Sunday, September 30, 2012

Will Higher Heat Content In Trash Help Waste-to-Energy Stocks?

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently published an article describing an increase in the energy content of municipal solid waste (MSW). The reason for this increase is an increase in the percentage of waste from "non-biogenic" sources (i.e. plastics) as compared to biogenic sources (paper, cardboard, wood, food and yard waste, etc.) Biogenic waste has an average heat content of 11 MMBtu/ton, as compared to 23 MMBtu/ton for non-biogenic waste.

The EIA attributes the relative decrease in the amount of (biogenic) food containers and packaging (heat content 16.6 MMBtu/ton) and an increase in waste polypropylene (PP, 38 MMBtu/ton). PP is the relatively hard-to-recycle plastic #5, found in yogurt cups and other wide-necked containers, and has a much higher heat content that relatively easy-to-recycle plastics #1 and #2 (PETE at 20.5 MMBTu/ton and HDPE at 19.5 MMBtu).

The higher heat content of MSW should make generating electricity from MSW more efficient, and give a slight boost to margins of waste-to-energy companies like MSW electricity generators like Covanta (NYSE:CVA) and Algonquin Power and Utilities (AQUNF.PK), which generates thermal energy from MSW in addition to a large renewable energy business.

However, if increasing energy content of waste is to make a difference in the stock prices of MSW-to-energy firms, it will have to be sustained over the long term. I doubt the trend will continue for long. First of all, total MSW volumes are flat in the US, and falling on a per-capita basis, even while recycling rates are rising (EIA data).

I expect increased recycling to begin to reduce the energy content of the remaining waste as less-recycled, higher energy-content materials are increasingly recycled. Currently, only 13.5% of plastic containers in the waste stream are recovered, as opposed to 71% of paper and 33% of glass. Further, high-energy PP is becoming increasingly easy to recycle; I was recently pleased to find that it and LDPE (plastic #4, also with a relatively heat content of 24.1 MMBtu) are now accepted at my local transfer station.

While waste-to-energy companies may be getting a small margin boost from higher MSW heat content today, investors should not count on any such boost being permanent. That's a large part of the reason why my preferred investments in MSW are integrated companies like Waste Management (NYSE:WM), which can profit from both increased recycling and waste-to-energy opportunities.

Disclosure: Long AQN, MW

This article was first published on the author's Forbes.com blog, Green Stocks on September 6th.

DISCLAIMER: Past performance is not a guarantee or a reliable indicator of future results. This article contains the current opinions of the author and such opinions are subject to change without notice. This article has been distributed for informational purposes only. Forecasts, estimates, and certain information contained herein should not be considered as investment advice or a recommendation of any particular security, strategy or investment product. Information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but not guaranteed.

Source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/895851-will-higher-heat-content-in-trash-help-waste-to-energy-stocks?source=feed

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Tunisia sees budget deficit narrowing to 6 pct/GDP in 2013

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's budget deficit should narrow to 6 percent next year from 6.6 percent of GDP expected in 2012, the central bank governor said on Friday, indicating economic recovery in the cradle of Arab Spring revolts may take longer than anticipated.

Chadli Ayari, who took over in July after his predecessor was sacked, also said a 3.5 percent economic growth in 2013 was achievable while the government bets on 4.5 percent up from 3.5 percent it expects this year.

Ayari did make direct references to the government's growth projections, but he went as far as predicting that the local economy, which is heavily anchored to the now-troubled euro zone, may not fully recover in 2014.

"2014 will not be the year of recovery for the Tunisian economy. It is still a year of transition that may see the premise of recovery," Ayari told reporters.

"A 3.5 percent growth is possible (to achieve) in 2013," he added.

Government statistics show GDP growth stood at 3.5 percent during the first half of 2012.

The Tunisian economy is gradually recovering from last year's political turmoil but faces problems as a result of the crisis in the euro zone, the main market for its exports and the source of a majority of tourist visitors.

It has however held a steady course on inflation, interest rates and exchange rates even in the turmoil that followed President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali's ousting in January last year.

But a string of resignations, including that of the finance minister and the central bank governor, appears to indicate that holding that line may not be easy. For years, Tunisia has had the highest GDP per capita in the region and post-revolution expectations from its 10-million population are high.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tunisia-sees-budget-deficit-narrowing-6-pct-gdp-083802947--business.html

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Saturday, September 29, 2012

Baby Shower: Tea Party at the Willows British Tea Room | Done ...

Mom-to-be Rachel had plenty to celebrate at her tea party themed baby shower at the Willows British Tea Room! After five years of trying to have a baby, she and husband Mark had all but given up hope that they would be able to have a child, as they hoped, without invitro. But after years of patient waiting, Rachel found out that she was pregnant, and her friends and family gathered to celebrate this miracle at a local tea room. The shower?s grey and yellow color scheme reflects the colors Rachel chose for the nursery, and Rachel?s sisters supplemented the tea room?s adorable teapot decorations with fresh daisy centrepieces in vintage tea cups. It was a sweet and charming way to celebrate the joy of a new baby girl! Many thanks to photographer?Adria Peaden Photography for sharing this event!

English Tea Party Ideas by Adria Peaden Photography Baby shower gift table Tea party baby shower Tea Party Place Setting English Tea Themed Shower Vintage Tea Pots Tea Room Baby Shower Baby shower photography Photo by Adria Peaden Photography Baby shower photos by Adria Peaden Photography Baby shower photos by Adria Peaden Photography Tea party baby shower Baby shower ideas Baby Shower Photography of Adria Peaden Photography

Photographer:

?Adria Peaden Photography

Restaurant:

?Willows British Tea Room Submitted via Two Bright Lights
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Source: http://donebrilliantly.com/2012/09/baby-shower-tea-party-at-the-willows-british-tea-room

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Last Western Gitmo detainee returns to Canada

TORONTO The last Western detainee held at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay returned to Canada Saturday after a decade in custody and was transferred to a maximum security prison where he awaits parole, Canada's public safety minister said Saturday.

