UK film, London theatre takings rise in 2011 (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? Theatre-goers in London and film fans across Britain shrugged off economic worries in 2011 and spent more on movies and plays than in 2010, official figures published on Tuesday showed.

The British Film Institute reported that UK cinema admissions last year rose 1.4 percent to 171.6 million, and box office earnings increased by five percent to 1.04 billion pounds ($1.6 billion).

The top earning movie of 2011 was "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2," the eighth and final installment in the J.K. Rowling wizard series which raised 73.1 million pounds.

In second place was awards darling "The King's Speech" which sold 45.7 million pounds' worth of tickets last year, just ahead of "The Inbetweeners Movie" which earned 45.0 million.

The success of The King's Speech and Inbetweeners helped boost the share of British independent films in the overall box office takings to a record 13.5 percent.

The amount spent on UK-based film production edged higher to a record 1.26 billion pounds in 2011, according to the BFI.

NO STAGE FRIGHT ... YET

On London's stages the picture was similar with total ticket sales rising 3.1 percent to a fresh record of 528 million pounds in 2011. But attendances fell to 13.9 million, down nearly two percent on 2010.

The Society of London Theatre (SOLT), which released the figures, said the drop in audiences was partly due to the closure of several theatres for the installation of major new productions.

"Despite the prevailing rigors of the economic climate, theatre-goers have acted with their feet and wallets and shown just how much they value a trip to one of our world-class shows," said Mark Rubinstein, SOLT president.

"We can confirm buoyant box office advances for 2012, a year in which we look forward to welcoming millions more national and international visitors through our theatre doors."

London hosts the Olympics Games this summer and Queen Elizabeth celebrates 60 years on the throne, leading to predictions of high numbers of visitors from abroad.

However, theatre owner and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber has warned that the Olympics could seriously dent West End earnings and that advanced bookings were well down on normal levels.

"Nobody's going to go to the theatre at all," he said in December.

(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120131/media_nm/us_britain_filmandtheatre

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S&P 500 Week in Review: Netflix Draws Investing Demand, E-Trade ...

By Scott Gillette

January 29 2012 Email This

Scottrade: $7 Online Trades. Real-Time Stock Quotes

Monday

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) was hit hard pre-market by Wedbush?s lack of confidence. Wedbush believes that Q1 earnings will be poor, and 2012 consensus estimates ill drop a buck a share. Piper Jaffray, for what it?s worth, is optimistic about Netflix, as they think the customer base will stabilize and ultimately grow again.

Don?t Miss: Netflix?s Streaming Service Comes Up Short for Movie Buffs.

Halliburton?s?(NYSE:HAL) results came in this morning, and although EPS and revenues beat estimates, the higher expectations of the market were not met. Interesting tidbit: unconventional oil drilling has twice as much activity as unconventional gas drilling.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN): The entire pharmaceutical sector is being downgraded, and Amgen is no exception. Its stock has been downgraded to underweight by JP Morgan.

Earnings Report: PetMed Express Inc. Earnings: Shrinking Margins for Fifth Consecutive Quarter, Net Income Falls.

Sears Holdings Corporation (NASDAQ:SHLD): The performance of this stock has been remarkable: up 69% year to date, the stock jumped by 8% before coming down close to where it started at the beginning of trading. Some believe Sears is now in a classic short squeeze.

Southwestern Energy Co. (NYSE:SWN) popped along with other natural gas producers because the spike of prices and Chesapeake?s planned cuts in production.

Chesapeake Energy Corporation (NYSE:CHK): After sinking overnight to $2.20, natural gas futures jumped 6.4% in a matter of minutes. Apparently there were too many short-sellers in the natural gas market, and the market has taken care of them for the time being.

Tuesday

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Source: http://wallstcheatsheet.com/stocks/sp-500-week-in-review-netflix-draws-investing-demand-e-trade-under-pressure.html/

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Egyptians vote for upper house of parliament

CAIRO (AP) ? Turnout was low as Egyptians voted on Sunday for the upper house of parliament, in elections that are the latest step in the country's planned transition from military to civilian rule.

Few voters showed up to cast their ballots at polling stations in Cairo, one of 13 provinces where the first stage of elections for the largely advisory Shura Council are taking place. A second stage will take place on Feb. 14-15.

"We now feel we have a role in shaping the country's future," said Mohammed el-Hawari, a professor at Cairo's Ain Shams University and one of those who did vote.

The Shura Council is composed of 270 members. Only two-thirds are elected while the rest are appointed.

Islamists dominated elections for the People's Assembly, the more powerful of the two houses of parliament, in voting that ran from Nov. 28 through January. Turnout was heavy in these elections, which were the first since the Jan. 25-Feb. 11, 2011, mass uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak.

One secular party, the Free Egyptians, had announced that it was boycotting Shura Council elections to protest what it described as violations of Egypt's election laws by Islamist parties during the People's Assembly vote.

The secularists say that that Islamists made heavy use of religious slogans and campaigned too close to polling stations. Islamist spokesmen have denied using slogans inappropriately, and said that all groups campaigned too close to the stations.

Secular and liberal alliances, including youth parties which led the anti-Mubarak uprising, have performed poorly in elections.

