China International Automotive Aftermarket Market Park was started ...

China Motor vehicle marketplace Industrial park site was started
5 eighteen JUNE AM, accompanied by bursts of drums plus the joyous sound of firecrackers, the China International Automotive Aftermarket Market Park begins celebration Funing Fiscal Progression Zone in Jiangsu was held.

China Automotive Market Association, vice president of guarantee products Guo-Hua Tian, China Automobile Servicing Any Market Association Deputy www.orange-jo.com Secretary-General Wang Ling, Funing committee secretary, Wang Jinsheng, director FuNing Standing Committee, the College Group Chairman Xu Lianguo, president wide, Xu Shi, executive vice president and Funing Committee, the Funing County government, Funing NPC, Funing Political Consultative Conference, the National Bank Financial Lease, Nanjing North (Group), Nanjing, Accor Firm, Shenzhen En-side investments, investment guarantees inside the United Guangtong Beijing Branch, auto upkeep and repair Journal, South Korea WINDBELL Firm, South Korea HESIBONHITECH firms, unit leaders to show up at.

wide primary opening statement, in recent years, the Chinese vehicle marketplace which has a considerable expand in car ownership and quick rise, however the vehicle marketplace Establishing Is simply not balanced, nowhere in the vicinity of the foreign car marketplace share subsequent to 40% share within the stage auto market place, most definitely vehicle ancillary services, car tradition facts, car financing and car instruction, the Chinese vehicle marketplace provides a much higher space for improvement. Against this qualifications, the China vehicle marketplace arrived into currently being in Yancheng Industrial Park.

China International Automotive Aftermarket Market Park groundbreaking ceremony was held guest speech
Tian Guohua within the China auto marketplace subsequent to the industrial park below building to get remarkably considerable, and its improvement prospective customers of large hopes. He says that China International Automotive Aftermarket Market Park is China?s greatest auto marketplace subsequent to assignments, government and enterprise useful resource integration crystallization within the national industrial and regional monetary improvement and powerful convergence benefits. The completion within the industrial park will promote the quick improvement of motor insurance coverage market place, maximize the overall power of motor insurance coverage market place. Counting on the maternal result within the industrial park, not only spawned a lot of with remarkably technical, large amount of creation services for SMEs, but additionally for that regional monetary building and improvement, human assets play a significant role in endorsing integration.

China International Automotive Aftermarket Market Park base project is Funing government, the big group, China International Automotive Aftermarket Market Park, sponsored jointly funded project. The project saundra set specialized manufacturing, distribution logistics, integrated services in a single, scheduling place of three,000 acres, a complete investment of one hundred billion program market place can be whole protection auto market place subsequent to the market?s 9 species, forming the foremost full industrial chain. Tasks adhere to the ?one-time scheduling, producing stage by step? putting together concepts, the complete building time period of three ages, advancing in 3 phases, the primary phase investment of 1.5 billion, program of 600 acres, will build up an yearly output of vehicles Paint home 5000, Raise 50,000 models, 20,000 plane frame correction, automatic Washer 5000, screening solutions, wheel alignment, balancing devices, changer, and a few 20 million sets within the creation plant 200 thousand sq. meters. Beginning to take shape by 2012, assignments are all accomplished to realize the yearly Promote A lot more than 35 billion yuan, yearly earnings of a lot more than 8.0 billion, led 50,000 personnel new careers.

Linked Reading through: China International Automotive Aftermarket Industrial Park Tasks

Source: http://www.co-next.net/china-international-automotive-aftermarket-market-park-was-started-out-upon-markets-automotive-indu/

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Stocks and bond yields drop on Europe worries (AP)

NEW YORK ? The wait for an expected deal between Greece and its creditors rattled financial markets around the world Monday. Yields for ultra-safe U.S. government debt hit their lowest this year, the euro dropped against the dollar, and European stocks took a fall.

But U.S. stocks dropped only slightly. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 6.74 points to close at 12,653.72, for a drop of 0.1 percent. The Dow lost as much as 131 points in morning trading then slowly recovered in the afternoon.

Borrowing costs for European countries with the heaviest debt burdens shot higher. The two-year interest rate for Portugal's government debt jumped to 21 percent after trading around 14 percent last week.

Greece and the investors who bought its government bonds were said to be close to an agreement over the weekend. A tentative deal would replace bonds held by investment funds and banks with new ones at half the face value.

The plan is aimed at cutting Greece's debt by roughly euro100 billion ($132 billion). Greece needs it to secure a crucial installment of bailout loans and make an upcoming bond payment. But a deal has been in the works for weeks and could still fall apart.

The focus on Greece has shifted attention away from what's going well in the U.S., said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank. Companies have reported stronger quarterly earnings, and hiring has picked up.

"Our collective breath has been held for so many months," he said.

At this point, a good or even a bad resolution of Greece's debt crisis could lead to a stronger U.S. stock market, Ablin said.

"If it finally happens and the world doesn't fall apart, maybe we'll have a reason to take risk again," he said. "Once you pull off the Band-Aid, it feels better."

U.S. Treasury yields sank to their lowest level this year as traders parked cash in the safest assets. The yield on the 10-year Treasury sank to 1.85 percent. It was trading above 2 percent last Wednesday.

The yield on the five-year Treasury note hit a record low of 0.71 percent early Monday. It finished Monday at 0.74 percent, from 0.75 percent late Friday.

An agreement between Greece and its creditors could serve as a blueprint for other European countries with heavy debt burdens. Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG, pointed to Portugal's soaring bond yields in a note to clients.

"At this rate, Portugal is going to move from the back to front burner in very, very short order," he said.

European leaders also gathered in Brussels, focusing on how to stimulate economic growth when huge government spending cuts threaten to push many countries back into recession. The latest data showed Spain's economy shrank in the last three months of 2011.

In other trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 3.32 points, or 0.3 percent, to 1,313.01. The Nasdaq composite lost 4.6 points, or 0.2 percent, to 2,811.94.

The euro dropped 0.5 percent against the dollar, to $1.3124 in late trading Monday from $1.3208 late Friday. It was worth almost $1.50 in May.

European stocks sank. French and Spanish stock markets closed down 1.6 percent. Italian stocks closed down 1.2 percent and German stocks 1 percent.

Among stocks making big moves Friday:

? The fast food chain Wendy's fell 3.8 percent. The Wendy's Co. said a key measure of earnings dropped 30 percent in the fourth quarter. Charges from selling Arby's offset the effects of a jump in sales.

