Thai Government Scraps Plan to Transfer Debt to Central Bank

December 31, 2011, 4:14 AM EST

By Daniel Ten Kate and Suttinee Yuvejwattana

(Adds analyst?s comment in fifth paragraph.)

Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand?s government scrapped a proposal to transfer $35 billion of legacy debt from bank bailouts to the central bank and will instead seek to extract cash from commercial lenders to finance flood defenses.

?Transferring debts to the Bank of Thailand will be like printing money,? Finance Minister Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala told reporters today after meeting Bank of Thailand Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul. ?The methods we are using must not affect fiscal and monetary discipline and must not hurt confidence among foreign investors and international agencies.?

Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said yesterday the step would save the government as much as 65 billion baht ($2 billion) in annual interest costs that could be used to fund anti-flood measures. Thirachai had opposed the measure, warning this week it could hurt investor confidence and stoke inflation.

The proposal increased concerns that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra?s administration was infringing on the central bank?s independence, after Kittiratt in October said the Bank of Thailand should lower interest rates to help businesses cope with the country?s worst flooding since 1942.

The government ?didn?t study this issue well enough to argue with the Bank of Thailand,? said Pipat Luengnaruemitchai, vice president of Phatra Capital Pcl, Thailand?s second-biggest brokerage by market value. ?Anything involving monetary policy discipline, the government loses the debate all the time because the Bank of Thailand has better credibility.?

Baht Gains

The baht gained 0.7 percent to 31.54 per dollar as of 3:06 p.m. in Bangkok, the biggest advance in a month. Yesterday it fell the most in two months to the weakest level since Aug. 16, 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The government will attempt to raise about 50 billion baht for debt payments by taking 0.39 percent of the 0.4 percent fee that commercial banks pay to the Deposit Protection Agency and by amending the law to allow the Financial Institutions Development Fund to collect fees from commercial banks. The government paid 45 billion baht in interest on the debt this year, Thirachai said today.

?This will remove the interest burden from the government,? he said. ?If the central bank records a profit, they can also use that to reduce the debt.?

The Financial Institutions Development Fund racked up a 1.4 trillion-baht debt bailing out lenders after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, when the government closed more than 60 financial companies and seized half of the nation?s 14 commercial banks.

Bank Losses

Under a repayment agreement in 2002, the finance ministry makes interest payments while the central bank pays down the principal whenever it earns a yearly profit. The Bank of Thailand has reported annual net income once since 2004 and last year reported a net loss of 117 billion baht, mostly due to losses on foreign exchange.

Thailand?s central bank expects to record a loss this year, Prasarn told reporters today. Kittiratt yesterday said that it would post a ?high profit.? Prasarn said the Bank of Thailand, finance ministry and Council of State would meet again to discuss legal amendments to help pay the debt.

?We agreed that what we will do must not prompt the central bank to print money and it should help reduce the fiscal burden,? Prasarn told reporters today after the meeting. ?It must not affect foreign reserves too.?

Interest Payments

Since 1997, the principal on the debt has fallen by 300 billion baht, or about 21 billion baht per year. During that time, the government has paid as much as 65 billion baht in interest annually, according to Kittiratt.

Korn Chatikavanij, Thirachai?s predecessor under a previous administration, opposed the idea to transfer fees from the Deposit Protection Agency to the government to pay the debt.

?If you shift the revenue to the government, eventually the government would be morally bound to support banks if they run into liquidity problems,? he said in a telephone interview yesterday. ?The whole idea of having a deposit guarantee scheme is to avoid the government having to be involved.?

--Editors: Tony Jordan, Stephanie Phang

To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at dtenkate@bloomberg.net; Suttinee Yuvejwattana in Bangkok at suttinee1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-31/thai-government-scraps-plan-to-transfer-debt-to-central-bank.html

hope solo dancing with the stars jack wagner matt jones snow white and the huntsman trailer snow white and the huntsman trailer sexiest man alive kentucky basketball

Remember our report on how much energy your cable and DVR boxes use? The cable i...

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/nrdc.org/posts/225564810854981

lakers oklahoma city thunder florida state football florida state football ben breedlove kid cudi ben breedlove jim jones

FARSI TROVARE SUI MOTORI DI RICERCA - Advertising su Google - Stefano Polastri

FARSI TROVARE SUI MOTORI DI RICERCA - strategie di web marketing, posizionamento e visibilit? del sito, sfruttamento dei media sociali
2? seminario tecnico del ciclo SOCIAL BUSINESS
Parma 3

FARSI TROVARE SUI MOTORI DI RICERCA - strategie di web marketing, posizionamento e visibilit? del sito, sfruttamento dei media sociali
2? seminario tecnico del ciclo SOCIAL BUSINESS
Parma 3 novembre 2011 - Palazzo Soragna

Statistics

Favorites

0

Downloads

0

Embed Views

0

Views on SlideShare

112

Total Views

112

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/rburattiparma/farsi-trovare-sui-motori-di-ricerca-advertising-su-google-stefano-polastri

ed lee ed lee garmin nuvi 1450 amzn tommy john surgery colorado weather alcohol poisoning

Louisville Cardinals vs North Carolina State Wolfpack LIVE NCAA Football Belk Bowl TV

Hey NCAAFB Fans ! Watch live NCAAFB match on your PC. Watch Belk Bowl game Louisville vs North Carolina State will be exiting and interesting. Wellcome to watch Louisville vs North Carolina State live NCAAFB match online. Yes man watch your hot sports match Louisville vs North Carolina State in a NCAAFB match. Watch Louisville vs North Carolina State live streaming NCAAFB match today. Watch this important and favorite match of NCAAFB Louisville vs North Carolina State on your PC

CLICK HERE TO WATCH Louisville vs North Carolina State LIVE NCAA FOOTBALL

Match details

NCAA College Football
Louisville vs North Carolina State
Kick off Time : 8:00 PM ET
Date: December 27 2011

CLICK HERE TO WATCH Louisville vs North Carolina State LIVE NCAA FOOTBALL

Watching sports on the go has never been easier. Watch all the big games, match highlights and player interviews live on any computer! Access all sports all the time! Waiting in the airport or on a long train ride? Watch your favorite sport on your laptop!
Louisville vs North Carolina State Live Streaming, Louisville vs North Carolina State Live Video, Louisville vs North Carolina State online, Watch Louisville vs North Carolina State NCAALouisville Cardinals vs North Carolina State Wolfpack LIVE NCAA Football Belk Bowl 2011

Source: http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f9/louisville-cardinals-vs-north-carolina-state-wolfpack-live-ncaa-football-belk-bowl-tv-83974-new/

facebook ipo facebook ipo national defense authorization act national defense authorization act clemson seven days in utopia seven days in utopia

8th Wonder of the World Explained - How Fleece is Made

Source: http://www.getoutdoors.com/goblog/index.php?/archives/4332-8th-Wonder-of-the-World-Explained-How-Fleece-is-Made.html

herman cain press conference joe frazier dead joe frazier dead topamax lexapro trazodone voting

'Anonymous' hackers target US security think tank (AP)

LONDON ? The loose-knit hacking movement "Anonymous" claimed Sunday to have stolen thousands of credit card numbers and other personal information belonging to clients of U.S.-based security think tank Stratfor. One hacker said the goal was to pilfer funds from individuals' accounts to give away as Christmas donations, and some victims confirmed unauthorized transactions linked to their credit cards.

