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Apple hires former Dixons CEO John Browett as senior VP of Retail originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 31 Jan 2012 02:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) ? A 6,500-year-old Sumerian gold jar, the head of a Sumerian battle axe and a stone from an Assyrian palace were among 45 relics returned to Iraq by Germany on Monday.
The items were among thousands stolen from Iraq's museums and archeological sites in the mayhem that followed the U.S.-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein in 2003.
The tiny gold jar, dating to 4,500 BC, the bronze axe head, clay tablets bearing cuneiform script, a metal amulet and other artifacts were seized by German police at public auctions and turned over to Iraqi officials in a ceremony at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Alexander Schonfelder, deputy head of the German diplomatic mission in Iraq, said German law dictated that any artifacts taken from Iraq after 1990 should be returned.
"This means that the German government has the right to confiscate them and that is what we have done, and given them back to Iraq," Schonfelder said.
Some 15,000 artifacts were thought to have been looted from the Iraqi National Museum and thousands more from archeological sites since the start of the 2003 war.
Up to than 10,000 of the National Museum pieces are still missing, said Amira Eidan, general director of the museum.
Iraq, which the ancient Greeks called Mesopotamia or "land between two rivers" because of its Tigris and Euphrates, is regarded by archaeologists as the cradle of civilization.
Many believe it gave birth to such milestones of human development as agriculture, codified law and the wheel.
In recent years the Iraqi government has slowly reassembled some of the country's lost history.
Last September officials announced the recovery of the headless statue of a Sumerian king and more than 500 other pieces. Two weeks later the National Museum found 600 missing items stashed in a storeroom of the prime minister's office.
In December 2008, Iraqi authorities seized 228 artifacts that smugglers planned to take out of the country.
"We are heading in coming months to retrieve Iraqi artifacts from Britain, from the United States of America, and Canada ... we will follow Iraq's antiquities wherever they are," said Abbas al-Quraishi, head of Iraq's artifact retrieval department.
(Reporting by Aseel Kami; Editing by Jim Loney)
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Like millions of other people, I got an email from Google this morning. It was entitled ?Changes to Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service?. The first sentence describes the intent of the changes as shortening 60 policies into one, and improving their readability.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/JaxxfzBvTGI/
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Charles Dallara, left and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance leave Maximos Mansion after meeting Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)
Charles Dallara, left and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance leave Maximos Mansion after meeting Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos leaves Maximos Mansion after a meeting with Greek Prime minister Lucas Papademos, Charles Dallara and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)
Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, left, and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos leave Maximos Mansion after a meeting Charles Dallara and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)
Charles Dallara, left and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance leave Maximos Mansion after meeting Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)
Charles Dallara managing director of the Institute of International Finance arrives at Maximos Mansion for a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)
ATHENS, Greece (AP) ? A disorderly and potentially devastating Greek debt default is looking much less likely.
Greece and investors who own its bonds have reached a tentative deal to significantly reduce the country's debt and pave the way for it to receive a much-needed ?130 billion bailout.
Negotiators for the investors announced the agreement Saturday and said it could become final next week. If the agreement works as planned, it will help Greece remain solvent and help Europe avoid a blow to its already weak financial system, even though banks and other bond investors will have to accept multibillion-dollar losses.
Still, it doesn't resolve the weakening economic conditions in Greece and other European nations as they rein in spending to get their debts under control.
Under the agreement, investors holding ?206 billion in Greek bonds would exchange them for new bonds worth 60 percent less.
The new bonds' face value is half of the existing bonds. They would have a longer maturity and pay an average interest rate of slightly less than 4 percent. The existing bonds pay an average interest rate of 5 percent, according to the think tank Re-Define.
The deal would reduce Greece's annual interest expense on the bonds from about $10 billion to about $4 billion. And when the bonds mature, instead of paying bondholders ?206 billion, Greece will have to pay only ?103 billion.
Without the deal, which would reduce Greece's debt load by at least ?120 billion, the bonds held by banks, insurance companies and hedge funds would likely become worthless. Many of these investors also hold debt from other countries that use the euro, which could also lose value in the event of a full-fledged Greek default. This is the scenario analysts fear most and why they hope investors will voluntarily accept a partial loss on their Greek bonds.
The agreement taking shape is a key step before Greece can get a second, ?130 billion bailout from its European Union partners and the International Monetary Fund. Besides restructuring its debt with private investors, Greece must also take other steps before getting aid. It must cut its deficit and boost the competitiveness of its economy through layoffs of government employees and the sale of several state companies, among other moves.
Greece faces a ?14.5 billion bond repayment on March 20, which it cannot afford without additional help.
The country got its first bailout in May 2010 when the EU and the IMF signed off on a ?110 billion aid package, most of which has already been disbursed.
Private investors hold roughly two-thirds of Greece's debt, which has reached an unsustainable level ? nearly 160 percent of the country's annual economic output. By restructuring the debt held by private investors, Greece and its EU partners are hoping to bring that ratio closer to 120 percent by the end of this decade. Without a deal, analysts forecast that ratio ballooning to 200 percent by the end of this year as the Greek economy falters.
