Japan's Abe aims to polish reform credentials with TPP trade decision

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe appears poised to raise the curtain on Act Three of his "Abenomics" drama with a decision to join talks on a U.S.-led free trade pact, seen by some as a test of his appetite for vital economic reform.

Abe's first two acts - big spending and a push for hyper-easy monetary policy aimed at reviving the economy - have met little political opposition, since few vested interests are harmed.

The next installment on structural reform - or as Abe prefers to call it, the "Third Arrow" in his policy quiver - now looks likely to begin with a decision in coming weeks to join talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), Japanese media say.

Financial markets are taking the expected decision as a sign that Abe - not known as an economic reformer in the past - is committed to opening Japan's economy, even at the expense of supporters of his conservative party, including those in the powerful farming lobby.

"I think it is sort of a test case whether Abe can push through reforms against certain interests in favor of others," said Robert Feldman, chief economist at Morgan Stanley MUFG in Tokyo. "He's delivered on monetary policy, now he'll have delivered on a politically difficult reform."

Echoing that sentiment, Nomura Securities this week raised its forecast for the Nikkei share average to 14,500 by the end of this year from an earlier 12,500, mostly on TPP hopes. That suggests a rise of 28 percent from current levels.

Skeptics, however, questioned whether joining the trade talks would really signal Abe's commitment to economic reform.

"He wants to tick the right boxes politically. He wants to project the image of a reformer," said Aurelia George Mulgan, a professor of Japanese politics at the University of New South Wales. "Whether he has the convictions, beliefs and ability to deliver in the areas that are required for economic growth is a big question mark. My answer is 'No'," Mulgan said.

Abe's government is to unveil a growth and competitiveness strategy including deregulation steps in June, and optimists see a decision on TPP as a harbinger of further reforms needed to unlock growth in Japan's long-stagnant economy.

The International Monetary Fund has urged Japan to join the TPP and carry out other economic reforms, including cutting Japan's huge public debt, relaxing regulations that stifle growth in sectors such as healthcare, and changes in the labor market to allow more immigration and older-age employment.

CHINA STRATEGY?

Abe, 58, returned to Japan's top job after his Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) big election win in December.

Three months later, his voter ratings have risen to about 70 percent, a rare feat for a Japanese leader but a welcome sign for his party ahead of a poll in July for the upper house, where the ruling bloc lacks a majority. An election win would smooth the passage of legislation in parliament for Abe and keep him from becoming just one more revolving-door leader.

The 11 countries involved in the TPP talks, including the United States, Canada and Australia, which together account for 20 percent of global exports, have pledged to clinch a deal scrapping as many tariffs as possible. If Japan joins, it will face pressure not only to open up its agriculture market but service sectors such as insurance.

Abe's LDP had promised not to join the three-year-old TPP talks if that meant promising beforehand to scrap all tariffs.

That was never a real prerequisite. But Abe got political cover to join the talks at last week's summit with U.S. President Barack Obama, when the two leaders agreed that while all goods would be on the table for discussion, a prior pledge to scrap all tariffs was not needed just to start talking.

The joint statement referred to "trade sensitivities, such as certain agricultural products for Japan and certain manufactured products of the United States".

Japanese media said Abe had been expected to announce a decision as early as Thursday but will now take more time to soothe LDP worries about angering their supporters.

"The longer he leaves the decision, the more opposition will build," Mulgan said, noting Abe's two predecessors from the Democratic Party, now in opposition, had tried to join the talks but failed in the face of a rift in their own fractious party.

Japan's biggest business group, the Keidanren, has lobbied hard for TPP out of fear a failure to join would mean exporters fall further behind regional rivals, such as South Korea and China, while the country's powerful farm lobby is opposed.

Some experts, though, suggest a strategic desire to bolster the U.S.-Japan alliance in the face of a rising China may have more to do with Abe's motivation that any commitment to reform.

"This is Abe's way of spiting the Chinese without going to a war shrine," said Simon Evenett, a professor of international trade at St Gallen University in Switzerland.

During his 2001-2006 term, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi angered Beijing by visiting Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine for war dead, seen by China as a symbol of Japan's past militarism.

Others echoed that view. "I think the main goal is not what TPP could do to open Japan's economy ... The main goal is a strategic one of countering the Chinese," said Daniel Sneider at Stanford University's Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center.

How much economic impact joining TPP would have is unclear, and for sure, any effect will take time. "TPP alone may have a limited impact on GDP but it is significant taking into account (the positive impact on progress toward) other trade deals," said Yorizumi Watanabe, a professor at Keio University in Tokyo.

(Additional reporting by Alan Wheatley in London; Editing by Neil Fullick)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japans-abe-aims-polish-reform-credentials-tpp-trade-071317090--business.html

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Inbound Marketing Campaign Requires Patience | Internet ...

Inbound marketing is all the rage at the moment. It is the notion that you get customers to come to you, rather than you go out and find them. That has been a ?holy grail? for business for decades. Indeed, one of my favourite books is ?Getting Business To Come To You? which was published before much of this Internet malarkey had been invented. Wouldn?t it be marvellous if people just discovered your business, that you did not have to go out and promote yourself?

Just think of it ? no more cold calls, no more trudging round door-to-door, no more dreary networking meetings, no more stale exhibition halls. Instead, you just sit at your desk and the phone rings and the online cash register keeps on going ?ka-ching?.? It sounds a dream world, yet many online businesses are discovering that you can certainly reduce your marketing efforts if you use ?inbound marketing?, which means people come to you because they already know about you. But how?

The answer to inbound marketing is simply adding content to your web presence. The more web content you add, the more frequently you do it, then the greater the chances of people stumbling across your stuff as they wander the web. But each time I talk to businesses about that they say ?tried that, but it doesn?t really work?.

Yet, I can show them examples of businesses who have turned their marketing department into an online publishing business and who have seen significant growth as a result. I can give them links? to business blogs in tiny niche areas which have become the principal source of new business leads for those firms. Even so, business leaders still say to me ?tried it, but it didn?t work for us?.

However, new research from the folks at HubSpot now reveals why businesses think like that. The study involved over 5,000 companies who use the Internet to market their products and services, so it is substantial information. The research also includes input from over 250 business marketing experts, so the data is significant. And this is what it tells us:

Inbound Marketing Takes Six Months To Work

That?s right ? you are not going to start to see the benefits from any inbound marketing activity for around six months. True, the study did show that 17% of companies did get more traffic to their website in a few weeks, but for 68% of firms it was 7 months before anything happened. That?s over 200 days of relentless, continual adding content before most firms see anything happen in terms of additional interest in their online business.

Few business leaders want to wait that long. They are fuelled with the ?instant? online world we live in and expect to see additional traffic and new lead generation within weeks, if not days. They want to see a return on their investment in content production far sooner than the back end of the year.

The reason why so many businesses are saying ?we tried that, but it didn?t work? is because they are giving up too soon.

To be fair to HubSpot, they have always said that inbound marketing is a ?slow burn? ? indeed, they say they are surprised by the data, because it does show that some people do indeed get a rapid benefit from inbound marketing. The company has always preached patience.

So, what do you need to do in order to get business to come to you online?

