Monday, December 31, 2012

Rumor en Twitter: Hugo Ch?vez ha muerto en Cuba

Rumor en Twitter: Hugo Ch?vez ha muerto en Cuba

www.sdpnoticias.com

Seg?n los usuarios de la red social que difunden los que hasta ahora solo son rumores, Ch?vez ha fallecido en Cuba, donde se encuentra hospitalizado desde hace tiempo combatiendo el c?ncer que lo tiene gravemente enfermo.

Source: http://www.facebook.com/sdpnoticias/posts/506646459356933

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Friends recall wedding plans of Indian gang-rape victim

Agence France-Presse

An Indian protester shouts slogans as he is stopped by police during a protest against a recent gang-rape of a young woman in a moving bus in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Dec. 27, 2012. Another victim of gang rape in India, a 17-year-old girl, committed suicide after police pressured her to drop the case and marry one of her attackers, police and a relative said on Thursday. AP FILE PHOTO

NEW DELHI?She was due to marry her boyfriend in a matter of weeks, was the apple of her father?s eye and her friends were convinced she would achieve great things after completing her medical studies.

While India has seen an outpouring of grief for the 23-year-old who suffered fatal injuries when she was gang-raped on December 16, those who actually knew her paint a portrait of a young woman who was both in love and much loved.

Although not formally engaged, it was well-known by her friends that she was planning to marry the boyfriend who also suffered serious injuries in the same attack that would ultimately lead to her death.

Meena Rai said that she had been shopping with the unnamed victim for wedding outfits and the contents of a wedding box.

?She was supposed to get married in February to the same guy who was attacked on the bus with her,? said Rai, who lived next door in Mahavir Enclave, a neighborhood in southwestern New Delhi.

?They had made all the wedding preparations and had planned a wedding party in Delhi,? she told AFP.

Another friend who attended the cremation ceremony on Sunday confirmed that the wedding was due to take place in a matter of weeks.

?We know that she was going to get married in February,? Usha Rai (no relation) told AFP. ?The whole neighborhood was excited about it.?

The young couple had spent the evening together at a mall watching ?The Life of Pi? before they boarded a bus they thought would take them home.

According to reports, the frenzied attack on the pair began when the boyfriend objected to taunts about why an unmarried woman was out so late.

The gang clubbed him with an iron rod before they then turned on her.

The everyday image of a young couple enjoying a night out at the movies has been cited by many Indians to explain why they have been able to relate so much to the plight of someone whose name they will never know.

But others have identified with the backstory of a hardworking student whose family hail from rural India but who was looking to make a name for herself as a young urban professional with the eager backing of her proud parents.

Her parents sold their small piece of land in rural Uttar Pradesh in order to fund their daughter?s education, often limiting their own meals to little more than rotis with namak (bread with salt), according to friends.

In a frontpage tribute, The Hindustan Times said that she was ?invariably among the top students in her class and was determined to earn well and repay her father who had sold his ancestral land to fund her studies?.

Employed as a loader at Delhi?s international airport, the father used to say he was ?investing in my daughter?s future as she will be the one who takes care of me when I get old?, according to Meena Rai.

Her childhood was mainly spent in a one-bedroom flat near the airport that she shared with her two brothers as well as her parents.

A younger cousin still living back in the parental village in Uttar Pradesh told the Times of India how the young medical student had been an ?inspiration?.

?Seeing her do well, I was determined to study as well,? she said.

Other residents of the village recalled a young woman whose passion to succeed in medicine shone through when she paid a visit back home.

?Hers was a story of charming ordinariness, of aspiration and hard work, of pleasure in life?s little joys,? said the Hindustan Times.


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Tags: gang rape , India , Politics , Women

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Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/332335/friends-recall-wedding-plans-of-indian-gang-rape-victim

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Maxim Magazine Focuses on Military, Veterans and Their Families

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Source: www.nytimes.com --- Sunday, December 30, 2012
Maxim, a magazine featuring adolescent humor and plenty of scantily clad actresses, has courted the armed forces, veterans and their families as a source of growing readership. ...

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/31/business/media/maxim-magazine-focuses-on-military-veterans-and-their-families.html

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All eyes on them, Senate leaders seek fiscal deal

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Senate leaders rushed to assemble a last-ditch agreement to avoid middle-class tax increases and possibly delay steep spending cuts in an urgent attempt to find common ground after weeks of postelection gridlock.

An impatient President Barack Obama pressed top lawmakers to cut a deal, even one that falls short of the ambitions he and congressional leaders may once have harbored for a bigger deficit reduction package. Without a resolution, he warned, "every American's paycheck will get a lot smaller."

"Congress can prevent it from happening, if they act now," he said in his weekly Saturday radio and internet address.

Following a White House meeting Friday among Obama and congressional leaders, aides to Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., began racing against the clock for a bipartisan bargain. The leaders could present legislation to senators as early as Sunday, with a vote possible on Sunday or Monday.

The guest list for the White House meeting included Reid, McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. But the key players were clearly Reid and McConnell, both of whom stayed behind briefly at the White House and huddled with their staffs and Obama's top legislative aide, Rob Nabors, in the West Wing Cabinet Room just outside the Oval Office.

Neither side expected compromise to be easy. However, McConnell and Reid voiced unexpected optimism that they could work toward a deal that could win support in both their camps.

Warned Reid: "Whatever we come up with is going to be imperfect."

Looking to add pressure on negotiators, Obama said that absent a compromise he expects Reid to put legislation on the floor to prevent tax increases on the middle class and extend unemployment benefits ? an implicit challenge to Republicans to dare to vote against what polls show is popular.

Speaking for Republicans in a Saturday radio address, Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri sought to put the burden of a deal on Obama and Reid.

"We still can avoid going over the fiscal cliff if the president and the Democrat-controlled Senate step forward this week and work with Republicans to solve this problem and solve it now," he said.

Whatever manages to pass in the Senate, with its Democratic majority, would then face a second test in the Republican-controlled House.

Boehner, a Republican speaker who has struggled recently with anti-tax rebels inside his own party, said through an aide that he would await the results of the talks between the Senate and White House. A House vote could come as late as Wednesday, the final full day before a new Congress takes office.

Officials said there was a general understanding that any agreement would block scheduled income tax increases for middle-class earners while letting rates rise at upper-income levels.

Obama was sticking to his campaign call for increases above $250,000 in annual income, even though in recent negotiations he said he could accept $400,000.

The two sides also confronted a divide over estate taxes. Obama favors a higher tax than is currently in effect, but one senior Republican, Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, said he's "totally dead set" against it. Speaking of fellow GOP lawmakers, he said they harbor more opposition to an increase in the estate tax than to letting taxes on income and investments rise at upper levels.

But the estate tax was more likely to be used as a possible bargaining chip that Democrats could give away in exchange for higher rates for top earners and other Obama priorities.

