Deadline nears for "Occupy" camps near White House (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Anti-Wall Street protesters in the nation's capital face their first challenge from police on Monday as authorities seek to end overnight camping at two parks within sight of the White House.

The U.S. National Park Service said last week it would enforce a ban at noon against sleeping in McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza, where "Occupy" protesters have been staked out since October.

It ordered sleeping bags, pillows and other gear removed but said tents may remain as a protest symbol if flaps stayed open.

Fears of clashes mounted after police used a stun gun Sunday on one protester, who was later arrested. The deadline in Washington follows a new burst of unrest at "Occupy" protests in Oakland, California, over the weekend.

On Monday, about 10 police officers did a walk-through in both parks before the deadline. Some protesters had already complied with the order to move their sleeping gear, but it remained unclear whether all would do so by the noon deadline.

"Some said they would resist. Some said they won't take their stuff out of the tents, and some will," protester Feriha Kaya, 23, said in Freedom Plaza. "It will not stop anything."

At McPherson Square, participants were turning their tents and sleeping bags into symbols of protest using donated art supplies. One tent read, "We're still here." A sign on a bench read "Eviction?? Bring it!!"

In "Occupy" demonstrations that began in New York City in September and spread across the United States, protesters have targeted the growing income gap, corporate greed and what they see as unfair tax structure favoring the richest 1 percent of Americans. Protesters in Washington also cite the city's thousands of homeless people, some of whom sleep in the park.

The U.S. capital, site of historic demonstrations over the decades, had so far done little to deter the protesters, drawing a rebuke from congressional Republicans who accuse the Obama administration of sympathizing with the groups and refusing to enforce park rules - a charge denied by park officials.

The National Park Service regulates both parks and forbids camping on federal land not designated as a campground.

The protests have also has irked some city officials who are concerned about rats, trash and health issues.

Fitzgerald Scott, 40, who was putting up a tent in Freedom Plaza despite the order, said Friday's order came as a shock. "It flustered people, it got them scared," he said.

CALLS FOR REINFORCEMENTS

Protesters in McPherson Square said they were expecting reinforcements from New York, Boston, Philadelphia and other cities to show solidarity. The number of protesters in the Occupy DC camps fluctuate, but city officials estimate there are less than 100 in total.

Obama has seized on the debate to call for higher taxes on the richest Americans and has made economic inequality a central theme of his administration and bid for re-election.

The Occupy protests had faded over the last few weeks but flared anew on Saturday when violence broke out in Oakland, California and 400 demonstrators were arrested during a night of skirmishes with police. Oakland has become a flashpoint of the protests and the arrests there were one of the largest mass detentions since the movement began.

"It's injected solidarity and new energy. It's also injected a little bit of unease because we're not sure what the Park Police are going to do and I don't know if they're sure of what we're going to do," said protester Rusty Shackleford, 25.

"Nobody knows who's going to make the first move."

(Writing by Susan Heavey and Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Ross Colvin)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/us_nm/us_usa_protests_washington

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Indy battens down hatches for Super Bowl security (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS ? From pickpockets and prostitutes to dirty bombs and exploding manhole covers, authorities are bracing for whatever threat the first Super Bowl in downtown Indianapolis might bring.

Some ? nuclear terrorism, for instance ? are likely to remain just hypothetical. But others, like thieves and wayward manhole covers, are all too real.

Though Indianapolis has ample experience hosting large sporting events ? the Indianapolis 500 attracts more than 200,000 fans each year, and the NCAA's men's Final Four basketball tournament has been held here six times since 1980_ the city's first Super Bowl poses some unique challenges.

Unlike the Final Four, which is compressed into a weekend, the Super Bowl offers crowd, travel and other logistical challenges over 10 days leading up to the Feb. 5 game. And unlike the 500, where events are largely concentrated at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway about seven miles from Lucas Oil Stadium, the NFL's showcase event will consume 44 blocks ? about a mile square ? in the heart of the city, closing off streets and forcing an anticipated 150,000 or more NFL fans to jockey with downtown workers for space much of the week.

"This is clearly bigger in terms of the amount of people who will be downtown over an extended period of time," city Public Safety Director Frank Straub said.

Under a security risk rating system used by the federal government, the Super Bowl ranks just below national security events involving the president and the Secret Service, said Indianapolis Chief of Homeland Security Gary Coons. The ratings are based on factors including international attention, media coverage, the number of people the event attracts and visits by celebrities and foreign dignitaries, he said. The Indianapolis 500 ranks two levels below the Super Bowl.

The city has invested millions of dollars and worked with local, state and federal agencies to try to keep all those people safe. Up to 1,000 city police officers will be in the stadium and on the street, carrying smartphones and other electronic hand-held devices that will enable them to feed photos and video to a new state-of-the-art operations center on the city's east side or to cruisers driven by officers providing backup, Straub said. Hundreds of officers from other agencies, including the state police and the FBI, will be scanning the crowd for signs of pickpocketing, prostitution or other trouble.

One concern has been a series of explosions in Indianapolis Power & Light's underground network of utility cables. A dozen underground explosions have occurred since 2005, sending manhole covers flying.

Eight explosions have occurred since 2010. The latest, on Nov. 19, turned a manhole cover into a projectile that heavily damaged a parked car and raised concerns about the safety of Super Bowl visitors walking on streets and soaring above the Super Bowl village on four zip lines installed for the festivities.

Since December, IPL has spent about $180,000 to install 150 new locking manhole covers, primarily in the Super Bowl village and other areas expected to see high pre-game traffic.

IPL officials say the new Swiveloc manhole covers can be locked for security reasons during the Super Bowl. In case of an explosion, the covers lift a couple of inches off the ground ? enough to vent gas out without feeding in oxygen to make an explosion bigger ? before falling back into place.

An Atlanta consultant hired by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission last summer to audit IPL's underground network of cables for a cause of the explosions says the new covers are merely a Band-Aid.

"We've argued it's better to prevent," said Dan O'Neill of O'Neill Management Consulting, which filed its report in December.

O'Neill's team couldn't pinpoint an exact cause for the explosions but said a flawed inspection process contributed, noting that IPL workers missed warning signs such as road salt corroding an old cable or leaks in nearby steam pipes. In a report filed Jan. 19 with Indiana utility regulators, the power company said it had overhauled its inspection process.

IPL will dispatch extra crews to the area around the stadium in case of power-related problems, such as a recent breaker fire that left 10,000 customers in homes south of downtown without power. Spokeswoman Crystal Livers-Powers said the company doesn't anticipate any power issues.