Meanwhile, Greece's public creditors ? ? the IMF, the EU and the European Central Bank ? are baffled by the government's repeated failure to meet deficit targets. They want more government wage cuts. That is meeting resistance by Greek politicians afraid of losing an election tentatively scheduled for the spring. But those same politicians also worry that the nation will be denied a second bailout if doesn't reduce its deficit.
Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Saturday night asked those who oppose structural changes to reconsider their stance.
"The coming days will be decisive for the next decade ... We must answer to tough dilemmas and we must do so with foresight and a sense of responsibility and not hide behind each other," he told reporters after meeting with the public creditors.
In return for the first bailout, Greece's public creditors have unprecedented powers over Greek spending. However, Greece's problems will not be fixed simply by cutting government spending. In order to bring its debts to a more manageable level, the country must also find ways boost economic output, which would enable it to collect more taxes.
If no debt-exchange deal is reached with private creditors and Greece is forced to default, it would very likely spook Europe's ? and possibly the world's ? financial markets. It could even lead Greece to withdraw from the euro.
Sarah Ketterer, co-manager of Causeway International Value Fund, a $1.4 billion mutual fund that invests in European stocks, said the region's markets have rebounded this month largely on expectations that negotiators would reach a deal along the lines of the one being finalized now.
Any last-minute breakdown in the talks could trigger a sharp decline in European markets, she said. But a rally is unlikely if negotiations succeed.
"The equity markets have ... largely already discounted this, and you can see that in the confidence that has returned in European equities since the end of December, and especially for financial stocks," Ketterer said.
She said there "really was no other option" than reaching a deal for bondholders to take a haircut of 50 percent or more.
Ketterer said a Greek deal could help restore bond market confidence. That would help Italy manage its own debt crisis ? one that Ketterer views as more critical than Greece's because of Italy's greater size.
The investors who own Greek bonds are being represented by Charles Dallara, managing director of the Washington-based Institute of International Finance, and Jean Lemierre, senior adviser to the chairman of the French bank BNP Paribas.
___
AP personal finance writer Mark Jewell in Boston, Elena Becatoros in Athens and Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels contributed to this report.
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Start your weekend with all the best videos the Internet has to offer with Frequency, an iPad app that makes finding and organizing great videos from all over the place a snap. It?s our top Fresh App today, followed by Steam Mobile, an iOS app that ties to the popular digital video game download portal and lets you impulse-buy during Steam?s crazy game sales no matter where you are. A big update with new levels to RAGE HD tops off our games picks for this weekend, followed by a new, free edition to the Baseball Superstars series from Gamevil.
Frequency makes it easy to group videos into channels and see everything you want quickly and easily, but it also helps you search through all that information for the best bits. The app will pull highlights from all your channels that you can flip through more quickly, keep you up to date on trends and allow you to find things you?re already following quickly with its TUNER feature. It also includes AirPlay support, which means you can watch your videos on your other iOS devices, including Apple TV.
Steam lets you search for games, see new releases, read about titles and watch their trailers, all from your iOS device. You can buy games for yourself or for friends, or add them to your ?wishlist? for later (or to encourage people to give you gifts). You?ll need a Steam account to access your account through the app, and the system is currently still in beta, so you?ll need to wait for developer Valve to send you an invite. But downloading the app and signing-in puts you on Valve?s list of interested users, which might help fast-track your beta invite.
A big update has just dropped for the title, bringing new content to iOS players. RAGE HD contains two new levels to work through, filled with pesky, murderous mutants. Those levels can be downloaded through in-app purchase, and the game now supports HDMI output so you can play on your TV and iOS 5. It?s also received a host of bug fixes to tighten up the experience.
Baseball Superstars 2012 features HD graphics and online play that allows you to take on other players as well as trade your baseball team members with your friends. It also features a story campaign you can work through on your own with multiple endings, and Game Center support for achievements and leaderboards.
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The Fair Districts coalition broke its silence on the legislature's nearly completed redistricting maps late Thursday and delivered a 12-page letter to lawmakers lambasting their proposals for manipulating the political boundaries for partisan and incumbent advantage, in violation of the state Constitution.
"It appears that all maps under consideration were drawn with an intent to gain partisan advantage and/or to protect incumbents," the group wrote in its letter to House Redistricting Chairman Will Weatherford. "The?Legislature?s refusal to follow this efficient and logical redistricting method proves that it wanted to retain its ability to surreptitiously favor a party or incumbents, and the numbers bear this out."
In short, the group?which?helped bring new?state's redistricting standards to?the state Constitution,?accuses lawmakers of not only strategically protecting?incumbents with the drawing of districts but doing it to strengthen weak districts, pick favorites in competitive areas, pack minority voters into districts and strategically secure a Republican majority for the next decade.
