Monday, December 31, 2012

Next Minneapolis mayor will inherit challenges (Star Tribune)

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Flowers for the holidays - Sharon Santoni - My French Country Home

Back again after a week of rest and family time for Christmas. ? A huge thank you to everyone who has been by here while I was away, and thank you especially for your kind Christmas wishes.

Don't you love this week between Christmas and New Year.? A sort of hiatus, where the daily routine is put on hold, and it feels like we've stopped in time.

For us, this weekend marks a pause between guests and entertaining, and it's always a moment when I like to freshen up the Christmas decor and start to prepare for New Year's Eve.

I found these stunning double Amaryllis, totally dreamy and soft coloured.? They started as a large bouquet in a giant vase but with the warmth of the house several of the stems snapped, so I changed them to individual jars and scattered Christmas baubles around them.

?I hope that your holidays are peaceful and enjoyable,

?no matter how many mouths there may be to feed.

Source: http://myfrenchcountryhome.blogspot.com/2012/12/flowers-for-holidays.html

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Sunday, December 30, 2012

Fiscal Cliff: Republicans' Moment Of Truth Explained

The Daily Beast:

Barack Obama sounded reasonably confident Friday evening that a deal can still be reached. But it?s his job to sound optimistic, and not to anger Mitch McConnell and John Boehner.

Read the whole story at The Daily Beast

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/29/fiscal-cliff-republicans_n_2380922.html

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Texas Tech rallies to beat Minnesota 34-31

HOUSTON (AP) ? Texas Tech has had a difficult month since coach Tommy Tuberville left abruptly for the job at Cincinnati.

The struggles continued on Friday night, and the Red Raiders trailed Minnesota by a touchdown with just more than a minute left in the Meineke Car Care Bowl.

That was when seniors D.J. Johnson and Seth Doege came through with big plays to help Texas Tech to a 34-31 win.

After Doege connected with Eric Ward on a 35-yard scoring play to pull the Red Raiders even at 31 with just more than a minute remaining, Johnson returned an interception 39 yards and Ryan Bustin made a 28-yard field goal as time expired to give the Red Raiders the win.

"We've overcome a lot of adversity," Johnson said. "To end my last play like that is a blessing."

Michael Carter intercepted two of Doege's passes in the fourth quarter before the tying score, but Minnesota couldn't convert either of the turnovers into points.

"Things weren't always going our way ... but we kept fighting and put ourselves in a position to win the game," Doege said.

The Red Raiders (8-5) got their third straight bowl victory to end their trying season on a high note.

Texas Tech has hired Kliff Kingsbury to replace Tuberville, but interim coach Chris Thomsen led the team against Minnesota (6-7). Kingsbury was at the game, watching from a suite.

Doege threw for 271 yards and a touchdown and ran for another score in front of a crowd that included 1977 Heisman Trophy winner Earl Campbell and former Tech coach Spike Dykes.

"More than anything I credit those players," Thomsen said of Johnson and Doege. "They really held it together ... to get to make those plays after they struggled. They kept their poise and confidence and continued to stay in there and battle."

Philip Nelson threw for 138 yards and two scores for the Gophers, who were in a bowl game for the first time since 2009.

"I think our kids played hard tonight; they played their guts out, and I appreciate that," Minnesota coach Jerry Kill said. "We just couldn't make a play at a critical time."

The Red Raiders returned to a bowl after having their 18-season bowl streak snapped last year.

A 1-yard touchdown pass from Nelson to Drew Goodger gave Minnesota a 31-24 lead early in the fourth quarter.

Texas Tech led 24-17 at halftime, but couldn't do anything offensively in the second half until the last couple of minutes. It was an ugly game for the Red Raiders, who had 13 penalties for 135 yards and lost the tight end Jace Amaro when he was ejected for throwing a punch.

Jakeem Grant ran for what was initially ruled a touchdown for Tech late in the third quarter. Amaro threw a punch at Derrick Wells in the end zone on the play and was ejected.