Vic Toews said that 26-year-old Omar Khadr arrived at a Canadian military base on a U.S. government plane early Saturday and was transferred to the Millhaven maximum security prison in Bath, Ontario.

The son of an alleged al Qaeda financier, Khadr pleaded guilty in 2010 to killing a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan and was eligible to return to Canada from Guantanamo Bay last October under terms of a plea deal. Canada's conservative government took almost a year to approve the transfer.

The U.S. Defense Department confirmed the transfer in a statement and said 166 detainees remain in detention at Guantanamo Bay.

Khadr was 15 when he was captured in 2002 in Afghanistan, and has spent a decade at the Guantanamo prison set up on the U.S. naval base in Cuba to hold suspected terrorists after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He received an eight-year sentence in 2010 after being convicted of throwing a grenade that killed Army Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Speer during a 2002 firefight.

"His head is spinning a bit and it's going to be a real adjustment for him, but at the same time he is so happy to be home," John Norris, Khadr's Canadian lawyer, told The Associated Press.

"He can't believe that it is finally true. He simply can't. For very good reason he was quite fearful that the government would not follow through on its word and he's pinching himself right now not believing that this government has finally kept its word," he said.

Norris said Khadr would be eligible for parole as early as the summer of 2013. He said he's been returned to Canada 10 years too late.

Toews said that the U.S. government initiated Khadr's transfer and suggested that Canada had little choice but to accept him because he is a Canadian citizen. It will be up to Canada's national parole board to release him, Toews said.

"Omar Khadr is a known supporter of the al Qaeda terrorist network and a convicted terrorist," Toews said.

Toews called for "robust conditions of supervision" if Khadr is granted parole. Toews said in his written decision that he reviewed all the files forwarded by the U.S. government and said the parole board should consider his concerns that Omar "idealizes" his father and "appears to deny "Ahmed Khadr's lengthy history of terrorist action and association with al Qaeda."

Toews also said that Omar Khadr's mother and sister "have openly applauded" his father's "crimes and terrorist activities" and noted that Omar has had "little contact with Canadian society and will require substantial management in order to ensure safe integration in Canada."

"I am satisfied the Correctional Service of Canada can administer Omar Khadr's sentence in a manner which recognizes the serious nature of the crimes that he has committed and ensure the safety of Canadians is protected during incarceration," Toews said.

Norris said it is regrettable that the minister is trying to influence the parole board.

"Most of what he has said there is simply not true. It's part of the stereotype of Omar that this government has been disseminating from the beginning," Norris said.

He added that once the Correctional Service "will get to know Omar" they will "recommend appropriate conditions."


1/2


Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsWorld/~3/LrXcNeP6YsU/

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Friday, September 28, 2012

Pet Post: Penny Lane - AMERICAblog | AMERICAblog

Penny Lane

Penny Lane

Linda in Norco, CA:

Good Morning,

Our daughter, who was living with us while she went back to school, adopted a fantastic Golden Retriever she named Pursy Lane. When she moved to Colorado for graduate school she took Pursy with her, and my husband and I were so lonely without a dog for the first time in many years, we began looking for one of our own to adopt a little over a year ago. We saw a picture of this little girl and fell in love.

When I inquired at the animal shelter, they warned me off because they had recently had her tested for demodectic mange and she tested positive. Apparently it?s an immune deficiency disease some puppies never recover from. She was found wandering the streets as a six week old puppy, and they felt her health was in too much jeopardy for them to give her to someone without a very strong warning.

Needless to say, we adopted her straight away.

Luckily, she has so far beaten the odds and is healthy as can be. We?ve owned many dogs in our lives but for some reason Penny Lane is the most entertaining, loving and exhaustingly athletic dog we?ve ever had. We have no idea what breed she is and it?s been fun watching people guess but the closest we can come is some sort of cross between a Rhodesian Ridgeback, Boxer and possibly a little Pit Bull thrown in. She?s also a very smart dog and did very well at her training sessions.

Here?s another quick funny story. Last summer she tried to eat a bumble bee and was stung inside her mouth. I didn?t actually see it happen but she?d been chasing them for days. She ran into the house where I was sitting at my computer and just sat and stared at me until I finally looked at her. Her lips were swollen as if she?d had a botox treatment or something. Of course we rushed her to the vet, and after everything was fine we started calling her ?Luscious Lips Lane? for awhile. Wish I had a picture of that.

Anyway, we?re so glad we adopted her and at our ages, 62 and 64. I assume she?ll be the last dog we?ll own so we?re really just enjoying the heck out of her.

The photo to the left is the one we fell in love with, and the one above is from a few months ago.

Best Regards,
Linda

John Aravosis
John Aravosis, the editor of AMERICAblog, has a joint JD/MSFS from Georgetown, and has worked in the US Senate, World Bank, Children's Defense Fund, and as a stringer for the Economist. A frequent TV pundit, he has appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, Hardball, World News Tonight, Nightline, and Reliable Sources. Full bio here, and follow him on Twitter @aravosis and Facebook.

Source: http://pets.americablog.com/2012/09/pet-post-penny-lane.html

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Workers' comp explained | Clocking In | a mySA.com blog

The local office of the division of workers? compensation from the Texas Department of Insurance will cover new and amended designated doctor rules for workers? compensation during a seminar from noon to 1 p.m. Today, Sept. 27, at the department?s San Antonio Field Office, 9514 Console Drive, Suite 200.

