Friday, December 16, 2011

New species found ... and lost?

California Academy of Sciences / Liu et al.

Chlaenius propeagilis is a new species of beetle from China, described in the journal Zookeys.

By Alan Boyle

Scientists are tallying up scores, or even hundreds,?of newfound species ? but they're also musing on how many species?will be lost before they're found.

This year's?count from the California Academy of Sciences demonstrates that the pace of discovery is, if anything, increasing: Researchers associated with the academy added 140?species to the big biological list, and?a 42-day expedition to the Philippines?could eventually add hundreds more.


Among the highlights are four new species of deep-sea sharks, six completely new genera of African goblin spiders, three new genera of barnacles and 31 new sea-slug species.?This year's tally of 140 compares favorably with the?count of 110 species that were added during 2010.

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the Academy's gallery of the latest finds:

Terry Gosliner via California Academy of Sciences

Chelidonura mandroroa is a new species of sea slug, also known as a nudibranch, from the Indo-Pacific. Nudibranchs use their vivid colors to warn predators of their toxic or unpalatable nature. This nudibranch and five other new species were described in the journal Zootaxa.

Williams and Alderslade / Calif. Academy of Sciences

Anthoptilum gowletthomesae is a new species of sea pen from Australia. It can attach to rocky surfaces.

Luiz Rocha via Calif. Academy of Sciences

Sparisoma sp. is a new species of parrotfish from Sao Tome.

Fidanza and Almeda / Calif. Academy of Sciences

Cambessedesia uncinata is a new species of subshrub from Brazil, described in Harvard Papers in Botany.

Robert Van Syoc via Calif. Academy of Sciences

Minyaspis amylaneae is a new species of barnacle from Fiji. Minyaspis is also a new genus, one of three described in the journal Zootaxa.

The folks at the California Academy of Sciences aren't the only ones taking stock of new species. Earlier this week, the WWF conservation group noted that 208 newly described species, including a "psychedelic gecko,"?were recorded in Southeast Asia's Mekong River region during 2010. Australian researchers say they've found more than 1,000 new species in the country's Outback, and they estimate another 3,500 are waiting to be discovered beneath the arid topsoil. They say thousands more species of small animals are probably still undiscovered in Africa and South America.

"If you start multiplying this on a global basis, there's likely to be massive diversity that will be uncovered in coming decades," Andy Austin, a biologist at the Australian Center for Evolutionary Biology and?Biodiversity at the University of Adelaide, is quoted as saying.

But if all that biodiversity is just waiting to be discovered, why do we hear all this talk about a modern extinction crisis??It's because hundreds or thousands of other species are passing into oblivion every year. That was the point behind the WWF's survey of the Mekong Delta.

"While the 2010 discoveries are new to science, many are already destined for the dinner table, struggling to survive in shrinking habitats and at risk of extinction," Stuart Chapman, conservation director of WWF Greater Mekong, said in a news release. Vietnam's Javan rhino population is among the latest to bite the dust.

Another just-released study puts the issue in terms that a 6-year-old could understand: One out of every six species related to the characters in the movie "Finding Nemo" is facing extinction, according to researchers at Simon Fraser University and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.?Among the most threatened are the?real-life kin of Squirt and Crush the marine turtles, Anchor the hammer head shark and Sheldon the seahorse.

"It's unthinkable that the characters in 'Finding Nemo' could become extinct, but this is the reality unless we pay more attention to the diversity of marine life," SFU's Loren McClenachan, the study's lead author, said in a news release. The report is due to be published in the journal Conservation Biology.

Are all these concerns leading you to lose?your appetite for shark-fin soup?and rhino-horn concoctions? Feel free to weigh in below with your comments on the campaign to find species and keep them from being lost.

More species lost and found:


Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page or following @b0yle on Twitter. You can also add me to your Google+ circle, and check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/14/9451326-new-species-found-and-lost

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Monday, December 5, 2011

Ben Stiller Marriage: Actor Opens Up About Relationship With Christine Taylor

For actor Ben Stiller and his wife Christine Taylor -- humor is a must. The couple, who has been married for 11 years, joked about their marriage and discussed relationship tips on the red carpet at the BAFTA Los Angeles 2011 Britannia Awards on Wednesday, Nov. 30. Stiller received the Charlie Chaplin Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy that night.

Stiller offered up some tongue-in-cheek advice on how to balance a busy career life with a marriage: "Neglecting your children probably is the key," Stiller jokingly told Access Hollywood. "Because that just opens up so much time for your career. And for your marriage too."

But in light of all the recent splits in the celebrity world, his wife, Christine Taylor, found it prudent to offer up some serious advice. "The real response is that one of us is with the kids while the other one is working," said the actress and mother of daughter Ella, and son, Quinlin. "And a lot of communication. And we're lucky these days because there are so many ways to Skype, e-mail. And you can take airplanes these days to visit when you're working."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/03/ben-stiller-marriage_n_1125508.html

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Monday, November 28, 2011

Police ban Congo election rallies, at least 2 dead (Reuters)

KINSHASA (Reuters) ? Police in Congo blocked President Joseph Kabila's main rival at an airport in Kinshasa on Saturday to stop him staging an election rally after at least two died in violence across the central African state's capital city.

Two days before presidential and parliamentary elections, rival factions hurled rocks at each other and gunfire was heard across town.

A Reuters reporter saw one lifeless body on the road to the airport while a U.N. source reported another death elsewhere in town.

The violence was the latest sign of tension in the run-up to Congo's second election since a 1998-2003 war, a poll which has been marked by opposition allegations of irregularities and concerns about inadequate preparations.

Police stopped opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi and his entourage from leaving Kinshasa's N'djili airport after his party said it would defy a ban on political rallies imposed earlier on Saturday.

"I'll call the population of Kinshasa to come here," Tshisekedi, 78, sitting in a red Hummer surrounded by police at the exit gate of the airport, told reporters.

"We are already dying in our thousands, we are not going to let a few injuries stop us fighting now," he said, a reference to his accusations that Kabila's government has saddled Congo's population with insecurity and poverty.

After hours of failed negotiations by the United Nations peacekeeping mission, police moved in on Tshisekedi's entourage, dragging several people from their cars, according to a Reuters witness. Tshisekedi was later escorted to his home by the police, according to a U.N. source.