Firstly, as the HubSpot research shows, the biggest benefit comes from blogging. And the companies who receive the most benefit blog EVERY DAY or MORE. So get your scribbling pens out?!

Secondly, the research confirms that you need regular ?calls to action? in order to benefit from inbound marketing.

So, if you don?t know how to organise them, please contact me?! Oh whoops ? there?s a call to action for you?!

But whatever you do ? be patient?! As this study shows, for the vast majority of people to benefit from inbound marketing it takes six or seven months. Inbound marketing is NOT a quick fix. But it certainly does lead business to come to you.

Source: http://www.grahamjones.co.uk/2013/blog/internet-marketing/inbound-marketing-campaign-requires-patience.html

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The Bachelorette Announcement, Premiere Dates Revealed!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/02/the-bachelorette-announcement-premiere-dates-revealed/

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Slow-moving snowstorm pummels Midwest, heads east

CHICAGO (AP) ? A slow-moving storm that has paralyzed parts of the nation's midsection for days with heavy, wet snow that strained power lines, clogged roadways and delayed hundreds of flights, dumped at least 6 inches of snow on western Michigan early Wednesday as it churned eastward.

The storm that made travel perilous from the Oklahoma Panhandle to the Great Lakes on Tuesday was expected to linger for another day over Chicago and parts of the Midwest. Up to a foot of snow was forecast for northern New England on Wednesday evening.

Up to 4 inches of wet, heavy snow smothered metro Chicago on Tuesday, while as much as 7 ? inches blanketed some northern suburbs, said Matt Friedlein, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in northern Illinois. A chilly rain kept city streets slick during the Wednesday morning commute.

Other parts of the Midwest were hit much harder, with more than 15 inches of snow in parts of Oklahoma, up to a foot in Kansas and up to 13? inches in Missouri. In Iowa, officials warned of hazardous travel conditions as temperatures fell and ice formed on snowy roads.

Keith Voss, manager of the Fareway Grocery in Centerville, Iowa, said he was planning to close up five hours early Tuesday because only a handful of customers had come in.

"The weather here has been really bad. They couldn't get here, most of them, if they wanted to," Voss said. "The town has been pretty rough traveling."

With the power out and an electric water pump silenced, Shannon Wickware and a house full of relatives in Woodward, Okla., which received 15 inches of snow Monday, had only to fetch a pile of snow from outside whenever they got thirsty.

"It's just snow. That's all we can see," Wickware said Tuesday. "We've been trying to melt snow and drinking that. And we've been just trying to keep the fire going."

The weather service said early Wednesday that 6 inches had fallen on Grand Haven and Muskegon in western Michigan, while some Detroit suburbs saw 4 inches of snow. The state's highest accumulations, totaling 5 to 8 inches, were forecast for the rural Thumb region, surrounded on three sides by Lake Huron.

Fueled by a strong low pressure system, the crescent-shape storm began Sunday in Texas, then headed north. On Monday, whiteout conditions made virtually all Texas Panhandle roads impassable, although primary roadways reopened Tuesday when the sun emerged and began to thaw ice and snow-packed surfaces. A hurricane-force gust of 75 mph was recorded in Amarillo, where 17 inches of snow fell. The heaviest snowfall was in Follett, Texas, with 21 inches.

The system, more common in early spring, contained so much moisture that it was difficult to forecast where it would rain or where it would snow ? or even if the snow would accumulate, Friedlein said.

At one point, snow fell at a rate of 1-2 inches per hour on the North Side of Chicago and northern counties, he said.

The blizzard came on the heels of another massive snowstorm last week, but experts cautioned that the snowpack now resting on the Plains would likely not bring sufficient relief after months of drought.

"If we get one more storm like this, with widespread 2 inches of moisture, we will continue to chip away at the drought," said meteorologist Mike Umscheid of the National Weather Service office in Dodge City. "But to claim the drought is over or ending is way too premature."

The Missouri Department of Transportation issued a rare "no travel" advisory, urging people to stay off highways except in case of a dire emergency. Conditions were so bad that snowplows slid into ditches, underlining the danger.

The weight of the snow strained power lines and cut electricity to more than 100,000 homes and businesses. Hospitals closed outpatient centers and urgent-care clinics. Early Wednesday, some 40,000 customers in Michigan were without power.

At least three deaths were blamed on the blizzard.

In the northwest Oklahoma town of Woodward, a person was killed after 15 inches of snow brought down part of a roof. The storm was also blamed for the deaths of two people who were killed in rollover crashes Monday on Interstate 70 in Kansas.

Heavy snow pulled down large trees and caused roofs to cave in at businesses in Belton and Warrensburg, Mo. In Columbia, a canopy over gas pumps collapsed at a convenience store.

By late Tuesday afternoon, airlines had canceled almost 500 flights at Chicago's O'Hare and Midway international airports. Some 100 flights were sidelined Wednesday, and yet more were delayed.

Many commuters appeared to heed warnings and either stayed home or left work early. Chicago train cars were half empty during the evening commute, and traffic on some expressways flowed as if it was Sunday afternoon.

"This is fabulous," said Mitzi Norton, 34, of suburban Elmwood Park, as she rode a train home. "I wish I drove."

___

Associated Press writers Don Babwin in Chicago, Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Texas, Josh Funk in Des Moines, Nomaan Merchant in Dallas, Jill Zeman Bleed and Kelly P. Kissel in Little Rock, Ark., Daniel Holtmeyer in Oklahoma City, Steve Paulson in Denver, Paul Davenport in Albuquerque, N.M., Roxana Hegeman in Wichita, Kan., and Seth Borenstein in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/slow-moving-snowstorm-pummels-midwest-heads-east-082250052.html

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Afghan cop drugs, kills 17 colleagues with Taliban help, official says

By Mirwais Harooni and Mustafa Andalib, Reuters

KABUL, Afghanistan ? An Afghan police officer drugged 17 colleagues and shot them dead on Wednesday with the aid of the Taliban, police said, the latest in a series of so-called "insider" or green-on-blue attacks involving Afghan security forces and the Taliban.

The attacks have undermined trust between coalition and Afghan forces who are under mounting pressure to contain the Taliban insurgency before most NATO combat troops withdraw by the end of 2014.

---

The killings, the worst in a string of similar attacks in recent months, occurred at a remote Afghan Local Police?outpost in the eastern province of Ghazni.

"An infiltrated local policeman first drugged all 17 of his comrades, and then called the Taliban and they together shot them all," the chief police detective for Ghazni, Mohammad Hassan, told Reuters.

Seven of the dead were new recruits still undergoing training, officials said.

Shah Marai / AFP - Getty Images

Afghan National Army soldiers investigate the scene following a suicide attack against a bus carrying Afghan army personnel in Kabul on Wednesday. The attacker was intercepted but still detonated his explosives and injured at least six.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message by spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid.

The rapidly growing ALP program is an American-designed initiative designed to recruit local men as security officers for their area.

The force has been beset by allegations of abuse and widespread corruption.

In September, Afghanistan suspended the training of new?local police?recruits following a spate of insider attacks on foreign soldiers.

