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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/49559404/
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Thursday, October 25, 2012
South Africa charges oil majors with price-fixing
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South Africa's competition watchdog said on Wednesday it had brought charges of price-fixing against the local units of major oil companies including Chevron, BP and Total.
The Competition Commission also said in a statement the companies - as well as Shell, Sasol and Engen - had shared detailed information about sales and customers to hinder competition.
The suspected collusion ran from the late 1980s to 2005 and included petrol, diesel, illuminating kerosene and other products, the commission said.
"Information at this level of detail allowed the oil companies to closely track each other's sales and to align their strategies in the market, eliminating competition between themselves," the commission said.
"This also enabled them to divide or allocate markets by deciding not to enter, or compete for, certain geographic markets or customer groupings," it said.
The commission said it had asked South Africa's Competition Tribunal, which rules on such cases, to levy a fine equal to 10 percent of company revenue in the preceding financial year.
Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/AFRICAbusinessNews/~3/Uw6AOEwzmzY/idAFJOE89N01O20121024
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NASA App (for iPhone)
NASA has released many iPhone apps, most with a specific focus: for example, NASA Television is a viewer for the space agency's own TV channel, ISSLive gives the latest on the International Space Station (ISS), and NASA Space Weather explores solar flares, geomagnetic storms, and the like. NASA App (for iPhone) is the space agency's flagship app, and in that role, it aggregates a wide range of NASA content, including much that isn't found in the other apps. This frequently updated app has well-written news stories, dazzling videos and images, a portal to streamed NASA tv and radio, information on NASA missions present and future, how to visit the various NASA centers, and much more. There's something for everyone, from children and students to seasoned space geeks, in NASA App, and it's an easy pick for Editors' Choice.
Into the Grid
Opening the app in portrait mode reveals a grid of 9 squares. ?The sections are titled Missions; Images; Videos; Tweets; TV & Radio; News & Features; Centers; Features; and Programs. Missions gives information on active and upcoming NASA missions. The first two items are Launch Schedule and Sighting Opportunities. Launch Schedule gives information about upcoming launches by NASA (and SpaceX; the first mission mentioned is that company's Falcon9 ongoing resupply flight to the ISS) and its ISS partners. Sighting Opportunities tells you how to view the brightest satellites/spacecraft (mainly the ISS) from your location.
The Missions are then listed in alphabetical order; tapping one takes you to a page with information about it. They include well-known missions such as the Hubble Space Telescope and more obscure ones like Calipso (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation), a joint U.S./French meteorological mission that studies clouds and aerosols.
Dazzling Images and Video
Images offers more than 9,000 beautiful images on a huge range of subjects, from the Hubble Extreme Deep Field view of distant galaxies to the Space Shuttle Endeavour being transported through the streets of Los Angeles. Tapping on an image, and then tapping on the "I" button in the screen's lower left calls up information on the photo. New photos are frequently added.
In the Videos section are nearly 9,000 well-produced and informative video clips, and new ones are frequently added. You can see cool videos showing the latest on the Curiosity Mars mission or ISS, clips of solar flares and other phenomena, and much more. You can mark a video as a Favorite, email the video, or post it to Twitter or Facebook.
The rather cumbersome Tweets section brings up recent tweets from a range of NASAaccounts: @NASA; @NASA_ICE; @NewHorizons2015; NASAGoddard; and many more. You can email the tweets, post them to Facebook, or retweet them. However, when you retweet name of the NASA twitter account disappears, so you have to enter it yourself after the @. Likewise, you can reply to the tweet, but you have to click on a twitter handle within a tweet, click on the Write icon, and compose a tweet from scratch. (Once again, it doesn't automatically pick up the Twitter handle of the NASA account.) It can be used as a normal Twitter client, but it's awkward as such.
TV and Radio lets you access Third Rock, NASA's rock music Internet radio station, or NASA TV, either the primary stream or an alternate, and provides video-out support.
Your Source for Space News
To help you keep up on the latest space news, News and Features is a growing repository of more than 3,000 well-written and informative stories, under headings such as "Top Stories" "History and People" "NASA in Your Life" "Station and Shuttle" "Breaking News" "Solar System" and more.? You can search News and Features for articles on specific subjects, and individual stories for keywords. You can print stories (via AirPrint, if you have a compatible printer on your Wi-Fi network), post them to Facebook or Twitter, or email them.
Visiting NASA
Want to visit the Kennedy Space Center, or a similar NASA facility? Centers lets you plan a trip to a NASA center. It shows a map of the U.S., with each NASA center marked by a red pin, and your location marked in blue. Tapping a pin brings up information on visiting that center, including hours of operation, ticket info, and links to other useful information.
The Featured section brings up articles centered on one subject, currently Year of the Solar System. Each article?for example, Robotic Spacecraft?brings up information and tidbits on different aspects of the topic pulled from various NASA publications. The writing is engaging, written at a level that an informed layman can understand.
The last section, Program, will be of interest mostly to hardcore space geeks. It discusses NASA's launch services program, the space agency's management of missions (its own, as well as ones with commercial payloads) and launch vehicles from the Atlas and Delta rockets built by the United Launch Alliance to SpaceX's Falcon. It discusses past and future missions, and has sections on launch sites, which in addition to Cape Canaveral include Wallops Island in Virginia, the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, and the Kodiak launch complex in Alaska.
Conclusion
Within these 9 sections resides a wealth of content on a wide range of NASA-related subjects, including surprising images, well-produced videos, engaging features and news stories (both current and archived), and a portal to NASA TV. Anyone interested in NASA or space exploration is bound to find much of interest here. NASA manages to squeeze a lot of content into NASA App, for easy access from an iPhone. NASA Apps is a worthy Editors' Choice among educational apps.
More iPhone App Reviews:
??? NASA App (for iPhone)
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??? Smartr Contacts (for iPhone)
??? Grantophone (for iPhone and iPad)
??? Samsung Mobile Print (for iPhone)
?? more
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/oldlygFQlOg/0,2817,2411404,00.asp
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Wednesday, October 24, 2012
iPad mini to hit PCs hard: analyst
Apple is largely expected to unveil a new, smaller iPad tomorrow, a move one analyst predicts could further stifle an already struggling PC market.
Apple's new tablet, presumably called the iPad mini, will eat into sales of traditional notebook and desktop PCs, fueling a trend already put into motion by Apple's larger iPads and other, competing tablets, according to a research note from J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz.
"In our view, the iPad mini stands to target price-sensitive users and the e-reader crowd," Moskowitz wrote in the note, according to CNET. "Given the global economic uncertainty, we think price-sensitive users could gravitate toward an iPad mini instead of making a PC purchase."