Earlier, tens of thousands of Congolese turned out on the airport road, most of them identifiable as Tshisekedi supporters. Some chanted his name while many billboards for Kabila and his allies had been torn down.

Kabila, Tshisekedi and the other main challenger, Vital Kamerhe, had been due to hold rallies within several hundred metres of each other in central Kinshasa on Saturday.

Kamerhe told Reuters that four people had been killed, including one of his supporters, but it was not immediately possible to confirm that toll.

POLL DELAY?

Under constitutional amendments signed off by Kabila this year, the presidential vote will be decided in a single round, meaning the winner can claim victory with a simple majority. Analysts say that favours Kabila against the split opposition.

Despite a logistics operation supported by helicopters from South Africa and Angola, some observers doubt whether all the ballot slips will reach the 60,000 voting stations by Monday in a country two-thirds the size of the European Union.

However national election commission president Daniel Ngoy Mulunda said he did not expect any delay to the polls, saying that materials were 90 percent deployed in the provinces.

"No, I am not expecting any change. We have today, the whole night, tomorrow day and night to finalize (preparations)," Mulunda told a news conference in Kinshasa.

"We had some delays with weather but we know it will work - on Monday it won't rain."

Earlier, Tshisekedi said he could accept a delay but only if Mulunda, whom he accused of having political ties to Kabila and turning a blind eye to alleged irregularities, was sacked.

"I would agree (to a delay) if that meant a more credible, democratic and transparent process," he told French RFI radio.

"But one thing is clear: if we say there will be a delay, it is clear that the election commission cannot be led by Daniel Ngoy Mulunda," he said, accusing him of having been a founding member of Kabila's PPRD political party.

Mulunda, who will have the deciding vote if his commission is split on any election dispute, said this week he did not deny having been a member of the delegation that accompanies Kabila on foreign trips, but said he was not a founding PPRD member.

Kabila's rivals say fake polling stations have been set up to allow vote-rigging, an allegation denied by the authorities. They also accuse Kabila of using state media and transport assets for his campaign.

Kamerhe said the Congolese would not accept a rigged poll.

"They want free and fair elections that allow them to take their destiny in their own hands. People will refuse cheating wherever it takes place," he told Reuters, surrounded by chanting and dancing supporters at his party headquarters.

For many Congolese, there was a last-minute scramble to find out where they should be voting. Gervis Ilunga, a 44-year-old security guard, said he registered in one Kinshasa district but ultimately found his name elsewhere.

"In 2006, things were at least organised," he said of the first post-war poll largely organised under the auspices of the United Nations. "It is not like that this time ... There will be too many challenges this time."

(Additional reporting by Finbarr O'Reilly; Writing by Mark John; Editing by Sophie Hares and David Cowell)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111127/wl_nm/us_congo_democratic_election

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Friday, November 25, 2011

Soha Ali Khan joins the item number band wagon

Following the footsteps of her yet- to- be sister- in ?law Kareena Kapoor, Soha Ali Khan will also be seen doing an item song now. The cute actress has just shot for a peppy club track opposite Abhay Deol in Sudhir Mishra’s forthcoming project ?Tera Kya Hoga Johnny?. Slipping the details of her dance number, [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/newslatest/~3/6qRGHOw1Qv4/7151.html

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Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Dylan cover discs to benefit Amnesty International

(AP) ? A sprawling new collection of Bob Dylan cover songs is being released in January to benefit Amnesty International.

The human rights organization said Wednesday that all of the songs on the 4-CD collection will be new or previously unreleased versions, with the exception of Dylan's title cut, "Chimes of Freedom."

The disc, to be released in the U.S. on Jan. 24, is being produced by the same music executives who made a 2007 benefit album for Darfur featuring John Lennon songs.

Participating artists range from 19-year-old Miley Cyrus to 92-year-old folk legend Pete Seeger. Cyrus recorded "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go" and Seeger, with a children's chorus, does "Forever Young."

The disc is being released to commemorate Amnesty International's 50th birthday.

Among the other participating artists: Adele, Cage the Elephant, Dave Matthews Band, Ziggy Marley, Maroon 5, My Chemical Romance, Patti Smith, Sting, Pete Townshend, the Gaslight Anthem and Ke$ha.

Eighty artists and 75 new songs are included.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-11-23-Music-Dylan-Amnesty/id-1e11bc4b963b4a6d87fdfd199cfc83c6

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Romney Likens Failure of ?Supercommittee? to ?Putting a Gun to Your Head? (ABC News)

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Tuesday, November 22, 2011

89% The Lion King (In 3D)

All Critics (91) | Top Critics (15) | Fresh (95) | Rotten (10) | DVD (55)

Everyone, young and old, will find something to appreciate in this Shakespearean tale of a young lion discovering his rightful place in the world.

The story line is a Joseph Campbell hero-quest so stripped down to its basics as to become dull.

A computer-animated scene featuring a stampede of wildebeest is positively breathtaking.

The Lion King, more than any of the recent wave of Disney animated features, has the resonance to stand not just as a terrific cartoon but as an emotionally pungent movie.

The result is a step toward multiculturalism and ecological correctness, though not without a certain amount of confusion.

A crown jewel of modern Disney animation.

It's not hard to understand why The Lion King's good-vs.-evil adventure and high-spirited comic passages haven't lost their appeal. [Blu-ray]

It's an attractive film but altogether less interesting and more conventional than the Pixar productions that now dominate Disney's animated output.

"Hakuna Matata" would mean never having to be subjected to The Lion King ever again, much less having Simba's growing pains coming at your face in 3D.

It does exactly what it says on the tin.

Feel the love tonight. And see the colours, too.

Huge fun for the kids; some acceptable laughs for the adults.

The 3D technology adds some eye-popping moments but the best thing about this reissue is the chance for a new generation to see a modern classic on a cinema screen.

There are no gimmicks and the big emotional moments are almost entirely untouched.

However crass Disney's motivation may have been in rereleasing the film... it's cheering to see that... people still want to see great movies on a big screen with big sound...

Well worth another look, though it's a pity they're saving the newly made bloopers for the upcoming Blu-ray.