After the penalty, the play was reviewed and overturned. Doege threw an incomplete pass before Tech made a 32-yard field goal. But the Red Raiders had a false start penalty on the play and had to kick again and this time the Gophers blocked it.

Nelson threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Devin Crawford-Tufts, who was left uncovered in the end zone, to tie it 24-all early in the third quarter.

Donnell Kirkwood scored on a 3-yard run to leave Minnesota up 17-14 early in the second quarter.

Texas Tech had a first-and-goal at the Minnesota 2 after a pass-interference call on the Gophers. But Texas Tech had to settle for a field goal after a rush for a 3-yard loss and two penalties.

Minnesota's next drive started out well before turning ugly. The Gophers had made two first downs before MarQueis Gray was sacked for a loss of 7 yards. Kirkwood ran for 17 yards on the next play, but Minnesota received two 15-yard penalties on the play, one for a personal foul on lineman Zac Epping, to make it second-and-42. Epping received a second personal foul penalty on the next play to bring up third-and-49.

"We just made some errors that I wish we hadn't made," Kill said.

Christian Eldred shanked the punt, giving Texas Tech the ball at the Minnesota 42.

The Red Raiders capitalized on their great field position when Doege spun away from a defender in the backfield and leaped over another Gopher near the goal line on a 4-yard touchdown run. Tech converted a fourth-and-6 play on that drive, and led 24-17 at halftime.

Minnesota's Rodrick Williams Jr. scored on a 2-yard run to give the Gophers a 10-7 lead in the first quarter.

Doege lost his helmet on a 5-yard scramble on Tech's next drive and had to go out for one play. He was replaced by Michael Brewer, who found Derreck Edwards for a 13-yard touchdown pass to give the Red Raiders a 14-10 lead.

Minnesota's Troy Stoudermire returned the opening kickoff 26 yards to break the NCAA record for career kickoff return yards. He finished the game with 111 yards to push his total to 3,615.

The Gophers ended that drive with a 41-yard field goal to make it 3-0.

Texas Tech's Grant returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown to put Texas Tech up 7-3.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-tech-rallies-beat-minnesota-34-31-060522585--spt.html

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Saturday, December 29, 2012

Make Your Business More Popular with Yahoo Store Development ...

Yahoo Store DevelopmentWe all know that Internet is a one-stop destination, where we can find a range of products and services which we are looking for. With increasing demand for Internet, the popularity of online shopping is increasing rapidly as lots of people prefer to purchase products and services online from the comfort of their home. So, if you are looking to make your online business successful, Yahoo store is one of the best options as it is the most popular store among online shoppers.

By using Yahoo store, you can easily promote your products and services on the web and enhance the popularity of your online business. For small and medium-sized businesses, Yahoo Store is one of the finest options because it is an affordable e-commerce solution. There are many businesses looking for a reasonable as well as reliable e-commerce platform, so Yahoo store is the only solution that works speculate.

Currently in the market, all the businessmen want to start an online business, so opting for Yahoo store is an excellent option that allows them to gain huge profit. There are many e-commerce platforms obtainable, but selecting a Yahoo Store is beneficial for all the entrepreneurs. Yahoo Store carries a set of features such as menu, customization, layout, add-ons, RTML programming, graphics, and many more to make your online business popular.

Now, it becomes easily probable to build a profit generating store as Yahoo store integrates with lots of activities like improvement, store design, promotion, and customization. The development of Yahoo store is quite difficult, so every businessman needs to hire a professional designer and developer?s team, who can carry out this task very easily. The team of designers and developers can easily turn your simple online store into a popular and successful store. The team also assures you to provide a user-friendly and reliable online store with easy navigations and layout features.