Related:

Afghan president orders US forces out of key province

10 Afghan police officers killed in suicide attack

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/27/17118260-afghan-cop-drugs-shoots-17-colleagues-with-taliban-help-official-says?lite

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Zumba Prostitution Trial: Explicit Photos From Computer Would 'Horrify' Jury, Defense Claims

ALFRED, Maine -- The judge in the trial of an insurance agent accused of helping a fitness instructor use her Zumba studio as a front for prostitution is giving jurors a respite from testimony to address several motions, including a request to toss the remaining 13 counts.

Justice Nancy Mills must decide whether the defendant's rights trump a state law that bars release of investigators' personnel files, and she must decide how much porn jurors will see.

There's also a motion to dismiss remaining counts against Mark Strong Sr., whose lawyer have accused prosecutors of missing deadlines for turning over discovery documents in the high-profile case.

Those issues were to be discussed Tuesday morning.

Testimony on Monday focused largely on 86 items seized from Strong's Thomaston home and business in July, about five months after police raided Wright's home, studio and office in Kennebunk on Valentine's Day last year.

Saco Police Detective Frederick Williams, who reviewed seized hard drives, said Strong deleted all the email from his office computer on Feb. 15, 2012, a day after investigators raided Wrights studio, office and home.

He also said he found spreadsheets, tax documents and snapshots from Skype video chats on Strong's computer and on computer equipment belonging to fitness instructor Alex Wright, who's accused of using her Zumba studio as a front for prostitution.

Jurors weren't told of sexually explicit images on Strong's computer that prosecutors contend show he knew about the prostitution. The defense said showing the panel the more than 500 photos would be prejudicial.

"It's going to horrify some of these people to the point (Strong) is not going to be able to get a fair verdict," defense lawyer Daniel Lilley told the judge while the jury was out of earshot.

The prostitution scandal attracted international attention after it was reported that Wright had ledgers indicating she made $150,000 over 18 months and had more than 150 clients, some of them prominent.

Both Strong and Wright have pleaded not guilty. Wright will be tried later for dozens of charges that include prostitution and tax violations.

___

Follow David Sharp at http://twitter.com/David_Sharp_AP

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/26/zumba-prostitution-trial-mark-strong_n_2764478.html

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Chinese pro hackers don't work weekends

Christopher Bodeen , The Associated Press ? ? ? 7 hrs.

Beijing hotly denies accusations of official involvement in massive cyberattacks against foreign targets, insinuating such activity is the work of rogues. But at least one piece of evidence cited by experts points to professional cyberspies: China's hackers don't work weekends.

Accusations of state-sanctioned hacking took center stage this past week following a detailed report by a U.S.-based Internet security firm Mandiant. It added to growing suspicions that the Chinese military is not only stealing national defense secrets and harassing dissidents but also pilfering information from foreign companies that could be worth millions or even billions of dollars.

Experts say Chinese hacking attacks are characterized not only by their brazenness, but by their persistence.

"China conducts at least an order of magnitude more than the next country," said Martin Libicki, a specialist on cyber warfare at the Rand Corporation, based in Santa Monica, California. The fact that hackers take weekends off suggests they are paid, and that would belie "the notion that the hackers are private," he said.

Libicki and other cyber warfare experts have long noted a Monday-through-Friday pattern in the intensity of attacks believed to come from Chinese sources, though there has been little evidence released publicly directly linking the Chinese military to the attacks.

Mandiant went a step further in its report Tuesday saying that it had traced hacking activities against 141 foreign entities in the U.S. Canada, Britain and elsewhere to a group of operators known as the "Comment Crew" or "APT1," for "Advanced Persistent Threat 1," which it traced back to the People's Liberation Army Unit 61398. The unit is headquartered in a nondescript 12-story building inside a military compound in a crowded suburb of China's financial hub of Shanghai.

Attackers stole information about pricing, contract negotiations, manufacturing, product testing and corporate acquisitions, the company said.

Hacker teams regularly began work, for the most part, at 8 a.m. Beijing time. Usually they continued for a standard work day, but sometimes the hacking persisted until midnight. Occasionally, the attacks stopped for two-week periods, Mandiant said, though the reason was not clear.

China denies any official involvement, calling such accusations "groundless" and insisting that Beijing is itself a major victim of hacking attacks, the largest number of which originate in the U.S. While not denying hacking attacks originated in China, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Thursday that it was flat out wrong to accuse the Chinese government or military of being behind them.

Mandiant and other experts believe Unit 61398 to be a branch of the PLA General Staff's Third Department responsible for collection and analysis of electronic signals such as e-mails and phone calls. It and the Fourth Department, responsible for electronic warfare, are believed to be the PLA units mainly responsible for infiltrating and manipulating computer networks.

China acknowledges pursuing these strategies as a key to delivering an initial blow to an opponent's communications and other infrastructure during wartime ? but the techniques are often the same as those used to steal information for commercial use.

Office hours
China has consistently denied state-sponsored hacking, but experts say the office hours that the cyberspies keep point to a professional army rather than mere hobbyists or so-called "hacktivists" inspired by patriotic passions.

Mandiant noticed that pattern while monitoring attacks on the New York Times last year blamed on another Chinese hacking group it labeled APT12. Hacker activity began at around 8:00 a.m. Beijing time and usually lasted through a standard workday.

The Rand Corporation's Libicki said he wasn't aware of any comprehensive studies, but that in such cases, most activity between malware embedded in a compromised system and the malware's controllers takes place during business hours in Beijing's time zone.

Richard Forno, director of the University of Maryland Baltimore County's graduate cybersecurity program, and David Clemente, a cybersecurity expert with independent analysis center Chatham House in London, said that observation has been widely noted among cybersecurity specialists.

"It would reflect the idea that this is becoming a more routine activity and that they are quite methodical," Clemente said.

The PLA's Third Department is brimming with resources, according to studies commissioned by the U.S. government, with 12 operation bureaus, three research institutes, and an estimated 13,000 linguists, technicians and researchers on staff. It's further reinforced by technical teams from China's seven military regions spread across the country, and by the military's vast academic resources, especially the PLA University of Information Engineering and the Academy of Military Sciences.

The PLA is believed to have made cyber warfare a key priority in its war-fighting capabilities more than a decade ago. Among the few public announcements of its development came in a May 25, 2011 news conference by Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng, in which he spoke of developing China's "online" army.

"Currently, China's network protection is comparatively weak," Geng told reporters, adding that enhancing information technology and "strengthening network security protection are important components of military training for an army."

Unit 61398 is considered just one of many such units under the Third Department responsible for hacking, according to experts.

Greg Walton, a cyber-security researcher who has tracked Chinese hacking campaigns, said he's observed the "Comment Crew" at work, but cites as equally active another Third Department unit operating out of the southwestern city of Chengdu. It is tasked with stealing secrets from Indian government security agencies and think tanks, together with the India-based Tibetan Government in Exile, Walton said.

Another hacking outfit believed by some to have PLA links, the "Elderwood Group," has targeted defense contractors, human rights groups, non-governmental organizations, and service providers, according to computer security company Symantec.

It's believed to have compromised Amnesty International's Hong Kong website in May 2012, although other attacks have gone after targets as diverse as the Council on Foreign Relations and Capstone Turbine Corporation, which makes gas microturbines for power plants.

