Saturday, December 31, 2011

North Korea vows no softening under its new leader

In this undated photo released by the Korean Central News Agency and distributed in Tokyo by the Korea News Service on Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, a commemorative postage stamp featuring late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and his son Kim Jong Un is shown. The words on the top read "The great leader comrade Kim Jong Il will always be with us." (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service) JAPAN OUT UNTIL 14 DAYS AFTER THE DAY OF TRANSMISSION

In this undated photo released by the Korean Central News Agency and distributed in Tokyo by the Korea News Service on Friday, Dec. 30, 2011, a commemorative postage stamp featuring late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and his son Kim Jong Un is shown. The words on the top read "The great leader comrade Kim Jong Il will always be with us." (AP Photo/Korean Central News Agency via Korea News Service) JAPAN OUT UNTIL 14 DAYS AFTER THE DAY OF TRANSMISSION

In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011, new North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, center, presides over a national memorial service for his late father Kim Jong Il at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang, North Korea. Flanking him are Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, and the ceremonial head of state, right, and Ri Yong Ho, a vice marshal of the Korean People's Army. (AP Photo)

North Korean men unload goods on the river bank of the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite side of Chinese city of Dandong bordering with North Korea, on Friday, Dec. 30, 2011. North Korea warned rival South Korea and the rest of the world Friday not to expect any change after Kim Jong Il's death, sending a tough message as Kim's young son strengthened his position as supreme leader. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

North Korean men unload goods off a boat on the river bank of the North Korean town of Sinuiju, opposite side of Chinese city of Dandong bordering with North Korea, on Friday, Dec. 30, 2011. North Korea warned rival South Korea and the rest of the world Friday not to expect any change after Kim Jong Il's death, sending a tough message as Kim's young son strengthened his position as supreme leader. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Copies of a book about late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and his son Kim Jong Un are on flat display at a bookstore in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 30, 2011. North Korea warned the world Friday there would be no softening of its position toward South Korea's government after Kim Jong Il's death as Pyongyang strengthened his son and heir's authority with a new title: Great Leader. (AP Photo/ Lee Jin-man)

(AP) ? North Korea warned the world Friday there would be no softening of its position toward South Korea's government after Kim Jong Il's death as Pyongyang strengthened his son and heir's authority with a new title: Great Leader.

North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission said the country would never deal with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, a conservative who stopped a no-strings-attached aid policy toward the North in 2008.

The stern message also said North Korea was uniting around Kim Jong Un, referring to him for the first time with the title Great Leader ? previously used for his father ? in a clear message of continuity. It was the latest incremental step in a burgeoning personality cult around the son following the Dec. 17 death of Kim Jong Il.

The younger Kim on Thursday was pronounced Supreme Leader of the ruling party, military and people at a massive public gathering on the final day of official mourning for his father.

The top levels of government appear to have rallied around Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s, in the wake of his father's death. Still, given his inexperience and age, there are questions outside North Korea about his leadership of a nation engaged in delicate negotiations over its nuclear program and grappling with decades of economic hardship and chronic food shortages.

"We declare solemnly and confidently that the foolish politicians around the world, including the puppet group in South Korea, should not expect any change from us," the National Defense Commission said. "We will never deal with the traitor group of Lee Myung-bak."

In a combative voice, a female news anchor for state TV read the National Defense Commission statement, saying the "evil misdeeds" of the Lee administration reached a peak when it prevented South Koreans from visiting North Korea to pay respects to Kim Jong Il, except for two delegations led by a former first lady and a business leader, both of whose husbands had ties to North Korea.

North Korea had said foreign official delegations would not be allowed at the funeral but that it would welcome any South Koreans who wanted to travel to pay respects to Kim.

"Even though we lost Kim Jong Il, we have the dear respected Kim Jong Un," Kang Chol Bok, a 28-year-old officer of the Korean People's Internal Security Forces, told The Associated Press. "We will turn our profound sorrow into strength and courage."

In a newly released postage stamp, Kim Jong Un was featured alongside Kim Jong Il against the backdrop of sacred Mount Paektu, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. It appeared to be the first time that the son has been featured on a postage stamp. North Korea has often depicted Kim Jong Il and his father, North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, together in official artwork.

The North's statement is a warning for Seoul not to take the new leadership lightly, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.

"It is also raising the stakes in case the South wants better relations so Pyongyang can extract greater concessions" during any later talks, Koh said. He added that it's "too early to say the North is dashing hopes for reforms."

While blasting the South's leader, the North also offered a bit of hope for improved ties with the South, saying it "will continue to push hard toward the path of improved relations."

But it added that any better ties won't be "based on the deceitful ploys South Korea is employing by mixing 'toughness' and 'flexibility.'" Seoul has signaled a change in its approach toward Pyongyang in recent months, saying it will be more flexible in dealing with the North.

South Korea's Unification Ministry will maintain its North Korea policy and not react to every statement out of Pyongyang, according to a ministry official who declined to be identified citing the sensitivity of the relations between the countries.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke by phone with his South Korean counterpart and they agreed to keep close ties in the coming months, Pentagon press secretary George Little said.

Panetta and South Korean Minister of Defense Kim Kwan-jin discussed the situation on the Korean peninsula in the 20-minute call, Little said in a statement sent out late Thursday.

"The secretary and the minister shared the view that peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula is our overarching priority and agreed to maintain close cooperation and coordination in the weeks and months ahead," Little said.

On Thursday, Kim Jong Un stood with his head bowed at the Grand People's Study House, overlooking Kim Il Sung Square, as mourners gathered below. Top officials flanking him included Kim Jong Il's younger sister, Kim Kyong Hui, and her husband, Jang Song Thaek, who are expected to be mentors of their young nephew.

"The father's plan is being implemented," Ralph Cossa, president of Pacific Forum CSIS, a Hawaii-based think tank, said of the power transfer. "All of these guys have a vested interest in the system and a vested interest in demonstrating stability. The last thing they want to do is create havoc."

Titles are important in North Korea and part of the myth-building surrounding the Kim family legacy.

Kim Il Sung, the country's first and only president, retains the title Eternal President even after his death.

Kim Jong Il held three main positions: chairman of the National Defense Commission, general secretary of the Workers' Party and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army. According to the constitution, his position as chairman of the National Defense Commission made him Supreme Leader of North Korea.