Reports of a smaller-size iPad have been swirling for months, with Apple finally giving word of an Oct. 23 launch event last week. The new tablet is expected to tout a 7.85-inch display, downsized from the 9.5-inch display used in the three prior-generation iPads.
It's also largely anticipated to be thinner, but slightly more lower end than other iPads in terms of specs, lacking Apple's next-generation retina display and supporting only Wi-Fi, rather than 3G or 4G networks.
That said, Moskowitz predicts that these more midrange specs will move the new tablet to a lower price point than its predecessors.
"Our research indicates that the smaller size, absence of retina display, and less storage capacity underpin the base model's potential price point of $US249," he said.
The iPad mini's more mainstream price point, in addition to consumers generally refreshing their smartphone and tablets more frequently than their PCs, will only further sway buyers toward the new tablet, Moskowtiz continued.
If the iPad mini does, in fact, lure consumers away from more traditional PC purchases, it will deal a blow to an already weakening global PC market. Gartner reported this month that 87.5 million PCs shipped in the third quarter, marking a hefty 8.3 percent decline compared with same quarter last year.
The drop was attributed to a weak global economy, coupled with the fact that many consumers are reserving their PC purchases for those running Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 OS, set to launch on Oct. 26.
This article originally appeared at crn.com
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Prison, $7 billion fine for French rogue trader
FILE - In this June, 4 2012 file photo, French trader Jerome Kerviel arrives at the Paris courthouse. The Paris appeals court on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012, ordered Kerviel, a former Societe Generale trader, to spend three years in prison and pay back a staggering ?4.9 billion (about $7 billion) in damages for one of the biggest trading frauds in history. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, File)
FILE - In this June, 4 2012 file photo, French trader Jerome Kerviel arrives at the Paris courthouse. The Paris appeals court on Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2012, ordered Kerviel, a former Societe Generale trader, to spend three years in prison and pay back a staggering ?4.9 billion (about $7 billion) in damages for one of the biggest trading frauds in history. (AP Photo/Jacques Brinon, File)
Former trader Jerome Kerviel arrives at court, in Paris, Wednesday Oct. 24, 2012. The Paris appeals court on Wednesday ordered former Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel to spend three years in prison and pay back a staggering euro 4.9 billion (about $7 billion) in damages for one of the biggest trading frauds in history. (AP Photo/Francois Mori)
PARIS (AP) ? The Paris appeals court on Wednesday ordered former Societe Generale trader Jerome Kerviel to spend three years in prison and pay back a staggering ?4.9 billion (about $7 billion) in damages for one of the biggest trading frauds in history.
The 35-year-old Kerviel, who never profited personally from his unauthorized trades, says he was a scapegoat for the bank and a victim of a financial system that runs on greed and profits. His lawyer David Koubbi called the verdict "absolutely lamentable" and said his team will consider taking the case to France's highest court.
Because Kerviel cannot realistically pay the money back in his lifetime, the bank suggested it would refrain from seeking full repayment.
A lower court convicted Kerviel in October 2010 of forgery, breach of trust and unauthorized computer use for covering up bets worth nearly ?50 billion ? more than the market value of the entire bank ? in 2007 and 2008.
By the time his trades were discovered in early 2008, when banks were sliding into a global crisis, had amassed losses of almost ?5 billion on those bets.
The sentence ? a five-year prison term, with two years suspended, plus the payback of all the losses he incurred ? shocked many in the French public. After a global financial crisis that many blamed on big banks, many believed Kerviel's claim that he was a victim of an unjust system.
The appeals court Wednesday upheld the full conviction and sentence. It did not send Kerviel directly to prison, leaving him free pending his decision on whether to appeal to the Court of Cassation. He has five days to make that decision.
Kerviel arrived at the courthouse in a dark suit and looking tense and left through a back entrance without speaking to reporters. He had sought an acquittal, saying the bank had turned a blind eye to his exorbitant trades as long as they made money. Prosecutors and the bank say that isn't true.
Societe Generale lawyer Jean Veil said the verdict was "a great satisfaction."
He suggested the bank would take into account Kerviel's income and assets and not try to make him pay back the full fine. "Societe Generale will look at it with realism," Veil told reporters.
He indicated, however, that the bank could take over royalty earnings from a book Kerviel wrote about the scandal as well as any income he earns from movie deals. "It would have been indecent for Mr. Kerviel to be able to preserve revenues coming from the exploitation of his fraud."
While Societe Generale could have the right to tap Kerviel's future income, it was not clear whether they would do so and how much they could take from him.
Kerviel was fired from the bank in the wake of the scandal, and held a modest job for a while as a computer consultant. He was unemployed at the time of his appeals trial earlier this year.
A colleague from Societe Generale who testified on Kerviel's behalf said the court didn't take into account others at the bank who likely knew about Kerviel's risky bets.
A junior futures trader such as Kerviel "could in no case do what he did without being seen" by his superiors, Philippe Hoube said. "If justice had played its role, they wouldn't have sentenced him so heavily."
An internal report by the bank has said managers failed to follow up on 74 different alarms about Kerviel's activities.
A few of the bank's executives resigned in the scandal's aftermath, including longtime Chairman Daniel Bouton. Kerviel's superiors were questioned in the probe, but none of them faced charges.
The bank says Kerviel made bets on futures contracts on three European equity indices. It said at the time that his net position appeared unremarkable because he balanced his real trades with fictitious transactions.
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Teachers' union drops case contesting health insurance law ...
AUGUSTA, Maine ? The union that represents most of Maine?s public school teachers has abandoned its efforts to block a law that requires school districts? health insurers to provide the districts with data on their employees? claims history.
The Maine Education Association said it was dropping its lawsuit against Maine?s insurance superintendent, Eric Cioppa, because it was unlikely to succeed if it kept fighting the law?s implementation in court.
?For financial reasons, it made no sense to continue the lawsuit,? MEA president Lois Kilby-Chesley said in a prepared statement. ?We will comply with the law.?
Gov. Paul LePage welcomed the MEA?s decision. ?School systems can now generate savings from their health insurance programs to reinvest in the classroom instead of wasting time and money fighting frivolous lawsuits,? he said in a statement.
The case centered around a law the Legislature passed and LePage signed last year that allowed school districts to request their employees? aggregate insurance claims history from their insurers so they could more easily shop around for cheaper health insurance coverage.
Nearly all of Maine?s school districts insure their teachers and many of their other employees through the MEA Benefits Trust, which has contracted with Anthem Blue Cross to provide insurance. The MEA plan covers about 70,000 people, said Christine Burke, the Benefits Trust?s executive director.