Around the world, many designers and developers are obtainable, who claim to provide high-quality Yahoo store development at competitive rates, but you need to be careful while hiring them as there are some developers and designers, who are only claiming to be good. It is great for you to hire an offshore Development company from India as India has well-experienced and professional developers, who work hard to offer your desired services. Perception System is one of the well-known offshore Development Company based in India. The company offers complete online store solutions to its valuable customers, so you can Yahoo Store Development India at competitive rates.?

Source: http://blogs.perceptionsystem.com/make-your-business-more-popular-with-yahoo-store-development/

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Burned bear cub recovering, may be released

HAMILTON, Mont. (AP) ? An orphaned black bear cub burned in a wildfire last summer is recovering and may be released in June, an Idaho wildlife sanctuary official said.

The 4-month-old bear nicknamed "Boo Boo" was discovered by a fisherman in a tree along the Salmon River in August days after the 312-square-mile Mustang wildfire complex passed through the area.

The cub had second-degree burns on all four paws and was malnourished when U.S. Forest Service and Idaho Fish and Game workers rescued him.

After spending a few weeks at the Idaho Humane Society, the cub has been rehabilitating since September in the Snowdon Wildlife Sanctuary near McCall. He lives in a 2-acre forested enclosure with five other orphaned cubs.

Snowdon board member Diane Evans-Mack said Boo Boo is on the road to a full recovery, according to the Ravalli Republic (http://bit.ly/Tn8OO3).

"You wouldn't even be able to notice that his paws were ever burnt now," she said. "We don't see him every day, but even when we saw him in September, two weeks after the fire, we noticed just looking at the paws that they were much better. They were still a little bit sensitive, but he was climbing trees and running around."

The sanctuary tracks the bears' activity with cameras. Some of the pictures on the sanctuary's website show Boo Boo and another of the bears playfully wrestling with each other at night.

Evans-Mack said the plan is to release Boo Boo into the wild in June, and he may be collared so the sanctuary can keep track of him.

"We are going to end up holding Boo Boo through the winter, and we'll wait until the spring bear hunting season is over because he would be a little too naive to be out there," she said.

The cub's diet consists of fruit, greens and dry dog food.

"Dog food is actually something that helps him put on a lot of weight," Evans-Mack explained. "We have interns that go in and use dry dog food, and that puts a lot of fat on the bears. We get donations from local markets of fruits and some greenery that they would discard anyway. We give them salmon sometimes. We could use donations of dry dog food though."

___

Information from: Ravalli Republic, http://www.ravallirepublic.com

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-12-28-Burned%20Bear/id-671ccbf87b9144fc89c75306c63db25b

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Forget fiscal cliff: Debt ceiling is much scarier

3 hrs.

Investors fearing a stock market plunge if the U.S. tumbles off the "fiscal cliff" next week may want to relax.

But they should be scared if a few weeks later Washington fails to reach a deal to raise the nation's debt ceiling as that threatens a default, another credit downgrade and a financial markets panic.

Market strategists say that falling off the cliff for any lengthy period -- which would lead to automatic tax hikes and stiff cuts in government spending?--?would badly dent both consumer and business confidence, but?it would take some time for the U.S. economy to slide into recession. In the meantime, there would be plenty of chances for lawmakers to make amends by reversing some of the effects.

That has been reflected in a U.S. stock market that has still not shown signs of melting down. Instead, it has drifted lower and gotten more volatile.

In some ways, that has let Washington off the hook. In the past, a plunge in stock prices forced the hand of Congress, such as in the middle of the financial crisis in 2008.

"If this thing continues for a bit longer and the result is you get a U.S. debt downgrade ... the risk is not that you lose two and half percent, the risk is that you lose ten and a half," said Jonathan Golub, chief U.S. equity strategist at UBS Equity Research in New York.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said earlier?this??week that the United States will technically reach its debt limit at the end of the year.

'Tremendous fight'
The White House has said it will not negotiate the debt ceiling as in 2011, when the fight over what was once a procedural matter preceded the first-ever downgrade of the U.S. credit rating, but it may be forced into such a battle again. A repeat of that war is most worrisome for markets.