Anonymous boasted of stealing Stratfor's confidential client list, which includes entities ranging from Apple Inc. to the U.S. Air Force to the Miami Police Department, and mining it for more than 4,000 credit card numbers, passwords and home addresses.

Austin, Texas-based Stratfor provides political, economic and military analysis to help clients reduce risk, according to a description on its YouTube page. It charges subscribers for its reports and analysis, delivered through the web, emails and videos. The company's main website was down, with a banner saying the "site is currently undergoing maintenance."

Proprietary information about the companies and government agencies that subscribe to Stratfor's newsletters did not appear to be at any significant risk, however, with the main threat posed to individual employees who had subscribed.

"Not so private and secret anymore?" Anonymous taunted in a message on Twitter, promising that the attack on Stratfor was just the beginning of a Christmas-inspired assault on a long list of targets.

Anonymous said the client list it had already posted was a small slice of the 200 gigabytes worth of plunder it stole from Stratfor and promised more leaks. It said it was able to get the credit card details in part because Stratfor didn't bother encrypting them ? an easy-to-avoid blunder which, if true, would be a major embarrassment for any security-related company.

Fred Burton, Stratfor's vice president of intelligence, said the company had reported the intrusion to law enforcement and was working with them on the investigation.

Stratfor has protections in place meant to prevent such attacks, he said.

"But I think the hackers live in this kind of world where once they fixate on you or try to attack you it's extraordinarily difficult to defend against," Burton said.

Hours after publishing what it claimed was Stratfor's client list, Anonymous tweeted a link to encrypted files online with names, phone numbers, emails, addresses and credit card account details.

"Not as many as you expected? Worry not, fellow pirates and robin hoods. These are just the `A's," read a message posted online that encouraged readers to download a file of the hacked information.

The attack is "just another in a massive string of breaches we've seen this year and in years past," said Josh Shaul, chief technology officer of Application Security Inc., a New York-based provider of database security software.

Still, companies that shared secret information with Stratfor in order to obtain threat assessments might worry that the information is among the 200 gigabytes of data that Anonymous claims to have stolen, he said.

"If an attacker is walking away with that much email, there might be some very juicy bits of information that they have," Shaul said.

Lt. Col. John Dorrian, public affairs officer for the Air Force, said that "for obvious reasons" the Air Force doesn't discuss specific vulnerabilities, threats or responses to them.

"The Air Force will continue to monitor the situation and, as always, take appropriate action as necessary to protect Air Force networks and information," he said in an email.

Miami Police Department spokesman Sgt. Freddie Cruz Jr. said that he could not confirm that the agency was a client of Stratfor, and he said he had not received any information about a security breach involving the police department.

Anonymous also linked to images online that it suggested were receipts for charitable donations made by the group manipulating the credit card data it stole.

"Thank you! Defense Intelligence Agency," read the text above one image that appeared to show a transaction summary indicating that an agency employee's information was used to donate $250 to a non-profit.

One receipt ? to the American Red Cross ? had Allen Barr's name on it.

Barr, of Austin, Texas, recently retired from the Texas Department of Banking and said he discovered last Friday that a total of $700 had been spent from his account. Barr, who has spent more than a decade dealing with cybercrime at banks, said five transactions were made in total.

"It was all charities, the Red Cross, CARE, Save the Children. So when the credit card company called my wife she wasn't sure whether I was just donating," said Barr, who wasn't aware until a reporter with the AP called that his information had been compromised when Stratfor's computers were hacked.

"It made me feel terrible. It made my wife feel terrible. We had to close the account."

Wishing everyone a "Merry LulzXMas" ? a nod to its spinoff hacking group Lulz Security ? Anonymous also posted a link on Twitter to a site containing the email, phone number and credit number of a U.S. Homeland Security employee.

The employee, Cody Sultenfuss, said he had no warning before his details were posted.

"They took money I did not have," he told The Associated Press in a series of emails, which did not specify the amount taken. "I think `Why me?' I am not rich."

But the breach doesn't necessarily pose a risk to owners of the credit cards. A card user who suspects fraudulent activity on his or her card can contact the credit card company to dispute the charge.

Stratfor said in an email to members, signed by Stratfor Chief Executive George Friedman and passed on to AP by subscribers, that it had hired a "leading identity theft protection and monitoring service" on behalf of the Stratfor members affected by the attack. The company said it will send another email on services for affected members by Wednesday.

Stratfor acknowledged that an "unauthorized party" had revealed personal information and credit card data of some of its members.

The company had sent another email to subscribers earlier in the day saying it had suspended its servers and email after learning that its website had been hacked.

One member of the hacking group, who uses the handle AnonymousAbu on Twitter, claimed that more than 90,000 credit cards from law enforcement, the intelligence community and journalists ? "corporate/exec accounts of people like Fox" News ? had been hacked and used to "steal a million dollars" and make donations.

It was impossible to verify where credit card details were used. Fox News was not on the excerpted list of Stratfor members posted online, but other media organizations including MSNBC and Al-Jazeera English appeared in the file.

Anonymous warned it has "enough targets lined up to extend the fun fun fun of LulzXmas through the entire next week."

The group has previously claimed responsibility for attacks on credit card companies Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc., eBay Inc.'s PayPal, as well as other groups in the music industry and the Church of Scientology.

____________

Plushnick-Masti reported from Houston. Associated Press writers Jennifer Kay in Miami and Daniel Wagner in Washington, D.C. also contributed to this report.

_____________

Cassandra Vinograd can be reached at http://twitter.com/CassVinograd

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_on_hi_te/eu_hacker_christmas

hurd hurd christopher hitchens ron paul 2012 zynga stock zynga stock sam houston state university

Cal-Maine Foods, Inc. Names Robert L. Holladay, Jr. Vice President and General Counsel

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.innovaanalysis.com/home/viewdetail.rails?articleid=78620&guid=67F9F2D0-569D-470A-AD52-D7D0CB06DDC7

gold rush alaska gold rush alaska the addams family blue bloods temple grandin texas rangers marie osmond

