most of Europe is excluded from an impact risk."

Roscosmos predicts that only between 20 and 30 fragments of the Phobos probe with a total weight of up to 440 pounds (200 kilograms) will survive the re-entry and plummet to Earth.

Klinkrad agreed with that assessment, adding that about 100 metric tons of space junk fall on Earth every year. "This is 200 kilograms out of these 100 tons," he said.

Thousands of pieces of derelict space vehicles orbit Earth, occasionally posing danger to astronauts and satellites in orbit, but as far as is known, no one has ever been hurt by falling space debris.

Phobos-Grunt weighs 13.5 metric tons (14.9 English tons), and that includes a load of 11 metric tons (12 tons) of highly toxic rocket fuel intended for the long journey to the Martian moon of Phobos. It has been left unused as the probe got stuck in orbit around Earth shortly after its Nov. 9 launch.

Roscosmos says all of the fuel will burn up on re-entry, a forecast Klinkrad said was supported by calculations done by NASA and ESA. He said the craft's tanks are made of aluminum alloy that has a very low melting temperature, and they will burst at an altitude of more than 60 miles (100 kilometers).

"These tanks are expected to release the fuel above 100 kilometers, and then the fuel is going to burn in the atmosphere and later the tanks are going to burn up themselves as well," Klinkrad told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his office in Berlin.

1. More space news from msnbc.com

   1. Will pop icons make music video in space?

      Science editor Alan Boyle's blog: Pop music's reigning power couple, Jay-Z and Beyonce, are welcome to make a video in space, Virgin Galactic says. They can even bring their daughter along.

   2. Get involved in a global night-sky checkup
   3. Space junk problem brought into public view
   4. Why you can't see sci-fi movie filmed in space

The space era has seen far larger spacecraft to crash. NASA's Skylab space station that went down in 1979 weighed 85 tons (77 metric tons), and Russia's Mir space station that deorbited in 2001 weighed about 143 tons (130 metric tons). Their descent fueled fears around the world, but the wreckage of both fell far away from populated areas.

The $170 million Phobos-Ground was Russia's most expensive and the most ambitious space mission since Soviet times. The spacecraft was intended to land on the crater-dented, potato-shaped Martian moon, collect soil samples and fly them back to Earth, giving scientists precious materials that could shed more light on the genesis of the solar system.

Russia's space chief has acknowledged the Phobos-Ground mission was ill-prepared, but said that Roscosmos had to give it the go-ahead so as not to miss the limited Earth-to-Mars launch window.

Its predecessor, Mars-96, which was built by the same Moscow-based NPO Lavochkin company, also suffered an engine failure and crashed shortly after its launch in 1996. Its crash drew strong international fears because there were 7 ounces (200 grams) of plutonium onboard. The craft eventually showered its fragments over the Chile-Bolivia border in the Andes Mountains, and the pieces were never recovered.

The worst ever radiation spill from a derelict space vehicle came in January 1978 when the nuclear-powered Cosmos 954 satellite crashed over northwestern Canada. The Soviets claimed that the craft completely burned up on re-entry, but a massive recovery effort by Canadian authorities recovered a dozen fragments, most of which were radioactive.

Phobos-Grunt also contains a tiny quantity of radioactive cobalt-57 in one of its instruments, but Roscosmos said it poses no threat of radioactive contamination.

The spacecraft also carries a small cylinder with a collection of microbes as part of an experiment by the California-based Planetary Society that designed to explore whether they can survive interplanetary travel. The cylinder is attached to a capsule that was supposed to deliver Phobos ground samples back to Earth.

It's not clear whether or not that capsule would be destroyed during re-entry, but the chances that it will ever be found are extremely low.

This report includes information from The Associated Press and msnbc.com.

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/46005190/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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Big prizes, barriers in Brazil's luxury market

A model wears a creation of the Filhas de Gaia fall-winter fashion collection during the Fashion Rio 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

A model wears a creation of the Filhas de Gaia fall-winter fashion collection during the Fashion Rio 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

A model wears a creation of the Filhas de Gaia fall-winter fashion collection during the Fashion Rio 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

A model wears a creation of the Filhas de Gaia fall-winter fashion collection during the Fashion Rio 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

A model wears a creation of the Agatha fall-winter fashion collection during the Fashion Rio 2012 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Friday, Jan. 13, 2012. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) ? Brazil has been long dismissed as the land of skimpy bikinis and rubber flip flops. But with its galloping economy and hordes of newly minted millionaires, the South American giant is the fashion and luxury industry's newest darling.