It didn't really need the 3D, but it's still a stunning, glorious family film, with the third dimension or otherwise.

While the core ideology behind The Lion King is extremely problematic and stands out even more today than it did in 1994, there is still much to admire about the film.

It's a wonderful treat to revisit and the 3-D is beautifully utilised, but it's perhaps not the classic that Disney purports it to be.

Art History stands out as one of Joe Swanberg's most visually and conceptually accomplished experiments.

Is the 3D version superior to the 2D version? No. Is the film still magnificent? Yes.

While "The Lion King" is one of the best Disney movies of all time, "The Lion King 3D" is a manipulative exploitation to bring paying parents back with their kids merely through the sexiness of today's 3D fad.

More Critic Reviews

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

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88% The Hedgehog

All Critics (65) | Top Critics (14) | Fresh (57) | Rotten (8) | DVD (1)

A satisfying emotional experience.

This a movie with such a light, stylish touch, it makes no claims to profundity and is a sweetly hopeful experience.

"The Hedgehog" is a treat: a movie that's smart, grown-up, wry and deeply moving.

Enchantment will go a long way toward overcoming implausibility, but there's not enough of the former here - and far too much of the latter.

What does happen seems to happen in slow motion.

An enchanting grown-up fairy tale about the redemptive power of love.

A French drama that finds its power in the little moments.

Le Guillermic is fine in this calm comedy of subverted exteriors and expectations, but it's the remarkably unpretentious -- earthy, even -- Balasko who anchors Achache's adaptation.

... it's Josiane Balasko that makes it work.

"The Hedgehog" sneaks up on you with its heartfelt storytelling and sophisticated wit.

Balasko's performance is the highlight, as she breathes believable inner life into the stock character of the lonely, embittered widow.

A darkly comedic broadside aimed at stuffy French elitism.

Portrayed by Balasko with nuance, grace, intelligence and humor, Renee is a quietly terrific portrait of a deserving, dynamic woman who has long gone unnoticed.

With her film, Achache achieves a rare thing: She is faithful to the spirit of a terrific book but finds ways to make it come alive on film.

A reminder that, sometimes, the movies can get a beloved book exactly right.

A charming performance by young Garance Le Guillermic proves key to the success of Mona Achache's adaptation of the popular Muriel Barbery novel The Elegance of the Hedgehog.

It's a brisk, touching comedy with a deliberately shocking climax and attractive performances from Josiane Balasko and Togo Igawa as the two people who change Paloma's understanding of life.

'Hedgehog' Bristles with French Charm

It's some feat for this gentle French drama to overcome the device of an impossibly precocious, camcorder-wielding 11-year-old narrator (Garance Le Guillermic), who has secret plans to commit suicide on her next birthday.

This film's main attraction is the terrific Balasko. She is so watchable that one almost forgets about the awful Paloma and her video camera.

The fate of a goldfish provides a subplot in a film strong on tender characterisation and rather wishful about the remedies for loneliness.

An affecting, watchable tale.

More Critic Reviews

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

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Monday, November 21, 2011

Merkel, Cameron differ on euro crisis weapons (Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) ? The leaders of Germany and Britain sent out conflicting signals on Friday about how to solve the euro zone's debt crisis and admitted they had failed to narrow differences over the introduction of a financial transaction tax in Europe.

At a news conference in Berlin, British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel tried to paper over divergent views on European policy that have sparked a war of words between politicians and media in both countries.

But they could not mask differences over how the single currency bloc's debt crisis should be handled, with Cameron calling for "decisive action" to stabilize the euro zone and Merkel making clear she favored a "step-by-step" approach.

"My German isn't that good, I think a bazooka is a Superwaffe, am I right?" Cameron said in response to a question about his call for euro zone policymakers to use a "big bazooka" approach to the crisis.

"The chancellor and I would agree that whatever you call this we need to take decisive action to help stabilize the euro zone," he said, citing the need for strong action on Greece, a rescue fund with "power and punch" and a recapitalization of European banks.

Merkel struck a more cautious note.

She is under increasing pressure to support bolder crisis-fighting steps from the European Central Bank (ECB), such as using it as a lender of last resort for the bloc or backstop for the euro zone's bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF).

So far she has resisted, backing the argument of the German Bundesbank that this would violate the ECB's inflation-focused policy mandate. Infringing on this awakes traumatic memories in Germany of the hyperinflation that followed the two world wars.

"The British demand that we use a large amount of firepower to win back credibility for the euro zone is right. But we have to take care that we don't pretend to have powers we don't have. Because the markets will figure out very quickly that this won't work," said the center-right chancellor.

Merkel is focusing on changes to the EU's Lisbon Treaty to force other euro members to adopt German budget discipline. She believes this would convince financial markets that Europe is serious about getting its debt and deficits under control.

One German source said the two leaders discussed a possible formulation for a deal on treaty change, where Cameron would go along with Berlin's wishes in exchange for more "opt-outs" from Europe to keep eurosceptics in his Conservative Party happy.

British officials were not immediately available to confirm the discussion.

SPEAKING GERMAN

Asked about Germany's push for the introduction of a financial transaction tax in Europe, Merkel admitted that she and Cameron "did not make any progress".

Britain is concerned that introducing the so-called "Tobin tax" in Europe alone would undermine the competitiveness of its financial industry in the City of London, which Cameron said would drive away business to countries without such a tax.

"Naturally there are differences. But Europe can only prevail if all the strong countries of the European continent are represented and if we have a bit of tolerance for the different views," Merkel said.

The two leaders tried their best to present a united front, calling each other by their first names, saying a few words in each other's language and stressing their common interest in a strong euro and a competitive European single market.

But aides say Merkel is running out of patience with what she sees as Cameron's constant sniping at the euro zone, which so exasperates her close ally Nicolas Sarkozy of France that he recently told Cameron at a summit he was "sick of" it.

At a meeting of Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) earlier this week, her party's parliamentary leader accused Britain of "only defending its own interests" and announced triumphantly that "Europe is speaking German all of a sudden", a reference to widespread acceptance of German fiscal rigour in the bloc.

Her widely-respected finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, was quoted as saying it was inevitable that the whole of Europe would eventually join the single currency and "this may happen more quickly than some people in the British Isles believe".