The MEA last October filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Maine, claiming that forcing Anthem to release employees? claims history would violate the union?s contract with the insurer, and that the employee claims history was the property of the MEA Benefits Trust and couldn?t be taken from the union.
A federal judge in February denied the union?s request for an injunction that would have stopped the state from enforcing the new law. The union subsequently took its case to the First Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston. That court ruled late last month that the union stood little chance of succeeding in its efforts to block the law.
The union decided to drop its lawsuit following that opinion.
?We were just throwing good money after bad in trying to litigate this,? Burke said. ?It just didn?t make sense.?
Burke said about 70 school districts so far have requested the claims history for their employees. It?s uncertain, however, whether that means many districts will end up pursuing coverage outside of the MEA Benefits Trust.
If many districts end up leaving the MEA plan, Burke said, the districts that stay will inevitably be those that are more expensive to insure.
?If a number of the good-performing districts decide to go off on their own, we?ll have difficulty staying afloat,? she said. ?We?re going to fight really hard to stay alive. We have to show the districts the value of staying with the trust.?
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Car bombs, mortars kill nine in Baghdad Shi'ite districts
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/car-bombs-mortars-kill-nine-baghdad-shiite-districts-131348850.html
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Monday, October 22, 2012
Overseas Shipholding may file for bankruptcy
(Reuters) - Debt-laden Overseas Shipholding Group Inc
Shares of the company, which had estimated debt obligations of $2.24 billion as of June 30, fell as much as 66 percent to a life low of $1.02 on Monday morning.
The stock lost more than a third of its value last week on speculation that talks with lenders had stalled.
Shares of Nordic American Tanker Ltd
Financial statements for at least the three years ended December 2011 should no longer be relied on, Overseas Shipholding said in a regulatory filing on Monday.
Overseas Shipholding said it was reviewing a tax issue arising from the fact that while the company is domiciled in the United States, it has substantial international operations.
Allen Andreas, a director and member of the audit committee, resigned on September 27 over disagreements with the board in reviewing the tax issue, the company said in a filing.
The New York-based company had yet to determine if it would need to restate its results for the years in question.
Global Hunter Securities suspended coverage on Overseas Shipholding on Monday, saying it could no longer rely on the company's financial statements, and noting that there was no clarity on the specifics of the tax issue.
DEEP DEBT
Overseas Shipholding said it was reviewing how the tax issue would affect the interpretation of certain provisions in the company's loan agreements.
The company, which had a market value of about $100 million as of Friday's close, said in August it needed to plug a $100 million shortfall in its $1.5 billion fully-drawn revolving credit facility, which would expire in four months.
Analysts, however, said the gap could be as much as $300 million.
Overseas Shipholding has hired Chilmark Partners and Proskauer Rose as financial and legal advisers to help with its potential Chapter 11 filing, according to Thomson Reuters LPC, a Reuters loans news service.
Weak rates and high bunker fuel costs have forced many shipping companies to restructure, including Norway-listed Frontline
"I do not think the banks want to see them file for bankruptcy. I am sure they are using this as a negotiating leverage," said a former shareholder, who did not wish to be named. He cashed out of Overseas Shipholding last month.
However, Deutsche Bank analyst Justin Yagerman said that given the company's statements, a potential filing may be a real possibility rather than a negotiation tactic.
"Overseas Shipholding's mention of a Chapter 11 filing, especially this far before its loan expiry in February 2013, signals negotiations with its lender group have not progressed positively," he wrote in a note.
The company had cash reserves of over $550 million as of June 30.
Its unsecured bonds due 2018 and 2024 were trading around 31 cents on Monday morning, down 10 points from Friday, according to Thomson Reuters LPC.
(Reporting by Swetha Gopinath and Divya Lad in Bangalore; Editing by Supriya Kurane)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/overseas-shipholding-may-file-bankruptcy-160444909--finance.html
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London VC Love-In: Index, Balderton, Eden, Passion Capital ...
Steve O?Hear is probably best known as a technology journalist, currently at TechCrunch where he focuses mainly on European/UK startups, companies and products. From April 2011 to February 2012, he was co-founder and CEO of expertise platform Beepl where he helped the company navigate its first VC round, along with seeing the product through development, private alpha and a high... ? Learn More
A bit like waiting for a London bus, you wait forever to pitch a London VC, and then eleven turn up at once.
In what appears to be somewhat unprecedented, and perhaps signals a new era of co-operation, eleven London VCs have joined forces to hold shared office hours this Wednesday, offering a fantastic opportunity for local startups to (finally) get in front of and pitch to a VC.
Almost the entire London VC scene will be presented, including the likes of Index Ventures, Balderton Capital, Accel Partners, and Eden Ventures, along with newer VCs on the block, such as Passion Capital, and EC1 Capital (see full list below). What?s most noteworthy, however, aside from this unusual (and slightly nauseating!) VC love-in, is that each firm is being represented at Partner or Principal level. In other words, by the people that actually make the decisions.
The office hours are being held at White Bear Yard, this Wednesday October 24, between 2-4pm. Slots are still available ? ten minutes each ? so I suggest that if you?re a local startup or can make it to London, you grab one quickly.
The full list of VCs represented is as follows:
Passion Capital (all 3 partners)
Index Ventures (principal)
Accel Partners
Balderton (principal)
PROFounders (partner)
Notion Capital (partner)
Eden Ventures (partner)
Connect Ventures (2 partners)
EC1 Capital (partner)
#1Seed (partner)
Playfair Capital
I?m told that the idea of a joint office hours on such a scale, came about when Index Ventures and Passion Capital began talking about doing something together and it escalated from there. Of the well-known London VCs, notably missing in action is DFJ Esprit, though I?m assured this is purely down to calendar availability and that we can expect more combined office hours in the future, with one already being planned for December 11th.
Index Ventures is a leading venture capital firm specializing in investments in information technology and life sciences companies. The firm invests in seed, early and growth stage start-ups across US and Europe. Since its inception in 1996, Index Ventures has backed visionary entrepreneurs who have taken on incumbents and built seminal companies in a number of growth sectors including: open source software companies such as MySQL, Trolltech, Zend and Pentaho; broadband and VOIP companies such as Virata, Skype, FON and...
? Learn morePassion Capital is a partnership of entrepreneurs and operators who are applying our experiences to helping founders and early-stage teams build great digital media/technology companies. We are Stefan Glaenzer, Eileen Burbidge and Robert Dighero. We have been personally involved in the largest European technology exits of the past decade, including the biggest exits of the year for 4 of the past 10 years by market value (Ricardo.de acquired by QXL, Skype purchased by Ebay, Last.fm acquired by CBS, and QXL/Tradus...