94% Hugo

Directed by Martin Scorsese, GK Films, 2011. Starring Asa Butterfield, Chloe Moretz, Christopher Lee, Sacha Baron Cohen and Ben Kingsley. Genre: Adventure, Drama, Family. Question: What gives you purpose and makes you feel like you fit into the world? Well, we all have something, at least we should. Think about it. This is the message at the heart of Hugo and I think a pretty darn good one. It shouldn't matter if you are 12 or 72 years-old, we all need to feel like we belong, someplace where we know we serve a purpose or what's the meaning of it all, really? Yes, it's a pretty deep, philosophical thought for a movie that I thought was geared to kids primarily. However, my kids enjoyed the movie and I hope somewhere deep inside they understood what the movie was trying to convey. The story begins with a boy, an orphan, who lives in a train station in Paris in the 1930's. You find out why he is there with a few flashbacks but really the story revolves around another story line which is revealed much later in the film. The boy's name is Hugo and his adventure is to find his purpose or to make sure his purpose is real, but how he goes about that will remain a mystery in this review. There was a great surprise, well for me at least, as Hugo's story unfolded. I really want to say more but, as usual, don't want to spoil it for you. However, on the whole I found the storytelling to be a bit on the dull side. Not sure what happened with it but Hugo ran slow. Even with the part of the story line I really liked, it didn't suck me in as I think it could have. The movie was in 3D and the beginning was absolutely stunning with its effects. When the adventure part of this story was front and center the 3D was awesome. However, the majority of the movie was more of a drama and the 3D lost its luster; and soon I found it annoying to have to wear the glasses. I am not a huge fan of 3D movies, by the way, so for you fans out there I am positive you will enjoy that part of the movie. On a bright note: The boy who played Hugo was delightful, and he has the bluest eyes I have ever seen on a human being. I almost think they may have been digitally enhanced. Anyway, he did a great job on the whole, even though there were parts where the film-makers showed children behaving more like adults than children, and that happened here. I still think he did a good job as the lead character of a Scorsese film. Most children should enjoy this film and I recommend you take them to see Hugo. For adults, sadly, this was not one of Scorsese greatest films. My favorite part: The discovery of the message in the film. There is this great scene on a Paris bridge with Notre Dame in the background between the 2 children. A great line was spoken by Hugo. A great line! My least favorite: Sacha Baron Cohen, I am afraid to say. His character was too much of a caricature for me. Rating: PG Length: 127 minutes Review: 6 out of 10 For more reviews: www.tiredofpreviews.com or www.expatspost.com

November 28, 2011

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hugo/

cujo hpv vaccine hurricane tracking hurricane tracking flat tax flat tax divine

Packers beat Bears 35-21, clinch No. 1 seed (AP)

GREEN BAY, Wis. ? With the first five-touchdown game of his NFL career, Aaron Rodgers ensured that the Green Bay Packers' playoff road will go through Lambeau Field.

He also made sure the rival Chicago Bears will be spending the playoffs at home.

Rodgers broke a close game wide open by leading three quick scoring drives in the second half, and the Packers beat the Bears 35-21 on Sunday night.

Rodgers noted that he once threw six touchdowns in junior college ? also in a rivalry game ? but acknowledged this one was a little bit bigger.

"Yeah, this one's pretty special," Rodgers said.

With the win, the Packers (14-1) nailed down the No. 1 seed in the NFC and claimed another round of bragging rights in the NFL's most storied rivalry by knocking the Bears out of the playoff chase.

"We wanted the path to go through Lambeau," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said.

Rodgers threw a pair of touchdown passes to Jordy Nelson, another two to James Jones, and found tight end Jermichael Finley for a score. Rodgers was 21 of 29 for 283 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions when backup Matt Flynn took over for Rodgers with 7:54 left in the game.

Rodgers surpassed Lynn Dickey's single-season franchise record of 4,458 yards passing with one game left, although it's unclear how much Rodgers will play in the Packers' finale against Detroit.

The loss eliminated the Bears (7-8) from playoff contention and put the Atlanta Falcons in the playoffs.

Third-string running back Kahlil Bell rushed for 121 yards for the Bears, who trailed by only four early in the third quarter. But Rodgers drove the Packers for touchdowns on their next three possessions to put the game out of reach.

"When you play the Super Bowl champions, you have to be on top of your game," Bears coach Lovie Smith said. "Offensively, we did enough things to keep us in the game and have a chance to win the game at the end. But defensively we just didn't have it."

McCarthy said the team's run defense will be examined after the big performance by Bell, but added that the final score told the story.

"We won big," McCarthy said. "That's the bottom line."

Chicago came into Sunday on a four-game losing streak and beset by injuries. But the Bears were able to stay in the game with solid defense and tough running by Bell, who started because of injuries to Matt Forte and Marion Barber.

Rodgers' second-half fireworks proved to be too much for Chicago.

"Thirty-five points on that defense, that's a good night," McCarthy said.

The victory was the Packers' fourth over the Bears in 2011. Green Bay also beat Chicago in the 2010 regular-season finale, the NFC Championship game, and at Soldier Field on Sept. 25.

With the Bears trailing 14-3 at halftime, quarterback Josh McCown found Earl Bennett wide open for a 49-yard gain to set up first-and-goal on the 1. Bell fumbled just short of the goal line on the next play but offensive lineman Edwin Williams recovered the ball for a touchdown.

With the Packers nursing a four-point lead, and the Lambeau Field crowd nervously quiet early in the third quarter, Rodgers answered by dropping deep and throwing a rainbow pass to Nelson, who blew through the Chicago secondary and hauled in the ball for a 55-yard touchdown.

Rodgers then showed his running ability on the Packers' next possession, juking his way between Bears linebackers Brian Urlacher and Lance Briggs on a scramble. Rodgers finished the drive with a 7-yard touchdown toss to Jones, giving the Packers a commanding 28-10 lead.

Packers safety Charlie Peprah came up with an interception, and Rodgers found Nelson for another score to give Green Bay a 35-10 lead.

"It just hasn't gone the way we wanted to," Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher said. "If we play like this, that's what's going to happen. The last five weeks, we haven't played well enough to win, and we've lost all five games. We're not real happy where we're at. Our coaches aren't happy, but that's what we get."

McCown finally answered with a 1-yard touchdown pass to tight end Kellen Davis ? then drew the ire of the Lambeau crowd by scrambling for a two-point conversion and spiking the ball over the goalpost with his team trailing 35-18.

Rodgers' offensive feats came behind a patchwork offensive line, as the Packers were without three of their top four tackles.

Chad Clifton returned to practice this week after sitting out since October because of hamstring and back injuries, but isn't ready to play. Bryan Bulaga was inactive Sunday because of a left knee sprain, and backup Derek Sherrod is out for the season with a broken right leg.

Green Bay also was missing wide receiver Greg Jennings, because of a sprained left knee, and defensive lineman Ryan Pickett because of a concussion.

The Bears have lost five straight games since losing quarterback Jay Cutler to a broken right thumb in a Nov. 20 victory over San Diego. Chicago was 7-3 after that win, but came into Sunday's game barely alive in the playoff chase.

The Bears started McCown on Sunday after backup Caleb Hanie struggled to fill in for Cutler. McCown's most recent start came with the Oakland Raiders in 2007, and he was out of the NFL last season.

"It's a tough assignment, but you've got to find a way to pull it off," McCown said.

To make matters worse for the Bears' offense, Barber was inactive because of a calf injury. Chicago already was without Forte, who missed his third straight game because of a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee.

