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Sunday, March 31, 2013

Uneasy calm in Kenya after court ruling on vote

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) ? Kenyan police deployed forces Sunday in the capital and in the lakeside city of Kisumu to contain the continuing threat of violence after two people were shot dead in protests Saturday following the Supreme Court's decision to uphold the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as the country's next president, officials said, noting that most of the country remained peaceful.

Moses Ombati, the deputy police chief for Nairobi, said Sunday that rowdy youths in Nairobi's slums were still trying to protest the court's ruling against Prime Minister Raila Odinga's challenge to the validity of Kenyatta's win. Ombati said he hoped the presence of armed police would deter illegal protests like those that erupted Saturday immediately after the court's ruling.

"There is tension obviously, but with the deployment of officers we have done we don't anticipate anything," Ombati said.

Although Odinga accepted the court's decision, some of his supporters reacted angrily to his loss, taking to the streets and engaging the police in running battles.

Two people were killed and five seriously injured in riots in Kisumu, Odinga's home region, said Ole Metito, police chief for Nyanza province. At least seven rioters are now in police custody for their alleged roles in the Kisumu violence, he said.

"There was chaos in places where people were throwing stones. Now we have officers monitoring the general situation," Metito said.

Kenyatta, who is to be sworn in on April 9, said late Saturday that he would be a president for all Kenyans and urged them to move past the election and build a nation "at peace with itself."

The March 4 election was described by many as the most complicated in Kenya's history. It pitted Kenyatta against Odinga, whose disputed loss in the 2007 election triggered postelection violence that killed more than 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands. Kenyatta faces criminal charges at the International Criminal Court for allegedly encouraging that postelection violence.

Kenyatta will become the second sitting African president to face charges at the Hague. William Ruto, his running mate, who is set to become Kenya's deputy president, faces similar charges. Both men deny any wrongdoing.

Unlike after the 2007 election, which degenerated into tribe-on-tribe violence, Kenya has been largely peaceful following these elections.

Odinga charged the presidential election was "tainted" by irregularities. Odinga's lawyers alleged in court that the electoral commission boosted Kenyatta's numbers at some polling stations, helping him to avoid a runoff election with Odinga. According to official figures, Kenyatta avoided a runoff by about 8,000 votes out of 12.3 million cast.

The Supreme Court decided that Kenyatta was validly elected and that the election was conducted in compliance with the constitution. The judges are expected to release a detailed judgment in two weeks.

Odinga said he accepted this verdict even though he regretted that some of the evidence produced by his lawyers had been disregarded.

"Casting doubt on the judgment of the court could lead to higher political and economic uncertainty, and make it more difficult for our country to move forward," he said Saturday after the verdict. "We must soldier on in our resolve to reform our politics and institutions. Respect for the supremacy of the constitution in resolving disputes between fellow citizens is the surest foundation of our democratic society. "

___

Muhumuza reported from Kampala, Uganda.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/uneasy-calm-kenya-court-ruling-vote-093210892.html

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'In fair weather, prepare for foul' / Columns / The Foreigner ...

Published on Saturday, 30th March, 2013 at 11:00 under the columns category, by Ilan Kelman.
Last Updated on 30th March 2013 at 11:11.

Thomas Fuller had a point. Easter holidaymakers in southern Norway are basking in the sunshine, whilst people are losing their lives in the north.

Weather is in the news in Norway. There is a huge temperature difference from this time last year, plus avalanche warnings for the hills. Does this make the weather topsy-turvy?

The extremes do seem to be getting worse across Norway and the weather appears to be more unstable. Simultaneously, we are burning fossil fuels at an alarming rate.

There is no doubt that climate change caused by our actions is affecting the environment. We are heading into a climate regime which humanity has never before experienced.

Permafrost is expected to melt in the Arctic. Sea level is projected to rise to a level which could threaten coastal infrastructure. The Arctic Ocean will have much less sea ice than before.

These changes to the climate (long-term trends) definitely affect the weather (short-term trends). We will experience impacts from both the weather and the longer-term changes, in Norway and around the world.

Some claim that the changes will be advantageous. They want warmer winters. Yet they do not realise that temperature extremes are likely to increase in all seasons. They want an ice-free Arctic Ocean for shipping, yet do not realise that many storms might worsen.