Once the Shura Council elections are complete, according to Egypt's transition plan, the parliament is tasked to select a 100-member panel to draft the country's new constitution. The ruling military council which took power after Mubarak's ouster is then scheduled to transfer power to an elected civilian president by the end of June.

The army generals have been accused of mismanaging the transitional period, of not carrying through sweeping reforms, and of keeping Mubarak's regime intact.

The voting comes a few days after hundreds of thousands of Egyptians poured into the streets to mark the first anniversary of their uprising and to press the military council to step down.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-29-ML-Egypt/id-6dfff623d84746cc9ed15eef20fe135b

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How Google's New Privacy Policy Could Affect You

Image: Google

You?re on the way to a meeting. Traffic seems to be slowing. A text comes in: ?You?re going to be late. Take the next exit for alternate route.? It?s from Google.

This is not Google?s version of?Siri. It?s a result of the company?s push to use data it collects from you in novel ways that could be helpful, or unsettling.

"That?s not something I want my computer telling me. It?s creepy,? said Kurt Opsahl, senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit digital rights advocacy organization located in San Francisco.

?Google has always collected information. That hasn?t changed,? Opsahl said. ?But information that was once siloed will now be co-mingled.?

Google?s new policy replaces more than 60 existing product-specific privacy documents, for services including?Gmail , YouTube and Google Docs. Google says the unified terms will provide better search results and serve up ads that are more likely to be of interest. By combining your history across products, it will have more data to work with.

Connecting the dots

Further, Google will merge data from the products you use and then analyze it to make new assumptions. That example of getting a text when you are running late is from a Jan. 26 email that Google itself sent to users. If you have an?Android phone, Google already knows your location. If you keep appointments in Google Calendar, it also knows where you are trying to go. By cross-referencing that data with its traffic information service, Google can send you that alert.

Opsahl also pointed out that there are many people who have more than one Google account, such as one they use for business and one for personal communication. If data from different accounts are pooled into one Google repository with your name on it, that could cause problems.

?If Google received a warrant to disclose documents, and your business and personal docs are intermingled ? that?s a problem,? he said. ?Some would like to say, ?No, thank you? and keep their accounts separate.?

?Google should make it easy for people to set up and manage separate accounts if they wish to do so,? Opsahl said.

Trouble ahead

While the new policy doesn?t eliminate users' ability to set up different accounts under different names, Google intends to use data such as search history, whom you contact most frequently and your location to serve you better without regard for the partitions you may have created. ?In short, we?ll treat you as a single user across all our products,? Google said.

The policy change could create problems for those who go by different names. Google?s new text reads:

"We may use the name you provide for your Google Profile across all of the services we offer that require a Google Account. In addition, we may replace past names associated with your Google Account so that you are represented consistently across all our services."

Google+ ?requires real names while YouTube does not. Starting March 1, your real name could appear across Google products. If you?re hardworking accountant Jim by day and posting your Glee-inspired musical renditions on YouTube by night, you might have some explaining to do.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=e0e6db08a1ee2e9938f6d5b76dc5ec64

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Mujjo Conductive Gloves Let You Slide To Unlock With Your Begloved Knuckle

We get a lot of PR pitches ("Write about our social media network for fish lovers! If you don't, we'll take our exclusive to TetraLover.blogspot.com," "We'll give you a private jet if you write good things about Apple - Sincerely, Tim Cook," "Take a look at these iPhone gloves!") and there are few I've dreaded more than writing about the aforementioned iPhone gloves mostly because the founders kept emailing me about these damned gloves. These things come from a Dutch company called Mujjo and they purport to allow you to interact with your iPhone with any part of your hand, including your wrist, knuckle, and palm. The founders must have used them to punch out emails on the icy Hague metro every day of the past month because they were pretty darn persistent. The question when dealing with these sorts of pitches, really, is two-fold: a) does the product advertised work? and b) will I write about the product after being literally hounded for three weeks by these guys? In answer to both, I would respond with a resounding (literally) "Yes." They work and yeah, what the heck, Mujjo, people like gloves, right? Also a post will get Mujjo to stop emailing me.

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

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Merle Haggard returns to Calif. home to recuperate (AP)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. ? Country music legend Merle Haggard has returned home to northern California to recuperate from multiple illnesses.

Haggard had been hospitalized in Macon, Ga., for about a week with double pneumonia. While there, doctors discovered three stomach ulcers and eight polyps in his colon.

At one point, the 74-year-old checked himself out of the hospital to return to Redding, Calif., by tour bus. But he returned a few hours later after deciding the trip would be too taxing.

The "Okie from Muskogee" singer was diagnosed with lung cancer a few years ago, but recovered after part of his lung was removed.

It's unclear how Haggard's recent health issues will affect his touring schedule. His website shows him playing next on Feb. 28 in Tucson, Ariz.

___

Online:

http://www.merlehaggard.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_en_mu/us_people_merle_haggard

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Obama???s Education Pledges: Worthy Concepts, Sticky Implementation (ContributorNetwork)

President Obama spoke forcefully on education in his State of the Union last night. I just hope he means what he said and has the political support to follow through. These are the four points that provoked an immediate reaction:

* Promising to give schools the flexibility to teach with creativity and passion instead of teaching to the test is something parents and teachers have long wanted to hear. But how many educators are willing to admit they've been teaching to the test? How are schools going to get them to stop as long as the tests continue to proliferate and as long as merit pay proposals are tied to student performance?