Obama and Democrats want to prevent the expiration of unemployment benefits for about 2 million long-term jobless men and women, and there is widespread sentiment in both parties to shelter doctors from a 27 percent cut in Medicare fees.

Also likely to be included in the negotiations are taxes on dividends and capital gains, both of which are scheduled to rise with the new year. Also the alternative minimum tax, which, if left unchanged, could hit an estimated 28 million households for the first time and mean an average increase of more than $3,000.

The White House has shown increased concern about a possible doubling of milk prices if a farm bill is not passed in the next few days, although it is not clear whether that issue too might be included in the talks.

One Republican who was briefed on the White House meeting said Boehner made it clear he would leave in place spending cuts scheduled to take effect unless alternative savings were included in any compromise to offset them. In previous White House proposals, Obama has suggested finding enough cuts in government spending to put off the steeper cuts for up to six months.

Obama, speaking to reporters following his meeting with the congressional leaders, faulted a system that left crucial decisions to the last minute, a way of governing that he said the public finds "mindboggling."

"Outside of Washington nobody understands how it is that this seems to be a repeat pattern, over and over again," he said.

Still, Obama himself is part of the negotiating process, and his meeting with all four top leaders Friday was the first since Nov. 16. A phone call he placed Wednesday night to McConnell was the first the Republican leader had received from a Democrat on the fiscal talks since Thanksgiving.

Looking to add pressure on negotiators, Obama said he expects Reid to put legislation on the floor to prevent tax increases on the middle class and extend unemployment benefits ? an implicit challenge to Republicans to dare to vote against what polls show is popular.

The start of negotiations in the Senate marked a new endgame for discussions that have moved in fits and starts since the November election.

Boehner refused for weeks to accept any rate increases, and simultaneously accused Obama of skimping on the spending cuts he would support as part of a balanced deal to reduce deficits, remove the threat of spending cuts and prevent the across-the-board tax cuts.

Last week, the Ohio Republican presented a Plan B measure that would have let rates rise on million-dollar earners, well above Obama's latest offer for a $400,000 threshold.

Facing defeat, Boehner scrapped plans for a vote, leaving the economy on track for the cliff that political leaders in both parties had said they could avoid.

___

Associated Press writers Alan Fram and Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eyes-them-senate-leaders-seek-fiscal-deal-082435547--politics.html

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Eric Chua : Life, Business and Real Estate in Singapore ? Excellent ...

This article will be perfect for you if you want information about Affiliate marketing and you would like to have it in an easy to understand format. Your marketing efforts can be enhanced using these tips.

Having a blog can be a successful way to route visitors to your website. The key is to ensure that you use timely, relevant, updated content. When readers learn that your blog contains fresh content from one visit to the next, you?ll have more loyal visitors.

Make a plan for how you will market your webpage and the strategies you will use. Free or inexpensive ways to do so include commenting on blogs, hanging posters in local establishments, and making good use of social networking sites. There are a lot different tactics to draw business. Get creative!

TIP! To achieve success in internet marketing, try using words like ?guaranteed? in your advertisements and related content. People also know that companies sometimes don?t live up to their guarantees, so build up a reputation for honoring your promises.

Free Shipping

If you give incentives to your customers, they might order more quickly. Some popular incentives that other marketers offer include free shipping and free wrapping services. You may want to offer free shipping to the first hundred people purchasing a new product. This is a tried and true method for generating sales.

Make useful information available to your readers on the internet to promote your small business. Always make sure that your site?s content is exclusive to your site. Customers that visit your website should be able to learn about your business, so take care to keep your website stocked with up-to-date information.

TIP! Try and make all your banner advertisements look unique. So give your banner ad a more appealing look to entice more people to click it.

Have you considered making a video to showcase some of your products? Upload the video to YouTube and link it to your website. This will have a tremendous effect on the number of users who visit your site regularly.

Use AJAX and Flash only minimally. While the added interactivity might look nice, it does nothing to optimize your site for search engines. Only use Flash sparingly. Be sure to add plenty of navigation links and keywords to the pages the use Flash.

Another option would be combining products into a package deal and selling it for a lower price. That way the customer gets more bang for their buck. Do not disguise any portion of the terms of redeeming such an offer. Customers truly appreciate full disclosure.

TIP! When you do not regularly update or revamp your website, consider keeping things fresh with a company blog. Google and the ranks like new content, if you do not provide it, your site will move down in rankings.

Create a game to attract more site traffic. Customers may look for something to play online, so something simple can attract many people! Try to carefully and subtly incorporate advertising of your products within the game design. For instance, if you sell products for hair, your game could be about hairstyling and feature the things you sell on your site.

Your company needs a tagline and a logo, no matter how small it is online. Branding is accomplished more easily when these items are present. A good slogan or a visually appealing logo can influence a customer to be loyal over the long term. When a potential customer is looking to purchase your product, your slogan may come to mind, and bring you a new sale.

Target Market

TIP! Whatever you do, make your website stand out among the rest. If your website is distinctive, it is likely to draw plenty of traffic away from more indistinguishable sites.

Know the preferences and needs of your target market, so you can design your website in a manner that will draw them to it. After you know your target market, you can easily provide them with content that will attract them to your website repeatedly.

Avoid seeing Affiliate marketing as job replacement, but more as a hobby. If you see great levels of success, you may think about making it more of a career, but start with low expectations.

Make sure you advertise your business on many popular sites. It might cost you a little money and some time, but it?s an investment that will pay off in a huge way. You want to pick a site that has heavy traffic and offers content in your particular niche or area of industry.

TIP! Updating content frequently is one of the best things you can do to capture the attention of the search engines. Old, outdated information is going to give the viewer the impression that you do not care about your company, and therefore your customers.

Take an international approach, and welcome visitors to your site from around the world. To do this, translate your website into several different languages so that it is understandable to a much broader range of people. You will get many more customers from different parts of the globe, and you are likely to see an impressive boost in traffic. If a customer can easily read the information on your site in their own language, chances are higher that they will buy from you.

Identify specific actions you want your readers to take in your emails. Potential actions could be buying a service or product, subscribing to a magazine or visiting a web page. Tracking the actions your customer takes can help you see how successful your email marketing efforts were.

Successful advertising creates an emotional bond between your clientele and your products. Your reader should be prompted to daydream about using your product. Your customer should ?experience? your product when they read about ti.

TIP! Create a FAQ on your site. You can write the questions with the answers already in mind, and use them to advertise your products! Suggest one of your products for a particular issue or problem.

In conclusion, these tips can help you begin with affiliate marketing. It is our sincere hope that you have found this information valuable and will enjoy applying it. Implement the advice given and you?ll be well on your way to reaching a new level of success.