Kim Jong Un was made a four-star general last year and appointed a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party. Since his father's death, North Korean officials and state media have given him a series of new titles: Great Successor, Supreme Leader and now Great Leader.

___

Associated Press writers Foster Klug, Scott McDonald and Sam Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Pauline Jelinek in Washington contributed to this report. Follow AP's North Korea coverage at twitter.com/APklug and twitter.com/samkim_ap.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-30-AS-Kim-Jong-Il/id-5d27bd1623c240b9bb91cebcc130e12a

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Bachmann vows to stay in GOP race despite setbacks

Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. gestures while speaking during a campaign stop at Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. gestures while speaking during a campaign stop at Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. greets a supporter at a campaign stop at Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Iowa State Sen. Brad Zaun, left, chats with Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn. during a campaign stop at Principal Financial Group in Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

(AP) ? Vowing to press ahead through the Iowa caucuses, Republican Michele Bachmann dismissed the notion Thursday that her presidential campaign was in disarray ? even as she lost another staff member.

Her comments came a day after a key supporter fled her campaign and she had to fend off other calls to leave the race for the GOP nomination. On Thursday, Wes Enos said he was leaving his job as Bachmann's political director, saying: "I am no longer serving in an official capacity with the campaign." He said he doesn't plan to work for or support another candidate and still plans to caucus for Bachmann.

Despite all that, the Minnesota congresswoman called her campaign organization "strong" and said her headquarters had received 150 calls of support after her Iowa campaign chairman, state Sen. Kent Sorenson, resigned and switched his allegiance to rival Ron Paul on Wednesday.

Sorenson made the switch a few hours after appearing with Bachmann. She alleges he was offered "a lot of money" to change sides, an inducement she said Sorenson had told her about during a telephone conversation on Tuesday.

"I know what I was told in that conversation," Bachmann said.

The Paul campaign and Sorenson denied that money factored into the decision or that any such offer was made.

Sorenson told CNN on Thursday that he wanted to back a candidate who is in a position to keep Mitt Romney from winning Iowa. "It's unfortunate they're resorting to these type of tactics," Sorenson said. "But the fact of the matter is she wasn't going to win Iowa."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-12-29-Bachmann/id-35f9358d46e14e0e9fcdf8f198543301

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Republicans battle over undecided voters in Iowa (AP)

DES MOINES, Iowa ? With time running short, Republican presidential candidates Rick Santorum, Rick Perry and Newt Gingrich battled Thursday to win over a pivotal crop of undecided conservative voters. Of all the candidates, only Mitt Romney seemed to largely escape attack as he worked to win a state that long seemed out of reach until this week.

"Don't settle for what's not good enough to save the country," the newly ascendant Santorum implored Iowans at city hall in Coralville, urging voters to put conservative principles above everything else and suggesting that his rivals, and specifically Ron Paul, lacked them.

For the first time, though, the former Pennsylvania senator became a target.

"When he talks about fiscal conservatism, every now and then it leaves me scratching my head because he was a prolific earmarker," Perry, the Texas governor, said of Santorum as the day began, referring to special spending projects members of Congress seek. "He loaded up his bill with Pennsylvania pork.'"

Santorum defended the practice as part of lawmakers' constitutional role as appropriators, telling CNBC that he owed it to Pennsylvanians to bring money to the state. He said earmarking became abused and that he would support a ban on them if he were president.

Perry also slapped at Santorum in a radio ad and in a new TV commercial that lumps him in with Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Paul and says: "The fox guarding the henhouse is like asking a congressman to fix Washington: bad idea."

The maneuvering underscored the fluid ? if not convoluted ? state of the GOP presidential race as Tuesday's caucuses loom while cultural conservatives and evangelical Republicans, who make up the base of the electorate here, continue to be divided. That lack of unity paves the way for someone who is seen as less consistently conservative.

Five days out, public and private polling show Romney and Paul in strong contention to win the caucuses, with coalitions of support cobbled together from across the Republican political spectrum and their get-out-the-vote operations ? beefed up from their failed 2008 bids ? at the ready. They're the only two with the money and the organizations necessary to ensure big turnouts on Tuesday.

Three others ? Santorum, Perry and Gingrich ? will have to rely largely on momentum to carry supporters to precinct caucuses. Each was working to convince fickle conservatives that he alone would satisfy those who yearn for a nominee who would adhere strictly to GOP orthodoxy.

Bachmann, meanwhile, worked to convince backers that her cash-strapped campaign was not in disarray after a top supporter in Iowa abandoned her to back Paul.

After state Sen. Kent Sorenson bolted as her Iowa campaign chairman, Bachmann continued to bleed staff, losing her Iowa political director, Wes Enos, on Thursday. Some evangelical pastors have said they've urged her to quit the race.

Bachmann condemned Sorenson for quitting, and defiantly vowed to continue in the race.

"Iowans aren't told who to vote for. Iowans are independent and they're going to make their decisions," Bachmann said in Des Moines, on the last day of a 10-day tour of Iowa's 99 counties.

Ads, mostly negative, flooded television and radio. They filled mailboxes, too.

No less than five new TV ads were rolled out Thursday, with Romney, for one, releasing a 60-second, optimistic commercial promoting his vision for America and illustrating his confidence with his standing in the primary race. He was staying far from the fray and looking toward the general election.

"In the campaign to come, the American ideals of economic freedom and opportunity need a clear and unapologetic defense. And I intend to make it because I have lived it," Romney says in the commercial that includes patriotic images and scenes from his June campaign announcement in New Hampshire.

He's in the midst of a four-day trek that he hopes will seal victory here and give him momentum heading into the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary, the closest thing to a must-win state for the former Massachusetts governor.

On the second day of his bus tour, Romney turned out big crowds at stops in northern and eastern Iowa, focusing on more populous areas and counties he won four years ago.

"We have a choice in this coming election of what kind of America we're going to have," Romney said at J's Home Cooking in Cedar Falls, before meeting a crowd of 500 in Mason City. "It's not just about replacing a president. It's about saving the soul of America."

He didn't acknowledge his rivals but an outside group aligned with him rolled out a new ad against Gingrich that asks, "Haven't we had enough mistakes?" and notes the former House speaker's past admissions of judgment lapses.