Markets posted several days of sharp losses in the period surrounding the debt ceiling fight in 2011. Even after a bill to increase the ceiling passed, stocks plunged in what was seen as a vote of no confidence in Washington's ability to function, given how close lawmakers came to a default.

Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor's lowered the U.S. sovereign rating to double-A-plus, citing Washington's legislative problems as one reason for the downgrade. The benchmark S&P 500 dropped 16 percent in a four-week period ending Aug. 21, 2011.

"I think there will be a tremendous fight between Democrats and Republicans about the debt ceiling," said Jon Najarian, a co-founder of online brokerage TradeMonster.com in Chicago.

"I think that is the biggest risk to the downside in January for the market and the U.S. economy."

There are some signs in the options market that investors are starting to eye the January period with more wariness. The CBOE Volatility Index, or the VIX, the market's favored anxiety indicator, has remained at relatively low levels throughout this process, though on Thursday it edged above 20 for the first time since July.

More notable is the action in VIX futures markets, which shows a sharper increase in expected volatility in January than in later-dated contracts. January VIX futures are up nearly 23 percent in the last seven trading days, compared with a 13 percent increase in March futures and an 8 percent increase in May futures. That's a sign of increasing near-term worry among market participants.

Consumers don't appear at all traumatized by the fiscal cliff talks, as yet. Helping to bolster consumer confidence has been a continued recovery in the housing market and growth in the labor market, albeit slow.

The latest employment take will be out Friday, and the Labor Department is expected to show jobs growth of 145,000 for December, in line with recent growth.

Consumers will see their paychecks affected if lawmakers cannot broker a deal and tax rates rise, but the effect on spending is likely to be gradual.

Negotiations ongoing
President Barack Obama met with?congressional leaders from both parties Friday?for discussions about the fiscal cliff, and the House of Representatives is set to convene Sunday and continue working through the New Year. Obama has proposed maintaining current tax rates for all but the highest earners.

Options strategists have noted an increase in positions to guard against weakness in defense stocks such as General Dynamics, as those stocks would be affected by spending cuts set for that sector. Notably, though, the PHLX Defense Index is less than 1 percent away from an all-time high reached Dec. 20.

This underscores the view taken by most investors and strategists: One way or another, Washington will come to an agreement to offset some effects of the cliff. The result will not be entirely satisfying, but it will be enough to satisfy investors.

"Expectations are pretty low at this point and yet the equity market hasn't reacted," said Carmine Grigoli, chief U.S. investment strategist at Mizuho Securities USA. "You're not going to see the markets react to anything with more than a 5 to 7 percent correction."

Markets, for the most part, have not shown the same kind of volatility as in 2008 or 2011.

A gradual decline remains possible, Golub said, if business and consumer confidence continues to take a hit on the back of fiscal cliff worries. The Conference Board's measure of consumer confidence fell sharply in December, a drop blamed in part on the fiscal issues.

"If Congress came out and said that everything is off the table, yeah, that would be a short-term shock to the market, but that's not likely," said Richard Weiss, a Mountain View, Calif.-based senior money manager at American Century Investments.

"Things will be resolved, just maybe not on a good time table. All else being equal, we see any further decline as a buying opportunity."?

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/forget-fiscal-cliff-debt-ceiling-much-scarier-1C7753061

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Friday, December 28, 2012

Putin signs anti-U.S. adoptions bill

MOSCOW (AP) ? President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed a bill banning Americans from adopting Russian children, making the legislation official less than 24 hours after his office received it from Parliament.

The bill has angered Americans and Russians who argue it victimizes children to make a political point, cutting off a route out of frequently dismal orphanages for thousands of children. The Russian-language hashtag "PutinEatsKids" was trending on Twitter just minutes after Putin signed it.