Notes: Sunday's attendance was 70,574, the team's 300th consecutive sellout, including the playoffs. ... Bears offensive lineman Lance Louis left the game in the first half because of an illness. ... Packers RB James Starks bruised an ankle.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_on_sp_fo_ga_su/fbn_bears_packers

red ribbon week much ado about nothing sean hayes caroline manzo caroline manzo the haunting in connecticut ashram

Suicide attacker kills 7 at Baghdad checkpoint (AP)

BAGHDAD ? A suicide bomber set off a car bomb Monday at a checkpoint leading to the Iraqi Interior Ministry, killing seven people and injuring 32 others, officials said.

The attack followed a series of bombings last week that killed up to 70 people in a single day, increasing fears about Iraq's future after U.S. troops withdrew this month.

Two police officers said the bomber struck during morning rush hour, hitting one of many security barriers set up around the ministry's building. Five policemen were among the dead, they said.

Two doctors at nearby hospitals confirmed the causality figures. All spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release information.

No one has claimed responsibility, but suicide attacks are the hallmark of the al-Qaida in Iraq terror group.

U.S. and some Iraqi officials have warned of a resurgence of Sunni and Shiite militants and an increase in violence after the full U.S. troop withdrawal.

Adding to Iraq's troubles is an increase in political tension stemming from a showdown between the Shiite prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, and the top Sunni political leader in the country.

Al-Maliki's government has issued an arrest warrant for Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on charges that he ran hit squads against government officials.

Al-Hashemi has denied the charges and said they are politically motivated.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq

country music awards new earth light year light year michelle rounds michelle rounds cabin in the woods

Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 All Editions 32bit-64 bit November Release

Vote for torrents you have downloaded

Torrent's content info

Text sample from Password.txt

To get password go here:

passwords4you.info

Contents of download:

4323 megabyte in 0 files

Source: http://www.vertor.com/torrents/2524364/Windows-7-Ultimate-SP1-All-Editions-32bit-64-bit-November-Release

pumpkin carving patterns lizzie borden lizzie borden 20/20 maps directions josephine baker pumpkin patch

VIDEO: Daniel Craig Tried to Get Fat for 'Dragon Tattoo'

 

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/daniel-craig-tried-get-fat-girl-dragon-tattoo/1-a-413163?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Adaniel-craig-tried-get-fat-girl-dragon-tattoo-413163

trans siberian orchestra little big town little big town bennett bennett daniel day lewis patti stanger

lagrandenews: Helping area?s homeless - Community Connection of Northeast Oregon can continue helping homeless people get on t... http://t.co/tKElMuaT

• Passer la navigation
• Twitter sur votre mobile ? Cliquez ici m.twitter.com!
• Passer cette ?tape
• Connexion

• Connexion
• Rejoignez Twitter !

Helping area?s homeless - Community Connection of Northeast Oregon can continue helping homeless people get on t... bit.ly/sv9Bdg Il y a environ 5 heures via Tweethopper

lagrandenews

La Grande Observer

Pied de page

• ? 2011 Twitter
• ? propos de nous
• Contact
• Blog
• Statut
• Ressources
• API
• Entreprises
• Aide
• Offres d'emploi
• Conditions
• Confidentialit?

Source: http://twitter.com/lagrandenews/statuses/150357205374353408

black friday elliot elliot la galaxy la galaxy david blaine jordy nelson

Your Butt Is Your Password in the Anti-Theft Car Seat [Cars]

Keys can be stolen, remote alarms can be hacked. But your butt-print is yours alone. And if these Japanese researchers have their way, you'll soon use it to start your car. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/ylPzEwalqjs/your-butt-is-your-password-in-the-anti+theft-car-seat

chris cook nest williams syndrome jay leno machine gun kelly lindsey lohan reed hastings

Chicago Bears vs Green Bay Packers live stream Free NFL Game Watch Online HD on Pc

You can easily watch nfl match between Chicago Bears vs Green Bay Packers live stream 2011 week 16th online on pc here, just follow our streaming link .Enjoy Chicago Bears vs Green Bay Packers
live stream Free NFL Game Online HD on Pc.Ensure that you must be 100% satisfied in out service so don?t be hesitated just click the link bellow and start watching and enjoy more.best of luck
.

Watch Chicago Bears vs Green Bay Packers Live streaming Free NFL Game Online HD on Pc .Don?t miss Chicago Bears vs Green Bay Packers live The great match. NFL - Week 16th live Chicago Bears vs Green Bay Packers now on Sky Sports 4,bet air tv,CBS, HD4 ,Fox Network .This Match Chicago Bears vs Green Bay Packers live .Both team are ready to face each other. So this match will be very enjoyable Watch Live FOX,CBS,NBC,ESPN TV Get the best online sports coverage on the net directly on your PC.

Don?t worry,it is too easy to watch.just try it.

you all about US Football entertainment like NFL,CFL,NCAA, AFL ect by which All you can watch each and every games live streaming online. From any location! Get instant access and most exciting sports coverage stream software online directly on your PC. Download and install Chicago Bears vs Green Bay Packers it and enjoy all the pleasures of the sporting world comfortably like you are the stadium watching the match Chicago Bears vs Green Bay Packers live HDTV NFL Preseason 2011.

you love watching live National Football League games? Are you finding it difficult to get to a TV or come up with the costly payments for cable TV? Or are you working abroad and don?t have access to all the best NFL games that you want to see?If you answered yes to any of these questions then you have come to the perfect place.stream direct-tv pc.com .US NFL Sports.com is your home for all the live NFL football action that you want and crave.

Source: http://www.oleole.com/blogs/faluda527s-blog/posts/chicago-bears-vs-green-bay-packers-live-stream-free-nfl-game-watch-online-hd-on-pc

saturday night live aortic aneurysm syracuse basketball sacramento kings minnesota timberwolves jr martinez melasma

Don?t Hold Your Breath For That Nexus S ICS Update ? It?s Been Paused

Still anxiously sitting by your Nexus S, awaiting that Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) update that started rolling out a few days ago? You might want to take a break. Go outside, go dancing, maybe go rewatch the Lord Of The Rings trilogy (it is the 10th anniversary of Fellowship, afterall); for the time being, it appears that the Nexus S' big update has been delayed. According to a forum post by Google Community Manager Paul Wilcox, the company has paused the update in a number of regions while they "monitor feedback".

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/9LanYSviVIs/

fred davis fracking fracking drosselmeyer drosselmeyer pacific standard time local time

Jay Gray, NBC Reporter, Arrested For DUI After Chasing Jerry Sandusky Exclusive

Proving that NBC personnel suck at holding their liquor as well as producing TV shows and updating their website, correspondent Jay Gray was arrested last Monday after allegedly getting wasted at a party thrown by Jerry Sandusky's lawyer.

Gray was invited by attorney Joe Amendola to watch the New York Giants game the night of December 11, along with reporters from other media outlets, all of whom were vying for an exclusive interview with disgraced former PSU coach Sandusky.

Jerry Sandusky Interview

Gray got "really drunk" during the game - won by the Giants over Dallas, 37-34, after an INSANE finish! - and sometimes after midnight, Gray left the party and began driving. Intoxicated. The Pennsylvania State Police stopped and popped him for DUI.

According to police records released after the fact, "He [Gray] had been drinking and was arrested for DUI." The time of arrest was 1:45 a.m. on December 12.