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www.facebook.com/maynaseric

Source: http://www.maynaseric.com/excellent-insider-info-for-affiliate-marketing-enthusiasts

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Senate approves $60.4 billion Superstorm Sandy reconstruction bill

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate on Friday approved a $60.4 billion aid package to pay for reconstruction costs from Superstorm Sandy, after defeating Republican efforts to trim the bill's cost.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid urged the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to quickly take up the bill.

Both chambers have to agreed on a package by Jan 2, when the current term of Congress is expected to end, or restart the process of crafting legislation in 2013.

The bill's chances in the next few days could depend on whether President Barack Obama and congressional leaders reach a deal to avert the "fiscal cliff" of tax increases and spending cuts set to begin kicking in the new year.

Republicans complain the $60.4 billion reconstruction package requested by Obama is more than the annual budgets for the departments of Interior, Labor, Treasury and Transportation combined. They have urged a slower relief approach based on a congressional assessment of needs.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated about $8.97 billion of the Senate bill would be spent in 2013, with another $12.66 billion spent in 2014 and $11.59 billion spent in 2015

(Reporting By Doug Palmer; editing by Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-approves-60-4-billion-superstorm-sandy-reconstruction-000707603.html

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Saturday, December 29, 2012

India Fights Back: Death of Delhi braveheart stirs anger

India Fights Back: Death of Delhi braveheart stirs anger Delhi Videos-IBNLive
Sheila Dikshit on Saturday bore the brunt of protesters as she visited Jantar Mantar to pay homage to the Delhi braveheart, who died over 12 days after the most heinous sexual and physical assault.

Source: http://ibnlive.in.com/videos/313013/india-fights-back-death-of-delhi-braveheart-stirs-anger.html

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Retail sales in Arizona rose 9% in October

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Source: http://www.azcentral.com/business/consumer/articles/20121227arizona-retail-sales-rose-october.html

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The Way To Decide The Suitable Web Hosting Plan | The Floor Geek

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  2. Easy Methods To Know If Your Inexpensive Web Hosting Plan Is A Hoax
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  4. The Various Services Of An Online Hosting Company
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Source: http://www.thefloorgeek.com/2012/12/the-way-to-decide-the-suitable-web-hosting-plan/

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Friday, December 28, 2012

Video: Pres. Obama to make "smaller offer" on cliff

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/50313601/

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Property market booms in 2012 with no bust in sight until 2016 ...

2012 has been very good for the Philippine property market, backed by a glowing economy, overseas Filipino remittances, and business process outsourcing (BPO) as main drivers to a development boom.

?

Despite fears of a bust, there is an overwhelming confidence among government officials and indsutry stakeholders holding on to the belief that there is no end to what is now happening in the market.

?

?We have previously noted that a major driver of this growth is the demand for office space due to the strong outlook of the BPO sector,? Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Arsenio Balisacan told reporters in a briefing on the third quarter GDP in late November. ?

?

?Also, favorable economic conditions led more individuals to purchase residential properties,? the Economic Planning chief added. He pointed out that the property market posted ?strong expansion? this year, as ?major players... Ayala Land, SM Prime Holdings and Megaworld posted double-digit revenues in terms of real estate and rent of commercial spaces.?

?

All-time low interest rates could also spur a reality shift toward a country of homeowners from a nation of renters, an industry insider noted. The ripple-effect could also lead to changes in the real estate market, inclduing the rise in green buildings and the call for the development of the silver market that caters to senior citizens and retirees.

?

Nation of owners

?

Change is happening, a ?democratization? in the real estate sector ?based on low interest rates and financing schemes,? Rick Santos, chairman and CEO of real estate services and advisory firm CBRE Philippines told GMA News Online.

?

Global property manager, broker, and marketeer Colliers International noted the growing demand to property ownership will be sustained largely by ?the younger age set?? a trend developers are already catering to with major player Century Properties expanding into the ?affordable market? that includes its P4.1-billion The Residences at Commonwealth

?

Data from global real-estate services firm Jones Lang LaSalle Leechiu (JLLL), 129,920 residential units are currenly available in Metro Manila, of which 3,690 are high-end at P120,000 per sqm and the rest are mid-range at P50,000-P110,000 per sqm.?

?

The bulk of condominium units developed in 2012 were in the P1.5 million-P3 million and P3 million-P6 million per unit range, with the lower range expected to account for 56 percent of the total by 2018.

?

This year, most residential condominium developments were concentrated in the Metro Manila's Pasig, Mandaluyong, Quezon City, and Makati areas, each receiving around 20 percent of total developments. Makati put up the most high-end to luxury condominium units at 6,099.

?

Metro Manila has a 54-percent share of existing retail supply, which is projected to drop to 52 percent next year.?

?

The rental average of ground floor and upper levels now stand at P1,028 per sqm in Metro Manila and P700 nationwide.

?

What housing bubble?

?

Despite the general trend of rising prices, ?There is no bubble in the Philippine property development market, because what is built is leased,? was JLLL's fearless assessment.

?

The housing bubble that struck the US in the mid-2000s ? the subprime mortgage mess that spurred the global economic depression ? after banks began offering home loans left and right, even to high-risk borrowers with no financial backing to pay the amortization on the houses, which were then reassessed below fair market value and resold at a lower price.

?

Such scenario has nil chance of plaguing the country ? at least until the next handful of years ? said JLLL associate director for markets Philip A?onuevo, adding that ?the holding power of Filipino buyers is longer.??

?

The Philippine economy, which clocked at 7.1 percent in Q3 2012 ? the fastest in Southeast Asia ? helped boost confidence and investments among property suppliers and buyers and leasing companies, a trend JLLL swears would likely last until the next presidential election in 2016.

?

Cause for optimism

?

Washington DC-based Urban Land Institute (ULI), which advocates responsible use of land and creating sustainable communities, found much cause for optimism in the Philippine property sector. Its survey on emerging real estate trends in the Asia Pacific raised Manila by six notches to 12th among 22 cities in terms of investment prospects for 2013. Manila also ranked ninth in city development prospects.

?

In retail property buy/hold/sell recommendations, 40 percent of respondents urged a buy, 51 percent a hold, and 9 percent a sell.?

?

Among leading Asia Pacific cities, Manila was judged ?generally good,? with ULI noting that markets have ?performed well in the past couple of years as a result of a growing economy, a transparent and business-friendly government, and the country?s ongoing success ? an ?eye opener? ? in attracting foreign clients in its [BPO] facilities.?

?

The survey also cited the large casino development in Pasay City as an impetus to development and boosting tourism ? once completed.

?

However, the bar on foreigners' ?holding majority land ownership... continue to deter international investors.? Ample liquidity from domestic sources is also dampening the need for locals to partner with aliens.?

?

JLLL's A?onuevo urges the government to incentivize firms to head south or north as an option to decongest the increasingly cramped and disaster-vulnerable Metro Manila.

?