The event, which sounds like a splendid way to sit and enjoy some after lunch digestion, is free.

Though registration is required so you should contact Berta Cantu at Bertha.Cantu@tdi.state.tx.us or Veronica Viera at Veronica.Viera@tdi.state.tx.us.

You only have about six hours before it starts so get on it.

-Chris Quinn

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

CommentsComments(1)Comments() | E-mail| PrintThe local office of the division of workers? compensation from the Texas Department of Insurance will cover new and amended designated doctor rules for workers? compensation during a seminar from noon to 1 p.m. Today, Sept. 27, at the department?s San Antonio Field Office, 9514 Console Drive, Suite 200. The event, which [...]

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Source: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/clockingin/2012/09/workers-comp-explained/

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Civil rights group to file complaint over entry test for elite New York high schools

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A civil rights group plans to file a complaint on Thursday over the admissions test at New York City's specialized high schools, among the nation's most elite public schools, citing effective discrimination against black and Latino students, the group said.

The complaint with the Department of Education focuses on eight schools in the city, particularly on Stuyvesant High and Bronx Science, which boast stellar alumni including several Nobel laureates, famed actors and musicians, and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

While more than half the population of New York City is black or Latino, black students made up only 1.2 percent of the Stuyvesant student body last year, while Latino students represented 2.4 percent, city data showed.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which is filing the complaint, said the highly competitive, 2-1/2-hour, multiple-choice Specialized High School Admissions Test was at fault for the disparity.

"Year after year, thousands of academically talented African-American and Latino students who take the test are denied admission to the Specialized High Schools at rates far higher than those for other racial groups," the group said in a draft of its complaint shared with media outlets on Wednesday before the Thursday filing.

If the department investigates and finds New York is in breach of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, it can sanction the city by withholding federal funding until the breach is resolved, the group said.

The city's Department of Education said in a statement on Wednesday it was bound by state law to admit students based "solely on an exam."

"We want all of our students to have opportunities to prepare for the test no matter their zip code," it said, adding more black and Hispanic students were offered specialized high school seats last year than in the previous two years.

ACADEMIC POTENTIAL

The civil rights group said in its complaint that the test had never been shown to predict reliably a student's academic potential, and breached the Civil Rights Act by having an "unjustified, racially disparate impact."

It said that other elite, academically successful schools in New York City that use broader criteria such as a student's grade-point average, attendance, teacher recommendations, interviews and writing samples had far higher enrollments of black and Latino students.

"To use a standard test that has no demonstrative relationship to past academic achievements or future academic potential seems wrong," Damon Hewitt, the education director at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said in an interview.

"Quite literally, a kid could have straights ?A's from kindergarten to Grade 8, could have won a national spelling bee." he added, "But none of that matters - all that matters is the test."

Rapper Himanshu Suri, who was vice president of the Stuyvesant student union from 2001 to 2002, said knowledge of and preparation for the test varied widely across neighborhoods, and that the school, where Asians make up more than two-thirds of the student body, suffered for its lack of diversity.

"In the Asian community in Queens, from a very young age, you know about Stuyvesant, you know about that test," he said in an interview, adding the city should do more to reach students who may not have parents like his, who started talking about the test with him while he was still a pre-teen.

"These are schools for the brightest students in New York City," he added. "We're saying something wrong if we're saying New York City's brightest students are almost all Chinese or Korean."

(This version of the story was corrected throughout to show NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund filed complaint.)

(Editing By Cynthia Johnston and Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/civil-rights-group-file-complaint-over-entry-test-200638912.html

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Dr. Martin Makary: Staying Healthy in the U.S. Health Care System ...

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Virtually every hospital has a doctor on staff that is known for practicing bad medicine but his peers don't call him on it. And the body count from medical mistakes made in American hospitals would fill four jumbo jets a week, according to an essay this weekend in the Wall Street Journal by noted surgeon Martin Makary.

Makary is on staff at Johns Hopkins Hospital and previously wrote the groundbreaking book "The Checklist Manifesto," which contained a series of simple guidelines aimed at stopping surgical mistakes and which were later adopted by the World Health Organization. His new book is "Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care."

In his essay this weekend in the Journal Makary says there is a "disturbing closed door culture" in American medicine and that doctors in hospitals routinely cover up or ignore the mistakes of colleagues. As often as 40 times a week across the country a surgeon operates on the wrong body part, he writes.?

"Roughly a quarter of all hospitalized patients will be harmed by a medical error of some kind. If medical errors were a disease, they would be the sixth leading cause of death in America?just behind accidents and ahead of Alzheimer's," Makary says in his essay. "The human toll aside, medical errors cost the U.S. health-care system tens of billions a year. Some 20% to 30% of all medications, tests and procedures are unnecessary, according to research done by medical specialists, surveying their own fields. What other industry misses the mark this often?"

The solution he writes, is for health care consumers to become better at checking into the background of their doctors and for the medical community itself to hold each accountable.

Source: http://easthaddam.patch.com/articles/dr-martin-makary-staying-healthy-in-the-us-health-care-system-029dee9e

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Thursday, September 27, 2012

WFDD: Looking back, forward | News Center | Wake Forest University

Published: ? September 26, 2012

By Stephanie Skordas Office of Communications and External Relations

Radio Camper conducts an interview at Wake Forest.

WFDD held its annual Radio Camp for area students this summer.

Chances are, you?ve heard WFDD?s programming, but don?t know much about the local NPR affiliate?s history at Wake Forest.