Such comments have sparked a strong reaction in the British press, with the eurosceptic and conservative Daily Mail saying: "We no longer need to fear the jackboot but we have a great deal to fear from German bossy boots."

Germany's top-selling Bild newspaper retaliated, asking on the morning of Cameron's visit: "What is England still doing in the EU?"

(Additional reporting by Andreas Rinke; Writing by Noah Barkin and Stephen Brown; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111118/bs_nm/us_eurozone_germany_britain

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Sunday, November 20, 2011

Sam Seder: Dirty Tricks of the Insurance Industry Exposed | Ring Of ...

The average American reads on a 6th to 8th grade level, something that the insurance industry is well-aware of. And because of this, the industry writes the literature regarding their policies on a collegiate level, making it virtually impossible for the vast majority of Americans to even comprehend, so they end up buying policies that they don?t even need. That?s just one of the dirty tricks that the industry is playing on American consumers, and Sam Seder discusses even more shady tactics by the insurance industry with Wendell Potter, author of the book ?Deadly Spin.?

Source: http://www.ringoffireradio.com/2011/11/18/sam-seder-dirty-tricks-of-the-insurance-industry-exposed/

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Italy's Monti wins definitive confidence vote (Reuters)

ROME (Reuters) ? Prime Minister Mario Monti won an overwhelming vote of confidence on Friday after warning politicians they would have to face the Italian public if they sabotaged a sweeping package of reforms aimed at ending an acute debt crisis.

Monti won the vote by 556 to 61 after a similar comfortable vote in the upper house on Thursday. His unelected government of technocrats is now fully empowered.

Monti, who also holds the economy portfolio, has outlined to parliament a broad raft of painful reforms to shore up public finances and increase competitiveness after a decade of stagnant growth.

Monti, appointed on Wednesday to succeed Silvio Berlusconi after the discredited center-right leader lost his majority, said he intended to serve until the next scheduled election in 2013.

Politicians have been suspected of wanting to topple the technocrat government, which many of them opposed, within months.

But Berlusconi said on Friday he was ready to see it serve out the full term. He denied telling supporters he could "pull the plug" whenever he wished.

Monti told the lower house before the vote his success in passing deep and painful reforms would depend on the support of parliament.

"I'm not asking for a blind vote of confidence. We're asking for a vigilant vote of confidence," he said.

"But we think that if we do a good job, then you too, when you give us a vote of confidence or withdraw it, should remember what the consequences will be for citizens' confidence in you," he said.

The remark was a clear warning to squabbling politicians who have attracted public outrage for failing to take action as Italy slipped closer to an economic abyss after its borrowing costs soared out of control under Berlusconi.

The politicians were forced to acquiesce to an unelected government of technocrats by the power of international markets.

POLICY PRIORITIES

Monti had laid out his policy priorities in a maiden speech to the upper house on Thursday in which he outlined a mix of pension and labor reforms and hinted he would reintroduce a housing tax scrapped by Berlusconi.

The former European Commissioner has won the backing of all the main parties except the pro-devolution Northern League, Berlusconi's key partner in the outgoing coalition.

However Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom (PDL) party made clear its support is conditional. The biggest force in parliament has opposed key options in Monti's reform agenda, notably the possible levying of a wealth tax on privately held assets.

Monti told reporters after the successful vote that he would meet the euro zone's most powerful leaders, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, next week. He would also meet EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and European Council President Herman van Rompuy.

Financial markets, upset by the escalating euro zone debt crisis, appeared to welcome Monti's speech on Thursday, with yields on 10 year bonds dipping below the 7 percent level widely seen as a symbolically critical red line.

But they remain at untenably high levels of over 6.7 percent and the spread over German Bunds, the risk premium paid by investors to hold bonds considered less safe than benchmark German paper, is more than 480 basis points.

Italy, the third largest economy in the euro zone with a decade of anemic growth and one of the world's highest public debts, has been at the center of the Europe-wide financial crisis because of fears it would be forced to seek a bailout that would overwhelm the EU's financial defenses.

But with the European Central Bank in the market buying Italian bonds, attention has shifted to other countries including France and Spain, which are also considered vulnerable.

Monti dismissed complaints that his non-elected administration had been imposed undemocratically by the so-called "grandi poteri" or great powers, the big business and church establishment which had become openly hostile to Berlusconi's scandal-plagued government.

However protests against the "bankers' government" by thousands of students across Italy on Thursday highlighted the problems his administration will face in pushing through painful austerity measures that will hit millions of Italians.

(Additional reporting by Gavin Jones; Writing by James Mackenzie and Barry Moody; Editing by Jon Hemming)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111118/ts_nm/us_italy

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Video: Lawyer for alleged Sandusky victims speaks out

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45353500#45353500

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Saturday, November 19, 2011

CSN: Looking to future, Cubs bet big on Sveum

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MILWAUKEE ? The Cubs weren?t looking for a celebrity manager. Their brand name is now Theo Epstein.

The search was quick, clean and efficient ? everything the new president of baseball operations wants this organization to be.

It ended Thursday with Dale Sveum agreeing to a three-year deal with an option for 2015. The 52nd manager in franchise history will be introduced Friday morning at a Wrigley Field news conference.

The sum of Sveum?s experience as a major-league manager is 12 games with the Brewers in 2008 ? plus a first-round playoff exit ? after Ned Yost was fired. The interim manager was passed over for Ken Macha and it happened again last year with Ron Roenicke.

Back then, did Sveum ever think he?d be the center of attention for two iconic teams?

So much is about timing, and here it all played to Sveum?s advantage. The bench is short for experienced major-league managers now available. Rangers pitching coach Mike Maddux didn?t want to uproot his family from Texas.

Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer had confidence in the process that revealed Terry Francona and Joe Maddon as the two finalists some eight years ago in Boston. The Red Sox, of course, cast their shadow over everything.

When Epstein flew to Tampa, Fla., on Nov. 2 to fire Mike Quade in person, he had already spent weeks doing background checks on potential replacements for Francona. Two days later, Philadelphia Phillies bench coach Pete Mackanin was brought in for the first interview.