Straub, the public safety director, said he's confident the city is prepared and notes that Indianapolis hosts major events "pretty regularly."

Special teams from the Department of Energy will sweep Lucas Oil Stadium and the surrounding area for nuclear terror threats, and a new $18 million high-tech communications center that opened in time for the lead-up to the game will tie it all together.

"We're using more technology, and state of the art technology, than has been used in any Super Bowl before this one," Straub said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_super_bowl_security

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Pre-IPO Filing, Facebook Trading Privately At $84 Billion Valuation

As everyone waits for Facebook to file for its IPO this week, one of the big questions is what will its valuation be. Will it hit the magic $100 billion? Well, we are not going to find out this week because IPOs don't get priced unti right before the offering, which isn't expected until April or May. And a lot can happen between now and then. (What will be filed is the preliminary S-1 with all of Facebook's financials and other corporate information). But if Facebook went public today, chances are that it would get a valuation of around $85 billion.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/a2n8XzlrZuM/

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State Dept: Americans take refuge at Cairo embassy

FILE - In this Aug. 14, 1998 file photo, the U.S. embassy in downtown Cairo, Egypt. Three U.S. citizens whom Egyptian authorities have barred from leaving the country have sought refuge in the American Embassy in Cairo, U.S. officials said Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Leila Gorchev, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 14, 1998 file photo, the U.S. embassy in downtown Cairo, Egypt. Three U.S. citizens whom Egyptian authorities have barred from leaving the country have sought refuge in the American Embassy in Cairo, U.S. officials said Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. (AP Photo/Leila Gorchev, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 23, 2009 handout file photo proved by the Transportation Department, Sam Lahood, left, watches as his father Ray is sworn in as Transportation Secretary, at the Transportation Department in Washington. Three U.S. citizens whom Egyptian authorities have barred from leaving the country have sought refuge in the American Embassy in Cairo, U.S. officials said Monday, Jan. 30, 2012. Those banned include Sam LaHood, son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, but officials would not say whether he is at the embassy. (AP Photo/ Transportation Department, File)

CAIRO (AP) ? Three American citizens barred from leaving Egypt have sought refuge at the American Embassy in Cairo amid growing tensions between the two allies over an Egyptian investigation into foreign-funded pro-democracy groups.

The White House said Monday it was disappointed with Egypt's handing of the issue, which U.S. officials have warned could stand in the way of more than $1 billion in badly needed U.S. aid.

The growing spat between the two longtime allies reflects the uncertainty as they redefine their relationship nearly one year after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak following an 18-day popular uprising.

Mubarak was a steadfast U.S. ally, scrupulously maintaining Egypt's peace treaty with Israel and while seeking to mediate between Israel and the Palestinians ? a clear American interest.

Now, Egypt's council of ruling generals, who took power when Mubarak stood down last Feb. 11, often accuse "foreign hands" of promoting protests against their rule.

At the same time, members of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which dominates the new parliament, have suggested that they could seek to re-negotiate parts of the 1979 Israel-Egypt peace treaty, causing alarm in Israel and concern in Washington over the possibility that Egypt will no longer serve as its solid anchor in the Middle East.

Egypt's investigation into foreign-funded organizations burst into view last month when heavily armed security forces raided 17 offices belonging to 10 pro-democracy and human rights groups, some U.S.-based. U.S. and U.N. officials blasted the raids, which Egyptian officials defended as part of a legitimate investigation into the groups' work and finances.

Last week Egypt barred at least six Americans and four Europeans who worked for U.S.-based organizations from leaving the country. They included Sam LaHood, the head of the Egypt office of the Washington-based International Republican Institute and the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the only Republican in President Barack Obama's Cabinet.

On Monday, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters in Washington that some of the Americans under investigation were in the embassy, although she would not identify them or their affiliations, citing privacy concerns.

"We can confirm that a handful of U.S. citizens have opted to stay on the embassy compound in Cairo while awaiting permission to depart Egypt," she said.

Nuland added that those seeking refuge in the embassy were not "seeking to avoid any kind of judicial process," noting they had been interrogated before.

The U.S. Foreign Affairs Manual states that such request for refuge are generally granted only when the U.S. citizen "would otherwise be in danger of serious harm."

Another U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said three Americans were at the embassy.

It was unclear if LaHood was among them. In a text message, LaHood referred queries to an IRI spokeswoman in Washington, who did not respond to requests for comment. LaHood said last week that he had been told by his lawyer that he was under investigation on suspicion of managing an unregistered NGO and receiving "funds" from an unregistered NGO ? namely, his salary.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the U.S. had been in touch with Egyptian officials about the issue.

"We've made clear our concerns about this issue and our disappointment that these several citizens are not being allowed to depart Egypt," he told reporters in Washington Monday. Last week, Obama discussed the issue by phone with Egyptian military chief Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi.

U.S. officials have warned that restrictions on civil society groups could hinder aid to Egypt, funds the country badly needs given the severe blows continued unrest has dealt its economy over the last year.

The U.S. is due to give $1.3 billion in military assistance and $250 million in economic aid to Egypt in 2012. Washington has given Egypt an average of $2 billion in economic and military aid a year since 1979, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Recent U.S. legislation conditions the continuation of that aid on Egypt's taking certain steps in its transition to democracy. These include abiding by its 1979 peace treaty with Israel, holding free and fair elections and "implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association and religion and due process of law."

The new strain on the U.S.-Egypt relationship underlines the wider question of where the various groups struggling for power will lead the country. For months, the ruling military council has faced frequent protests over its handling of the transition and calling for it to immediately hand over power to civilians.

Military leaders have blamed unidentified "foreign hands" for these demonstrations, saying they sought to destabilize Egypt.

On Monday, a member of the civilian panel created by the military to advise it said the army was considering ways to speed up the transition.

As a sign, however, that U.S.-Egypt military cooperation will continue, a delegation from Egypt's Defense Ministry arrived in New York Sunday. Egypt's state news agency quoted military attache Gen. Mohammed el-Kishki as saying that the delegation would visit U.S. military bases, meet with members of Congress and discuss bilateral military cooperation.

It remains unclear how many foreigners have been barred from leaving Egypt.

LaHood said last week that three other employees of his organization were on the no-fly list, two Americans and one European.

From the National Democratic Institute, which was also raided in December, three Americans and three Serb employees are on the list, the group's Egypt director, Lisa Hughes, said last week.

Hughes said in a text message Monday that none of NDI's employees are staying at the U.S. Embassy.

A U.S. Embassy spokeswoman did not respond Monday to requests for comment.