Civilian departments believed to be involved in hacking include those under the Ministry of Public Security, which commands the police, and the Ministry of State Security, one of the leading clandestine intelligence agencies. The MSS is especially suspected in attacks on foreign academics studying Chinese social issues and unrest in the western regions of Tibet and Xinjiang.

Below them on the hacking hierarchy are private actors, including civilian universities and research institutes, state industries in key sectors such as information technology and resources, and college students and other individuals acting alone or in groups, according to analysts, University of Maryland's Forno said.

China's government isn't alone in being accused of cyber espionage, but observers say it has outpaced its rivals in using military assets to steal commercial secrets.

"Stealing secrets is stealing secrets regardless of the medium," Forno said. "The key difference is that you can't easily arrest such electronic thieves since they're most likely not even in the country, which differs from how the game was played during the Cold War."

? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/china-hackers-seen-increasingly-professional-dont-work-weekends-1C8543779

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Year after Trayvon Martin's death, ?stand your ground? survives

College student Jajuan Kelley covers his mouth with a Skittles wrapper as he rallies against stand your ground??

One year after 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was shot and killed by an armed neighborhood watchman, setting off a national debate about race and gun laws, the campaign to change state self-defense laws in Martin's name has petered out.

George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer facing second-degree murder charges, said he shot Martin in self defense last Feb. 25 after he decided to follow him in the Sanford, Fla., gated community because Martin looked suspicious. Zimmerman called the police and then approached Martin, and they ended up in a physical fight. Zimmerman, saying he feared for his life, then shot Martin. He was not charged with a crime for several weeks, and his defense attorneys argue he's immune from prosecution under Florida's "stand your ground" law.

The incident led immediately to scrutiny of the law, which is on the books of 20 states in various forms. Basically, "stand your ground" says that people can use lethal force against an attacker without first attempting to retreat if they have reason to fear for their lives. Most states already allowed people to defend themselves in this way if they're attacked at home, but "stand your ground" went a step further to cover all public places.

A Tampa Bay Times analysis of 200 "stand your ground" cases in Florida?the law was adopted there in 2005?found that the law has been inconsistently applied, with one man escaping homicide prosecution even though he left an altercation to get his gun from his car, returned, and then shot the attacker.

After the Martin shooting and subsequent uproar, a coalition of civil rights groups and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the nation's highest-profile gun control advocate, started a campaign, called "Second Chance on Shoot First," to encourage the repeal of these laws. Soon after, Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, appointed a task force to study the law. Meanwhile, lawmakers in at least five states with "stand your ground" laws introduced legislation to alter or repeal their laws.

But not much has happened since then on the state level. And last Friday, the Florida task force released its final recommendations on the law, concluding that it works and should not be repealed. (The task force did recommend that prosecutors and law enforcement officers should receive increased training on the law to make sure it is applied consistently.)

In addition, none of the bills to repeal or change "stand your ground" in other states passed.

However, the conversation started by Martin's death may have served to stop state and federal legislators from passing more permissive gun laws that were in the works, says Adam Winkler, a constitutional law expert at UCLA. For example, a federal bill to allow people with concealed weapons to take them to other states that allow concealed carry died out after passing in the House.

"Trayvon Martin really stalled the move for more permissive gun laws," Winkler said. "Newtown ended it."

Since the Dec. 14 mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., Bloomberg and other high-profile gun control advocates have moved away from concealed carry and self-defense issues, and instead focused on encouraging specific reforms on the national level. Lawmakers are focusing on closing loopholes that allow some to avoid background checks before purchasing a weapon, banning high-capacity magazines, and banning some semi-automatic weapons.

Allie L. Braswell, the president and CEO of the Central Florida Urban League, which has worked to encourage the repeal of "stand your ground," said he was "disappointed" that the task force did not release stronger recommendations.

"This law gives people more leeway than I had on the battlefield as a United States Marine," Braswell, a veteran of the Gulf War, said. "When I was engaged in Iraq ... we could not fire until fired upon."

He acknowledged that the issue of repealing "stand your ground" has faded into the background.

"I think it's lost some of its support, unfortunately," Braswell said.

A judge will decide whether Zimmerman is immune from prosecution under "stand your ground" at a special hearing April 22.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/stand-ground-laws-survive-debate-one-trayvon-martin-120048105.html

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Mathieu: Honesty?is 'best friend'

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If the Ravens want to make Joe Flacco the highest paid quarterback in the NFL, and if Flacco is satisfied to barely clear the bar set last year by Saints quarterback Drew Brees, there?s a quick and easy way to get this contract done.

Using Brees? 2012 contract as the starting point, Flacco would get a $40 million signing bonus, a fully-guaranteed base salary of $5 million in 2013, and base salaries of $10 million in 2014, $13 million in 2015, $15 million in 2016, and $18 million in 2017.

Under the rules of signing-bonus proration, $8 million would be applied to each year?s salary cap.? That would result in a cap number of $13 million in 2013, $18 million in 2014, $21 million in 2015, $23 million in 2016, and $26 million in 2017.

It equates to a five-year payout of $101 million ? $1 million better than Brees and, for now, making Flacco the highest-paid quarterback in the NFL.

The two sides would have to decide whether and to what extent the money due beyond 2013 would be guaranteed, for injury only or fully.? Last year, Brees received $40 million in the first year, with $20 million guaranteed for injury only in future years.? (The injury guarantees eventually convert to full guarantees.)

The cap number in the final year would be a potential problem for the Ravens, since Flacco presumably would have one more long-term contract left before retirement.? Specifically, the $26 million cap number in 2017 would translate to a franchise tag of $31.2 million in 2018.? Thus, it would make more sense for the Ravens to tack on a sixth year at a base salary of, say, $21 million.

This would keep the average north of $20 million per year and it would give the Ravens a more manageable franchise number of $25.2 million for 2019.

Is it really that simple?? Yes, it is.? Which means that it likely won?t happen this way.

Even though it could be worked out in a matter of hours.? Or, if both sides are truly motivated, a matter of minutes.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2013/02/24/mathieu-my-best-friend-right-now-is-honesty/related/

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Pope changes conclave rules, says cardinals can move up date of vote if all cardinals in Rome

Playing off his?pre-Oscars prediction?that everyone would hate him at the Oscars, Seth MacFarlane spent the first 19 minutes of the Academy Awards on Sunday making sure everyone would, in fact, hate him.?After some real stinkers, the main conceit was William Shatner descending on a screen as Captain Kirk, from the future, to tell MacFarlane to do a better job of hosting, in a kind of alternate-reality bit that turned pretty sordid?and pretty fast. ...

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-changes-conclave-rules-says-cardinals-move-date-115521997.html

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26-year-old man named as suspect in Vegas shooting

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? The black SUV used as a getaway car in a pre-dawn shooting and crash that killed an aspiring rapper in a Maserati and two people in a taxi on the Las Vegas Strip was found Saturday as police named a 26-year-old man as the prime suspect.

Ammar Harris was being sought in connection with the shooting and six-vehicle chain-reaction carnage Thursday on the neon-lit boulevard near the Bellagio, Caesars Palace, Bally's and Flamingo resorts, police said.