As Romney sailed above it all, the fight raged among his rivals elsewhere in the state, where all six candidates competing in the caucuses are spending almost all their time for the next five days.

Looking to capitalize on his burst of support in new polls, Santorum made a play for tea party backers lining up behind Paul by arguing that the Texas congressman is longer on promising sweeping change than enacting it. "The guy has passed one bill in 20 years. What makes you think he can do any of these things?" Santorum said.

He added: "We need someone who has the bold, sharp contrast not just to win the election but govern the country, not somebody who is just a little better."

And, Bachmann castigated Paul's opposition to military intervention in Iran as "dangerous." She also suggested that his opposition to the federal war on drugs amounted to supporting the legalization of cocaine and heroin.

Perry focused his criticism on all the others on the right, saying: "There are other conservatives in this contest. I readily agree. But their records don't always square with the rhetoric." And, as he argued that he was the only true outsider in the race, Perry noted that four of his rivals ? Gingrich, Paul, Santorum and Bachmann ? have a combined 63 years of experience in Washington.

"I am asking you to vote your conservative values," Perry implored.

The closest anyone got to criticizing Romney directly was when Perry was asked in Cedar Rapids about family dynasties and cited, among other families, the Romneys.

In response, Perry mentioned his own modest upbringing and said: "I'm glad you gave me the opportunity to reflect my differences with Mitt."

The worst Romney faced from his rivals were veiled shots.

Santorum said Republicans must draw a clear contrast with Obama, rather than nominate a Republican with moderate tendencies out of political expedience.

"We need someone who has the bold, sharp contrasts, not just to win the election but to govern the country. Not just someone who is a little bit better," Santorum told supporters.

Perry was asked about family dynasties and the questioner cited, among other families, the Romneys. Perry stopped short of criticizing Romney's privileged upbringing. He mentioned his own humble beginning in small-town Texas before adding: "I'm glad you gave me the opportunity to reflect my differences with Mitt."

Gingrich, for his part, spent the day trying to wrap himself in President Ronald Reagan's cloak, announcing the backing of the late president's son, Michael, and, a day earlier, support from Reagan economic adviser Arthur Laffer.

Even as the polls show him sliding, Gingrich projected an upbeat image.

"The strategy of focusing on jobs and economic growth, staying positive and being pretty relentless in answering questions at every meeting is working," he insisted.

___

Associated Press writers Philip Elliott, Mike Glover, Kasie Hunt, Brian Bakst and Shannon McCaffrey contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111230/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign

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Friday, December 30, 2011

MIT scholar builds a self-balancing unicycle to roll fast and furious around campus (video)

Sure, we've shown you the goofy SBU v2.0 unicycle, but what's better than a glorious DIY project? MIT student Stephan Boyer has built his own electrical uni-ride, which he's dubbing the "Bullet." The single-wheel transporter packs a custom MIG-welded steel body, two 7Ah 12-volt batteries, an ATmega328 chip and a 450-watt electric motor. While the Bullet isn't the speediest of solowheel demons (15mph max), it's on par with its $25,000 Ryno Motors counterpart. As far as power efficiency, the Bullet can go up to five miles on a single charge -- more than enough juice to hit a few classroom round-trips. There's some "Learning to Ride" tips from the creator himself at the source link, but in the meantime you can watch this unified purple rider in action after the break.

Continue reading MIT scholar builds a self-balancing unicycle to roll fast and furious around campus (video)

MIT scholar builds a self-balancing unicycle to roll fast and furious around campus (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Dec 2011 22:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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aaronecarroll: @NoblePies @petedominick I told him to do it. Banana-Cream and a Pecan if banana-cream can be shipped please! Otherwise, Apple and Pecan.

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Source: http://twitter.com/aaronecarroll/statuses/152132916686757889

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Legal hash: Who owns my Twitter account @LRiddellSF?

Who owns my Twitter account @LRiddellSF?

Is it me? Or American City Business Journals?

There?s a lawsuit pending that may answer this question for all of us.

PhoneDog, a website that reviews mobile products, is suing its former blogger, Noah Kravitz, who opened a Twitter account under the name @PhoneDog_Noah and tweeted personally and for the company. When he left the company, he changed his twitter handle, but took the account and its 17,000 followers with him.

PhoneDog is suing for $340,000 in damages. And Blogger Kravitz is countersuing.

As a journalist, locked in a heated battle with biotech reporter Ron Leuty (Rleuty_biotech) regarding who can amass the most Twitter followers, the fate of this case could impact our approach to tweeting, and to marketing ourselves as journalists.

My competition with Ron, who, as a matter of full disclosure, is beating me in Twitter followers by a score of 1,411 to 1,276 as of this post, is only partially about bragging rights.

I use Twitter to market my stories and knowledge about the Bay Area cleantech sector in the hopes that by gaining more followers

A. More people will find and read my work, thereby bolstering my job security.

B. More people will find and read the Business Times, thereby bolstering my job security.

C. My company or another one might someday pay me more for that knowledge and those followers, thereby bolstering my job security.

D. I can rub it in Ron Leuty?s face.

You can see how A and B are win-wins for my company. I believe my company finds that tweeting reporters increase the company?s reach. (Also, Twitter is free!)

Option C. however is where employers are struggling.

Lindsay Riddell covers energy and cleantech for the San Francisco Business Times.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/vertical_44/~3/MOXrPg-gcYk/who-owns-my-twitter-account-lriddellsf.html

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

All eyes on German renewable energy efforts (AP)

FELDHEIM, Germany ? This tiny village of 37 gray homes and farm buildings clustered along the main road in a wind-swept corner of rural eastern Germany seems an unlikely place for a revolution.

Yet environmentalists, experts and politicians from El Salvador to Japan to South Africa have flocked here in the past year to learn how Feldheim, a village of just 145 people, is already putting into practice Germany's vision of a future powered entirely by renewable energy.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's government passed legislation in June setting the country on course to generate a third of its power through renewable sources ? such as wind, solar, geothermal and bioenergy ? within a decade, reaching 80 percent by 2050, while creating jobs, increasing energy security and reducing harmful emissions.

The goals are among the world's most ambitious, and expensive, and other industrialized nations from the U.S. to Japan are watching to see whether transforming into a nation powered by renewable energy sources can really work.