___

Associated Press writers Matthew Lee and Erica Werner contributed from Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-30-Egypt-US/id-08e5c753a97c49409dd4efdea02b1fd3

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Beijing air pollution soars with fireworks smoke (AP)

BEIJING ? Clouds of smoke from Lunar New Year fireworks sent air pollution readings soaring in the more sensitive measurement system Beijing started using a little more than a week ago, reports said Sunday.

Readings of fine particulate matter called PM2.5 reached 1.593 milligrams per cubic meter on the Jan. 22 eve of the holiday, about 100 times worse than the amount considered good for 24-hour exposure, the city's environmental bureau said.

The reading drew wide publicity in the local media on Sunday. The popular Beijing Youth Daily praised the city government for taking a more critical look at air pollution, while urging residents to consider the environmental effects of setting off fireworks.

The readings moderated under relatively clear skies in recent days. By noon Sunday, before the weeklong holiday ends and people return to work, the level stood at a relatively good 0.039.

Beijing is frequently cloaked in yellow haze that obscures buildings a couple of blocks away. On particularly bad days, schools cancel outdoor activities and hospitals treat more people ? particularly the elderly ? for respiratory complaints.

The city began measuring the small particles in the air and releasing the readings on Jan. 21, as concern has grown over Beijing's air pollution from all sources. PM2.5 ? particles less than 2.5 micrometers in size, or about 1/30th the width of an average human hair ? are believed to be the greatest health risk because their smallness means they can lodge deeply in the lungs.

Beijing previously had only given PM10 measurements of coarser particles, which indicated pollution was "light," leading to accusations the true extent of the problem was hidden.

The U.S. Embassy since last year has released PM2.5 readings from a device on its rooftop and some residents have tested the air in their neighborhoods and posted the results online.

The embassy measured more pollution than the city on Sunday, but the sampling stations are 10 miles apart or more.

Beijing says its PM2.5 measuring station is about 4 miles (7 kilometers) west of central Tiananmen Square.

___

Associated Press researcher Henry Hou contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_as/as_china_air_quality

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Michigan Voters Don't Favor Legalizing Marijuana (ContributorNetwork)

Michigan voters passed the Michigan Medical Marijuana Act in 2008 with nearly 63 percent of the vote. On the November ballot, Michigan voters might be asked to consider legalizing marijuana for general use. According to a recent poll, residents are far more cautious about that type of law, reports the Detroit Free Press. Here are details about the legalized marijuana petition drive and how residents are responding to it.

* The Committee for a Safer Michigan (Detroit News. Abel said in light of enforcement issues and confusion about its parameters, legalization advocates want to scrap the law. The repeal would make cultivation, manufacture and distribution of marijuana available for anyone over 21 years old who is not incarcerated. Driving or operating machinery under the influence of marijuana would be subject to the same laws as drunk driving.

* According to Michigan's Licensing and Regulatory Affairs office there are about 130,000 registered medical marijuana users. According to Repeal Today , the Michigan Medical Marijuana Program has only made matters worse for those who are suffering and need the drug. Marijuana restrictions haven't prevented children from accessing, have created expensive legal battles and have made it only accessible by drug cartels.

* The petition drive will need 322,609 signatures by July 9 to get it on the November ballot. Supporters say though no state has completely legalized marijuana, presidential candidate Ron Paul has introduced a bill that would allow states to make their own laws about it.

* A poll by EPIC-MRA of Lansing shows more conservative numbers of support, says the Detroit Free Press. 45 percent of respondents said they would favor legalizing pot and 50 percent were against it. The rest was undecided. 43 percent of voters younger than 40 supported decriminalizing marijuana; 55 percent of voters ages 50 to 55 favored it; among voters older than 65, 40 percent agreed.

* In all Michigan counties but Wayne, voters oppose legalizing marijuana.

Marilisa Kinney Sachteleben writes about people, places, events and issues in her home state of "Pure Michigan."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/meds/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120128/hl_ac/10885915_michigan_voters_dont_favor_legalizing_marijuana

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Marshall's 4 TD catches lift AFC in Pro Bowl (AP)

HONOLULU ? Brandon Marshall isn't taking time in the islands to relish his record-breaking Pro Bowl performance. He's ready to get back to work.

The Miami Dolphins wide receiver caught six passes for 176 yards and a Pro Bowl-record four touchdowns, and the AFC used a second-half surge to beat the NFC 59-41 Sunday.

Marshall, who had a game filled with highlight-reel grabs, was selected the game's MVP, and his name now will join the likes of Walter Payton and Jerry Rice on the banners at Aloha Stadium.

"You know what? I wanted it," he said. "It's a Pro Bowl. Some guys are playing 100 (percent), some guys are playing 90, some guys aren't playing at all, but it means a lot to be up in the rafters with some of these guys."

Marshall hopes some of the Pro Bowl magic will carry over to next season, where the Dolphins will be under new coach Joe Philbin, Green Bay's offensive coordinator for the past five years.

"Hopefully down in Miami we can get some things turned around," Marshall said. "We have some special things to do, and we will do some special things down in South Beach."

Marshall had changed his flight to leave Honolulu on Sunday night, so he could meet Philbin on Monday. "I know he's going to do a great job," he said.

The 59 points by the AFC set a Pro Bowl mark, and the 100 points scored by the teams combined was the second highest, a touchdown shy of the 107 scored in 2004.

While everyone was playing at half-speed and ready to extend their Hawaiian vacations, Marshall played with urgency.

"You never know when you're going to be back," Marshall said, "and I wanted to go all out today because it could be my last Pro Bowl."

He hauled in a deflected, go-ahead 47-yard TD pass from Andy Dalton, while on his back, to give the AFC a 38-35 lead late in the third quarter. It was Marshall's third TD catch of the game, tying Jimmy Smith's Pro Bowl record set in 2004.

"It was the most unathletic highlight I ever had," he said. "Andy put it up there for me to make a play. I saw the ball, got nervous, fell, saw the ball, kicked it up and it just fell in my hands."

Marshall, making his third Pro Bowl appearance, then nabbed a 3-yard TD pass from Dalton that gave the AFC a 52-35 lead with 8:25 left.

Hawaii has been kind to Marshall, who also won MVP honors at Aloha Stadium in his final game at Central Florida in the 2005 Hawaii Bowl, where he caught 11 passes for 210 yards and three touchdowns.

Marshall noted he had six TDs this season, but four this game.

"It says a lot when you're playing with these type of quarterbacks," Marshall said. "They just put it in the right place and I just made the play. Hats off to those guys throwing me the ball."

The game featured rookie quarterbacks Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers and Dalton of the Cincinnati Bengals, who replaced Super Bowl quarterbacks Eli Manning and Tom Brady and played the entire second half. Their selection made this Pro Bowl the first to feature two rookie signal callers.