"His location is unknown," police Capt. Chris Jones said of Harris, who sometimes goes by the name Ammar Asim Faruq Harris. Police say he has been arrested for working as a pimp.

Police released a photo that was taken when Harris was arrested last year on pandering, kidnapping, sexual assault and coercion charges. The disposition of that case was not immediately known.

The photo shows Harris with tattoos on his right cheek and words on his neck above an image that appeared to depict an owl with blackened eyes. Jones warned that Harris should be considered armed and dangerous.

Police had been searching for the black Range Rover, with blackout windows and distinctive black rims, since it was last seen speeding from the shooting. It was located at an apartment complex just a couple of blocks east of the neon-lit boulevard, and was impounded as evidence, Jones said.

The shooting killed aspiring rapper Kenneth Wayne Cherry Jr., who was driving a dark gray Maserati that was peppered by gunfire from the SUV. Taxi driver Michael Boldon and passenger Sandra Sutton-Wasmund, of Maple Valley, Wash., died when the Maserati hit their taxi, which exploded in flames.

Boldon, 62, was a family man who moved from Michigan to Las Vegas. Sutton-Wasmund, 48, was a businesswoman and mother of three.

A passenger in the Maserati was wounded in the arm and four people from four other vehicles were treated for non-life-threatening injuries. The Maserati passenger was cooperating with investigators. His name hasn't been made public.

The shocking chain of events had family members and friends in Las Vegas, California, Michigan and Washington trying to grasp the blink-of-an-eye finality of it all.

"My son was a good boy," Kenneth Cherry Sr. told reporters Saturday in a news conference convened by Las Vegas lawyers Vicki Greco and Robert Beckett.

Beckett said they wanted to respond to rumors that the 27-year-old son ? who produced a rap video using the name Kenny Clutch ? was a gangster and a troublemaker. The attorneys had represented his son, and now represent his estate and the family.

"My son was a victim just like the two people in that taxi," Kenneth Cherry Sr. said. "Trouble found him. The people in the taxicab, trouble found them."

Court records show Cherry had no criminal cases or convictions in Las Vegas, and police said there was no record of arrests.

The Clark County coroner determined that Kenny Cherry died of at least one gunshot to the chest. Boldon and Sutton-Wasmund died of injuries in the crash. All three deaths were ruled homicides.

Police say the shooting appeared to stem from an argument at the valet area of the upscale Aria resort-casino about a block south of the crash scene. The shooting happened after a night featuring Morocco-born rapper French Montana at Aria nightclub Haze.

Cherry's parents live in Emeryville, Calif., and the father said his son's body would be taken back to Oakland. He said his son started a music career there and was recognized by other rappers within a West Coast hip-hop strain called hyphy.

Cherry wasn't well-known in wider music circles, according to Chuck Creekmur, CEO of AllHipHop.com.

Kenny Clutch's YouTube music video, "Stay Schemin," shows scenes of hotels along the Strip as he sings about paying $120,000 for his Maserati.

"One mistake change lives all in one night," he raps in one verse.

Kenneth Cherry Sr., who said he runs a cellphone business, said he helped his son make payments on the Maserati. He said he last spoke to him on Wednesday, when they talked about the high cost of the son's cellphone use.

Cherry Sr. described his son as an entrepreneur but didn't say how he made money or if he had jobs other than his music production.

Boldon's family in Las Vegas was struggling to cope with his death, said Tehran Boldon, the taxi driver's younger brother.

Boldon's sister, Carolyn Jean Trimble, said Boldon was a father, a grandfather and a car race enthusiast who drove a Mercedes when he wasn't in a cab. He owned a clothing store in Detroit and worked at a car dealership, his sister said, and drove taxis after moving to Las Vegas about 1? years ago.

The irony that a man with a taste for beautiful cars was killed by a sports car wasn't lost on Trimble.

"He would be tickled to death: 'Damn, of all things, a Maserati hit me, took me out like that,'" she said. "I'm happy he didn't suffer."

In Washington, Sutton-Wasmund co-owned a dress shop, said Debbie Tvedt, the office manager for a Maple Valley plumbing company that Sutton-Wasmund started with her husband, James Wasmund. Sutton-Wasmund was in Las Vegas attending a trade show with her business partner.

"It's a big loss," Tvedt said in a telephone interview with AP.

The Maple Valley-Black Diamond Chamber of Commerce website said Sutton-Wasmund was a board member from 2004 to 2011 before becoming a marketing representative.

A phone message left for James Wasmund was not immediately returned.

The famously glowing, always-open Las Vegas Strip was closed for some 15 hours after the crash. Nevada Highway Patrol Sgt. Eric Kemmer recalled a similarly long closure after the 1996 drive-by slaying of rapper Tupac Shakur.

That shooting ? involving assailants opening fire on Shakur's luxury sedan from a vehicle on Flamingo Road ? happened about a block away from Thursday's crash.

The Shakur killing has never been solved.

___

Associated Press writers Michelle Rindels in Las Vegas, Garance Burke in San Francisco, Kathy McCarthy in Seattle and AP Music Writer Mesfin Fekadu in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/26-old-man-named-suspect-vegas-shooting-031840040.html

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Battle of the chefs on golf course during festival

Chef Jose Andres poses for photos in his food station on the Miami Beach, Fla. golf course, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. Nearly a dozen A-list chefs took to the links early Saturday during the South Beach Wine and Food Festival for a battle of the chefs during a golf tournament hosted by Andres. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Chef Jose Andres poses for photos in his food station on the Miami Beach, Fla. golf course, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. Nearly a dozen A-list chefs took to the links early Saturday during the South Beach Wine and Food Festival for a battle of the chefs during a golf tournament hosted by Andres. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Nania G, from the "Bitchin' Kitchen" offered fellow chefs and golfers her take on "sloppy joes" sliders at her food station in Miami Beach, Fla. Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, during a golf tournament. Jose Andres, Todd English, Ming Tsai and Alex Guarnaschelli are among the roster of A-list chefs taking to the links during the South Beach Wine and Food Festival. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Chef Jose Andres tees-off during a Miami Beach, Fla. golf tournament Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. Nearly a dozen A-list chefs took to the links early Saturday during the South Beach Wine and Food Festival for a battle of the chefs during a golf tournament. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Paco, from Jose Andres' cafe, The Bazaar, holds a sliver of Iberico Bellota Ham, offered to golfers as they pass his food station at a Miami Beach golf tournament, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013. Jose Andres, Todd English, Ming Tsai and Alex Guarnaschelli are among the roster of A-list chefs taking to the links during the South Beach Wine and Food Festival. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Paco, from Jose Andres' cafe, The Bazaar, offers golfers at a golfers at a Miami Beach golf tournament, Saturday, Feb. 23, 2013, slivers of Iberico Bellota Ham as they pass his food station on the course. Jose Andres, Todd English, Ming Tsai and Alex Guarnaschelli are among the roster of A-list chefs taking to the links during the South Beach Wine and Food Festival. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

AVENTURA, Fla. (AP) ? What do you get when a group of celebrity chefs move from the kitchen to the fairway following a long ? and late ? night of wine and burgers on South Beach?

"I'm clearly not the future of golf," tweeted Alex Guarnaschelli after one swing.

"Watch out Tiger, here I come!" Jose Andres said in Spanish after teeing off.

