CNBC?s Diana Olick talk about the plummeting property values, anger among residents in Florida and whether the Sunshine State will see a recovery in the housing market.
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The super PACs paying for a flood of negative ads in the GOP presidential race are supposed to disclose who they are Tuesday. Don't expect to learn much, campaign watchdogs say.?
The secret donors funding a flood of negative ads in the 2012 presidential race are supposed to go public Tuesday. But loopholes in federal disclosure rules?mean that Americans will still be left largely in the dark about who is financing what, campaign watchdogs say.?
Skip to next paragraphThe landmark 2010 Supreme Court case,?Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (FEC), opened a new era in campaign spending.?This is the first presidential race since the Watergate era to allow unlimited individual and corporate spending for a candidate. Already, campaign spending by outside groups appears to be eclipsing money spent by candidates themselves.
Jon Huntsman Jr. called the resulting GOP campaign "toxic" when he dropped of the race earlier this month.?But?with the exception of the $10 million a Las Vegas casino billionaire gave to an independent group backing Newt Gingrich, not much is known about the identity or motivations of deep-pocket corporate and individual donors.
That is not expected to change much with the deadline Tuesday, largely because a?gridlocked FEC has yet to come up with rules to govern how big-spending advocacy groups, called super political-action committees, should disclose who they are.?
The result, say critics, is a violation of the Supreme Court's demand for "effective disclosure."
?You can talk about disclosure all you want, but there have always been clever operators who can get around??the law,? says Bill Allison, senior analyst with the Sunlight Foundation, a Washington-based group promoting transparency in government.?
?We saw it with soft money, with 527s, like the Swift Boat Veterans, and now with super PACs,? he adds, referring to big-money loopholes in previous campaign-finance reforms.?
Candidates' own campaigns are limited to donations of $2,500 per individual per election. But super PACs can accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, or unions. Unlike other PACs, super PACs are allowed to expressly argue for a specific candidate. They must, however, disclose donors ? though it?s not clear what exactly that means.
FEC commissioners, split 3 to 3 along the partisan lines of the presidents who appointed them, have yet to approve rules for regulations affected by the Supreme Court case.
?Such a proliferation of anonymous, negative speech cannot be good for our democracy,? said FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub in a Dec. 16 statement, after another FEC deadlocked vote on rulemaking. ?Nor is it consistent with the view of eight Justices of the Supreme Court, who ruled that ?effective disclosure? is what enables the electorate to make informed decisions and give proper weight to different speakers and messages.??
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DAWEI, Myanmar?? Euphoric seas of supporters waved opposition party flags and offered yellow garlands. They lined crumbling roads for miles and climbed atop trees, cars and roofs as Aung San Suu Kyi spoke at impromptu rallies. Some cried as her convoy passed.
Cheered by tens of thousands, the 66-year-old opposition leader electrified Myanmar's repressive political landscape everywhere she traveled Sunday on her first political tour of the countryside since her party registered to run in a historic ballot that could see her elected to parliament for the first time.
"We will bring democracy to the country," Suu Kyi said to roaring applause as her voice boomed through loudspeakers from the balcony of a National League for Democracy office in the southern coastal district of Dawei. "We will bring rule of law ... and we will see to it that repressive laws are repealed."
As huge crowds screamed "Long Live Daw Aung San Suu Kyi!" and others held banners saying "You Are Our Heart," she said: "We can overcome any obstacle with unity and perseverance, however difficult it may be."
Suu Kyi's campaign and by-elections due April 1 are being watched closely by the international community, which sees the vote as a crucial test of whether the military-backed government is really committed to reform.
The mere fact that Suu Kyi was able to speak openly in public in Dawei ? and her supporters were able to greet her en masse without fear of reprisal ? was proof of dramatic progress itself. Such scenes would have been unthinkable just a year ago, when the long-ruling junta was still in power and demonstrations were all but banned.
Suu Kyi's visit was equivalent to waking a sleeping dragon, said environmental activist Aung Zaw Hein.
"People had been afraid to discuss politics for so long," he said. "Now that she's visiting, the political spirit of people has been awakened."
Looking into the giant crowds, Hein added: "I've never seen people's faces look like this before. For the first time, they have hope in their eyes."
Businesman Ko Ye said he was ecstatic that Suu Kyi came, and like most people here, he welcomed the recent dramatic changes that made her trip possible. "We are all hoping for democracy," the 49-year-old said, "but we're afraid these reforms can be reversed at anytime."
After nearly half a century of iron-fisted military rule, a nominally civilian government took office last March. The new government has surprised even some of its toughest critics by releasing hundreds of political prisoners, signing cease-fire deals with ethnic rebels, increasing media freedoms and easing censorship laws.
Suu Kyi's party boycotted the 2010 election as neither free nor fair. It sought to have its legal status restored after the government amended electoral laws. Her party has been cleared to offer candidates in the April vote, and an Election Commission ruling on Suu Kyi's candidacy is expected in February.
Some critics are concerned the government is using its opening with Suu Kyi to show it's committed to reform. The government needs her support to get years of harsh Western sanctions lifted.
On Sunday, Suu Kyi said the opposition had struggled for democracy for decades, but the best way to do that now was to fight "from within parliament." But she also expressed caution over the challenges ahead. "It's easy to make problems, but it's not easy to implement them," she said. "We have a lot to do."