Somehow we're guessing Sandusky, the former defensive coordinator and accused child molester, will be taking his big-ticket tell-all interview elsewhere.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/jay-gray-nbc-reporter-gets-wasted-and-arrested-chasing-jerry-san/

walmart black friday ad rick perry gaffe rick perry gaffe graham spanier graham spanier penn state board of trustees joe pa

Great Debate: Closing Statements (ABC News)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/176187913?client_source=feed&format=rss

zynga free shipping free shipping esophageal cancer extreme makeover home edition marfan syndrome marfan syndrome

652 dead, 808 missing in Philippine floods

ILIGAN, Philippines (AP) ? The Philippine Red Cross says the death toll from a storm that ravaged a wide swath of the south has risen to 652 with 808 others still missing.

Red Cross Secretary-General Gwendolyn Pang said Sunday that flash floods set off by Tropical Storm Washi killed 346 people in Cagayan de Oro city and 206 in nearby Iligan city. Deaths were also reported in five other southern and central provinces.

Pang said more people have reported missing relatives, including 447 in Iligan and 347 in Cagayan de Oro.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

ILIGAN, Philippines (AP) ? As a storm that killed more than 530 in the southern Philippines raged outside the store where she works, Amor Limbago worriedly called home to check on her parents, but their cellphones just kept ringing and later went dead.

Limbago, 21, rushed home as soon as the flash floods receded and confirmed her worst fear: Her parents and seven other relatives were gone, swept away from their hut by the river. They had eagerly planned a small Christmas dinner in that hut just days earlier.

"I returned and saw that our house was completely gone," a weeping Limbago told The Associated Press from Cagayan de Oro city. "There was nothing but mud all over and knee-deep floodwaters."

Tropical Storm Washi blew away Sunday after devastating a wide swath of the mountainous region on Mindanao island, which is unaccustomed to major storms.

Most of the victims were asleep Friday night when flash floods cascaded down mountain slopes with logs and uprooted trees, swelling rivers and killing at least 532 people. The late-season tropical storm turned the worst-hit coastal cities of Cagayan de Oro and nearby Iligan into muddy wastelands filled with overturned cars and broken trees.

Most of the dead were children and women, Philippine Red Cross Secretary General Gwendolyn Pang said.

With 458 others reported missing, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin and top military officials flew to Cagayan de Oro to help oversee search-and-rescue efforts and deal with thousands of displaced villagers. Among the items urgently needed are coffins and body bags, said Benito Ramos, who heads the government's disaster-response agency.

"It's overwhelming. We didn't expect these many dead," Ramos said.

Although the disaster-prone Philippines is lashed by about 20 typhoons and storms annually, the devastation shocked many, coming close to Christmas ? the predominantly Roman Catholic nation's most-awaited time for family reunions. Army officials in the south said they canceled Christmas parties and would donate the food to homeless survivors.

Limbago said she and her mother, Jean, 50, and father Amancio, 63, planned to have a simple Christmas dinner of spaghetti. Those plans had evaporated Sunday as she and surviving relatives checked crowded morgues, hospitals and evacuation centers for any sign of her missing parents.

Others lost homes and belongings but were happy to have survived.

Edmund Rubio, a 44-year-old engineer, said he, his wife and two children scrambled to the second floor of their house in Iligan city as floodwaters engulfed the first floor, destroying his TV set and other appliances and washing away his car and motorcycle.

Amid the panic, he heard a loud pounding on his door as neighbors living in nearby one-story houses pleaded with him to allow them up in his second floor. He said he brought 30 neighbors into the safety of the second floor of his house, which later shook when a huge floating log slammed into it.

"It's the most important thing, that all of us will still be together this Christmas," Rubio told the AP. "There was a nearby shantytown that was smashed by water. I'm afraid many people there may not have been as lucky as us."

Army officers reported unidentified bodies piled up in morgues in Cagayan de Oro, where electricity was restored in some areas, although the city of more than 500,000 people remained without tap water.

At least 239 died in Cagayan de Oro and 206 in nearby Iligan, the Red Cross said. The death toll was expected to rise because many isolated villages still had not been reached by overwhelmed disaster-response personnel.

"Our fear is there may have been whole families that perished so there's nobody to report what happened," Red Cross chief Pang said.

Both Iligan, a bustling industrial center about 485 miles (780 kilometers) southeast of Manila, and Cagayan de Oro were filled with scenes of destruction and desperation.

A lone worker gingerly embalmed scores of bodies laid side by side in an Iligan city funeral parlor. Outside the embalming room, seven white coffins were placed in a corridor, surrounded by weeping relatives.

"Many mothers, fathers were walking from one funeral parlor to another, looking for their children," said army Maj. Eugenio Osias, who led a rescue effort in Cagayan de Oro.

Ramos attributed the high casualties "partly to the complacency of people because they are not in the usual path of storms" despite four days of warnings by officials that one was approaching.

In just 12 hours, Washi dumped more than a month of average rain on Mindanao.

Thousands of soldiers and hundreds of local police, reservists, coast guard officers and civilian volunteers were mobilized for rescue efforts, but were hampered by flooded-out roads and lack of electricity. Rescuers in boats rushed offshore to save people swept out to sea.

___

Jim Gomez reported from Manila. Associated Press writers Oliver Teves and Hrvoje Hranjski contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-18-AS-Philippines-Storm/id-d243ba3f9914422b91ca07cb1fb8aca9

houston astros matt barnes sexiest man alive 2011 ruben studdard ruben studdard black friday sales 2011 black friday sales 2011

Actress Alyson Hannigan Expecting Second Child

Actress Alyson Hannigan Expecting Second Child

“American Pie” star Alyson Hannigan is pregnant with her second child. The 37-year-old actress and husband Alexis Denisof are thrilled to give their two-year-old daughter [...]

Actress Alyson Hannigan Expecting Second Child Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://stupidcelebrities.net/2011/12/16/actress-alyson-hannigan-expecting-second-child/

terrapin terrapin manny pacquiao vs marquez manny pacquiao vs marquez dish network cbs news manny pacquiao fight

Phil Spector to take appeal to US Supreme Court (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? A lawyer for imprisoned music legend Phil Spector is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review his murder conviction, arguing his constitutional rights were violated by the trial judge.

Attorney Dennis Riordan contends that Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler became a witness for the prosecution by offering his opinion on an expert's testimony.

The filing was expected to reach the court Friday. It cites the prosecution's use of the judge's videotaped comments and his picture during prosecution summations.

The same arguments were made to state appellate justices, who refused to consider them because of a belated filing. They upheld Spector's second-degree murder conviction in the death of actress Lana Clarkson.

The California Supreme Court declined to review the case.

Spector is serving 19 years to life in prison.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_en_ot/us_phil_spector

christina aguilera tony stewart amas music awards 2011 music awards 2011 jill biden jill biden

Lloyd Chapman: Betrayed: Federal Audit Criticizes Small Business ...

The Small Business Administration's Office of the Inspector General (SBA-OIG) released an audit report this month, criticizing the SBA's practice of misrepresenting the true percentage of federal small business contracts awarded.