? PharMerica Corp. plunged 11 percent. The Federal Trade Commission said it was suing to block rival pharmacy company Omnicare Inc. from completing its $457 million takeover of PharMerica. The agency said a merger of the country's two largest long-term care pharmacies would raise the cost of Medicare prescription plans covering drugs for nursing home residents. Stock in Omnicare Inc. fell less than 1 percent.

? Thomas & Betts Corp. soared 23 percent on news that Swiss engineering group ABB Ltd. agreed to buy the maker of power lines and other electrical products for $3.9 billion in cash.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/us_wall_street

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These People Will Make Any Movie You Tell Them To Do [Video]

I'm very impressed by Finite Films. They're a band of filmmakers who produce one Hollywood-level quality short film every month—and each of their short films works within the constraints that people give them on the web. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/135RNjWvvZM/these-people-will-make-any-movie-you-tell-them-to-do

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Senegal opposition wants protest against president (AP)

DAKAR, Senegal ? Senegal's opposition is calling on the population to rise up against President Abdoulaye Wade's decision to run for a third term.

In a statement Saturday, the M23 coalition, which represents all the major opposition candidates running in next month's election, said the country's constitutional court had betrayed the people by ruling Wade is eligible to run again.

The decision Friday said the president can run for a third term even though the constitution was changed soon after he took office in 2000 to impose a two-term limit.

The M23 statement says "a black page has just been written in the history of our country by the decision."

Opposition candidate Macky Sall, a former prime minister under Wade, said they had given "the order" for people to take to the streets.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_af/af_senegal_election

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Chinese workers held by Sudan rebels

By msnbc.com news services

Rebels in Sudan's oil-producing border state of South Kordofan said on Sunday they were holding Chinese workers for their own safety after a battle with the Sudanese army.

The army has been fighting rebels of the SPLM-N in South Kordofan bordering newly independent South Sudan since June. Fighting spread to the northern Blue Nile state in September.

---

"We are holding 29 Chinese workers after a battle with the army yesterday," a spokesman for the SPLM-N said. "They are in good health. We are holding them for their own safety because the army was trying to strike again."

The army said rebels had attacked the compound of a Chinese construction company operating in the area between the towns of Abbasiya and Rashad in the north of the state and captured 70 civilians.

"Most of them are Chinese. They (the rebels) are targeting civilians," said army spokesman Sawarmi Khalid Saad.

He said there had been no battle in the area and the army was now trying to rescue the civilians.

China's foreign ministry urged Sudan to guarantee the safety of Chinese personnel during the search and rescue process, according to a statement released in Beijing.

South Kordofan is the main oil-producing state in Sudan, while Blue Nile is rich in minerals such as chrome.

The fighting in both states has forced about 417,000 people to flee their homes, more than 80,000 of them to South Sudan, according to the United Nations.

Both states contain large groups who sided with the south in a decades-long civil war, and who say they continue to face persecution inside Sudan since South Sudan seceded in July.

The SPLM is now the ruling party in the independent south and denies supporting SPLM-North rebels across the border.

Events in South Kordofan and Blue Nile are difficult to verify because aid groups and diplomats are banned from areas where fighting takes place.

SPLM-North is one of a number of rebel movements in underdeveloped border areas who say they are fighting to overthrow Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir and end what they see as the dominance of the Khartoum political elite.

Sudan and South Sudan, which still have to resolve a range of issues including the sharing of oil revenues, regularly trade accusations of supporting insurgencies on each other's territory.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/29/10262850-chinese-workers-held-by-sudan-rebels

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Manning, Irsay insist they are on same page (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS ? Peyton Manning and Colts owner Jim Irsay insist they are just fine after a week filled with complaints and comments suggesting a rift had developed following one of the most miserable seasons in team history.

"We would like to dispel any misperception that there might be any hard feelings between us," the two said Friday in a statement issued by the team. "Since 1998, we have enjoyed a great relationship, based upon mutual respect and trust. We have always been able to talk and address matters we've faced over the years, not just as owner and player, but as friends.

"We had a long talk today and we want to assure Colts fans everywhere that we are both committed to maintaining our close relationship and to working together through any challenges the future may bring."

That would be welcome news to Colts fans, who first watched Manning publicly complain about the down-in-the-mouth atmosphere at team headquarters and then two days later saw Irsay call out his franchise quarterback at a news conference intended to focus on the new head coach.

It's been a dizzying week.

On Tuesday, Manning told The Indianapolis Star that his only real conversation so far with the new general manager Ryan Grigson had come in passing and the flurry of firings had those around the team complex walking on "eggshells."

Irsay didn't like that Manning went public with his frustrations and he said so Thursday, calling Manning a "politician."

"I don't think it's in the best interest to paint the horseshoe in a negative light, I really don't," Irsay told reporters following Chuck Pagano's introduction as coach. "The horseshoe always comes first, and I think one thing he's always known, because he's been around it so long, is that, you know, you keep it in the family. If you've got a problem you talk to each other, it's not about campaigning or anything like that."

Apparently, Manning got the message.

Just a few hours later, Manning told the newspaper that he didn't intend to create a public spat. Instead, Manning said he was speaking from the heart after watching so many of his friends lose their jobs.

"At this point, Mr. Irsay and I owe it to each other and to the fans of the organization to handle this appropriately and professionally, and I think we will. I've already reached out to Mr. Irsay," Manning said. "I wasn't trying to paint the Colts in a bad light, but it's tough when so many people you've known for so long are suddenly leaving. I feel very close to a lot of these guys and we've done great things together. It's hard to watch an old friend clean out his office. That's all I was trying to say."

And Irsay tweeted after that: "Peyton and I love each other,that goes without saying..I humbly serve n protect the Horseshoe..it is bigger than any individual,including me."

Whether the two have mended their misunderstanding, there are still huge questions pending. Irsay must decide by March 8 whether to pay Manning a $28 million bonus. Manning missed the entire 2011 season after having his third neck surgery in September.

Irsay just this month has fired vice chairman Bill Polian, general manager Chris Polian, coach Jim Caldwell and most of the staff. Pagano, the Baltimore Ravens' defensive coordinator this past season, is just getting started, as is Grigson.

Indy's poor season has given it the No. 1 overall pick, which Irsay has said they will use for their quarterback of the future, presumably Stanford's Andrew Luck. If so, Irsay must decide if he wants to pay a No. 1 quarterback and Manning, who signed a five-year, $90 million contract in July and will be 36 in late March.