Fashion insiders from Brazil and beyond descended on Rio de Janeiro for the city's five-day-long winter 2012 displays, which were wrapping up on Saturday.

Prada and Bottega Veneta opened boutiques here over the past months, and a host of other top-tier labels are expected to open shop throughout the year. Consumption of luxury goods by Brazil's booming middle and wealthier classes is growing, despite an economic crisis that weighs on demand in Europe and the United States.

But for luxury labels scrambling to get a foothold here, there are major hurdles hiding behind the dollar signs.

"People think 'Brazil: football, the beach, caipirinhas, that it's all super relaxed here,'" said Abraao Ferreira, a Brazilian-born fashion industry consultant. "Next thing you know, their product is stuck in customs for three months. Then they start to realize that not everything in Brazil is as laid back as it might appear."

Brazil's red tape is legendary, as other industries find when they try to move into Brazil. In the latest "ease of doing business" ranking by the World Bank, Brazil came in at No. 126, despite being forecast to overtake Britain as the globe's sixth largest economy.

Just getting goods through customs in Brazil is a Herculean feat, and situations like the one Ferreira described happen with sobering frequency.

"When you want to import things into Brazil, you have to do everything absolutely by the book," said Bruno Astuto, a fashion editor for Brazilian newsweekly Epoca and columnist with Vogue. "The problem is that the book keeps changing and they keep adding pages or chapters, so a lot of times merchandise doesn't get to the shops until months later, if at all."

And that's just the beginning.

Brazil's stiff tariffs on all imports push the already-steep prices of luxury goods into the stratosphere.

"It's a really difficult market," said Astuto. "Because of the duties on imported goods, luxury products here can end up costing from two to four times the price outside Brazil."

At multi-brand stores, price inflation can reach epic proportions, Astuto added. Once you factor in the sales taxes and the retailer's margin on top of the import duties, ticket prices can reach up to 18 times the product's wholesale price, he said.

At a mall in Rio's exclusive Leblon neighborhood, a pair of women's flats by Salvatore Ferragamo ? sold at the Italian shoemaker's own store ? cost 1500 reais, or $842 at the current exchange rate. Online in the United States, they retail for $395. At the Burberry store in Sao Paulo, a trench coat that retails on for $915 on its U.K. website was selling for 3695 reais, or $2075.

Another challenge for international brands arriving here is the strength of the country's domestic clothing industry.

Brazil is the world's fifth-largest textile producer, according to industry statistics, and Vogue Brazil and other fashion magazines here don't just feature top-tier international labels like Chanel, Dior and Lanvin. They're also chock-a-block with domestic brands that have virtually no name recognition outside the country.

Ever hear of Osklen? Maria Bonita? Alexandre Herchcovitch? In Brazil, these homegrown labels are household names with a devoted fan base among the wealthy elite as well as the country's growing middle class.

At the country's two fashion weeks, one in the economic hub of Sao Paulo and the other in Rio, these and dozens of other local brands field their Southern Hemisphere season-appropriate wares. That there are no real seasons in this tropical country, where it's perpetually spring-summer, also makes things more complicated for international labels.

And though Brazilian brands are rarely available outside the country, here they provide real competition for foreign luxury labels.

"Brazilian brands know how to treat their customers," said Jorge Grimberg, a marketing director with trend forecaster Stylesight. "You have to pamper them, make them feel special, treat them like friends."

The kinds of sales tactics that work in other developing countries don't work in Brazil, where sales staff knit tight friendships with their customers. This is true across industries, whether it's cars, kitchen supplies or banking services.

"Brazilian consumers are extremely loyal if you know how to treat them right," said consultant Ferreira. "This can eventually work in foreign labels' favor, once they crack the code and figure out how to spoil customers here."

The rewards can be huge for labels that get it right.

Brazil has always had a superrich elite with extravagant tastes. But booming commodity prices fueled by Chinese demand, along with some of the world's biggest offshore oil discoveries, have created an expanding, new class of wealthy Brazilians.

The number of millionaire households in South America's biggest nation is forecast to more than triple by 2020, and economic reforms have lifted millions out of poverty and into the burgeoning middle class over the past decade, creating a deep new well of potential consumers.

