Saturday, December 31, 2011

What's a Caucus? And Why Jan. 3 Iowa Caucuses Are Important in 2012 (ABC News)

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Carabdechile: Rescate de dos mujeres extraviadas en San Clemente http://t.co/5dCnJusZ #fb

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Stocks up on new home deals, job growth prospects

Traders Gerard Farco, left, and Richard Cohen, right. work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011. Stocks are surging after the opening bell following encouraging signs out of Europe and a jump in apartment building in the U.S. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Traders Gerard Farco, left, and Richard Cohen, right. work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011. Stocks are surging after the opening bell following encouraging signs out of Europe and a jump in apartment building in the U.S. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Better news on home sales and improved prospects for job growth sent stocks higher on Wall Street Thursday.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 135 points, nearly making up its 140-point loss from the day before. The S&P 500 edged back into the black for 2011, with just one more day of trading left in the year.

The four-week average of unemployment claims fell to a three-and-a-half-year low, an indication that hiring could pick up. Also, the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes in November rose more than 7 percent to the highest level in a year and a half, according to the National Association of Realtors.

Quincy Krosby, Prudential Financial's market strategist, said the reports were encouraging signals for the economy going in to 2012.

"The correlation between jobs and housing has been crystal-clear this year," Krosby said. "Parts of the country where jobs are more plentiful are the ones where the housing market has held up."

Krosby said the correlation has become more pronounced after the real estate bust, when lenders became reluctant to even consider customers for a mortgage unless they held jobs. She said it's a noticeable trend in many cities nationwide.

For instance, Boston's 1.1 percent drop in home prices since last year was one of the lowest among metro areas tracked by S&P/Case-Shiller index. The city's unemployment rate is 6.2 percent, much lower than the national average of 8.6 percent.

The positive housing news sent the stocks of home builders sharply higher. Masco Corp. soared 8.4 percent, the most in the S&P 500. PulteGroup Inc. rose 6 percent and Lennar Corp. gained 4.6 percent.

The Dow closed at 12,287.04, a gain of 135.63 points, or 1.1 percent. For the year, the Dow is up 709 points, or 6 percent.

The S&P 500 rose 13.38 points, or 1.07 percent, to 1,263.02. That's just 5 points above where the index started the year.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 23.76 points, or 0.92 percent, to 2,613.74. The index if down 39 points for the year.

Trading was very light as investors get ready to close the books on 2011. Markets will be closed Monday in observance of New Year's Day, which falls on Sunday.

Volume on the New York Stock Exchange was 2 billion shares, less than half of its recent average. Gaining stocks led losing ones four-to-one.

The euro fell to its lowest level against the dollar in more than a year and its lowest against the Japanese yen in a decade. The euro went as low as $1.28 versus the dollar, its weakest since September 2010.

Investors continued to be worried that Italy's 10-year borrowing rate remains uncomfortably close to 7 percent, a level that economists consider unsustainable. Greece, Ireland and Portugal all had to seek relief from their creditors after their 10-year bond yields rose above 7 percent.

Italy paid 6.98 percent on a 10-year bond auction where it raised $3.3 billion. That's lower than the 7.56 percent it had to pay at an equivalent auction last month, but not low enough to assuage investors. Italy's new premier said his government has more to do before it convinces financial markets it can manage the heavy debts that have made it the focus of the euro zone crisis.

In other corporate news:

? Chesapeake Midstream Partners rose 5 percent after the natural gas systems operator agreed to acquire Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s pipeline business.

? Hill International Inc. rose 3 percent after the construction management company was awarded a $3.3 million contract to build a new stadium in Iraq.

? Sears Holdings Corp. fell 1 percent as investors worried over the fate of the retailer, two days after it said it was closing over 100 stores nationwide.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-12-29-Wall%20Street/id-bac18e55686c4b748745e328687df805

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Droid 4 gets hands-on treatment, but it's simply a dummy unit

The folks over at TechnoBuffalo have just come across a rather interesting specimen -- it's a dummy unit of the forthcoming Droid 4 from Motorola. While its rumored release date has come and gone, non-functional models such as this are commonly offered to consumers in a retail setting to poke and prod to their heart's content. Nonetheless, the hands-on offers a few interesting details, such as a soft touch backside and insight into the redesigned keyboard, which is described as "the best one yet on a Droid handset." Whether we agree with that assertion will be determined come review time, but if you're interested to see the collection of up-close and personal shots with Moto's latest slider, be sure to check the source below.

Droid 4 gets hands-on treatment, but it's simply a dummy unit originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/30/droid-4-hands-on-with-dummy-unit/

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Friday, December 30, 2011

FinalFantasy1026 commented on FinalFantasy1026's post about re: Anonymous Threatens Sony With Robotic Voice On YouTube .

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    Anonymous targets military-gear site in latest holiday hack

    In what its calling another round of "LulzXmas festivities," an Anonymous-affiliated hacktivst group today is claiming yet another breach and posting of customer information.

    On Christmas Day the target was security think tank Strategic Forecasting, or Stratfor. This time it was SpecialForces.com, a Web site that sells military gear.