Find out more about that history in an Old Gold and Black profile of the radio station, plus learn about how they are teaching middle school students how to listen, and find out more about an upcoming event that looks at communication technology in the classroom:

Technology in the classroom

This week WFDD, the Wake Forest Department of Political Science and the Forsyth Education Partnership will host ?Cyber Communication in the Classroom: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly.? Featuring Ananda Mitra, whose study of ?narbs? (narrative bits of social media), and NPR blogger Omar Gallega, the goal is an in-depth conversation about the benefits and pitfalls of technology use in the classroom.

The event will be held Sept. 27?in Brendle Recital Hall from 7-8:30 p.m. It is free to the public, but registration is encouraged here: http://forsythedpartnership.org/programs/community/cyber-communications-forum/

A look back at WFDD?s storied history

By Yasmin Bendaas, Old Gold & Black
In 1946, at the university?s old campus, three students named Henry Randall, Alva E. Parris and James H. Hampton illegally started a radio station called W-A-K-E broadcasting from a student room.?Two years later, while the station received a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) license, the students learned that there already was a W-A-K-E and they changed the station name to ?WFDD,? standing for Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

Read more in the Old Gold & Black ?

Sounds like learning

By Kory Riemensperger, Intern, Office of Communications and External Relations
The ring of a wind chime ? the chirping of birds ? the start of a car?s engine. Noises like these might blend into the background and go unnoticed for many people. But, to the ten children enrolled in 88.5 WFDD?s summer radio camp, these ?natural sounds? function as the first building blocks in producing a proper radio segment.

Read more in the Wake Forest News Center ?

Source: http://news.wfu.edu/2012/09/26/wfdd-looking-back-forward/

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Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Buchanan Street Partners JV Acquires 193 KSF Office Building in ...

September 26, 2012

By Gail Kalinoski, Contributing Editor

Buchanan Street Partners and Lowe Enterprises acquired Parkridge, a 192,800-square-foot, Class A office property in a Denver suburb for a reported $34 million from a Miller Global Properties L.L.C. affiliate.

The six-story building was developed in 2001 and is located at 10375 Park Meadows Drive in Lone Tree, Colo., part of the southeast Denver submarket. ?It is 93 percent leased with tenants including CNA Insurance, Merrill Lynch, UBS, Nestle, Ameriprise and the U.S. Department of Defense.

?Parkridge 4 is the highest quality office building in the emerging submarket of Lone Tree and is especially attractive given the outstanding credit of its tenancy and the project?s limited near term lease expirations,? said Tim Ballard, president of Buchanan Street Partners. ?The property?s strong rent roll, excellent locations and physical quality allowed it to be accretively financed, further enhancing Buchanan?s expected investment returns.?

Robert J. Dougherty, executive vice president with Buchanan Street Properties, told Commercial Property Executive that except for one tenant, most of the leases extend to 2018 and beyond.

?The extended lease terms allowed us to get very attractive financing,? Dougherty said of the 10-year fixed-rate loan obtained through 40/86 Mortgage Capital of Indianapolis and arranged by John Stewart of Northmarq Capital in Denver.

Nathan Johnson and Austin Kane of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank were hired to manage leasing.

Miller Global Properties was represented by Mike Winn and Tim Richey of Cushman & Wakefield. Buchanan Street Properties and Lowe Enterprises represented themselves in the deal.

?This is a high quality property and an excellent addition to our expanding Denver office portfolio,? said Rick Newman, president of Lowe Enterprises Real Estate Group, which will provide asset management and services. ?We appreciate the opportunity to participate in the acquisition and management of Parkridge 4 in another venture with Buchanan Street Partners.?

Dougherty said the firms owned an office property in Houston for about five years before selling it in December.

Houston is a market where Buchanan Street Partners has recently stepped up its acquisitions. In March, the California-based firm bought The Offices at Kensington, a Class A, two-building property in Sugar Land, Texas, from an affiliate of KBS Capital Advisors. The 170-774-square-foot buildings were 90 percent occupied with tenants including Morgan Stanley, Progressive Insurance and Humana Health.

The price of the Sugar Land property was not released but in June Buchanan Street Partners said it paid $26.2 million to Panattoni Development for two office buildings in the Beltway 8 Corporate Centre in Houston. The 261-413-square-foot, Class A office buildings are located in the Techway Corridor and 76 percent occupied with tenants including Allstate Insurance Corp. and Mercer Consulting.

?Houston is a place that?s held a lot of appeal for us given the tremendous job growth and rental appreciation,? Dougherty said.

Also in Texas, Buchanan Street Properties has been active in Austin, where it purchased four multi-family properties with a total of 1,100 units with the last year, he said.

Buchanan Street Properties is also eyeing the Phoenix market for investments.

?It has not yet experienced the same kind of resurgence the Texas markets have, but we like the long-term story for quality of life and cost of living,? Dougherty added.

The company also continues to look closer to home for assets, including Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., where it acquired a 75,000-square-foot Class A office building for $10.6 million in July.

Buchanan Street Partners has also been active in the bridge loan market, where there has been demand for whole and mezzanine loans. The firm has originated about seven loans in the last 18 months, Dougherty said.

Meanwhile, Lowe Enterprises has focused more on hotel acquisitions in the last year, purchasing Hotel Derek, a 314-room independent boutique hotel in the Galleria section of Houston, in July. An affiliate of Lowe Enterprises is managing the 14-story hotel. Other hotel acquisitions include the 213-room MileNorth, previously known as the Affinia Chicago Hotel, and Embassy Suites Chicago-Northshore/Deerfield. Both were purchased on behalf of institutional clients. Last October, the firm acquired another Denver office property ? the Denver Club, a 231,454-square-foot historic building in the city?s downtown area. The purchase was made on behalf of a pension fund client.