* Having seen too many political manipulations involving threatened teacher layoffs, I have doubts about the President's commitment to give schools the resources to keep teachers on the job and reward the best. When every county employee was subject to furloughs in Montgomery County, Md., teachers demanded a free pass. When Baltimore was cutting back teacher jobs for supposed lack of funds, the city came up with a salary in excess of $200,000 for a new deputy superintendent. Instead of pouring more resources into schools when we already lead the nations in educational spending, we should stop doling out funds and instead work to ensure the money devoted to education is spent wisely.

* Changing the laws so that all students are required to stay in school until they graduate or turn 18 is an initiative long overdue. The social and economic costs of dropping out affect not only the dropouts themselves, but society at large. Those costs include 5 percent higher unemployment than the general population, higher rates of imprisonment, and an estimated $26 billion in lost tax revenues, according to a study discussed on Incipit Vita Nova.

* Demanding that colleges keep costs down and refusing to endlessly increase the monies spent on higher education is also a long overdue plan, but likely a hollow one. Profiteers in higher education have overtaken the traditional colleges. For-profit schools graduated an average of 22 percent of their enrollees in 2008-2009, while laying claim to some $24 billion in federal education funds. Congress has not found the strength to shut down this shameful industry and it's not likely to do so in the future thanks to the entrenched education lobby. President Obama's own words- "Higher education can't be a luxury -- it is an economic imperative that every family in America should be able to afford"- will be turned against him sooner than he realizes as parties accustomed to raking in big money extend their hands even further.

Carol Bengle Gilbert worked as an education attorney and navigates the public school system with three children of her own.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120126/us_ac/10883951_obamas_education_pledges_worthy_concepts_sticky_implementation

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How to play it: The anti-contrarian on Apple's high (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Apple's first quarter in the post-Steve Jobs era was a success.

Apple reported that it sold more than 37 million iPhones and some 15.5 million iPads during its last quarter after the market closed Tuesday. Its shares jumped more than 6 percent and hit an all-time high Wednesday, leapfrogging Apple past Exxon Mobil to once again become the most valuable company in the world.

In what seems to be a quarterly routine, analysts scrambled to raise their target prices for the company following its earnings announcement. Among the highest target: $670, 50 percent above its Tuesday close.

A stock as popular with investors as Apple typically has contrarians pointing to signs of trouble. But there are several reasons why simple contrarianism might not pan out this time.

GO TO THE SOURCE

The best way to play Apple's earnings? Buy Apple.

Despite gaining more than 25 percent over the last year, Apple still looks like a value stock to many investors.

"The stock is cheaper now than the day I bought it," said Stephen Coleman, head of St. Louis-based Daedalus Capital. Coleman began buying Apple at $11.20 in February 2004, he said. Since then, he's notched a 3,888 percent gain.

Apple is trading at a price to earnings ratio of 12. The broad Standard & Poor's 500 index, meanwhile, trades a P/E multiple of about 13. By comparison, Amazon.com, Apple's most direct competitor in the tablet market, trades at a P/E of 98.

The company is trading at a discount according to other metrics as well. Based on its growth rate, the company's intrinsic value is $533.40 per share, a nearly 20 percent jump from its current share price of $446.66, according to Starmine. Its gross margins increased 4.4 percent from the prior quarter, according to Michael Holt, an analyst at Morningstar.

Why aren't Apple shares trading higher? The market appears to be discounting Apple's ability to maintain its earnings growth now that it has a dominant position in the smartphone and tablet markets, analysts said. The company's forward price to earnings ratio is now just 11.1 times future earnings, according to Starmine.

High forward P/Es typically imply that investors expect earnings growth to accelerate. In 2003, for instance, the company traded at a forward P/E ratio of 80 after introducing the iPod some two years earlier, according to Starmine.

Apple also has nearly $100 billion in cash on its balance sheet. Possible options for that staggering sum is something that the company is "actively discussing," said Peter Oppenheimer, Apple's CFO, on its earnings call.

The company's cash pile equates to $103 per share, noted T. Michael Walkley, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity. "With Apple expected to cross $100 billion in cash during the March quarter, we believe this milestone might push Apple to announce a dividend," he wrote in a note to clients.

Investors may be reluctant to buy any stock hitting an all-time high.

"The $430 region was formerly resistance on Apple, but with the huge gap up after earnings on Wednesday, that level now becomes very strong support," said Gareth Feighery, a founder of options education firm MarketTamer.com in Philadelphia.

Feighery suggests a strategy that sees limited downside and risk for Apple shares with a so-called February $430-$420 bull put spread - buying the lower strike put and selling the higher strike put. This trade essentially allows an investor to profit from the spread as long as shares don't fall below $430.

The spread involves the sale of the $430 strike put to finance the purchase of the $420 strike put to collect a premium of $1.39. The strategy offers a risk return of 16.1 percent based on the shares trading at $448.

The danger is if shares fall below $430, and if assigned, the investor would be obligated to buy the stock at $430. The purpose of the $420 put purchase is to limit risk if the shares

were to drop precipitously and offers protection, Feighery said.

Equity put options convey the right to sell shares at a preset price any time up until expiration and are often used by investors to insure their long stock positions against a potential decline in shares.