"Germany can't afford to fail, because the whole world is looking at the German model and asking, can Germany move us to new business models, new infrastructure?," said Jeremy Rifkin, a U.S. economist who has advised the European Union and Merkel.

In June, the nation passed the 20 percent mark for drawing electric power from a mix of wind, solar and other renewables. That compares with about 9 percent in the United States or Japan ? both of which rely heavily on hydroelectric power, an energy source that has long been used.

Expanding renewables depends on the right mix of resources, as well as government subsidies and investment incentive ? and a willingness by taxpayers to shoulder their share of the burden. Germans currently pay a 3.5 euro cent per kilowatt-hour tax, roughly euro157 ($205) per year for a typical family of four, to support research and investment in and subsidize the production and consumption of energy from renewable sources.

That allows for homeowners who install solar panels on their rooftops, or communities like Feldheim that build their own biogas plants, to be paid above-market prices for selling back to the grid, to ensure that their investment at least breaks even.

Critics, like the Institute for Energy Research, based in Washington, D.C., maintain such tariffs put an unfair burden of expanding renewables squarely on the taxpayer. At the same time, to make renewable energy work on the larger scale, Germany will have to pour billions into infrastructure, including updating its grid.

Key to success of the transformation will be getting the nation's powerful industries on board, to drive innovation in technology and create jobs. According to the Environment Ministry, overall investment in renewable energy production equipment more than doubled to euro29.4 billion ($38.44 billion) in 2011. Solid growth in the sector is projected through the next decade.

Some 370,000 people in Germany now have jobs in the renewable sector, more than double the number in 2004, a point used as proof that tax payers' investment is paying off.

Feldheim has zero unemployment ? despite its tiny size ? compared with roughly 30 percent in other villages in the economically depressed state of Brandenburg, which views investments in renewables as a ticket for a brighter future. Most residents work in the plant that produces biogas ? fuel made by the breakdown of organic material such as plants or food waste ? or maintain the wind and solar parks that provide the village's electricity.

"The energy revolution is already taking place right here," says Werner Frohwitter, spokesman for the Energiequelle company that helped set up and run Feldheim's energy concept.

But it's not only in the country. Earlier this month in Berlin, officials unveiled a prototype of a self-sustaining, energy-efficient home, built from recycled materials and complete with electric vehicles that can be charged in its garage.

The aim of the prototype home is to produce twice as much energy as is used by a family of four ? chosen from a willing pool of volunteers who will be selected to live in the home for 15 months ? through a combination of solar photovoltaics and energy management technology, in order to show the technology already exists to allow people to be energy self-sufficient.

"We want to show people that already today it is possible to live completely from renewable energy," said German Transport Minister Peter Ramsauer as the project, dubbed "Efficiency House Plus," was unveiled. The house is part of a wider euro1.2 million ($1.57 million) project investing in energy-efficient buildings.

"The Efficiency House Plus will set standards that can be adopted by the majority in the short term," Ramsauer told The Associated Press. "The basic principle is that the house produces more energy than needed to live. The extra energy is then used to charge electric-powered cars and bicycles or sold back to the public grid."

Germany's four leading car makers are also participating in the project with BMW AG, Daimler AG, Volkswagen AG and Opel, which is part of Buick's parent company, General Motors Co., each making an E-car for use by in the home.

Such strong cooperation between Germany's industrial sector coupled with a political landscape that emphasizes stability and a heightened public ecological sensibility makes Germany fertile ground to lead the way in the transformation from a post-carbon economy to one run on renewable energy.

"Germany has the most robust industrial economy per capita. When you talk about industrial revolution, that's Germany. It's German technology, it's German IT, it's German commutation," said Rifkin, who outlines what he calls the "The Third Industrial Revolution," in a newly released book of the same title that explains how the economies in the future could swap fossil fuels for renewable energies and still maintain growth.

Robert Pottmann, an asset manager with Munich Re, one of the world's biggest reinsurers, says the company seeks to invest about euro2.5 billion ($3.27 billion) in the next few years in renewable energy assets such as "wind farms, solar projects or maybe new electricity grids."

Alan Simpson, an independent energy and climate adviser from Britain who visited Feldheim as part of a wider tour of Germany last month to see what the renewable revolution looks like up close said it was inspiring to view what is being accomplished on the ground.

"It's great to think about Germany delivering on everything that we are being told in Great Britain is impossible," Simpson said.

Amid the excitement, there is also an awareness of the real need for the German experiment to succeed.

"If Germany can't pull this off," said Rifkin. "We don't have a plan B."

___

Associated Press writer Juergen Baetz contributed to this story from Berlin.

___

On the Internet:

Feldheim: http://www.neue-energien-forum-feldheim.de/

German Renewable Energy Agency: http://www.unendlich-viel-energie.de/en/homepage.html

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111229/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_germany_making_renewables_work

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Wednesday, December 28, 2011

The Wealth Gap Between Congress and Voters Is Growing (The Atlantic Wire)

Both The New York Times and The Washington Post have?separate?reports today about the widening wealth gap between members of Congress and the people they represent. Almost half of all Congresspeople are millionaires?and their?median?net worth has climbed to $913,000, compared to $100,000 for the rest of America households.?According to the Post, that number drops to $725,000 when excluding home equity (and adjusting for inflation), but the same median figure for American families is just $20,500. And that gap has only grown wider in recent years.

Related: GOP Congressman Scraping By on Only $400,000 After Taxes

The biggest reason for the disparity is the sheer cost of running for office, which is both a full-time job and an expensive undertaking. The average successful House race costs $1.4 million to stage (the average Senate campaign is almost $10 million), and candidates are allowed ? and often need ? to donate as much as they want to their own effort. The costs of advertising and travel make it increasingly difficult for anyone who doesn't already have money to get their name out there. There have also been concerns raised recently about the ability of politicians to profit from their position, both through contacts made and the ability to trade stock based on?privileged?information.