UNICEF estimates that there are about 740,000 children not in parental custody in Russia while about 18,000 Russians are on the waiting list to adopt a child.

The law also blocks dozens of Russian children now in the process of being adopted by American families from leaving the country. The U.S. is the biggest destination for adopted Russian children ? more than 60,000 of them have been taken in by Americans over the past two decades.

The measure is retaliation for an American law that calls for sanctions against Russian officials deemed human rights violators. The U.S. State Department has said it regrets Parliament's decision to pass the bill, arguing it would prevent many children from growing up in families.

Children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov says that 46 children who were about to be adopted in the U.S. would remain in Russia if the bill comes into effect.

Putin has said that U.S. authorities routinely let Americans suspected of violence toward Russian adoptees go unpunished.

The passage of the bill followed weeks of a hysterical media campaign on Kremlin-controlled television that lambasts American adoptive parents and adoption agencies that allegedly bribe their way into getting Russian children.

A few lawmakers claimed that some Russian children were adopted by Americans only to be used for organ transplants and become sex toys or cannon fodder for the U.S. Army. A spokesman with Russia's dominant Orthodox Church said that the children adopted by foreigners and raised outside the church will not "enter God's kingdom."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/putin-signs-anti-us-adoptions-bill-100228125.html

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layanau: writ trig: Bodybuilding Basics | Sports n Recreation Info

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LOS ANGELES ? Ryan Reynolds is the latest superhero to rule the weekend box office. Reynolds? ?Green Lantern? debuted at No. 1 with $52.7 million, a fair but unremarkable opening stacked up against other comic-book adaptations. Released by Warner Bros., ?Green Lantern? brought up the rear among superhero movies to open so far this summer, [...]

? About 3 weeks ago, a box from Sprint arrived. Inside the box was a kitten. No, sorry?actually it was this nifty 7? Android tablet from HTC, the EVO View 4G. After using it almost daily, and discussing it with everybody I could corner, I?m still somewhat conflicted about whether or not I?d buy one. [...]

Hong Kong bills itself as one of Asia?s most diverse cities and is home to a sizable population of non-ethnic Chinese minorities, but many of them educated at local public schools are unable to read and speak Chinese. In the 15 years since reverting to Chinese sovereignty, South Asian students here have been given the [...]

At first, you?ll be mystified by the 20 most-liked Facebook photos posted by advertisers during 2012. The giants of Facebook advertising ? Walmart, Amazon, Target, Samsung, etc. ? are completely absent. In their place are some tiny businesses and niche companies you?ve never heard of. Sure, a couple of major brands like Bed Bath & [...]

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Thursday, December 27, 2012

Why are US firms going 'green': CEOs or customers?

The number of large US corporations with a climate, energy strategy has soared in the past five years, a new survey says. Customers, employees are the two major forces pushing change.

By David J. Unger,?Correspondent / December 26, 2012

L'Oreal Professionnel lead stylist Joseph DiMaggio preps hair backstage at the Spring 2013 Timo Weiland runway show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in September in New York. L'Oreal scored in the top five in Climate Counts's scorecard of major corporations because of its efforts to save energy and reduce its impact on the planet.

Charles Sykes/Invision for L'Oreal Professionnel/AP Images/File

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Minimizing waste. Reducing emissions. Conserving water. Increasingly, these are part of corporate culture as companies move to adopt sustainable business practices.

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Five years ago, a quarter of corporations surveyed by Climate Counts had a publicly available climate and energy strategy. Now, two-thirds do, says the nonprofit, which ranks major companies. And in that time, their average score has improved from 30.6 to 52.1 out of 100.

"It's really become a science, almost," says Mike Bellamente, director of Climate Counts. "As recently as 10 years ago it was more compliance-based and philanthropic, and now it's, 'How do we develop our products and services in a way that aligns with sustainability?' "

The findings reflect the emergence of the "triple bottom line" ? an expanded interpretation of business success that adds environmental and social factors to what is traditionally measured only in dollars and cents.