    SpecialForces.com

    (Credit: Screenshot by CNET)

    "Continuing the week long celebration of wreaking utter havoc on global financial systems, militaries, and governments, we are announcing our next target: the online piggie supply store SpecialForces.com," the group wrote in a Pastebin posting today.

    The hackers said they breached the SpecialForces.com site months ago, but only just got around to posting the customer data. Even though the site's data was encrypted, they claim to have 14,000 passwords and details for 8,000 credit cards belonging to Special Forces Gear customers.

    In a statement to CNET, Special Forces Gear founder Dave Thomas confirmed that his company's Web servers were compromised by Anonymous in late August, resulting in a security breach that allowed the hackers to obtain customer usernames, passwords, and possibly encrypted credit card information in some cases. "We have no evidence of any further security breaches, and we believe that the recent Stratfor incident is being used to bring this old news back into the spotlight," he noted.

    Thomas added that the compromised passwords were from a backup of a previous version of the Web site that is more than a year old. "Most of the credit card numbers are expired, and we don't have evidence of any credit card misuse at this time," he wrote. "The current Web site does not store customer passwords or credit card information."

    After the security breach, "we completely rebuilt our Web site and hired third-party consultants to help us shore up Web site security," he said, adding that the vast majority of the sites' sales are custom t-shirts and related gifts, and that the company donates a portion of its profits to charity.

    Identity Finder, a New York-based data loss and identity theft prevention service, determined that files posted to date by Anonymous and its AntiSec offshoot related to this breach include 7,277 unique credit card numbers; 68,830 e-mail addresses (of which 40,854 are unique); and 36,368 plain-text usernames and passwords, some of which might be duplicates.

    In the statement issued today, the hackers also took another shot at Stratfor for its alleged confusion over whether its data had been encrypted or not:

    We also laughed heartily whilst these so-called protectors of private property scrambled desperately to recover the sensitive information of all the customers who they wronged by failing to use proper security precautions.

    SpecialForces.com does encrypt customer data. "Nevertheless, our voodoo prevailed and we were quickly able to break back into the military supplier's server and steal their encryption keys," the hackers wrote. "We then wrote a few simple functions to recover the cleartext passwords, credit card numbers, and expiration dates to all their customers' cards. That's how we roll."

    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cnet/tcoc/~3/hdvnOs9aYj8/

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    Macedonia: Europe's New Hotspot for Illegal Immigrants (Time.com)

    This post is in partnership with Worldcrunch, a new global-news site that translates stories of note in foreign languages into English. The article below was originally published in Les Temps.

    LOJANE -- Several dozen young men are basking in the warm mid-day sun. They are Afghan and Pakistani. Behind them, on a white wall, is graffiti extolling the glories of the UĈK -- ex-Kosovo Albanian guerilla fighters.

    Over the past two years, the Macedonian village of Lojane, which borders Serbia, has become a stop-over on the illegal migration routes to Western Europe. "It started when groups of three or four would arrive periodically. It didn't disturb us at first," says Selam Mehmeti, the head of the village community. "But since this summer, it's grown to a whole other dimension: there were 500 in November." (See TIME's photoessay: Immigration in Europe.)

    The story these men tell is almost always the same. Khan, a 22-year-old Afghan from Kandahar, travelled through Iran, Turkey and then Greece before arriving in Bitola, Macedonia. He then headed for Lojane so he could get into Serbia. Serbian police have already sent him back to Macedonia twice.

    The latest plan is to try to go through Hungary. "After that -- from Austria on -- everything will be fine. I want to go to Paris, where I have friends. The most difficult thing is to get through Serbia."

    The immigrants sleep in the "jungle" -- the fields that stretch between Lojane and Miratovac, the nearest village, some three kilometers away. Miratovac is in Serbia, but its population is entirely Albanian. "The border has been closed since 1993," Blerim, an inhabitant of Lojane, explains. "Traditionally, relations between the two villages have played an important role. Both my mother and my wife come from Miratovac."

    Acting like they don't exist

    Where the dirt road abruptly turns to asphalt: this is the only place to demarcate the border line between Macedonia and Serbia. Serbian police and military police are on permanent patrol, and stop anyone who tries to go across, either from Miratovac, or the neighboring town of Presevo. Busloads of illegal immigrants stopped anywhere in Serbia are also sent to Lojane.

    All the immigrants say they heard about the village either on the Internet or through friends. But village head Mehmeti says that's not true: he says well-organized networks wait for the immigrants along the country's southern borders, at Gevgelija and Bitola, and bring them here. "And the ones that get caught at the Tabanovce border checkpoint, (10 km from the village) come here too." (See more international news in Global Spin.)

    There is no visible presence of Macedonian police: the border is guarded only on the Serbian side, villagers say. There are also no humanitarian organizations in Lojane, even though the winter cold is going to make survival conditions for the immigrants that much worse. "Everybody acts as if they don't exist," says Mehmeti.

    Despite agreements made with the European Union, Serbia and Macedonia are incapable of dealing with the new tide of clandestine immigrants, who are increasingly opting to take this route instead of the heavily monitored road from Greece to Bulgaria to the north. Skopje has only one immigration detention center that no journalists have been able to visit, and that officially just has space for several dozen people.