Related: The Net Worth of Congress Rose 23.6% Since 2008

Even putting aside the questions of influence and corruption, the biggest concern is that those who elected to Congress are more out of touch with the world of their?constituents?than ever before. How can they be expected to look out for the interest of citizens when the biggest issues facing them ? unemployment, health care, wages ? are unknown to most of those who are supposed to be looking out for them? Or worse when addressing those issues directly contradicts their own interest, as when millionaires are asked to vote on a "millionaire's tax"? The biggest political movement of the last year, Occupy Wall Street, has been devoted almost exclusively to addressing the gap between rich and poor, but it's hard to see how any change becomes possible when that gap is greatest among those in a position to do something about it.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/atlantic/20111227/ts_atlantic/congresswealthgap46662

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Image Backup and Disaster Recovery for Linux and Windows New Standards by Novosoft Software

Alliance, Ohio, December 28, 2011 Novosoft, an international software development and data management consultancy company, reports that Handy Backup Disaster Recovery, a utility tool for computer system restore, has reached a brand new level of usability and speed of operation. With the functionality for file-system and disk image backup both under Linux and Windows, the app becomes one the market's most powerful solutions for backing up and restoring data independently of the primary operating system.

"It's been a long way for the Handy Backup Disaster Recovery tool. It started as a spin-off from Handy Backup software, with the file and folder backup basic functionality turned into disk imaging. As the utility evolved, it gained the best a Windows-style interface can give, built-in apps for complex data protection (a disk partition editor and even handy antivirus), and other awesome features. Now Disaster Recovery has become even more powerful: with the its' speed and usability (backup dummy tests successfully passed), we dare to say it presents a new standard for image backup and disaster recovery software," said Alexander Prichalov, the head of Novosoft Development Department.

The newly released version of Handy Backup Disaster Recovery presents a full-featured system restire, for Linux and Windows OS. The utility helps to accomplish file-based and disk image backup via creation of a recovery drive to load from, either to the original hard drive, or another place. The backup options include the making of a complete disk image and the backing up of an individual disk partition.

The new version presents smart data transferring framework helping to optimize network traffic and reduce system backup time. Also, the latest Disaster Recovery has a refined interface: by default a user sees only the basic settings, and advanced ones are there for her in a Windows-style interface right the moment she needs them.

The utility fully supports the Handy Backup software orientation toward utilizing the most up-to-date efficient technologies. Among those of Disaster Recovery's there are Linux Knoppix and Naked Objects.

Handy Backup Disaster Recovery is available either as a standalone app, or as a part of Handy Backup software functionality, editions Home Professional, Small Server, and Network Server. Both ways, it can be downloaded from the Handy Backup official website.

About Handy Backup Disaster Recovery

Handy Backup Disaster Recovery is the software for complex data protection. It allows backing up and restoring important data via creation of bootable recovery drives, independently from a primary operating system. The functionality of Handy Backup Disaster Recovery is available either as a part of Handy Backup Home Professional, Small Server, and Network Server, or as a standalone program. If you want to learn more, please refer to the Handy Backup official website http://www.handybackup.net/

About Novosoft

Established in 1992, Novosoft LLC specializes in software development and IT consultancy. Among Novosoft's partners and clients there are big names like NASA, Stanford University, Microsoft, IBM, and many others. For more information, please be welcome to visit http://www.novosoft-us.com.

Contacts

Aleksey Dolgushev
Novosoft
Phone: +7 (383) 330-34-69
E-mail: pressrelease@novosoft.net

Alliance, Ohio, December 28, 2011 Novosoft, an international software development and data management consultancy company, reports that Handy Backup Disaster Recovery, a utility tool for computer system restore, has reached a brand new level of usability and speed of operation. With the functionality for file-system and disk image backup both under Linux and Windows, the app becomes one the market's most powerful solutions for backing up and restoring data independently of the primary operating system.

"It's been a long way for the Handy Backup Disaster Recovery tool. It started as a spin-off from Handy Backup software, with the file and folder backup basic functionality turned into disk imaging. As the utility evolved, it gained the best a Windows-style interface can give, built-in apps for complex data protection (a disk partition editor and even handy antivirus), and other awesome features. Now Disaster Recovery has become even more powerful: with the its' speed and usability (backup dummy tests successfully passed), we dare to say it presents a new standard for image backup and disaster recovery software," said Alexander Prichalov, the head of Novosoft Development Department.

The newly released version of Handy Backup Disaster Recovery presents a full-featured system restire, for Linux and Windows OS. The utility helps to accomplish file-based and disk image backup via creation of a recovery drive to load from, either to the original hard drive, or another place. The backup options include the making of a complete disk image and the backing up of an individual disk partition.

The new version presents smart data transferring framework helping to optimize network traffic and reduce system backup time. Also, the latest Disaster Recovery has a refined interface: by default a user sees only the basic settings, and advanced ones are there for her in a Windows-style interface right the moment she needs them.

The utility fully supports the Handy Backup software orientation toward utilizing the most up-to-date efficient technologies. Among those of Disaster Recovery's there are Linux Knoppix and Naked Objects.

Handy Backup Disaster Recovery is available either as a standalone app, or as a part of Handy Backup software functionality, editions Home Professional, Small Server, and Network Server. Both ways, it can be downloaded from the Handy Backup official website.

About Handy Backup Disaster Recovery

Handy Backup Disaster Recovery is the software for complex data protection. It allows backing up and restoring important data via creation of bootable recovery drives, independently from a primary operating system. The functionality of Handy Backup Disaster Recovery is available either as a part of Handy Backup Home Professional, Small Server, and Network Server, or as a standalone program. If you want to learn more, please refer to?the Handy Backup official website http://www.handybackup.net/

About Novosoft

Established in 1992, Novosoft LLC specializes in software development and IT consultancy.?Among Novosoft's partners and clients there are big names like NASA, Stanford University, Microsoft, IBM, and many others. For more information, please be welcome to visit?

Contacts

Aleksey Dolgushev

Novosoft

Phone: +7 (383) 330-34-69

E-mail: ?pressrelease@novosoft.net

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5670625164&f=378

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Nigerians fear more church attacks after 39 killed (AP)

MADALLA, Nigeria ? At a Nigerian Catholic church where a terror attack killed 35 people on Christmas, women tried to clean the sanctuary ahead of Mass on Monday while one man wept uncontrollably amid the debris.

Outside St. Theresa Catholic Church, crowds gathered among the burned-out cars in the dirt parking lot, angry over the attack claimed by a radical Muslim sect and fearful that the group will target more churches.

Rev. Father Christopher Jataudarde told The Associated Press that Sunday's blast happened as church officials gave parishioners white powder as part of a tradition celebrating the birth of Christ.