Customers are the top group driving corporate sustainability, according to 37 percent of sustainability executives who responded to a 2011 Ernst & Young survey. Employees were second (22 percent), followed by shareholders (15 percent), and policymakers and nongovernmental organizations (7 percent apiece).

"In a lot of ways the market said, 'The heck with Washington; we're going to move ourselves,' " says Kevin Wilhelm, chief executive officer of Sustainable Business Consulting, a Seattle-based consulting firm.

The shift is also qualitative, experts say, as discussions of environmental responsibility move from the compliance office to the boardroom.

"Before, you had your business and then you had a bolt-on environmental project on the side. Triple bottom line is about incorporating it into how you do business," Mr. Wilhelm says.

Take L'Or?al's biomethanation plant in Libramont, Belgium. It uses local agricultural waste to power the factory as well as an additional 4,000 households in the area, says the cosmetics giant, which ranked in the top five on Climate Counts's scorecard.

A new line of jeans from Levi Strauss & Co., Waste<Less, will incorporate an average of eight 12- to 20-ounce recycled plastic bottles per pair of jeans, according to the apparel company, which also ranked highly on the scorecard.

Still, there is always room for improvement.

"There's evidence that firms are taking this seriously, but at the same time, does that go far enough to ameliorate our environmental problems?" asks Mike Lenox, president of the Alliance for Research on Corporate Sustainability, a consortium of academic institutions.

As consumers vote with their dollars, investments, and workplace decisions, corporations seem to be listening.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/B-e8tbNtOwY/Why-are-US-firms-going-green-CEOs-or-customers

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If US falls off 'fiscal cliff,' economy could get soft landing ? or dizzy dive onto the rocks (Star Tribune)

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How much should I have in personal savings before I start investing ...

I am 24 years old and make $35,000 per year and I currently have $4,000 in personal savings. My company only matches contributions after a year of employment but I was thinking of starting my retirement fund before then. Is $4,000 enough of a cushion to start putting money towards my retirment fund?


Source: http://retirementplanning.investblogs.com/2012/12/26/how-much-should-i-have-in-personal-savings-before-i-start-investing-in-retirement/

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Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Obama to fly to home early as &#39;fiscal cliff&#39; looms - News9.com ...

By MATTHEW DALY
Associated Press

HONOLULU (AP) - President Barack Obama will cut short his traditional Christmas holiday in Hawaii, planning to leave for Washington on Wednesday evening as he and lawmakers consider how to prevent the economy from going over the so-called fiscal cliff.

Obama was expected to arrive in Washington early Thursday, the White House said Tuesday night. First lady Michelle Obama and the couple's two daughters will remain in Hawaii.

In the past, the president's end-of-the-year holiday in his native state had stretched into the new year. The first family had left Washington last Friday night.

Congress was expected to return to Washington on Thursday. Before he departed for Hawaii, Obama told reporters he expected to be back in the capital the following week.

Automatic budget cuts and tax increases are set to begin in January, which many economists say could send the country back into recession. So far, the president and congressional Republicans have been unable to reach agreement on any alternatives.

Lawmakers have expressed little but pessimism for the prospect of an agreement coming before Jan. 1. On Sunday, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said she expects any action in the waning days of the year to be "a patch because in four days we can't solve everything."

The Obamas were spending the holiday at a rented home near Honolulu. On Christmas Day, the president and first lady visited with members of the military to express thanks for their service.

"One of my favorite things is always coming to base on Christmas Day just to meet you and say thank you," the president said at Marine Corps Base Hawaii's Anderson Hall. He said that being commander in chief was his greatest honor as president.

Obama took photos with individual service members and their families.

On Christmas Eve, Obama called members of the military to thank them for serving the nation, then joined his family for dinner, the White House said. The Obamas opened gifts Christmas morning, ate breakfast and sang carols.