An NLD victory would be highly symbolic, but her party would have limited power since the legislature is overwhelmingly dominated by the military and the ruling pro-military party. Up for grabs are 48 seats vacated by lawmakers who were appointed to the Cabinet and other posts.
Suu Kyi has spent 15 of the past 23 years under house arrest, and as a result, has rarely traveled outside Yangon. Although she conducted one successful day of rallies north of Yangon last year, a previous political tour to greet supporters in 2003 sparked a bloody ambush of her convoy that saw her forcibly confined at her lakeside home.
She was finally released from house arrest in late 2010, just days after the elections that installed the current government and led to the junta's official disbandment.
Suu Kyi met with party members in Dawei, including one running for a parliament seat. She will make similar political trips to other areas, including the country's second-largest city, Mandalay, in early February before officially campaigning for her own seat, party spokesman Nyan Win said.
Suu Kyi is hoping to represent the constituency of Kawhmu, a poor district just south of Yangon where some villagers' homes were destroyed by Cyclone Nargis in 2008.
Lay Lay Myint, a 35-year-old grocery store manager, said Suu Kyi's platform in parliament would allow her to "let the world know what is happening" in Myanmar.
"People have been living in fear here," Myint said. "Just seeing her hear makes us braver, more courageous."
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/46177554/ns/business/
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Asher Elias was galvanized into activism on behalf of his fellow Ethiopian Jews in Israel by a 1996 revelation.
Avalanche awareness classes to make backcountry skiing safer
A growing numbers of skiers in Colorado want to try backcountry skiing, away from the groomed and patrolled trails. Shan Sethna's classes help newcomers learn about avalanche dangers.
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SAN FRANCISCO ? Seeking to influence other states and Washington, California air regulators passed sweeping auto emission standards Friday that include a mandate to have 1.4 million electric and hybrid vehicles on state roads by 2025.
The California Air Resources Board unanimously approved the new rules that require that one in seven of the new cars sold in the state in 2025 be an electric or other zero-emission vehicle.
The plan also mandates a 75 percent reduction in smog-forming pollutants by 2025, and a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from today's standards.
Automakers worked with the board and federal regulators on the greenhouse gas mandates in an effort to create one national standard for those pollutants.
"Today's vote ... represents a new chapter for clean cars in California and in the nation as a whole," said Mary Nichols, the board's chairman. "Californians have always loved their cars. We buy a lot of them and drive them. Now we will have cleaner and more efficient cars to love."
California's auto emissions standards are influential and often more strict than federal rules. The state began passing regulations for cleaner cars in the 1960s to help ease some of the world's worst smog, and has since helped spur the auto industry's innovations in emissions-control technology.
Currently 14 other states ? including New York, Washington and Massachusetts ? have adopted California's smog emissions rules as their own.
California has also previously set zero-emissions vehicle mandates, which 10 other states have also currently adopted.
Companies including Ford Motor Corp., Chrysler Group LLC, General Motors Co., Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. and others submitted testimony Thursday supportive of the new standards.
Some of the companies protested the inclusion of a system that will give some automakers credit toward their zero-emission vehicle mandate for exceeding federal greenhouse gas emissions standards in other cars. These credits, which can be used to reduce the number of clean vehicles made, can be used from 2018-2021.
Some called it a loophole that will take hundreds of thousands of clean cars off the road, hurting the emerging market for these vehicles.
"This is a temporary way station," Nichols said about the credits. "But by 2021 all companies will be producing the full complement of zero-emission vehicles."
Trade groups representing auto dealers worried that the new regulations would increase the costs of vehicles for consumers and stifle the industry's growth.
The California New Car Dealers Association and other industry groups representing those who sell cars said the board is overestimating consumer demand for electric vehicles and other so-called "zero-emission vehicles."
Dealers are concerned that the regulations will lead to higher costs in all cars, and say consumers have been slow to warm to electric and other zero-emission vehicles.
Board member Sandra Berg, who said she drives the all-electric Nissan Leaf, said before the vote that regulators need to take consumer behavior and choice seriously in this equation.
She said a lot of work must be done to educate dealers to sell the new generation of cars.
"Early adopters (of electric cars) are willing to go without heat to save the miles they need to get to their destination, but that is not going to help grow the consumer base," Berg said, referring to the range issues with some current electric vehicles.
The board's research staff disputes the argument from dealers that the mandates for new technology will increase costs for cars. They point to steady increases in hybrid and other sales and argue that fuel cost savings will make up for any vehicle price increase.
"Our research shows a $1,400 to $1,900 car price increase. But over the life of the vehicles, the owners save $6,000 in reduced fuel and maintenance costs," board spokesman David Clegern said.
One of the nation's foremost consumer groups, the Consumers' Union, the policy and advocacy division of Consumer Reports, supported the changes.
The rules will "protect consumers by encouraging the development of cleaner, more efficient cars that save families money, help reduce the American economy's vulnerability to oil price shocks and reduce harmful air pollution," according to a letter from the group.
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Oscar nominee Melissa McCarthy has been enjoying this awards' season, but she wasn't quite ready for one aspect of the red-carpet circuit: getting star struck. The Bridesmaids star told The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday that she got a bit overwhelmed meeting fellow nominees like Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
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Britain's first breast cancer tissue bank has opened for business, supplying tumour samples to scientists around the UK.
