Start your week with the Greatest Android Podcast in the World!

And we're right back in the thick of it folks. On the latest edition of the Greatest Android Podcast in the World, we talk the new LG Spectrum and Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX for Verizon, our thoughts on the new Google privacy policy, plus what an open-sourced webOS means for Android.

The Android Central Podcast is your weekly peek into the world of Android, where we break down the news that really matters, and explain what's just a bunch of hype. Plus, we answer your e-mails and voicemails. You don't want to miss it. Check out the Android Central Podcast.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/GO3-ThmXxo4/story01.htm

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Video: Teen: Texting, driving ?not worth your life?

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46202439#46202439

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Theater Arts ? Blog Archive ? Investing Strategy: Covered Call ...

Experts in the field of investment believed that it is important to invest your hard earned dollars properly and in a secure manner. They believed that you money should work for you and for you to enjoy life. When talking about investment, many people who have money on their pockets aren?t that sure if it is worth their time and effort. Not everyone are fully aware how investments run your hard earned dollars. But according to experts, there are many kinds of investments that are worth the risk. One investment that many experts are very well aware of is covered call.

For someone who hasn?t heard covered call, they could think that this is like a direct calls to and from other countries. Well, this is not your ordinary telephones or all about making phone calls. Covered calls is one of the investment strategies that experts used. This investment won?t get you the idea of making big in just a short period of time. This is among the income oriented approach that focuses your money to progress slowly.

What are the things that you need in writing covered calls?

First and foremost you need to have a brokerage account. The next you that you should have is a permission that qualifies you to write a covered call. Many accounts will allow writing covered calls in default mode or there just complete an easy form so that you can write and sell call options. You also need to have at least 100 shares of stock or funds to buy one. Last but not the least is your portfolio and wide selection of quality trade options.

You need to familiarize with different terms like short and long. Long in this kind of investment means that you bought a particular share and you are entitled to receive some profit if the worth rises. Short is selling a share even if you don?t own it. Investors would short a share if they predict that the share will decrease and depreciate in value. In the long term, the investors will have to buy that share they sold for a lesser price. This is where investors get their income or profits in the long run.

Other terms that you need to remember is calls and puts. Call option is where the buyer of a share has the right to call any price or is sometimes called strike price of that particular share before the share expires. This kind of investment is simply the same as any other investment since it has its own risk and failures as well. It is important so that you can know the risk and know this investment better.

Source: http://www.cendresetsang-lefilm.com/uncategorized/investing-strategy-covered-call-things-you-need-to-know

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Pets Help Women Cope With HIV/AIDS - Drugs.com MedNews

MONDAY Jan. 30, 2012 -- Having a pet helps women with HIV/AIDS cope with their condition and may also help those with other chronic diseases, a new study says.

Researchers conducted 12 focus groups with 48 women with HIV/AIDS to find out how they stay healthy. The women, whose average age was 42, said that five social roles helped them manage their illness.

These roles included being: a pet owner; a mother/grandmother; faith believer; an advocate and an employee.

The study also found that being stigmatized had a negative impact because it prevented women from revealing their illness and seeking out appropriate supports, the Case Western Reserve University researchers said.

The finding about the benefits of being a pet owner was a surprise, said study author and nursing instructor Allison Webel.

"Pets -- primarily dogs -- gave these women a sense of support and pleasure," Webel said in a university news release.

Speaking about their pets, one cat owner said, "She's going to be right there when I'm hurting," while a dog owner said, "Dogs know when you're in a bad mood ... she knows that I'm sick, and everywhere I go, she goes. She wants to protect me."

Webel noted that the human and animal bond in healing and therapy is receiving increasing recognition and more animals are visiting nursing homes to connect to people with dementia, or visiting children going through long hospital stays.

The study appears online in the January-February issue of Women's Health Issues.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about living with HIV/AIDS.

Posted: January 2012

Source: http://www.drugs.com/news/pets-help-women-cope-hiv-aids-36142.html

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Samsung ML-2955ND

Clearly aimed at a micro, small, or home office, or as a personal printer in any size office, the Samsung ML-2955ND ($130 street) is small enough to fit on a desk comfortably, yet offers an appropriate paper capacity and speed to serve as either a personal or shared printer. It doesn't hurt at all that the price is low enough to make it highly affordable as well.

The ML-2955ND has a lot in common with the slightly more expensive Brother HL-2270DW ($150 street, 4 stars), starting with a similar size. Both are smaller than many inkjets. The ML-2955ND measures 7.7 by 13.7 by 13.3 inches (HWD). That makes it taller than the Brother printer by a little less than an inch, but it also gives it a slightly smaller footprint.

Shared features include wired network support, along with a USB connection, and essentially identical paper handling. The network support makes the printers easy to share. The paper handing is appropriate for either a micro office or personal use, with a 250-sheet tray, 1-sheet manual feed, and built-in duplexer for printing on two sides of the page. Neither printer offers additional paper handling options.

One feature the HL-2270DW offers that the ML-2955ND doesn't is wireless network support. If you need WiFi, however, you can get the Samsung ML-2955DW ($150 street), which Samsung says is identical to the ND version except for the added WiFi.

Setup and Speed
For my tests, I set up the ML-2955ND on a network using a wired connection and installed the driver on a system running Windows Vista. Setup was standard fare. On our business applications suite, I timed the printer (using QualityLogic's hardware and software for timing) at an effective 8.5 pages per minute (ppm), a speed that's best described as acceptable but unimpressive.

The printer is certainly slower than I'd expect for the 29 ppm rating, which is roughly the speed you should see for printing text documents without graphics or photos. The HL-2270DW, for example, is rated at 27 ppm, but came in or our tests at 11.7 ppm. Under the category of being faster than expected, the HP LaserJet Pro P1102w ($149 direct, 3.5 stars), which is rated at only 18 ppm, managed 11.4 ppm on our tests.

Output Quality and Other Issues
Output quality is just a touch below par overall, with text that's a small step below par, absolutely par graphics, and photos at the low end of the very tight range where most mono lasers fall. The good news is that even with slightly below par text quality for a mono laser, the text is easily good enough for most business use. You shouldn't have any complaints about it unless you have an unusual need for small fonts.

As with most mono lasers, graphic output was easily good enough for any internal business need. Depending on how demanding you are, you may consider it good enough for PowerPoint handouts and the like. Photo output was more than good enough to print recognizable images from photos on Web pages. Depending on how demanding you are, once again, you may or may not consider them good enough for output like client newsletters.

One other issue that demands mention is the printer's running cost. The claimed 3 cents per page isn't particularly high for this price range, but it is 0.9 cents higher than Brother claims for the HL-2270DW. With only a $20 difference in initial price, if you buy the Brother printer, you can make up the difference by printing roughly 2,200 pages over the lifetime of the printer. Anything more than that, and the Brother printer will be cheaper in the long run.