Friends were joining the Obamas for Christmas dinner Tuesday night, the White House said.

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

Source: http://www.news9.com/story/20423356/obama-spending-christmas-day-with-family-in-hawaii

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Thursday, December 20, 2012

Tobacco companies, 17 states settle over payments

(Reuters) - U.S. cigarette makers including Philip Morris USA and R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co said on Tuesday they reached a settlement with 17 states in a long-running dispute over the amount of payments they are required to make under the 1998 landmark anti-smoking agreement.

Under the settlement, the states will receive their share of $4 billion in disputed payments and the manufacturers will receive credits against future payments.

The payments resulted from the 1998 national accord that obliges companies to help cover the health bills of ailing smokers.

States, counties and cities have sold nearly $40 billion of bonds backed by the more than $200 billion in payments that U.S. cigarette makers agreed to make to them over time.

So far in 2013, returns on tobacco bonds have largely outperformed the rest of the $3.7 trillion municipal bond market despite concerns expressed by credit rating agencies about the decline in tobacco consumption.

In July Moody's investors service warned that the majority of tobacco bonds sold by U.S. states, counties and cities will default if cigarette consumption keeps falling at a 3 percent to 4 percent annual pace.

In December, California and New York's Nassau County tapped reserve for payments on three different series of state tobacco bonds due to insufficient tobacco settlement revenue.

The 46 states that participated in the 1998 agreement shared $6.15 billion in payments in April, up from $6.03 billion in April 2011, according to the National Association of Attorneys General.

Tobacco companies, including Marlboro cigarette maker Philip Morris, a unit of Altria Group Inc, and Camel cigarette maker R.J. Reynolds, a unit of Reynolds American Inc, have for years disputed the amount of payments they owe after losing market share to companies that did not agree to the 1998 settlement.

"This agreement resolves disputes with a large group of states on financial terms that are fair to the parties and in a way that we believe will lead to a better method for resolving these issues in the future," Denise Keane, Altria Group's executive vice president and general counsel, said in a statement.

The states in the settlement are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming. Also settling are Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, the tobacco companies said.

Philip Morris said it will receive a total of about $450 million in credits toward payments over the next five years. Reynolds said its credits will total more than $1 billion while Newport cigarette maker Lorillard Inc said its credits will be at least $198 million.

The agreement also allows other states to enter the settlement and is subject to approval by a panel that has been arbitrating the dispute over the payments. If they do not join the settlement, the arbitration will continue.

Altria shares closed at $32.59 on Tuesday on the New York Stock Exchange, while Reynolds closed at $41.94 and Lorillard ended at $116.09.

(Reporting by Brad Dorfman; editing by Andrew Hay and Phil Berlowitz)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tobacco-companies-17-states-settle-over-payments-003822808--sector.html

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Facebook Pulls Plug on Planned Ad Network

by Todd Haselton | December 19, 2012

Facebook Office Sign

Facebook is doing everything it can to generate revenue, including monetizing Instagram, adding advertisements to its News Feed and, in the future, possibly implementing video ads. However, it?s apparently not ready to launch its full ad network, which would allow it to sell advertisements for developers to use inside mobile apps.

?We are pausing our mobile ads test off of Facebook,? a spokesperson told?AllThingsD. ?While the results we have seen and the feedback from partners has been positive, our focus is on scaling ads in mobile news feed before ads off of Facebook. We have learned a lot from this test that will be useful in the future.? Facebook?s discussions to place ads on websites of its partners have also been frozen, and?AllThingsD said the decision was made because neither Facebook nor its partners see the ads producing ?significant revenue? and because Facebook, unlike Google, can?t provide guaranteed income.

It?s unclear when the talks will resume, or when Facebook?s own mobile ad network will see the light of day.

Join the discussion

Source: http://www.technobuffalo.com/2012/12/19/facebook-pulls-plug-on-planned-ad-network/

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