LOOK OVERSEAS

With its roles as both manufacturer and, increasingly, consumer of iPhones, China is a key part of Apple's strategy.

Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, told analysts that China "is an extremely important market for us and we continue to look at how to grow it further."

Investors can benefit from Apple's growth in China.

China Unicom is currently the only one of China's three mobile service companies to offer an iPhone with a service contract. China Unicom will likely continue to grow earnings as the country's consumers upgrade their services.

"We believe China Unicom should benefit the most from the 3G migration in China," Edward Fung, head of research at Kim Eng, wrote in a January 20 note to clients.

Tsz Wang, an analyst at DBS Group Research, rates the company a buy because of its strength in the broad smartphone market. "We stress that entry-level smartphones is the key growth driver as it makes smart devices affordable to lower-spending users," Wang wrote in a January 20 note to clients.

U.S. investors may want to look at funds with relatively large positions in China Unicom, rather than attempt to buy shares directly. The Prudential Financial Great China fund, for instance, invests 5.6 percent of its assets in China Unicom, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The iShares FTSE China 25 Index Fund (FXI) and Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index (VWO) also have large positions in the company.

Investors should be cautious before buying companies like Nokia and Samsung that currently have a larger share of China's mobile market than Apple, said Neil Mawston, an analyst at Strategy Analysts.

"Nokia without question should be worried," he said. "Apple has crushed many players in this market and they are now attacking Nokia in the developing region."

Investors may instead want to buy low-priced companies that manufacture components that go into Apple's products, Mawston said. Intel, for instance, trades at a P/E of 11 and offers a dividend of 3.1 percent.

(Reporting By David Randall, additional reporting by Doris Frankel; Editing by Walden Siew, Phil Berlowitz)

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

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Amazon Web Services Debuts Storage Gateway To Securely Upload Enterprise Data To The Cloud

After launching distributed database DynamoDB last week, Amazon Web Services is debuting another product?AWS Storage Gateway, which is a service that provides enterprises with a new option to securely upload and backup data to the AWS cloud from on-premises software appliances. Basically, the Gateway connect san on-premises software appliance with Amazon's cloud-based storage for a more secure integration between on-premises IT environments and AWS storage infrastructure. Via the Gateway, data is uploaded to AWS, where it is encrypted and stored in the Amazon's Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). The Gateway provides a solution fir enterprises looking for effective backup and rapid disaster recovery between on-premise applications and the cloud.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/nfHcFxq9XV4/

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Restored wetlands rarely equal condition of original wetlands

ScienceDaily (Jan. 24, 2012) ? Wetland restoration is a billion-dollar-a-year industry in the United States that aims to create ecosystems similar to those that disappeared over the past century. But a new analysis of restoration projects shows that restored wetlands seldom reach the quality of a natural wetland.

"Once you degrade a wetland, it doesn't recover its normal assemblage of plants or its rich stores of organic soil carbon, which both affect natural cycles of water and nutrients, for many years," said David Moreno-Mateos, a University of California, Berkeley, postdoctoral fellow. "Even after 100 years, the restored wetland is still different from what was there before, and it may never recover."

Moreno-Mateos's analysis calls into question a common mitigation strategy exploited by land developers: create a new wetland to replace a wetland that will be destroyed and the land put to other uses. At a time of accelerated climate change caused by increased carbon entering the atmosphere, carbon storage in wetlands is increasingly important, he said.

"Wetlands accumulate a lot of carbon, so when you dry up a wetland for agricultural use or to build houses, you are just pouring this carbon into the atmosphere," he said. "If we keep degrading or destroying wetlands, for example through the use of mitigation banks, it is going to take centuries to recover the carbon we are losing."

The study showed that wetlands tend to recover most slowly if they are in cold regions, if they are small -- less than 100 contiguous hectares, or 250 acres, in area -- or if they are disconnected from the ebb and flood of tides or river flows.

"These context dependencies aren't necessarily surprising, but this paper quantifies them in ways that could guide decisions about restoration, or about whether to damage wetlands in the first place," said coauthor Mary Power, UC Berkeley professor of integrative biology.

Moreno-Mateos, Power and their colleagues will publish their analysis in the Jan. 24 issue of PLoS (Public Library of Science) Biology.

Wetlands provide many societal benefits, Moreno-Mateos noted, such as biodiversity conservation, fish production, water purification, erosion control and carbon storage.

He found, however, that restored wetlands contained about 23 percent less carbon than untouched wetlands, while the variety of native plants was 26 percent lower, on average, after 50 to 100 years of restoration. While restored wetlands may look superficially similar -- and the animal and insect populations may be similar, too -- the plants take much longer to return to normal and establish the carbon resources in the soil that make for a healthy ecosystem.

Moreno-Mateos noted that numerous studies have shown that specific wetlands recover slowly, but his meta-analysis "might be a proof that this is happening in most wetlands."

"To prevent this, preserve the wetland, don't degrade the wetland," he said.