Partly making up for this potentially higher total cost is the Samsung printer's Eco mode which, with default settings, switches the printer to duplex printing and toner saver mode with one touch of a button on the control panel. However, Samsung doesn't say how much the toner saver mode actually saves.

As may seem obvious, the Samsung ML-2955ND can be a good fit as a shared printer in a micro office or as a personal printer in any size office. If you're considering it, however, you should take a look at the Brother HL-2270DW as well. Depending on how many pages you expect to print, either choice could wind up being the better buy.

More Laser Printer Reviews:
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??? Xerox Phaser 6700/DN
??? Canon Color imageClass MF8380Cdw
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/I6li7GQtWao/0,2817,2399504,00.asp

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Suu Kyi galvanizes once-repressed Myanmar politics

DAWEI, Myanmar?? Euphoric seas of supporters waved opposition party flags and offered yellow garlands. They lined crumbling roads for miles and climbed atop trees, cars and roofs as Aung San Suu Kyi spoke at impromptu rallies. Some cried as her convoy passed.

Cheered by tens of thousands, the 66-year-old opposition leader electrified Myanmar's repressive political landscape everywhere she traveled Sunday on her first political tour of the countryside since her party registered to run in a historic ballot that could see her elected to parliament for the first time.

"We will bring democracy to the country," Suu Kyi said to roaring applause as her voice boomed through loudspeakers from the balcony of a National League for Democracy office in the southern coastal district of Dawei. "We will bring rule of law ... and we will see to it that repressive laws are repealed."

As huge crowds screamed "Long Live Daw Aung San Suu Kyi!" and others held banners saying "You Are Our Heart," she said: "We can overcome any obstacle with unity and perseverance, however difficult it may be."

Suu Kyi's campaign and by-elections due April 1 are being watched closely by the international community, which sees the vote as a crucial test of whether the military-backed government is really committed to reform.

The mere fact that Suu Kyi was able to speak openly in public in Dawei ? and her supporters were able to greet her en masse without fear of reprisal ? was proof of dramatic progress itself. Such scenes would have been unthinkable just a year ago, when the long-ruling junta was still in power and demonstrations were all but banned.

Suu Kyi's visit was equivalent to waking a sleeping dragon, said environmental activist Aung Zaw Hein.

"People had been afraid to discuss politics for so long," he said. "Now that she's visiting, the political spirit of people has been awakened."

Looking into the giant crowds, Hein added: "I've never seen people's faces look like this before. For the first time, they have hope in their eyes."

Businesman Ko Ye said he was ecstatic that Suu Kyi came, and like most people here, he welcomed the recent dramatic changes that made her trip possible. "We are all hoping for democracy," the 49-year-old said, "but we're afraid these reforms can be reversed at anytime."

After nearly half a century of iron-fisted military rule, a nominally civilian government took office last March. The new government has surprised even some of its toughest critics by releasing hundreds of political prisoners, signing cease-fire deals with ethnic rebels, increasing media freedoms and easing censorship laws.

Suu Kyi's party boycotted the 2010 election as neither free nor fair. It sought to have its legal status restored after the government amended electoral laws. Her party has been cleared to offer candidates in the April vote, and an Election Commission ruling on Suu Kyi's candidacy is expected in February.

Some critics are concerned the government is using its opening with Suu Kyi to show it's committed to reform. The government needs her support to get years of harsh Western sanctions lifted.

On Sunday, Suu Kyi said the opposition had struggled for democracy for decades, but the best way to do that now was to fight "from within parliament." But she also expressed caution over the challenges ahead. "It's easy to make problems, but it's not easy to implement them," she said. "We have a lot to do."

An NLD victory would be highly symbolic, but her party would have limited power since the legislature is overwhelmingly dominated by the military and the ruling pro-military party. Up for grabs are 48 seats vacated by lawmakers who were appointed to the Cabinet and other posts.

Suu Kyi has spent 15 of the past 23 years under house arrest, and as a result, has rarely traveled outside Yangon. Although she conducted one successful day of rallies north of Yangon last year, a previous political tour to greet supporters in 2003 sparked a bloody ambush of her convoy that saw her forcibly confined at her lakeside home.

She was finally released from house arrest in late 2010, just days after the elections that installed the current government and led to the junta's official disbandment.

Suu Kyi met with party members in Dawei, including one running for a parliament seat. She will make similar political trips to other areas, including the country's second-largest city, Mandalay, in early February before officially campaigning for her own seat, party spokesman Nyan Win said.

Suu Kyi is hoping to represent the constituency of Kawhmu, a poor district just south of Yangon where some villagers' homes were destroyed by Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

Lay Lay Myint, a 35-year-old grocery store manager, said Suu Kyi's platform in parliament would allow her to "let the world know what is happening" in Myanmar.

"People have been living in fear here," Myint said. "Just seeing her hear makes us braver, more courageous."

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46177554/ns/business/

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Obama holds fundraiser with American Indians (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama, raising money for his campaign among tribal leaders, said Friday he wants American Indians to be "full partners" in the economy.

Obama met with 70 to 75 supporters from Native American tribes. Democratic officials said the fundraiser would benefit the Obama Victory Fund, a joint committee of the Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Tickets started at $15,000.

Obama told participants that he has worked to include American Indians in his administration and wants Native Americans to be "full partners in our economy." The president noted that he had signed laws to improve health care for Native American tribes and pushed for better educational opportunities and more improvements to tribal economies.

"We want new businesses and new opportunities to take root on the reservations," Obama said. Attendees included Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman, and former Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I.

Obama raised more than $220 million for his re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee in 2011. The president returned to Washington after completing a three-day, five-state trip following his State of the Union address.

When Obama ran for president in 2008, he visited Montana's Crow Indian reservation and was adopted into the nation during a private ceremony.

Obama quipped, "If my adoptive parents were here, I know what they'd say, "Kids just grow up so fast."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_el_pr/us_obama_fundraiser

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Newt Gingrich Soared In South Carolina, But Now Former House Speaker Could Sour

Real Clear Politics:

It?s no longer a race between Mitt Romney and Not Romney. Newt Gingrich?s resurgence is rooted in the candidate he is, rather than the candidate he is not.

Gingrich has proven able to win with a broader coalition than Romney. That coalition eviscerated Romney?s double-digit lead in national polls. The GOP race is now a dead heat between the two men. Romney remains the favorite. But Gingrich is a serious contender for the nomination. And it?s a mistake to limit Gingrich?s GOP appeal to what Romney is not.