The Brewers media guide lists Sveum?s nickname as ?Nuts.? That bullet point didn?t match up with his low-key attitude when Cubs executives put him in front of the media on Nov. 7.

?The only time I really get too excited or emotional is when I?m arguing with umpires,? Sveum said. ?Other than that, I don?t show a lot of emotion. So probably stoic would be (a) better way (to describe) my personality.

?One trait that you have to have as a manager is never to let your players see one way or the other how you?re feeling. Whether you?re nervous or whether you?re mad, whatever, I think it?s a bad trait to show body language to the players nowadays.?

That familiar clubhouse presence ? Sveum was the third-base coach on the 2004 championship team in Boston ? appealed to the Cubs and Red Sox. He played parts of 12 seasons in the big leagues, which gives him instant credibility.

Sveum emerged as an All-American quarterback at Pinole Valley High School in San Francisco?s East Bay region. He turned down a scholarship offer to play football and baseball at Arizona State University.

The Brewers made Sveum a first-round pick in 1982. Five years later, he generated 25 homers and 95 RBI. He was never the same player again after colliding with teammate Darryl Hamilton and breaking his leg in 1988. He has unique insight into the game.

Sveum widened his perspective during six seasons as a coach ? third base, bench, hitting ? on the Milwaukee staff.

Brewers general manager Doug Melvin got used to showing up at his Miller Park office and finding Sveum already there beginning his work shift. Melvin called Sveum passionate and well-prepared, someone who ?knows players? and has a ?competitive edge.?

People who?ve known Epstein for a long time describe him as extremely competitive, someone who?s always looking to get ahead and stay there. He beat his old team to Sveum.

Everything sharply came into focus this week in Milwaukee, where the owners and general managers assembled for their meetings. The Cubs jumped in front of the Red Sox and met with Sveum on Tuesday night.

Sveum then had lunch with Boston ownership on Wednesday, hours before Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts would check into the Pfister Hotel. Maddux couldn?t convince himself he really wanted the job and would withdraw his name from consideration.

That night the Red Sox signaled they would expand their search and word began to spread that Sveum had an offer from the Cubs.

Epstein and Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington left the meetings on Thursday with an agreement to revisit the compensation negotiations after next month?s Rule 5 draft. Getting Sveum to Chicago wasn?t going to be the drawn-out process it was for Epstein.

The long-range plan is building from within, and the manager?s office will be on the ground floor. Sveum will turn 48 next week and can grow into the job. The Cubs won?t need him for the headlines or to sell tickets. Everyone in the room will know: This is Epstein?s guy.

Source: http://www.csnchicago.com/baseball-chicago-cubs/news/Looking-to-the-future-Cubs-bet-big-on-Sv?blockID=596348&feedID=661

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Heavy D to be honored by stars, family (AP)

MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. ? A private funeral will be held Friday in Mount Vernon for hip-hop star Heavy D, who died last week at a Los Angeles hospital after collapsing outside his home. He was 44. His family said he died of complications from pneumonia.

Diddy, the Rev. Al Sharpton and singer Anthony Hamilton are among those expected to pay tribute to the influential rapper, known for hits like "The Overweight Lover's in the House" and "Now That We Found Love."

Heavy D was born in Jamaica but was raised in Mount Vernon, just north of New York City.

He often mentioned Mount Vernon in his rhymes, and had proudly claimed the city as "Money Earnin' Mount Vernon."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111118/ap_en_ot/us_heavy_d_funeral

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Friday, November 18, 2011

GE investing $1B in Silicon Valley software hub (AP)

SAN RAMON, Calif. ? General Electric Co., a maker of power plants, jet engines and medical imaging equipment, said Thursday that it is investing $1 billion in a new software headquarters in Silicon Valley with plans to hire 400 software-related staffers to develop what it calls the "Industrial Internet."

The headquarters will be in San Ramon, about a half-hour drive east of Oakland, in leased space at the Bishop Ranch office complex.

The Fairfield, Conn.-based industrial giant is hoping to attract technology experts who live in the so-called East Bay region of the greater San Francisco area, but may not like the long commute to the South Bay, which is home to leading technology companies such as Google Inc., Apple Inc. and Intel Corp.

The company, which has 300,000 employees around the world, already has 5,000 software workers. The new center will focus on innovating software that runs increasingly intelligent machines and equipment.

"It's equipment being connected onto a network and the ability to gather that information, analyze it and act upon it," Bill Ruh, a GE vice president who is leading the initiative, said in an interview. "That's what we think of as the Industrial Internet."

GE has hired 50 workers already and plans to add another 350 over the next 18 months, Ruh said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/software/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111117/ap_on_hi_te/us_general_electric_silicon_valley

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'Harry Potter' Stars Change The Wizarding World

FROM MTV MOVIES: The books are long finished, the movies are now over, but all it takes is one step inside the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando, Florida, to know that "Potter" is forever.

Still, despite the ever-flowing butterbeer and copious amounts of "Potter"-based roller-coaster rides, there's always room for improvement, even at the [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2011/11/15/harry-potter-stars-change-the-wizarding-world/

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Thursday, November 17, 2011

Fed economist sees long recovery slog (Reuters)

St. LOUIS (Reuters) ? The U.S. economic recovery will likely be a long slog over several years and there is not a whole lot the Federal Reserve can do to speed the process, according to a top economist at the central bank.

"Something's happened in U.S. labor markets that we can't overcome," St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank Research Director Christopher Waller told Reuters in an interview. "No matter what we do, recovery is going to be slow."

Under President James Bullard, the St. Louis Fed has staked out the middle ground between officials who advocate all-out efforts to boost growth and those urging restraint out of fears easy money policies are setting the stage for inflation.

Bullard, who said on Tuesday that the Fed should refrain from a further easing of monetary policy unless the U.S. economy falters from its current modest growth pace, has become something of a bellwether for Fed policy.

The remarks from Waller late Tuesday, Bullard's top policy adviser, illustrate a sense among some officials that the central bank has done what it can to lift the world's largest economy and that there may be no shortcuts on the road to health after an unusually deep and wrenching recession.

"There's no point in trying to say, 'Cure cancer with monetary policy'," he said. "It's just not possible."