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Source: http://www.cpexecutive.com/regions/west/buchanan-street-partners-jv-acquires-193-ksf-office-building-in-suburban-denver/

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Spain prepares for more painful austerity

MADRID (Reuters) - Spain will announce another round of unpopular austerity measures in a 2013 budget on Thursday, already prompting protests from a public battered by attempts to put the country's finances in order.

With this year's budget deficit target looking untenable, the conservative government is now looking at such things as cuts in inflation-linked pensions, taxes on stock transactions, "green taxes" on emissions or eliminating tax breaks.

The 2013 budget is the second one conservative Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy has had to pass since he took office in December. It must persuade Spain's European partners that it can cut the budget shortfall by more than 60 billion euros by 2014.

Rajoy has already passed spending cuts and tax hikes worth slightly more than that over the next two years, but half-year figures show the 2012 deficit target slipping from view as tax income forecasts will not be hit due to economic contraction.

Spain is at the centre of the euro zone debt crisis on concerns the government can't control its finances and those of highly-indebted regions, bitten by a second recession since 2009 which has put one in four workers out of a job and pushed up borrowing costs.

Protests against the cuts are gaining pace. More than 1,000 police barricaded Parliament in Madrid on Tuesday against protesters who planned to form a human chain around the building later in the evening.

Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in different points of the capital before marching to Parliament, saying they were angry that the state has poured public funds into crumbled banks while it is cutting social benefits.

"We're protesting against the cuts. I've had to give up my apartment," said Ondina, a 30-year-old fine arts graduate who is without a job. She said she can't survive on an unemployment benefit of 260 euros ($340) a month.

On the regional front, Catalonia, which generates about 20 percent of the national output, announced on Tuesday it would hold early elections on November 25 after its call for more tax autonomy was rejected last week by Rajoy.

Mounting political uncertainty in cashstrapped Catalonia, along with an announcement from southern region Andalucia that it was mulling seeking a 4.9 billion euros credit line from the central government, will pile more pressure on Madrid to seek European aid.

Rajoy is holding back from applying for help, which would activate a European Central Bank bond-buying program and bring down Spain's punishing debt premiums.

With the threat of the plan alone reducing 10-year yields by around 2 percentage points, the cautious leader, known for keeping his cards close to his chest, is playing for time.

Rajoy says he is mulling the conditions of a bailout application, but suspicion that he may wait until after regional elections October 21, pushed short-term yields higher at auction on Tuesday.

The government is also expected to set a fresh timetable for economic reforms, on Thursday or Friday, seen as an attempt to pre-empt strict EU-imposed conditions for aid, and help the conservatives save face at home.

RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS

Half-year deficit data indicate national accounts are already on a slippery slope that will drive Spain into a bailout.

The deficit to end-June stands at over 4.3 percent of gross domestic product, including transfers to bailed out banks, making meeting the 6.3 percent target by the end of the year almost impossible.

On Tuesday, the treasury ministry said the central government deficit to end-August had reached 4.77 percent of GDP, already above its year-end target of 4.5 percent of GDP.

"Its going to be difficult keeping the deficit to around 2 percent in the second half, when the first half was closer to 4 percent, especially since traditionally, the second half deficit is higher than the first," said Juan Ignacio Conde-Ruiz, economist at Madrid's Complutense University.

For 2012, the measures aim to reap savings of over 13 billion euros, but economists see the deficit missing the target by almost 1 percentage points implying further saving needs of up to 10 billion euros for this year alone.

Rajoy has been careful to highlight the importance of next year's deficit target of 4.5 percent of GDP though any shortfall this year will have to be carried through and will weigh on 2013's accounts.

After slashing civil servants' wages, raising value added tax by 3 percentage points - the main VAT has gone from 16 percent to 21 percent since 2010 - and cutting health and education spending, Rajoy is running out of options.

More than 60 percent of government spending goes to pensions, unemployment benefits and servicing debt, making further cuts on the revenue side difficult without hitting 6 million jobless people.

Sources say the conservatives are studying eliminating, or at least limiting, the inflation-linked raise in pensions, which account for around a quarter of all spending.

On Tuesday Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria repeated Rajoy's pledge that the government would make changes to the pension system only as a last resort, despite recommendations by Brussels.

Under current rules the government must raise pensions in line with inflation in November, but Rajoy has been underdone by his own austerity measures as the VAT hike is seen pushing prices up by more than 3 percent.

This VAT effect on consumer prices will cost the government an extra 3.5 billion euros in pensions costs, Conde-Ruiz says, wiping out the 2.5 billion euros it hopes to raise this year by increasing the sales tax.

Further snips to public servants' wages, which have seen purchasing power fall by over 25 percent due to cuts by the former Socialist government and Rajoy, could fuel protests.

Other potentials savings include deeper cuts to the ministries, taxes on stock market transactions and so-called "green taxes" on greenhouse emissions, but in they themselves aren't enough to cover the potential shortfall.

However, a selective reduction of tax breaks could raise as much as 6 billion euros, according to economists.

"A massive pruning of these incentives could easily bring Spain another six billion euros," said Juan Jose Rubio Guerrero, president of the Independent Forum of Fiscal Analysts. (0.7743 euros)

(Additional reporting by Iciar Reinlein; Editing by Fiona Ortiz/Jeremy Gaunt)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/spain-gears-more-painful-austerity-133434372--business.html

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Video: First Read Minute

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49149159/

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Tons Of Unbeatable Affiliate Marketing Tips And Tricks | Make ...