Irsay has said his choice will come down to Manning's health, not money.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_colts_manning

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Gingrich reveals income, but not how he earned it (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich beat his main GOP presidential rival, Mitt Romney, to the punch by releasing his most recent tax return. But Gingrich still hasn't revealed how he earned most of his $3.1 million.

The 2010 tax return made public last week shows that $2.4 million, more than three-fourths of Gingrich's income, came in payments he regularly received, in addition to his salary, from different businesses he ran before announcing his candidacy for president. Those businesses managed speaking engagements, appearance fees, consulting work, book and video deals and paid positions that Gingrich held in other groups.

Gingrich, who has demanded more transparency from Romney, doesn't identify where the money came from, including amounts he received from his consulting business.

The Associated Press requested details about Gingrich's income and the identities of who paid him for his services. The campaign has not decided whether it will release further information about Gingrich's income, spokesman R.C. Hammond said.

Other GOP presidential candidates, including Romney and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, have provided details of such income. Romney's financial reports filed last year and his 2010 tax return released this week specify groups that paid him for appearances and how much he received. Santorum, who has yet to release his tax return, lists on a financial report the businesses that paid him as a consultant, payments he received serving on specific boards and activist groups, and money he earned as a FOX News contributor and a newspaper columnist.

The way Gingrich has earned a living in recent years has become an avenue for political attack by Romney. Romney charges that the $1.65 million Gingrich received from the government-backed mortgage company Freddie Mac from 1999 to 2007 was for influence peddling, which Gingrich has denied. Romney also has demanded that Gingrich identify other clients who paid for his services and what he did for them, accusing Gingrich of "potentially wrongful activity."

"If you're getting paid by health companies, if your entities are getting paid by health companies that could benefit from a piece of legislation, and you then meet with Republican congressmen and encourage them to support that legislation, you can call it whatever you'd like. I call it influence-peddling," Romney told Gingrich.

Gingrich has accused Romney of attacking his consulting work out of political desperation, hoping to stifle Gingrich's rising popularity among GOP voters. Gingrich said he has never been a lobbyist.

But he is battling the perception that he was selling his influence, if not actually lobbying, as he campaigns to win Florida's GOP presidential primary on Tuesday. Gingrich has said he was exercising his rights as a citizen, not a lobbyist, in 2003 when he publicly advocated changes in Medicare. And he's argued that he and his group, which received millions from dozens of health-related businesses, made sure not to cross the line into lobbying when he met with congressional members and others to promote the Medicare changes sought by then President George W. Bush.

A liberal-leaning watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, is urging a federal investigation of Gingrich's activities.

"Mr. Gingrich's claim that he simply engaged in `public advocacy' doesn't pass the smell test," said Melanie Sloan, the group's executive director. "Mr. Gingrich was a lobbyist, and he should not be allowed to play word games with the American people."

To make its case that Gingrich was lobbying, Sloan's group cites the Lobbying Disclosure Act, which defines a lobbyist as someone who receives payment for services from a client, makes more than one lobbying contact for the client on an issue and spends at least 20 percent of their time in a three-month period on lobbying activities. A lobbying contact is defined as communication on behalf of a client regarding "the formulation, modification or adoption of federal legislation."

Gingrich's tax return doesn't show how much money he received as a consultant working through his Gingrich Group and his Center for Health Transformation. The center urges changes to health-related policies and laws, practices and technology but says it "does not provide lobbying services nor directly or indirectly participate in lobbying activities of any kind." Instead, all of Gingrich's income is lumped together as $2.4 million in payments from Gingrich Holdings, a sort of parent company managing his interests in other businesses.

The Center for Health Transformation served more than 100 companies in 2010, with some paying as much as $200,000 a year to join Gingrich's organization. While the center has said it generated $55 million from hundreds of corporate sponsors from 2001 to 2010 with Gingrich leading the effort, it said it won't release a list of clients due to confidentiality clauses in its contracts.

Last year as he prepared for the presidential run, Gingrich sold his interest in the Gingrich Group and the Center for Health Transformation. He hasn't said how much he received in the buyout, but his financial disclosure form shows his Gingrich Productions is owed between $5 million and $25 million from the Gingrich Group.

Gingrich's tax return also doesn't show how much he received from his Fox News contract as a frequent on-air contributor. That contract was managed by Gingrich Communications, a business that handles his appearances and speaking engagements.

Last fall when Gingrich was first denying ever working as a lobbyist, he told a South Carolina audience that he didn't need to walk the halls of Congress to make a living because of the bounty he received in speaking fees.

"I'm going to be really direct, OK? I was charging $60,000 a speech. And the number of speeches was going up, not down," he said.

Gingrich has not identified the groups that paid him for those speeches.

Gingrich also continued to earn money as an author, although it's not clear how much of his earnings came from payments received by Gingrich Communications from his books.

While the $2.4 million in Gingrich's business payments are not detailed, the tax return does identify more than $712,000 of other income:

_$252,500 for his salary from Gingrich Holdings;

_$191,827 for his wife's salary from Gingrich Productions and $5,918 from the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington as a member of the church's professional choir;

_$76,200 for his congressional pension;

_$72,274 from his share of his daughter's business;

_$38,637 for dividend and interest payments;

_$33,124 in tax refunds;

_$21,625 in speaking fees paid directly to Gingrich and not his businesses;

_$20,000 for him and his wife for serving on boards of directors. The boards are not identified.

___

Follow Blackledge on Twitter: http://twitter.com/brettblackledge

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_el_pr/us_gingrich_income

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Revise and Extend (TIME)

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

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Former White House candidate Bachmann to seek Congress (Reuters)

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) ? U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann, who three weeks ago ended her campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, said she will seek reelection to a fourth term in Congress, a spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Bachmann, 55, was first elected to the 6th Congressional District in Minnesota in 2006. Once a Tea Party favorite, the Iowa-born Bachmann withdrew from the presidential race a day after receiving just 5 percent of the vote in the Iowa nominating caucuses.

Bachmann Press Secretary Becky Rogness confirmed that Bachmann had said she would seek a fourth term in Congress during an interview with the Associated Press.

A former tax lawyer, Bachmann launched her bid for president in June and gained momentum with speeches focused on the economy and the goal of thwarting President Barack Obama's election to a second term in office. In dropping out, she urged Republicans to unite behind the party's eventual choice.

The Minnesota 6th Congressional District stretches from Stillwater on the eastern border with Wisconsin, around the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities to encompass St. Cloud. New district lines have not yet been established for 2012.