Read the whole story: Real Clear Politics

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/28/newt-gingrich_n_1239115.html

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Video: Gingrich takes a tumble after debate

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46168899#46168899

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Aging reputed Chicago mobster found guilty (AP)

CHICAGO ? A federal judge in Chicago has convicted a 73-year-old reputed mobster who'd been imprisoned three decades ago for helping to steal the 45-carat Marlborough Diamond from a London jewelry store.

Judge Harry Leinenweber found Arthur "The Brain" Rachel guilty on three of four counts, including racketeering.

Rachel grimaced and shook his head slightly when the judge read the verdicts.

Two co-defendants had pleaded guilty earlier.

The case drew attention partly because of the defendants' advanced ages when they're accused of planning several apparently botched robberies.

But prosecutor Amarjeet Bhachu says the men were far from goofs. He says "you don't have to be a weightlifter" to pull the trigger of a gun and hurt people.

Rachel was imprisoned in Britain in the diamond theft. The diamond was never recovered.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_us/us_aging_robbers

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Mutiny leader demands new Papua New Guinea gov't (AP)

PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea ? Rebel soldiers seized the military's headquarters Thursday and replaced Papua New Guinea's top general with their own leader, who gave Prime Minister Peter O'Neill a week to step aside for his ousted predecessor.

The new crisis comes during a turbulent period for the South Pacific's most populous island nation, where both O'Neill and former Prime Minister Michael Somare claim to be the rightful leader.

The self-proclaimed new chief of the country's defense forces, retired Col. Yaura Sasa, insisted he was not mounting a coup. But he warned that the military will take unspecified action unless O'Neill stands down and Somare is reinstated, as the national Supreme Court ordered last month.

"Both Sir Michael Somare and O'Neill have seven days to implement the Supreme Court's orders to resolve the current political impasse or I will be forced to take actions to uphold the integrity of the Constitution," Sasa told reporters in Port Moresby.

The government called on Sasa and his supporters to surrender and said the mutiny did not have support from the broader military.

Deputy Prime Minister Belden Namah told reporters that about 30 soldiers were involved in the mutiny and 15 of them have been arrested. Namah said Sasa could be charged with treason, which carries the death sentence.

The mutiny started before dawn, when rebel soldiers overpowered guards at the Taurama Barracks in Port Moresby. They then moved to the military headquarters at Murray Barracks and placed the head of the Papua New Guinea Defense Force, Brigadier General Francis Agwi, under house arrest. There were no reports of bloodshed.

The Australian Embassy reported that Agwi was released from house arrest later Thursday, a development welcomed by Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd.

Sasa, who last served as Papua New Guinea's defense attache to Indonesia before retiring from the military, told reporters he had been legitimately appointed defense chief by Somare.

Somare's spokeswoman Betha Somare told Australian Broadcasting Corp. that his ousted cabinet had confirmed Sasa's appointment several days ago. Betha Somare, who is also Michael Somare's daughter, did not immediately reply to The Associated Press' request for comment on Thursday.

Namah said Somare had "no sanity" and was using "rogue soldiers to pursue his own greed and selfishness."

O'Neill had told Australia ? Papua New Guinea's former colonial master and its main provider of foreign aid ? that "authorities were taking steps to manage the situation," Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard condemned the mutiny.

"The military has no place in PNG politics," she said in a statement.

"It is critical therefore that this situation be resolved peacefully as soon as possible, with the PNG Defense Force chain of command restored," she added.

Somare was Papua New Guinea's first prime minister when it became independent in 1975, and was knighted by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. Papua New Guinea's Parliament replaced him with O'Neill in August, while Somare was getting medical treatment outside the country.

Last month, the country's Supreme Court and Governor-General Michael Ogio backed Somare, who the court ruled was illegally removed. But Ogio changed his mind days later, saying bad legal advice had led him to incorrectly reinstate Somare.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_as/as_papua_new_guinea_mutiny

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Google Thinks I'm a Middle-Aged Man. What About You? (Mashable)

I'm a woman who is too young to remember the Reagan administration, but Google has me pegged as a middle-aged man. Given my habit of browsing technology websites, the search engine probably placed me in my father's demographic a long time ago. But it didn't break the news to me until Tuesday, when it rolled out a revamped privacy policy that drew my attention to my account.

[More from Mashable: Meme Machine: 5 Hilarious Viral Topics Trending Right Now]

That's when I noticed a settings tab in my Google account called Ads Preferences, launched a few months ago, that shows the basic profile Google has compiled based upon my web browsing habits. Other websites who partner with Google use the profile to target ads on their sites.

Here is a snapshot of what Google thinks I'm interested in:

[More from Mashable: European Lawmakers Want ?Right to Be Forgotten? on Facebook, Google]

Look like a 35- to 44-year-old dude to you? Google, too. Google uses a cookie, that is, a long string of alphanumeric characters, to convey this snapshot along with its guess for my age and gender to other websites.

If Google were to have attached a non-PR-filtered, honest note to this page (it didn't), I imagine it would say something link this:

"See, this is all we're concerned about in this whole tracking business. It's not even detailed enough information to distinguish a middle-aged man from a girl technology reporter. To us, your profile is just a series of random digits, nothing more. And if you don't like it, we are making it so easy to opt out that you have no excuse not to."

Easy it may be, but there's still a battle raging between privacy advocates on one side and Google and advertising agencies on the other over whether an opt-out solution to privacy in behavioral advertising, like the one Google participates in, is sufficient.

User data has become the number one factor that advertisers take into account when searching for a media partner, and the Network Advertising Initiative released a study that found behaviorally targeted advertising secured more than 2.5 times as much revenue per ad as its non-targeted counterpart. Both parties are hoping to prove that a choice to opt out of behavioral tracking is sufficient privacy protection.

Privacy advocates, meanwhile, have demanded an opt-in solution that would only allow behavioral tracking if a user consented to it, citing, for instance, a 2010 study in which only 51% of participants realized that online behavioral advertising "happened a lot."

?People understand that the [grocery store] is obviously keeping track of the food that they buy, but they?re getting it cheaper,? John Simpson, a privacy advocate with the non-profit Consumer Watchdog advocacy group, told me about a year ago while explaining why he opposed an opt-out solution. ?And if they?re using those cards, they?re willing to give up some of their information for cheaper prices. The thing about what?s going on online is nobody really understood what they were giving up.?

Google looks to be making a bigger effort to help people understand how they are being tracked. And after looking at my own profile, what it's telling other sites about me doesn't make me paranoid. The step is probably not a big enough effort for most privacy advocates -- some people don't know how to find the opt-out button on the settings page and it's easy to imagine the havoc Google could wreak with information it is capable of collecting -- but is it enough for you?