Moreno-Mateos, who obtained his Ph.D. while studying wetland restoration in Spain, conducted a meta-analysis of 124 wetland studies monitoring work at 621 wetlands around the world and comparing them with natural wetlands. Nearly 80 percent were in the United States and some were restored more than 100 years ago, reflecting of a long-standing American interest in restoration and a common belief that it's possible to essentially recreate destroyed wetlands. Half of all wetlands in North America, Europe, China and Australia were lost during the 20th century, he said. S

Though Moreno-Mateos found that, on average, restored wetlands are 25 percent less productive than natural wetlands, there was much variation. For example, wetlands in boreal and cold temperate forests tend to recover more slowly than do warm wetlands. One review of wetland restoration projects in New York state, for example, found that "after 55 years, barely 50 percent of the organic matter had accumulated on average in all these wetlands" compared to what was there before, he said.

"Current thinking holds that many ecosystems just reach an alternative state that is different, and you never will recover the original," he said.

In future studies, he will explore whether the slower carbon accumulation is due to a slow recovery of the native plant community or invasion by non-native plants.

Coauthors with Moreno-Mateos and Power are Francisco A. Comin of the Department of Conservation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Restoration at the Pyrenean Institute of Ecology in Zaragoza, Spain; and Roxana Yockteng of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France. Moreno-Mateos recently accepted a position as the restoration fellow at Stanford University's Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve.

The work was supported by the Spanish Ministry for Innovation and Science, the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology and the National Center for Earth Surface Dynamics of the U.S. National Science Foundation Science and Technology Center.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California - Berkeley.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. David Moreno-Mateos, Mary E. Power, Francisco A. Com?n, Roxana Yockteng. Structural and Functional Loss in Restored Wetland Ecosystems. PLoS Biology, 2012; 10 (1): e1001247 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001247

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120124184157.htm

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Eurozone, bondholders clash on Greek interest rate (AP)

BRUSSELS ? Eurozone finance ministers set the stage for further tough negotiations with private bondholders over how to cut Greece's massive debt pile, by setting a low limit on the interest rate the country will have to pay on new lower-valued bonds.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg who also chairs the meetings of eurozone finance ministers, said early Tuesday that the interest rate on the new bonds will have to average "clearly below 4 percent" over the lifetime of the bonds. In the period before 2020, the average interest rate will be less than 3.5 percent, he added.

Those caps are far below interest rates demanded by Greece's private creditors, who already have to give up on 50 percent of the face value of their investments and are expected to give the country between 20 or 30 years to repay them.

Time is running out for Greece to reduce its debt by some euro100 billion ($129 billion) and avoid missing a vital bond repayment deadline in March. Talks between the country and the creditors to secure a deal hit an impasse over the weekend.

By setting the low caps, the ministers made clear that they are not willing to increase their rescue loans to Athens beyond the euro130 billion tentatively agreed in October.

The tough negotiation stance will test the willingness of private creditors to voluntarily agree to the Greek debt relief. The alternative would be for the eurozone to force losses on the private bondholders ? a move that they have been reluctant to make.

A spokesman for in Institute of International Finance, which represents the private creditors, declined to comment on the announcement.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_financial_crisis

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Actor James Farentino dies of heart failure at 73 (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? A family spokesman says actor James Farentino, who appeared in dozens of movies and television shows, has died in a Los Angeles hospital. He was 73.

Family spokesman Bob Palmer says Farentino died of heart failure after a long illness at Cedars-Sinai Hospital on Tuesday.

Farentino starred alongside Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen in a 1980 science fiction film "The Final Countdown."

Farentino also starred opposite Patty Duke in 1969's "Me, Natalie."

He also had recurring roles on "Dynasty," "Melrose Place," "The Bold Ones: The Lawyers" and "ER," playing the estranged father to George Clooney's character.

A four-time divorcee, Farentino's tumultuous personal life made headlines, too.

In March 1994 he pleaded no contest to stalking his ex-girlfriend Tina Sinatra, daughter of Frank Sinatra.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_en_ce/us_obit_farentino

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Seal, Heidi Klum announce separation (AP)

NEW YORK ? Seal and Heidi Klum have announced that their storybook marriage is coming to the end of the runway.

In a statement Sunday night, the power couple announced their separation after rumors swirled over the weekend that a divorce was imminent.

"While we have enjoyed seven very loving, loyal and happy years of marriage, after much soul searching we have decided to separate," the joint statement read. "We have had the deepest respect for one another throughout our relationship and continue to love each other very much, but we have grown apart. This is an amicable process and protecting the well-being of our children remains our top priority, especially during this time of transition. We thank our family, friends, and fans for their kind words of support. And for our children's sake, we appreciate you respecting our privacy."

The couple married in 2005 and has four children together, including the supermodel's daughter from a previous relationship.

They were one of Hollywood's most high-profile couples, and seemed to have the relationship everyone should envy. They two starred together in the music video "Secret," they renewed their wedding vows each anniversary, boasted of their love in the media, and threw Halloween bashes together where they dressed in outrageous outfits, most recently last year in New York City, where the two engaged in their typical public display of affection for the cameras.

In an interview with The Associated Press in 2007, the "Kiss from A Rose" singer described his wife, who has a tattoo of his name on her arm, as his best friend.

"It is really important that we have that understanding because apart from anything else it is really healthy," he said of the "Project Runway" host. "People often talk about the most important thing in a relationship. They say it is really important that you are turned on by your partner and you love each other, which is all really true.I often think that the most important thing or certainly up there with love is respect."