Funded by the charity Breast Cancer Campaign, the bank has around 2,500 samples housed at four centres in London, Leeds, Nottingham, and Dundee.
The samples will help researchers gather vital information about different types of breast cancer which could lead to better diagnosis and treatment.
Previously, scientists could spend many months tracking down the right tissue samples for their research.
Science minister David Willetts said: "The Breast Cancer Campaign Tissue Bank is a fantastic example of how an innovative idea from researchers can become a reality. Collaborative working between the voluntary sector, universities and the NHS has culminated in a unique project that will not only make a real difference to scientists, but also has the potential to improve health and save lives."
Baroness Morgan, chief executive of the Breast Cancer Campaign, said: "Breast cancer researchers in the UK and Ireland have been crying out for this resource for many years. The Tissue Bank will provide a source of precious human breast tissue and puts an end to the serious access problems of the past."
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OHI, Japan ? Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency on Thursday began their first inspection of a Japanese nuclear power plant that has undergone official "stress tests" ? a key step required to restart dozens of nuclear plants idled in the wake of the Fukushima crisis.
A 10-member IAEA team was inspecting the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at the Ohi nuclear power plant in Fukui, western Japan, where 13 reactors are clustered in four complexes along the snowy Sea of Japan coast, making it the country's nuclear heartland.
"We look forward to seeing the types of specifications and types of improvements that Kansai Electric Power Co. has made at the Ohi nuclear plant," mission leader James Lyons said at the outset of the plant visit. "Because that would give us opportunity to see how nuclear utilities are responding to these instructions."
After exchanging views at a meeting, members of the IAEA mission inspected an emergency power unit set up behind the No. 3 reactor building. They watched three plant workers plug in several cables and start the generator as black smoke rose up to the gray sky in heavy snow.
The inspection comes a week after Japanese nuclear safety officials gave preliminary approval on the Ohi reactors, a step closer to restarting them.
Authorities have required all reactors to undergo stress tests in the wake of Fukushima nuclear crisis and make necessary modifications to improve safety. The stress tests, similar to those used in France and elsewhere in Europe, are designed to assess how well the plants can withstand earthquakes, tsunamis, storms, loss of power and other crises.
Only four of Japan's 54 reactors are currently operating, and if no idled plants get approval to go back on line, the country will be without an operating reactor by the end of April.
Another hurdle will be gaining local approval for the plants to restart. While local consent is not legally required for that to happen, authorities generally want to win local support and make efforts to do so.
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has said that the final decision on whether to restart the nuclear plants would be political, suggesting that the government would override possible local opposition if Japan's energy needs were dire.
Public concerns about the safety of nuclear power have grown after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami knocked out the vital cooling system at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, sending three of its reactors to meltdowns and releasing massive radiation into the environment.
Noda has promised to reduce Japan's reliance on nuclear power over time and plans to lay out a new energy policy by the summer. But the nation obtained about 30 percent of its electricity from nuclear power before the crisis, and it could face power shortages if it cannot get more nuclear plants back on line soon.
Japan has temporarily turned to oil and coal generation plants to make up for the shortfall, and businesses have been required to reduce electricity use to help with conservation efforts.
Some experts have been critical of the stress tests, saying they are meaningless because they have no clear criteria. They also say that the government's simulations of crises based on a single event are not realistic because disasters often occur in a string of events.
(This version corrects that local approval isn't required for plants to restart, but is generally a precondition.) )
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MESA, Ariz. ? Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer came to greet President Barack Obama upon his arrival outside Phoenix Wednesday. What she got was a critique. Of her book.
The two leaders could be seen engaged in an intense conversation at the base of Air Force One's steps. Both could be seen smiling, but speaking at the same time.
Asked moments later what the conversation was about, Brewer, a Republican, said: "He was a little disturbed about my book."
Brewer recently published a book, "Scorpions for Breakfast," something of a memoir of her years growing up and defends her signing of Arizona's controversial law cracking down on illegal immigrants, which Obama opposes.
Obama was objecting to Brewer's description of a meeting he and Brewer had at the White House, where she described Obama as lecturing her. In an interview in November Brewer described two tense meetings. The first took place before his commencement address at Arizona State University. "He did blow me off at ASU," she said in the television interview in November.
She also described meeting the president at the White House in 2010 to talk about immigration. "I felt a little bit like I was being lectured to, and I was a little kid in a classroom, if you will, and he was this wise professor and I was this little kid, and this little kid knows what the problem is and I felt minimized to say the least."
On the tarmac Wednesday, Brewer handed Obama an envelope with a handwritten invitation to return to Arizona to meet her for lunch and to join her for a visit to the border.
"I said to him, you know, I have always respected the office of the president and that the book is what the book is," she told reporters Wednesday. She said Obama complained that she described him as not treating her cordially.
"I said that I was sorry that he felt that way. Anyway, we're glad he's here, and we'll regroup."
A White House official said Brewer handed Obama a letter and said she was inviting him to meet with her. The official said Obama told her he would be glad to meet with her again. The official said Obama did note that after their last meeting, which the official described as a cordial discussion in the Oval Office, the governor inaccurately described the meeting in her book. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation between the president and the governor.