Nearly a dozen A-list chefs took to the links early Saturday during the South Beach Wine and Food Festival for a golf tournament hosted by Andres. He, too, admitted to staying out late the night before and "seeing the sun come up on the horizon."

"That's not the way chefs usually behave," the Spanish chef said. "But we need to play with the stereotypes."

Andres recently opened The Bazaar, the new hot spot at the SLS Hotel South Beach that handed out fruit push-pops and coconut sorbet to the players. Also on hand were mimosas and whiskey, cigars, and plenty of food.

Sloppy Gino sliders made with fresh ground chuck and "atomic cheese" were prepared on site by Nadia G, the host of Cooking Channel's "Bitchin' Kitchen."

"This is a fun, from scratch spin on an Americana dish," she said of the bite-size sliders.

Back on the green, Tim Love ? chef and owner of The Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in Fort Worth, Texas ? said he enjoys the "athletic stuff" during the festival. (He was sore from playing in a celebrity chef volleyball tournament held by Spike Mendelsohn on Friday).

"I like getting out and doing stuff. If I don't, I just end up getting hammered," he said as he waited for his partner to play (no drink in hand). "That's going to happen, but at least I won't feel so bad about myself if I get some steps."

The chefs ? including Ming Tsai, Edward Lee, Cesare Casella and Jeremy Sewall ? were joined by Miami Heat's Alonzo Mourning, who said he "was looking forward to meeting them" at the end of the 18-hole round.

"I'm going to win," Andres predicted. "I know it's going to look like, because I'm the host, that will be kind of political. But I'm so good, I'm going to win."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-02-23-Food-South-Beach-Golfing-Chefs/id-683ada327e8d49b5b9a18aabf24a0bad

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Mobile Miscellany: week of February 18th, 2013

If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought confirmation of Pantech's next phone for Verizon, legal battles over the airwaves in India and a new smartphone to Virgin Mobile. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the "best of the rest" for this week of February 18th, 2013.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/23/mobile-miscellany/

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iPad mini vs. Galaxy Note 8.0 hands on!

Phil Nickinson and Alex Dobie of are on the ground at Mobile World Congress, and they've just gone hands-on with the all new Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, a tablet that sits roughly between the iPad 4 and iPad mini in size, but boasts the Wacom-style digitizer-gone-mobile that Samsung's Note line is famous four. Since we're all one big happy Mobile Nations family, Phil and Alex also brought along their iPad mini so they could put the two competitors head-to-head.

As we?ve been saying for a while, we?re slowly becoming convinced that the 7-to-8-inch form factor represents the sweet spot for tablets. We've only spent a short time with it, but the Note 8.0 seems to be a promising entry from Samsung in this category -- though we've still yet to learn how much it'll cost. The device is due to launch internationally in Q2 in 3G, Wifi-only and 4G flavors.

So sit back, relax, grab a tasty beverage, and hit play. Then go check out all the rest of the Galaxy Note 8.0 coverage at Android Central, and tell me what you think. How does the Note 8.0 stack up to the iPad mini for you?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/YMveNJ1JhyQ/story01.htm

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Horse meat in US? Unlikely, but tests are rare

Leonhard Foeger / Reuters

An employee of the microbiological laboratory of the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety prepares a sample of minced meat in Vienna this week. The samples of minced meat are tested for the presence of horse meat as a precaution. United States officials say it's highly unlikely the scandal will reach U.S. consumers.

By JoNel Aleccia, Staff Writer, NBC News

Europe?s scandal over horse meat hidden in beef products -- including recalls of Nestle ravioli and Birds Eye chili con carne -- has renewed questions about whether Americans unwittingly could be eating equine products as well.

U.S. Department of Agriculture regulators say it?s highly unlikely that beef adulterated with horse meat could make it to the nation?s dinner plates because no domestic suppliers currently slaughter horses and the agency has strict labeling and inspection standards for imported meat.

But agency officials also acknowledge privately that species testing for meat imported into the U.S. is performed typically only when there?s a reason to question a shipment.

And a Florida company that supplies the only validated tests for horse meat in food has been slammed with nearly 1,000 requests in recent weeks for its $500 kits -- including orders from major U.S. meat producers.

?It?s becoming a little hectic,? said Natalie Rosskopf, administrative director of Elisa Technologies Inc. of Gainesville. ?There was no call for horse testing a month ago. Nothing.?

Continental Europe has been roiled recently by reports of horse meat masquerading as beef in frozen burgers and prepared foods, including frozen dinners and pastas. This week, Nestle announced it was removing chilled pasta products produced by a German supplier, including Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini, from stores in Italy and Spain, and a lasagna product from France. On Friday, frozen food maker Birds Eye said it would withdraw products including chili con carne from Britain and Ireland because tests detected traces of horse DNA.

The trouble with horse meat hidden in beef is partly a health concern. Meats taken from store shelves in Britain and Germany had traces of a powerful equine painkiller, phenylbutazone, or ?bute,? which is banned in animals destined for human food, tests showed.

But it?s also about trust, especially in the U.S., where many shudder at the mere thought of eating horse meat and the deception would raise even more suspicion about a company?s practices.

?If a company is willing to commit fraud, I can?t imagine that food safety is the biggest thing on their agenda,? said Bill Marler, a Seattle lawyer and food safety expert who publishes a blog focused on the industry.

In fact, boneless beef adulterated with horse meat -- and with kangaroo -- did make it to the U.S. more than 30 years ago, when mislabeled meat from Australia led to the impounding and testing of 66 million pounds of the product, according to old USDA records found and posted by Marler.

Known as the ?Australian meat incident,? the beef substitution scandal prompted swift action and increased scrutiny by agency officials.

USDA officials couldn?t quickly produce records of species testing results in the past 30 years -- or even the past year -- but they say the possibility of that happening again is remote. The U.S. neither slaughters horses nor imports horse meat from other countries, and it doesn?t allow import of beef from the countries and companies involved in the European scandal, an official told NBC News. (He was speaking on background because he said he wasn?t authorized to discuss the issue.)

In addition, USDA inspectors look at every shipment of meat sent through U.S. ports and can demand species testing if anything is amiss, documents show.

Officials with the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees processed foods, said that they had detected no horse meat in imported or U.S.-made food.?

?We have no past record or current indication that horse meat is an ingredient in any FDA-regulated processed foods in the U.S.,? Jalil Isa, an FDA spokesman, said in an email. He added that FDA officials are reaching out to Nestle and Birds Eye to ensure that no adulterated food was sent to the U.S. Nestle has said no U.S. products use meat from European sources.

Birds Eye Iglo U.K. products have no connection to the Birds Eye brand in the U.S., which is owned by Pinnacle Foods, and isn?t affiliated with the U.K. supplier.

Producers such as the meat giant Cargill say they don?t import beef from plants that also slaughter horses, or from the companies and suppliers implicated in the European scandal, and they remain confident that their meat is free of adulteration.

?Cargill?s beef supply chain is shorter than those involved in the horse meat issue in Europe and we know, and work directly with, our suppliers, which minimizes the potential for fraudulent substitution of products,? Cargill spokesman Mike Martin told NBC News in an email.