Luxury goods sales in Brazil in 2010 hit $8.9 billion, an increase of 28 percent over 2009, according to a study by GfK Custom Research Brasil and the luxury goods consulting firm MCF Consultoria. Figures for 2011 are not yet available.

The ranks of the new rich, and luxury goods sales, are also growing in other developing countries as well, especially the so-called BRIC group of Brazil, Russia, India and China.

The number of millionaire households in Brazil, a nation of 190 million, will have increased 230 percent to more than 1 million by 2020, according to a May report by the U.S.-based consulting firm Deloitte. China's figure will rise to 2.5 million, Russia's to 1.2 million, and India's to 694,600.

But fashion industry insiders here contend that despite Brazil's daunting barriers for foreign businesses, the country has a distinct edge over its BRIC counterparts.

"The advantage we have is that Brazil is not a dictatorship like China and it doesn't have the kind of grinding poverty you find in India," said Epoca's Astuto. "Brazil is the best developing country: It's peaceful, it's fun and it's true that we do have really good beaches."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-14-LT-Brazil-Luxury-Market/id-8cfe823a227b407795c5a9ee872e66f8

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Santorum mixes academia into campaign trail pitch (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/187082445?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Remembering the 'Miracle on Hudson'

Steven Day / AP file

In this Jan. 15, 2009, file photo, airline passengers wait to be rescued on the wings of a US Airways Airbus 320 jetliner that safely ditched in the frigid waters of the Hudson River in New York after a flock of birds knocked out both its engines.

By Harriet Baskas, msnbc.com contributor

This Sunday marks the third anniversary of the emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River near Manhattan. Several survivors will visit the airplane now housed at an aviation museum in Charlotte, N.C.,?some for the first time since the crash landing, and share memories of their experience.

On Jan.15, 2009, the Airbus A320 was beginning a trip from New York?s LaGuardia Airport to Charlotte/Douglas International Airport when it was disabled after striking a flock of Canada geese. Unable to return safely to an airfield, the crew ditched the airplane in the river and the incident became known as the ?Miracle on the Hudson? after the safe evacuation of all 155 occupants from the still intact, but sinking, airplane.?

Courtesy Beth McHugh

Beth McHugh, pictured with Capt. Chesley B. 'Sully' Sullenberger, right, and co-pilot Jeff Skiles.

?I was one of those people who really thought we were going to die,? Beth McHugh, one of the passengers aboard Flight 1549, told msnbc.com from her home in Lake Wylie, N.C. ?I was in the back of the plane where the water was coming in quickly and didn?t realize that the front of the plane wasn?t underwater yet. When I got to the front of the plane, I thought I wouldn?t drown but maybe die of hypothermia instead.?

All aboard the flight survived, and the pilot, Capt. Chesley B. ?Sully? Sullenberger was hailed as a hero.

The plane was recovered from the river, and since last June, the fuselage has been on display in a hangar at the Carolinas Aviation Museum, which is adjacent to the Charlotte/Douglas International Airport. Attendance at the museum has tripled, to about 3,800 visitors a month.

The airplane?s wings, where many passengers waited to be rescued, are now also at the museum.?Executive director Wally Coppinger said the museum is ?displaying and preserving the airplane, not trying to re-build it? so, for now, has placed the left wing on the hangar floor next to the plane. ?The wing will be connected to the fuselage later.? The right wing, currently on a ramp outside the hangar doors in an area with limited viewing, will also be put in place next to the fuselage, Coppinger said, but not in time for this weekend?s anniversary.

On Saturday, McHugh will join a panel of passengers from US Airways Flight 1549 at the museum between 1 and 4 p.m. to share their memories of the experience and to answer questions from museum visitors. ?People don?t always get to talk to survivors of a plane crash,? said McHugh. ?They have a need to ask questions. They wonder how they?d behave in a similar situation.?

Courtesy Carolinas Aviation Museum

The partially reassembled Miracle on the Hudson plane is on display at the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, N.C.

The museum is expecting a large crowd, Coppinger said: ?There were 155 people on that flight, and there are 155 different stories.?

On Sunday, the museum will be closed for a private event as part of a reunion for passengers. ?It will be the first time a lot of them will be seeing the aircraft,? Coppinger said. ?We?re going to allow them to go into the plane and sit in ?their? seats if they want to.?

More on Itineraries

?