Tons Of Unbeatable Affiliate Marketing Tips And Tricks

Affiliate marketing has made many people rich. Learn the ins and outs of affiliate marketing, and it can make profits for you just as it has for others. This guide was made to help you maximize your potential in affiliate marketing.

Be sure to deal only with reputable affiliate vendor companies. Be sure not to work for an affiliate company that gives out less than 20% of profit on every item that is sold. Affiliate companies that treat their workers fairly know that good commissions attract quality workers and more business.

An effective form of affiliate marketing is review your products in online forums to advertise the products your are promoting. Writing about and putting product reviews on the web is a great way to display the usefulness of your product. Discussing your personal experience with the products in forums can help attract potential customers. Always remember to affix affiliate links to the bottom of any post, article or review. This will generate more affiliate revenue for you and gives customers a direct way to purchase your products.

If your affiliate product has multiple uses, be sure to point them out to your readers. For example, if you?ve decided to sell extra absorbent dish rags, you can show them cleaning up a mess or drying your dishes.

When you are going into affiliate marketing, you need to find affiliates that will give you products to sell. Having a broad base of affiliates will generate more income than having just a few. Take the time to research any affiliates that you may have gained your interest.

Don?t waste your valuable time by reading too many affiliate marketing books. Instead, focus on a few good tips and take action! You need to dedicate time and not expect to get paid at first. If you read books, you may be stalling. Stop reading, stop posting and take action on what you have learned.

Instead of wracking your brain to come up with something unique or transformational, promote goods that are already in demand. A lot of webmasters avoid the most popular affiliate marketing products, thinking that the competition will be too tough to deal with. But, getting a sale from a popular product will always be easier than getting one from a market that is not. In addition, you can be assured that you are tapping into an established customer base large enough to provide customers for all. All you need to do is find a way to market the product that makes you seem unique, and set apart, from the rest.

Getting plenty of backlinks to your website is an important part of affiliate marketing, but make sure those links do not lead visitors to deceptive content. If a visitor clicks on a link looking for ?Apple iPads,? he or she would be very upset at you if led to a page selling ?HP tablet PCs.? This may seem like a good strategy, but it will only make people think your business is dishonest.

Make sure that your marketing is appropriate for the products you?re trying to sell. Products that are cheap can get by with approaches that are high-volume and low-click-through. More expensive products call for more intense, focused selling, to raise the ratio of customers versus visitors.

Earn the valuable trust of your audience. If your site visitors trust you and like your content, they are going to be more likely to support you by clicking your referral links.

Affiliate Marketing

A good affiliate marketing tip is to make sure you use an affiliate network. Affiliate networks act as a liaison between website owners and advertisers. If you choose to work with an affiliate marketing network in order to better customize your exposure within your relevant business field research the webmasters you might consider using. If you choose an established network, your will get a good reputation.

Previous glitches in the state of California that led to account closures for affiliate sites are now being allowed to reinstate the links that were deleted. California has amended their law once again so Amazon California clients can engage in the program once again. If you had a problem with this, you should sign up.

Create links to a few carefully selected products only. After you have figured out the best link arrangement, you should see improved profits.

Affiliate Marketing

Take advantage of affiliate marketing programs to market your business successfully. Affiliate marketing is one of the most popular ways of advertising, because of the number of people who click links. When you are trying to decide on an affiliate program you should consider the payment you will receive, ease of navigation and the directory?s popularity.

Don?t grow your affiliate marketing program too much in those critical first few months. Starting slowly allows you to learn as you go along and increases you chances for success. You will then have the necessary knowledge to take on more competitive niches.

One thing to remember when entering the world of affiliate marketing is to use deadlines for purchasing products religiously. If visitors see that there is only a small amount of time left to purchase the product, they might feel an extra push to go ahead and purchase it. It can be an effective strategy to generate more sales.

It is easy for affiliates to lose track of work that needs to be accomplished when it is sent via email. Avoid this by creating a document that lists the important points in the email. This will save you time and increase your work speed. By using the document as your reference, you can work more quickly and efficiently.

It will take time to figure out what kind of advertising is most effective in your market. Depending on your customers you may need to go with multimedia flash advertisements or the other way with subdued advertising. Keep your target market in mind when you are making ad selections.

You need to follow these suggestions and use them in your affiliate marketing venture. Since these techniques have been tested by many others, they are sure to help you out

Tags: affiliate marketing

Source: http://make-money-blog.com/tons-of-unbeatable-affiliate-marketing-tips-and-tricks/

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Monday, September 24, 2012

China jails ex-police chief, closes in on disgraced politician

BEIJING (Reuters) - A Chinese court jailed ex-police chief Wang Lijun for 15 years on Monday after finding him guilty on four charges, including seeking to conceal the murder of a British businessman, in a scandal that felled ambitious politician Bo Xilai.

The verdict ends the career of one of China's most controversial police officers and moves the ruling Communist Party closer to deciding the fate of Bo whose contentious downfall has shaken a looming leadership handover.

The Intermediate People's Court of Chengdu in southwest China said Wang, former police chief of southwestern Chongqing municipality, received the sentence for "bending the law for selfish ends, defection, abuse of power and bribe-taking", according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.

"Wang Lijun stated to the court that he will not appeal," said the Xinhua report. Wang's lawyer, Wang Yuncai, was not available for comment immediately after the announcement.

The scandal that felled both men erupted after Gu Kailai, the wife of Bo, murdered British businessman Neil Heywood in November 2011 in Chongqing, where Bo was the flamboyant Communist Party chief.

As well as the conviction of sabotaging an investigation into the murder, Wang was found guilty of defecting to a U.S. consulate, taking bribes and conducting illegal surveillance.

Officials have said the murder arose from a business dispute in Chongqing, which Bo and Wang ran as their fiefdom.