Even if some changes are positive, there will still be immense costs to bear across Norway.

Because simultaneously with a climate regime which is new for humanity, we have a society and technology which humanity has never before experienced.

While humanity has never been immune to severe weather and climate impacts, we have created many vulnerabilities, which climate change will expose further than they are already.

More extreme snowfall will continue to close airports and ground flights. Changes in permafrost, sea-level, and erosion will damage infrastructure. Floods will continue to undermine roads and railways. Increased humidity will damage historic structures.

Is this topsy-turvy, or just trends that increase extremes which we already experience? It does not matter. The changes to the climate which we are causing end up hurting ourselves most.

Dr. Ilan Kelman?is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for International Climate and Environmental Research - Oslo (CICERO).

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Published on Saturday, 30th March, 2013 at 11:00 under the columns category, by Ilan Kelman.
Last updated on 30th March 2013 at 11:11.

Source: http://theforeigner.no/pages/columns/in-fair-weather-prepare-for-foul/

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Lawmakers tighten belts amid automatic budget cuts

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Members of Congress are traveling less and worrying more about meeting office salaries. Their aides are contending with long lines to get inside their offices and fewer prospects of a raise. Such are the indignities thrust upon the men and women who brought the country $85 billion in government spending cuts this month.

There probably won't be much sympathy for a senator or congressman making $174,000 a year who is in no danger of being furloughed or laid off, at least until the next election. Still, there has been an effort, especially in the Republican-led House, to show that no one should be exempt from sacrifice.

"As those who are charged with the care of taxpayers' dollars, we need to lead by example," Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., who chairs the House Administration Committee, said last week in promoting a bill to slash the budgets of House committees by 11 percent.

Earlier in March ? after Congress and the White House failed to come up with an alternative to across-the-board cuts in most federal programs ? the House imposed an 8.2 percent reduction in lawmakers' personal office budgets. That came on top of 11 percent cuts to members' office budgets during 2011-2012.

"We've drastically reduced travel both for myself and my staff," said Republican Rep. John Campbell, who must cross the country to visit his southern California district. He said he tends to stay in Washington on two-day weekends rather than return home. "I'm more productive here when I'm not rushing to get home," he added.

Campbell said other "little things" he is doing to economize include reducing the office phone bill, cutting off magazine and newspaper subscriptions and using email rather than letters to communicate with voters.

Rep. Luke Messer, a freshman Republican from Indiana, said he hired fewer people when he came to Washington because "we essentially began the term knowing there was a high possibility of a sequester"? Washington-speak for the automatic spending cuts.

So far, congressional staffers appear to have escaped the furloughs that are likely to send thousands of public servants home without pay for several workdays over the next six months and disrupt some government services. "I hope to avoid that," said Rep. Jared Polis, D-Colo., "but we will take any steps to ensure we don't exceed our budget." Under House rules, a lawmaker must pay for excess spending out of his or her own pocket.

The fiscal pressures are weaker in the Senate, where senators have staff budgets about double the amount of the $1.3 million average in the House and where the office cuts ordered because of the sequester were limited to 5 percent.

While staffers still have their jobs, they may have a harder time getting to them. Security officials have cut costs by closing 10 entrances and several side streets around the Capitol complex, creating long lines to get through screening stations. People "have started to adjust to those changes at the entrances," although it is still a challenge on busy days, said Senate Sergeant at Arms Terrance Gainer.

Gainer, who oversees nearly 1,000 security and administrative employees, said he hopes to abide by the 5 percent sequester cut without layoffs by enlisting 70 or 80 people for a voluntary retirement program.

Some House members also are feeling the pinch during the two-week Easter break, a prime time for foreign "fact-finding" tours. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, announced last month that members must book commercial flights rather than make use of more convenient but more expensive military aircraft.

Some Democrats have complained the GOP enthusiasm for frugality has come at too high a cost.

"At a time when most members of this body are representing newly formed congressional districts with a need to open new offices or move to new locations, we find ourselves with an 8.2 percent decrease in the very operating budgets that support constituent services," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.