    The village head is pleased: it's quiet today, there are "only" a few dozen illegal immigrants in Lojane. However, a line of some 15 men can be seen walking through the fields from Tabanovce. A small Macedonian border police patrol watches from the derelict gas pump located halfway between the villages of Lojane and Vaksince. They neither comment, nor pursue the men, but just keep watching instead.

    See TIME's Top 10 World Stories of 2011.

    Germany's First Lady Embroiled in Scandal
    -- Die Welt

    Capitalism over Caste: The Success of India's 'Untouchable' CEOs
    -- Les Echos

    Janitor Discovers Fortune in Rare Coins in German Library
    -- S?ddeutsche Zeitung

    View this article on Time.com

    Most Popular on Time.com:

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/time/20111230/wl_time/08599210305400

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    Twitter-Writing Laser Gun Turns Tweets Into Art

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    Swedish reporters sentenced to 11 yrs in Ethiopia (AP)

    ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia ? A court in Ethiopia on Tuesday sentenced two Swedish journalists to 11 years in prison on charges of supporting terrorism after the two illegally entered the country with an ethnic Somali rebel group in a case that has been criticized by media rights groups.

    Judge Shemsu Sirgaga ruled that the two freelance journalists ? Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye ? will serve "rigorous imprisonment" following their convictions last week.

    Ethiopian troops had captured Persson and Schibbye six months ago during a clash with rebels in eastern Ethiopia's restive Somali region, a no-go area for reporters. Ethiopia considers the rebel group a terrorist organization, and it is very difficult for journalists to gain access to the region. Rights groups say that is so abuses there are not exposed.

    The judge has accused the Ogaden National Liberation Front ? or ONLF ? of organizing the Swedes' journey starting in London. Outlawed groups in many countries frequently facilitate the travels of reporters in order to have their version of events told.

    There was no visible reaction to the sentencing from the two journalists. The defendants' lawyers plan to hold a meeting at the Swedish Embassy later Tuesday to discuss the possibility of an appeal.

    In Sweden, Foreign Ministry spokesman Anders Jorle called the sentencing expected but regrettable. He said Sweden has been in contact with the Ethiopian government over the court case "at a high level."

    Their Swedish lawyer, Thomas Olsson, could not be immediately reached for comment but told national broadcaster SVT that the sentence was a disappointment, but that he and his clients had not yet decided if they would appeal.

    "We will try to adjust to the new situation and help them as much as possible," he said, noting that an appeal can take up to two years and that the alternative would be for them to try to get pardoned.

    "The latter means that they have to confess to these crimes and apologize, which of course is a hard thing to do when you regard yourself innocent. That's why an appeal is natural, but it's a tough decision. That's what Martin and Johan are up against in the coming 15 days," Olsson said.

    Persson and Schibbye are both freelance contributors to the Sweden-based photojournalism agency Kontinent. Schibbye is also a writer. The two regularly had their work published in national newspapers in Sweden and Norway.

    The pair said they had been gathering news about a Swedish oil company that is exploring Ethiopia's Somali region for oil. Sweden's foreign minister, Carl Bildt, was a member of the board of the company ? Lundin Petroleum ? between 2000 and 2006, and left the board when he was appointed foreign minister.

    Persson and Schibbye have acknowledged that they entered Ethiopia illegally.

    Jonas Nordling, chairman of The Swedish Union of Journalists, called Tuesday's sentencing "a setback for journalism, and it's a personal tragedy for Martin and Johan and their families. We will do all we can to support them."

    "It's clear that it's a political sentence. A heavy responsibility now lies on the Swedish government to solve this on a political level," he said, noting that the freedom of the press must be protected and defended.

    Swedish government officials have said that the two Swedes were on a "journalistic mission," and have pushed for the two to be freed.

    The international community has closely followed the terror trial against the Swedes. Rights groups and diplomats say Ethiopia's anti-terrorism proclamation restricts freedom of expression and is used as a tool to crack down on dissent.

    Amnesty International said it believes the two Swedes are "prisoners of conscience, prosecuted because of their legitimate work."

    ___

    Associated Press reporter Louise Nordstrom in Stockholm contributed to this report.

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111227/ap_on_re_af/af_ethiopia_journalists

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    Thursday, December 29, 2011

    San Francisco: 4-star Parc 55 Hotel in Union Square, $135+

    San Francisco: 4-star Parc 55 Hotel in Union Square, $135+ - SmarterTravel.com Home > Hotel Deals > San Francisco: 4-star Parc 55 Hotel in Union Square, $135+

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    Muslims upset by NYPD to boycott mayor's breakfast

    FILE - In this Aug. 18, 2011 file photo, people pass below a New York Police Department security camera, upper left, which is above a mosque on Fulton St., in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant in New York. Several Muslim leaders have declined invitations to the mayor's annual year-end interfaith breakfast on Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, saying they're upset at police department efforts to infiltrate mosques and spy on Muslim neighborhoods. The imams and activists said in a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg that they're disturbed at his response to a series of stories by The Associated Press detailing New York Police Department intelligence-gathering programs that monitored Muslim groups, businesses and houses of worship. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