Each of those tactics is implicitly prohibited in the constitution under the new Fair District amendments 5 and 6, the group claims.?Neither map reflects the true partisan performance of Floridians,'' the coalition said, and "would still cement a severe partisan imbalance.?
As an alternative, the coalition has offered maps for Congress, the Senate and the House districts by nesting?"House Districts within Senate Districts so that not a single House seat breaks a single Senate line. This ?nesting? gives voters the advantage of having a more efficient and logical form of representation with a dedicated delegation that can work together to serve the needs of Florida?s communities,'' the letter states. "In our maps, there is a ratio of three House districts to every Senate district."
Weatherford will offer the House and congressional maps when the committee meets this morning. He?had asked the group to provide the committee to appear in the Redistricting Committee to explain their methodology for drawing their proposed House, Senate and congressional maps but chose to send the letter instead. Their alternative maps are expected to be soundly defeated.
The House is expected to vote out its maps next week, followed by a vote of approval by the Senate. The attorney general will then send the legislative maps to the Florida Supreme Court for the required 30-day review and the congressional map will go to the governor for his signature.
The coalition, which includes the League of Women Voters, the National Council of La Raza and?Common Cause of Florida had offered little detail about their objections to the redistricting plans, except that they believed they were not compliant with the new redistricting standards. Its letter reads like a summary of its legal argument in the?court proceeding. Download Ltr to Weatherford1-26-12
?Here is the letter Weatherford sent to the coalition: Download Letter from Weatherford to LWV
Here are some highlights:
Congress:
* Legislators manipulated the boundary lines to stengthen the districts of incumbents in weaker seats. For example, the newly drawn?congressional District 27 "was used as a way to remove high-performing Democratic areas from vulnerable incumbent Republicans? districts, thereby making their seats safer." The group said the districts of Republican Dan Webster of Orlando
* The group commends the House for attempt to ?comply with the amendment?s prohibition on political favoritism to a greater degree than did the Congressional or Senate map? but says the House?s proposed map ?would still cement a severe partisan imbalance.?
* On average, each Senate district is comprised of parts of 7.325 House districts. The Senate?s proposed minority Districts 19 and 34 are each comprised of no less than 12 House Districts. No Senate District has less than 4 House districts and eight Senate districts have 10 or more House districts.
* In the congressional map, District 27 ?was used as a way to remove high-performing Democratic areas from vulnerable incumbent Republicans? districts, thereby making their seats safer.? The group alleges that both maps benefit Republican Dan Webster?s district. For example, ?Republican Daniel Webster?s district had performed Democratic in recent presidential and gubernatorial elections, but after pulling his district?s Democratic voters into the new District 27, Webster?s proposed new district performs over 50% Republican.?
?* Republican U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams ?had previously represented a vulnerable Republican district. Her new district excludes the significantly Democratic voters she currently represents, thereby increasing the Republican lean in her new district. Republican Dennis Ross?s new District 12 shed a group of Democratic voters by giving them to the new District 27, making his new District 15 ?approximately two points safer than his old District.?
* And Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, of Congressional District 15, ?was able to shed Democratic voters into the new District 27 and now has a safely Republican seat.?
* The House?s congressional map was also able to ?improve the Republican performance of Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen?s district by about 1.5%, thereby reducing her vulnerability. In recent elections, Ros-Lehtinen?s district that had been trending increasingly Democratic.?
* The group also criticized the way lawmakers handled minority districts. For example, in District 21, Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart ?received more Republican voters to make his seat safer by about two points.??Under the House?s proposed map, Diaz-Balart?s will run in District 25, a district that votes solidly Republican.
* Under the House?s map, the group alleges that at least 16 of the 25 incumbents will run in safely Democratic or Republican districts in 2012.
* The Senate and House proposals ?both have 14 safe Republican seats and only 7 safe Democratic seats. If candidates run good campaigns, connect with the voters and turn out the vote, either party should be able to claim a majority of Florida?s Congressional delegation. Under almost any calculation, the Senate will be 2 to 1 Republican. This proposed map is even more firmly skewed than the 2002 map.?
* The Coalition Map was drawn ?without regard to political party control. This is evidenced by the fact that the Coalition Map nests its House districts within its Senate districts. This has the effect of making it easier for voters to know who their representatives are, and provides a more efficient and logical form of representation.
* Some districts were clearly designed ?to help shore up vulnerable Republican incumbents or to create seats for Republican state legislators planning to run for higher office?.73% of the existing constituents are kept in the same districts under the Senate?s proposed Congressional map.?
?
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(Reuters) ? JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said President Barack Obama's decision to expand investigations into home lending and sales of mortgage securities could stop settlement talks with the states over foreclosure practices.
"It has a pretty good chance of derailing it," Dimon said in a televised interview with CNBC from Davos, Switzerland on Thursday.
Obama, in his State of the Union address Tuesday, said he has asked his attorney general to create a special unit of prosecutors to expand investigations into home lending and packaging of mortgage-backed securities. It is not clear how the new unit will be different from earlier investigations.