Some already had left the church at the time of the bombing, causing the massive casualties. In the chaos after the bombing, Jataudarde said one mortally wounded man, cradling his shredded stomach, begged him for religious atonement.

"Father, pray for me, I will not survive," the man said, according to the priest.

At least 52 people were wounded in the attack, said Slaku Luguard, a coordinator with Nigeria's National Emergency Management Agency. Victims filled the cement floors of a nearby government hospital, some crying in pools of their own blood.

On Christmas, attacks by the radical Muslim sect left 39 dead across Africa's most populous nation. A bomb also exploded amid gunfire in the central Nigeria city of Jos and a suicide car bomber attacked the military in the nation's northeast.

After the bombings, a Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in an interview with The Daily Trust, the newspaper of record across Nigeria's Muslim north. The sect has used the newspaper in the past to communicate with public.

"There will never be peace until our demands are met," the newspaper quoted the spokesman as saying. "We want all our brothers who have been incarcerated to be released; we want full implementation of the Sharia system and we want democracy and the constitution to be suspended."

Boko Haram has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people. The group, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for at least 504 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count.

This Christmas attack comes a year after a series of Christmas Eve bombings in Jos claimed by the militants left at least 32 dead and 74 wounded. The group also claimed responsibility for the Aug. 26 bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Nigeria's capital Abuja that killed 24 people and wounded 116 others.

While initially targeting enemies via hit-and-run assassinations from the back of motorbikes after the 2009 riot, violence by Boko Haram now has a new sophistication and apparent planning that includes high-profile attacks with greater casualties.

That has fueled speculation about the group's ties as it has splintered into at least three different factions, diplomats and security sources say. They say the more extreme wing of the sect maintains contact with terror groups in North Africa and Somalia.

Targeting Boko Haram has remained difficult, as sect members are scattered throughout northern Nigeria and the nearby countries of Cameroon, Chad and Niger.

Analysts say political considerations also likely play a part in the country's thus-far muted response: President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from the south, may be hesitant to use force in the nation's predominantly Muslim north.

Speaking late Sunday at a prayer service, Jonathan described the bombing as an "ugly incident."

"There is no reason for these kind of dastardly acts," the president said in a ceremony aired by the state-run Nigerian Television Authority. "It's one of the burdens as a nation we have to carry. We believe it will not last forever."

___

Jon Gambrell reported from Lagos, Nigeria and can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_on_re_af/af_nigeria_violence

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Tanier: Brees already among the greats

Saints QB under the radar, but he's Hall of Famer even if he quits today

Image: BreesGetty Images

Everyone seems to overlook Drew Brees as being a product of today's pass-happy game, but he's a legitimate Hall of Famer, NBCSports.com contributor Mike Tanier writes.

ANALYSIS

updated 11:58 p.m. ET Dec. 26, 2011

Mike Tanier

If you have felt underappreciated during the holiday season, remember that it could be worse. You could be Drew Brees.

Brees broke Dan Marino?s single-season passing record of 5,084 yards ??with his final pass on Monday night's win against the Falcons. Ho-hum, you say: Passing records fall every season. Except that Marino?s standard has held for 27 years, and only one other quarterback has ever surpassed 5,000 yards: None other than Brees, who threw for 5,069 yards in 2008.

Brees? pursuit of Marino?s milestone has gotten the ?oh, by the way? treatment from some outlets, while a few analysts cared just enough to give Bress the Roger Maris brush-off. ?Brees' record will be severely watered down. So much so, that it almost deserves an asterisk," wrote Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com, alluding to today?s liberal passing rules and strategies.

Last week, Brees became the 13th quarterback in NFL history to surpass 40,000 career passing yards. You might have missed the fanfare and the parade: The story got buried in the stats ?n? notes section of most sports sections outside of Louisiana. Brees will pass Johnny Unitas on the all-time yardage list before breaking Marino?s record, and he could also pass Joe Montana by season?s end. It?s not clear what punctuation marks he must use as apologies for passing those legends: Maybe an ampersand and a pound sign, harsh symbols for our ?severely watered down? times.

When not cruising past Marino, Unitas, and Montana, Brees is being a solid citizen about his contract situation. He becomes a free agent in March, but negotiations on a new deal have been tabled until the offseason. Saints president Mickey Loomis has praised Brees for not letting the slow/nonexistent negotiations become a distraction, but Loomis has not exactly sped things along, either. Apparently, things have become so severely watered down 32-year-old all-time record holders just grow on trees.

Granted, Brees is getting some props: He is often mentioned as this year?s ?runner-up MVP,? and the Saints are quietly 12-3, in the playoffs, and in good position to wrap up the second seed in the NFC. But Brees deserves to be seen as more than a runner-up. He deserves a heck of a lot better than the asterisk treatment. Brees is a future Hall of Famer, and he should be acknowledged as one of the best quarterbacks, not just of this generation, but of any generation.

In good company
Yes, Brees is a Hall of Famer. He?s not a Hall of Famer if he wins another Super Bowl, or if he has three more good years, or if he breaks the right combination of records. He is a Hall of Famer even if he announces before kickoff Monday that he is giving up football for tiddlywinks. Brees is not ?on his way.? He is there.

Brees is about to be named to his sixth Pro Bowl and has led his team to a Super Bowl victory. Every eligible quarterback in history with six Pro Bowls and a ring has made the Hall of Fame. In fact, the only quarterback in history with six Pro Bowl selections who is not in the Hall of Fame is John Hadl, the Chargers legend who earned much of his all-star notice in the wild-and-woolly days of the early AFL. Brees? record blows away top Hall of Fame argument starters such as Ken Stabler (four Pro Bowls, one ring) and Ken Anderson (four Pro Bowls, zero rings). Brees fits much more comfortably among second-tier Hall members such as Dan Fouts (six Pro Bowls, zero rings) and Bobby Layne (five Pro Bowls, two rings), well above the Joe Namath-George Blanda class of quarterbacks who made the cut for other contributions. You can argue that multiple Pro Bowl appearances were harder for old-time quarterbacks to achieve, because careers were shorter, but Brees is only 32, and we are giving him zero credit for what he might accomplish in the next decade.