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HELSINKI (Reuters) ? Nokia Oyj reported a 73 percent fall in fourth-quarter earnings as sales of its new Windows Phones failed to dent the dominance of Apple Inc's iPhone or compensate for diving sales of its own old smartphones.
The world's largest cellphone maker by volume unveiled a year ago a major strategy shift to Microsoft Corp software for its smartphones in an attempt to challenge Apple and Google Inc's Android. But Apple's phones in particular have proved far more popular.
Apple reported earlier this week sales of 37 million iPhones for the December quarter. Nokia has sold over 1 million Windows 'Lumia' Phones, since its launch in mid-November.
"It is more than some were expecting, but it's not going to worry Apple or Google," said analyst Nick Dillon from research firm Ovum.
Nokia said it expected its phone business' underlying earnings to be around breakeven in the first quarter, well below analysts' forecasts, with sales falling more than usual in the seasonally weaker quarter.
"The report highlights that the start of the Windows strategy is slow, and we have very little concrete data to predict its success at this point," said analyst Michael Schroder from FIM Securities.
"There are a lot of uncertainties. These are critical times for the future of the whole company. The next months will be extremely important."
SCALING UP
Ben Wood, head of research at mobile consultancy CCS Insight, compared Nokia to a late starter in a marathon, saying it needed to move fast: "The reality is that it's going to have to be an exceptionally fast marathon if it wants narrow the gap with its rivals."
To close the gap, Nokia will need to move quickly to push out the phone into more markets and with secure more partners.
Windows Phones have only been released in 15 markets so far, meaning Nokia has yet to take full advantage of its worldwide sales force -- a presence that could help boost sales fast.
In the United States, it has partnered with No. 4 U.S. carrier T-Mobile to enter the U.S. smartphone market, and has yet to break into two of the other largest smartphone markets in the world -- China and Japan. A ramp up in those countries could help Nokia close the gap with rivals.
Analysts said Nokia also needed to focus on marketing and sales channel to drive Lumia sales volumes.
"They need to market the hell out of it," said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesi. "Android is still an easy sale. Nokia needs to convince the sales people in stores to sell Nokia."
BETTER THAN FEARED
Nokia's fourth-quarter core earnings per share of 0.06 euro were better than the market's expectation for 0.04 euro. The results were boosted by a $250 million payment from Microsoft as part of the Windows Phone sales deal.
Shares in the Nokia were up 1 percent to 4.10 euros at 1526 GMT, regaining some ground lost over the past week following poor results from its suppliers.
Nokia proposed a 0.20 euro-per-share dividend for 2011, slightly more than expected.
The board put forward Risto Siilasmaa as its next chairman replacing long-time leader, Jorma Ollila, who steps down in May.
Nokia's quarterly net loss totaled 1.1 billion euros ($1.43 bln), or 0.29 euros per share, due to a 1.1 billion writedown for its digital mapping assets.
Microsoft has tried to enter the mobile industry for more than ten years, but with little success. Its market share is 1-2 percent. Canalys analyst Pete Cunningham said Microsoft's deal with Nokia was make or break for its ambitions in this sector.
"Nokia gives Microsoft a chance to enter the big stage. If they cannot make it work, arguably this is the end of the road," he said.
($1 = 0.7708 euros)
(Additional reporting by Jussi Rosendahl, Terhi Kinnunen and Eero Vassinen; Editing by Jodie Ginsberg and Erica Billingham)
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Registration at Ontario bank surges after singer tweets about one fan's need for a lung transplant.
By Jocelyn Vena
Justin Bieber
Photo: Getty Images
<P><a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/bieber_justin/artist.jhtml">Justin Bieber</a> is a charitable guy. So when a fan of his reached out to him on Twitter to help spread the word about organ and blood donation, one particular bank quickly saw more and more people in the giving spirit. Belieber Helene Campbell, 20, tweeted the teen star last week about her own struggles (including how she herself needs a lung transplant). Bieber then began tweeting to her and about her, shedding more light on the cause than the fan could have ever anticipated. In the days since the online correspondence, the Ontario-based Trillium Gift of Life Network has seen donations skyrocket to more than 1,200 people, four times the amount the network usually receives. In part it had a lot to do with Bieber, but also the campaign started by Campbell, who suffers from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. "Helene has done an incredible job inspiring and motivating Ontarians to register their consent to organ and tissue donation. On an average day we would expect about 50 new online registrations," President and CEO Ronnie Gavsie said in a statement on Wednesday (January 25). "Since Helene's campaign began last Thursday, the average has been closer to 200 per day! There are over 1,500 people in Ontario waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant, on behalf of all them and Trillium Gift of Life Network, thank you Helene and thank you Justin Bieber!" Shortly after his initial tweet, she shared with him, "@justinbieber you have made a huge impact, not only on my life, but for many others in need of the gift of life now and in the future!" His response: "@alungstory glad to be able to help. best part of what i do." Bieber's other charity work includes his <a href="/news/articles/1673555/justin-bieber-believe-charity-drive.jhtml"><i>Believe</i> Charity Drive</a> as well as his participation with the <a href="/news/articles/1674628/justin-bieber-new-york-city.jhtml">Pencils of Promise foundation</a>.</p>
Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677905/justin-bieber-organ-donor.jhtml
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A Pennsylvania widow is on a mission to find her husband's cremated remains after she says his urn disappeared from her checked luggage. WCAU-TV's Byron Scott reports.