? Learn moreBalderton Capital is the leading venture investor in the EU? Balderton has a track record of helping entrepreneurs build substantial businesses ? with more $250m+ exits in the past five years than any other European venture firm. We have backed over 100 entrepreneurs in the last decade, and continue to look for outstanding entrepreneurs who share our passion for disrupting large markets and building long-lasting, great companies. We invest early stage, but, with nearly $2 billion of committed capital, we have the...
? Learn moreNotion Capital is a venture fund and advisory business that focuses on early to mid-stage growth businesses in the Internet based services sector. They create value by helping companies to accelerate their growth through financial injection combined with strategic and operational participation.
? Learn moreEden Ventures invests in technology companies in the telecommunications software, enterprise software, digital media, e-commerce, internet and mobile sectors in the UK and Ireland.
? Learn moreConnect Ventures is a venture capital fund investing in early stage Internet and mobile businesses. We are based in London but invest throughout Europe. We take a hands-on approach to investing by helping companies scale quickly and providing our expertise on product,marketing, and financing strategy. As a small and focused fund, we are able to move quickly and give our portfolio companies the time and attention they deserve.
? Learn moreEC1 Capital is an early stage ?10m investment fund that invests in web technology related startups. EC1 Capital has an initial investment range of between ?25k-?200k in seed and early stage companies EC1 Capital is run by an entrepreneur and we like to mentor, connect and contribute to our portfolio companies in any way we can so that everyone has a successful outcome. EC1 Capital is based in the EC1 area of London, otherwise known as ?Tech City? and has a preference...
? Learn moreAccel Partners is a global venture capital firm with offices located in Silicon Valley, New York, London, China, and India. They typically make multi-stage investments in internet technology companies. Founded in 1983, Accel Partners has a long history of excellence and innovation in the venture capital business and is dedicated to partnering with outstanding entrepreneurs and management teams to build world-class companies. Accel today invests globally using dedicated teams and market-specific strategies for local geographies, with offices in Palo...
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Trailer: Gangster Squad | People's Critic: Film Reviews - seattlepi.com
I?ve had Gangster Squad on my list for a very long time. The film was set to open this fall, but after having a theater shooting scene removed, the movie was pushed back to January 2013. Even the five month delay couldn?t kill my excitement for this action thriller and this new trailer shows exactly why.
Not to mention Sean Penn as a hard nosed 1920?s gangster alongside Ryan Gosling, Josh Brolin, Michael Pena, Anthony Mackey, Emma Stone, Giovanni Ribisi, and Nick Nolte. I?m not sure how great this movie will be, but the trailer and cast are a start.
Source: http://blog.seattlepi.com/peoplescritic/2012/10/21/trailer-gangster-squad/
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Sunday, October 21, 2012
Canadian Space Agency Shows Off Prototype Rovers
An anonymous reader writes "At its headquarters in Longueuil, Que. Friday, the Canadian Space Agency rolled out a fleet of about a half-dozen prototype rovers that are the forerunners of vehicles that may one day explore the moon or Mars. The agency said the terrestrial rovers bring it one step closer to developing the next generation for space exploration."
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Women more likely to die from myocardial infarction than men
ScienceDaily (Oct. 17, 2012) ? Women are more likely to die from a myocardial infarction than men, according to research presented at the Acute Cardiac Care Congress 2012. The gender gap in mortality was independent of patient characteristics, revascularisation delays and revascularisation modalities. Women also had longer treatment delays, less aggressive treatment, more complications and longer hospital stays. The study was presented by Dr Guillaume Leurent from the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire in Rennes, France.
The Acute Cardiac Care Congress 2012 is the first annual meeting of the newly launched Acute Cardiovascular Care Association (ACCA) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). It takes place during 20-22 October in Istanbul, Turkey, at the Istanbul Lufti Kirdar Convention and Exhibition Centre (ICEC).
"Previous studies on ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) have shown that women have a worse prognosis, possibly due to longer management delays and less aggressive reperfusion strategies," said Dr Leurent. "Therefore we used data from ORBI, a prospective registry of 5,000 STEMI patients, to find out whether there were any gender differences in the management of STEMI."
The ORBI registry (Observatoire R?gional Breton sur l'Infarctus du myocarde; Brittany regional observational study on myocardial infarction) has been ongoing since July 2006, and consists of STEMI patients admitted within 24 hours of symptom onset to the 9 interventional cardiology units in the Brittany region of France. The registry aims to assess the quality of management of acute myocardial infarction.
STEMI patients are included into the ORBI registry during the pre-hospital or hospital phase. The diagnosis is made by an emergency physician (in the ambulance or emergency room) or by the interventional cardiologist. Patients are excluded from the registry when the diagnosis of STEMI in the ambulance or emergency room is not confirmed by the interventional cardiologist -- this happens in just 1% of cases.
For the current study, the researchers analysed data from 5,000 patients included in the ORBI registry over a 6-year period. They found that 1,174 patients (23.5%) were women. Women STEMI patients were older, with an average age of 69 years compared to 61 years for men (p<0.0001). Women had more frequent hypertension, less dyslipidemia and less current smoking.
The researchers found significant differences in the management and outcome of STEMI patients according to gender.
Women had longer median delays between symptom onset and call for medical assistance (60 vs 44 minutes, p<0.0001) and between admission and reperfusion (45 vs 40 minutes, p=0.011). "Delays of management are significantly longer in women, hence they have a longer ischemic time during which the heart's blood supply is reduced," said Dr Leurent. "And reperfusion strategies to restore blood flow are significantly less aggressive -- with less fibrinolysis, and fewer coronary angiographies performed."
Intra-hospital mortality was higher in women (9.0% vs 4.0%, p<0.0001). The researchers used 3 adjustment models to determine whether the higher intra-hospital mortality among women was solely due to gender or whether it was due to other factors such as patient characteristics (age, hypertension, smoking, etc) or management.
Dr Leurent said: "This higher intra-hospital mortality among women significantly persists when adjusted for patient characteristics, for revascularisation delays (onset of symptoms to reperfusion therapy) and for revascularisation modalities."
Women had more STEMI complications including atrial fibrillation (7% vs 3%, p<0.0001) and longer hospital stays (7.6+4 vs 6.7+4 days, p<0.0001).
Women received significantly less of the recommended treatments at discharge. Specifically, they received less antiplatelet agents, beta blockers, ACE inhibitors and statins. They also received less cardiovascular rehabilitation (27% of women vs 47% of men, p<0.0001).
Dr Leurent said: "These results suggest that women need to be more vigilant about chest pains and request medical help quickly to reduce ischemic time."