JPMorgan is the largest U.S. bank and one of the larger servicers of mortgage loans. JPMorgan, Bank of America (BAC.N), Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), Citigroup and Ally Financial Inc have been in talks with state attorneys general for months about settling allegations of foreclosure abuses.
The banks and states have been discussing a plan that would have the banks pay $25 billion to homeowners through reductions in principal on mortgage loans.
"I think it would be better for America if that settlement took place," Dimon said. "If this thing derails that, so be it."
(Reporting by David Henry; editing by John Wallace)
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Brand will also perform at Amnesty International's Secret Policeman's Ball, along with Coldplay, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.
By Jocelyn Vena
Russell Brand has nabbed a starring role in the Michael Bay-produced "The Hauntrepreneur."
The movie will revolve around a "peculiar man" (presumably Brand, given his penchant for those types of roles), who is hired by a family to help them adjust to living in a new town. Calling himself the "Hauntrepreneur," he creates a haunted house full of kooky characters to try to help them get acclimated to their new surroundings, Variety reports.
The studio, Paramount, has yet to comment on the casting. It marks the latest move Brand has made since filing for divorce from Katy Perry over New Year's weekend.
On Wednesday, it was announced that Brand will perform as part of an Amnesty International benefit March 4 at New York's Radio City Music Hall. It marks his first public appearance since news broke of his split from Perry. Coldplay, Mumford & Sons, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Reggie Watts and others will also appear at Amnesty International's Secret Policeman's Ball.
Brand will next be seen in "Rock of Ages," alongside Tom Cruise, Julianne Hough, Mary J. Blige and Alec Baldwin. The big-screen adaptation of Broadway's rock musical will open June 1. He's also attached to Diablo Cody's "Untitled Diablo Cody Project," which also will feature Hough.
Additionally, he's working with the FX network on a series of six half-hour late-night comedy specials that will be filmed in front of a live audience as well as an animated comedy he co-created that will air on the Fox network.
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677931/russell-brand-hauntrepreneur-movie.jhtml
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AT&T unearths Jim Henson's 1963 Robot short for Bell originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney released his tax returns, which reveal he paid a 14 percent rate on nearly $22 million in income for 2010. NBC?s Chuck Todd talks to TODAY?s Matt Lauer about how this release might impact the race.
>> chuck todd is nbc's political director and chief white house correspondent. good morning to you. after weeks of questions we finally get a look at the 2010 tax report or return from mitt romney . do you see any surprises in here, anything that will give his rivals more ammunition?
>> well, i think there is certainly fodder for some of his democratic opponents. things like having a swiss bank account . that's not something a lot of ordinary americans have. but it's the timing of the release that's probably the most difficult thing for the romney campaign to handle. the theme of the state of the union is fairness, income in inequality and here is the potential republican nominee who we noted that it's $40 million plus in income over two years but he wasn't working. he was running for president. this was all interest and dividend income. it certainly paints a picture of something that a lot of americans cannot connect to.
>> let's go to the debate last night. mike murphy on "meet the press" on sunday said mitt romney was wounded after south carolina . he was now in a corner with a broken bottle and he had to decide whether he was going to fight with it. it appears he decided to fight with it.
>> he did all day yesterday. it started with the ad peter mentioned in his report. his strategy seemed to be to go after gingrich and hope gingrich would respond. that was the odd thing last night. gingrich decided to be above the fray and act like the front-runner. i want to put a smile on my face a blis. you could tell romney was trying. spent 30 minutes trying to draw him out. didn't successfully do it. then he backed off a little bit. i think he realized he didn't want to look shrill.
>> chuck todd in washington this morning. thank you very much.
Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/46113352/
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The regulator for Fannie Mae (FNMA.OB) and Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB) told lawmakers that forcing the government-controlled mortgage firms to write down the principal on underwater home loans would require more than $100 billion in fresh taxpayer funds.
In a letter sent on Friday to the Republican and Democratic leaders of a U.S. House of Representatives government oversight panel, the Federal Housing Finance Agency explained why it has long opposed principal reductions for borrowers who owe more than their homes are worth. In that situation, the mortgage is deemed "underwater."
About 22 percent of U.S. home mortgages have negative equity totaling about $750 billion, meaning that about one in five U.S. home mortgages is "underwater" with the amount owed exceeding the home's value, according to CoreLogic, a financial information and analytics company based in Santa Ana, California.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it had determined that such reductions would be more costly for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac than forbearance, which was the less expensive option by comparison. The two mortgage firms have been using forbearance to help borrowers struggling to make payments.
Forbearance lets the borrow reduce or suspend payments on a loan for a specific amount of time.
The regulator, also known as the FHFA, has been under pressure from Democrats to permit the writedown of principal by the two government-controlled mortgage finance providers as a way to help some of the millions of U.S. homeowners whose mortgages are "underwater."
Representative Elijah Cummings of Maryland, the top Democrat on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, has pushed the housing regulator to explain its thinking in deciding not to offer principal reductions.