JLLL national director for markets Lizanne Tan noted Cebu was the leading business location after Metro Manila, with rents nearing those in the National Capital Region except for Makati, but with lower salaries.?

?

Foreign investment opportunities

?

ULI's study found opportunities for foreign investors in the gaming and BPO sectors. ?Both present large opportunities,? ULI said, ?with the latter accounting for some 70 percent of new office take-up in Manila.?

?

JLLL also reported that BPOs were still the top buyers of office space in 2012. In the first 11 months of 2012, demand grew 18 percent to 425,000 sqm year-on-year.

?

Non-BPOs bought 100,000 sqm or 25 percent of current demand, said Sheila Lobien, JLLL director for project leasing.

?

She said average Grade A rents in Bonifacio Global City and the Makati central business district have risen 15 to 20 percent since 2009 ?due to a high level of leasing activity across all districts? that include Alabang, Ortigas, Eastwood, Pioneer, and Araneta Cyberpark.

?

Global City is becoming the hot location, with multinational Coca-Cola and homegrown Aboitiz Group ?bracing for expansion and moving to new corporate space,? A?onuevo noted. The Philippine Stock Exchange would move to its headquarters there in 2016.

?

The massive entertainment district development in the Manila Bay Area has inspired tourism-geared development. In May, JLLL tracked 10,536 hotel rooms in the pipeline from 2011 to 2016, and 5,000 more have since been added in six months.

?

A?onuevo said growth areas to look out for include the privatized Food Terminal Complex and the University of the Philippines area on Commonwealth Avenue.

?

The silver market

?

In November, the Retirement and Healthcare Coalition formed by the European, American, Japanese, and Korean chambers of commerce urged local property developers to look into developing for the ?growing ?silver market.?

?

By 2030, 25 percent of the world?s population will be comprised of retirees, many of them ?looking for homes outside their own countries,? said Coalition executive director Marc Daubenbuechel.

?

Agence France-Presse reported that the Philippine Retirement Authority already counts nearly 21,000 retirees, mostly Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese, in its retirement incentive program. But the Philippines is behind Malaysia and Thailand when it comes to aggressively pursuing second-home silver buyers. ? BM/VS, GMA News

Source: http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/287917/economy/business/property-market-booms-in-2012-with-no-bust-in-sight-until-2016

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How Porn Impacts Real Intimacy and Real Relationships [free call ...

How is/was your porn use impacting your real relationships?

I?m inspired to help men feel more turned on by their sexual partners. I?m inspired to support men finding even more pleasure out of real sex. In order to do so, we have to really take a look at our sexuality and how we show up sexually online and with real people.

So, as you begin 2013, consider a ?no porn diet? with us and hundreds of other men. Join our free, live call on Jan 2, 2013 from 6-7pm MT:

How Porn Impacts Real Intimacy and Real Relationships?

This 1 hr free call will get you honest about how porn is helping or hurting your sex life.
I will co-lead this call with Decker Cunov, Authentic World founder and Integral Center wizard.?

Ask yourself these questions:

  • Are you starting to wonder if using porn is becoming a habit or addiction?
  • Do you consider how it?s impacting you connecting with real women in real time?
  • Do you sense that your porn use is helping or?hindering your energy levels for the demands of your life?
  • Do you feel less potent? Or do you ever lose your erection or ejaculate too fast or not at all?
  • Do you find yourself hiding or ?covering your tracks? with friends and lovers?
  • Do you use porn when you are stressed, in a fog, glazed over, bored, unambitious, or frustrated?

If any of these are true, chances are porn ?has you? versus you having porn.

It?s understandable. Our lives are full and complex, busy and at times overwhelming. Porn, like sugar, booze, or a nap, can lift us up for a bit and take the edge off. It the moment it feels good. Over time?not so much.

We?ve worked with hundreds of men who start out using porn very casually, but over time, it begins to eat away at their lives and contributions to the world.

In our experience, porn seduces men away from their centers, farther from the stuff they claim they care about.

So, we want to challenge you to take a break and see what you learn about yourself. You can put in the time with us and then ask yourself, are you on top of your game more? more focused? Are your relationships with real women more or less satisfying?

Come join the ride with us while we offer some valuable facts and tips on how to get your mojo back to its fullest.

On this basic overview call, we will cover:

  • the cost of your porn use?5-10 ways it?s sucking the much needed potency out of you.
  • how to increase your trustworthiness and personal integrity with porn
  • how to increase your sex drive and passion with women
  • 3 key steps to get out of the porn trance
  • how to begin a no porn diet

Here?s the Registration Link:

http://bit.ly/WXfsxPrncall

So, if you want to learn a few tips and free up more life force for the creative tasks toward your mission while increasing the chemistry and juice between you and women, register for our free call here.

?

Source: http://www.jaysongaddis.com/2012/12/how-porn-impacts-real-intimacy-and-real-relationships/

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Central Michigan edges Western Kentucky 24-21

Central Michigan wide receiver Cody Wilson (11) celebrate his fourth-quarter touchdown with a teammate in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl NCAA college football game against Western Kentucky at Ford Field in Detroit, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Central Michigan won 24-21. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Central Michigan wide receiver Cody Wilson (11) celebrate his fourth-quarter touchdown with a teammate in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl NCAA college football game against Western Kentucky at Ford Field in Detroit, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Central Michigan won 24-21. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Central Michigan defensive back Jahleel Addae (4) holds the trophy after their 24-21 win over Western Kentucky in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl NCAA college football game at Ford Field in Detroit, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Central Michigan defensive back Jarret Chapman (29) acknowledges the crowd after Western Kentucky tight end Jack Doyle missed a fourth-down catch during the final minute of the fourth quarter of the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl NCAA college football game at Ford Field in Detroit, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. Central Michigan won 24-21. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Western Kentucky quarterback Kawaun Jakes (6) is tackled by Central Michigan defensive lineman Leterrius Walton (58) as he falls into the end zone for a touchdown during the first quarter of the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl NCAA college football game at Ford Field in Detroit, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Central Michigan running back Zurlon Tipton (34) breaks away from the Western Kentucky defense during the second quarter of the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl NCAA college football game at Ford Field in Detroit, Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

(AP) ? On this night, Dan Enos was fine with letting the other coach make the game's most important decision.

"I don't know what I would have done," Enos said. "But I will never second guess a coach for trying to win."

Enos and his Central Michigan Chippewas held on for a 24-21 victory over Western Kentucky on Wednesday night in the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl, stopping the Hilltoppers on fourth-and-2 in the final minute when a field goal could have sent the game to overtime.

Lance Guidry, coaching Western Kentucky on an interim basis with Bobby Petrino set to take over, went for the victory after his players made their feelings known on the matter.

"That was all the players. We were going to kick the field goal, but they told me that they were here to win the game," Guidry said. "I asked everyone and they wanted to go for it so we took the chance."