Wasserman Schultz, who also is the Democratic Party's chairwoman, criticized House Republicans for cutting budgets while spending some $3 million for the legal defense of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, which bars federal recognition of same-sex marriages.

"We are past the point of cutting what we want, and we are now into cutting what we need ? our ability to attract and retain expert staff," said Rep. Robert Brady of Pennsylvania, the senior Democrat on the House Administration Committee.

Brad Fitch, president and CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation, a nonprofit organization that works to improve congressional operations, said it's still possible that House members will have to resort to furloughs or layoffs. So far, he said, they have been able to cope with the cuts of the past three years with less drastic steps, such as reducing the size of their staffs through attrition, making more use of interns and using email rather than mass mailings.

At the end of 2011, Fitch's group recommended 46 possible ways for members to cut $90,000 from their 2012 budgets, ranging from pay freezes, holding more town hall meetings by telephone, delaying purchases of new computers, eliminating Washington staffers' visits to district offices, closing district offices, eliminating bottled water from offices and reviewing spending on food and beverages for constituents.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lawmakers-tighten-belts-amid-automatic-budget-cuts-165316275--politics.html

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Low-power use for mobile devices: 60 GHz radio frequency chip

Mar. 29, 2013 ? As the capacity of handheld devices increases to accommodate a greater number of functions, these devices have more memory, larger display screens, and the ability to play higher definition video files. If the users of mobile devices, including smartphones, tablet PCs, and notebooks, want to share or transfer data on one device with that of another device, a great deal of time and effort are needed.

As a possible method for the speedy transmission of large data, researchers are studying the adoption of gigabits per second (Gbps) wireless communications operating over the 60 gigahertz (GHz) frequency band. Some commercial approaches have been introduced for full-HD video streaming from a fixed source to a display by using the 60 GHz band. But mobile applications have not been developed yet because the 60 GHz radio frequency (RF) circuit consumes hundreds of milliwatts (mW) of DC power.

Professor Chul Soon Park from the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and his research team recently developed a low-power version of the 60 GHz radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC). Inside the circuit are an energy-efficient modulator performing amplification as well as modulation and a sensitivity-improved receiver employing a gain boosting demodulator.

The research team said that their RFIC draws as little as 67 mW of power in the 60 GHz frequency band, consuming 31mW to send and 36mW to receive large volumes of data. RFIC is also small enough to be mounted on smartphones or notebooks, requiring only one chip (its width, length, and height are about 1 mm) and one antenna (4x5x1 mm3) for sending and receiving data with an integrated switch.

Professor Park, Director of the Intelligent Radio Engineering Center at KAIST, gave an upbeat assessment of the potential of RFIC for future applications:

"What we have developed is a low-power 60-GHz RF chip with a transmission speed of 10.7 gigabits per second. In tests, we were able to stream uncompressed full-HD videos from a smartphone or notebook to a display without a cable connection. Our chip can be installed on mobile devices or even on cameras so that the devices are virtually connected to other devices and able to exchange large data with each other."

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/wDhOcuqbnp4/130329161245.htm

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Porsha Williams Divorce Filing: Pay Me!

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/porsha-williams-divorce-filing-pay-me/

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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Cyprus details heavy losses for major bank customers

By Karolina Tagaris

NICOSIA (Reuters) - Major depositors in Cyprus's biggest bank will lose around 60 percent of savings over 100,000 euros, its central bank confirmed on Saturday, sharpening the terms of a bailout that has shaken European banks but saved the island from bankruptcy.

Initial signs that big depositors in Bank of Cyprus would take a hit of 30 to 40 percent - the first time the euro zone has made bank customers contribute to a bailout - had already unnerved investors in European lenders this week.

But the official decree published on Saturday confirmed a Reuters report a day earlier that the bank would give depositors shares worth just 37.5 percent of savings over 100,000 euros. The rest of such holdings might never be paid back.

The toughening of the terms sends a clear signal that the bailout means the end of Cyprus as a hub for offshore finance and could accelerate economic decline on the island and bring steeper job losses.

Banks reopened to relative calm on Thursday after the imposition of the first capital controls the euro has seen since it was launched a decade ago.

The streets of Nicosia were filled with crowds relaxing in its cafes and bars on Saturday, but popular anger was not hard to find.