PRESERVING ASSETS A CONCERN
The FHFA, however, has maintained that widespread principal forgiveness would undercut the finances of Fannie and Freddie, which have already received about $169 billion in taxpayer aid. Republicans have supported the FHFA's decision.
"FHFA has a statutory responsibility as conservator to preserve and conserve the assets and property of the regulated entities," FHFA's acting director, Edward DeMarco, wrote in the letter to lawmakers dated January 20.
The Obama administration wants to secure widespread principal reductions in a legal settlement between the government and some of the biggest mortgage servicers. The settlement is aimed at cleaning up alleged foreclosure abuses.
"Given that any money spent on this endeavor would ultimately come from taxpayers and given that our analysis does not indicate a preservation of assets for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac substantial enough to offset costs, an expenditure of this nature at this time would, in my judgment, require congressional action," DeMarco said in the letter.
In 2008, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were taken over by the government as mortgage losses mounted. Millions of loans issued during the housing bubble, many of them made to subprime borrowers with spotty credit histories, soured after the housing bust -- yet they remain on Fannie's and Freddie's books. Delinquencies on those loans continue to rise.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own or guarantee roughly half of all outstanding mortgages in the United States. Of the approximately 30 million mortgages guaranteed by the two firms, close to 3 million of those loans were held by underwater borrowers as of last summer, according to an analysis provided in the letter.
Another barrier to principal writedowns, aside from pushing losses at the two firms even higher, DeMarco said, was the cost associated with new technology and training to servicers that would be needed to launch a program that offers principal forgiveness.
The FHFA told lawmakers that forbearance is a less costly option. Principal forbearance limits accounting losses and allows Fannie and Freddie to recoup the principal at some later point, according to the regulatory agency's letter.
"The net result of the analysis is that forbearance achieves marginally lower losses for the taxpayer than forgiveness, although both forgiveness and forbearance reduce the borrower's payment to the same affordable level," the FHFA's letter said.
The housing regulator also assured lawmakers that the FHFA remains committed to helping borrowers stay in their homes and will continue to work on such principal forbearance plans and government initiatives to modify or refinance loans.
The Federal Reserve, in a white paper to Congress earlier this month, said writedowns "had the potential to decrease the probability of default" and "improve migration between labor markets."
However, the Fed stopped short of endorsing such an initiative and noted concern that writing down loan balances would create a moral hazard - the concept that rescue efforts breed further behavior that exacerbates the existing problem - and could prompt other borrowers to stop making timely loan payments.
(Reporting By Margaret Chadbourn; Editing by Jan Paschal)
(This story was corrected to substitute 7th paragraph quote. The original was a summary of the question posed to the FHFA and was used in error)
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COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told supporters Saturday he's going to compete for every vote in every state after former House speaker Newt Gingrich beat him in the South Carolina primary.
"Our campaign has fought very hard here in South Carolina and in the coming weeks and months, I'll keep fighting for every single vote," the former Massachusetts governor told supporters at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds, only mentioning Gingrich by name to congratulate him. "I will compete in every single state."
Romney wasted no time jabbing first at President Barack Obama for a lacking business or management experience, and then at Gingrich: "Our party can't be led to victory by someone who also has never run a business and never led a state."
Romney said Obama has attacked free enterprise and that "we cannot defeat that president with a candidate who has joined that very assault on free enterprise." Gingrich has attacked Romney's record running Bain Capital, a private equity firm.
The loss dampens Romney's momentum heading into Florida ? the state that crushed his presidential hopes four years ago when he lost to John McCain and immediately dropped out of the race.
Romney came to South Carolina riding high on what were then twin wins in Iowa and New Hampshire. Gingrich finished far behind him in both contests. But Romney's narrow Iowa victory was revoked this week, and questions about his refusal to release his tax returns before April have dogged him day after day. He slid in polls in the last days going into the primary and ultimately lost to the former House speaker.
"We've still got a long way to go and a lot of work to do and tomorrow we're going to move on to Florida," Romney said Saturday.
It's a dramatic reversal of fortune for a campaign that just 10 days ago was hoping to perform well here, go on to win Florida and wrap up the nomination fight quickly. Instead, he spent the week ahead of the primary trying to fight off the surging Gingrich, who repeatedly called on the multimillionaire Romney to release his tax returns. Gingrich has attacked Romney as a "Massachusetts moderate."
In recent days, Romney has jumped from topic to topic as he has struggled to attack Gingrich. His surrogates have labeled Gingrich an "unreliable leader," while Romney has called on the former House speaker to release documents related to an ethics inquiry from the 1990s. On Saturday he shifted back to an attack he'd used in earlier debates, calling on Gingrich to further explain his ties to Freddie Mac. Gingrich was a consultant for the quasi-government mortgage agency over a period of eight years.
Romney still has significant advantages over his three remaining Republican rivals, including an enormous financial edge and a well-organized campaign. In next-up Florida, he's been organizing supporters for months and has particularly focused on absentee voters. Hundreds of thousands of voters have already sent in their ballots in Florida's primary.