After first helping Gu evade suspicion of poisoning Heywood, Wang then kept evidence of the murder, according to the official account of Wang's trial. In late January, Wang confronted Bo with the allegation that Gu was suspected of killing Heywood. But Wang was "angrily rebuked and had his ears boxed".

Days later, Bo stripped Wang of his post as Chongqing police chief. Wang, fearing for his safety, fled west to the U.S. consulate in Chengdu where he hid for more than 24 hours until Chinese officials coaxed him out.

In August, Gu was sentenced to a suspended death sentence, which effectively means life in prison.

Wang sealed his fate at a trial a week ago by admitting the charges, according to an official account of the hearing published by Xinhua news agency. Only official media outlets were allowed inside the courtroom.

"As for the crimes that the prosecution has alleged, I understand them, I admit to them and I am repentant for them," Wang told the court in Chengdu, a city about 300 km (190 miles) from Chongqing, according to that earlier account.

The Chinese government has not said what will happen to Bo, who in March was sacked as party boss and in April suspended from the ruling Communist Party's Politburo, a powerful decision-making council with two dozen active members.

So far, Bo has only been accused of breaching internal party discipline. But experts say the public citing of Bo's angry rebuke of Wang has raised the likelihood that he too will face criminal charges, probably after the party congress.

Before then, party leaders could first expel Bo from the party and hand him over for criminal investigation.

"The prosecutors said Wang exposed leaders to major crimes by others," said Li Zhuang, a Beijing lawyer who opposed Wang and Bo for mounting a sweeping crackdown on foes in the name of fighting organized crime. Bo was the likely target of Wang's allegations, said Li.

"That was a slap around the ears that changed history," Li said of Bo's alleged actions against Wang. "Otherwise, Bo might still be in power and hoping to rise higher."

(Additional reporting by Sally Huang and Terril Yue Jones; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Nick Macfie)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-jails-ex-police-chief-closes-disgraced-bo-012706111.html

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Technology in Information and Communication | Modern Dignity ...

IT that abbreviates Information Technology refers to the different mediums through which data is stored retrieved, reproduced, published and many other processes involved in the transfer of information. Computers have come to be considered as the most relied on device through which within both commercial and domestic platforms.

Information

Within this platform, the computers have been used to store data since the realization of the Microsoft technology. Data is fed into the computers than may be designed to meet different preferences that the users may intend to achieve. Retrieval of the information processed may be through display on the monitor or having to print via the printer.

The computer also allows for any further adjustments that platforms like advertisements may require making the information appealing to the intended audience. The computers have however witnessed the creation of many others mediums through which information may be handled. There are the high definition digital displays that have also been able to ensure that information is able to be handled in steps similar to those of the computers.

Storage

There are also the numerous storage devices that inventors have been able to come up to ensure that information may be stored in bulk within small spaces. Flash disks, USBs, diskettes, compact discs among others are slowly being replaced with cloud computing. This refers to computers allowing for users to store their information within easily accessible points from all over the globe.

The information stored within the clouds would then be retrievable from whichever point the user would wish to without having to utilize the storage spaces provided by systems such as computers.

Communication

Most of the information generated from computers may be meant to reach its intended audience within far destinations. Technology has therefore made this requirement not be a hurdle through the existence of the internet services. For verbal communications, the handsets have even been revamped to be known as smart phones that too are able to access the internet.

The information in circulation would therefore be posted either within social media, emails, mobile text services or just posted within blogs for all to access. This has therefore allowed for faster and more convenient means through which varied ventures have been able to share information.

Technology too enables the same to secure their varied information through provided privacy and security options present within the mediums. Information technology is however not set to subside anytime soon for manufacturers are still coming up with better communication means.


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Source: http://www.moderndignity.com/technology-in-information-and-communication/

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Saturday, September 15, 2012

Vegas bus stop crash kills 4, injures 8

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? A car went out of control near a Las Vegas intersection and rolled as it slammed into a bus stop, killing four pedestrians and injuring several other people. Police said the driver faces charges of driving under the influence resulting in death.

The horrific crash killed three women and a man as they waited for a bus shortly before 6:30 a.m. PDT Thursday, police said. Three others at the bus stop and five people in the car were injured.

"It's a pretty horrific scene out here," Las Vegas police officer Laura Meltzer.

Driver Gary Lee Hosey Jr., 24, was hospitalized in serious condition. Police said Thursday night that he was "booked in absentia on four counts of DUI-death."

The crash occurred shortly before 6:30 a.m. PDT as the car went out of control and left the roadway while traveling through an intersection.

"The vehicle began to roll over as it struck a total of seven pedestrians sitting on/near a bus bench," police said in a release.

The dead ? women ages 47, 49, and 65, and a 24-year-old man ? were all Las Vegas residents but their names were being withheld pending notification of relatives, police said.

In addition to Hosey, all four passengers in his car and three people waiting at the bus stop were injured. Police said four were hospitalized with critical injuries, two with serious injuries, and one was treated and released for minor injuries. The injured ranged in age from 19 to 31 and all but one is from Las Vegas.

Debris and sheet-covered bodies remained on the scene several hours after the crash. Roads were shut down well into the afternoon as investigators worked to piece together the chain of events along the busy business corridor lined by fast-food restaurants, strip malls and gas stations two miles west of the Las Vegas Strip.

At least some of the occupants had to be removed from the vehicle, police said.

A police officer who was fueling his vehicle at a nearby convenience store watched as the car appeared to lose control and bottom out on a downward slope before leaving the pavement and slamming into the bus stop, according to police Sgt. Richard Strader.

"First responders said they smelled alcohol, and he even said something to the effect that he had been drinking," Strader said.