He added: "Women may take longer to call an ambulance when they have chest pains because they don't believe it can be a myocardial infarction. Most women believe myocardial infarction is a male problem."
"Many doctors still think myocardial infarction is a male problem," continued Dr Leurent. "Campaigns are needed to increase awareness in doctors and the public about the problem of STEMI in women."
He concluded: "Doctors need to be more careful in the management of STEMI in women to further reduce ischemic time. This means adopting more aggressive reperfusion strategies and treating women the same as men. These actions by patients and doctors will reduce the current gender gap in mortality."
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by European Society of Cardiology (ESC).
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/zQtHbaaI-yE/121020162526.htm
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Bajaj Finance sees FDI in retail boosting consumer loans. ? Times of ...
Times of India
MUMBAI: Bajaj Finance Ltd expects foreign direct investment in retail to provide a boost to its business of lending for consumer durables according to chairman Sanjiv Bajaj, MD, Bajaj Finserv. The company, which is focused on consumer lending, ...
Source: http://www.thefinancialherald.com/?p=327223
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Saturday, October 20, 2012
Today on New Scientist: 19 October 2012
Martian genome: Is there DNA on the Red Planet?
Craig Venter has set his sights on Mars; others plan to look for DNA there too. We review some of the challenges they will face
Digging up the dead: London's ghoulish legacy
New archaeological evidence opens a new window into London's grim legacy of grave-robbing in the name of science
Cassette tapes are the future of big data storage
Hard drives are the workhorse of large storage operations, but a new wave of ultra-dense tape drives is set to replace them
Galaxy dance of death creates starburst shockwave
Meet a poor crazy mixed-up galaxy - it's not a crowd-pleasing spiral or a shapeless blob elliptical, but a spectacular combination of both
Slow-mo movie captures firecracker blast in water
Watch an explosion produce cavities and jets on the surface of a liquid
Feedback: In fruitloopery's house are many mansions
The marvels of the holographic body-field, the wonders of infoceuticals, archetypal healing modes, and more
Astrophile: Moon melding made Titan a chimera
Saturn's largest moon may have been stitched together from the bodies of doomed companions, a process that spawned several icy minions
Smart CCTV knows when you need shopping advice
Store cameras that learn consumers' habits could boost profits and improve the shopping experience, if you don't mind being spied on
Lethal weapons and the evolution of civilisation
From the very first spear to nuclear bombs, deadly weapons have directed the course of our cultural evolution
Pioneering lab-grown 'kidney' does its job in animals
A kidney-like structure that filters blood in rats is a vital step towards making new kidneys from someone's own cells
Muddy lake bed holds radiocarbon 'Rosetta stone'
The carbon in layers of algae from the bottom of a Japanese lake will help reveal the precise dates of historical climate change and human migrations
Roasting Triassic heat exterminated tropical life
Earth experienced an extended heatwave 249 million years ago that made many areas uninhabitable
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Bear Valley Superintendent Named All-Star - Year 2012 (CA Dept of ...
Release: #12-101
October 19, 2012
State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson Congratulates Bear Valley
Superintendent and District for Promoting Good Health and Nutrition
Supt. Kurt Madden to Run 100-Mile Endurance Challenge in South State
SACRAMENTO?State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson today recognized Bear Valley Unified School District Superintendent Kurt Madden for his commitment to promoting student health and fitness, calling him a "Team California for Healthy Kids All-Star."
Madden will run the 100-Mile Endurance Challenge [http://www.100ec.org/]
this weekend that starts in Corona in western Riverside County and ends on the Santa Monica Pier.
"Congratulations to Superintendent Madden for taking up the inspiring task of running the 100-Mile Endurance Challenge," said Torlakson. "When it comes to promoting student health and fitness, he's an all-star."
"This ultra-distance endurance event will be a true test of my character, tenacity, determination, and persistence to not only finish, but to finish strong," Madden said. "Furthermore, my primary objective is to inspire students and parents to engage in daily exercise and the consumption of healthy foods. We must make a healthy lifestyle a top priority to produce students who will be life-long learners and responsible global citizens."
Bear Valley Unified School District in San Bernardino County actively supports learning by helping students develop healthy habits. The District has a comprehensive Food and Nutrition Services [http://www.schoolnutritionandfitness.com/index.php?sid=1504111723003611]
Web site that promotes proper nutrition and fitness at school and home, displays its school meal menus, and offers convenient online prepayment options for meals. Bear Valley is also in the process of implementing a Bike to School Program with local organizations and community members donating funds to purchase bikes for students.
Torlakson is a high school coach, an avid runner, and has long been a long-time champion for students' health. His Team California for Healthy Kids initiative promotes healthy eating, drinking plenty of water, being physically active every day in school and at home. Research confirms a clear connection between health, learning, and attendance. Healthy children are more successful in school, miss fewer days, are more attentive and well-behaved, and are more likely to graduate from high school and go to college. Healthy students are more likely to be positively engaged in social, community, and extra-curricular activities.
Tom Torlakson ?
State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5206, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100
Source: http://www.cde.ca.gov/nr/ne/yr12/yr12rel101.asp
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Dad, 4-year-old killed in Calif. shooting; 3 hurt
Inglewood emergency personnel respond to the scene where a man, wearing a mask, set a duplex on fire and then shot five members of a family on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 in Inglewood, Calif. A father and his 4-year-old son were killed and a woman and two other young children were wounded by the gunman, authorities said. A 6-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl were in critical condition, Inglewood Police Chief Mark Fronterotta said. The woman, said to be the children's mother, was being treated for gunshot wounds to the knee and pelvis. An 8-year-old boy was uninjured. (AP Photo/The Daily Breeze, Chuck Bennett) MAGS OUT; NO SALES MBO
Inglewood emergency personnel respond to the scene where a man, wearing a mask, set a duplex on fire and then shot five members of a family on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 in Inglewood, Calif. A father and his 4-year-old son were killed and a woman and two other young children were wounded by the gunman, authorities said. A 6-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl were in critical condition, Inglewood Police Chief Mark Fronterotta said. The woman, said to be the children's mother, was being treated for gunshot wounds to the knee and pelvis. An 8-year-old boy was uninjured. (AP Photo/The Daily Breeze, Chuck Bennett) MAGS OUT; NO SALES MBO
Police officers respond to the scene where a man, wearing a mask, set a duplex on fire and then shot five members of a family on Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012 in Inglewood, Calif. A father and his 4-year-old son were killed and a woman and two other young children were wounded by the gunman, authorities said. A 6-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl were in critical condition, Inglewood Police Chief Mark Fronterotta said. The woman, said to be the children's mother, was being treated for gunshot wounds to the knee and pelvis. An 8-year-old boy was uninjured. (AP Photo/Los Angeles Times, Katie Falkenberg) NO FORNS; NO SALES; MAGS OUT; ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER OUT; LOS ANGELES DAILY NEWS OUT; VENTURA COUNTY STAR OUT; INLAND VALLEY DAILY BULLETIN OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT, TV OUT
INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) ? Police searched for a gunman who wore a painter's mask when he set fire to a home before going on a shooting spree early Saturday, killing a father and his 4-year-old son and injuring a woman and two other young children near Los Angeles.