Let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, hidesy

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20120125/tc_mashable/google_thinks_im_a_middleaged_man_what_about_you

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Funeral service for Paterno as thousands mourn

People pay their respects as the hearse carrying the casket of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno passes through State College, Pa., Wednesday Jan. 25, 2012. Paterno died Sunday at the age of 85. (AP Photo/John Beale)

People pay their respects as the hearse carrying the casket of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno passes through State College, Pa., Wednesday Jan. 25, 2012. Paterno died Sunday at the age of 85. (AP Photo/John Beale)

Meghan James, 14, left, and her grandmother Joan Wanat, both from Huntington, N.Y., comfort each other after going through the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on the Penn State campus for the viewing for former Penn State coach Joe Paterno Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 in State College, Pa. Paterno died Sunday morning. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Mourners arrive at the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on the Penn State campus for memorial services for former Penn State coach Joe Paterno Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 in State College, Pa. Paterno died Sunday morning. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Alysha Ulrich, 10, left foreground, from Oley, Pa., waits in line to go through the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on the Penn State campus for the viewing for former Penn State coach Joe Paterno Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 in State College, Pa. The second day of a three-day period of public mourning for Paterno will culminate with the funeral and burial for the Hall of Fame football coach who became the face of Penn State University. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Blaze Feury, right, a member of the Penn State rugby team, gives out hot chocolate to mourners in line to go through the Pasquerilla Spiritual Center on the Penn State campus for the viewing for former Penn State coach Joe Paterno Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012 in State College, Pa. The second day of a three-day period of public mourning for Paterno will culminate with the funeral and burial for the Hall of Fame football coach who became the face of Penn State University. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) ? Quiet mourners lined the route of Joe Paterno's funeral procession Wednesday, watching with grief and reverence as the electric-blue hearse carrying the Penn State coach's casket slowly drove by.

Some took pictures with their cell phones, or waved to his widow. Others craned their necks hoping for a better glimpse through the crowd sometimes four deep or more.

The private funeral and burial service capped another emotional day for a campus and community pained over Paterno's death from lung cancer Sunday at age 85, and over the way his stellar career ended ? being fired by university trustees Nov. 9 in the wake of child sex-abuse charges against a former assistant.

Thousands of students, alumni and fans took to the streets in and around Penn State to say their last goodbyes to the football coach who grew into a beloved figure in Happy Valley, not only for his five undefeated seasons but for his love of the school and his generosity.

"He cared about the kids. He wanted to see us succeed. So for a lot of us, he became a grandfather-like figure," Jordan Derk, a senior from York, said after the procession went past Beaver Stadium.

"He loved us and we loved him back," Derk said. "So saying goodbye is very tough."

Jay Paterno, the coach's son and quarterbacks coach, sent a message to the mourners via Twitter.

"Thank you to all the people who turned out for my father's procession," he wrote. "Very moving."

The elder Paterno won two national titles and a Division I record 409 games over 46 seasons as head coach. His cancer was disclosed just nine days after he was forced to leave the football program he had worked with since 1950.

But Wednesday was once again a salute to Paterno's life and accomplishments. The service, a Roman Catholic Mass, was attended by a veritable who's who of Penn State and Paterno connections.

Paterno's family arrived about an hour before the funeral service on two blue school buses, the same kind the coach and his team rode to home games on fall Saturdays. His wife of nearly six decades, Sue, sat in the seat traditionally reserved for her husband and was first off the bus, followed by Jay.

Former defensive coordinator Tom Bradley walked to the service with NFL great Franco Harris. Also in attendance were other ex-NFL players including Matt Millen and Todd Blackledge, both now TV analysts. Nike founder Phil Knight and actor William Baldwin were there, too.

"Today's Mass was a celebration. We laid to rest a great man," Bradley said. "Not so much for the football victories ... He meant so much to so many people."

Charles Pittman, who played for Paterno in the 1960s, also was at the Mass.

"It really focused on the type of person Joe Paterno was ? his devotion to his family, his wife, his grandkids," said Pittman, a senior vice president for publishing at Schurz Communications Inc., an Indiana-based company that owns television and radio stations and newspapers, and a member of the Board of Directors of The Associated Press.

A family spokesman, Dan McGinn, said Paterno's grandchildren escorted the casket down the aisle during the opening procession, and again at the end of the service. Jay Paterno and his brother, Scott, were among the pallbearers.

In between, during the service, all of Paterno's children spoke except for Jay, who is scheduled to talk at a campus memorial service Thursday at the Jordan Center. Two of Paterno's 17 grandchildren also talked and shared the favorite moments collected among the rest of the grandkids ? including one instance when Paterno mistakenly drove over a bicycle after returning home from work.

Former defensive tackle Anthony Adams, who carried a program with a black-and-white picture of a smiling Paterno on the cover, said the service was befitting of his former coach, who loved to be surrounded by family and just talk.

On the other hand, Paterno also was notorious for trying to avoid the spotlight himself.

"He would've been embarrassed. He would've hated it," Millen said. "He would've told us to shut up already. I guarantee it."

Paterno didn't focus on the scandal that led to his stunning ouster, Scott Paterno has said, and neither did mourners.

Jerry Sandusky, the former assistant coach at the center of the abuse scandal, has been charged with molesting 10 boys over a period of 15 years. He has pleaded not guilty and is out on bail, awaiting trial. Paterno was criticized in the days after Sandusky's arrest for not going to authorities outside campus when he was told of an allegation against the retired assistant in 2002. Paterno did notify two of his superiors at Penn State.

Mike McQueary, the then-graduate assistant who told Paterno about the alleged assault, went both to the public viewing and the funeral. Also at the service was former athletic director Tim Curley, who along with former university official Gary Schultz, is charged with perjury and failure to notify authorities about the 2002 allegation.

They melted into the crowd on a day when Paterno was the center of attention.

"The things he did for athletes, the things he did for all students actually ? that alone earns our respect to say one final goodbye," said Alex Jimenez, a sophomore from Manapalan, N.J., standing directly across from Paterno Library. The procession went right past the library to which the Paterno family has donated millions of dollars.

And the procession rolled past Beaver Stadium, the 100,000-plus seat facility that Paterno helped turn into a college football landmark. Thousands watched in silence there until the convoy reached "Paternoville," the makeshift campground outside the stadium used by students the week before games.

There, as the procession slowed nearly to a stop to negotiate a curve, someone in the throng screamed, "We are!"

"Penn State!" came the crowd's reply.

___

Associated Press writer Michael Rubinkam and AP freelance writer Emily Kaplan contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-25-Penn%20State-Paterno/id-882270cf2f12456ca48a4d88c0e4af7f

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'I will disappear' says Syrian who dares to speak out

HOMS, Syria?? Rushing out of the Rawda Cafe in the heart of Homs, the man berated journalists for not visiting rebel-held areas of the city. "Killing is everywhere," he screamed.

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"I am 65 years old and I have no life ? what happened to my country, what happened to my country?"