Bachmann received 52.5 percent of the vote in the Congressional election of 2010.

(Reporting by David Bailey; Editing by Greg McCune)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/us_nm/us_campaign_bachmann

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LG Nitro HD Surpasses 1 Million Units Sold

comScore recently ranked LG second in the world in terms of mobile OEM market share, and it would seem the good news keeps on coming for the smiley-face company. The Nitro HD, or Optimus LTE if you're from outside of the States, has reportedly hit 1 million units sold. It was first available in South Korea last year in October, and LG sold 600,000 units on its home turf. After venturing into new lands, including Japan, Canada, and the US of A, another 400,000 units were sold. According to my calculator, 600,000 plus 400,000 does indeed total 1 million units.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/KGGJi10zSqg/

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Walker raises $12M for recall battle (Politico)

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker has raised more than $12 million since the beginning of last year and has $2.6 million cash on hand for his likely 2012 recall election.

Between Jan. 1, 2011 and Jan. 17, 2012, Walker reported he had amassed $12.1 million, according to the latest campaign finance reports. And the campaign announced Monday that it raised more than $4.5 million in just the last five weeks.

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?Gov. Walker?s message of moving Wisconsin forward continues to resonate with voters,? Walker campaign spokeswoman Ciara Matthews said in a statement. ?It is this message, and the success of the governor?s reforms, that have inspired people to contribute to his campaign in overwhelming numbers.?

?These donations will allow us to fight back against this baseless recall and ensure Governor Walker can continue to lay the foundation for a more successful Wisconsin and keep government working on the side of taxpayers,? Matthews added.

State law permits anyone targeted for a recall to bring in unlimited cash until an election is officially called.

The Wisconsin Democratic party said it raised $1.5 million since July, and the Republican party said it collected about $1 million, The Associated Press reported. And in the last five weeks, the Democratic party reported raising $394,000. The group behind the recall efforts, United Wisconsin, brought in $86,000 in the same period.

On Jan. 17, organizers behind the effort to recall Walker announced they had collected one million signatures, virtually ensuring a recall election will take place later this year. A total of 540,208 valid signatures were needed to force a recall election ? organizers gathered thousands more in order to ensure they reached the threshold even if some signatures are disqualified.

The Government Accountability Board is reviewing the signatures, and is set to ask a judge Wednesday to allow at least 60 days to finish the examination.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories0112_71887_html/44287670/SIG=11meep2hs/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71887.html

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Obama offers condolences to Paterno's family

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama has offered his condolences to the family of legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, who died Sunday of lung cancer.

The White House says the president spoke with Paterno's wife, Sue, and son, Jay, on Monday to express his condolences.

The White House says the president recalled fond memories of when he first met Coach Paterno and said he and first lady Michelle Obama would keep the Paterno family in their prayers.

Penn State is planning a memorial service on Thursday for Paterno, who was fired in November after he was criticized over his handling of child sex-abuse allegations leveled against his former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky.

Paterno won two national championships and 409 games ? the most in the history of major college football.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-23-Obama-Paterno/id-74b6667165b8400eb31f13e539a3a280

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Gaddafi supporters seize control of Libyan town (Reuters)

TRIPOLI (Reuters) ? Fighters loyal to Libya's overthrown leader Muammar Gaddafi took control of a town south-east of the capital on Monday, flying their green flags in defiance of the country's fragile new government.

The fightback by Gaddafi supporters defeated in Libya's civil war, though unlikely to spread elsewhere, added to the problems besetting a government which in the past week has been reeling from one crisis to another. Gaddafi himself was captured and killed in October after weeks on the run.

Accounts from the town of Bani Walid, about 200 km (120 miles) from Tripoli, described armed Gaddafi supporters attacking the barracks of the pro-government militia in the town and then forcing them to fall back.

"They control the town now. They are roaming the town," said a fighter with the 28th May militia, loyal to Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC), which came under attack.

The fighter told Reuters the loyalists were flying "brand new green flags" from the centre of town. The flags were symbols of Gaddafi's 42-year rule.

A resident said four people were killed and 20 wounded in the fighting, during which the sides used heavy weapons.

Bani Walid, base of the powerful Warfallah tribe, was one of the last towns to surrender to the anti-Gaddafi rebellion last year. Many people there oppose the new leadership.

A Libyan air force official said war planes were being mobilized to fly to Bani Walid. A spokesman for the military council in Zawiyah, near Tripoli, said a 1,500-strong force, drawn from militias across western Libya, was on stand-by.

"If the situation in Bani Walid is still complicated , we will go there," the spokesman, Ayad Laaroussi, said.

But it was not immediately clear what the government in Tripoli could do. It has yet to demonstrate that it has an effective fighting force under its command and Bani Walid, protected behind a deep valley, is difficult to attack.

EMBATTLED GOVERNMENT

The uprising in Bani Walid could not come at a worse time for the NTC. In the past week its chief has had his office overrun by protesters angry at the slow pace of reform and the second most senior official has quit, citing what he described as an "atmosphere of hatred."

During Libya's nine-month war, anti-Gaddafi rebels tried to take Bani Walid but did not progress much beyond the outskirts of the town. It later emerged that Saif al-Islam, one of Muammar Gaddafi's sons who was captured in the Sahara desert in November, had been using Bani Walid as a base.

Soon before the end of the conflict, with Gaddafi's defeat unavoidable, local tribal elders negotiated an agreement under which forces loyal to the NTC were able to enter the town without a fight.

Relations have been uneasy since then and there have been occasional flare-ups of violence.

The resident, who did not want to be identified, said Monday's violence began when members of the May 28 militia arrested some Gaddafi loyalists.

That prompted other supporters of the former leader to attack the militia's garrison.

"They massacred men at the doors of the militia headquarters," said the resident.

A militia based in Tripoli said its fighters had captured 17 people who, it said, were part of a network trying to smuggle arms to Gaddafi loyalists in Bani Walid and elsewhere. The militia said in a text message that the weapons included Russian-made Grad rockets.

FRAGILE GRIP ON POWER

The NTC still has the backing of the NATO powers who, with their diplomatic pressure and bombing campaign, helped push out Gaddafi and install the new government.

But questions are now being raised inside some Western governments about the NTC's ability to govern Libya effectively and secure its borders against al Qaeda, arms traffickers and illegal migrants trying to get into Europe.

The NTC was pitched into its worst crisis since the end of the civil war at the weekend when a crowd of protesters in the eastern city of Benghazi stormed the council's local headquarters when NTC chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil was inside.