Counting Super Bowls and all-star appearances is a rather simple-minded way of ranking quarterbacks. But we cannot use statistics, because Brees blows the field away. He has the highest career completion percentage in history of any quarterback with over 3,000 pass attempts. He just passed Montana for 10th on the all-time touchdown list. Brees, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are carving the record book up in unequal thirds, or at least all the parts of the record book that Favre didn?t shred by trying to play until the sun went nova. Give Brees five more modest seasons in the 3,000-yard, 20-touchdown range (and account for Brady's having similar production), and Brees will retire among the top five quarterbacks in every meaningful category.

And despite our ?watered-down? times, Brees? totals will stick -- other than Brady, other quarterbacks in Brees? age group (Tony Romo, Eli Manning, and the like) are thousands of yards and many touchdowns behind.

Brees lacks an MVP award, but he has a shelf full of everything else: the Bert Bell Award, Offensive Player of the Year, Comeback Player of the Year, Super Bowl MVP and the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, which acknowledges community service as well as on-field success. This is not the r?sum? of a borderline Hall of Fame candidate; it is overwhelming evidence of greatness, a slam dunk that is only going to rattle backboards even harder after a few more seasons like the past five.


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Brees surpasses Marino

??Drew Brees set the NFL record for yards passing in a season, breaking a mark that Dan Marino had held since 1984, and the New Orleans Saints clinched the NFC South title with a 45-16 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45768359/ns/sports-nfl/

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

John Legend engaged to model Chrissy Teigen

Matthew McConaughey wasn't the only star who popped the question this Christmas!PHOTOS: More celebs who got engaged this year

"Ordinary People" soul singer John Legend, 32, and supermodel Chrissy Teigen, 26, "got engaged over the holidays while vacationing in the Maldives," Legend's rep tells Us Weekly. The couple began dating in 2007.

"He went to Jared," Teigen joked on Twitter Tuesday.

PHOTOS: Stars' giant engagement rings

Legend, a nine-time Grammy Award winner, will ring in 2012 with a performance at the Pearl Concert Theater at the Palms Casino Resort on New Year's Eve.PHOTOS: Best celebrity weddings of 2011

Teigen is best known for her work as a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model and her two-year gig on "Deal or No Deal."

Copyright 2011 Us Weekly

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Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45798089/ns/today-entertainment/

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Amateur Hour for GOP Candidates

Today was the last day that you could submit signatures to appear on the ballot in the Virginia primaries. It's not an easy process. You need to collect 10,000 valid signatures, including at least 400 from each of Virginia's eleven congressional districts. Rick Perry tried, but failed, to get 10,000. Newt Gingrich submitted over 11,000, but must now pray that enough of them are from actual voters to get him over the hump. Ron Paul and Mitt Romney had no trouble and were certified. Jon Huntsman, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and whoever else is pretending to run for president, didn't even submit any signatures. In other words, in one of the swingiest of swing-states, we could see a ballot featuring only Romney and Paul. In any case, it will have no more than three candidates to choose from.

May I submit that you can't seriously hope to be the leader of the free world if you can't even get your crap together to get your name on the ballot? No one should take you seriously in Iowa if we know you're not even going to be on the ballot in Virginia. This would be a good opportunity for the media to start ignoring everything Santorum, Perry, Bachmann, and Hunstman have to say.

Look at this comedy:

Jerry Kilgore, former attorney general and chairman of Perry?s campaign in Virginia, said in an interview Friday night he did not know how many signatures were submitted. He said he was disappointed, but that qualifying for the Virginia ballot is a ?daunting task.?

?Hopefully, he will do better in other states,?? he said. ?He can focus on other states.?

Yes, candidates can focus on campaigning in states where they will actually appear on the ballot. That is very good advice.

We have a crazy electoral system. But you have to be able to master it to have any hope of mastering the federal government. Consider the fact that the Clintons screwed up their campaign by not understanding how delegates were allocated until it was too late. And they ran the government for eight years and basically created the process set up by their DNC. It's not a simple thing to run a presidential campaign. It takes a lot of brain power. You've got Rick Perry failing to qualify for the ballot in Virginia and Mitt Romney operating with one office and three staffers in all of South Carolina. These people are amateurs, and they've going to get their heads handed to them.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boomantribune/SEQG/~3/ny2f8LqOJUs/66

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Monday, December 26, 2011

Trump drops Republican Party registration in NY (omg!)

FILE - In this file photo taken April 25, 2011, Donald Trump is interviewed in New York. A spokesman for Trump said, Friday, Dec. 23, 2011, the businessman and television host changed his voter registration in New York state from Republican to unaffiliated, preserving his option to seek the presidency in 2012. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Billionaire businessman Donald Trump has changed his voter registration in New York state from Republican to unaffiliated.

A spokesman for Trump says the businessman and television host changed his affiliation to preserve his option to seek the presidency in 2012.

Special Counsel Michael Cohen said Friday that Trump could enter the race if Republicans fail to nominate a candidate who can defeat President Barack Obama.

He said Trump probably would use his substantial wealth to even the playing field with Obama's re-election campaign.

Cohen said Trump's commitment to hosting TV's "The Apprentice" will keep him from doing anything until May, when the show's season wraps up.

He said Trump filed his voter registration paperwork Thursday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_trump_drops_republican_party_registration_ny031537528/43996794/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/trump-drops-republican-party-registration-ny-031537528.html

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Cleburne family killed in Mexico robbery spree

by JONATHAN BETZ

WFAA

Posted on December 24, 2011 at 9:55 PM

Updated today at 2:29 PM

CLEBURNE ? A Cleburne mother and two daughters have been killed in a series of attacks on buses in northern Mexico. Maria Hartsell, 39, and her daughters Karla Hartsell, 19, and Cristina Hartsell, 13, were among the seven people who lost their lives.

?I can?t sleep at night,? said Hartsell?s mother-in-law Margaret Schneider of Cleburne. ?I shut my eyes and I see them.?

Schneider says Hartsell ? who is a U.S. citizen ? was traveling with her four children to visit family members for the holidays in the region known as Huasteca. A group of five gunmen attacked three buses in Mexico?s Gulf Coast state of Veracruz on Thursday in what authorities described as a violent robbery spree.

Soldiers apparently killed the gunmen later.

Schneider said Hartsell?s other daughter Angie was also shot, but her condition is unknown. She said another grandchild, Mike Hartsell, 10, survived, but told her he watched the gunmen murder his mother and sister after killing the bus driver.