MODEST JOB GAINS

The Fed cut overnight interest rates to near zero almost three years ago and bought $2.3 trillion in bonds in a further effort to try to boost growth.

More recently, it moved to lower long-term borrowing costs by shifting its bond holdings into longer maturities. In addition, it promised to hold rates at exceptionally low levels well into 2013 to assure markets that it will be in no hurry to raise rates when the economic skies start to clear.

Even with the Fed's ultra-easy money stance and an economy poised to grow respectably over the next few months, the unemployment rate, which stood at 9 percent in October, will likely come down only gradually, Waller said.

He expects declines of roughly a half-percentage point a year, in line with the same slow pace that followed the previous two recessions.

"The pattern seems to be reemerging. (Unemployment) stays high and it just trickles down," Waller said.

Fed economists are trying to understand why the U.S. job market no longer seem to manage the bold post-downturn advances of the past. Possible explanations include employer reluctance to rehire workers once they've been let go, as well as the deep cuts to construction jobs related to the crash of housing markets specific to the most recent recession, Waller said.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has called the lofty level of unemployment a national crisis, and financial markets have begun to expect the U.S. central bank to launch a further round of asset purchases to push the sluggish recovery into higher gear next year.

But those expectations may be skewed by recent remarks from central bank officials representing an activist faction, such as Chicago Fed President Charles Evans and Fed Board Governor Daniel Tarullo, Waller said.

HOUSING MAY LAG

One growth-enhancing step policymakers have discussed is expanding purchases of mortgage-backed securities to help heal housing markets. MBS buying helped stop the decline in house prices in 2009, Waller said, but there are questions about whether the move would be as effective now as it was then.

"Now, we don't see the economy going off a cliff, we don't see the stock market crashing, we don't see jobs disappearing by 700,000 a month, so the circumstances are different," he said. With mortgage interest rates at rock-bottom levels, Waller said it is possible that pretty much anyone able and interested in buying a house has already bought one, so the only benefit would be in encouraging refinancing.

And although many view housing as an essential component of a more robust rebound, it may be unreasonable to expect that sector to rapidly regain any of its pre-crisis sparkle, he added. Housing oversupply and the slow pace of resolving problems from decimated home values will make the pace of recovery in this sector painfully slow, he said.

"It's going to take a while to get this turned over," Waller said. "We just have to accept that housing is moribund and we can't expect it to get us out of this."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111116/pl_nm/us_usa_fed_recovery

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Video: Disturbing Sandusky interview resurfaces

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45295668#45295668

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Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Video: Supreme Court to review health care act (cbsnews)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/162078428?client_source=feed&format=rss

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House GOP leader Cantor says deficit deal likely (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Sidestepping controversy, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., declined to take sides Monday on a proposal for higher taxes backed by fellow Republicans on Congress' supercommittee, yet expressed confidence the panel would agree on a deficit-reduction plan of at least $1.2 trillion by a Nov. 23 deadline.

A proposal for $300 billion in higher taxes has stirred grumbling within the ranks of congressional Republicans, for whom opposition to such measures has been political bedrock for more than two decades.

One prominent conservative, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, said in a published commentary during the day that "our economy will have an even tougher time catching its balance if Washington" raises taxes.

Separately, officials said that Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who outlined the plan last week in a closed-door meeting of four Republicans and three Democrats, has encountered criticism from fellow conservatives despite strong credentials as an opponent of higher taxes. " There's been a little bit, but it's been pretty muted," his spokeswoman, Nachama Soloveichik, said of the response.

Cantor's spokeswoman turned aside several emailed requests for the majority leader's views on the proposal. She said he hadn't seen the plan, and she referred to his comments at a news conference earlier in the day when he told reporters, "I'm not going to be opining as to any reports, hypotheticals or anything connected with their work."

Despite that pledge, Cantor was bullish in predicting agreement before the deadline and adding that a fallback requirement to cut $1.2 trillion from domestic and defense programs wouldn't be triggered.

The committee has been at work for two months, hoping to succeed at a task that has defied the best efforts of high-ranking political leaders past and present.

Despite intense talks late last week, there has been little indication of progress as age-old political divisions have re-emerged.

The principal stumbling blocks revolve around taxes on the one hand, and the large federal programs of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security on the other.

Democrats are unwilling to agree to cuts in benefit programs unless Republicans will accept higher taxes, particularly on the highest-income individuals and families.

Republicans counter that out-of-control spending largely accounts for the government's enormous budget deficits, and they say raising taxes will only complicate efforts to help the economy recover from the worst recession in more than seven decades.

At the same time, each side is grappling with the possible political consequences of the committee's work, with an eye on the 2012 campaign for control of the White House and Congress.

Liberal Democrats are highly reluctant to agree to curbs on programs the party has long been identified with, and last week members on the supercommittee jettisoned an earlier proposal to slow the rise in cost-of-living benefits for Social Security recipients.

The same goes for conservatives, many of whom fear the possible political cost of changing their positions in order to pursue a less-than-certain bipartisan compromise on deficit reduction.

Many GOP office holders have signed a pledge circulated by Americans for Tax Reform not to vote for higher taxes. The organization is led by Grover Norquist, a conservative activist, although in comments to reporters Cantor suggested that influence by an outsider isn't the dominant concern.

"It's not about Grover Norquist. It's about commitments that people made to the electorate they represent, the people that sent them here. That's what it's about," he said.

Republicans on the committee hailed Toomey's proposal last week as a breakthrough and a concession that could open the way to a deal.

But Democrats were dismissive, saying it amounted to a tax cut in disguise for the wealthy ? the very taxpayers that they and Obama say should pay more. According to numerous officials, Toomey's proposal envisioned an additional $250 billion in revenue emerging from a sweeping revision of the tax code that would bring the top rate down from 35 percent to 28 percent while reducing or eliminating many commonly used itemized deductions.

In an interview on Sunday, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, co-chairman of the supercommittee said that while Republicans believe that higher revenues will hurt the economy, "within the context of the bipartisan negotiation with Democrats, clearly they are a reality."

He said that whatever "damage would be done by $250 billion of new taxes we think would be offset by a system that would help create jobs. And as we're dealing with the debt crisis, we don't want to make the jobs crisis even worse. So that's what has been put on the table."