Still, this primary season has been characterized by late-deciding voters. A majority of South Carolina Republican voters said they decided on a candidate in the last few days, and they favored Gingrich by a double-digit margin, according to exit polls. Romney had a small edge among those who said they made up their minds in December or earlier.
While they were confident early on, Romney's team was bracing for defeat by the end of the week. On Saturday, Romney said he would attend a debate Monday in Tampa, Fla., and his campaign confirmed he would be at one Thursday in Jacksonville, Fla., ahead of the state's primary Jan. 31. Romney did not confirm the appearances until the last minute, and they were an acknowledgment that the former Massachusetts governor would have to continue the battle with Gingrich longer than expected.
Romney plans to appear Fox News Sunday on Sunday morning ahead of a campaign rally in Daytona Beach, Fla. On Monday, Romney will campaign in the Tampa Bay area before the presidential debate.
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ALEXANDRIA, Va. ? In the latest criminal case in the Obama administration's effort to punish leakers, an ex-CIA officer who helped track down and capture a top terror suspect was charged Monday with disclosing classified secrets about his teammates to the media.
John Kiriakou (keer-ee-AH'-koo), 47, of Arlington is charged with violating the Intelligence Identities Protection Act and the Espionage Act. A judge at a federal court hearing ordered Kiriakou to be released on a $250,000 unsecured bond.
According to authorities, Kiriakou told a New York Times reporter classified information about a fellow officer who participated in interrogating suspected al-Qaida financier Abu Zubaydah in 2002, eight months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Zubaydah was waterboarded 83 times and his case has been made an example by those who believe the interrogation technique should be outlawed.
According to an affidavit, FBI agents interviewed Kiriakou last week, and he denied leaking the names of covert CIA officers. When specifically asked whether he had provided the Zubaydah interrogator's name to the Times for a 2008 article, he replied "Heavens no." A New York Times spokeswoman said the newspaper declined comment.
Kiriakou's attorney, Plato Cacheris, said after his hearing that a potential defense argument could be that the charges criminalize conduct that has been common between reporters and government sources for decades. If convicted, Kiriakou could face decades in prison and a fine up to $1 million.
Prosecutors started their investigation after defense attorneys for suspected terrorists filed a classified legal brief in 2009 that included details that had never been provided by the government. Authorities concluded that Kiriakou had leaked the information to reporters, and that reporters had provided the information to the defense.
The charges state that Kiriakou, who was an intelligence officer from 1990 to 2004, leaked information about the identity of another officer who interrogated Zubaydah. In a 2007 interview with ABC News, Kiriakou said that waterboarding was used ? effectively ? to break down Zubaydah. But he expresses ambivalence about the use of waterboarding in general.
Kiriakou has worked as a consultant to ABC News, although he hasn't appeared on the network since early 2009. ABC had no comment on his arrest.
According to a court affidavit, the photographs of the CIA officer who participated in the Zubaydah interrogation were found in the possession of terrorist detainees at Guantanamo Bay.
The charges also accuse Kiriakou of lying about his actions in an effort to convince the CIA to let him publish a book, 2010's, "The Reluctant Spy: My Secret Life in the CIA's War on Terror."
Since leaving the agency, Kiriakou has worked as a consultant and on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, according to his LinkedIn profile. He earned a bachelor's degree in Middle Eastern studies in 1986 and a master's degree in legislative affairs in 1988, both from George Washington University in Washington.
The Justice Department's campaign to punish leakers has been unrelenting. This is the sixth criminal leak case opened under the Obama administration and the second involving a former CIA officer and The New York Times. Federal prosecutors claim Jeffrey Sterling divulged classified information to Times reporter James Risen about CIA efforts to thwart Iran's nuclear ambitions. Sterling is awaiting trial.
"Safeguarding classified information, including the identities of CIA officers involved in sensitive operations, is critical to keeping our intelligence officers safe and protecting our national security," said Attorney General Eric Holder. "Today's charges reinforce the Justice Department's commitment to hold accountable anyone who would violate the solemn duty not to disclose such sensitive information."
In light of the indictment, CIA Director David Petraeus reminded his agency's employees of the essential need for secrecy in their work.
"When we joined this organization, we swore to safeguard classified information; those oaths stay with us for life," he said "Unauthorized disclosures of any sort ? including information concerning the identities of other Agency officers ? betray the public trust, our country, and our colleagues."