While Dalton looked composed, Newton played horribly ? struggling to move the ball, stay in the pocket and find his targets, which drew some boos from the sun-splashed, sellout crowd of 48,423.

"No excuses," Newton said. "When you hang the ball up there, against these kind of players, that's what you get," Newton said. "It's the good and the bad of playing in a Pro Bowl. I learned a lot."

Newton finished 9 of 27 for 186 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Eric Weddle picked off Newton twice. Dalton, meanwhile, was 7 of 9 for 99 yards and two TDs.

For the NFC, Aaron Rodgers was 13 of 17 for 141 yards and two TDs. But he was watching late in the game as Newton struggled.

"It's tough to be the last guy in, when it's the fourth quarter and money becomes an issue," he said. "Guys are playing a little bit harder. They come at you."

The NFC had three players with 100-yard yard receiving: Tony Gonzalez (seven for 114), Larry Fitzgerald (6 for 111) and Steve Smith (5 for 118).

Rodgers and Fitzgerald connected for a pair of scores on back-to-back plays to put the NFC up 14-0 early in the game.

After stopping the AFC on fourth down at midfield, Rodgers drove the NFC down the field and threw a 10-yard TD toss to Fitzgerald. Six seconds later, Rodgers aired a 44-yard rainbow in the end zone to Fitzgerald for another score after the NFC got the ball back with a surprise onside kick.

The reception was Fitzgerald's sixth career TD catch in the Pro Bowl, tying Gonzalez's record. He would break the record with the game's last touchdown, on a 36-yard pass from Newton.

The AFC came right back and tied it up on two deep TD passes on the right side by Ben Roethlisberger. He threw a 34-yarder to rookie A.J. Green, and then connected with Marshall on a 74-yarder.

Each AFC player earned a record $50,000 for the win, while the NFC players received $25,000.

While the players hope to return to Hawaii next year, it's still unknown where the 2013 Pro Bowl will be played. Sunday's game marked the final one under contract between the NFL and Hawaii.

"As someone who played in the Pro Bowl when it was in a different city, I can tell you that it's not a real comparison," Rodgers said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_sp_fo_ga_su/fbn_pro_bowl_folo

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SUV hits light-rail train in Sacramento, killing 3 (AP)

SACRAMENTO, Calif. ? An SUV ignored flashing warning lights and veered around a rail crossing arm moments before it collided with a light-rail train, killing two adults and an 18-month-old boy in the vehicle, authorities said.

The only other person in the Nissan Pathfinder, a woman in her 30s, was hospitalized with serious injuries after Saturday's crash, said Niko King, assistant chief with the Sacramento Fire Department.

Six of the roughly 50 passengers on the light rail train suffered minor injuries and were taken to a hospital, he said.

King and a spokeswoman for the transit line said video from a camera at the crossing clearly shows the SUV driving around the crossing arm.

The collision, in a working class neighborhood south of downtown, occurred shortly after 4 p.m. and pushed the Pathfinder about 30 yards from the point of impact.

"All I heard was a big bang, and I saw a light-rail train heading south with a big truck smashed on it," said Ravin Pratab, 42, of Davis, whose car was among those waiting for the train at the rail crossing, on the opposite side of the tracks from the Pathfinder.

The train was going about 55 mph at the time, a typical speed for that location.

The light rail followed two Union Pacific freight trains, which use separate tracks, and the arms had remained down during the interval, said Alane Masui, spokeswoman for the Sacramento Regional Transit District.

"They were down after the UP trains and before the (light rail) train approached, so the crossing arms were properly working," she said.

She said the length of time between the freight trains clearing the intersection and the light rail train crossing it had not yet been determined and would be part of the investigation. Investigators also were reviewing video from a camera mounted on the light rail train.

Authorities did not release the identities of those in the Pathfinder or their relationship. A man and woman in the vehicle, both in their 40s, died at the scene while the toddler was pronounced dead at a hospital. Firefighters said one had been ejected.

The University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento would say only that the woman remained in serious condition late Saturday.

The light rail system carries an average of 50,000 passengers a day, with lines stretching from the state capital to its suburbs in the north, south and east.

Masui said there are four sets of tracks at the crossing ? two for freight and two for light rail so trains from both systems can run in either direction.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_us/us_suv_light_rail_crash

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Don?t Fret Over Super PACs (Theagitator)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/192959634?client_source=feed&format=rss

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AP Interview: Roubini warns of tough times ahead

Nouriel Roubini, Professor of Economics and International Business, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University speaks during a panel session on the first day of the 42nd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. The overarching theme of the Meeting, which takes place from Jan. 25 to Jan. 29 , is "The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models". (AP Photo/Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott)

Nouriel Roubini, Professor of Economics and International Business, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, New York University speaks during a panel session on the first day of the 42nd Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum, WEF, in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012. The overarching theme of the Meeting, which takes place from Jan. 25 to Jan. 29 , is "The Great Transformation: Shaping New Models". (AP Photo/Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott)

DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) ? Economist Nouriel Roubini, nicknamed "Dr. Doom" for his gloomy predictions in the run-up to the financial meltdown four years ago, says the fallout from that crisis could last the rest of this decade.

Roubini, widely acknowledged to have predicted the crash of 2008, sees tough times ahead for the global economy and is warning that without major policy changes things can still get much worse.

Until Europe radically reforms itself and the U.S. gets serious about its own debt mountain, he said, the world economy will continue to stumble along to the detriment of large chunks of the world's population who will continue to see their living standards under pressure, even if they have a job.

Roubini, a professor of economics and international business at New York University, spoke in an interview this week with The Associated Press at a dinner on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum, where he is one of the hotly pursued stars.

Looking at economic prospects this year, he agreed with the International Monetary Fund's latest forecast that the global economy is weakening and said he might be "even slightly more bearish" on its prediction of 3.3 percent growth in 2012.

He painted a grim picture of the eurozone in recession and key emerging markets in China, India, Brazil and South Africa slowing down, partly related to weakness in the eurozone. He predicted that the U.S. economy, the world's largest, will grow by just 1.7-1.8 percent this year, with unemployment remaining high. The government, he added, was "kicking the can down the road" and not taking measures to increase productivity and competitiveness.

"We live in a world where there is still a huge amount of economic and financial fragility," he said. "There is a huge amount of uncertainty ? macro, financial, fiscal, sovereign, banking, regulatory, taxation ? and there is also geopolitical and political and policy uncertainty."