The SBA designates certain types of federal contracts as ineligible for small business when calculating the federal government's dollar baseline, despite the fact that the Small Business Act mandates 23 percent of total federal prime contract dollars go to small businesses. For example, the total federal acquisitions budget was listed at $545 billion for 2010, yet small businesses were only eligible for $433 billion, due to SBA exclusions. This practice of excluding over $100 billion from the small business baseline allows the SBA to release a small business procurement report every year that makes the percentage of federal contract awards to small businesses appear higher than the actual amount.

Ironically, the SBA promotes a misleading advertising campaign to prospective small business contractors, which suggests that small businesses are eligible to receive contracts from $500 billion worth of federal spending every year.

The SBA-OIG is heavily critical of the SBA's unwillingness to revise its Goaling Guidelines to no longer exclude certain kinds of contracts from the federal government's dollar baseline when calculating small business goals, or in the alternative, offer an explanation for why certain types of contracts are excluded.

The SBA-OIG's greatest concern was that the SBA does not include contracts that are awarded and/or performed overseas in its goaling baseline. "Based on a study cited in the House of Representatives Report No. 110-111, Part 1 (2007), inclusion of foreign contract opportunities in the Federal prime contracts baseline would have reduced small business participation to 19.3 percent of all Federal contracts," the SBA-OIG audit states.

In the conclusion of the report, the SBA-OIG's Assistant Inspector General for Auditing, John K. Needham, urged the SBA to complete its rationale on the legal basis for contract exclusions and revise the Goaling Guidelines to explain the rationale to the public.

"SBA's analyses on goaling guidance remain unclear and incomplete. Additionally, some procurement actions may be inappropriately excluded from the small business goaling calculation," Needham wrote. "Incomplete data weakens the ability of Congress and other Federal policy makers to determine whether the Government is maximizing contracting opportunities for small businesses."

Of course, this isn't the first time the SBA has exaggerated the percentage of federal contracts awarded to small businesses.

A REVIEW OF THE SBA'S EFFECTIVENESS

This audit is just one more drop in the bucket-- as a federal agency with the sworn mandate to protect and foster the interest of small business concerns, the SBA has been doing an alarmingly inadequate job-- not just this year, but for the past decade.

• Over the past decade, rampant federal contracting fraud has proliferated, amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars in federal small business contracts being illegally diverted to large corporations.
• Since 2003, more than 25 federal investigations by the General Accounting Office (GAO), the SBA Office of Inspector General (SBA-OIG) and Inspectors General for federal agencies like the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) have all found a complete lack of oversight in SBA-administered small business programs.
  
• This year, the American Small Business League conducted a report of the Top 100 federal small business contractors for Fiscal Year (FY) 2010: Of the 100 firms that received the highest total dollar amount in federal small business contracts, 60 were large corporations such as Lockheed Martin, Italian defense firm Finnmeccanica and Eyak Technologies.
  
• In October 2011 during a hearing of the House Small Business Subcommittee on Investigations, Oversight and Regulations, SBA-OIG Inspector General Peggy Gustafson named the diversion of federal small business contracts to large businesses as a top management challenge for the SBA, for the seventh consecutive year.

"The bottom line is that there is a real societal cost when ineligible companies improperly profit from preferential contracting through fraud and illegal conduct," SBA-OIG Inspector General Peggy Gustafson told the Senate in June. "This fraud thwarts congressional intent behind these programs and deprives legitimate small businesses of contracting opportunities."

In conclusion, by relying on flawed statistics, the SBA rendered small businesses ineligible to receive $112 billion dollars in federal contracts last year -- simultaneously robbing small businesses of significant income and falsifying reports to appear as if the federal government is awarding more contracts to small businesses than they actually do.

?

Follow Lloyd Chapman on Twitter: www.twitter.com/LloydChapman

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lloyd-chapman/betrayed-federal-audit-cr_b_1152254.html

fun fun fun fest move your money alabama vs lsu alabama vs lsu robert schuller guy fawkes day jesse ventura

Serious Style for Your Everyday-Carry Bag with J. W. Hulme Co.

It doesn’t matter if your everyday bag is a small gear bag or big enough for a 17″ laptop, you’ll find a bag at J. W. Hulme Co. that fits your needs.? They’ve been around for more than 100 years, making duffle bags, briefcases, and sporting and hunting gear.? They handcraft bags from fine leathers [...]

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2011/12/16/serious-style-for-your-everyday-carry-bag-with-j-w-hulme-co/

amy schumer amy schumer ascii art ascii art andrew mason once in a blue moon gwar guitarist

Discovery of biggest black holes ever may shed light on galaxy formation

Black holes?10 billion times the sun's mass have been found.?The discovery could help write the history of galaxy formation and evolution over the universe's 13.7 billion-year history.

Astronomers have discovered evidence for the most massive black holes yet identified, an observation that could help write the history of galaxy formation and evolution over the universe's 13.7 billion-year history.

Skip to next paragraph

Black holes are objects whose gravity is so strong even light can't escape. Individual stars can collapse into black holes at the end of their lives. And supermassive descendent black holes lurk in the centers of most galaxies.

Each of these newly discovered black holes sits at the center of a galaxy. Each tips the scales at about 10 billion times the sun's mass, roughly 3 billion solar masses more than the previous record-holder.

One supermassive black hole lurks within a giant elliptical galaxy tagged as NGC 3842, located 320 million light-years from Earth in a cluster of galaxies in the constellation Leo. The other calls NGC 4889 home ? another giant elliptical galaxy, 336 million light-years away in a cluster of galaxies in the constellation Coma Berenices.

The Milky Way hosts a much smaller version of these monsters. It tips?the scales at roughly 4 million solar masses. If placed at the center?of the solar system, its event horizon ? the point of no return for?matter falling into it ? would reach the orbit of Mercury. The event?horizons for these new-found behemoths would occupy a patch of space?stretching five times father than Pluto's orbit, with their gravity?influencing objects some 4,000 light-years away.

Where the Milky Way's supermassive black hole would fit inside the orbit of Mercury, each of these newly detected behemoths encompasses a patch of space five times larger than the orbit of Pluto, their gravity influencing objects up to another 4,000 light-years beyond.

"Black holes play some sort of role in shaping how their galaxies turn out," says Nicholas McConnell, a student en route to a PhD at the University of California at Berkeley and the lead author of the formal paper reporting the results in the Dec. 8 issue of the journal Nature. But that role remains murky.

Knowing how hefty supermassive black holes can get and the types of galaxies they inhabit "will help us, hopefully, figure out how black holes shape their galaxies," Mr. McConnell said in an interview.

Using two large ground-based telescopes in Hawaii and the Hubble Space Telescope, the team of US and Canadian astronomers identified the black holes and estimated their masses based on measurements of the brightness of the galaxies' central bulges and on the orbital velocities of stars in the black hole's neighborhood.

Those velocities slow with distance, ranging from 729,000 miles an hour in the regions they could observe closest to the black hole, to between 604,000 and 671,000 miles per hour some 1,000 to 2,000 light-years out.