"Europe shouldn't have allowed this disaster to happen here. Cyprus was paradise and they've turned it into hell," said Tryfonas Neokleous, owner of a clothes shop on a cobbled street in the center of the city.

He said he didn't except business to pick up even now that the banks were open again after an almost two-week shutdown.

"I don't expect anything and I don't hope for anything anymore. People are going to spend their money on food and everything else they've been deprived of the last 15 days."

There are no signs for now that bank customers in other struggling euro zone countries like Greece, Italy or Spain taking fright at the precedent set by the bailout.

"Cyprus is and will remain a special one-off case," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told German mass-selling daily Bild. "Savings accounts in Europe are safe."

European officials have worked hard this week to stress that the island's bailout was a unique case - after a suggestion by Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem that the rescue would serve as a model for future crises rattled European financial markets.

"Together in the Eurogroup we decided to have the owners and creditors take part in the costs of the rescue - in other words those who helped cause the crisis," said Schaeuble, one of the architects of the euro zone's response to a debt crisis now in its fourth year.

"Cyprus's economy will now go through a long and painful period of adjustment. But then it will pay back the loan."

ANGRY

Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades said on Friday that the 10-billion euro ($13 billion) bailout had contained the risk of national bankruptcy and would prevent it from leaving the euro.

Cypriots, however, are angry at the price attached to the rescue - the winding down of the island's second-largest bank, Cyprus Popular Bank, also known as Laiki, and an unprecedented raid on deposits over 100,000 euros.

"We're numb. People are numb. But their hidden hope is that something good will happen eventually," said Pantelis Panayotou, 70, a jeweler whose stands in his shop are half empty.

The island has seen none of the angry street violence that frequently erupts in Greece but peaceful protests by students and bank workers have become an almost daily occurrence. At least 2,000 students protested outside parliament this week.

Etyk, a bank workers' union, called a rally outside parliament for Thursday to protest against potential job cuts and a hit on their pension funds.

Under the terms of Saturday's decree, the assets of Laiki will be transferred to Bank of Cyprus. At Bank of Cyprus, about 22.5 percent of deposits over 100,000 euros will attract no interest. The remaining 40 percent will continue to attract interest, but will not be repaid unless the bank does well.

Those with deposits under 100,000 euros will continue to be protected under the state's deposit guarantee.

The imposition of the capital controls has led economists to warn that a second-class "Cyprus euro" could emerge, with funds trapped on the island less valuable than euros that can be freely spent abroad.

Among other things Cypriots and foreigners are allowed to take only up to 1,000 euros in cash when they leave the island.

Anastasiades said the restrictions - unprecedented in the currency bloc since euro coins and banknotes entered circulation in 2002 - would be gradually lifted. He gave no time frame but the central bank said the measures would be reviewed daily. ($1 = 0.7788 euros)

(Additional reporting by Erik Kirschbaum in Berlin; Writing by Patrick Graham; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/big-depositors-cyprus-lose-far-more-feared-012924300--business.html

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'Waste heat' may economize CO2 capture

Mar. 28, 2013 ? In some of the first results from a federally funded initiative to find new ways of capturing carbon dioxide (CO₂) from coal-fired power plants, Rice University scientists have found that CO₂ can be removed more economically using "waste" heat -- low-grade steam that cannot be used to produce electricity. The find is significant because capturing CO₂ with conventional technology is an energy-intensive process that can consume as much as one-quarter of the high-pressure steam that plants use to produce electricity.

"This is just the first step in our effort to better engineer a process for capturing CO₂ from flue gas at power plants," said George Hirasaki, the lead researcher of Rice's CO₂-capture research team. The researchers hope to reduce the costs of CO₂ capture by creating an integrated reaction column that uses waste heat, engineered materials and optimized components. Hirasaki's team was one of 16 chosen by the Department of Energy (DOE) in 2011 to develop innovative techniques for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

The team's first findings appear in two new studies that are available online this month in the International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control.