His agitation drew a crowd of supporters of President Bashar Assad who accused gunmen of stirring violence in Homs, scene of some of the worst bloodshed of the 10-month uprising.

"What are you doing here? Go to Baba Amro, go to Khaldiya," the man continued, referring to opposition strongholds which activists say have come under heavy fire from Assad's forces.

"What are you seeing here? Everything is clear in Syria, everything is clear," the man shouted. Until then, the journalists accompanied by heavy security had been struggling to find Homs residents to speak to on a government-organized trip.

People try to calm him down
When asked what he thought was happening in Syria, the man shouted: "Ask him, ask the president what is going on in Syria, what is going on in the country. Don't ask me."

The United Nations say 5,000 people have been killed in the crackdown, but authorities say they are fighting terrorist groups who they say have killed 2,000 soldiers and police.

Some of the men attracted by the commotion tried to calm the man down and take him back inside the cafe. The crowd grew, with many pro-Assad voices.

"What are you talking about? The city is safe," another man told him.

But he hit back: "How could you say that? How could you say it's all safe ? can you walk around?"

"I go wherever I want," the other man countered.

The man turned to the journalists and said: "They will come and get me, I fear for my life, nobody will hear about me if I give my name now. They will torture me, I will disappear."

'He is security'
A man in his 50s whispered: "You see this man saying it's safe? He is security, from the intelligence."

Two old men standing next to him nodded, with angry looks on their faces.

"Do not listen to them, they're security," one of them said. The other two nodded.

Assad supporters said their lives had become a nightmare and they did not feel safe.

Video: Inside Syria: the untold story (on this page)

"The city is full of armed groups, they have killed us and raped our women," shouted one man.

Another shouted: "We were fine until the armed gangs appeared, they have caused the misery."

The man who started the scene tried to argue but his friends pushed him back inside the cafe.

The crowd dispersed.

Reuters

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46113926/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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New discoveries in cell aging

ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2012) ? Researchers have quantified with precision the effect of protein aggregation on the cell aging processes using as models the Escherichia coli bacteria and the molecule which is thought to trigger Alzheimer's disease. Scientists have demonstrated that the effect can be predicted before it occurs. Protein aggregation is related to several diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases.

The research, published recently in the Journal of Molecular Biology, provides an extremely reliable system with which to model and quantify the effect of protein aggregation on the viability, division and aging of cells. It also aids in further understanding the natural evolution of proteins. According to Salvador Ventura, researcher at IBB and director of the research project, "it will serve to develop computer approximations to predict the effects aggregation has on cell aging, as well as to search for molecules that act as natural chaperones, highly conserved proteins which are present also in humans and which have the ability to reduce this effect in the bacteria."

Although it is widely accepted that bad folding and aggregation of proteins reduces the cell's ability to survive and reproduce, the damage caused had not been previously measured experimentally as precisely as it was in this research.

In previous studies scientists had verified that the expression of the Alzheimer's AB42 peptide in bacteria induces the process of protein aggregation. Now they have demonstrated that this effect is coded in the protein aggregation sequence and that it depends on intrinsic properties, not on a direct response from within the cell. This makes it possible to predict the effect. Scientists also demonstrated that damage caused to the bacteria is controlled by molecular chaperones, which reduce the tendency of proteins to aggregate and favour cell survival.

In addition to researchers from IBB and the UAB Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, participating in the project were scientists from the Biophysics Unit at CSIC-UPV, the University of the Basque Country, the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia and the Barcelona Centre for International Health Research.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Universitat Aut?noma de Barcelona.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Anna Villar-Pique, Natalia S. de Groot, Raimon Sabat?, Sergio P. Acebr?n, Garbi?e Celaya, Xavier Fern?ndez-Busquets, Arturo Muga, Salvador Ventura. The Effect of Amyloidogenic Peptides on Bacterial Aging Correlates with Their Intrinsic Aggregation Propensity. Journal of Molecular Biology, 2011; DOI: 10.1016/j.jmb.2011.12.014

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://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/VTbtVfBvo9s/120123101831.htm

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Official: possibility of unregistered passengers (AP)

GIGLIO, Italy ? Unregistered passengers might have been aboard the stricken cruise liner that capsized off this Tuscan island, a top rescue official said Sunday, raising the possibility that the number of missing might be higher than the 20 previously announced.

Rescuers, meanwhile, resumed searching the above-water section of the Costa Concordia but choppy seas kept divers from exploring the submerged part, where officials have said there could be bodies.

"There could have been X persons who we don't know about who were inside, who were clandestine" passengers aboard the ship, Franco Gabrielli, the national civil protection official in charge of the rescue effort, told reporters at a briefing on the island of Giglio, where the ship, with 4,200 people aboard rammed a reef and sliced open its hull on Jan. 13 before turning over on its side.

Gabrielli said that relatives of a Hungarian woman have told Italian authorities that she had telephoned them from aboard the ship and that they haven't heard from her since the accident. He said it was possible that a woman's body pulled from the wreckage by divers on Saturday might be that of the unregistered passenger.

But the identity of that body and of three male bodies, all badly decomposed after days in the water, have yet to be established. Gabrielli said they have identified the other 12 bodies: four French, an Italian, a Hungarian, a German and a Spanish national.

Until Sunday, authorities had said that 20 people are still missing.

The search had been halted for several hours early Sunday, after instrument readings indicated that the Concordia has shifted a bit on its precarious perch on a seabed just outside Giglio's port. A few meters (yards) away, the sea bottom drops off suddenly, by some 20-30 meters (65-100 feet), and if the Concordia should abruptly roll off its ledge, rescuers could be trapped inside.

When instrument data indicated the vessel had stabilized again, rescuers went back in, but only explored the above-water section. Choppy seas kept divers from exploring the submerged part of the ship, including the restaurant and evacuation staging areas where survivors have indicated that people who did not make it into lifeboats during the chaotic evacuation could have remained.

Passengers were dining at a gala supper when the Concordia sailed close to Giglio and struck the reef, which is indicated on maritime and even tourist maps.

There are also fears that the Concordia's double-bottom fuel tanks could rupture in case of sudden shifting, spilling 2,200 metric tons (almost 500,000 million gallons) of heavy fuel into pristine sea around Giglio, which is part of a seven-island archipelago in some of the Mediterranean's most pristine waters and a prized fishing area.

But Gabrielli said pollutants found near the ship have been detergents and other substances, including chlorine, apparently from the wreck of the ship, which carried some 3,200 passengers and a crew of 1,000. Any fuel traces found were "compatible with what you find in a port," he said.

Ferries and cargo ships regularly call at Giglio's port.

Sophisticated oil-removal equipment has been standing by, waiting for the search-and-rescue operations to conclude before workers can start extracting the fuel in the tanks.