TMZ first reported on Saturday that the two planned to divorce this week.

His announcement comes as he releases his new album, "Soul 2," on Tuesday, which has songs like "Love T.K.O," "Let's Stay Together" and "Love Don't Live Here Anymore."

___

AP Entertainment Writer Alicia Quarles contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_en_ot/us_people_seal_heidi_klum

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Obama administration nominees to top federal posts awaiting next move by Senate Republicans (Star Tribune)

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A Chance to Win an 'Abduction' Blu-ray (omg!)

Taylor Lautner's action-packed Abduction is out now on Blu-ray, and ET is giving away copies! Read on for your chance to win?

CLICK HERE TO ENTER for a chance to win the Abduction Blu-ray giveaway.

In Abduction, Taylor plays a high school senior who catches a picture of himself on a missing-persons website. Then, after his parents are killed by assassins, he sets out to learn his true identity -- by any means necessary. Directed by John Singleton, the film co-stars Lily Collins, Maria Bello, Alfred Molina, Jason Isaacs and Sigourney Weaver.

CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICIAL RULES of the Abduction Blu-ray giveaway.

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Open to US residents 18 and older. Entries must be received by January 22 at 11:59pm PDT to be eligible.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_chance_win_abduction_blu_ray230000588/44249251/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/chance-win-abduction-blu-ray-230000588.html

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Advantages of living in the dark: Multiple evolution events of 'blind' cavefish

ScienceDaily (Jan. 22, 2012) ? The blind Mexican cavefish (Astyanax mexicanus) have not only lost their sight but have adapted to perpetual darkness by also losing their pigment (albinism) and having altered sleep patterns. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journal BMC Evolutionary Biology shows that the cavefish are an example of convergent evolution, with several populations repeatedly, and independently, losing their sight and pigmentation.

The blind cavefish and the surface dwelling Mexican tetra, despite appearances, are the same species and can interbreed. The cavefish are simply a variant of the Mexican tetra, albeit one adapted to living in complete darkness. A team of researchers from Portugal, America, and Mexico studied the DNA from 11 populations of cavefish (from three geographic regions) and 10 populations of their surface dwelling cousins to help understand the evolutionary origin of the physical differences between them.

While results from the genotyping showed that the surface populations were genetically very similar, the story for the cave populations was very different. The cave forms had a much lower genetic diversity, probably as a result of limited space and food. Not surprisingly the cave populations with the most influx from the surface had the highest diversity. In fact there seemed to be a great deal of migration in both directions.

It has been thought that historically at least two groups of fish lived in the rivers of Sierra de El Abra, Mexico. One group originally colonized the caves, but became extinct on the surface. A different population then restocked the rivers and also invaded the caves.

Prof Richard Borowsky, from the Cave Biology Group at New York University explained, "We were fortunate in being able to use A. mexicanus as a kind of 'natural' experiment where nature has already provided the crosses and isolation events between populations for us. Our genotyping results have provided evidence that the cave variant had at least five separate evolutionary origins from these two ancestral stocks."

Dr Martina Bradic who lead the research continued, "Despite interbreeding and gene flow from the surface populations the eyeless 'cave phenotype' has been maintained in the caves. This indicates that there must be strong selection pressure against eyes in the cave environment. Whatever the advantage of the eyeless condition, it may explain why different populations of A. mexicanus cave fish have independently evolved the same eyeless condition, a striking example of convergent evolution."

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Journal Reference:

1. Martina Bradic, Peter Beerli, Francisco Garc?a-de Le?n, Sarai Esquivel-Bobadilla and Richard Borowsky. Gene flow and population structure in the Mexican blind cavefish complex (Astyanax mexicanus). BMC Evolutionary Biology, January 2012 [link]

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/AaMz7lg4rZk/120122201209.htm

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Roe v. Wade Turns 39 (TIME)

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The Most Exuberant 404 Error Ever [Humor]

You will never be happier to get a 404 error than if you land on this one from a Russian construction company whose web engineers clearly have a sense of humor. The stick figure dancing is delightful, and the dude bobbing his head along is the icing on the cake. Add it to your best 404 pages list. And you can turn the music off, but you shouldn't because it gets even better towards the end of the song. Dosvedanya everybody! More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/94IZXAUI5PM/the-most-exuberant-404-error-ever

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Kodak seeks shelter in?bankruptcy court

Eastman Kodak Co, which invented the handheld camera and helped bring the world the first pictures from the moon, has filed for bankruptcy protection, capping a prolonged plunge for what remains one of America's best-known companies.

The 130-year-old photographic film pioneer, which had tried to restructure to become a seller of consumer products like cameras, said it had also obtained a $950 million, 18-month credit facility from Citigroup to keep it going.

"The board of directors and the entire senior management team unanimously believe that this is a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak," Chairman and Chief Executive Antonio M. Perez said in a statement.

Kodak said that it and its U.S. subsidiaries had filed for Chapter 11 business reorganization in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Non-U.S. subsidiaries were not covered by the filing, it added.

Kodak once dominated its industry and its film was the subject of a popular Paul Simon song, but it failed to quickly embrace more modern technologies such as the digital camera -- ironically, a product it even invented.

Its downfall has already hit its Rust Belt hometown of Rochester, N.Y., with employment there falling to about 7,000 from more than 60,000 in Kodak's halcyon days.