By Teresa Masterson and Dan Stamm, WCAU
Angeline O?Grady?s husband, Brian, died from cancer last October.
"He was a great guy -- he doesn't deserve this," O'Grady said.?
On Nov. 1 she was on her way to England to scatter Brian's ashes in his hometown of Hull when the airline lost her husband?s remains, she says.?
O'Grady says Transportation Security Administration officials who told her that she could not take her husband?s ashes, which were in a box, through airport security. Directed to go back to the US Airways counter, O?Grady put the ashes into her checked luggage and had a "Fragile" sticker put on the suitcase, she told NBC Philadelphia.?
She got off the plane and drove to her sister-in-law's home in her husband's hometown.?
"When I opened the baggage and everything the ashes weren't there," O'Grady said.?
The Trumbauersville, Pa. woman says she contacted US Air and her son sent e-mails, but to no avail.?
"We're no further along than the day I discovered they were missing on the second of November," O'Grady said.?
According to e-mails provided by O'Grady's son, the airline received the correspondence and assigned the incident a case number. But the remains were still missing nearly three months after the family says they were lost and they were looking for closure.?
"My kids, everybody's upset and yet US Air just blows us off," said O'Grady.?
US Air told NBC10 they are continuing to investigate the matter and were working with the TSA to figure out what happened. They apologized to the O'Grady's.?
This story originally appeared on nbcphiladelphia.com, the website of Philadelphia's NBC News affiliate, WCAU.
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Carnival Corp. is offering the passengers on the Italian cruise ship Costa Concordia a very special 30 percent discount to stay loyal to their brand, according to reports.
One stipulation: You must not be dead or missing to receive the deal.
“The company is not only going to refund everybody, but they will offer a 30 percent discount on future cruises if they would like to stay loyal,” a spokesman said.
We're sure people are absolutely blown away by such a deal.
The spokesman added that they've been contacting the survivors via phone after the vessel, captained horrendously by Francesco Schettino, capsized this month.
Schettino was released from jail last week and is currently under home arrest near Naples, Italy. He is being charged with manslaughter and abandoning ship.
'Of the 4,200 on board, 120 were Americans. In all, 13 people have died, and another 19,- including a retired Minnesota couple, remain missing early Monday.
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WASHINGTON ? Mitt Romney may be the front-runner for the GOP nomination for president, but he has yet to win over most of the national party leaders whose help he will need to defeat President Barack Obama in November.
The upside for Romney: They aren't supporting anyone else either.
The Associated Press has polled 87 members of the Republican National Committee who are to attend the party's national convention this summer as free agent delegates, able to support any candidate for president they choose, regardless of what happens in the primaries.
The results: Romney got support from 14, far more than anyone else but hardly a stampede of endorsements. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Gov. Rick Perry got two each, while Texas Rep. Ron Paul and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum each got one. The poll was completed before Perry dropped out of the race Thursday.
Sixty-seven of the RNC members contacted by the AP said they were undecided or simply waiting to see how the race plays out before making a public endorsement.
"If I thought there was someone who stood head and shoulders above everyone else, I would have endorsed," said Jeff Johnson, an RNC member and county commissioner from Minnesota. "I see pluses in all of them, but I decided not to come out in favor of anybody."
Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Robert Gleason said he saw no reason to endorse anyone because a competitive primary is good for the party and the eventual nominee by vetting the candidate while generating publicity and excitement about the race.
"It's working out great for us, and one of these people that is competing with (Romney) could end up being vice president," Gleason said. "I'm pleased with the way things are developing. We're getting all the publicity. It's been pretty favorable for us."
Romney appeared to finish slightly ahead of Santorum in the hours after the Iowa caucuses Jan. 3. However, the Iowa GOP certified vote totals Thursday showing Santorum ahead of Romney. The party decided not to declare a winner because of problems with a few precinct reports.
Romney won handily in New Hampshire last week, and he leads his Republican rivals in the polls nationally and in South Carolina, which votes Saturday. Still, the former Massachusetts governor has been unable to solidify support from many Republicans, some of whom question his conservative credentials.
Stephen Scheffler, an RNC member from Iowa, said he would support Romney if he were the nominee, but he's not excited about the prospect, despite Romney's finish in Iowa.
"He doesn't want to talk to certain segments of the Republican Party," Scheffler said of Romney. "If he's the nominee and they open all these victory offices across Iowa, it's going to be pretty challenging to find volunteers."
Each state plus the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories gets three members on the Republican National Committee. All of them are automatically invited to attend the party's national convention in Tampa, Fla., in August, with a few exceptions. The RNC members from New Hampshire, South Carolina, Florida, Michigan and Arizona have been excluded ? for now ? as part of the penalties they received for holding primaries earlier than party rules allowed.
In many states, RNC members must support the winner of primaries or caucuses in their states. The AP identified 38 states and territories in which the RNC members will be free to support any candidate they choose.
AP reporters started contacting the 114 RNC delegates from these states after Romney won the New Hampshire primary. They were able to reach nearly 80 percent of them.