"There are lots of sources of uncertainty from the eurozone, from the Middle East, from the fact that the U.S. is not tackling its own fiscal problem, from the fact that Chinese growth is unbalanced and unsustainable, relying too much on exports and fixed investments and high savings, and not enough on consumption. So it's a very delicate global economy," Roubini said.

He said the biggest uncertainty is the possibility of a conflict with Iran over its nuclear program that involves Israel, the United States, or both. That could lead oil prices now hovering around $100 a barrel to spike to $150 per barrel, he said, and lead to a global recession.

Unemployment and economic insecurity have become big issues from the Mideast to the Occupy Wall Street movement in the U.S., and protests from Israel and India to Chile and Russia ? and at the same time there is rising inequality between rich and poor.

"All these things lead to political and social instability," he said. "So we have to reduce inequality. We have to give growth to jobs, skills, education, and increase human capital so workers can compete."

Roubini called for a major change in policy priorities.

"We have to shift our investment from things that are less productive like the financial sector and housing and real estate to things that are more productive like our people, our human capital, our structure, our technology, our innovation," he said.

Roubini said slow growth in advanced economies will likely lead to "a U-shaped recovery rather than a typical V," and it may last for another three to five years because of high debt.

"Once you have too much debt in the public and private sector, the painful process could last up to a decade, where economic growth remains weak and anemic and sub-par until we have cleaned up the balance sheet and invested in the things that make us more productive for the future," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-28-EU-Davos-Forum-Economist/id-34fe76bd6c574151aaf57cca73b0603c

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Understanding the Influence of Florida???s Hispanic Voters (ContributorNetwork)

The Florida Republican primary Tuesday is shaping up as a two-man contest between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich in which Hispanics may determine the outcome.

Ron Paul and Rick Santorum virtually abandoned the Sunshine State. The Washington Post said, "Rick Santorum is tired, almost broke -- and going home," while Politico noted Paul hasn't held a single event, spent a lone ad dollar or actively campaigned in Florida.

Florida Republicans prefer Romney to Gingrich, four polls taken Jan. 24 to 25 show. Three give Romney a seven- to eight-point lead, while the Quinnipiac shows a closer two-point spread.

With the candidate field effectively narrowed to two, Hispanic voters may determine which candidate gets a 50-delgate boost in the winner-take-all primary.

Voter Eligibility

Florida is a closed primary state, so only registered Republicans can vote. There are 4,063,853 registered Republicans in Florida, according to the Division of Elections.

Registered Republican Profile

* White voters are the majority, numbering 3,407,241.

* Florida has the third highest Latino population among the states, and Latinos comprise 11.1 percent of Florida's Republican voters, the Pew Center said. They're the second largest racial/ethnic concentration among Florida Republicans and there are 452, 619 of them. Florida's Hispanic voters tend to be younger than the average sunshine state voter; 57 percent are not native-born; 43 percent are naturalized American citizens. The dominant origins of Florida Hispanics are Cuban (32 percent) and Puerto Rico (28 percent.)

* Black voters constitute a much smaller segment of Florida's Republican base, 58,759 in all.

* Asians and Pacific Islanders add 48,967 more voters to the Republican rolls.

* The other subgroups include Native American/Alaskan (11,776), Other (46,375), and Unknown (38,116).

Latino Vote's Importance

The Cubans in south Florida are Republican party stalwarts and have long been considered essential for success in winning the GOP nomination. In the close 2012 race, the Sun-Sentinel said, the Hispanic vote is the wildcard, but it's central Floridian Puerto Ricans who hold the key.

Immigration won't be the decisive issue due to the concentration of Cubans and Puerto Ricans, according to the Sun-Sentinel. Cubans have an immigration fast track available and Puerto Ricans are already American citizens. Positions on trade policy, jobs, and the economy will be determinative, Right Wing News noted. Florida was walloped in the recession has been battling high unemployment and underemployment as well as disproportionate fallout from the nation's mortgage crisis. Hispanic unemployment was two points higher than the state average in 2010.

Romney and Gingrich both played to Hispanic voters in Thursday night's debate and both visit the Hispanic Leadership Network in Miami Friday.

Latino Preferences

According to a recent Latino Decisions poll, Hispanic voters prefer Romney by a wider spread than voters in general. This is the same candidate they rejected in 2008, in favor of Arizona Senator John McCain. McCain amassed 54 percent of the Hispanic vote to Romney's 14 percent.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120127/pl_ac/10892671_understanding_the_influence_of_floridas_hispanic_voters

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Obama to spell out plan to target universities that don't control rising tuition costs (Star Tribune)

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Stars cover Dylan songs for Amnesty International (AP)

NASHVILLE, Tennessee ? Anyone who ever doubted the transformative power of Bob Dylan's music need only look to Ke$ha.

Yes, Ke$ha.

The irreverent pop star known for singing about brushing her teeth with "a bottle of Jack" turns poignant while covering a song from one of music's great lyricists on the new four-disc "Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International." The project features 75 newly recorded Dylan songs by 80 artists, including Adele, Sting, Sugarland, Elvis Costello, hip-hop artist K'naan and others to support the human rights organization. The album will be available internationally on Jan. 30.

Ke$ha is one of the more unlikely stars to contribute to the compilation, released Tuesday. The pop star defined by party anthems like "Tik Tok" and "Your Love Is My Drug" took on Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright." As she found herself alone in her bedroom for the first time in months, the words of the song ? about a person bidding goodbye to a lover ? took on a new, deeply personal meaning. She realized she was saying goodbye to her carefree, former life ? before big hits and world tours brought on pressure and priorities. She broke down as she began singing, and the emotion is captured on the record.

"Everything has changed. It's amazing, but there are moments that are incredibly lonely. This caught me at one of those incredibly lonely moments, and it really struck home. There's a line, `It's a long and lonesome road, babe, where I'm bound I can't tell.' It's tragically relevant," said Ke$ha in a phone interview. "I think these are all positive things for young people to see that you can be strong and you can be irreverent and you can say what you want and you have the freedom of speech, but I've learned that vulnerability is actually an asset. It can be just as much of an asset as strength."

Ke$ha isn't the only eye-popping name on the compilation: Nineteen-year-old Miley Cyrus does a rendition of "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go." The project has a wide range of acts, from Maroon 5 to 92-year-old folk legend Pete Seeger, who sings "Forever Young" with a children's chorus. Dylan waived the publishing rights to his entire catalog, and all of the artists, musicians, engineers and others involved in the recording process did everything pro bono.

Aerosmith guitarist Joe Perry, who recorded "Man of Peace," describes it as "thin ice" to cover an artist as iconic as Dylan, because not only are his songs brilliant, but his performances of those songs have become so revered themselves.