Jordan, R-Ohio, posted his dissent hours later in USA Today, although he refrained from criticizing any Republican directly.

"Balance doesn't mean `half-right, half-wrong,' he wrote, referring to Obama's calls for a deficit-cutting plan that includes higher taxes and spending cuts. "It means you don't fall over." Jordan is chairman of the Republican Study Committee, an organization of conservative GOP members of the House.

___

Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this story.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111114/ap_on_go_co/us_debt_supercommittee

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Tuesday, November 15, 2011

At age 102, this therapist is still psyched

Hedda Bolgar?s job just doesn?t get old. Seeing patients four days a week, the 102-year-old psychologist and psychoanalyst also trains new therapists and has scheduled lectures well into next year.

?I love working with patients,? Bolgar told TODAY.com. ?I love to listen to them. I love to understand ? even when they?re not saying it.?

Bolgar is the oldest living member of the American Psychology Association. In September, she flew to Washington D.C. to receive an award for America?s Outstanding Oldest Worker by Experience Works, a non-profit that helps senior workers.

?She doesn?t let grass grow on her feet,? says Peter Wolson, a psychologist and psychoanalyst who practices and trains students at the Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic Studies, an institute Bolgar co-founded in 1970.

In fact, she?s so busy friends have suggested she ?get off the horse?, Wolson says. But the sharp, healthy and happy Bolgar doesn?t see why. She?s eternally fascinated by the unconscious, where she says pesky problems hide.

Lived through war, famine ? and loss of her spouse
?Ultimately what really interests me is to see people change and have better lives ? and feel liberated,? says Bolgar, who says she thinks of her patients even when she?s not with them.

She practices from her home in the tony Brentwood area of Los Angeles, scheduling patients so they never run into each other (people talk). Patients can get cozy in a chair while she sits on a beige couch in her office adorned with flowers and a view of the backyard pool.

Bolgar, born in Switzerland in 1909, usually relates in some way to patients she meets ? having lived through war, famine, leaving her country, parents? divorce and loss of her spouse, friends and pets (she?s kept cats for 40 years and just adopted kittens). The best thing she has done in life, she once said, was marrying her husband, who she calls ?the love of my life."

?When he died, it was really, for many years, the end of the world. My mourning was endless. It seemed endless, until one day I decided I was alive,? Bolgar says in ?The Beauty of Aging?, an upcoming film about vivacious women over 80 (http://www.beautyofaging.com).

While her patients? tussles can link to a difficult childhood, Bolgar, who ultimately grew up in Hungary and Austria, can?t even recall fighting at home. She speaks admiringly of her mother, a journalist, and her father, a political ambassador. Bolgar attributes her longevity, in part, to her genes: Her mom lived to 96. (She?s also been a vegetarian since 14, loves sleep and doesn?t get ?anxious about things that haven?t happened.")

'Marked my life in a way'
Bolgar traces her penchant for protecting others to first grade. Another teacher dragged a second grader to her class and asked a question that stumped the older student. Bolgar later boasted to her mother that she supplied the correct answer.

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    4. At age 102, this therapist is still psyched
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?I went home and felt very proud,? Bolgar says. ?She listened. And then asked, ?Did it ever occur how that other child must have felt?? I was 6. I?ve never forgotten it. I always thought I was glad she said it. It marked my life in a way.?

Of course, sometimes it happens that the psychotherapist only shares one commonality with a patient: ?being human?. That includes a police officer who left the force due to his violent tendencies. The patient, to Bolgar?s surprise, kept his appointments ? but to rant, sharing sick hopes of having more altercations.

??You must have had a terrible childhood,?? Bolgar recalls telling the ex-police officer one day, after she?d listened extensively. ?It was awful. Then he started telling me how awful it was. I was grateful I never had any of those experiences. Everything happened that should never have happened. Then he started to change. He found a girl who was lovely.?

'Three weeks to get a dinner date'
Bolgar, who left the day Hitler marched into Austria, says she?s met a plethora of lovely people herself, especially being welcomed into homes when she first came to the U.S. at 28.

Bolgar now generously welcomes people into her home, Wolson says, throwing soirees in her home that has Old European charm with vintage books, paintings and flowers, which she adores, indoors as well as out. She?s always outfitted in high fashion, statement earrings and necklace ? and a smile.

Video: 'I'm trying to sell them on old age' (on this page)

?It takes three weeks to get a dinner date with her,? says Allen Yasser, once an intimidated post-doctoral psychology student of Bolgar at Cedar Sinai who has spent 40 Christmases with her.

He?s now the director of the Wright Institute of Los Angeles, which they co-founded in 1974 with two other students of hers.? She also started the Hedda Bolgar Psychotherapy Clinic, which treats those who can?t afford therapy otherwise.

?She has kind of solved the basic problem of getting old, which is isolation. How does she stay tuned in? She has friends in the world,? says 68-year-old Yasser, recalling her recent birthday party with about a 100 people, friends old and new.

Bolgar lives in the present, he says. She e-mails, researches on the Internet and has taught a course via Skype but adores books as well. Bolgar is also tackling current problems in mental health. She launched the Soldiers Project, which offers psychological therapy for soldiers and their families.

?She?s not talking about the past is wonderful and the present stinks ? a place an older person goes. She really lives for the present and the future. And I think that?s somewhat unique for someone her age,? Yasser says.

Story: Accomplishing amazing athletic feats ? in their 80s and 90s

Wolson, 69, calls Bolgar a ?model for everybody?.

?She keeps her optimism, her love of life, her vitality,? he says. ?She looks at this time as one of the best times in her life ? and that amazes me.?

Bolgar thrives on new experiences and connecting with the world around her.

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?I don?t know why people are so afraid of being old. It seems to me that ?what people see only is the loss or the deterioration or the minus ? and they don?t see that there are tremendous gains,? Bolgar says in the upcoming documentary. ?The ease and the security. The feeling of essentially being able to cope.?

? 2011 MSNBC Interactive.? Reprints

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45287411/ns/today-today_people/

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Monday, November 14, 2011

Control your music with gestures with Play It for iPhone and iPad

Play It is a music player for the iPhone and iPad that is controlled solely with gestures. It also lets you customize the look and syncs with iCloud so that your settings match on all devices. Additionally, Play It supports the new Twitter function in iOS 5, so that...