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?Joe Philbin, former offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, speaks after being introduced as the head coach for the Miami Dolphins during an NFL football news conference, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Davie, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Joe Philbin, former offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, speaks after being introduced as the head coach for the Miami Dolphins during an NFL football news conference, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Davie, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Joe Philbin, former offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, center, shakes hands with Miami Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland, left, as majority owner Stephen Ross joins, after Philbin was introduced as the new head coach for the Dolphins during an NFL football news conference, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Davie, Fla. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Diane Philbin, second from left, wipes her eye as her husband Joe Philbin, former offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, speaks after being introduced as the head coach for the Miami Dolphins during an NFL news conference, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Davie, Fla. Also shown, from left, are the Philbin children Kevin, Colleen, Tim, John, and Matthew. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
Joe Philbin, former offensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, second from left, stands with his daughter Colleen after being introduced as the head coach for the Miami Dolphins during an NFL football news conference, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, in Davie, Fla. Also shown are Philbin's sons Matthew, right, John, second from right, and Tim. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)
DAVIE, Fla. (AP) ? Joe Philbin did a little math and determined he has been in the coaching profession for 10,061 days. He figures that gives him sufficient experience to lead the Miami Dolphins.
The former Green Bay Packers offensive coordinator was introduced as Miami's coach at a news conference Saturday. He says he has learned a lot in 28 years as an assistant and is optimistic he can succeed as a first-time head coach.
Philbin said his goal is to return the Dolphins to the top of the NFL, and he noted they haven't been there since 1973, the year of their most recent Super Bowl championship season.
Philbin had been with Green Bay since 2003, working as offensive coordinator since 2007 for one of the NFL's most prolific offenses.
Associated Press
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People watch the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. Rescuers on Sunday resumed searching the above-water section of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner, but choppy seas kept divers from exploring the submerged part, where officials have said there could be bodies. Civil protection officials said that until the waves slack off, divers would not swim into the submerged part of the vessel just off the port of Giglio, a tiny Island off the Tuscan coast. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
People watch the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. Rescuers on Sunday resumed searching the above-water section of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner, but choppy seas kept divers from exploring the submerged part, where officials have said there could be bodies. Civil protection officials said that until the waves slack off, divers would not swim into the submerged part of the vessel just off the port of Giglio, a tiny Island off the Tuscan coast. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
A ferry boat, right, sails past the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. Rescuers on Sunday resumed searching the above-water section of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner, but choppy seas kept divers from exploring the submerged part, where officials have said there could be bodies. Civil protection officials said that until the waves slack off, divers would not swim into the submerged part of the vessel just off the port of Giglio, a tiny Island off the Tuscan coast. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
Tourists stop and have a look at the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. Rescuers on Sunday resumed searching the above-water section of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner, but choppy seas kept divers from exploring the submerged part, where officials have said there could be bodies. Civil protection officials said that until the waves slack off, divers would not swim into the submerged part of the vessel just off the port of Giglio, a tiny Island off the Tuscan coast. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
A fisherman adjusts a net as the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia is seen in background, off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. Rescuers on Sunday resumed searching the above-water section of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner, but choppy seas kept divers from exploring the submerged part, where officials have said there could be bodies. Civil protection officials said that until the waves slack off, divers would not swim into the submerged part of the vessel just off the port of Giglio, a tiny Island off the Tuscan coast. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
John Heil, son of Barbara and Gerald Heil of White Bear Lake, Minn. both missing in the cruise ship Costa Concordia accident, talks on a cellphone in the port of Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012 Italy, Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. Rescuers on Sunday resumed searching the above-water section of the capsized Costa Concordia cruise liner, but choppy seas kept divers from exploring the submerged part, where officials have said there could be bodies. Civil protection officials said that until the waves slack off, divers would not swim into the submerged part of the vessel just off the port of Giglio, a tiny Island off the Tuscan coast. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
GIGLIO, Italy (AP) ? Unregistered passengers might have been aboard the stricken cruise liner that capsized off this Tuscan island, a top rescue official said Sunday, raising the possibility that the number of missing might be higher than the 20 previously announced.
Divers, meanwhile, pulled out a woman's body from the capsized Costa Concordia on Sunday, raising to 13 the number of people dead in the Jan. 13 accident.
Civil protection official Francesca Maffini told reporters the victim was wearing a life vest and was found in the rear of a submerged portion of a ship by a team of fire department divers. The unidentified body was being removed from the ship.
Earlier, Italian authorities raised the possibility that the real number of the missing was unknown because some unregistered passengers might have been aboard.
"There could have been X persons who we don't know about who were inside, who were clandestine" passengers aboard the ship, Franco Gabrielli, the national civil protection official in charge of the rescue effort, told reporters at a briefing on the island of Giglio, where the ship, with 4,200 people aboard rammed a reef and sliced open its hull on Jan. 13 before turning over on its side.
Gabrielli said that relatives of a Hungarian woman have told Italian authorities that she had telephoned them from aboard the ship and that they haven't heard from her since the accident. He said it was possible that a woman's body pulled from the wreckage by divers on Saturday might be that of the unregistered passenger.
But in addition to the body recovered on Sunday, the body found on Saturday and those of three men found a few days earlier, have yet to be identified, because the corpses were badly decomposed after so much time in the water.
Gabrielli said they have identified the other eight bodies: four French, an Italian, a Hungarian, a German and a Spanish national.
Until Sunday, authorities had said that 20 people are still missing.