It didn't work out. On fourth down from the 19-yard line with 51 seconds left, Kawaun Jakes threw incomplete.

Ryan Radcliff had thrown an 11-yard touchdown pass to Cody Wilson with 5:11 remaining to give Central Michigan the lead.

"I couldn't have scripted it any better than my last catch being the winning TD in a bowl game," said Wilson, a senior who had 10 catches for 101 yards on the night.

Western Kentucky (7-6) fell just short in its first bowl since joining college football's top tier in 2009.

Radcliff went 19 of 29 for 253 yards and three touchdowns, but Central Michigan (7-6) needed to rally late.

"We knew we left a lot on the table in the first half, but we made a lot of those plays in the second half," said Enos, who was coaching his first bowl as Central Michigan's coach.

Down 21-17, Zurlon Tipton appeared to have put the Chippewas ahead in the fourth quarter, but his fourth-down run was ruled short of the goal line after a review.

"When we didn't get the touchdown, we knew we had to stop them right there," linebacker Shamari Benton said. "We knew that we just needed to give the offense one more shot."

Central Michigan forced the Hilltoppers to punt from their own end zone, and Avery Cunningham blocked it. Although the ball bounced around for a bit, the Chippewas finally secured it and took over with great field position inside the 30.

Radcliff found Wilson in the back left corner of the end zone for a 24-21 lead.

Western Kentucky's final drive ended when Jakes' pass intended for Jack Doyle fell incomplete.

Petrino, the Hilltoppers' coach-in-waiting, was expected to be at Ford Field watching his new team, but a snowstorm forced him to scrap those plans. Western Kentucky started aggressively.

Down 7-0, the Hilltoppers ran a flea-flicker on their first play from scrimmage, with Antonio Andrews running to his right, then tossing the ball back to Jakes, who found Rico Brown for a 70-yard gain.

Two plays later, Jakes scored on a 6-yard run to tie it.

Central Michigan answered with a 73-yard drive that ended with Andrew Flory's 29-yard touchdown reception, his second of the quarter.

The offenses settled down a bit for the rest of the quarter. Both teams were backed up by a pair of terrific punts. Hendrix Brakefield's 74-yarder pinned Central Michigan at its own 5, but Richie Hogan flipped the field position with a punt that sailed past Andrews and bounced back to the Western Kentucky 12. The 82-yard effort was returned only 4 yards.

David Harman's 50-yard field goal put the Chippewas up 17-7, but Jakes threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Doyle, with the tight end making a one-handed catch to pull Western Kentucky within three.

The TD pass was the 51st for Jakes, breaking a tie with Justin Haddix atop the school's career list.

Harman had a field goal blocked later in the half, and although the Chippewas were in range for another attempt in the final minute, Radcliff was sacked and fumbled. He was able to recover, but the last few seconds of the half ticked off.

Western Kentucky took a 21-17 lead in the third on a 1-yard scoring run by Kadeem Jones, which capped an 80-yard drive that used 9:23.

Andrews rushed for 119 yards, but he fell short of the 274 all-purpose yards he needed to break the single-season record of 3,250 set by Oklahoma State's Barry Sanders in 1988. Andrews, a junior, had 184 all-purpose yards to finish the season at 3,161.

"I fell short this year, but I'll be going for that record again next year," he said.

Central Michigan took a 7-0 lead on a 69-yard touchdown pass from Radcliff to Flory. Western Kentucky safety Jonathan Dowling whiffed on a tackle near midfield, and Flory was gone.

Dowling had a chance to make up for that mistake early in the third quarter, but with his team down 17-14, he dropped an interception near midfield that he could have easily returned for a touchdown.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-12-27-FBC-Little-Caesars-Bowl/id-e976452bcac449a3b2d3a7afce1e877e

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

Kids: Afghan policewoman who killed was mentally ill

Mohammad Ismail / Reuters

Fatima, 13, holds a picture of her mother, Narges Rezaeimomenabad, at her home in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Wednesday. Her mother is suspected of killing a U.S. contractor at a police headquarters in Kabul.

By Michael Georgy and Mirwais Harooni, Reuters

KABUL -- The Afghan policewoman suspected of killing a U.S. contractor at police headquarters in Kabul suffered from mental illness and was driven to suicidal despair by poverty, her children told Reuters on Wednesday.

The woman was identified by authorities as Narges Rezaeimomenabad, a 40-year-old grandmother and mother of three who moved here from Iran 10 years ago and married an Afghan man.

On Monday morning, she loaded a pistol in a bathroom at the police compound, hid it in her long scarf and shot an American police trainer, apparently becoming the first Afghan woman to carry out such an attack.

Narges also tried to shoot police officials after killing the American. Luckily for them, her pistol jammed. Her husband is also under investigation.

Her son Sayed, 16, and daughter Fatima, 13, described how they tried to call their parents after news broke of the shooting, then waited in vain for them to come home.


They recalled Narges's severe mood swings, and how at times she beat them and even pulled out a knife. But the children said she was consistent in bemoaning poverty.

"She was usually complaining about poverty. She was complaining to my father about our conditions. She was saying that my father was poor," Sayid said in an interview in their damp, cold two-room cement house.

On the floor beside him were his mother's prescriptions and a thick plastic bag filled with pills she tried to swallow to end the misery about a month ago. On another occasion, she cut her wrist with a razor, Sayed said.

US civilian killed by Afghan policewoman in Kabul

"My father was usually calm and sometimes would say that she was guilty too because it wasn't a forced marriage. They fell in love and got married."

There was no sign in their neighbourhood of the billions of dollars of Western aid that have poured into Afghanistan since the ouster of the Taliban in 2001, or of government investment.

RAW SEWAGE, STAGNANT WATER, DIRT ROADS

The lane outside their home stank of raw sewage.

Dirty, stagnant water filled holes in dirt roads nearby, where children in tattered clothes played and butchers stood by cow's hooves in shops choked by dust.

Afghanistan is one of the world's poorest nations, with a third of its 30 million residents living under the poverty line.

The sole distractions from the daily grind appeared to be a deck of playing cards and a compact disc with songs from Iranian pop singers, scattered on the floor of a room where Narges would lock herself in and weep, or sit in silence.

At times, Narges would try to focus on building her children's confidence, telling them to be guided by the Muslim holy book, the Koran, to tackle life's problems.

Taliban says US base targeted in Afghan blast

Sayed and Fatima said she never spoke badly of the U.S. presence in Afghanistan or of President Hamid Karzai's government.

Neighbour Mohammad Ismail Kohistani was dumbfounded to hear on the radio that Afghan officials were combing Narges' phone records to try to determine whether al Qaeda or the Taliban could have brainwashed her into carrying out a mission.

But he was acutely aware of her mental problems and often heard her scream at her husband, whose low-level job in the crime investigation unit of the police brought home little cash.