    FILE - In this Aug. 18, 2011 file photo, people pass below a New York Police Department security camera, upper left, which is above a mosque on Fulton St., in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant in New York. Several Muslim leaders have declined invitations to the mayor's annual year-end interfaith breakfast on Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, saying they're upset at police department efforts to infiltrate mosques and spy on Muslim neighborhoods. The imams and activists said in a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg that they're disturbed at his response to a series of stories by The Associated Press detailing New York Police Department intelligence-gathering programs that monitored Muslim groups, businesses and houses of worship. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

    FILE - In this Sept. 2, 2011 file photo, people walk past immigrant Arab businesses on Steinway Street in the Astoria neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York. Several Muslim leaders have declined invitations to the mayor's annual year-end interfaith breakfast on Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, saying they're upset at police department efforts to infiltrate mosques and spy on Muslim neighborhoods. The imams and activists said in a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg that they're disturbed at his response to a series of stories by The Associated Press detailing New York Police Department intelligence-gathering programs that monitored Muslim groups, businesses and houses of worship. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

    FILE - In a Sept. 26, 2009, file photo released by the New York City Police Department, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, center, briefs New York police officials and John O. Brennan, center left, assistant to the president for Homeland Security and Counter-terrorism, and Deputy New York Police Commissioner of Intelligence David Cohen, center right, on events surrounding the alleged plot to bomb New York commuter trains, at Police Headquarters in New York. Several Muslim leaders have declined invitations to the mayor's annual year-end interfaith breakfast on Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, saying they're upset at police department efforts to infiltrate mosques and spy on Muslim neighborhoods. The imams and activists said in a letter to Mayor Michael Bloomberg that they're disturbed at his response to a series of stories by The Associated Press detailing New York Police Department intelligence-gathering programs that monitored Muslim groups, businesses and houses of worship. (AP Photo/NYPD, File)

    FILE - In this March 10, 2011 file photo, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington. The CIA said it is investigating whether the agency broke the law by helping the New York Police Department build intelligence-gathering programs that monitored life in Muslim communities. Several Muslim leaders have declined invitations to the mayor's annual year-end interfaith breakfast on Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, saying they're upset at police department efforts to infiltrate mosques and spy on Muslim neighborhoods. they said they were disappointed by what he said after the Associated Press reported on the NYPD's efforts to infiltrate Muslim neighborhoods and mosques with aggressive programs designed by a CIA officer who worked with the department after the Sept. 11 attacks. (AP Photo/Ann Heisenfelt, File)

    NEW YORK (AP) ? Activists upset at police efforts to spy on Muslims plan to skip Mayor Michael Bloomberg's annual year-end interfaith breakfast, saying Bloomberg shouldn't be defending the tactics.

    The imams and activists, supported by religious leaders from a variety of faiths, said in a letter to Bloomberg that they're disturbed at his response to a series of stories by The Associated Press detailing New York Police Department intelligence-gathering programs that monitored Muslim groups, businesses and houses of worship. Bloomberg has defended the department, saying last week it doesn't take religion into account in its policing.

    About a dozen people turned down invitations to Friday's breakfast but "a couple dozen" more said they plan to attend, Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser said Wednesday.

    The letter to Bloomberg contained the names of several dozen Muslim leaders and organizations and said they believe the police department's tactics "threaten the rights of all Americans, and deepen mistrust between our communities and law enforcement." About three dozen Jewish and Christian leaders also signed the letter, though it was unclear how many of them had been invited to the breakfast.

    "Mayor Bloomberg, the extent of these civil rights violations is astonishing, yet instead of calling for accountability and the rule of law, you have thus far defended the NYPD's misconduct," the letter said.

    The Muslim leaders said they appreciate the mayor's staunch support a year ago during an uproar over a planned Islamic center near the World Trade Center site. But they said they were disappointed by what he said after the AP reported on the police department's efforts to infiltrate Muslim neighborhoods and mosques with aggressive programs designed by a CIA officer who worked with the department after the Sept. 11 attacks.

    The stories disclosed that a team of 16 police officers speaking at least five languages was assigned to use census information and government databases to map ethnic neighborhoods in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

    Documents reviewed by the AP revealed that undercover police officers known as rakers visited local businesses such as Islamic bookstores and cafes, chatting up store owners to determine their ethnicities and gauge their views. They also played cricket and eavesdropped in ethnic cafes and clubs.

    The AP stories also revealed that one of the CIA's most experienced clandestine operatives began working inside the police department in July as the special assistant to the deputy commissioner of intelligence.

    The CIA is prohibited from spying domestically. Its unusual partnership with the NYPD has troubled top lawmakers and prompted an internal investigation.

    In October, Bloomberg defended the arrangement, saying it was necessary in a dangerous world.

    "There are people trying to kill us," he said. "And if the CIA can help us I'm all for getting any information they have and then letting the police department use it as ? if it's appropriate to protect you and to protect me."