Still, the problems in Europe could prompt renewed scrutiny, he added.

?We do not analyze for other species and are assessing the current situation to determine if this is something we might do in the future,? Martin said.

If they do, they?ll have to turn to Elisa Technologies for the horse species test, said Rosskopf. The company?s meat species kits, which verify animal proteins in raw and cooked meat samples, have been used for years by the USDA and by private firms, she said.

Before the discovery in Europe of horse meat in beef, the firm?s typical demand was for tests for more common species, for instance, to confirm that no pork was present in kosher meat, Rosskopf said. Now, meat suppliers mostly in Europe, but also in the U.S., have been clamoring for the equine test.

Have there been any positive tests so far?

?I can?t say,? said Rosskopf, noting that the company is known for its adherence to confidentiality agreements.

Of course, putting horse meat on the dinner table is common in many countries, including France, Canada, Mexico and Japan, to name a few. And it?s not unheard of on American menus, either. Slaughterhouses that produced horse meat for human consumption were in operation in the U.S. until 2007, when the last three of a one-time high of 16 or 17 plants closed under state and federal pressure.

Congress effectively banned the practice then by refusing to fund USDA inspections of the slaughterhouses. Those efforts were fueled by vocal anti-slaughter activists who regarded the practice as inhumane.

The arrangement stayed in place until 2011, when the Obama administration quietly lifted the restriction, partly out of concern for the neglect of horses in the U.S. and the treatment of horses that were shipped to Canada and Mexico to be killed.

The U.S. exported more than 46,000 metric tons of horse meat in 1990, a figure that fell to about 5,600 metric tons in 2007, when the ban was enacted, industry figures show.

Wyoming state Rep. Sue Wallis is trying to reinstate horse slaughter in the U.S. and to build a new source for the meat in America and abroad.

Her application is among those pending with the USDA to open horse slaughterhouses in Missouri, Iowa and New Mexico. The firms would produce what she and other advocates call ?cheval,? horse meat that she said is prized by gourmet cooks and health enthusiasts for its taste and lean profile. Plus, Wallis said, horse meat is generally about 40 percent cheaper than beef.

?There are plenty of people in America who have no problem with cheval and are anxiously awaiting our product,? she said.

Related stories:

Source: http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/22/17059607-horse-meat-unlikely-on-us-dinner-plates-but-testing-is-rare?lite

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Italian designers celebrate sartorial craft at Milan shows

MILAN (Reuters) - Italian designers put craftsmanship before reckless glamour at the Milan fashion week, in a bid to defend their tailoring tradition in the face of global competition.

Fashion houses PPR's Bottega Veneta, Roberto Cavalli and Ermanno Scervino on Saturday proposed sculpted flannel coats and steel-embroidered dresses for their 2013-14 autumn-winter collections.

"I am based in Florence because this is where I find a know-how that I don't find anywhere else," Scervino told Reuters in the backstage of his packed show.

Both Scervino and Cavalli dedicated their events to Florence, a city famous for its artisanal leather goods, also the signature lines of Italian fashion giants Salvatore Ferragamo and Gucci.

"What does art represent for a Florentine? A sense of place, a form of nostalgia, a necessity, a consequence," Cavalli said in a statement to accompany his show, attended by American singer Janet Jackson.

The Florence-based designer, known for his leather-fringed dresses in animal prints, said he was inspired by floral motifs by 16th century painter Caravaggio for his classic collection.

The city of Florence was also projected on the backdrop of Scervino's catwalk, where models wore masculine grey flannel coats cut close to the waist to add femininity.

Tomas Maier, creative director at Bottega Veneta, cut vertical lines into thick flannel coats to add movement to the sculpted forms.

"The collection is about proportion, precision, ease, and the simple beauty of the material," Maier said in a statement.

Bottega Veneta, whose "intrecciato" woven leather bags are priced from around 5,000 euros, also explores new uses of fabric to make unique pieces.

Italian fashion houses, the world's biggest producers of luxury goods with France, are renowned for their craftsmanship but they are facing a shortage of skilled workers which is putting their historic brands at a competitive disadvantage with low-cost production centres.

At the same time, cheaper production centres in Asia and Africa are improving as buyers from developing economies develop a taste for high-quality goods.

(Reporting by Antonella Ciancio; Editing by Rosalind Russell)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italian-designers-celebrate-sartorial-craft-milan-shows-173813699--finance.html

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Aromatherapy App - EssenceHealth full, Aromatic Healing

Aromatherapy has a long history of being used to improve the physical and emotional well being of people. The EssenceHealth full iPad app gives a great introduction into the 28 essential oils used in aromatherapy. This Healthcare & Fitness app provides interesting history and practical information on the ?what, why, and how? of using aromatherapy. Discover why plants like basil, orange blossom, cypress, eucalyptus, lavander, jasmine, sandalwood, and rose are so beneficial to improving your ?mind, body, and spirit.?

This Healthcare & Fitness app has a clean, uncluttered, and excellent user interface. It also comes with quality photos to give you a realistic view at nature?s healing ingredients. The content in this aromatherapy app is divided into a sleek 3-part navigation: Introduction, Essences, and Search. The EssenceHealth full app explains the history of essential oils, what they are, how to apply them, and how they effect your body?s senses.

In the Introduction area, you?ll get a better understanding of what aromatherapy is. If you don?t know, essential oils are oils that are extracted from a variety of plants like herbs, flowers, fruits and more. These essential oils are used in food, cosmetics, perfumes, and medicines. In aromatherapy, essential oils are generally applied to the skin or breathed in to create positive physical and emotional response. From a practical sense, they are used in baths, inhalations, compresses, massages, creams, and diffusions. The Essential Oils (Essences) section covers the 28 top essential oils individually. You?ll get a a summary of what the plant is, where it?s grown, and its history of use. Did you know that according to the info in this Health & Fitness app, orange blossom essential oil is considered the ?most effective natural antidepressant? and is also used to treat insomnia. What?s nice about the Essential Oils section is that it also gives you additional categories of information: Medical Properties, When To Use It, and How To Apply It.

Each of these categories has subcategories of information. This iPad application pulls in the Wikipedia web encyclopedia for further study of medical conditions. I like how this iPad app keeps you in the application after you?re done exploring the Wikipedia feature. You?ll also find a quick list of conditions that an essential oil would be good to treat (palpitations, chronic diarrhea, skin care, etc.). Find out practical uses for aromatherapy too: tired feet, makeup remover cream, air freshner, body scrub, and more. You can also search the app using the essential oil?s name, by condition, or by body systems such as the Digestive System, Respiratory System, etc. EssenceHealth full is a really nice iPad app for those who are searching for a holistic approach to better overall health, well being, and aromatic healing. If you?d like to try out this aromatherapy for free, there are a few promo codes below. We?d love to hear what you think of EssenceHealth full. Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Download The EssenceHealth full App Now

iPad App Store

EssenceHealth full by Nhuma 1.99 USD

Customer ratings: ( ratings) Category: Health & Fitness, Lifestyle Languages: , , ZH, NB, English, CS, Danish, German, English, Spanish, , French, Hungarian, Italian, HE, JA, KO, Dutch, Polish, , Russian Rated: 4+ Updated: 29.03.2012 Version: 2.0 Size: 33.04 MB Requirements: iPad 3G, iPad WiFi, iPad 2 3G, iPad 2 WiFI