The search had been halted for several hours early Sunday, after instrument readings indicated that the Concordia has shifted a bit on its precarious perch on a seabed just outside Giglio's port. A few meters (yards) away, the sea bottom drops off suddenly, by some 20-30 meters (65-100 feet), and if the Concordia should abruptly roll off its ledge, rescuers could be trapped inside.
When instrument data indicated the vessel had stabilized again, rescuers went back in, but only explored the above-water section and evacuation staging areas where survivors have indicated that people who did not make it into lifeboats during the chaotic evacuation could have remained.
Passengers were dining at a gala supper when the Concordia sailed close to Giglio and struck the reef, which is indicated on maritime and even tourist maps.
There are also fears that the Concordia's double-bottom fuel tanks could rupture in case of sudden shifting, spilling 2,200 metric tons (almost 500,000 million gallons) of heavy fuel into pristine sea around Giglio, which is part of a seven-island archipelago in some of the Mediterranean's most pristine waters and a prized fishing area.
But Gabrielli said pollutants found near the ship have been detergents and other substances, including chlorine, apparently from the wreck of the ship, which carried some 3,200 passengers and a crew of 1,000. Any fuel traces found were "compatible with what you find in a port," he said.
Ferries and cargo ships regularly call at Giglio's port.
Sophisticated oil-removal equipment has been standing by, waiting for the search-and-rescue operations to conclude before workers can start extracting the fuel in the tanks.
The Italian captain, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest as prosecutors investigate him for suspected manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship while many were still aboard.
Operator Costa Crociere, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Carnival Cruise Lines, has said that Capt. Schettino had deviated without permission from the vessel's route in an apparent maneuver to sail close to the island and impress passengers.
Schettino, despite audiotapes of his defying Coast Guard orders to scramble back aboard, has denied he abandoned ship while hundreds of passengers were desperately trying to get off the capsizing vessel. He has said he coordinated the rescue from aboard a lifeboat and then from the shore.
___
D'Emilio reported from Rome.
Associated Presssyracuse basketball minnesota timberwolves jr martinez melasma jimmy rollins jimmy rollins let it snow
Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/01/21/lifebook-2013-concept-a-single-convergence-device/
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Singer was seen in Park City at the red carpet for 'Ethel,' an upcoming HBO documentary.
By Josh Wigler
Taylor Swift attends the premiere of "Ethel" at Sundance on Friday
Photo: Jonathan Leibson/ Getty Images
PARK CITY, Utah — The Sundance Film Festival is no stranger to seeing masses of unexpected celebrities flocking to the snowy hills of Park City, but that didn't stop the surprise appearance of singer/songwriter Taylor Swift from attracting a crowd.
The "Back to December" singer hit Sundance on Friday (January 20) to attend the red-carpet premiere of "Ethel," the HBO documentary chronicling the life of Ethel Kennedy. Indeed, a grand total of 23 members of the Kennedy clan were on hand, including the documentary's director Rory, daughter of Ethel.
What exactly prompted Taylor's attendance at the "Ethel" red carpet? According to the musician herself in a recent interview with Vogue, Taylor had an encounter with the 83-year-old Ethel some weeks ago. Describing the woman as "effervescent," Taylor said the meeting with the wife of the late Robert Kennedy left her feeling "starstruck" for the first time in her life.
"The only time in my life I have ever been starstruck was meeting Caroline and Ethel Kennedy," she told the magazine. "I got to spend the afternoon with Ethel a couple of weeks ago. She is one of my favorites, because you look back at the pictures of her and Bobby, and they always look like they are having the most fun out of everybody. You know, 11 kids, all these exotic animals on their property. I've read a lot about them."
Taylor wasn't the only non-Kennedy who showed up to the "Ethel" red carpet. Sundance founder and legendary actor Robert Redford also hit the scene to show his appreciation and admiration for the project — and to pose for a few photos with Swift.
The 2012 Sundance Film Festival is officially under way, and the MTV Movies team is on the ground reporting on the hottest stars and the movies everyone will be talking about in the year to come. Keep it locked with MTV Movies for everything there is to know about Sundance.
Related Videos Related Photos Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677674/taylor-swift-sundance-ethel.jhtml
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As Yuka at the Clossette blog writes, a fridge triage box is a behavior modification system (really, just a bright green shoebox with a sign on it) that puts in plain sight and gathers in one place the foods you should reach for first. There are also other benefits:
It's actually kind of fun trying to come up with a recipe that combines as many of the ingredients in there as possible too. ... The box also helps curb the issue of buying an extra carton of milk when you already had one that was just hidden behind other stuff and it keeps my fridge looking tidy too.
For foods that would be good to go in your triage box, consider your habits (you know what you toss out the most) and this chart from the USDA (via Grist) of foods most often wasted:
I'm trying to cut down on my food waste too. If you have other tips for conserving food and wasting less, let's hear them in the comments.
Could a Fridge Triage Box Help You Stop Wasting Food and Money? | Clossette
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