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/s1ctXKGMnow/story01.htm

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The Music Box Business Card

Music box business card by Katharina Holzl

Music box business card by Katharina Holzl

Music box business card by Katharina Holzl

Austrian designer Katharina H?lzl created an ingenious perforated business card for the band Ritornell, that when played through the accompanying music box, produces music. To hear the card, watch this video demo by Richard Eigner of Ritornell.

Ritornell?s business cards are inspired by the project?s live show. The improvised concerts evoke a lively atmosphere by the combination of filigree electronics with playful timbres of diverse acoustic instruments and utensils such as egg whisks, toilet brushes, chopsticks or sewing needles. As an integral part of their set list, Ritornell invites the audience to bring along their private musicboxes. Arranged in a big circle, the players? speed of turning levers is conducted: the results are as shimmering as you would expect.

via ISO50

Source: http://laughingsquid.com/the-music-box-business-card/

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Sunday, November 13, 2011

For Obama, an Asian agenda with an eye on home (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Determined to deepen relations with Asia, President Barack Obama is pouring nine days of valued time into a diplomatic mission away from Washington while Congress struggles toward a crucial budget deadline and a doubtful outcome.

Obama departs Friday for far-reaching summits in Hawaii and Indonesia, with a visit to Australia in between.

The travels will take the president more than 10,000 miles and across many time zones from home at a moment when domestic concerns matter most to the electorate.

His challenge will be to explain to voters how the U.S. role in the Asia-Pacific region is essential to American jobs and security ? and then emerge with results to show for his travels.

For a leader who was born in Hawaii, spent boyhood years in Indonesia and hails himself as America's first Pacific president, Obama's worldview is shaped deeply by Asia. His administration is showering attention on the Asia-Pacific region as a driver of global politics, prized buyer of American products and central player in protecting world peace.

"If you want America to be a world leader in this century, that leadership is going to have to include the Asia-Pacific," said Ben Rhodes, a deputy national security adviser for Obama.

Such a focus is essential to American interests, analysts say, but still a test for a president who is seeking to govern and run for re-election at once.

The White House hopes the world will see Obama's trip as a pivot point in American policy, as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton put it. The war in Iraq will be over by year's end, the war in Afghanistan is winding down and Obama is trying to expand trade, security alliances and cultural ties with traditional allies and emerging powers across Asia.

The subtext of the agenda is Obama's intention to keep the United States as a viable counterweight to a rising China, particularly in the eyes of other leaders in the region.

The element Obama aides don't mention is the potential political cost of having the president out of the country, half a world away, as other debates rage back home.

The economy is king, from the campaign to Obama's jobs fights to a legislative supercommittee charged with finding more than $1 trillion in cuts by a Nov. 23 deadline. Republicans and Democrats seem far apart and there is growing pessimism they will succeed.

"I can see the domestic political advisers saying, `Ten days in the Pacific while people are out of work in the U.S. ? Mister President, you ought to cut this one short," said Douglas Paal, vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former national security aide to presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

White House officials say there are no plans to do that. A suddenly shortened trip would be seen as a slap to Asian allies, and the Australian leg has already been postponed twice because of higher-ranking domestic concerns for Obama.

En route to Hawaii, Obama begins his journey by attending an unusual sporting event in San Diego: a high-profile Veterans Day college basketball game between Michigan State and No. 1 North Carolina on the flight deck of the USS Carl Vinson. That's the aircraft carrier that took Osama bin Laden's body to a burial at sea after American commandos killed the al-Qaida leader in Pakistan.

Over the weekend, the president will host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation, or APEC, forum in Honolulu, to promote trade and jobs.

The key push for Obama will be establishing a Pacific-wide free trade zone that is now being negotiated by the United States and eight smaller economies.

The lofty goal is for the trade zone to eventually cover a region accounting more than half of global output, with hopes that Japan and ultimately other giants like China would join. The expectations at the Obama-hosted summit, though, are not for a deal, but perhaps the announcement of a broad framework and more discussions.

As usual, the more intense diplomatic action will happen on the sidelines. Obama will hold private meetings with the leaders of Japan, Russia and China.

Altogether, Obama will spend four nights in Hawaii and is expected to have a light schedule on Monday ? only a fundraiser, a reminder of the domestic politics that follow him.

In Australia, Obama will deliver the key speech of his trip to the Australian parliament in Canberra.

He is also expected to announce a deeper U.S. military footprint in the country during a stop in Darwin, in the northern reaches of Australia. The defense agreement is likely to include positioning of U.S. equipment in Australia, increasing access to bases and conducting more joint exercises and training.

More broadly, Obama will use the trip to try to reassure allies that the United States will not slash its security presence across the Asia-Pacific despite austerity measures at home.

Yet the threat of such defense cuts is rattling Obama's own administration. If the Congress' deficit-cutting supercommittee cannot agree on a plan that wins approval from Congress, a new law calls for deep cuts across the government to kick in automatically starting in 2013, including more than $500 billion for the military.

The president caps his trip in Indonesia, where Obama spent four years as a boy.

Obama delivered a speech in the capital, Jakarta, last year in which he declared that "Indonesia is a part of me." This time he will be the first U.S. president to take part in the East Asia Summit, in Bali, known as a tropical paradise for tourism. The U.S. has put its stamp on the summit agenda in the area of security, including halting the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

The trip amounts to Obama's most extensive travel of the year.

He leaves as his approval ratings have been mired in the mid- to low-40 percent range in many recent polls, including a 46 percent approval number in the latest AP-GfK poll from mid-October. His overall rating outpaces his performance on the economy. On matters of foreign affairs, Obama fares far better, garnering the approval of about 6 in 10 adults.

Obama is expected to underscore the relevance of the trip to Americans by the day. He will be back in Washington on Nov. 20.

"This isn't a trip to the far-flung corners of Asia," said Daniel Russel, Obama's senior director for Asian affairs. "This is a trip to the Asia-Pacific. The U.S. is very much an Asia-Pacific nation. We're a resident power."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111111/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_asia

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