These large supermassive black holes may well be the long-dormant engines of what once were quasars. These "quasi-stellar objects" show up as brilliant beacons shining from the distant, early universe. In terms of age, they date to a period when the universe was less then 6 billion to 7 billion years old.

Quasars are young galaxies hosting supermassive black holes that were feeding at a prodigious rate. As they fed, matter approached the black hole's event horizon. The black hole's gravity compressed and heated the dust and gas it was about to gobble. This caused the doomed material to emit enormous amounts of radiation in a kind of cosmic farewell.

Astronomers have cataloged hundreds of quasars, implying that they were common enough that some galaxies in the local universe should host now-quiescent black holes large enough to have energized the most powerful quasars. But none of these black holes have been found, until now.

The black holes the team detected "may be the missing link between quasars and the supermassive black holes we see today," said Chung-Pei Ma, an astrophysicist at UC Berkeley and another member of the team, in a prepared statement.

The black holes already may be providing hints about the formation of their host galaxies, according to Michelle Cappellari, an astrophysicist at Oxford University in Britain.

Writing in the same issue of Nature, she notes that if one uses the variation in stars' orbital velocities alone to estimate the black holes' masses, the answer is smaller than McConnell and colleagues estimate.

She suggests that this signals a merger between each of the two disparate galaxies and smaller galaxies with their own central black holes.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/b2q_7M8OzMA/Discovery-of-biggest-black-holes-ever-may-shed-light-on-galaxy-formation

heavy d funeral oklahoma state university osu football osu football christopher walken ok state ok state

Security Researcher Says Carrier IQ Charges Contain 'Mininformation' (NewsFactor)

Even as government officials around the world are beginning to investigate the Carrier IQ software installed on millions of smartphones, a security researcher is saying that claims the company had been improperly collecting personal data are "erroneous." Dan Rosenberg of Virtual Security Research, who says he has no professional ties to Carrier IQ, wrote that the reaction to the software contains a lot of "misinformation."

In a posting Monday on his security research blog, It's Bugs All the Way Down, Rosenberg said Carrier IQ "is a piece of software installed on phones that accepts pieces of information known as metrics."

Some 'Important Conclusions'

Rosenberg said that the software decides if a submitted metric is "interesting," based on the current profile on the device. The profile determines the relevance by assessing whether the information assesses a given aspect of phone service, such as reception or battery life. The software's determination of relevance also determines if the metric is sent to the carrier or not, in order to evaluate, say, dropped calls.

After a detailed analysis of Carrier IQ on a Samsung Epic 4G Touch, Rosenberg wrote that he reached a "number of important conclusions."

For one thing, he said, he found that the Carrier IQ software on the phone could not record textual content from SMS messages, Web pages, or e-mail, even if that carrier wanted the information, because there is no metric for it.

He found that the software can record dialer buttons, and speculated that carriers already have legal access to that data. But, Rosenberg said, the Carrier IQ application on the Epic 4G Touch cannot record non-dialer keystrokes, such as inputting a text message. However, the software can record GPS location data "in some situations," and can record URLs that are visited.

Although Carrier IQ is citing Rosenberg's investigation to support its position that user confidentiality is not being violated, his posting does not let them off the hook completely. He notes that, for instance, metrics are determined by carriers, consumers should be able to opt out of any sort of data collection, and "there needs to be third-party oversight on what data is collected to prevent abuse."

Lawsuits, Investigations

The controversy exploded recently after Connecticut-based security researcher Trevor Eckhart posted a video that he said showed the Carrier IQ software, pre-installed on as many as 140 million Android, BlackBerry, and Nokia smartphones, sending text messages, searches, and other user actions to the carrier without the user's knowledge or consent. Eckhart said that "every button you press in the dialer" is sent even before a call is made, and even when the owner is using Wi-Fi and not the carrier's network.

In the furor that has erupted, some observers have suggested that federal wiretap laws may have been violated. But Mountain View, Calif.-based Carrier IQ has denied Eckhart's charges.

In a statement on its Web site, the company said that, while there is a "great deal of information available to the Carrier IQ software inside the handset, our software does not record, store or transmit the content of SMS messages, e-mail, photographs, audio or video." As examples, the company said that its software knows that a SMS was sent accurately, but it does not record or transmit its content.

Several class-actions lawsuits against Carrier IQ, phone makers and carriers have been filed in the U.S. Privacy regulators in various countries, including Germany, the U.K., and France, are looking into possible violations, and, in the U.S., Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., has sent letters to Carrier IQ, Sprint Nextel, AT&T, HTC, Samsung, and Sprint to find out exactly what data is being collected and how it is being used.

Sprint, for one, has replied that the data is being used to "analyze network performance" and that the software does not and cannot "look at the contents of messages."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/software/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111205/tc_nf/81247

time change when does daylight savings start when does daylight savings start earthquake in texas earthquake in texas official time news 9

Former Brazil captain Socrates dies at 57 (AP)

SAO PAULO ? Former Brazil great Socrates, the clever playmaker who captained Brazil at the 1982 World Cup, died Sunday. He was 57.

Known for his elegant style on the field and his deep involvement with Brazilian politics, Socrates died of septic shock resulting from an intestinal infection, according to a statement by the Albert Einstein hospital.

He had been rushed to hospital on Saturday ? the third time in four months ? and had been in critical condition in an intensive care unit, breathing with the help of a ventilator.

Socrates was twice hospitalized and placed in intensive care in the last few months, most recently in September. Both times he was admitted for hemorrhage caused by high pressure in the vein that carries blood from the digestive system to the liver.

Socrates acknowledged being a heavy drinker, even when he starred as a player in the 1980s, but said he stopped drinking earlier this year after his stints in the hospital.

Socrates was above average both on and off the field. He became a doctor after retiring from soccer and later became a popular TV commentator and columnist, always with unique and controversial opinions. He never denied his fondness for drinking, from the time he was a player until his final days.

Socrates wrote a series of columns for The Associated Press during the 2011 Copa America in Argentina, expressing his views on all aspects of the tournament, including economic and political issues in Latin America.

"It's not just about the game itself," Socrates said before the competition began. "Before anything, (soccer) is a psychological battle, the human aspect plays a significant role."

Since his time as a player, Socrates never kept his political ideas to himself and often wrote about the subject in his columns. Known as Dr. Socrates because of his practice of medicine, he was the main commentator on a weekly TV sports program and was constantly in demand from local media for interviews on varied subjects.

With Brazilian club Corinthians, Socrates spearheaded a movement called the Corinthians Democracy, in which players protested against the long periods of confinement required by the club before matches. It quickly became a broader protest that coincided with Brazil's fight to overturn a military regime in the 1980s.

Socrates, whose full name is Socrates Brasileiro Sampaio de Souza Vieira de Oliveira, starred for Corinthians in the early 1980s, but he also played for Flamengo, Santos and Fiorentina in Italy.

The tall full-bearded playmaker captained Brazil in the 1982 World Cup in Spain and was a member of the squad in 1986 in Mexico. The 1982 Brazilian team became widely known as the best not to win a World Cup. With players like Zico and Falcao, it fell to Italy 3-2 in the second round despite needing a draw to advance to the semifinals.