The protesters, who supported the revolt against Gaddafi, were angry that more progress had not been made to restore basic public services. They also said many of the NTC's members were tarnished by having served in Gaddafi's administration.

Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, deputy head of the NTC and target of some of the protests, said he was resigning. Abdel Jalil warned that the protests could drag the country into a "bottomless pit."

(Additional reporting by Ali Shuaib; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/wl_nm/us_libya_fighting

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Automakers focusing on younger buyers

Gm / Wieck

Chevrolet is testing the interest of Millennial buyers in a pair of concepts, including the Tru 140S.

By Paul A. Eisenstein, The Detroit Bureau

There?s a big gap between what people say they want and what they?ll actually spend their money on, as automakers are well aware of.?So, the industry is taking a cautious view of a new study by consulting firm Deloitte that finds six of 10 Millennials would like to buy a hybrid or electric vehicles rather than a conventionally powered car, truck or crossover.

That would suggest that manufacturers are positioning themselves well for the wave of young buyers just now entering the market ? also known as Gen-Y, the Millennials comprise a cohort of almost 80 million Americans, a group even bigger than the vaunted Baby Boomers that reshaped America over the last half century or so. Virtually every maker on the market is now offering at least one gas-electric model in its line-up, with an assortment of conventional hybrids, plug-ins and pure battery-electric vehicles, or BEVs, to follow.

But young drivers aren?t the only ones who say they want to go with the latest, battery-based green technologies. Some other recent surveys have found that even older Americans routinely say they plan to ?consider? a hybrid next time they shop for a new car.?It?s just that those battery-based vehicles usually don?t make the cut, in the end. Last year, hybrids actually slipped as a percentage of the overall U.S. market to barely 2%.?Total sales of all battery-based vehicles barely matched demand for the Honda Accord.

Nonetheless, the new Deloitte survey echoes the results of other studies that have found Millennials to be more environmentally conscious than any other age group now in the automotive market.

?Gen Y is familiar and comfortable with hybrid technology,? said Craig Giffi, Deloitte?s vice chairman and head of its auto practice, suggesting that the Millennials will ?lead us away from traditional, gasoline-powered vehicles.?

The study looked at the automotive buying preferences of 1,500 consumers from the Gen Y, X and Baby Boom generations ? 250 of those surveyed being between the ages of 19 and 31. The group included consumers in China as well as Europe.

Significantly, while the Millennials were clearly comfortable with hybrids, as Giffi noted, they were less so with pure BEVs, only 2% saying they?d consider a vehicle running on battery power alone.

Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images

Upscale sedans, electric vehicles and old-school muscle cars make their debuts at the 2012 North American International Auto show.

The auto industry is making a big push to understand what Millennials are all about ? and trying to differentiate between outward social and political stands and what they?re actually willing to spend their money on.

?It?s a big challenge,? said Clay Dean, head of advanced research for General Motors, but one that could pay off big in the long-term. As GM discovered when it lost much of the Baby Boom generation, it?s essential to get buyers into a brand?s products when they?re still young. Once they become loyal to the competition it?s difficult to those buyers them back.

Chevrolet unveiled two possible additions to its line-up, dubbed Code 130R and Tru 140S, during the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. One or the other could be put into production ?quickly,? according to Dean, if they generate much enthusiasm. The Code 130R is a sort of Baby Camaro, the 140S more of what he described as a ?poseur? sports coupe, one that could readily be outfitted with a hybrid drivetrain if GM found the demand there.

But the new Deloitte study makes it clear that green technology isn?t the only thing needed to make the Millennials happy. About just as many of those surveyed ? 59% ? said that in-dash technology is a critical differentiator. Of those, 75% said they wanted a touch-screen interface, with 72% wanting access to their smartphone apps.

The survey also showed they expect such high-tech safety features as advance collision warning and blind-spot detection.

Considering the budget most young buyers have at their disposal they might not be able to get everything they want, at least not immediately. So, manufacturers will have to read between the lines of the study to decide what they can afford to offer the Millennials now.

More from The Detroit Bureau:

Battery Fire Investigation Closed?-- But Volt?s Problems May Not Yet be Over

Picking Tomorrow?s Top Collector Cars

First 2013 Chevrolet Corvette 427 Convertible Set for Auction

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/23/10216471-automakers-focused-on-what-young-buyers-want

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Mariah Carey: Jeweler Joan Boyce Is Not My Mother! (omg!)

Mariah Carey may be mom to 8-month-old twins Moroccan and Monroe, but when it comes to her own mother, she's not down for any baby mama drama.

PHOTOS: Moroccan, Monroe and more of 2011's babies of the year

On January 12, Carey, whose husband, Nick Cannon, is currently recovering from minor kidney failure, hit up the store of famed jeweler and longtime friend, Joan Boyce. Soon after, some outlets began referring to Boyce's boutique as "Mariah's parents' jewelry store."

PHOTOS: Mariah and Nick's love story

Shutting down those false speculations, both Boyce and Carey took to their twitter accounts to sound off.

"@MariahCarey M, congrats on BET Honors! Did you see they called me your mom again? It's so silly! You only have one mom and that's Pat Carey," Boyce tweeted at the singer on Friday.

"@joanboycehsn You'd think after she sang the duet with me last year & performed on my ABC Special in front of millions, people would get it!" the singer responded.

"I was extremely pregnant but here's a link to our moment together on stage 4 anyone who didn't see it. That's my momma!" Carey added, along with the video of her and her mom singing.

PHOTOS: Star moms and their fave Christmas photos

Pat, who's pictured with Mariah in the photo to the left, also appeared in a video for Mimi's holiday album, Merry Christmas II You in 2010.

Get more Us! Follow us on Twitter, Friend us on Facebook, Subscribe to Us Weekly

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_mariah_carey_jeweler_joan_boyce_not_mother194350392/44256767/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/mariah-carey-jeweler-joan-boyce-not-mother-194350392.html

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Gingrich Surges into Lead in South Carolina (Taegan Goddard's Political Wire)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/188851417?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Rosa spins the roulette wheel for Sin City SmackDown in Las Vegas

Hours before "Sin City SmackDown" got underway, SmackDown General Manager Theodore Long gave new WWE Tag Team Champions Primo & Epico and the beautiful Rosa Mendes an early crack at the roulette wheel. What match stipulation did Primo & Epico receive for their showdown with The Usos? Watch this exclusive WWE.com video to find out.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/smackdown/2012-01-13/smackdown-rosa-spins-wheel

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Will Earth no longer define time? Leap second could be abolished.