A SWAT team set up a perimeter and was using dogs to search for the attacker, who may have lived in a rear house on the property, Inglewood Police Chief Mark Fronterotta said.
Five neighboring houses in Inglewood were evacuated as officers searched residences and the trunks of cars. Other nearby residents were told to remain inside with their doors locked. The suspect was described as armed and dangerous.
Investigators were trying to determine whether he fled or remained in the house as it burned.
The man wore a painter's mask apparently to shield his identity, Fronterotta said.
The gunman had known the family for at least eight years, according to Capt. Tom Richards of the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Television footage showed a home gutted by flames and a plume of smoke rising over the residential neighborhood early Saturday.
Detectives determined the suspect set the house ablaze at about 4 a.m. before opening fire with a weapon, Fronterotta said. Earlier the chief said the blaze was started after the gun attack.
The 28-year-old woman, said to be the children's mother, was being treated for gunshot wounds. She was in critical condition, as was a 6-year-old boy with a gunshot wound to the pelvis and a 7-year-old girl with a gunshot wound to the chest, according to a department statement.
After being shot, the mother carried the wounded 4-year-old to a neighbor's yard.
"This extraordinary rescue attempt by the mother occurred in spite of the fact that she had gunshot wounds to both legs," the statement said.
The 30-year-old father was shielding two of his children when he was shot, the chief said. He died in surgery, as did the 4-year-old boy.
An 8-year-old boy was uninjured.
Police have no motive. But a neighbor, Judy Castellanos, told the Los Angeles Times that the suspect lived in one of three units on the property and described him as "really weird" and "dangerous." She said he had not paid his rent for years and that a new property owner had been trying to evict him.
"He had been asked to leave by the end of this month," Castellanos told the newspaper, adding that he was reclusive and would not let anyone look inside his home. Castellanos, who said her daughter is related to the man who was killed, did not give the suspect's name.
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Need Peyton Manning Jersey Web Hosting Suggestions? Your ...
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Thursday, October 18, 2012
Quadski is an Amphibian ATV [Video] [Photo Gallery] | Vehicle Passion
Alan Gibbs has announced the launch of Quadski, which is an Amphibian ATV, and his latest incredible creation.
The Quadski was a prototype few years ago and went through various stages and tests, and now it has been approved to enter production and then go on sale.
Quadski is capable of running in forests as well as into the deep waters and could perform well. The land speed as well as the speed in the waters is 72 km/h (44.7 mph). In other words, the water speed of the vehicle is 38.8 knots.
When you enter into the water, you just need to push a button to retract the wheels, get the life jacket and you are ready to go.
Quadski is said to be available for sale in the US by this year end, while the worldwide sales are expected to start in 2014.
The vehicle will come with a price tag of $40,000 (? 30,970). Not a big amount for fun and adventure lovers!
Source:?Autoevolution
Source: http://www.vehiclepassion.com/2012/10/17/quadski-is-an-amphibian-atv-video-photo-gallery/
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Persecuted Hazaras flee Pakistan; some die trying
QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) ? As he knelt in prayer to mark one of Islam's holiest days, Ali Raza Qurban saw a childhood friend and dozens of others die in a suicide attack on their Shiite mosque. Sunni militants were again targeting minority ethnic Hazaras in this city of narrow streets and wide-open hatreds.
Qurban decided it was time to leave. He found an agent who would hook him up with a smuggler in Indonesia and, for $8,000, get him to Australia.
But he never made it to Australia. He disappeared on Dec. 17, 2011, aboard an overcrowded, rickety wooden boat that capsized within hours of leaving the Indonesian shore.
Four months had passed since the suicide bombing at the mosque in Quetta, where the violence has spawned a vibrant human smuggling business. The smugglers operate out of small, unidentified shops. Selling promises of a safe and better life in Australia, they largely capitalize on the fear and desperation of the Hazara, a largely Shiite community that is facing attacks not only here but in neighboring Afghanistan.
In Quetta, Shiite leaders say many of the attacks against Hazaras are carried out by the Sunni militant group Lashkar-e-Janghvi, which they contend is backed by elements within Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI. Pakistan's Chief Justice Iftikar Chaudhry and a panel of three judges last month ordered authorities to investigate allegations that vehicles illegally imported by the ISI were used in suicide bombings targeting Shiites.
Most of the Afghans who cross into Pakistan with the intention of going on to Australia and elsewhere are thought to be Hazara.
"Every month hundreds of Hazaras leave Afghanistan for another country," said Waliullah Rahmani, executive director of the Kabul-based Center for Strategic Studies, a privately funded think tank. In the last two months more than 20 Hazaras have died in targeted killings blamed on the Taliban, he said.
Hazaras, who were massacred by Afghanistan's ruling Taliban in the late 1990s, fear that the religious militia will return to power after the departure of U.S. and other NATO service members in 2014, according to Rahmani.
"With 2014 getting closer, most of the Hazaras think that the history will repeat again," he said. "So that is why they risk their lives for illegal immigrations to Australia and other places."
Many choose Australia because it already has an established Hazara community.
The trip to Australia usually begins in Pakistan's port city of Karachi, stopping either in Thailand or Malaysia before arriving in Indonesia's East Java province, according to testimony of survivors and local Malaysian authorities.
"Asylum seekers from Pakistan often fly either from Karachi or Lahore to Kuala Lumpur and sometimes enter through Malaysia's northern border with Thailand," said a Malaysian home ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media. He said laws have been tightened in the last two years, sea patrols increased and cooperation has been stepped up with Pakistan and Afghanistan.
"The people-smuggling groups that facilitate them are generally Pakistani, but Malaysians are sometimes hired for logistics to help in transportation," said the official.
Once in Indonesia's East Java, asylum seekers are packed into boats bound for Australia.
The booming business is confounding the governments of Indonesia, which has hunted down and arrested some smuggling kingpins, and Australia, which is being bombarded with more refugees than it is willing to accept. Australia is trying to discourage prospective asylum seekers with new laws and with offers to take more refugees who choose to enter the country legally.
In August, Australia reintroduced offshore processing centers in Nauru and Papua New Guinea. Asylum seekers who are sent there will not be let into the country without going through the same process as those legally seeking protective asylum in Australia.