Socrates was included in FIFA's list of the best 125 living soccer players in the world, a list compiled by countryman Pele. Socrates played 63 matches with the national team, scoring 25 goals.

He was known for his great vision on the field. Always clever with the ball on his feet, his trademark move was his back-heel pass, and he set up and scored many goals with it throughout his career.

Socrates briefly coached and played for Garforth Town in England in 2004.

Socrates' younger brother Rai was another great Brazilian midfielder, and he helped Brazil win the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

Socrates is survived by his wife and six children.

___

Tales Azzoni can be followed at http://twitter.com/tazzoni

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111204/ap_on_sp_so_ne/soc_obit_brazil_socrates

drew brees drew brees city of ember city of ember virgin diaries kevin smith kevin smith

Sleigh Bells To Return With Reign Of Terror

Brooklyn band unveils new album with a thoroughly badass teaser trailer.
By James Montgomery

Derek E. Miller and Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells
Photo: Getty Images

When it comes time to reveal a thoroughly badass album title, there's really no other way to do it than with a thoroughly badass teaser trailer. And that's exactly what Brooklyn bashers Sleigh Bells just did, premiering an ominous, thundering clip for their new album ... which is called Reign of Terror.

The teaser opens with a scene of the Bells' Alexis Krauss sitting at a vanity mirror, very seriously combing her hair (while wearing a Marine Dress Uniform), then quickly switches to series of hectic, seizure-inducing live clips, interspersed with various shots of life-on-the-road ephemera (they apparently attended at least one LSU football game) and in-the-studio hijinks (Bud Light! Guns! A mirrored skeleton mask!) It's all backed by a churning, chunky guitar track, which seems to hint that Reign of Terror is most definitely going to be a loud — if not slightly terrifying — listen.

And while there's plenty of visceral gristle in the teaser trailer, it doesn't actually include a release date for the new album, the follow-up to Sleigh Bells' 2010 breakout Treats (one could reasonably assume it's due in 2012, however).The dynamic duo rode that disc hard, including a thunderous performance at the 2011 mtvU Woodie Awards, and a collaboration with none other than Beyoncé, one that was reportedly supposed to appear on her 4 album. That track (or tracks) never materialized. Instead, the Bells focused on writing and recording Terror.

And, judging by what we've now seen ... that was probably the right decision. Their Reign is set to commence next year.

Sound off on the Bells' Reign of Terror teaser trailer in the comments below!

Related Artists

• Sleigh Bells

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1675296/sleigh-bells-reign-of-terror.jhtml

douglas fir jim boeheim jim boeheim bill of rights toys r us toys r us shame

Trump to moderate GOP presidential debate in Iowa (AP)

NEW YORK ? Real estate mogul Donald Trump will moderate a Republican presidential debate in Iowa a week before the state holds the first in the nation caucuses.

The conservative website Newsmax will host the debate, scheduled for December 27 in Des Moines. All the GOP contenders have been invited to participate.

Trump announced he would not seek the Republican nomination himself after toying with a bid last spring. The host of "Celebrity Apprentice" has remained visible in the GOP contest, hosting many of the candidates for meetings at Trump Tower in New York City. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is set to visit Trump Monday.

Trump has also been a strong critic of President Barack Obama and drew considerable publicity when he questioned the validity of Obama's birth certificate.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111202/ap_on_el_pr/us_trump_iowa_debate

walmart black friday 2011 walmart black friday 2011 packers vikings bob costas jerry sandusky chelsea clinton kat von d tiki barber

RIM writes off value of tablet inventory

NEW YORK (AP) ? Research In Motion Ltd., the struggling maker of the BlackBerry phones, is writing off much of its inventory of PlayBook tablets, since it has to sell them at a deep discount.

The Canadian company on Friday said it's taking a pre-tax charge of $485 million in the just-ended quarter to account for the declining value of the tablets. The model originally priced at $500 now costs $200.

A year ago, co-CEO Jim Balsillie said pent-up interest in the PlayBook was "really overwhelming." Companies are looking for an equivalent of the iPad of corporate use, he said.

In March, Balsillie said "The launch of the PlayBook may well be the most significant development for RIM since the launch of the of the first BlackBerry device back in 1999."

But when the tablet went on sale in April, reviewers puzzled over the lack of email software, saying the device seemed half-baked. RIM now promises updated software in February.

RIM said it shipped 150,000 PlayBooks to stores and distributors in the fiscal third quarter, which ended Nov. 26. "Sell-through," or the number actually bought by users, was slightly higher, reflecting sales of tablets shipped earlier. It shipped 500,000 in the first quarter and 200,000 in the second.

Apple Inc., meanwhile, sold 11.1 million iPad tablets in its most recent quarter, which ended Sept. 24.

RIM Co-CEO Mike Lazaridis said RIM is still committed to the PlayBook, despite its issues.

RIM also said it sold 14.1 million BlackBerrys in the third quarter, slightly better than analysts expected. It then expects sales to fall slightly in the current quarter, roughly in line with analysts' expectations.

The company provided preliminary revenue and profit figures for the third quarter that were lower than it previously projected, but not a surprise to analysts.

RIM said it expects earnings at the "low to mid point" of the $1.20 to $1.40 per share it previously forecast. Analysts polled by FactSet have on average been expecting $1.18 per share.

The company expects revenue slightly the below the $5.3 billion to $5.6 billion in its previous forecast. Analysts had been expecting $5.27 billion, on average.

RIM shares fell $1.81, or 9.7 percent, to close Friday at $16.77. The stock hit a seven-year low of $15.98 last month.

The PlayBook charge comes as analysts have started to conclude that RIM's management has no chance of really righting the ship. They've started to value the company not on its future prospects, but on how much it would be worth if acquired, broken up, or simply run down while keeping BlackBerry service going.

The company is also taking a charge of $50 million for an embarrassing October outage of email and Web services that lasted days for millions of overseas BlackBerry users. It briefly spread to the U.S. and Canada before the company was able to contain the damage.

RIM reports fiscal third-quarter earnings on Dec. 15.

RIM's announcement is the latest in a string of bad news for the company. A widespread outage frustrated tens of millions of BlackBerry users in October. On Thursday, RIM suspended two employees after their drunken rowdiness forced an Air Canada flight from Toronto to Beijing to be diverted to Vancouver.

RIM has also delayed the launch of new phones with the company's new QNX operating system for several months. RIM disappointed many in October when the company didn't announce a clear timeline for when it would release phones with the new software which is now called BBX.

The Waterloo, Ontario-based company continues to have success overseas but has increasingly lost market share in North America. Many U.S. users have moved on to phones with big touchscreens such as the iPhone and various competing models that run Google's Android software.

___

Associated Press writer Rob Gillies in Toronto contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2011-12-02-Research%20In%20Motion-Tablet/id-f56a3bb4ff8543d8a276780ef667f09f

reno wildfire osu osu reno news syracuse shonn greene oklahoma state plane crash