The rotation of the Earth has defined time for as long as time has been kept, but keeping up with all of Earth's little quirks by adding and subtracting an occasional leap second is getting tiring. Timekeepers could vote Thursday to rely solely on atomic clocks.?

After millenniums as humanity's timekeeper, Earth may be about to get a pink slip.

Skip to next paragraph

Delegates to the International Telecommunication Union's Radiocommunication Assembly are slated to vote as early as Thursday on a proposal to scrap the leap second ? an occasional tweak to atomic clocks designed to sync them with time defined by Earth's rotation.

A "yes" vote, which many expect, would leave atomic clocks as the sole international standard for determining the length of a second, and by extension, a day. For the first time in human history, the length of a day would be uncoupled from Earth's day-night cycle.

The leap second has been used since 1972 to adjust for a long-term slowdown in Earth's rotation. The slowdown is inevitable, but the pace is irregular.

Advocates for the change argue that leap seconds require fiddling with atomic clocks at these irregular intervals, raising the prospect that human error could crash large-scale computer networks, cell-phone systems, and other vital pieces of today's high-tech infrastructure. They rely on highly precise timing to operate.

Critics counter that the leap-second system has worked well since 1972, when the parallel timekeeping process was adopted internationally. Moreover, they say, killing off the leap second merely kicks the need to adjust the clocks down the road, when the gap between the two approaches would be even wider.

Whatever the merits of the case, researchers trace the two-track timing system to its underlying problem: Until the advent of atomic clocks, "the length of a second was not well defined," says John Lowe, group leader for the time and frequency services division of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Boulder, Colo.

At least in the US, all time was local until the late 1800s. People checked their watches against the time on Town Hall's clock, itself calibrated against local solar time with some tweaking to account for Earth's slightly elliptical orbit around the sun.

With transcontinental railroads came the concept of standard time and time zones. Yet that required a standard unit of time that would allow far-flung stations and conductors to synchronize clocks. That assignment was given to the second, which was defined as 1/86,400 of an average solar day.

As timekeeping grew more precise, however, it became clear that Earth's rotation wasn't constant, as previously assumed. Not only did it vary, but it was slowing.

By international agreement in 1972, solar time and atomic time have coexisted, with the periodic leap second added to atomic clocks to keep the two approaches in sync.

For astronomers, navigators, or those who map or study features of the Earth's crust, solar time as a recognized standard works well, says Geoff Chester, spokesman for the US Naval Observatory in Washington.

For these groups, "ideally you would like to keep leap seconds," he says. Losing the leap second "wouldn't shut them down, it would just make more work for them" as they corrected their timekeeping against an exclusively atomic-clock standard.

Meanwhile, losing the leap second would streamline work and could reduce the risk of outages for the telecommunications business or people who operate large-scale computer networks, which require precise timing to function, Mr. Chester adds.

Unlike the need for a leap day, which comes predictably every four years, the need to add or subtract a leap second comes randomly, with at most six months' warning.

This irregular pattern means humans must intervene to make the change.

"You risk breaking critical infrastructure every time you do a leap second," Chester says.

The swap of who tweaks their time and who doesn't isn't lost on Ken Seidelmann, former director of astrometry at the US Naval Observatory and now a professor at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville.

"Leap seconds are an inconvenience to the telecommunications people, but there are many other users of time who should be considered," he told the Associated Press.

In some ways, the break with the sun has been occurring for some time, adds NIST's Mr. Lowe. He notes that because of the development of time zones and daylight saving time, noon local time as the clock ticks rarely coincides with the sun reaching its highest point in the sky that day.

"We don't observe high noon as noon anymore anyway," he acknowledges.

Which probably would have suited Gary Cooper just fine.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/jIflYI06O0s/Will-Earth-no-longer-define-time-Leap-second-could-be-abolished

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Major oil refinery to close in US Virgin Islands (AP)

ST. CROIX, U.S. Virgin Islands ? One of the world's largest oil refineries will close next month, the company announced Wednesday, stunning nearly 2,000 workers and threatening to upend the reeling economy of the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Industry analysts said the closure is unlikely to have a major effect on the global oil market, but Gov. John de Jongh described the loss of the territory's largest private employer as "a complete body blow" for the U.S. territory of about 108,000 people.

He said Hovensa generated a minimum of $60 million a year in revenue for the government, which recently laid of hundreds of public workers due to a budget crisis.

"Given what we're going through right now, this is the last bit of news that I wanted to hear," he said in a teleconference with reporters.

Losses at Hovensa, a joint venture of U.S.-based Hess Corp. and Venezuela's state-owned oil company, have totaled $1.3 billion over the past three years and were projected to continue due to reduced demand caused by the global economic slowdown and increased refining capacity in emerging markets, said Brian K. Lever, president and chief operating officer of Hovensa LLC.

"We deeply regret the closure of the Hovensa refinery and the impact on our dedicated people," Lever said in a statement. "We explored all available options to avoid this outcome, but severe financial losses left us with no other choice."

Hess announced in New York that it will take a $525 million after-tax charge against its fourth-quarter 2011 earnings due to the shutdown.

The refinery employs about 1,200 people in St. Croix in addition to approximately 950 contractors, according to Hovensa spokesman David Roznowski. About 100 people, including contractors, will work at the oil storage terminal, the company said.

The refinery, founded in the 1960s, has been producing about 350,000 barrels per day during the rough economic climate. It relies on oil for fuel while competitors on the U.S. mainland use less expensive natural gas.

Hovensa was the third largest U.S. refinery before it cuts its capacity of 500,000 barrels by 30 percent last year. It is now the eighth largest, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The refinery dominates the southern coast of St. Croix, where hundreds of workers live in company-built neighborhoods.

Speaking in hushed tones during a shift change at Hovensa on Wednesday, dozens of workers wondered where they would go after the refinery is converted to an oil storage terminal.

"This is all I know," said a worker who had been with the plant for more than 30 years. "I don't know what I am going to do now."

Like others, he declined to be identified for fear of angering managers who will allocate the few remaining jobs.

The company's website says it is still one of the 10 largest oil refineries in the world, but the closure is not expected to have a major effect on the oil industry because it had not been operating at full capacity, said Fadel Gheit, senior energy analyst for Oppenheimer & Co.

Hess benefits because it had been hemorrhaging money through the refinery, he said.

The closure reflects a three-year trend across the U.S. of refineries closing because of the global financial crisis, a drop in gasoline consumption and a shift in growth elsewhere, Gheit said.