The RNC delegates make up less than 5 percent of the 2,286 delegates slated to attend the GOP convention, giving them little power to determine the nominee. But these party leaders will be expected to provide manpower, money, local connections and expertise this fall, when the GOP nominee will rely on the party faithful to help defeat Obama.
It will take 1,144 delegates to win the GOP nomination. Romney now has 33 delegates, including those won in primaries and caucuses as well as endorsements from RNC members. Santorum is next with 13.
Joseph Trillo, a state lawmaker and RNC member from Rhode Island, said his support for Romney comes down to political pragmatism.
"He's the only one who I know can beat Obama," Trillo said.
Herbert Schoenbohm, the GOP chairman in the Virgin Islands, said that beating Obama is important, but his support for Romney goes much deeper.
"I'm for (Romney) because he has the best leadership skills," Schoenbohm said in a phone interview. "He made it work in Massachusetts, and that was hard to do in a Democratic state."
Lawrence Kadish, an RNC member from Long Island, N.Y., challenged that assessment, saying Gingrich "towers head and shoulders over those other candidates. I don't view Mr. Romney as having a deep rudder, but he's OK."
___
Lauren Johnert, Associated Press deputy manager for election research and quality control, contributed to this report, along with AP writers Pat Condon in St. Paul, Minn., Marc Levy in Harrisburg, Pa., Mike Glover in Des Moines, Iowa, David Klepper in Providence, R.I., and George M. Walsh in Albany, N.Y.
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University of Vienna researchers quantum leap into the cloud, ensure privacy for distributed computing originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Jan 2012 01:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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RABAT, Morocco?? Five unemployed Moroccan men set themselves on fire in the capital Rabat as part of widespread demonstrations in the country over the lack of jobs, especially for university graduates, a rights activist said Thursday. Three were burned badly enough to be hospitalized.
Self-immolation has become a tactic of protest in the Middle East and North Africa over the past year. In December 2010, a vegetable seller in Tunisia set himself on fire to protest police harassment, setting off an uprising that toppled the government and sparked similar movements elsewhere in the region.
The Moroccans were part of the "unemployed graduates" movement, a loose collections of associations across the country filled with millions of university graduates demanding jobs. The demonstrations are often violently dispersed by police and in some towns and cities have resulted in sustained clashes.
While the official unemployment rate is only 9.1 percent nationally, it rises to around 16 percent for graduates.
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Around 160 members of the movement have been occupying an administrative building of the Ministry of Higher Education for the past two weeks in Rabat as part of their protest. Supporters would bring them food until two days ago when security forces stopped them.
Interactive: Young and restless: Demographics fuel Mideast protests (on this page)"The authorities prevented them from receiving food and water, so five people went outside to get food and threatened to set themselves on fire if they were stopped," said Youssef al-Rissouni of the Moroccan Association for Human Rights.
Of the three who were hospitalized, two were in serious condition, he said. The other two just had their clothing singed, al-Rissouni added.
No jobs for young people
Photos afterwards showed men with large sections of their skin burned. The online newspaper Goud reported that two of the men had second degree burns and were going to be sent to the Casablanca burn unit.
(Storyful published videos that apparently captured the incident. WARNING: Videos are graphic).
While the Moroccan economy has posted steady growth rates for the last several years of around 4 to 5 percent, it has been unable create enough jobs for the growing numbers of young people entering the work force every year.
The self-immolation of Tunisia's Mohammed Bouazizi in the hardscrabble town of Sidi Bouzid in December 2010 became the symbol of the depths of despair to which the poor of North Africa and the Middle East have sunk. Last week, four more people set themselves on fire in Tunisia, including a father of three who died from his burns.
Moroccans elected a new Islamist government in November which ran on a platform of social justice and tackling unemployment.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46055345/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/
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Ericsson, ZTE shake hands, drop patent infringement lawsuits originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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CAMP PENDLETON, Calif (Reuters) ? The court-martial of a U.S. Marine sergeant accused of leading a 2005 massacre of civilians in the Iraqi city of Haditha resumed on Friday without a plea deal, suggesting that court-sanctioned negotiations toward such an agreement had stalled.
Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich, 31, is charged with voluntary manslaughter, aggravated assault and dereliction of duty stemming from the November 2005 deaths of two dozen Iraqi civilians in Haditha, a city west of Baghdad that was then an insurgent hotspot.
That incident, which brought international condemnation on U.S. troops, was portrayed by Iraqi witnesses as a massacre of unarmed civilians. Local witnesses said Marines killed two dozen men, women and children after a popular comrade, Lance Corporal Miguel "TJ" Terrazas, was killed by a roadside bomb.
Wuterich, the most senior of the troops on the ground, pleaded not guilty when the trial began in early January. His trial was abruptly halted on Wednesday when the judge, Lieutenant Colonel David Jones, told defense lawyers and the government to explore other options.
The resumption of the trial seemed to indicate that those negotiations had broken down, although no mention was made in open court of the day-and-a-half delay or the talks. Prosecutors and defense attorneys both declined to comment.
Six out of the eight Marines originally charged in the case had their charges dismissed by military judges, and another was cleared. Wuterich, who initially faced murder charges, is the last of the group to face court proceedings.
A U.S. Marine spokesman at Camp Pendleton said the trial, initially projected to last one month, is now expected to run through mid-February.