"(Artists like Dylan) know where (the songs) live and breathe and where the heartbeat is. So covering them can be a touchy thing," said Perry, who recorded the Dylan song "Man of Peace." `'Hopefully you don't make it different just for the sake of making it different. I just wanted to kind of reinterpret my take on the song and just have fun singing it."

Legendary country artist and actor Kris Kristofferson considers Dylan a personal friend but says he's been an inspiration and a hero a lot longer than that. Johnny Cash introduced them while Kristofferson was working as a janitor at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville in the 1960s. At 75, Kristofferson says he has been around long enough to understand and appreciate Dylan's impact on music.

"If you look at pop songs before Dylan, none of them were poetry like his are. He opened up the doors for creative writers and made songwriting to me what it is today," said Kristofferson, who covers "Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)." `'Music was a whole lot different when I was a little kid. Pop music was lifted up as an art form by Bob Dylan."

British pop singer Natasha Bedingfield recorded "Ring Them Bells" in Nashville during her U.S. tour last year. She said she used to listen to it as a kid with her brother and sister.

"To me the song is about freedom, `Ring them bells for the blind and the deaf, for the innocent,'" she said. "For me it felt quite poignant, particularly for this album, where Amnesty is all about people who are being unjustly treated."

"Chimes of Freedom" is a follow-up to Amnesty International's 2007 collection of John Lennon songs performed by major artists, called "Instant Karma," which raised over $4 million for their efforts in Darfur.

"Music has been at the heart of so many movements for change," said Julie Yannatta, who served as the album's executive producer with Jeff Ayeroff. "Music has a way of reminding us who we are at our essence and what we need to do to live together in a better world, and Amnesty is very much a part of that."

__

Online: http://www.amnestyusa.org/chimes

__

AP Writer Natalie Rotman contributed to this report from Los Angeles.

__

Caitlin R. King covers entertainment for The Associated Press. Follow her at: http://www.twitter.com/CaitlinRKing

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_en_mu/us_music_bob_dylan_covers

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Hispanics in focus as GOP race intensifies in Fla. (AP)

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. ? More than a million Hispanic voters are the prize as Republican presidential rivals Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich campaign hard in Florida after a feisty, final debate that served to heighten political tensions with the state's GOP primary just days away.

Romney was the aggressor Thursday night in the second debate in four days, pressing Gingrich to apologize for an ad labeling him as anti-immigrant and calling the idea "repulsive."

Both men arranged for appearances Friday in Miami with the Hispanic Leadership Network. The state has roughly 1.5 million Hispanic voters, who figure to play prominently in next Tuesday's Florida primary.

Immigration sparked the first clash Thursday night, moments after the debate opened, when Gingrich responded to a question by saying Romney was the most anti-immigrant of all four contenders on stage. "That's simply inexcusable," the former Massachusetts governor responded.

Gingrich fired back that Romney misled voters by running an ad accusing the former House speaker of once referring to Spanish as "the language of the ghetto." Gingrich said he was referring to a multitude of languages, not just Spanish.

Romney initially said of the ad, "I doubt it's mine," but moderator Wolf Blitzer pointed out that Romney, at the ad's conclusion, says he approved the message.

Gingrich rushed out an ad using debate footage that raised questions about Romney's credibility, including his reluctance to own up to the "ghetto" commercial. "If we can't trust Romney in a debate, how can we trust him in the White House," a narrator says in the Gingrich ad.

The debate was the 19th since the race for the Republican nomination began last year, and came five days before the Florida primary. Opinion polls show a close race, with a slight advantage for Romney and two other contenders, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Texas Rep. Ron Paul, far behind.

Paul has already made clear his intention to skip Florida in favor of smaller, less-expensive states. And Santorum, who had been campaigning aggressively here, conceded that he's better off sitting at his own kitchen table Saturday doing his taxes instead of campaigning in a state where he simply can't keep up with the GOP front-runners.

Outside advisers are urging him to pack up in Florida completely and not spend another minute in a state where he is cruising toward a loss.

The cash-strapped Santorum said he'll make a handful of Florida campaign stops early in the day, but will finish Friday with his family in Pennsylvania, where he'll spend all day Saturday before returning to Florida.

Still, Santorum stood out at times Thursday night.

He drew applause when he called on the front-runners to stop attacking one another. "Can we set aside that Newt was a member of Congress ... and that Mitt Romney is a wealthy guy?" he said in a tone of exasperation.

On Friday, Santorum said the finger-pointing between the two leaders is obscuring how similar both are to President Barack Obama on issues such as health care ? and making it harder to tell voters about his more conservative views.

"There are important issues in this race," Santorum told Fox News. "How people made money, all legitimately in my mind, should have nothing to do with it."

In the days since Romney's loss in South Carolina, Romney has tried to seize the initiative, playing the aggressor in the Tampa debate and assailing Gingrich in campaign speeches and a TV commercial. An outside group formed to support Romney has spent more than his own campaign's millions on ads, some of them designed to stop Gingrich's campaign momentum before it is too late to deny him the nomination.

With polls suggesting his South Carolina surge is stalling, Gingrich unleashed a particularly strong attack earlier in the day, much as he lashed out in Iowa when he rose in the polls, only to be knocked back by an onslaught of ads he was unable to counter effectively.

But he struggled to find an effective attack in the debate and was more often on the defensive.

Romney pounced when the topic turned to Gingrich's proposal for a permanent American colony on the moon ? an issue of particular interest to engineers and others who live on Florida's famed Space Coast.

A career businessman before he became a politician, Romney said: "If I had a business executive come to me and say I want to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I'd say, `You're fired.'"

Gingrich tried to raise questions about Romney's wealth and his investments. "I don't know of any American president who's had a Swiss bank account," Gingrich said.

Romney replied that his investments were in a blind trust over which he had no control. "There's nothing wrong with that," declared Romney, who has estimated his wealth at as much as $250 million.

.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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City College Norwich scheme praised by government ministers

Dick Palmer, principal of City College Norwich.

Shaun Lowthorpe Friday, January 27, 2012
8:10 AM

City College Norwich has been praised by the Government for its role in developing a pioneering scheme to help discover a new generation of entrepreneurs.

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Business minister Mark Prisk yesterday launched a new start-up calendar setting out 66 enterprise opportunities in the region throughout the year, the first of which is the official opening of City College Norwich?s Start Up Lounge next Friday.

The ?1m lounge, which contains the latest state-of-the-art computer facilities and access to business advice, is designed to help all 10,000 students learn the business skills needed to help them start their own firms or make them more attractive to employers.