In recent years, Perez has steered Kodak's focus more toward consumer and commercial printers.

But that failed to restore annual profitability, something Kodak has not seen since 2007, or arrest a cash drain that has made it difficult for Kodak to meet its substantial pension and other benefits obligations to its workers and retirees.

Perez said bankruptcy protection would enable Kodak to continue to work to maximize the value of its technology assets, such as digital-imaging patents it licenses for use in mobile and other devices and its printing technology.

Kodak said it was being advised by investment bank Lazard Ltd, which has been helping Kodak look for a buyer for its 1,100 digital patents.

Other advisers included business-turnaround specialist FTI Consulting Inc, whose vice chairman, Dominic DiNapoli, would serve as chief restructuring officer for Kodak, supporting existing management.

Kodak stock, which traded over $5 a year ago, closed Wednesday at 55 cents a share on the New York Stock Exchange, where it had been in danger of being delisted.

Kodak struggles to reinvent itself in digital age

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46051104/ns/business-us_business/

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Catholics in Poland parade a ?holy finger?

?It?s a finger from his right hand from which he often gave a blessing to St. Faustina.?

Roman Catholics in Poland is ready to take a "holy finger" out for a stroll.

The Most Rev. Edward Ozorowski, Archbishop of Bialystok, Poland, brought a relic of Blessed Michael Sopocko, who was St. Faustina?s confessor and spiritual director.

The principal celebrant at the Solemn Liturgy on Divine Mercy Sunday came bearing a special gift for the Marians of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

?It?s a finger from his right hand from which he often gave a blessing to St. Faustina,? explained Br. Andrew R. Maczynski, MIC, general promoter of the Association of Marian Helpers.

The relic, which came encased in a golden monstrance, is about 5 centimeters long. It will be placed in the National Shrine, which is administered by the Marians.

Bishop Ozorowski, in whose archdiocese Blessed Michael Sopocko was beatified Sept. 28, 2008, presented the gift during Holy Mass on Sunday.

?We express our sincere gratitude to His Excellency for making it possible that a relic of St. Faustina?s spiritual director will find its place here in the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy,? said Br. Chris Alar, MIC, during the presentation.

Source: Roman Catholic blogger

This is another detail worth mentioning. It is recorded by another Catholic news site

?The relic will join another relic in the Shrine ? the ?basal phalanx? of a great toe of St. Faustina, to be exact. A larger piece of her relic remains in a reliquary within the Shrine.

Source: padrimariani.org

My comment:

The skull and bone files on News That Matters will now include some hot stuff from Poland.

?Matthew 23:27
?Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean.

You have to be completely disconnected to dress up in parade uniform, and start to carry a bone on your shoulders.

?Blessed? Michael Sopocko might have put his finger into a lot during his lifetime. That one of his fingers has been cut of from his skeleton is yet another example of the how the bone collectors of Rome has looted corpses.

It is not so strange that Catholics wants to adore more than just a cut off finger. Inside the Shrine it will be entertained by a piece of a ?holy toe?

Was this toe just axed off, or did the priest take a big bite?

Written by Ivar

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Morgan Stanley's loss is narrower than expected

FILE - In this Jan. 18, 2011 file photo, a Morgan Stanley billboard is displayed in Times Square, New York. Morgan Stanley lost $275 million in the fourth quarter Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, a sharp contrast to its gain of $600 million a year ago. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

FILE - In this Jan. 18, 2011 file photo, a Morgan Stanley billboard is displayed in Times Square, New York. Morgan Stanley lost $275 million in the fourth quarter Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, a sharp contrast to its gain of $600 million a year ago. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Morgan Stanley posted a fourth-quarter loss of $275 million Thursday, its first since early 2009, dragged down by the cost of a settlement over soured mortgage securities.

But the loss was far smaller than investors were expecting, and the company's stock was up 5 percent in the early afternoon. Morgan Stanley's loss was equivalent to 15 cents per share, versus the 43 cents analysts were predicting, according to FactSet.

The loss stemmed from Morgan Stanley's settlement last month with insurance company MBIA, an agreement that slashed earnings by 59 cents per share. MBIA had accused Morgan Stanley of being misleading about the quality of commercial mortgage-backed securities for which it bought insurance.

Morgan Stanley and other banks accused the insurer of restructuring itself to avoid paying the banks' claims. While the settlement took a deep hit on quarterly results, Morgan Stanley portrayed it as one of its final steps in cleaning up problems dating from the financial crisis.

"For the first time in two years, our to-do list is not our problem list," CEO James Gorman said in a call with analysts.

Glenn Schorr, an analyst at Nomura Equity Research, said that Morgan Stanley's earnings were better than expected, excluding the MBIA-related loss, and its stock trading fell less than at other banks. Overall, Schorr said, Morgan Stanley is "making progress cleaning up legacy issues" but "is still a work in progress."

Like its peers, Morgan Stanley has been trimming expenses and cutting jobs as the economy continues to struggle. It shed about 700 employees last year, or about 1 percent of its workforce, bringing its total down to about 61,900 at year's end, and more jobs cuts are on the way.

The bank says it is examining expenses rigorously, cutting back on travel and looking at all costs, from Bloomberg terminals to consultants. It's also considering restructuring plans that could include outsourcing some technology functions or consolidating legal units.