(Writing by Mary Slosson; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)
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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Funding for startups rose 19 percent in the fourth quarter as venture capitalists fueled money into more companies in the Internet, clean technology and other sectors.
According to a study released Friday, startup investments grew to $6.57 billion in the October-December quarter from $5.52 billion in the same period in 2010. The volume of deals, though, did not keep up with the amount of money invested. There were 844 deals completed in the fourth quarter, down from 861 a year earlier.
Called the MoneyTree report, the study was conducted by PriceWaterHouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association based on data from Thomson Reuters.
For all of 2011, venture investments jumped 22 percent to $28.43 billion, in 3,673 deals. That's up from $23.26 billion in 2010, when the money went to 3,526 deals.
Venture capitalists piped $133.9 million into 80 seed-stage companies in the fourth quarter. That's down from $233.2 million going to 90 such startups in the fourth quarter of 2010. The decline suggests some caution on the part of venture capitalists looking at the newest, often most risky, startup investments.
A total of 364 early-stage companies snapped up $2.27 billion in venture funding during the quarter. That compares with $1.48 billion going to 318 early-stage startups in the last three months of 2010. The report said 222 companies in the expansion stage received $2.36 billion in funding, compared with 270 companies snagging about the same amount a year earlier. In the later stage, 178 startups received $1.8 billion in the fourth quarter, while $1.4 billion went to 183 companies a year earlier.
By industry, software companies received the most funding with $1.76 billion snagged in the fourth quarter, followed by biotechnology with $1.27 billion.
San Francisco-based internet storage locker Dropbox Inc. got the single-largest investment during the quarter, $250 million. In second place was Better Place Inc., which is based in Palo Alto and builds infrastructure and systems for electric vehicles, with $200 million.
John S. Taylor, head of research at the National Venture Capital Association, said the figures show "cautious optimism."
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In this Jan. 6, 2012 photo, a Citibank customer makes a transaction at an ATM, in New York. Citigroup said Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, its income fell 11 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011due to lower investment banking income, an accounting charge, and a decline in the value of its assets. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
In this Jan. 6, 2012 photo, a Citibank customer makes a transaction at an ATM, in New York. Citigroup said Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2012, its income fell 11 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011due to lower investment banking income, an accounting charge, and a decline in the value of its assets. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Choppy financial markets hurt Citigroup's investment banking profits, and the bank missed Wall Street expectations. The bank said Tuesday that profit fell 11 percent in the last three months of last year.
Besides making less money on investment banking, the bank lost money because of a quirky accounting rule related to the value of its corporate bonds.
Citi made $1.16 billion, or 38 cents per share, on revenue of $17.2 billion. The results fell short of the 54 cents per share estimated by analysts surveyed by FactSet, a provider of financial data.
A year earlier, in the fourth quarter of 2010, Citigroup made $1.3 billion on revenue of $18.4 billion.
Citigroup's broad international profile helped its results. Its business and consumer loans grew 14 percent to $465 billion, with most of the growth coming from Latin America and Asia.
As Americans pay down debt, the bank's credit card portfolio is improving. The number of Citi customers late with payments by 90 days or more fell 30 percent from the same period a year earlier.
Its losses from loans fell 40 percent, a bigger decline than the bank had anticipated. That allowed Citi to take a profit of $1.5 billion from the reserves the bank had kept aside for such losses.
But the volatile stock and bond markets in the fourth quarter led to a decline of 45 percent in Citi's investment banking revenue, to $638 million. The bank made less money on debt and equity underwriting and fees from advising on mergers and acquisitions.
Citi, one of the worst-hit banks during the financial crisis, has been reducing the toxic loans in its portfolio ? a condition of its $45 billion federal bailout. Those assets declined 25 percent in the fourth quarter, reducing overall revenue.
The bank also took a loss of $40 million because of an accounting rule that applies to the value of the corporate debt that the bank sells to investors. The value of that debt rose in the fourth quarter, but the bank had to take a loss because it would have had to pay more to buy it back on the open market.
For all of 2011, Citigroup's income was $11.3 billion on revenues of $78.4 billion, compared to net income of $10.6 billion on revenues of $86.6 billion for the full year 2010.
This marks the bank's second straight full year of profits. Citi's results were badly hurt during the financial crisis, posting close to $40 billion in losses from 2008 and 2009 combined.
Citi's stock was down 3 percent at $29.77 in pre-market trading.
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Japan's earthquake and tsunami last March caused $210 billion of damage
A fisherman sits on the roof of a destroyed house, in Minamisanriku, Miyagi prefecture last March. Natural disasters such as the huge earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan caused a record $366 billion (285 million euros) damage in 2011, the UN disaster risk reduction agency UNISDR has said.Source: AFP - Copyright AFP 2008, AFP stories and photos shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium
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WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama pledged Tuesday to cooperate closely with Jordan, a key ally in the Middle East, in order to push Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate a peace accord in a "serious fashion," even as a fresh attempt at talks shows little signs of progress.
Jordan's King Abdullah II, whose country has hosted three meetings this month between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, emphasized that the talks were in the early stages.
"We have to keep our fingers crossed," Abdullah said after an Oval Office meeting with Obama.