The Italian captain, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest as prosecutors investigate him for suspected manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship while many were still aboard.

Operator Costa Crociere, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Carnival Cruise Lines, has said that Capt. Schettino had deviated without permission from the vessel's route in an apparent maneuver to sail close to the island and impress passengers.

Schettino, despite audiotapes of his defying Coast Guard orders to scramble back aboard, has denied he abandoned ship while hundreds of passengers were desperately trying to get off the capsizing vessel. He has said he coordinated the rescue from aboard a lifeboat and then from the shore.

___

D'Emilio reported from Rome.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_cruise_aground

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Obama honors Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins

President Barak Obama honors the 2010-2011Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barak Obama honors the 2010-2011Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barak Obama holds up a Boston Bruins hockey jersey during a ceremony where he honored the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barak Obama honors the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barack Obama honors the 2010-2011 Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Team owner Jeremy Jacobs is at left.(AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barack Obama honors the 2010-2011Stanley Cup champion Boston Bruins hockey team, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama saluted the NHL's Boston Bruins for their 2011 Stanley Cup championship on Monday, citing the city's run of professional team championships in recent years.

The Bruins won their first Stanley Cup title in 39 years last June after a bruising seven-game final series against the Vancouver Canucks.

It was the latest in a string of Boston sports championships, including the Celtics in 2008, the Red Sox in 2007 and the New England Patriots in 2005. The Patriots play in next month's Super Bowl.

"The Bruins, the Sox, the Celtics, now the Patriots. Enough already, Boston," Obama said during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. "What's going on, huh?"

Obama also jokingly invoked some New England slang in welcoming the Bruins, along with the Stanley Cup, to the White House.

"I know you are all wicked happy to be here," he said.

The president said there was no better image of the Bruins' dominance than when Zdeno Chara, the team's 6-foot-9 defenseman, hoisted the Stanley Cup above his head in Vancouver in celebration last spring.

"Which is, I'm sure, the highest that the Stanley Cup had ever been," he said.

Obama drew laughter from the crowd when he cited the scrappy play of Bruins forward Brad Marchand, who emerged as a star with five goals in the last five games of the finals against Vancouver.

"'The 'Little Ball of Hate' shrugged off the rookie jitters," said Obama, adding "What's up with that nickname, man?"

There was a notable no-show. Goalie Tim Thomas, who was the playoff MVP last year, chose not to attend the event, a team spokesman said.

Obama praised the teamwork of the six-time champions.

"Together, these players proved that teamwork is everything," he said. "It can overcome injuries, it can overcome long odds."

Obama praised the team for its work off the ice as well, noting the Boston Bruins Foundation has donated more than $7 million to charities in New England.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-23-Obama-Bruins/id-a4c1676755b140b8ac26b8a25168bd54

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Greece hopes for debt relief deal `very soon' (AP)

ATHENS, Greece ? Greece is confident a debt relief deal with private creditors that is crucial to avoid default can be reached "very soon," a government spokesman said Friday.

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos met for a third day with negotiators from the Institute of International Finance, which represents the private creditors who are being asked to take a loss on their bond holdings to lighten Greece's debt load by euro100 billion ($129 billion).

"The atmosphere of the talks is good. They are continuing today and we hope they will be concluded very soon," government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis told private Radio 9. "This is very important for the sustainability of the national debt and our ability to handle the debt."

Papademos was joined by Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos at two separate meetings Friday with two top Institute of International Finance officials, Charles Dallara and Jean Lemierre.

The negotiations also were discussed via a teleconference with eurozone officials, Venizelos said.

An agreement is needed if Greece is to get the next batch of bailout cash to prevent a devastating debt default. Greece does not have enough money to cover a euro14.5 billion bond repayment in March.

The bond-swap deal is part of a second bailout agreed by eurozone countries, worth euro130 billion ($168 billion) in loans and support for banks.

Under the proposed deal, private creditors would cancel 50 percent of their Greek debt in exchange of a cash payment and new bonds with a longer maturity. But the negotiations stalled last week over a disagreement on the interest rate those new bonds would have.

The two sides are now considering a proposal to set an interest rate of below 4 percent that would gradually increase until 2020, according to European officials.

Louka Katseli, a minister in Greece's previous Socialist government, said the talks are being complicated by the involvement of a large number of parties with a stake in the debt deal.

"This does not only involve Greece and the creditors," Katseli told private Skai television.

Heavily involved behind the scenes are countries such as Germany, which is paying the bulk of Greece's rescue loans, and the IMF, which is also involved in the bailouts. In addition, there are the individual bond holders such as hedge funds which have bought Greek bonds but also hold default insurance, Katseli said.

Despite caution in European markets, shares on the Athens Stock Exchange rose 2.7 percent to 708.18 on Friday in anticipation of a deal.

"Certainly we will have an agreement, and the extent and all the details of this agreement will determine whether the markets will take this as a good signal or as a bad signal," Aggelos Tsakanikas, head of research at the Foundation for Economic and Industrial Research, told AP Television. "We have to reduce our debt. ... It's something that is very important for the Greek economy."

Also Friday, international debt inspectors arrived in Athens to assess whether Greece is doing enough to get more bailout cash.

Officials from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund met with Venizelos. They will scrutinize Greece's public finances to make sure it is on track with painful austerity reforms needed to keep tapping rescue loans.

Near-bankrupt Greece has been surviving on a euro110 billion ($142.02 billion) rescue loan program from European countries and the IMF since May 2010, but requires additional help to meet its funding needs.

__

AP business writer Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels and AP Television's Nektina Efthymiou in Athens contributed.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects to 4th Ld-Writethru. Updates with creditors resuming talks, Greek stocks rising on anticipation of deal, comment from analyst. AP Video.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_greece_financial_crisis

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Official: possibility of unregistered passengers (AP)

GIGLIO, Italy ? Unregistered passengers might have been aboard the stricken cruise liner that capsized off this Tuscan island, a top rescue official said Sunday, raising the possibility that the number of missing might be higher than previously announced.

Divers, meanwhile, pulled out a woman's body from the capsized Costa Concordia on Sunday, raising to 13 the number of people dead in the Jan. 13 accident.

Civil protection official Francesca Maffini told reporters the victim was wearing a life vest and was found in the rear of a submerged portion of a ship by a team of fire department divers.

Earlier, Italian authorities raised the possibility that the real number of the missing was unknown because some unregistered passengers might have been aboard. As of Sunday, 19 people are listed as missing, but that number could be higher.

"There could have been X persons who we don't know about who were inside, who were clandestine" passengers aboard the ship, Franco Gabrielli, the national civil protection official in charge of the rescue effort, told reporters at a briefing on the island of Giglio, where the ship, with 4,200 people aboard rammed a reef and sliced open its hull on Jan. 13 before turning over on its side.