    The letter noted that Muslims comprise at least 10 percent of the city's population. It said the Muslims leaders were seeking a meeting with the mayor to discuss the issues raised by the reports.

    "We believe it is unequivocally wrong and fundamentally misguided to invest law enforcement resources in religious or racial profiling, rather than investigating suspicious activity," it said. "We seek your clear, unambiguous, public support for the rights and privacy of all New Yorkers, including Muslims; and a condemnation of all policies that profile and target communities and community groups solely based on their religion or the color of their skin."

    It also said: "We are deeply disturbed that to date we have only heard your words of strong support for these troubling policies and violations of our rights. We are equally disturbed by (police Commissioner Raymond) Kelly's denials of what we know to be true as verified by the leaked documents."

    Kelly, meanwhile, met Wednesday evening at a Bronx mosque with two imams who weren't listed on the letter and with young fans of a police department youth soccer league, whose winners were presented with a trophy.

    ___

    Read AP's previous stories and documents about the NYPD at: http://www.ap.org/nypd

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-29-NYPD%20Intelligence/id-27f4baae94904830bb973f8a75f01d33

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    PFT: T.O tweets he wants back with 49ers

    New York Giants v New York JetsGetty Images

    Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez has taken a lot of criticism from fans and the media. But he says he has no doubt that within the locker room, he has unconditional support.

    Asked at his press conference today if he is confident that everyone in the locker room supports him, Sanchez answered, ?Absolutely, no question.?

    Sanchez offered a similar answer when asked if he thinks he has improved during his three-year NFL career.

    ?No question, absolutely,? Sanchez said. ?Whether it?s defensive recognition or clock management and stuff like that, understanding the offense and the system, I?m light years ahead, so it?s been a great run so far and we?re not done yet. Hopefully, we?ll get a win and see what happens.?

    But watching Sanchez, it?s hard to see how he has really improved in terms of his defensive recognition and clock management. He still makes too many mental mistakes, and he wastes timeouts too often to claim he has improved at clock management.

    Ball security is also a huge problem for Sanchez, who fumbled 10 times in his rookie year, nine times last year and has fumbled 10 times this year. Those ball security problems were largely overlooked in his first two seasons because the Jets recovered seven of his 10 fumbles his rookie year and eight of his nine fumbles his second year. But this year the Jets have only recovered two of Sanchez?s 10 fumbles, and the problem of a quarterback who puts the ball on the ground too much has become more apparent.

    Ultimately, Sanchez probably got too much credit when the Jets got to back-to-back AFC Championship Games in his first two years, and now he?s probably getting too much blame for the Jets likely missing the playoffs.

    ?We went to the AFC Championship two years in a row, so there is only one more step to make really, win that game and then go win the Super Bowl,? Sanchez said. ?With those expectations, that?s fine. When things don?t go right, people are going to immediately question me.?

    No one said playing quarterback for the New York Jets would be easy.

    Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/28/t-o-stumps-for-san-fran-return/related/

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    AndroidAuth: How to Turn Off 4G LTE Network Mode on the Galaxy Nexus and Save Battery - http://t.co/9jGOZ8oQ

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    How to Turn Off 4G LTE Network Mode on the Galaxy Nexus and Save Battery - tinyurl.com/cf2rl83 AndroidAuth

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    Source: http://twitter.com/AndroidAuth/statuses/152322214853746688

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    Turkey warns France of more action over genocide bill (Reuters)

    ANKARA (Reuters) ? Turkey Wednesday warned France it would take further action against Paris should the French senate pass a bill making it a crime to deny the 1915 mass killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey constituted genocide.

    Ankara reacted furiously when the lower house of the French parliament last week approved the bill, recalling its ambassador from Paris, banning French military aircraft and warships from landing and docking in Turkey and freezing political and economic meetings.

    Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan slammed the bill as "politics based on racism, discrimination and xenophobia" and turned his anger on French President Nicolas Sarkozy, accusing France of colonial massacres in Algeria.

    In a statement, the National Security Council, the top state body for security matters, said it hoped "common sense" would prevail in France and that Paris would give up on its "mistake."

    France is Turkey's fifth biggest export market and the sixth biggest source of its imports, with bilateral trade worth $14 billion in the first 10 months of 2011.

    The National Security Council comprises Turkey's top generals, Erdogan, members of the cabinet and President Abdullah Gul.

    "About this subject, measures announced by the government and further additional measures would be announced depending on France's steps," the National Security Council said at the end of a five-hour meeting, I

    "If the proposal passes into law, there will be an objection in every way against this unfair measure."

    The French bill, which will be debated in the Senate next year, has caused outrage in Turkey, which argues killings took place on all sides during a fierce partisan conflict.

    Erdogan, whose personal animosity toward Sarkozy is well-known for the Frenchman's opposition to Turkish membership of the European Union, has suggested Sarkozy was angling for ethnic Armenian votes in next year's presidential election.

    Buoyed by its fast-growing economy while Europe battles a financial crisis and angered at its stagnant bid to join the EU, Ankara feels it has little to lose in a political fight with Paris.

    Turkey's Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan has said French investments in Turkey are safe but has suggested that "consumers might take matters into their own hands."