Kohistani, who operates a small sewing shop with battered machines, never imagined his neighbour could be accused of a high-profile attack that raised new questions about the direction of an unpopular war.

"I became very depressed and sad," said Kohistani, sitting on the floor few feet from a tiny wood-burning stove in Narges's home, alongside family photographs and a police training manual.

Fatima would often seek refuge in Kohistani's house when her mother's behaviour became unbearable. "She did not hate us, but usually she was angry and would not talk to us," said Fatima, her eyes moist with tears.

Watch World News videos on NBCNews.com

Nevertheless, she missed her mother. The children were staying with a cousin.

"I ask the government to free my mother, otherwise our future will be destroyed," said Fatima.

Officials described it as another "insider shooting", in which Afghan forces turn on Westerners they are meant to be working with to stabilise the country. There have been over 52 such attacks so far this year.

The shooting at the police headquarters may have alarmed Afghanistan's Western allies. But some Afghans have grown numb to the violence.

Kohistani's 70-year-old father, Omara Khan, who sports a white beard, sat twirling prayer beads beneath a photograph of Narges in a black veil beside one of her husband.

Asked what he thought of the attack, he laughed.

"This is common in Afghanistan," said Khan, who lived through decades of upheaval, including the 10-year Soviet occupation and a civil war that destroyed half of Kabul and killed some 50,000 civilians.

"People are killed every day."?

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/26/16173931-mental-illness-poverty-drove-afghan-policewoman-to-kill-us-contractor-her-children-say?lite

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Focus On Cancer Year in Review: New Brain Cancer Treatments at ...


2012 was an exciting year for the Abramson Cancer Center. We are featuring blogs featured on the Focus On Cancer blog that highlight cancer treatment breakthroughs, coping tips and ideas, education and inspiration. Today, we are highlighting the brain cancer treatment at Penn.

There are new treatments for brain cancer at Penn. In this article, writer and cancer survivor Chris Wilson discusses new treatments in surgery, radiation and targeted therapies for brain cancer.

New Treatments for Brain Cancer


Christine Wilson, cancer survivor, shares her experiences from the Abramson Cancer Center?s 2012- Focus on Brain Cancer Conference:
Discovery to Recovery. In this blog, she discusses treatments for brain cancer.

Neurosurgery:? The Crux of Treatment for Brain Cancer


"The neurosurgeon's goal is take out as much of the tumor as possible safely, " says Steven Brem, MD, conference chair, and director of neurosurgical oncology.

"Personalized medicine has become something of a buzz work in medicine, but it is true for brain cancer patients,? says? Donald O'Rourke, MD, associate professor of neurosurgery.

Penn neurosurgeons are using improved imaging techniques for "neuronavigation."? This approach provides real-time, 3D views for the surgeon as he operates - allowing for maximum safe resection of the tumor and avoiding normal tissue.? This is particularly crucial in preserving language function and motor skills.

Radiation Therapy:? The Full Spectrum of Options


"Penn has the largest, most advanced proton facility in the world, one of only 10 in the United States.? We also have the unique advantage of having all of our radiation facilities integrated under one roof, "
Robert Lustig, MD, professor of radiation oncology.

Radiation therapy plays a key role in the treatment of most brain cancers.? Penn offers the full range of treatment modalities including one of only 10 proton facilities in the country.? Patients often are unsure of the relative benefits or indications for different kinds of radiation therapy, for example, protons vs. the gamma or cyber knife.?

Radiation therapy treatment decisions for brain tumors are highly individualized and need to be made in the context of multidisciplinary planning.

Briefly stated, protons:

  • Are more precise than conventional radiation therapy and do less damage to normal tissue
  • Reduce side effects both short and long term?
  • Deliver slightly more radiation to the tumor on a dose by dose basis
  • Are effective in treating tumors near sensitive structures such as the spinal cord
  • Can be used to "retreat" some patients with brain cancers
Dr. Lustig noted that Penn is now conducting clinical trials using protons for high-grade glioblastomas, grade III astrocytomas and pituitary adenomas, and will participate in an NCI-RTOG national study on protons for glioblastomas expected to begin soon.

He also noted that many patients encounter insurance issues in trying to get approval for proton therapy, although Medicare pays for most indications.

Stereotactic radiosurgery using the Gamma Knife? is another option for treating brain cancers.? Michelle Alonso-Basanta, MD, PhD, assistant professor of radiation oncology, explained that the original Gamma Knife was not designed to treat cancers, but that advances in technology and technique have made this a useful therapy for some patients with brain cancers.

"As with protons," she says, "we can deliver a very high dose of radiation to the target with little or no exposure of normal tissue to the radiation.? And, as with protons, the decision as to who will benefit from this approach is very individual."

Both stereotactic radiosurgery and protons offer the possibility of retreatment for patients who have undergone a previous course of radiation therapy and whose tumors have recurred.? In the past, these patients were not eligible for additional radiation therapy.?

Targeted Therapies: Changing Cancer Treatment


Penn Medicine has been a leader in immunotherapy research and in developing targeted vaccines for cancer for many years.? Bruce Levine, PhD, facility director, clinical cell and vaccine production facility describes work currently underway that involves activating T-cells, one of the mainstays of the body's defense system, to fight cancers.?

"If I could design T-cells to fight cancer," he says, "they would be potent, have a good memory, be persistent and numerous."

A new approach, developed at Penn, known as CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T-cell therapy promises to be all of those things.? CAR uses a complex process to remove cells from the patients and own body and activate them to attack the tumor.? Penn is now in the process of developing clinical trials that will study the effects of CAR T cell therapy on glioblastomas with the EGRF v III mutation.

That mutation is the focus of work aimed at improving brain cancer treatment using chemotherapy as well.? Arati Desai, MD, MAS, is using bevacizumab (Avastin), a drug that inhibits blood vessel formation, in combination with another drug in patients with recurrent glioblastomas.? Phase II studies have demonstrated improved response rates and survival, although Desai acknowledges that some controversy exists about what those responses mean in terms of actual survival times.

Other clinical trials are aimed at attacking cancer cells from both the inside of the cell and the outside.

These include approaches using

  • Immunotherapy
  • Combinations of drugs that target multiple pathways
  • Drugs that affect the environment around the tumor
  • Drugs that block the critical M Tors pathway
  • Drugs that target factors known to influence prognosis, such IDH1 and MGMT

"There isn't going to be a single drug or agent that is going to work for everyone," says Desai.? "It's not going to be the same answer for every patient."

Cancer Information From a Reliable Source

Thank you for a fantastic 2012. The Focus On Cancer blog is committed to provide people with cancer and their caregivers educated information from a reliable source, the Abramson Cancer Center at Penn Medicine. Please subscribe to our blog to get updates about new cancer treatments at Penn, credible information from cancer experts at Penn, and inspiration from other people with cancer.