Gabrielli said that relatives of a Hungarian woman have told Italian authorities that she had telephoned them from aboard the ship and that they haven't heard from her since the accident. He said it was possible that a woman's body pulled from the wreckage by divers on Saturday might be that of the unregistered passenger.

But one of Concordia's officers, who's recovering from a broken leg suffered during the evacuation, dismissed the allegation that such passengers were on the ship.

"Everyone is registered and photographed. Everything's electronic," the Italian news agency ANSA quoted Manrico Giampedroni as saying.

Authorities are trying to identify five corpses who are badly decomposed after spending a long time in the water.

Gabrielli said they have identified the other eight bodies: four French, an Italian, a Hungarian, a German and a Spanish national.

The missing include French passengers, an elderly American couple, a Peruvian crewwoman and an Indian crewman and an Italian father and his five-year-old daughter. Some of their relatives were briefed by rescuers Sunday, and also met with Pierluigi Foschi, the CEO of Costa Crociere, SpA ? the ship's operator ? who viewed the crippled cruise liner from a boat.

France's ambassador to Italy, Alain Le Roy, recounted Foschi's visit.

"He came to see the families, all families. He met the French family. He met the American family. I am sure he is meeting other families, mostly to express his compassion ... to say that Costa will do everything possible to find the people, to compensate families in any way."

The search had been halted for several hours early Sunday, after instrument readings indicated that the Concordia has shifted a bit on its precarious perch on a seabed just outside Giglio's port. A few meters (yards) away, the sea bottom drops off suddenly, by some 20-30 meters (65-100 feet), and if the Concordia should abruptly roll off its ledge, rescuers could be trapped inside.

When instrument data indicated the vessel had stabilized again, rescuers went back in, but only explored the above-water section and evacuation staging areas where survivors have indicated that people who did not make it into lifeboats during the chaotic evacuation could have remained.

Passengers were dining at a gala supper when the Concordia sailed close to Giglio and struck the reef, which is indicated on maritime and even tourist maps.

There are also fears that the Concordia's double-bottom fuel tanks could rupture in case of sudden shifting, spilling 2,200 metric tons (almost 500,000 million gallons) of heavy fuel into pristine sea around Giglio, which is part of a seven-island archipelago in some of the Mediterranean's most pristine waters and a prized fishing area.

But Gabrielli said pollutants found near the ship have been detergents and other substances, including chlorine, apparently from the wreck of the ship, which carried some 3,200 passengers and a crew of 1,000. Any fuel traces found were "compatible with what you find in a port," he said.

Ferries and cargo ships regularly call at Giglio's port.

Sophisticated oil-removal equipment has been standing by, waiting for the search-and-rescue operations to conclude before workers can start extracting the fuel in the tanks.

Giglio Mayor Sergio Orpelli told Sky TG24 TV that it was tentatively planned to begin fuel-removal operations on Monday but that the timetable ultimately depends on when the rescue efforts are concluded. "No hopes have been abandoned that someone might still be alive," Orpelli said.

Coast guard and fire rescue teams have said that the search will go on, as long as the weather holds and the Concordia stays stable.

The Italian captain, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest as prosecutors investigate him for suspected manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship while many were still aboard.

Operator Costa Crociere, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Carnival Cruise Lines, has said that Capt. Schettino had deviated without permission from the vessel's route in an apparent maneuver to sail close to the island and impress passengers.

Schettino, despite audiotapes of his defying Coast Guard orders to scramble back aboard, has denied he abandoned ship while hundreds of passengers were desperately trying to get off the capsizing vessel. He has said he coordinated the rescue from aboard a lifeboat and then from the shore.

Rome daily La Repubblica, citing what Schettino allegedly told prosecutors in Grosetto, Tuscany, when he was interrogated last week, quoted him as saying that Costa Crociere was aware of the "recurring practice" of nearing coastlines to salute those ashore. Schettino is quoted as saying that such a maneuver was planned by Costa executives before the ship left the port of Civitavecchia before dinner time on Jan. 13 to gain publicity for the company.

It was not immediately possible to confirm Schettino's allegations. Prosecutors cannot comment on details of a probe while it is still being conducted, and the office of Schettino's lawyer was closed Sunday.

Marco De Luca, a Costa Crociere lawyer, said the company is "an injured party" in the tragedy, which Costa executives have blamed on the captain's failure to follow the programmed route.

Giglio Mayor Orpelli said such "salutes" by passing cruise ships are rare.

Orpelli insisted that before the ill-fated Jan. 13 approach by the Concordia near the reef, the last previous time was on Aug. 14, when the island was celebrating a summer festival in the port, and that the maneuver was closely coordinated with island and navigational authorities. That summer salute was "carried out in perfect safety," the mayor told Sky, adding that he thanked the captain of that voyage "and told him to thank his crew."

Orpelli said that island officials were unaware of the Jan. 13 plan for such a salute.

___

D'Emilio reported from Rome. Fulvio Paolocci reported from Giglio.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_cruise_aground

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America Is Open for Business | The White House

Yesterday, President Obama traveled to Disney World to announce new initiatives to significantly increase travel and tourism in the United States.?The fact is, each year, tens of millions of people from around the world visit the U.S.? In 2010, the travel and tourism industry generated over $134 billion dollars for the American economy.? It supported 7.5 million jobs in 2010. The President wants these numbers to grow.?

He traveled down to the Magic Kingdom yesterday to deliver one message: America is open for business.?

The President wants the United States to be the number one tourist destination in the world.?It?s good for businesses and it?s good for the economy as a whole. More tourists means more money spent in our cities and towns across the nation. It means more people will be renting cars, dining out, checking into hotels and checking out the sights and sounds of America.? That means more jobs.?

The President will continue to do everything he can to rebuild an economy where hard work pays off, where responsibility is rewarded, and where anyone can make it if they try.?He wants to restore the economic security for the middle class and those trying to reach it.?Yesterday?s announcement was an important step to put folks back to work, and he?ll keep at it and continue to do everything he can to strengthen the economy.

The President?s announcement will have an impact on communities all over the United States.?Let?s take a look at the coverage from local media outlets across the country:

Orlando Sentinel ? Obama at Disney: 'America is open for business'

President Barack Obama promised Florida's tourism industry Thursday that he intends to open the door wider to international tourists and was greeted with cheers in a state where increased foreign visitors are seen as one of the best hopes for future jobs.

Even Obama critic U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Winter Park, welcomed the presidential directives, if only with a "what took him so long?" spin.

Arizona Republic ? Obama touting tourism for jobs

President Barack Obama said Thursday that he wants to create more jobs by drawing more international tourists to the United States, a plan White House officials said would especially benefit states like Arizona, home to the Grand Canyon and other national parks.