    (Additional reporting by Seltem Iyigun; Writing by Ibon Villelabeitia; Editing by Matthew Jones)

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111228/wl_nm/us_turkey_france

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    Canada gives OK to Enbridge oil pipeline

    Published: Dec. 27, 2011 at 7:57 AM

    CALGARY, Alberta, Dec. 27 (UPI) -- There's enough commercial interest to support the use of a 75-mile pipeline planned through part of the Bakken oil field in southern Canada, regulators said.

    Canada's National Energy Board said it approved plans submitted by Enbridge Bakken Pipeline Co. to build a pipeline in Saskatchewan and Manitoba provinces.

    The NEB said it found there was enough commercial interest to support the new 75-mile pipeline in Canada.

    "The Bakken Pipeline would connect to the Enbridge Pipelines Inc. mainline and would serve as a continuous, long-term source of supply to eastern Canadian and U.S. Midwest markets, thus maintaining the long-term competitiveness of refineries in those regions," the NEB said in a statement.

    The pipeline plans include a pump station to deliver crude oil from the Bakken and Three Forks formations that cross the U.S.-Canadian border. The pipeline wouldn't cross international borders, however.

    Enbridge this month said it planned to expand its capacity into the Berthold terminal in North Dakota by 80,000 barrels of oil per day. This includes a railcar loading terminal to handle the additional volume.

    That expansion will accommodate growing production from Bakken and Three Forks crude oil formations in the northern United States and southern Canada, the company said.

    The U.S. Geological Survey in 2008 estimated there were 3 billion-4.3 billion barrels of oil in the U.S. part of the Bakken formation.

    Source: http://pheed.upi.com/click.phdo?i=9a23b74d700afe9429d525539e9b2b15

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    Spire: A New Legal Siri Port For Any iOS 5 Device

    siri-spireWell-know iOS hacker?chpwn?(aka Grant Paul) along with?Ryan Petrich?have?released?a new tool for installing Siri on jailbroken phones. The Siri port, called "Spire," works on any phone that can run iOS 5. However, because Apple only officially supports Siri requests coming from the iPhone 4S, a proxy server address is still required. Oh, there's one more thing: Spire is legal.

    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/4vNl4TE7fx4/

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    Shanghai becomes latest Chinese city to crack down on social media

    Instead, many of China's 457 million internet users post messages about and debate socio-political issues on Weibo, China's version of Twitter.

    Such platforms are viewed by the Beijing leadership as a direct threat to its rule, and are thus heavily policed and censored.

    The boom in their use has seen a perpetual game of cat and mouse between internet users and the army of so-called net nannies, who shut down and censor sensitive issues and search names as quickly as they appear.

    Chinese net users use satirical humour to describe censorship, declaring a blacklisted issue or person as being "harmonised", a direct mocking reference to President Hu Jintao's flagship policy to build "a harmonious society."

    Millions also get around the government's notorious firewall by using VPN's ? virtual private networks ? which allows access to popular international sites such as Facebook.

    Source: http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/564430/s/1b470b48/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cnews0Cworldnews0Casia0Cchina0C89780A370CShanghai0Ebecomes0Elatest0EChinese0Ecity0Eto0Ecrack0Edown0Eon0Esocial0Emedia0Bhtml/story01.htm

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    Wednesday, December 28, 2011

    Teen Murdered in London Retail Hub

    (NewsCore) - A teenage boy was stabbed to death Monday on Britain's busiest shopping street as bargain hunters flocking to post-Christmas sales looked on in horror.

    The 18-year-old was attacked inside a branch of Foot Locker, sources told Sky News.

    He staggered out of the store and collapsed on central London's Oxford Street, where he was pronounced dead, reports said.

    The chilling incident was one of two knife attacks that took place as the iconic shopping destination was teeming with bargain-hunting Britons, who had already spent an estimated ?15 million ($23 million) in the first three hours of post-Christmas trading.

    A large swath of the one and a half mile (2.5km) thoroughfare was closed after the first attack at 1:45pm local time, causing chaos in surrounding streets and prompting some stores to close early.

    As a section of Oxford Street remained taped off Monday evening, reports surfaced of a second incident in which another man was stabbed near the junction with Regent Street, another landmark London address.

    He was taken to the hospital with a leg wound but was expected to survive, police told Sky.

    London's Metropolitan Police said approximately 10 people were arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing but the victim's identity has not been disclosed.

    There have so far been no arrests in connection with the second attack and it is not known if the two are linked.

    Detectives will now comb through hours of surveillance video from the numerous security cameras positioned around Oxford Street, which is crammed with around 300 stores.

    They also have potentially hundreds of witnesses to question.

    The killing comes just days after the release of retro Nike Air Jordan sneakers sparked scuffles and near-riots in shoe stores across America Friday.

    Source: http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpps/news/teen-boy-fatally-stabbed-in-busy-london-shopping-district-dpgonc-20111226-kh_16611927

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    MSU begins search for new vice president of Administration and Finance

    Montana State University will be accepting applications for a new vice president of Administration and Finance beginning Jan. 1, 2012.