The Jordan meetings are taking place under the auspices of the international Quartet of Mideast peace mediators ? the U.S., United Nations, European Union and Russia. The Quartet hopes to broker a peace deal by the end of this year.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tamped down the prospect of progress this week, charging that the Palestinians "have no interest in entering peace talks."
"I'm ready to travel now to Ramallah to start peace talks with Abu Mazen, without preconditions. But the simple truth is that Abu Mazen is not ready," Netanyahu said Monday.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is widely known as Abu Mazen.
Talks have been stalled for more than three years over the issue of Israeli settlement construction.
Abbas says the Palestinians will not resume talks unless Israel stops building in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, areas Israel captured in the 1967 war from Jordan and claimed by the Palestinians as parts of their future state. Israel maintains that the issue of settlements would be solved automatically once there are agreed-upon borders, and it rejects any preconditions to negotiations.
In statements following their White House meeting, Obama and Abdullah gave no indication that the Israelis and Palestinians were any closer to ending the stalemate. Instead, they simply reiterated their desire to see progress on the seemingly intractable issue.
"We talked about the importance of us continuing to consult closely together to encourage the Palestinians and Israelis to come back to the table and negotiate in a serious fashion a peaceful way forward," Obama said.
Obama said the two leaders also discussed developments in Iraq and Iran, and in Syria, where the government has waged a deadly, 10-month crackdown against opponents of President Bashar Assad.
Abdullah was the first Arab leader to call for Assad to leave power, and Obama praised him for his "willingness to stand up."
Abdullah, a favorite of Western leaders, faced some protests last year, though on a lesser scale than other "Arab Spring" movements that sprang up throughout the region. The king announced a series of political reforms in response, including parliamentary elections this year. Jordan's opposition parties alleged that elections for parliament in 2010 were flawed.
Obama said Tuesday that Abdullah has been "ahead of the curve in trying to respond to the legitimate concerns and aspirations, both politically and economically, of the Jordanian population."
He pledged U.S. support to help Jordan continue its reforms.
___
Julie Pace can be reached at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC
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DAVENPORT, Iowa ? Lee Enterprises Inc., publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and other daily newspapers, on Tuesday reported a 23 percent drop in profit for its fiscal first quarter compared with a year ago, when it posted a large gain after curtailing retiree health benefits.
The company reported net income of $14.6 million, or 32 cents per share, for the quarter that ended Dec. 25. That compares with a profit of $18.9 million, or 42 cents per share, for the same period a year ago.
However, earnings rose 18 percent when one-time gains and losses during both quarters were excluded. The company earned $16.9 million, or 38 cents per share, compared with $14.3 million, or 32 cents, a year ago, excluding one-time items.
Revenue was $199.6 million, down 3.9 percent from a year ago. Advertising declined 6.1 percent, while circulation revenue rose 2.7 percent. Digital advertising revenue rose 10 percent to $16.2 million.
"We continue to expect revenue trends to improve slowly in 2012, as we press forward with more digital and print initiatives," said Lee Enterprises chairman and CEO Mary Junck.
Also last quarter, Lee did a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing to allow it to complete a restructuring of its debt. A prepackaged filing usually results in a speedy exit from bankruptcy court protection, and Lee said Tuesday that it plans to ask the court to let it exit on Jan. 30.
Shares of the Davenport, Iowa, company rose 1 cent to 75 cents in morning trading.
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LONDON ? British police on Monday removed tents and protesters from Parliament Square in the latest twist in a decade-long battle to clear prime London real estate.
Scotland Yard said two people were arrested in the operation to remove "all tents and sleeping equipment" from the square. It said officers had arrived on the scene around 7:30 p.m. and wrapped up around three hours later after removing eight tents and "moving on" 10 to 12 people.
The officers were enforcing the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act of 2011, which gave police new powers to prevent encampments around Parliament Square, according to Scotland Yard.
It said the arrests late Monday were for breaching that act, while one other individual was handed a summons during the clearing operation. The officers were assisted by teams from the local Westminster council in loading equipment into trucks.
In December, the council passed a bylaw that would impose fines of 500 pounds ($766) for failure to remove tents from Parliament Square, and Council leader Colin Barrow expressed support for the police action Monday evening.
"For too long local people and tourists have been unable to fully enjoy the square," he said. "This is a tragedy and the sooner this historic site can be enjoyed by the public the better."
Protesters in colorful tents and with equally-colorful slogans have been staked out opposite the houses of Parliament for about 10 years.
The campaigners were initially led by and loyal to Brian Haw, a veteran British peace activist who staged around-the-clock protests outside London's Parliament continuously for 10 years prior to his death last year from cancer.
Haw set up camp opposite the Houses of Parliament in June 2001 to protest U.S. and British bombing raids on Iraq. His protest soon widened in scope in the following years, with the invasion of Afghanistan.
Over the years, British officials tried ? but failed ? to shut down his protests and remove him and his collection of pictures showing war victims and slogans such as "Baby Killers" from Parliament Square.
In 2002, the local council took legal action to remove him, saying he was a nuisance, but the case never went to court. Subsequent legal challenges resulted in limiting Haw's protest site.
His supporters set up a "Democracy Village" on Parliament Square in 2010, but moved to the sidewalk next to it in 2011 after Greater London Authority received permission to evict Haw and the protesters from the grassy green.
___
Cassandra Vinograd can be reached at http://twitter.com/CassVinograd
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