Power plants fired by coal and natural gas account for about half of the CO₂ that humans add to the atmosphere each year; these power plants are prime candidates for new technology that captures CO₂ before it goes up in smoke. Each of these plants makes electricity by boiling water to create steam to run electric turbines. But not all steam is equal. Some steam has insufficient energy to run a turbine. This is often referred to as "waste" heat, although the term is something of misnomer because low-grade steam is often put to various uses around a plant. Rice's new study found that in cases where waste is available, it may be used to capture CO₂.

Hirasaki, Rice's A.J. Hartsook Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, said employing waste heat is just one example of a number of ways that Rice's team is looking to improve upon a tried-and-true technology for CO₂ capture. That technology -- a two-phase chemical process -- has been used for decades to remove naturally occurring CO₂ from natural gas.

In the first phase of the process, gas is piped upward through a vertical column while an ammonia-like liquid called amine flows down through the column. The liquid amine captures CO₂ and drains away while the purified natural gas bubbles out the top of the column. In the second phase of the process, the CO₂-laden amine is recycled with heat, which drives off the CO₂.

"The CO₂ that comes out of the ground with natural gas is under high pressure, while the CO₂ at power plants is not," Hirasaki said. "There's also a greater volume of CO₂ per unit mass at a power plant than at a natural gas well. For these reasons and others, the amine process must be re-engineered if it is to be cost-effective for CO₂ capture at power plants."

A major challenge in adapting two-phase amine processing for power plants is the amount of heat required to recycle the amine in the second phase of the process. Using existing amine processing technology at power plants is impractical, because amine recycling would require as much as one-quarter of the high-pressure steam that could otherwise be used to drive turbines and make electricity, Hirasaki said. This phenomenon is known as "parasitic" power loss, and it will drive up the cost of electricity by lowering the amount of electricity a plant can produce for sale.

"It has been estimated that the use of current technology for CO₂ capture would drive up the cost of electricity by 70 to 100 percent," said Rice graduate student Sumedh Warudkar, a co-investigator on the Rice University team. "In our study, we examined whether it would be possible to improve on that by using lower-value steam to run the amine recyclers."

To test this idea, Warudkar used a software package that's commonly used to model industrial chemical processes. One variable he tested was tailoring the chemical formulation of the liquid amine solution. Other variables included the type of steam used, and the size and pressure of the reactor -- the chamber where the flue gas flows past the amine solution.

"There's a great deal of optimization that needs to take place," Warudkar said. "The question is, What is the optimal amine formula and the optimal reactor design and pressure for removing CO₂ with low-value steam? There isn't one correct answer. For example, we have developed a process in which the gas absorption and solvent heating occurs in a single vessel instead of two separate ones, as is currently practiced. We think combining the processes might bring us some savings. But there are always trade-offs. The Department of Energy wants us to investigate how our process compares with what's already on the market, and these first two studies are the first step because they will help us identify an optimal set of operating conditions for our process."

The results are encouraging. The research suggests that two elements of Rice's design -- optimized amine formulation and the use of waste heat -- can reduce parasitic power loss from about 35 percent to around 25 percent.

Additional research is under way to develop and test novel materials and a single integrated column that the team hopes can further economize CO₂ capture by increasing efficiency and reducing parasitic power loss.

Study co-authors include Michael Wong, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and of chemistry, and Ken Cox, professor in the practice of chemical and biomolecular engineering. The research is supported by the Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Rice University. The original article was written by Jade Boyd.

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

Journal References:

Sumedh S. Warudkar, Kenneth R. Cox, Michael S. Wong, George J. Hirasaki. Influence of stripper operating parameters on the performance of amine absorption systems for post-combustion carbon capture: Part I. High pressure strippers. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2013; DOI: 10.1016/j.ijggc.2013.01.050
Sumedh S. Warudkar, Kenneth R. Cox, Michael S. Wong, George J. Hirasaki. Influence of stripper operating parameters on the performance of amine absorption systems for post-combustion carbon capture: Part II. Vacuum strippers. International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, 2013; DOI: 10.1016/j.ijggc.2013.01.049

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/6tZEhtWnOxQ/130329090631.htm

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Veterans fight changes to disability payments

In this March 24, 2013 photo, former Marine Corps Cpl. Marshall Archer, left, a veterans' liaison for the city of Portland, Maine, speaks to a man on a street in Portland. Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In this March 24, 2013 photo, veterans' liaison Marshall Archer, a former Marine Corps corporal, poses for a photo in Portland, Maine. Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already.