Description EssenceHealth full In a world dominated by technology, scientific advances, businesses and everyday rush, the ancient discipline of holistic medicine makes a triumphant return.?A practice that invites you to go back to nature, extolling the sensory experience to address the psychosomatic imbalances that "modernity" imposed on us: this is Aromatherapy. Discover how essential oils -extracted from nature- work on our spirit, mind and body. ? Introduction . Find out who initiated aromatherapy and its subsequent evolution. . Learn how our sensory system works and how it responds to the aromas. . Learn how to use the powers of essences for our benefit. ? Essential Oils . Build your aromatherapy first aid kit using the Information on the top 28 essential oils used by holistic medicine (technical data, characteristics, medical properties, medicinal uses and application forms). . Prepare your mix following the simple instructions in the recipes and learn how to apply it. . Have you found an oil that can be of interest to a friend? Send the info by mail or share it on Facebook or Twitter. ? Search Panel ? Don?t you know what oil you need? Look it up by keyword or by entering your condition or body system. Note: Some features require an active Internet connection. What's new in Version 2.0 Bug Fixing Improve User Interface Added more essences information Added new human systems and more...

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*Disclosure* The developer may have provided a ?promo code? (paid voucher) for review of this application.

Source: http://crazymikesapps.com/aromatherapy-app-essencehealth/

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St Andrews' economic contribution to Scottish economy reaches ...

Photo: Hannah Raval

A recent report found that the Uni?versity of St Andrews now contributes more than ?484million a year to the Scot?tish economy ? an increase of ?179 million since 2008-09.

The independent report, carried out by BiGGAR economics, found that de?spite being one of the smallest universi?ties in Scotland, turnover has increased by an impressive 16% over three years.

The ?Economic Impact of the Univer?sity of St Andrews 2011-12? report found that for every ?1 of public teaching and research grant invested in St Andrews, the University now returns ?12.10 to the Scottish economy.

Between 2008-09 and 2011-12 ?fund?ing body grants? reduced by almost 3% in cash terms and more than 10% in real terms to ?40.1 million. Despite this, the University has seen levels of growth and their reliance on this funding has de?creased as it now accounts for less than a quarter of the University?s turnover. Uni?versity leaders say that this demonstrates that Scotland?s universities are generators of significant wealth in local and national economies, rather than simply consum?ers of public funds.

As international students now make up around one third of the student body, they have provided an important source of income for the University. There has been an increase of almost ?13 million in three years from international students. This is an increase of 57%.

The report also investigated the im?pacts of core university spending, staff and student spending, business and spin-out activity, capital spend, tourism and community projects in financial year 2011-12.

With 7,777 full time students at the university, student spending has many benefits for the local economy. St An?drews students contributed ?53.9 mil?lion and supported 1,791 full-time jobs in Scotland through direct spending, part-time work and international stu?dents coming to Scotland and staying on to work. In St Andrews itself, the student impact was ?36.4million a year, support?ing 1,401 jobs.

Graduates of the University also con?tribute millions of pounds to the Scottish economy every year. The study looked at the ?graduate premium? ? the longer term effects of the University?s graduates on productivity in the economy. The lifetime graduate premium of a single year?s co?hort of graduates of the University was ?15 million in the St Andrews economy and ?95.9 million in the Scottish econo?my.

The University is still one of the big?gest employers in the local area. The Uni?versity directly employs 2,355 members of staff and supports 4,586 jobs in the town. Education provides 37% of employment in the area. The University also contrib?utes to tourism, a sector which provides 29% of employment in St Andrews.

The number of jobs that the Univer?sity now supports across Scotland has fallen from 9,197 in 2008-09 to 8,913 last year, which the University says is due to general changes in the economy and particularly a requirement to spend more on rising external utilities charges, even although its energy consumption has flat-lined for the last two years.

BiGGAR economics have also recent?ly completed similar studies for Glasgow Caledonian University and Herriot Watt University. St Andrews compares very favourably with these reports. Glasgow Caledonian University, had 16, 131 stu?dents in the year 2011-12. For every ?1 of funding given to GCU from the Scottish Funding Council, they returned ?7.20 to the Scottish economy.

Derek Watson, Chief Operating Of?fice for the St Andrews, explained that universities are vital to the Scottish econ?omy during the recession. He said: ?Our primary mission is and always will be the pursuit of excellence in education and research, but this analysis demonstrates that Scotland?s universities not only gen?erate knowledge, but crucial wealth and employment.

?If the UK economy is to require new stimuli to move out of recession, there is a strong argument that universities are one of the most reliable options for increased public investment, given their proven multiplier effect, the freedom to operate in international markets and the level of wealth and sustainable employ?ment they are capable of generating for the country.?

Watson also explained how it is im?portant for the University to retain its support from the Scottish Funding Coun?cil to ensure the University can continue to make an important contribution to the local economy.

?For every pound of Scottish Fund?ing Council grant we receive, we gener?ate and return ?12 to the economy. Or, to turn it on its head, for every pound that St Andrews loses, Scotland will lose ?12.

?In the three years since the last eco?nomic impact assessment, our annual gross contribution to the Scottish econ?omy has grown by over ?170 million a year to ?484million, partly due to an increasing spend by the University with local suppliers, our impact on tourism, spending by our staff, the premium of supplying well educated graduates to the economy and an improved ability to measure impact.?

The Scottish Funding Council told The Saint: ?Funding for universities has increased overall this year (in 2012-13) and will do so for the next two years. This is important because St Andrews plays a signifi?cant role in the economy of Fife, alongside its major con?tributions to the long term prosperity of Scotland and to international economic devel?opment.?

RUK applications to St Andrews on the rise

Behind the story

Applications to St Andrews from UK students living outside Scotland is on the rise. According to UCAS, the University?s admis?sions team is currently considering 14,355 applications, which has increased by 6% since last year. Despite the growth of tuition fees for English and Welsh students, the team has noticed an 11% increase in applications coming from the rest of the UK (Nina Chitaia writes).

In 2012 the number of English applicants to St Andrews was down by 3%, as the cost of attendance became ?9,000. Most universi?ties in England last for three years, while St Andrews offers a four-year course. Rather than spending an extra year, as well as extra money on their studies, students coming from England and Wales chose to stay at home.

However, St Andrews has seen a turnaround and the University has this year been flooded with non-Scottish appli?cants.

The University advised caution when analysing the figures however. A spokes?man told The Saint: ?It would be unwise to read too much into a single year?s figures, although on the whole the increase in applica?tions is to be welcomed and may indicate grow?ing public confidence in the value of high quality higher educa?tion, notwithstanding tuition fees and the considerable pressures of recession on family incomes.

?It is important to note that applications to St Andrews have increased from prospec?tive students across all sections of society.

?Applications from Scottish students from the most deprived backgrounds have increased markedly, an endorsement of the continuing hard work and varied outreach ac?tivities of our Widening Participation team in Admissions,? he said.

Source: http://www.thesaint-online.com/2013/02/st-andrews-economic-contribution-to-scottish-economy-reaches-484m/

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