?Little Mike told me? they turned around and came back and shot her (his mother) in the head with the gun and they shot Karla,? Schneider said. ?He said he knew that his mom and Karla were dead.?

Schneider said Hartsell worked in the cafeteria at Cleburne?s Santa Fe Elementary School.

The U.S. Consulate has urged Americans to ?exercise caution? when traveling to Veracruz, and to ?avoid intercity road travel at night.?

While the specific area where the Thursday attacks occurred is not frequented by foreign travelers, other parts of the Huasteca? ? a hilly, verdant area on the Gulf coast? ? are popular among Mexican tourists and some foreigners.

The attack occurred near the border with the state of Tamaulipas, an area that has been the scene of bloody battles between the Zetas and Gulf drug cartels. According to some estimates, more than 40,000 people have been killed over the past five years in Mexico?s ongoing drug war.

Schneider said she begged her daughter-in-law not to take the trip.

?I told her not to go to Mexico. I just kept repeating it,? Schneider said. ?Why did they have to lose their life? It?s just senseless.?

E-mail jbetz@wfaa.com

Source: http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Cleburne-family-killed-in-Mexico-136193938.html

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Foundation Announces Free College Tuition for Buffalo Students

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Christmas came early to kids in?Buffalo public?schools on Tuesday.

Starting with this year's junior class, any kid that graduates will have their tuition paid for to any SUNY school.

George Weiss is the philanthropist who founded the "Say Yes To Education" program.

Buffalo is the second city in the state to be chosen for the program, which?will provide $100 million in scholarships over the next 20 years.

Scott Brown:?"Do you know how many problems and how dysfunctional the educational system here is?"

George Weiss: "What makes it work is a city realizing what they've done hasn't worked and they are suddenly about change. This is the only way people put aside their political differences."

School Board President Lou Petrucci:?"We hope it improves attendance, we hope it improves grade point average, we hope it improves their graduation rate, we hope it improves everything."

Scott Brown:?"How much more incentive does this give you to do well in school?"

Terrel Harris, Performing Arts student: "It definitely gives us a lot to see that we have a purpose, that we can do stuff in the future and that college is there, it's a reachable goal."

The "Say Yes" program also insists that it have a major say in how the school system is run in terms of curriculum, tutoring, and summer school.

Syracuse was the first city in the state to get the program. It now has over 100 colleges - SUNY and private schools - taking part in the program.

Starting in January, members of the Bufffalo Say Yes program will begin to negotiate with local private colleges to say whether they'll take part in the program.

The program is funded through the Say Yes Foundation and local foundations and donors.

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The organization Say Yes to Education is partnering with the Buffalo Public Schools to invest $15 million into the school system and offer a scholarship for free tuition for students to attend state schools.

The scholarship is part of a "promise" fund for students in the Buffalo Public School system to cover up to 100% of their tuition at a SUNY school. The class of 2013 will be the first class eligible for the scholarships.

The tuition is offered to students who complete all four years of high school. Nearly 1,000 students have received scholarship in Syracuse where the program has been operating for four years.

Source: http://northbuffalo.wgrz.com/news/news/61805-foundation-announces-free-college-tuition-buffalo-students

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Japan looking to buy Chinese government bonds (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? Japan will seek to buy Chinese government bonds, the Japanese government said in a statement issued after Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda held talks in Beijing with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Sunday.

The statement given to reporters gave no details of when Japan might seek to buy the bonds or on what scale.

Japan had earlier indicated it is in talks to buy Chinese government debt to strengthen economic ties.

Despite sometimes rancorous political ties between the two neighbors, Japan's economic fortunes are increasingly tied to China's economic growth and consumer demand.

China has been Japan's biggest trading partner since 2009.

In 2010, trade between the two nations grew by 22.3 percent compared to levels in 2009, reaching 26.5 trillion yen ($339.3 billion), according to the Japan External Trade Organization.

China and Japan are also the world's first and second-biggest holders of foreign reserves.

(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Yoko Nishikawa)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111225/bs_nm/us_japan_china_bonds

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Sunday, December 25, 2011

Fresh Android Apps for Dec. 23: Papa John?s Pizza, Siegecraft, Real Racing 2 (Appolicious)

Don?t let the holiday stress get to you. Just use the ol? Android to grab some pizza (Papa John?s Pizza), fend off Viking zombies (Siegecraft), or put the pedal to the metal (Real Racing 2).

Merry Christmas! I?ll meet you back here on Tuesday next week.

Sure, you probably have big holiday dinner plans, but what about all the other meals before the New Year? How does pizza sound?

Order off the entire menu from Papa John?s through this fresh app with or without an account. Quick Picks let you submit common choices with just one or two taps or store your regular order as a Favorite so you can recall it and use it later. Need to find a ?PJ? restaurant, this app provides search, location, and directions to one near you.

The app displays all PJ special offers and lets you use Promo Codes while ordering if you have them. Choose to pick up your food or mark it for delivery, if you can?t get off the couch.

Catapults are fun! Lob crazy stuff at the strange enemy hordes trying to invade your castle in this new 3D, NVIDIA Tegra-friendly twist on tower defense. You?ll find the standard siege munitions ? huge spears and canon balls ? but you can also throw cows, pumpkins, troll heads, and other ?off menu? items to really shake up the bad guys.

By the way, they had zombies back in medieval times as well, and you?ll face some Viking undead as you level up. On Android tablets, check out the special multiplayer levels and fire away!

Wanna go for a ride? As the title suggests, this EA driving game goes for racing realism by putting the style, ride and physics of real production cars into the app. Cars include the 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500, 2010 Nissan GT-R, 2012 McLaren MP4-12C, and others. Use Quick Race mode for a fast course against 15 competitors or join the circuit in Career Mode.

This introductory app is free but to unlock the full game that includes?30 cars, 15 tracks, and a Career Mode with 10 hours of racing, you?ll need to use the in-app purchase.

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/appolicious_rss/rss_appolicious_tc/http___www_androidapps_com_articles10578_fresh_android_apps_for_dec_23_papa_johns_pizza_siegecraft_real_racing_2/43991929/SIG=13omubeb9/*http%3A//www.androidapps.com/tech/articles/10578-fresh-android-apps-for-dec-23-papa-johns-pizza-siegecraft-real-racing-2

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