Creating jobs has become a central part of Obama's re-election campaign. On Wednesday, Obama will visit the Valley as part of a five-state tour to build upon themes -- likely jobs and economic development -- that he will emphasize Tuesday in his annual address to Congress.

Las Vegas Review-Journal ? Las Vegas Officials Welcome Obama?s Tourism Push

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama on Thursday unveiled a new strategy to boost foreign tourism in the U.S., telling an audience at Walt Disney World he wanted America to become the world?s top travel destination.

?America is open for business.? We want to welcome you,? Obama declared in his talk in front of the Cinderella Castle in the heart of the Magic Kingdom outside Orlando, Fla.

McClatchy/Cleveland Plain Dealer ? Obama, at Disney World, unveils plan to ease tourist travel to United States

ORLANDO, Fla. -- President Barack Obama's visit to Walt Disney World on Thursday was an appeal as much to Brazilians and their dollars as to Florida voters and their jobs. But it was a brief one, highlighted by a speech that lasted just 13 minutes.

As expected, Obama announced he intends to expand the U.S. State Department's Global Entry Program for trusted international visitors; expand and accelerate visa application processing for such countries as Brazil, India and China; and attempt to add more countries to the Visa Waiver Program that allows foreigners from 36 countries to skip the visa process.

Kansas City Star ? Missouri senator praises White House tourism initiatives

WASHINGTON | Sen. Roy Blunt wants to see more foreign tourists in Missouri and believes that a new White House plan that he helped write moves toward that goal.

President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered steps to ease red tape for foreign visitors in an initiative he said would create tourism jobs in the United States.

Tampa Bay Times (Editorial) ? Florida tourism gets jolt from Obama

Florida is accustomed to seeing plenty of visitors in January, especially in an election year. But the visit Thursday by President Barack Obama could mark a real boost for the state's economy. The president unveiled a new strategy to attract international tourists, which could bring more cash-flush foreigners to Florida. The plan also dovetails perfectly with the push across the region to expand the global appeal of Tampa Bay.

Raleigh NBC17 ? President Obama touts NC's tourism efforts

RALEIGH, N.C. -- President Obama is touting a plan to boost tourism in the United States, pointing to North Carolina as a state where eco-tourism and outdoor activities boost tourism.

Obama said he is looking at ways to expand the global entry program, which helps pre-screen international visitors at security checkpoints. That will make it easier and safer for frequent travelers to get into the U.S.

Salt Lake Tribune ? Obama encourages tourism to national parks

Some of Utah?s most famous travel destinations might be a bit more crowded this summer if a new White House effort is successful.

President Barack Obama issued an executive order Thursday, aiming to boost international tourism to the United States in an effort to spur job creation. Part of the initiative seeks to promote visits to national parks, including Utah?s scenic redrock country.

Las Vegas Sun: Nevadans applaud President Obama?s tourism initiative

Tourism industry leaders from across the country applauded President Barack Obama today for signing an executive order and announcing initiatives that should increase travel to the United States.

Against the backdrop of Florida's Disney World, Obama announced his new plan to assist a fledgling renaissance in the country?s tourism sector ? one that industry executives believe will also pay dividends in Las Vegas.

Honolulu Star Advertiser - Obama move called tourism boon

State and industry officials say the action will increase visitor numbers. Hawaii's economy could see gains from a national strategy that aims to better promote the United States as a tourism destination and makes it easier for foreign visitors, especially from China and Taiwan, to get visas. An executive order President Barack Obama signed Thursday marks the first time that the U.S. has rolled out a national travel strategy and is the culmination of more than a year of lobbying by politicians and travel leaders nationwide and in Hawaii. ?Hawaii's economy could see gains from a national strategy that aims to better promote the United States as a tourism destination and makes it easier for foreign visitors, especially from China and Taiwan, to get visas.

Hawaii News Now ? Obama signs off on new tourism measures

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) ? Local officials are applauding an Executive Order signed by President Barack Obama on Thursday, saying it contains several new measures that will help increase travel and tourism to Hawaii.

The Executive Order establishing "Visa and Foreign Visitor Processing Goals and the Task Force on Travel and Competitiveness" stipulates that non-immigrant visa processing capacity in China and Brazil will increase by 40% in 2012 while also ensuring that 80% of non-immigrant visa applicants are interviewed within three weeks of their being received. A new website with information and statistics on visa processes will be designed to assist travelers and the tourism industry.

Sun Sentinel ? Obama tourism plan aims to bring more Brazilians to Florida

Expect more high-spending Brazilian tourists in South Florida and more tourism jobs, too, now that President Barack Obama is making a push to lure more foreign travelers to the United States.

Obama's tourism plan, unveiled Thursday in Orlando, adds dozens of embassy workers to process U.S. travel visas in Brazil, where wait times for visa appointments average three months in some cities.

Dayton Beach News Journal (FL) - Locals say president's tourism plan would help

DAYTONA BEACH -- President Barack Obama visited Disney World on Thursday to announce tourism initiatives for the entire country, and local tourism experts say they could dovetail well with the area's tourism efforts already in place.

The president issued an executive order making it easier for international visitors to secure visas -- specifically visitors in China and Brazil -- and announced a national tourism task force to promote travel opportunities.

Florida News Press ? Obama invite OK with Southwest Florida

Local industry experts encouraged as president tells worldwide visitors "America is open for business."

Southwest Florida tourism and hospitality leaders warmly greeted President Barack Obama?s new campaign, announced Thursday in Orlando, to make the United States the world?s top travel destination.

They liked his overtures to the Brazilian market, in particular, and his recognition of tourism as an economic engine, in general.

Central Florida News ? Orlando travel experts react to Obama's focus on Brazil in new tourism push

ORLANDO ? The instant local travel agent, and Brazil native Ricardo Pereira found out about President Barack Obama's "We Can't Wait" tourism plan, he knew the idea was a good one.

?Business is going to be incredible, not only for the Brazilians here, but the whole [state of] Florida,? explained Meridan Tours & Travel Owner Ricardo Pereira.

San Francisco KGO-ABC ? Obama's tourism push much appreciated in SF

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- President Obama visited the happiest place on Earth Thursday to talk tourism and his announcement Thursday has implications far beyond the borders of the Magic Kingdom.

The president says his trip to Walt Disney World is the first time his daughters have envied his job.

Desert Sun (CA) ? Local tourism on rise amid national push

Coachella Valley tourism leaders hailed a new travel industry report that shows yet another month of double-digit occupancy and revenue growth.

The Smith Travel Research report for December says the Palm Springs area increased its hotel occupancy levels 13.3 percent compared to the same month in 2010, and enjoyed a 19 percent gain in revenue per room.

Josh Earnest is Principal Deputy Press Secretary.

Source: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/20/america-open-business

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