The vehicle, which came to rest in a fast-food restaurant parking lot, was so mangled that authorities initially had difficulty determining its make and model.

The driver has a collapsed lung and possibly a broken back, according to police.

Meltzer said some of the victims were dismembered. The bus stop was flattened and its roof landed 15 feet from the spot where the structure once stood. Newspaper stands and concrete littered the scene.

"It's so tragic because this is preventable," Meltzer said. "This person made a choice" to drive under the influence.

The four deaths brought the number of people killed in traffic accidents in Las Vegas police jurisdiction to 83 this year.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/vegas-bus-stop-crash-kills-4-injures-8-081259670.html

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Video: Feds quiz alleged anti-Islam filmmaker



>>> we are learning more about those responsible for making the video that triggered so much of the violence we have seen. several cast and crew members say they were duped into working on a film last summer that was turned into a poisonous 14-minute trailer. one of the key figures agreed overnight to answer questions from authorities, not about the content of the film but about his probation status. mike taibbi has our report.

>> reporter: shielding his face from the cameras an ex-con and ultra conservative christian was escorted from his home to voluntarily answer questions about his role in the video.

>> he is not a danger to anybody or anything. he's right now being interviewed by federal probation officers to see if he is, in fact, in violation of his federal probation .

>> reporter: he said he only provided logistics help but other key figures long sounded similar to those expressed in the video.

>> wake up, america!

>> reporter: another egypt born c coptic christian who was a speaker at the protests against the so-called ground zero mosque.

>> they conquer our country the same way conquer america.

>> reporter: media for christ includes a website and the studio where the video was made. one of the regular show hosts is stephen klein .

>> mighty proud of it.

>> reporter: his leaflets painted islam in such ugly terms he's on several hate speech watch lists . with klein as the self-described consultant the video from the studio was a bargain basement bait and switch project titled desert warrior with actors who say their video was dubbed over. they even put osama bin laden in the title to hype a theater screening though there may not have been a completed movie. the uh video did come out of the studio and while klein stood by his role in it.

>> i will live and die by the truth, period.

>> reporter: he was soon seen leaving town because of death threats. and nasrala was gone, his facebook page saying he, too, always tells the truth.

>> reporter: akoula said he would go to an undisclosed location for his and his family's safety.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/49047336/

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uzbekistan_news: British troops may return from Afghanistan earlier Minister http://t.co/iQY2p3dF

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Source: http://twitter.com/uzbekistan_news/statuses/246485280490655744

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Friday, September 14, 2012

NASA Building New Moon Lander Prototype After Fiery Crash

HOUSTON ? The NASA team behind a prototype moon lander that crashed in a test flight last month is pushing forward to build a new-and-improved replacement.

The program, called Project Morpheus after the Greek god of dreams, is aimed at testing new technologies for a future planetary lander, including a novel propulsion system based on liquid oxygen and liquid methane fuels, which scientists say are cheaper and safer than traditional rocket fuels. A future version of Morpheus could be used to land payloads on the moon, Mars, or some other planetary body.

The first Morpheus prototype was destroyed by a fiery crash that ended its first untethered test flight Aug. 9 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The SUV-size lander had made it through 26 previous tests, though these had all been conducted with tethers attached to the vehicle for safety.

"It's definitely a disappointment," Jon Olansen, Morpheus project manager here at NASA's Johnson Space Center, told SPACE.com. "The team put a lot of time and effort into that vehicle and the vehicle was performing very well." [Photos: Morpheus Lander Crashes in Flames]

Morpheus crash and burn

Preliminary analysis suggests a problem with Morpheus' Inertial Measurement Unit ? the system that determines the vehicle's attitude and speed ? is to blame for the Aug. 9 failure.

"We are focusing on the loss of data from our Inertial Measurement Unit," Olansen said. "Somewhere in that string we lost communication. It could have been anything from the unit itself to the wiring, the connectors in between, all the way to our avionics box."

Without the data from the Inertial Measurement Unit, the vehicle couldn't determine how to control itself, so it would have issued commands based on its last known orientation and velocity. Given that failure, it was not surprising that Morpheus barely got off the ground before it crashed and burned, Olansen said.

A full report on the cause of the failure is expected to be complete in about two weeks.

Building Morpheus 2

Meanwhile, a replacement vehicle is being readied, and should be in place to begin test flights in January, Olansen said.

"Most of the components are off at vendors right now being machined and welded," he said. "We're not making significant changes to the vehicle ? some, to address the issues we saw, but nothing significant."

One change will be to add backup systems for the Inertial Measurement Unit. The Morpheus lander is what NASA calls a "single-string" prototype, meaning it doesn't have redundant systems the way a spacecraft rated for flight would be.

"If it were flying in space or if it were some other craft that was further along in its development cycle, you'd have redundancy built in," Olansen said. "To keep costs down and to make rapid progress, that?s not the situation we were in, we were single string."

Olansen said he doesn't regret that fact, or the approach the team has taken.

"Ever since the beginning, part of the whole strategy was spend less money in building up the craft so that you can work through failures," he said. "You don?t get to the point where the vehicle itself is too precious to actually test."

The Morpheus team is a relatively lean group of 25 full-time members, and the project, based at Johnson Space Center, has cost NASA about $7 million over the last 2 1/2 years.

Despite the disappointment of losing the first Morpheus, there was no question the project would continue, Olansen said.

"The team is back up and on the horse and moving forward," he added.

You can follow SPACE.com assistant managing editor Clara Moskowitz on Twitter @ClaraMoskowitz. Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We're also on Facebook & Google+.

Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-building-moon-lander-prototype-fiery-crash-141843790.html

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