"They cannot compete with the modern refineries being built in India, China and the Middle East," he said.

Despite the closure, the U.S. remains Venezuela's largest customer, and Venezuela is still among the top four suppliers of crude oil to the U.S., he said.

Alejandra Leon, a Latin America oil analyst for Cambridge, Massachusetts-based IHS CERA, said that in 2010, PDVSA reported the Hovensa refinery processed 389,000 barrels a day, of which 227,000 barrels a day were supplied by Venezuela. She said it wasn't clear where the remainder came from.

She said there is an excess of refining capacity globally, so Hovensa's closure "is helping to rebalance the market."

Hovensa spokesman Alex Moorehead said the refinery equipment will shut down by mid-February, but that the company will continue to provide fuel oil to the island's Water and Power Authority through end of June.

Local Sen. Terrence Nelson said the announcement "is a blow in the gut," and suggested the territory might need assistance from the federal government.

Nelson accused Hovensa of violating a long-term agreement with the government to continue refinery operations on the island. Nelson said it is unclear what Hovensa will need to do to compensate the government for breaching the agreement.

"It's devastating," Senator Sammuel Sanes said. "It was something I suspected was going to happen, but of course it took me by surprise. On a personal level it affects many people in my family. I have many in my family working for Hovensa."

De Jongh said he called an emergency meeting to talk about ways to offset the economic damage.

He warned that local fuel prices will likely rise while the government looks for other suppliers and said officials are asking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ease sulfur content restrictions so they can quickly contract a new supplier. The Energy Information Administration reported last year that the refinery accounted for 85 percent of the territory's petroleum products.

De Jongh said he will also ask Hovensa officials if they are interested in selling the facility.

"I cannot afford to have an asset of that size sitting there," he said.

In January, Hovensa entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department in which the company agreed to invest $700 million on pollution controls after a series of chemical releases affected people living downwind from the refinery. Hovensa also agreed to pay a $5.4 million penalty for violating the Clean Air Act.

It is unclear how the agreement will be affected by the closure.

EPA spokeswoman Mary Mears said the agency and the U.S. Department of Justice are still talking with Hovensa officials about how the closure will affect the consent decree. She said the company already paid the penalty.

___

Associated Press writer Ian James contributed to this report from Caracas, Venezuela.

(This version CORRECTS corrects first name of Senator Sanes)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_bi_ge/cb_virgin_islands_oil_refinery

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Ulcer-causing bacteria baffled by mucus: Researchers discover impact of viscoelasticity on collective behavior of swimming microorganisms

ScienceDaily (Jan. 18, 2012) ? Even the tiniest microscopic organisms make waves when they swim. In fact, dealing with these waves is a fact of life for the ulcer-causing bacteria H. pylori.

The bacteria are known to change their behavior in order to compensate for the waves created by other bacteria swimming around in the same aquatic neighborhood. From the relatively simple actions of these individual bacteria emerges a complex, coordinated group behavior.

A new study by engineering researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute demonstrates how introducing certain polymers -- like those found in human mucus and saliva -- into the environment makes it significantly more difficult for H. pylori and other microorganisms to coordinate. The findings raise many new questions about the relationship between the individual and group behaviors of bacteria. The study also suggests that human mucus, saliva, and other biological fluid barriers may have evolved to disrupt the ability of harmful bacteria to coordinate.

"In the human body, microorganisms are always moving around in mucus, saliva, and other systems that exhibit elasticity due to the presence of polymers. Our study is among the first to look at how this elasticity impacts the collective behavior of microorganisms like H. pylori," said lead researcher Patrick T. Underhill, assistant professor in the Howard P. Isermann Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering at Rensselaer. "What we found is that polymers do in fact have a substantial impact on the flows created by the swimming bacteria, which in turn makes it more difficult for the individual bacteria to coordinate with each other. This opens the door to new ways of looking at our immune system."

Results of the study are detailed in the paper "Effect of viscoelasticity on the collective behavior of swimming microorganisms," recently published by the journal Physical Review E.

Underhill's study, based on large-scale computer simulations, leveraged the power of the Rensselaer Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI), one of the world's most powerful university-based supercomputers. These simulations involved creating a computer model of more than 110,000 individual H. pylori bacteria simultaneously occupying a small volume of polymer-infused liquid. The simulations captured all of the individual actions and interactions created as the bacteria swam through the liquid. The most difficult aspect of this kind of simulation, Underhill said, is to identify collective behaviors and extract relevant conclusions from the massive amount of data generated.

See a video of a simulation at: http://youtu.be/Yvc_3xncpME

In addition to computer simulations, Underhill employed theoretical models to understand how the addition of elasticity to liquid impacts the waves created by swimming H. pylori and, in turn, the collective behavior of a large group of the bacteria. Bacteria like H. pylori are known as pushers, as they propel themselves through water by twisting the long helical filaments that trail behind them.

Rensselaer chemical engineering graduate student Yaser Bozorgi is a co-author of the paper.

The study was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). In 2010, Underhill received a prestigious NSF Faculty Early Career Development Award (CAREER) to support his transport phenomena research.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), via Newswise.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Yaser Bozorgi, Patrick Underhill. Effect of viscoelasticity on the collective behavior of swimming microorganisms. Physical Review E, 2011; 84 (6) DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevE.84.061901

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120118111708.htm

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Billy Dean's Insurance Company to Drop Him Following Barn Fire ...

Jason Kempin

After dealing with the heartbreaking loss of his barn due to a fire, things continue to get worse for country star Billy Dean.

Not only did he lose his barn, tractor, fishing boat, cherished mementos and master recordings that were kept inside the barn, but now the singer is losing his longtime insurance company. The barn fire was Dean?s third claim through Farm Bureau Insurance, and the company now plans on dropping the Deans from making any future claims.

?It?s a three strikes you?re out kind of a deal,? Dean tells Taste of Country. ?They were great on the other couple of claims, and we?ve been paying them for 18 years or something, so I just kind of look at it like it?s my money that I put in the bank for an emergency. We?re hoping they?re going to make it right. We just want to be fair.?

?It makes it really difficult to get anybody else to insure you after that,? Dean continues, adding that the other two claims were from bursting pipes and an air conditioner leak ? both which flooded his property. ?I wasn?t aware of the three strikes you?re out issue, but I guess that?s just business. The risk they?re taking and the risk we?re taking that nothing?s going to happen. But it happened, so we?ll see. Hopefully they?ll make it right and we can rebuild.?