Source: http://itineraries.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/11/10120131-remembering-the-miracle-on-hudson

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France to pursue reforms after downgrade (AP)

PARIS ? France's prime minister said Saturday his country will push ahead with cost-cutting measures after its top-tier debt rating was downgraded, a blow with repercussions across financially beleaguered Europe.

Other European countries from Austria to Cyprus assailed ratings agency Standard & Poor's after a raft of downgrades Friday night that renewed questions about the power such agencies wield. The move may make it more expensive for struggling countries to borrow money, reduce debts and avoid a new recession.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said downgrades of nine eurozone countries underline the fact that Europe has a "long road" ahead to win back investors' confidence. Her own country, the engine of Europe's economy, was not downgraded.

Merkel and French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said the downgrades should push European countries to quickly implement a planned pact to strengthen budget discipline. Germany and France have piloted rescue efforts for other eurozone countries as the continent has been swept up in crisis after crisis over the past two years.

Fillon struck a somber, measured tone when responding Saturday to the downgrade, which was particularly wounding to France's self-image and could hurt bailout efforts. France is central to those efforts, and the downgrade, by pushing up its own borrowing costs, could make it harder for France to help others.

Fillon said the downgrade confirmed his conservative government's plans for more reforms to bring down debts, despite worries that more austerity measures could suffocate growth.

He said the government wouldn't adjust the budget yet, saying it had been devised with an assumption of higher borrowing costs. S&P had warned 15 European nations in December that they were at risk for a downgrade.

The downgrade, three months before France holds presidential elections, was "an alert that should not be dramatized any more than it should be underestimated," he said.

Standard & Poor's stripped France of its coveted AAA status, knocking it down one notch to AA+. It dropped Italy even lower. Germany retained its top-notch rating, but Portugal's debt was consigned to junk.

Cyprus' finance minister called Standard & Poor's two-notch downgrade of his eurozone country to junk status "arbitrary and unfounded."

Kikis Kazamias said on Saturday that the agency ignored the island's deficit-cutting measures as well as the discovery of significant offshore natural gas deposits. He said the action illustrates once more how credit ratings agencies exacerbate Europe's debt crisis.

Austria's chancellor criticized S&P's decision to strip his country of the top AAA rating, and noted that his coalition government is working on an austerity package.

Werner Faymann wrote on his Facebook page that "Austria's economic data remain very good." He added that the decision showed "that Austria must become more independent from the financial markets."

The downgrade brought a downbeat end to a mildly encouraging week for Europe's heavily indebted nations and served as a reminder that the 17-country eurozone faces another tough year.

France's downgrade to AA+ lowers it to the level of U.S. long-term debt, which S&P downgraded last summer.

Stocks fell Friday as downgrade rumors reached the trading floors of Europe and the United States. But the declines were nothing like the wrenching swings of last summer and fall.

Speaking to fellow conservatives in the northern German city of Kiel, Merkel stressed the importance of a new treaty enshrining tougher fiscal rules. Most European Union leaders agreed in early December to draw up the pact.

"We are now called upon ... to implement quickly the fiscal pact and implement it decisively ? without trying to water it down everywhere," Merkel said.

The chancellor sought to allay concerns that the downgrade of France, the 17-nation eurozone's No. 2 economy after Germany, would complicate the work of the bloc's temporary rescue fund, the euro440 billion ($560 billion) European Financial Stability Facility. However, she did underline the urgency of putting its permanent successor, the European Stability Mechanism, in place quickly.

France's presidential elections could complicate Europe's internal discussions. President Nicolas Sarkozy, who has been at the heart of the debate, is highly unpopular and far from certain of winning a second term.

The man who tops polls ahead of the April and May elections, Socialist Francois Hollande, said the downgrade was a punishment for conservative Sarkozy's policies. He said Saturday that austerity measures were stifling growth and France's competitiveness.

Elie Cohen, economist with France's National Center for Scientific Research, said the Standard & Poor's decision casts doubt on Sarkozy's choices and European leaders' ability to handle the crisis.

"From the moment France was downgraded, it boomerangs on (Sarkozy's) own economic record, and it becomes one factor in the electoral battle," Cohen told AP Television News. Cohen said France's economic standing had been weakening for a long time, and the downgrade was overdue.

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Geir Moulson in Berlin, Cecile Brisson and Jeffrey Schaeffer in Paris and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120114/ap_on_re_us/eu_europe_financial_crisis

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