"The strategy underpins the key message that asylum seekers should think twice before getting on a boat to Australia, because they will be risking their lives at sea for no advantage," according to Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship.
In 2011 four boats sank, killing 109 people. So far this year 23 boats have capsized with 200 people still missing and 2,225 people rescued. Most of the passengers have been Afghans, Pakistanis and Iranians.
Afghans, mostly ethnic Hazaras, make up the largest number of so-called boat people, according to a report by Australia's Department of Immigration and Citizenship. In the first three months of this year, 797 Afghans sought asylum after arriving in Australia aboard dilapidated smugglers' boats. Iranians were a distant second with 132.
For those who seek refugee status entering Australia mostly by air, the odds are long. In the first three months of this year, Australia granted 215 primary protective visas and rejected 1,126, according to the report. The majority applying for those protective visas were from Pakistan and Iran.
And so many turn to smugglers.
In documents acquired by The Associated Press, the Pakistan government was told last year that Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, had become a thriving human smuggling hub. The documents, which originated from Pakistan's Embassy in Jakarta, were based on interviews with the 49 survivors of the boat that capsized Dec. 18.
More than a third of the passengers were ethnic Hazaras, including Ali Qurban, said his father, Saeed Qurban, who had gone to Indonesia's East Java in search of his son.
The elder Qurban, who cradled a framed photograph of Ali throughout an interview with The Associated Press, rifled through a small folder stuffed with newspaper clippings and documents. Several Indonesian newspapers featured front-page photos of Saeed Qurban crying as he searched rows of coffins.
The Pakistan Embassy document, based on interviews with survivors, said there appears to be "a mafia working in Quetta who is using the incidents of target killings and sectarian violence, unleashed against the Shia community particularly the Hazara tribe as a tool to instigate, motivate and persuade the youth to seek asylum in other countries."
"This mafia seems to be deep rooted and has an extensive network in different countries," the document said.
It described interviews with more than 25 Pakistani Shiites languishing in immigration detention centers in Indonesia after failing to reach Australia. The refugees all told of the same terror that drove them to leave Pakistan. None was willing to return to Pakistan, preferring to stay in jail in Indonesia in hopes of getting refugee status, said the document, which was given to the president and prime minister's office.
Yet the trade flourishes.
"Quetta is full of agents. Every day boys are trying to get to Australia," said Fauzia Qurban, Ali's older sister, occasionally burying her face in her hands and weeping as she struggled to tell her brother's story in an interview at her home.
Several agents refused to talk to the AP, and Fauzia Qurban feared for her family's safety if she approached those who helped her brother flee Pakistan.
But she had the name of the kingpin, Said Abbas, who she said orchestrated her brother's journey. Abbas operated out of Indonesia, hiring a phalanx of agents to recruit asylum seekers in Quetta, and is currently serving a 2 ?-year prison sentence in Jakarta for human smuggling.
Abbas, an Afghan national from eastern Ghazni province, was initially arrested in Jakarta in May 2010 but was released on bail. His involvement in the Dec. 17 tragedy was revealed by an Indonesian soldier, Ilmun Abdul Said, who went on trial in East Java for his part in arranging the smuggling expedition in which Ali Qurban died.
The boat that went down was 82 feet (25 meters) long and designed to hold 150 to 160 passengers. There were 249 on board when it sank. Ali Qurban was just 22 years old.
____
Kathy Gannon is AP special regional correspondent for Pakistan and Afghanistan and can be reached at www.twitter.com/kathygannon
___
AP writers Ali Kotarumalos in Indonesia, Sean Yoong in Malaysia and Kristen Gelineau in Australia contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/persecuted-hazaras-flee-pakistan-die-trying-090659084.html
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Auto bailouts on firing line at presidential debate
Paul Sancya / AP file
The Obama administration's bailout of General Motors was one of the hot-button issues dividing President Obama and GOP challenger Mitt Romney during Tuesday night's presidential debate.
By Paul A. Eisenstein, NBCNews contributor
This week?s second presidential debate focused on a wide variety of issues from the economy to foreign policy, and the health of the auto industry was one of the most significant topics touched on by President Barack Obama and his GOP challenger Mitt Romney.
The two couldn?t be further apart on the subject of the 2008?2009 bailout of General Motors and Chrysler. The Democratic president? touted the Treasury-funded rescue of the two automakers, which the Republican challenger has long opposed.
But while he once supported clean energy programs, Romney has also come out against the government-funded, low-interest loan program that has helped fund a number of battery makers, automotive startups and other green firms.?In the first presidential debate in Denver, he referred to several firms by name, dubbing California battery-car startups Tesla Motors and Fisker Automotive ?losers.?
There?s no doubt that the Department of Energy's loan program has picked some clunkers, notably the solar panel maker Solyndra, which received $527 million before going bankrupt. This week, another firm that was helped out by the Energy Department also filed for Chapter 11. But the results may turn out better when it comes to Massachusetts-based A123 Systems.
A producer of lithium-ion batteries, A123 is one of many once-hopeful suppliers stung by a slower-than-anticipated ramp-up in demand for battery-electric vehicles. Its situation was complicated by manufacturing issues and a costly recall earlier this year. But A123?s doors aren?t closing. After rejecting a potential rescue bid from China, it has instead agreed to sell its auto business to mega-automotive supplier JCI.
?We believe the deal makes very good strategic sense,? writes Rod Lache, senior automotive analyst with Deutsche Bank. If anything, under the new ? and well-funded ? parent, he contends, that automotive battery operation could now do even better.?The purchase by well-run JCI ?should likely allay customers? concerns? about whether A123 would be able to survive an ongoing shake-out in the battery market.
Meanwhile, the sale of A123 comes as good news for one of the companies Romney cited by name: Fisker Automotive. The California plug-in hybrid maker is one of A123?s most visible customers and was hurt by the battery-pack recall. But Fisker was facing the possibility it might run out of batteries by next year if A123 had folded.
Nonetheless, the fate of Fisker remains far from certain. Its first product line, the Karma, got off to a slow start that led the Department of Energy to freeze its $529 million loan after the automaker had drawn only $193 million of that cash.
That has complicated plans to develop a second, lower-cost and higher-volume model, the Fisker Atlantic, that will be much more critical to the automaker?s bottom line. Fisker officials have privately complained that they?re caught in the crossfire due to the politicization of the Department of Energy loan program and have been scrambling to replace that money with private funds. They?ve raised about $300 million this year, but new Fisker CEO Tony Posawatz this week told investors the launch of the Atlantic will be delayed to 2014 or even 2015 ? leading some to question the company?s future.