Its launch follows the creation in November of a new ?Gazelle? group by City College and four other UK colleges, comprising private and public sector leaders aiming to help students battling to find work form their own companies capable of quick growth. Yesterday, college principal Dick Palmer, left, spoke at the launch event in London of the start-up calendar, telling an audience of around 250 people that colleges were perfectly placed to help link businesses and students.

?It?s great recognition that City College Norwich has got that first milestone,? Mr Palmer said. ?The real theme is about generating the potential among young people and experience and expertise among existing entrepreneurs.

?Colleges are perfectly placed to do that,? he added. ?Nobody has told us to do this. We created Gazelles as a group of five colleges and we have got 20 entrepreneurs on board nationally.

?In Norwich we have got 50 local entrepreneurs who are going to work for us. It?s getting the message across that colleges are great places to do that job and City College Norwich is at the forefront of doing that.?

The calendar, which is part of a new ?Business in You? campaign, also highlights competitions, conferences, workshops and networking events that could be the kick-start needed to help a new or growing business venture.

Business and enterprise minister Mark Prisk said: ?We want 2012 to be the year of enterprise, where entrepreneurs can unlock their business potential. Enterprise events don?t just take place on one day, or during one week, but they appear throughout the year and across the country. We need to make sure people in the East of England know that there is support and advice available, that it is easy to get, and that it?s on their doorstep.

?The Government is committed to providing more opportunities for businesses to start and grow. We are continuing to increase the number of volunteers through the new national mentoring scheme and have launched an improved business link website. The enterprise calendar is a great addition to our support for business in 2012 and beyond.?

Rajeeb Dey, Co-Founder of StartUp Britain and founder of Enternships.com, said: ?The Enterprise Calendar is about helping businesses go for it. It will shine a spotlight on the broad range of plentiful resources that exist for people wanting to start or grow a business in 2012. This will be a unique asset for small businesses to search for, and find, relevant events in their area and plan their year ahead. The year 2012 promises to be very exciting for enterprise ? never has there been a better time to go for it in business.?

Do you have a business-related story for the Evening News? Call Shaun Lowthorpe on 01603 772471 or email shaun.lowthorpe@archant.co.uk

Source: http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/city_college_norwich_scheme_praised_by_government_ministers_1_1189380

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Thousands of people are attacked by wild animals in India each year

Thousands of people are attacked by wild animals in India each year

A full grown leopard is kept in a cage, at Assam state Zoo after it was captured on the prowl Lalunggaon in Lakhara area of Guwahati, on January 27. The leopard badly mauled two people including a pregnant woman after straying into the largest city in India's northeast Assam state -- the third such attack there in as many weeks.

Source: AFP - Copyright AFP 2008, AFP stories and photos shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium

Source: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=iafpCNG.31f95ef69938d905a49598e69c7d1764.6f1p0&show_article=1

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Japan's Tepco set for $13 billion bailout: sources (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? The owner of Japan's stricken nuclear reactor, Tokyo Electric Power Co, will agree to be taken over by the government in a near-$13 billion bailout, sources said on Thursday, even as the country debates the future of nuclear power.

The injection of 1 trillion yen ($12.8 billion) in public funds would effectively nationalize Tepco (9501.T), supplier of power to almost 45 million people including Tokyo residents, in one of the world's biggest bailouts outside the banking sector.

Tepco has been dragging its feet over a proposal for the state-backed Nuclear Damage Liability Facilitation Fund to take at least a two-thirds stake in the company, which has been swamped by liabilities associated with the earthquake and tsunami which ruined its Fukushima nuclear power plant in March.

"If the government has a two-thirds stake, they have a right to control management, so naturally, Tepco doesn't like that," said one source familiar with the matter.

Tepco's future as an independent firm has been in doubt since the disaster, which triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years and left the utility with huge compensation payments, cleanup costs and rising fuel bills as public concerns over safety make it hard to restart other off-line reactors.

Its plight has become emblematic of problems facing Japan's entire nuclear power industry, much of which has been idled since the disaster while authorities work to regain some public trust in an industry that had provided a third of Japan's power.

Tepco's fate is also being watched for clues as to whether Japan will deregulate its system of monopolistic regional utilities that both generate and distribute electricity.

Tepco's share price soared on the news, jumping 8 percent in heavy trade to 219 yen.

Tepco, which together with the fund is drafting a business reconstruction plan to be unveiled in March, is also seeking about 1 trillion yen in additional bank loans, sources said.

Under the plan, the utility is expected to swing to profit in fiscal 2014 and resume issuing bonds two years later, the Nikkei business newspaper reported.

The plan calls for government control to end in six or seven years, the Nikkei added, though other reports have said it might last about a decade.

According to the plan, Tepco is expected to post a parent-only net loss of about 580 billion yen in the year ending March 31 and next fiscal year, followed by a net profit of 37.7 billion yen in fiscal 2013, largely on the sale of real estate, the Nikkei said. Tepco is also expected to generate a pretax profit of 159.1 billion yen in fiscal 2014, it added.

The projection for improved earnings is based on the assumption Tepco will increase household electricity rates by 10 percent in October and reduce fuel costs by restarting reactors at its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in fiscal 2013 -- moves the utility will find difficult to execute, the daily said.

Tepco shareholders will need to approve an increase in its authorized share capital at an annual meeting in June before the nationalization plan could go ahead.

(Reporting by Ashutosh Pandey in Bangalore, Osamu Tsukimori and Nobuhiro Kubo in Tokyo; Editing by Chris Gallagher and Mark Bendeich)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/bs_nm/us_tepco

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Long-Lasting Love: Celeb Couples Who've Made It Work

Heidi Klum and Seal couldn't make it work, but not every Hollywood romance has to end! See the pairs who've stood the test of time

Source: http://www.ivillage.com/long-lasting-celebrity-couples/1-b-351031?dst=iv%3AiVillage%3Along-lasting-celebrity-couples-351031

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PFT: Goodell gets 5-year contract extension

Getty Images

With the exception of owner Jeffrey Lurie explaining that, if he didn?t expect the team to be better in 2012, he would have made a coaching change, Eagles management has been conspicuously quiet in the early stages of the offseason.? Eagles G.M. Howie Roseman has broken the silence.? Not surprisingly, he says that the team will be better in 2012.

Roseman spoke with Reuben Frank of CSNPhilly.com on Tuesday, from the Senior Bowl.? ?We were 8-8, and we have work to do,? Roseman said.? ?We?ve got to look at everything we?re doing and make sure we evaluate it honestly and learn from our mistakes.? We?ll study everything around the league, the way everybody else does things, and we?ll get better.