Even so, the average compensation Morgan Stanley paid for the year was $265,000, up from about $255,000 the year before. The bank said this was related to its transition to defer bigger portions of some workers' bonuses.

The bank has also capped the amount that workers can get in their bonus immediately: Anything over $125,000 will be deferred.

Morgan Stanley's main rival, Goldman Sachs, made even deeper cuts, slashing its work force 7 percent and its compensation 21 percent. That pushed Goldman's stock up 7 percent on Wednesday, even though it also announced a 30 percent drop in quarterly revenue.

Morgan Stanley is also figuring out how to redefine itself as new government regulations crimp former sources of revenue, including certain complicated investment vehicles. New rules will also require banks to hold more capital.

Revenue fell 26 percent from a year ago to $5.7 billion. The institutional securities unit, which helps clients with investment banking services like packaging securities and raising capital, reported a 42 percent decline in revenue.

Though investment banking is always volatile, the risks are more pronounced at Morgan Stanley. Unlike some of its rivals, like JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp., Morgan Stanley doesn't have a large consumer deposit base to rely on when its investment bank stumbles. Some customers, the bank said, held off on deal-making over the year because of turbulence in financial markets brought on by Europe's debt crisis.

Porat said on the conference call that uncertainty about Europe was a "big cloud" over earnings growth. However, Gorman added that he didn't buy into the "hysteria" around concerns over European countries' debt obligations.

"Europe is more likely than not to resolve itself," Gorman said, though he added it would require "a couple of years, not a couple of weeks."

Gorman, who became CEO two years ago, has been slimming down the bank, selling off units like a mortgage servicing division and an asset management business. He's been emphasizing divisions like wealth management, which provide smaller returns than some investment banking operations used to but also carry a lot less risk because they're based on fees rather than markets.

Despite those efforts, Morgan Stanley's wealth management unit struggled in the quarter. Revenue fell 3 percent and profit fell 20 percent for the unit, which offers financial planning for wealthy individuals and small to medium-sized businesses. Asset management, which manages investment portfolios, also reported lower revenue and profits, thanks in part to souring investments in real estate.

Morgan Stanley's stock jumped 5 percent in the early afternoon to $18.27.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-19-US-Earns-Morgan-Stanley/id-6e574fcaaa944fbcb88e8b93f864b6a3

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Daily Deal: Incipio Hive Honeycomb dermaSHOT Silicone Case for iPad 2 only $22.95

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/dazoejsS6VA/story01.htm

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No, You Do Not Need a Set of Wi-Fi Cufflinks [Wi-Fi]

I've seen novelty cufflinks with all kinds of absurd functionality before, but for the life of me I can't figure out who would ever actually need the ability to create a wireless hotspot while wearing a fancy suit or tuxedo. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/KXTPBxC7i8Q/no-you-do-not-need-a-set-of-wi+fi-cufflinks

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Ravens dump Texans, book spot in AFC title game (Reuters)

BALTIMORE, Maryland (Reuters) ? The Baltimore Ravens defeated the Houston Texans 20-13 in the National Football League (NFL) divisional playoffs on Sunday to earn a date with the top-seeded New England Patriots in next week's AFC Championship game.

With the Ravens clinging to a 17-13 lead, Billy Cundiff booted a 44-yard field goal with 2:56 left in regulation to hike the lead to seven points and provide the final margin.

Houston drove to the Ravens' 38 on the ensuing possession but Ed Reed intercepted a pass by rookie T.J. Yates with 1:15 remaining to give Baltimore possession on its four-yard line.

The Ravens, unbeaten in nine games at home this season, were unable to get a first down and punted, giving Houston a last chance with 48 seconds left. Houston drove to the Baltimore 43 but surrendered the ball on downs.

"We knew what was coming," said Baltimore's 13-time Pro Bowl linebacker Ray Lewis. "This young team they are so freaking fiery and they got so many great pieces over there and I just take my hat off to them just simply the way they came out and fought today."

Baltimore's Joe Flacco completed 14 of 27 passes for 176 yards and two scores, while Ray Rice, who led all running backs this season with 2,068 yards from scrimmage, rushed for just 60 yards on 21 attempts.

Texans running back Arian Foster provided the offensive fireworks with 132 yards on 27 carries and a touchdown but Houston could not overcome four costly turnovers.

Yates completed 17 of 35 passes for 184 yards but tossed three interceptions.

The Ravens held a 17-13 lead at the half despite 95 yards rushing and a score on 15 carries by Foster, who had an easy time slicing through the NFL's second-ranked rushing defense.

Houston's Neil Rackers kicked a 40-yard field goal on the game's opening drive but the Ravens scored the next 17 points on two Flacco scoring passes and a 48-yard field goal by Cundiff.

A 33-yard field goal by Rackers and a one-yard score off right tackle by Foster late in the second period trimmed the Ravens' lead to just four points at intermission.

"We came out and we knew it was going to be tough," said Lewis. "They made some plays, we made some plays but at the end of the game we made the plays that counted."

(Reporting By Steve Ginsburg; Editing by Frank Pingue)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120115/sp_nm/us_nfl_playoffs_ravens

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Romney Holds Solid Lead in South Carolina (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

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