    A 13-member committee has been formed to direct the national search for the university's chief financial officer. Shelley McKamey, executive director of the Museum of the Rockies, is the search committee's chair.

    "We expect to have a very rich pool of candidates to choose from," McKamey said. "MSU has an excellent reputation and this is a very dynamic and exciting position. The next vice president of Administration and Finance will play an important role in advancing the university."

    The search committee anticipates have finalists visit the campus shortly after spring break, which ends March 18 with a new vice president taking office on July 1, 2012.

    Members of the search committee are: Mary Ellen Baukol, associate dean of administration and finance, MSU-Great Falls; Blake Bjornson, president, ASMSU; Christina Fournier, Athletics; Terrie Iverson, vice chancellor for administrative services, MSU-Billings; Jeff Jacobsen, dean, College of Agriculture, director MAES; Marvin Lansverk, chair of MSU Faculty Senate; Sue Ost, director of business services, MSU-Northern; Leslie Schmidt, Assistant Vice President for Research; Melanie Stocks, sports facilities; Kevin Thane, chair of MSU Staff Senate; Jeanne Wilkinson, chair of Professional Council; Allen Yarnell, MSU Vice President of Student Success.

    The position description can be found on the MSU's employment website at: http://www.montana.edu/jobs/professional

    Shelley McKamey (406) 994-6543, smckamey@montana.edu; Tracy Ellig, (406) 994-5607, tellig@montana.edu

    Source: http://www.montana.edu/cpa/news/nwview.php?article=10664

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    Tuesday, December 27, 2011

    Sun Prairie's Lee Brekke Part Of 2011 National Champion Warhawk Football Team

    The Sun Prairie Star reports on a local athlete who is part of the champioship football team at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

    "It was a sight you don?t see very often ? the University of Wisconsin ? Whitewater Warhawk football team being held to only three points in a half. That, however, is exactly what happened in the 39th Annual Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl on Friday, Dec. 16 in Salem, Va. Then again, it?s not often rival powerhouse Mount Union has a scoreless half."
    ?

    Source: http://sunprairie.channel3000.com/news/people/63525-sun-prairies-lee-brekke-part-2011-national-champion-warhawk-football-team

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    NFL Communications - 2011 NFL Playoff Scenarios for Week 17 ?

    NFL Communications - 2011 NFL Playoff Scenarios for Week 17 ? \ '); $('#wpl-mustlogin').hide().slideDown('fast'); } ); $('#wpl-mustlogin input.input').live( 'focus', function() { $(this).prev().hide(); }).live( 'blur', function() { if ( $(this).val() == '' ) $(this).prev().show(); }); $('#wpl-mustlogin input#wp-submit').live( 'click', function(e) { e.preventDefault(); $.post( 'http://nflcommunications.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', { 'action': 'wpl_record_stat', 'stat_name': 'loggedout_login_submit' }, function() { $('#wpl-mustlogin form').submit(); } ); }); $('#wpl-mustlogin a#wpl-signup-link').live( 'click', function(e) { e.preventDefault(); var link = $(this).attr('href'); $.post( 'http://nflcommunications.com/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php', { 'action': 'wpl_record_stat', 'stat_name': 'loggedout_signup_click' }, function() { location.href = link; } ); }); }); /* ]]> */

    Source: http://nflcommunications.com/2011/12/25/2011-nfl-playoff-scenarios-for-week-17/

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    Seth_Everett: @marquis66 Community is great & I'm ticked its on hiatus. But I was talking about a comedy I can watch on @netflix while I do late nites.

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    @marquis66 Community is great & I'm ticked its on hiatus. But I was talking about a comedy I can watch on @netflix while I do late nites. Seth_Everett

    Seth Everett

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    Source: http://twitter.com/Seth_Everett/statuses/151091993710297088

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    Drew Brees Sets NFL Single-Season Passing Record (VIDEO)


    Drew Brees threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to Darren Sproles with a little over two minutes to go last night, giving him 5,087 yards through the air this season.

    That was good enough to break Dan Marino's single-season NFL record 5,084, which stood for 27 years, and amazingly, the New Orleans Saints star still has one more game left next week, with playoff implications - so bank on a few hundred more.

    The Saints cruised to a 45-16 win over the Atlanta Falcons, improving to 12-3.

    Here's Brees' record-setting pass, one of his four TD tosses Monday:

    Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/drew-brees-sets-nfl-single-season-passing-record-video/

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    Monday, December 26, 2011

    Presidential race in Iowa quieter than in the past

    Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., signs an autograph during a campaign stop at at Tangleberries in Centerville, Iowa, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

    Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., signs an autograph during a campaign stop at at Tangleberries in Centerville, Iowa, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

    Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., listens to a question during a campaign stop at Lodge Pizza & Steakhouse in Corydon, Iowa, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

    Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry speaks to workers and local residents after touring the TPI Iowa wind blade manufacturing facility, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011, in Newton, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

    Republican presidential candidate Texas Gov. Rick Perry signs an autograph for Jeanne Dietrich, of Omaha, Neb., after speaking to local residents and workers at the TPI Iowa wind blade manufacturing facility, Thursday, Dec. 22, 2011, in Newton, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

    (AP) ? It's been a different presidential race in Iowa this year ? quieter.