Source: http://penn-medicine-focus-on-cancer.blogspot.com/2012/12/focus-on-cancer-year-in-review-new.html

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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Netflix Customers Experience Christmas Eve Outage | Small ...

All entrepreneurs must learn this important lesson: No matter how great your product or service may be, how you deliver that product or service ultimately makes or breaks your business. Fail to deliver what customers expect, and you will suffer the consequences. Deliver consistently at or even above those expectations and you build a loyal army of followers who will keep buying from you while bringing even more customers to your door. Here we see evidence that even large brands can get it wrong when it comes to delivering on expectations and also hear some advice from small businesses on how to get it right.

Customer Relations

The gift that keeps on giving. On Christmas Eve, Netflix users discovered the streaming video service isn?t always a good alternative to cable. An outage affected users in Canada, the U.S. and Latin America that evening and was not fully corrected until Christmas Day. It was not a great gift to Netflix customers, many of whom have abandoned cable and other forms of entertainment for the innovative service, and like many bad customer experiences, it may linger in their minds for some time to come. Reuters

Signing an unwritten contract. You may not think of it this way, but each time you make a sale of products or services to a customer, you effectively enter into an unwritten contract. Once you adopt this approach to customer relationships, you?ll probably never look at your business the same way again?or want to. Instead of simply moving on from one sale to the next, you?ll look at each transaction as a set of promises made between you and your customer, says blogger Harry Vaishnav. And they are promises that must be kept if your business is to succeed. Small Biz Viewpoints

Service with a Smile

Above and beyond the call of duty. The most successful businesses are those that do a little something extra. They are also the ones that make sure their customers know and remember the added benefits they provide in their products and services. Take the baker who always slips that extra bread roll into your bag, a ?baker?s dozen.? You remember that little extra the next time you?re buying bread and decide which bakery to visit. Do the same in your business, says Tom Watson, and you?ll keep them coming back for more. Cleaning 4 Profit

Up close and personal. Personalized service can be an important edge, especially for smaller companies. One important step in creating this personalized service is to get closer to your customers. This closer relationship lets businesses learn specifics about customer preferences and how to deliver on them effectively. Here business networking consultant Jeff Owen suggests some great steps that will bring you closer to your customer base. UPrinting

Communications & Community

How to change the channel. Customer service and engagement depend upon communicating with your customers and fans where they are, and like it or not, this does not always mean a single or small collection of channels. Not only do customers expect your brand to engage with them across multiple channels, but 97 percent of these customers expect their experience to be consistent no matter what channel they use to engage with your brand. The good news is that one study found those customers who engage you on multiple channels are likely to spend more money and be more loyal too. SalesPortal

Truth is more profitable than fiction. We all like to believe that our products and services help our customers. So the best kind of customer service should be to deliver those products and services in a way that will make our customers? lives better. But it turns out that telling the truth about what our customers need is also the best marketing. It may also be the best way of keeping customers loyal and bringing them back again and again. Business mentor Laura Humphreys tells the story of a dentist whose candor is winning business one patient at a time. Liber8Me

Talk to your community. Talk with your community and you create loyalty in ways you cannot fully calculate. As blogger Sian Phillips explains, your community allows you to connect in a way that goes beyond simple marketing and customer service. Ask them to answer a question or to share a blog post or other message, and they will respond. They are more than customers, clients, and fans, they are friends. These connections will serve you well and help you deliver products and services in tune with your customers and community. CorpNet

Source: http://smallbiztrends.com/2012/12/netflix-customers-experience-christmas-eve-outage.html

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Apply for a Travel Grant and Get Your Trip Funded for Free

Apply for a Travel Grant and Get Your Trip Funded for FreeTraveling can be one of the most important, memorable life experiences (especially if you're a student and study abroad). But what if you can't afford to globe-trot or go on a road trip? The Telegraph outlines ten ways you can travel for free?including getting an organization to fund your trip.

Believe it or not, some organisations exist with the sole purpose of funding travel. To cash in on this generosity, you'll need to present a clear, considered plan and persuade a board of people that your trip is worthwhile. Many organisations value trips that will enhance personal or cultural development, but each has its own specifications and criteria. The SPRET educational trust caters specifically for students based in certain areas, whereas UNESCO and the UN both offer more general funding to travellers.

The article is targeted towards students, and many travel grants are focused on educational purposes, but you might be able to find a travel grant even if you're not in school. In addition to the sources mentioned in the quote above, About.com's Student Travel site has a list of travel grants with brief descriptions of them.

If you can't get a grant, check out the other free travel suggestions from The Telegraph, including teaching abroad and volunteer vacations.

University travel: 10 ways students can globe-trot for free | The Telegraph

Photo by LenDog64

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/ejQhYqyLxsY/apply-for-a-travel-grant-and-get-your-trip-funded-for-free

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Syria minister leaves Beirut for fear of arrest

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syria's wounded interior minister rushed home from a Beirut hospital on Wednesday for fear he would be arrested after some Lebanese called to put him on trial for his role in a 1986 crackdown by Syrian troops in Lebanon.

In another blow to President Bashar Assad, his commander of military police defected.

The defector, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal, is one of the most senior members of Assad's inner circle to join the opposition during the 21-month-old uprising against authoritarian rule. He appeared in a video aired on Al-Arabiya TV late Tuesday saying the army has been turned into a gang to kill and destroy.

Interior Minister Mohammed al-Shaar, wounded in a bombing of his ministry in Damascus, left a Beirut hospital before his treatment was finished and flew home to Damascus on a private jet, officials at Beirut's Rafik Hariri International Airport said.

Al-Shaar was wounded on Dec. 12 when a suicide bomber exploded his vehicle outside the Interior Ministry, killing five and wounding many. He was brought to the hospital in neighboring Lebanon a week ago.

A top Lebanese security official told The Associated Press that al-Shaar was rushed out of Lebanon after authorities there received information that international arrest warrants could be issued against him because of his role in the crackdown against protesters in Syria.

Over the past week, some Lebanese officials and individuals have called for al-Shaar's arrest for his role in a 1986 crackdown in the northern city of Tripoli.

In the 1980s, al-Shaar was a top intelligence official in northern Lebanon when Syrian troops stormed Tripoli and crushed the Islamic Unification Movement ? a Sunni Muslim group that then supported former Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasser Arafat. Hundreds of people were killed in the battles and since then, many in northern Lebanon have referred to al-Shaar as "the butcher of Tripoli."

The Lebanese security official said Lebanese citizens had also begun taking steps to sue al-Shaar for his role during Syria's military domination of Lebanon for decades. Lebanese are deeply divided over the Syria crisis.

Al-Shaar and other Syrian officials are also on a list of people subjected to European Union sanctions for violence against anti-regime protesters in Syria.