While Dean and his insurance company attempt to reach an agreement about their future together, the ?Somewhere in My Broken Heart? singer says his concerts on the Dean Acres property will continue as planned. The next series of shows will take place March 30, 31 and April 1 and will celebrate Dean?s 50th birthday. ?We?ve just got a massive cleanup job on our hands, but I think we?ll get it done in time,? Dean assures.

But not even the fire, which has been ruled an accident, can keep Dean?s spirits down for too long, as he still has so much to be grateful for in his life and his career. ?We can?t help but feel lucky, just because there?s an apartment above that barn, and we had a guest staying there,? Dean notes. ?They left about 30 minutes before the fire department was called, so we just feel really lucky because we didn?t have any way for anyone in that apartment to get out if a fire did occur at the bottom. I?m optimistic and I?m going to think Farm Bureau will make it right because I?ve liked them for a lot of years. I?m going to give them the benefit of the doubt that they?ll make it right.?

Source: http://tasteofcountry.com/billy-dean-barn-fire-insurance-claim/

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Charges expected for suspect in homeless deaths (AP)

YORBA LINDA, Calif. ? Prosecutors in California are expected to file formal murder charges against a Marine veteran in the stabbing killings of four homeless men.

After weeks of hunting for a serial killer preying on the vulnerable, police arrested Itzcoatl Ocampo on Friday. He was taken into custody when bystanders chased him down after a 64-year-old man was stabbed to death outside an Anaheim fast-food restaurant.

Prosecutors were planning a press conference Tuesday. Ocampo, 23, is expected to be charged with four counts of murder in the killings that began in northern Orange County in late December.

Authorities have provided no information on evidence against Ocampo, or a possible motive. But Anaheim Police Chief John Welter has said investigators are confident they have the man responsible for the string of murders.

Ocampo is being held in isolation at the central jail in Santa Ana for his own safety because of the notoriety of the case, according to Lt. Hal Brotheim, a spokesman with the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Ocampo's father, Refugio Ocampo, said his son came back a changed man after he was deployed to Iraq in 2008. He said his son expressed disillusionment and became ever darker as he struggled to find his way as a civilian.

After he was discharged in 2010 and returned home, his parents separated. The same month, one of Itzcoatl Ocampo's friends, a corporal, was killed during combat in Afghanistan. His brother said Ocampo visited his friend's grave twice a week.

Like the men Ocampo is accused of preying on, his father is homeless.

His father lost his job and ended up living under a bridge before finding shelter in the cab of a broken-down big-rig he is helping repair.

Just days before he was arrested, Itzcoatl Ocampo visited his father, warning him of the danger of being on the streets and showing him a picture of one of the victims.

"He was very worried about me," Refugio Ocampo told The Associated Press. "I told him, `Don't worry. I'm a survivor. Nothing will happen to me.'"

Itzcoatl Ocampo lives with his mother, uncle, younger brother and sister in a rented house on a horse ranch surrounded by the sprawling suburbs of Yorba Linda. At the humble home, his mother, who speaks little English, tearfully brought her son's Marine Corps dress uniform out of a closet and showed unit photos, citations and medals from his military service.

The son followed a friend into the Marine Corps right out of high school in 2006 instead of going to college as his father had hoped.

His family described a physical condition Itzcoatl suffered in which his hands shook and he suffered headaches. Medical treatments helped until he started drinking heavily, they said.

A neighbor who is a Vietnam veteran and the father both tried to push Itzcoatl to get treatment at a Veterans hospital, but he refused. Refugio Ocampo said he wanted his son to get psychological treatment as well.

In addition to John Berry, James Patrick McGillivray, 53, was killed near a shopping center in Placentia on Dec. 20; Lloyd Middaugh, 42, was found near a riverbed trail in Anaheim on Dec. 28; and Paulus Smit, 57, was killed outside a Yorba Linda library on Dec. 30.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120117/ap_on_re_us/us_homeless_homicides

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Gingrich defends remarks on the poor, food stamps

Republican presidential candidates, from left to right: Texas Gov. Rick Perry; former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum; former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; arrive on stage at the start of the South Carolina Republican presidential candidate debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Monday, Jan. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidates, from left to right: Texas Gov. Rick Perry; former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum; former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; arrive on stage at the start of the South Carolina Republican presidential candidate debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Monday, Jan. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (AP) ? Newt Gingrich is refusing to back down from comments he made about the poor.

In a debate Monday night in South Carolina, Gingrich was asked whether his previous remarks about food stamps and allowing children to work janitor jobs to instill a work ethic were "insulting," particularly to African Americans.

Gingrich replied that "only the elites despise earning money." The former House speaker said he won't stop raising the issues simply because liberals become uncomfortable.

Gingrich said he believes "every American of every background has been endowed by their creator with the right to pursue happiness."

And he said that he will "continue to find ways to help poor people "learn how to get a job, learn how to get a better job and learn someday to own the job."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-16-GOP%20Debate-Gingrich-Food%20Stamps/id-0422e96b1ced45d39b2eee78e6002550

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The Advantages and Drawbacks of Investing that You Should Look ...

If you are going to get started in the arena of investment, you may want to take into account a few points and thoroughly think them over. One of them is the amount of cash you?re ready to invest. When you place your cash in options, mutual funds, bonds, or stocks, you should produce a specific amount so as to purchase a unit or open an account.

In terms of financial investments, two forms of units are usually traded out there ? short-term investments as well as long-term investments.

The major difference between both is the fact that short-term investments are made to present substantial returns within a short period of time, while long-term investments are designed to become mature for many years or so and features a slow yet steady progressive rise in return.

When your aim as an investor is to raise your wealth or keep the purchasing power of your capital over the years, then it?s critical that your investments should grow in value that at least keeps up with the rate of inflation. Having a good mix of property investments or equity shares might well be a good long-term strategy as compared to having just fixed-term investments.

You must have an investment portfolio that is spread spanning various sorts of investment products so you can effectively minimize your risk. It is a classic the actual application of the old phrase ?Do not put all your eggs in just one basket.? The many investment products available these days are becoming a lot more sophisticated as large and institutional investors trying to surpass each other.

When you are an individual investor, you simply have to invest on something you are comfortable with and not on products you do not fully grasp. You need to be definite with your investing criteria since it is crucial in evaluating your alternatives. When you are uncertain, the right approach is to find helpful advice.

Learn way more about investments and get useful tips in making more money.

Source: http://ifinancedaily.com/the-advantages-and-drawbacks-of-investing-that-you-should-look-out-for-5/

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