?I?m not going to sit here in a bubble and say, ?We?re so great.?? When we look back, there are things we wish we had done better.? I can get better, we all can get better.?

If Roseman were to say, ?We?re so great,? the bubble in which he would be sitting would be one of delusion and/or drunkenness.? Though the four-game winning streak to end the season is encouraging, the Eagles failed miserably in 2011, especially given the standards they not only established but embraced.? On PFT Live, Eagles president Joe Banner declared that the line between success and failure wasn?t making the playoffs but winning the Super Bowl.

?Obviously, when we?re sitting here at the Senior Bowl and not the Super Bowl, it?s not where you want to be,? Roseman said.? ?So we have to get better, and we?ll look at every facet of the team and every avenue possible to improve and make sure next year is different.?

Roseman, like Lurie, believes that will happen.? ?It always starts with your head coach and quarterback, and we are so fortunate to have Andy Reid and Michael Vick in those spots, and we feel like that gives us a chance,? Roseman said. ?We need to get better, but I do feel like we have good players, and in the next few months, we?ll have the opportunity to upgrade in all the areas we feel like we need to.

?There?s a lot of optimism here.? Everybody in the building is very excited about where we are.?

Eagles fans understandably are more guarded.? They all got excited last year, and they suffered a major letdown.? If there?s another letdown in 2012, the excitement next year could come from a new head coach, and possibly a new G.M.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/25/goodell-grateful-its-the-only-place-ive-ever-wanted-to-work/related/

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Three Space Shuttle Veterans Chosen for Astronaut Hall of Fame (SPACE.com)

A spacewalker who tied the record for the most space missions, the military's highest ranking astronaut, and a former chief of the NASA astronaut corps will be inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame this May.

Retired astronauts Franklin Chang-Diaz, Kevin Chilton and Charles Precourt were confirmed as the 2012 honorees by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, which oversees the Hall of Fame's annual selections. The three veteran space shuttle crew members will be added to the list of 79 astronauts enshrined in the Astronaut Hall of Fame since 1990, including all of NASA's Mercury, Gemini and Apollo program pioneers.

An induction ceremony is scheduled for Saturday, May 5, 2012 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida, where the Astronaut Hall of Fame is located.

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation will host a gala in the three astronauts' honor on Friday, May 4, with many of the Hall's earlier inductees expected to attend.

Astronaut-turned-rocket scientist

Franklin Chang-Diaz made his seventh flight into space in June 2002, tying the record set by fellow shuttle veteran Jerry Ross for the most missions into space. In total, he logged nearly 70 days in orbit. [The Most Extreme Human Spaceflight Records]

Since leaving NASA in 2005, Chang-Diaz has focused on developing advanced rocket propulsion technology that could get astronauts to Mars in almost half the time that he spent on his seven flights.

Born in Costa Rica, Chang-Diaz was the first naturalized U.S. citizen to become an astronaut when he was chosen by NASA in 1980. Serving as a mission specialist, he flew aboard four of the agency's five space shuttle orbiters. His first launch as an STS-61C crew member on Columbia in January 1986 returned to Earth 10 days before the loss of the shuttle Challenger and its seven astronauts.

Over the course of his six other spaceflights, Chang-Diaz helped deploy the Galileo probe to Jupiter, twice tested a tethered satellite system and worked aboard Russia's Mir and the International Space Station. During his final flight, he made three spacewalks outside the orbiting laboratory totaling more than 19 hours.

Applying the Ph.D. in plasma physics he earned from MIT in 1977, Chang-Diaz founded the Ad Astra Rocket Company in 2005, continuing the work he started at NASA on the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (VASIMR), a means of electrical propulsion that in theory could propel a crewed rocket to Mars in 39 days.

Strategic commander

When Kevin Chilton retired from the U.S. Air Force on Feb. 1 last year, he was a four-star general, the highest rank ever attained by an astronaut.

A veteran of three shuttle missions, Chilton joined NASA's astronaut corps in 1987. He made his first flight sitting in the pilot seat for the maiden launch of shuttle Endeavour, STS-49, in 1992.

Chilton went on to pilot Endeavour again for the Space Radar Laboratory mission in 1994, before commanding the third shuttle docking to the Mir space station two years later. He served as deputy program manager of operations for the International Space Station before leaving NASA in 1998.

Chilton then returned to the Air Force but stayed active in space. He served on the Air Force Space Command staff, the Air Staff, the Joint Staff and led as commander of the 9th Reconnaissance Wing, 8th Air Force, Joint Functional Component Command for Space and Global Strike and Air Force Space Command.

His final assignment before retiring was as commander of U.S. Strategic Command at Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska.

Chief astronaut

Charles Precourt was chief of the astronaut corps when the International Space Station was "born" in 1998, giving him the responsibility to coordinate both station and shuttle crews as they visited the burgeoning orbital outpost.

A veteran of four spaceflights, Precourt flew three times to Mir between June 1995 and June 1998. His final flight saw him command the last shuttle docking to the Russian space station. Over his career, he logged almost 40 days orbiting the Earth.

A member of NASA's 13th group of astronauts, Precourt launched on his first flight three years after being selected in 1990. Piloting Columbia, he and his STS-55 crewmates conducted nearly 90 science experiments on the German-sponsored Spacelab D-2 mission.

In addition to his time as NASA's tenth chief astronaut, Precourt served as the director of operations for the U.S. space agency at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia and as the deputy manager for the International Space Station. He was also the first program manager for NASA's Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), the predecessor to the Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle being built now to take astronauts beyond Earth orbit.

Precourt left NASA in 2004, joining Alliant Techsystems (ATK) as its vice president and general manager for space launch systems.

Continue reading at collectSPACE.com to learn how the inductees were selected.

Follow collectSPACE on Facebook and Twitter @collectSPACE and editor Robert Pearlman @robertpearlman. Copyright 2011?collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/space/20120126/sc_space/threespaceshuttleveteranschosenforastronauthalloffame

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Augmented reality makes Thundercats packaging way cooler than the toys themselves

What happens when the toy packaging becomes more exciting than the toy itself? It's an interesting experiment that's now seeing the light of day courtesy of Bandai's new Thundercats and Ben 10 toys, which come to life through a smartphone screen via Aurasma's augmented reality. The company promises that the packages help kids "examine every part of the toy before purchase." That's important. And hey, so's setting them up for a lifetime of disappointment. Video after the break.

Continue reading Augmented reality makes Thundercats packaging way cooler than the toys themselves

Augmented reality makes Thundercats packaging way cooler than the toys themselves originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Jan 2012 19:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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