    Campaign headquarters have hardly been buzzing with activity, unlike the around-the-clock nature of past contests. Candidates have barely visited the state, compared with years when most all but moved here. And they have largely refrained from building the grass-roots armies of yesteryear, in favor of more modest on-the-ground teams of paid staffers and volunteers.

    The final rush of campaigning here gets under way Monday, just a week before the Jan. 3 caucuses, and, to be sure, there will be a flurry of candidate appearances and get-out-the-vote efforts all week.

    But that will belie the reality of much of 2011, a year marked by a less aggressive personal courtship of Iowans in a campaign that, instead, has largely gravitated around a series of 13 nationally televised debates, a crush of television ads and interviews on media outlets watched by many Republican primary voters, like Fox News Channel.

    "We just haven't had as much face time," Republican chairwoman Trudy Caviness in Wapello County said. "That's why we're so undecided."

    Indeed, people here simply don't know the Republican presidential candidates that well. And it's a big reason why the contest in Iowa is so volatile and why the caucus outcome could end up being more representative of the mood of national Republicans than in past years when GOP activists here have gone it alone by launching an unlikely front-runner to the top of the field.

    With a week to go, the state of the race in Iowa generally mirrors the race from coast to coast.

    Polls show Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker, having lost ground and Texas Rep. Ron Paul having risen, with both still in contention with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at the head of the pack. All the others competing in Iowa ? Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum ? are trailing.

    But, in a sign that the contest is anyone's to win, most polls have shown most Republican caucusgoers undecided and willing to change their minds before the contest in a state where the vote typically breaks late in the campaign year.

    There are a slew of reasons why the Iowa campaign is a much more muted affair than in 2008 ? marked by the iconic clash of Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who together employed almost 300 staff in Iowa and held blockbuster rallies. This year, there is no contested Democratic primary, given that President Barack Obama has no serious challenger. Only Republicans are competing, and those candidates are approaching the state differently, both visiting and hiring less. Also, like it did everywhere else, the race here started slowly ? months later than usual ? as a slew of GOP politicians weighed candidacies, only to abort White House bids.

    Long-time Republican activists here, who often joke that they like to meet the candidates several times before deciding, have barely seen the candidates once, much less at all, and no campaign has more than 20 paid staff in the state.

    All that's partly a consequence of how technology has changed both the political and media environments in recent years. Campaigns now can more precisely ? and cheaply ? target their pitches to voters from afar, sending personalized e-mails and YouTube video messages from the candidates to voters directly, and more campaign outreach is being handled by volunteers and through central national websites. And voters, themselves, now can go online and find information about the candidates without having to wait for the White House hopeful to show up in the town square.

    "Caucuses don't exist in a vacuum. They're not the same every time," said John Stineman, a West Des Moines Republican activist who ran Steve Forbes 2000 Iowa campaign. "But everything else has changed. Why wouldn't the caucuses change?"

    Part of the change has been driven by Romney's approach to the state.

    The nominal GOP front-runner for most of the year, Romney has been far less aggressive in cultivating support in Iowa than in his failed bid of 2008. He's only spent 10 days in the state this year, compared to 77 days four years ago, in an attempt to lower expectations in the leadoff state where evangelical conservatives have harbored doubts about Romney in light of his Mormon faith and changed positions on some social issues.

    Paul, the Texas congressman, has been focused more on building a national following than being a one-state candidate.

    Gingrich only became a serious contender in the state a few weeks ago. And, until recently, he didn't have the money or manpower to launch a full-scale Iowa campaign, meaning more sporadic visits and a smaller team. He's struggled to reach all parts of the state more than once; it was just last week that he visited Ottumwa, seat of the county Caviness represents and a medium-size Iowa city uniquely situated in the southeast with its own small media market.

    Likewise, Perry has not been to Marshalltown, a central Iowa GOP hub about the same size as Ottumwa and home of the state-run veterans home. It would seem like a natural spot for Perry, a former Air Force officer who has sought veterans support. But he also hasn't visited Fort Dodge, also another mid-size Iowa city in north-central Iowa on the way to heavily Republican northwest Iowa.

    Those who have been struggling to gain traction ? and who lack the money of better-funded, better-known rivals ? are turning to old-fashioned retail campaigning in hopes of wooing voters the traditional way.

    Bachmann is in the midst of a bus tour that has her crisscrossing the state. And Santorum, who never has broken out of the back of the pack, is betting that a year of one-on-one campaigning will pay off in the end.

    Barb Livingston is proof that, for all the changes, there's still something to be said for the personal approach. She has struggled all year to find a candidate to back and is basing her decision on a personal impression she had ? except that impression was established four years ago, riding around Marshall County with Romney.

    "When push comes to shove, I had a chance to meet him and travel around with," said Livingston, a former Marshall County GOP chairwoman. "He's someone personally I connected with."

    Associated Press

    Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-12-26-Iowa-Different%20Campaign/id-4476d4da2487401f8c6db016e06509a0

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