"Lebanese officials contacted Syrian authorities and that sped up his departure," said the security official, adding that a Lebanese medical team is expected to go to Damascus to continue al-Shaar's treatment there. "If such arrest warrants are issued, Lebanese judicial authorities will have to arrest him and this could be an embarrassment for the country," he said.

The airport and security officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The Syrian government denied at first that al-Shaar was wounded. Then it emerged that he was brought to the Beirut hospital last week for treatment. It was the second time the minister was wounded in the civil war. He was also injured when a bomb went off on July 18 during a high-level crisis meeting in Damascus, killing four top security officials.

Lebanon and Syria have a long and bitter history.

Syrian forces moved into Lebanon in 1976 as peacekeepers after the country was swept into a civil war between Christian and Muslim militias. For nearly 30 years that followed, Lebanon lived under Syrian military and political domination.

That grip began to slip in 2005, when former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated in Beirut. Syria was widely accused of involvement ? something it has always denied ? and Damascus was forced to withdraw its troops. Even so, Damascus has since maintained considerable power and influence in Lebanon.

Shortly after he arrived in Beirut for treatment last week, anti-Syrian politicians, including legislators Jamal Jarrah and Mohammed Kabbara, called for al-Shaar's arrest. Another call came this week, when Lebanese lawyer Tarek Shandab filed a complaint to the country's prosecution accusing al-Shaar of "genocide and ethnic cleansing" in Tripoli.

In another setback for the regime, the defection of the military police chief came as military pressure builds on the regime, with government bases falling to rebel assault near the capital Damascus and elsewhere across the country.

The defector al-Shallal appeared in a video aired on Al-Arabiya TV late Tuesday saying he is joining "the people's revolution."

Dozens of generals have defected since Syria's crisis began in March 2011. In July, Brig. Gen. Manaf Tlass was the first member of Assad's inner circle to break ranks and join the opposition.

Al-Shallal is one of the most senior and held a top post at the time that he left. He said in the video that the "army has derailed from its basic mission of protecting the people and it has become a gang for killing and destruction." He accused the military of "destroying cities and villages and committing massacres against our innocent people who came out to demand freedom."

Thousands of Syrian soldiers have defected over the past 21 months and many of them are now fighting against government forces. Many have cited attacks on civilians as the reason they switched sides. Anti-regime activists estimate more than 40,000 have died in the past 21 months.

In violence on Wednesday, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government shelling in the northeastern province of Raqqa killed at least 20 people, including eight children, three women and nine others. An agricultural area near the village of Qahtaniyeh was hit by the shelling.

An amateur video showed the bodies of a dozen people including children lying in a row inside a room. Some of them had blood on their clothes, while weeping could be heard in the background.

The videos appeared genuine and corresponded to other AP reporting on the events depicted.

Also Wednesday, activists said rebels were attacking the Wadi Deif military base in the northern province of Idlib. The base, which is near the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan, has been under siege for weeks.

In October, rebels captured Maaret al-Numan, a town on the highway that links the capital Damascus with Aleppo, Syria's largest city and a major battleground in the civil war since July.

The attack on Wadi Deif comes a day after rebels captured the town of Harem near the Turkish border. The rebels have captured wide areas and military posts in northern Syria over the past weeks.

In Lebanon, airport officials in Beirut said Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and Assistant Foreign Minister Ahmad Arnous flew early Wednesday to Moscow.

Their visit to Moscow comes two days after Assad met in Damascus with Lakhdar Brahimi, the international envoy to Syria. Brahimi, who is scheduled to go to Moscow as well, gave no indication of progress toward a negotiated solution for the civil war.

Brahimi is still in Syria and met Tuesday with representatives of the opposition National Coordination Body, state-run news agency SANA said. The head of the group, Hassan Abdul-Azim, said Brahimi briefed them on his efforts to reach an "international consensus, especially between Russia and the United Stated to reach a solution."

NCB spokesman Rajaa al-Naser said his group said there must be an end to violence and formation of a "transitional government with full prerogatives."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-minister-leaves-beirut-fear-arrest-175402230.html

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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Calculated Risk: Private Investment and the Business Cycle

by Bill McBride on 12/25/2012 01:01:00 PM

A little holiday cheer ...

Discussions of the business cycle frequently focus on consumer spending (PCE: Personal consumption expenditures), but?the key is to watch private domestic investment, especially residential investment. Even though private investment usually only accounts for?around 15% of GDP, the swings for private investment?are significantly larger?than for PCE during the business cycle, so private investment has an outsized impact on GDP at transitions in the business cycle.

The first graph shows the real annualized change in GDP and private investment since 1960 (this is a 3 quarter centered average to smooth the graph).

GDP has fairly small annualized changes compared to the huge swings in investment, especially during and just following a recession. This is why investment is one of the keys to the business cycle.

GDP and Investment real annualized changeClick on graph for larger image.

Note that during the recent recession, the largest decline for GDP was in Q4 2008 (a 8.9% annualized rate of decline).? On a three quarter center averaged basis (as presented on graph), the largest decline was 5.9% annualized.

However the largest decline for private investment was a 43% annualized rate!? On a three quarter average basis (on graph), private investment declined at a 35% annualized rate.

The second graph shows the contribution to GDP from the four categories of private investment: residential investment, equipment and software, nonresidential structures, and "Change in private inventories". Note: this is a 3 quarter centered average of the contribution to GDP.

This is important to follow because residential investment tends to lead the economy, equipment and software is generally coincident, and nonresidential structure investment lags the business cycle. Red is residential, green is equipment and software, and blue is investment in non-residential structures. The usual pattern - both into and out of recessions is - red, green, and blue.

Investment Contributions to GDP The dashed purple line is the "Change in private inventories". This category has significant ups and downs, but is always negative during a recession, and provides a boost to GDP just after a recession.?

The key leading sector - residential investment - has lagged this recovery because of the huge overhang of existing inventory. Usually residential investment is a strong contributor to GDP growth and employment in the early stages of a recovery, but not this time - and that weakness?was a key reason why the recovery?was sluggish so far.

Residential investment?finally turned positive?during 2011 and made a positive contribution to GDP in 2012.

Residential Investment as Percent of GDPWhat does this mean for the business cycle? Usually residential investment would turn down before a recession, and that isn't happening right now. Instead residential investment is starting to increase.

The third graph shows residential investment as a percent of GDP. Residential investment as a percent of GDP is?just above the?record low, and it seems likely that residential investment as a percent of GDP will increase further in 2013.

The key downside risk for the US economy in 2013 is too much austerity, too quickly.?? However,?barring a policy mistake (I expect a fiscal agreement),?it seems unlikely there will be a sharp decline in private investment in 2013.?? This is because residential investment is already?near record lows as a percent of GDP and will probably increase further?in 2013, and? that suggests?the US will avoid a new recession in 2013.

Source: http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2012/12/private-investment-and-business-cycle.html

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