As for Tesla Motors, its outlook is also up in the air, depending upon whom you ask. Founder and CEO Elon Musk ? a PayPal pioneer who also runs private space firm SpaceX ? has acknowledged production of the new mainstream battery-electric vehicle, the Tesla Model S, is way behind schedule and that is putting a serious strain on the company?s finances with few other sources of revenue to tap.
Up to speed
Nonetheless, Musk and others at Tesla insist they will be up to speed and in the black by next year when a second product line, the Model X crossover, debuts.?Tim Draper, a legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur and early investor in the firm, is so confident he recently told Detroit to ?create something different because you?ve lost the electric-car battle.? Asked what they might turn to, he suggested, ?flying cars.?
While the Department of Energy loan program might be controversial, the real point of contention between Obama and Romney concerns the bailouts of GM and Chrysler. Both companies were surviving on lifelines thrown to the automakers by President George W. Bush when Obama took office. Obama eventually approved the rest of what turned into an $84 billion rescue.
Romney called for both carmakers to be cut loose, despite his family ties to Michigan. He continues to insist he opposes the bailout, although the former Massachusetts governor has also taken credit for nudging the Obama administration into pushing GM and Chrysler through managed bankruptcies before approving further cash aid.
Bailout proponents insist the rescue effort saved as many as 1 million jobs. And they have some significant momentum on their side as the auto industry gains credit as one of the leading factors in the revival of the U.S. economy.? Between them, Chrysler and GM have also added tens of thousands of new direct and indirect jobs since their rescues as their sales increase.
Chrysler, the smaller of the two automakers, has shown a 24 percent sales gain this year ? about 10 points ahead of the overall automotive recovery. It's doing so well that Chrysler could be the financial foundation for its Italian partner Fiat SpA, which is struggling during the collapse of the European car market. That?s doubly ironic considering that Obama approved a rescue of Chrysler only after Fiat agreed to take it over.
General Motors' story is a mixed one, though investors have given the maker an increased vote of support despite some serious, ongoing issues.
GM sales are up this year, though not quite keeping up with the overall market revival. But it is the powerhouse in key emerging markets such as China.?Its biggest issue is Europe: GM's?Opel subsidiary will?post its 14th year?of red ink in 2012 with no clear turnaround in sight.
That was a key reason for the sharp downturn in GM stock following its November 2010 IPO. But over the last three months it has staged one of the market?s stronger rallies, rebounding from barely $18 a share to nearly $25 a share. Upcoming third-quarter earnings could determine whether it maintains that momentum.
And the pre-election announcement will likely only add to the sniping between Obama and Romney. The latter has insisted he would have immediately sold the Treasury?s remaining shares over the summer, which would have meant billions of dollars more losses than if the White House walked away today.?
Nonetheless, GM would have to climb all the way to $54 a share for taxpayers to break even on the bailout, so the president seems in no rush to sell those shares despite the ongoing debate.
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Appeals court rules against Defense of Marriage Act
NEW YORK (Reuters) - An appeals court in New York ruled on Thursday that a law defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman is unconstitutional. It was the second federal appeals court to reject the law, which could go before the Supreme Court soon.
The ruling by the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals was in favor of Edith Windsor, an 83-year-old woman who argued that the Defense of Marriage Act discriminates against gay and lesbian couples, violating equal protection provisions of the U.S. Constitution.
The Defense of Marriage Act was passed in 1996. Since then, six states have legalized same-sex marriage but, because of the 1996 law, the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriages performed in those states.
Supporters of same-sex marriage welcomed Thursday's ruling.
"Yet again, a federal court has found that it is completely unfair to treat married same-sex couples as though they're legal strangers," Windsor's lawyer, James Esseks of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement.
Paul Clement, a lawyer for a congressional group that defended the law, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Windsor is a former IBM computer programmer who married Thea Clara Spyer in Toronto, Canada, in 2007. The two had been engaged since 1967.
Spyer died in 2009 of multiple sclerosis, leaving all of her property to Windsor. Because the marriage was not recognized under federal law, Windsor had to pay more than $363,000 in federal estate taxes, according to her lawsuit.
Windsor's attorneys argued that the act violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees equal protection under the law.
A federal court in New York agreed, and the ruling by the 2nd Circuit on Thursday upheld the lower court decision.
Windsor welcomed the ruling. "This law violated the fundamental American principle of fairness that we all cherish," she said in a statement released by the ACLU.
The law is being defended in court by a group appointed by the Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, after the Obama administration said last year it considered the law unconstitutional and would no longer defend it.
The group argued that the law was needed to maintain a uniform definition of marriage, that it served the government's interest of saving money and that it helped encourage procreation.
The 2nd Circuit rejected those arguments.
The 2-1 decision also found that gays and lesbians are entitled to heightened protection from the courts, based on the history of discrimination the group has suffered.
"Homosexuals are not in a position to adequately protect themselves from the discriminatory wishes of the majoritarian public," Judge Dennis Jacobs wrote for the majority.
Judge Chester Straub, who dissented, argued that the federal definition of marriage should be left to the political process.
"If this understanding is to be changed, I believe it is for the American people to do so," he wrote.
The ruling did not address another provision of the law that says that states where same-sex marriage is illegal do not have to recognize same-sex marriages performed in states that permit it.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman praised the ruling as a step towards equality. Schneiderman, who filed a friend-of-the-court brief together with Vermont and Connecticut in support of Windsor, had argued that the law was a sweeping intrusion into the states' right to regulate marriage.
The 2nd Circuit majority agreed, calling the law "an unprecedented breach of longstanding deference to federalism," the principle that allows states to regulate marriage.
Jacobs, the author of the majority opinion, was appointed to the court by former Republican President George H.W. Bush. He is not the first Republican appointee to rule against the Defense of Marriage Act. In May, a federal appeals court in Boston also found the law's central provision unconstitutional, with an opinion written by Republican appointee Judge Michael Boudin.
Federal district courts in California and Connecticut have also ruled against the law. The U.S. Supreme Court often reviews cases where courts strike down federal laws and it may take up the Defense of Marriage Act in coming months.
In its decision on Thursday, the 2nd Circuit acknowledged that its legal analysis avoided the "fair point" that same-sex marriage is unknown to history or tradition.
"But law (federal or state) is not concerned with holy matrimony," Jacobs wrote, in a reference to the principle of separation between the state and religion. "For that, the pair must go next door," he wrote.
The case is Windsor v. USA et al, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 12-2335.
(Reporting by Terry Baynes; Additional reporting by Dan Levine; Editing by Eddie Evans)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/appeals-court-ny-rules-gay-marriage-law-unconstitutional-160159196.html
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