Government benefits are adjusted according to inflation, and President Barack Obama has endorsed using a slightly different measure of inflation to calculate Social Security benefits. Benefits would still grow but at a slower rate.

Advocates for the nation's 22 million veterans fear that the alternative inflation measure would also apply to disability payments to nearly 4 million veterans as well as pension payments for an additional 500,000 low-income veterans and surviving families.

"I think veterans have already paid their fair share to support this nation," said the American Legion's Louis Celli. "They've paid it in lower wages while serving, they've paid it through their wounds and sacrifices on the battlefield and they're paying it now as they try to recover from those wounds."

Economists generally agree that projected long-term debt increases stemming largely from the growth in federal health care programs pose a threat to the country's economic competitiveness. Addressing the threat means difficult decisions for lawmakers and pain for many constituents in the decades ahead.

But the veterans groups point out that their members bore the burden of a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the past month, they've held news conferences on Capitol Hill and raised the issue in meetings with lawmakers and their staffs. They'll be closely watching the unveiling of the president's budget next month to see whether he continues to recommend the change.

Obama and others support changing the benefit calculations to a variation of the Consumer Price Index, a measure called "chained CPI." The conventional CPI measures changes in retail prices of a constant marketbasket of goods and services. Chained CPI considers changes in the quantity of goods purchased as well as the prices of those goods. If the price of steak goes up, for example, many consumers will buy more chicken, a cheaper alternative to steak, rather than buying less steak or going without meat.

Supporters argue that chained CPI is a truer indication of inflation because it measures changes in consumer behavior. It also tends to be less than the conventional CPI, which would impact how cost-of-living raises are computed.

Under the current inflation update, monthly disability and pension payments increased 1.7 percent this year. Under chained CPI, those payments would have increased 1.4 percent.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that moving to chained CPI would trim the deficit by nearly $340 billion over the next decade. About two-thirds of the deficit closing would come from less spending and the other third would come from additional revenue because of adjustments that tax brackets would undergo.

Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow in economic studies at The Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, said she understands why veterans, senior citizens and others have come out against the change, but she believes it's necessary.

"We are in an era where benefits are going to be reduced and revenues are going to rise. There's just no way around that. We're on an unsustainable fiscal course," Sawhill said. "Dealing with it is going to be painful, and the American public has not yet accepted that. As long as every group keeps saying, 'I need a carve-out, I need an exception,' this is not going to work."

Sawhill argued that making changes now will actually make it easier for veterans in the long run.

"The longer we wait to make these changes, the worse the hole we'll be in and the more draconian the cuts will have to be," she said.

That's not the way Sen. Bernie Sanders sees it. The chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs said he recently warned Obama that every veterans group he knows of has come out strongly against changing the benefit calculations for disability benefits and pensions by using chained CPI.

"I don't believe the American people want to see our budget balanced on the backs of disabled veterans. It's especially absurd for the White House, which has been quite generous in terms of funding for the VA," said Sanders, I-Vt. "Why they now want to do this, I just don't understand."

Sanders succeeded in getting the Senate to approve an amendment last week against changing how the cost-of-living increases are calculated, but the vote was largely symbolic. Lawmakers would still have a decision to make if moving to chained CPI were to be included as part of a bargain on taxes and spending.

Sanders' counterpart on the House side, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, appears at least open to the idea of going to chained CPI.

"My first priority is ensuring that America's more than 20 million veterans receive the care and benefits they have earned, but with a national debt fast approaching $17 trillion, Washington's fiscal irresponsibility may threaten the very provision of veterans' benefits," Miller said. "Achieving a balanced budget and reducing our national debt will help us keep the promises America has made to those who have worn the uniform, and I am committed to working with Democrats and Republicans to do just that."

Marshall Archer, 30, a former Marine Corps corporal who served two stints in Iraq, has a unique perspective about the impact of slowing the growth of veterans' benefits. He collects disability payments to compensate him for damaged knees and shoulders as well as post-traumatic stress disorder. He also works as a veterans' liaison for the city of Portland, Maine, helping some 200 low-income veterans find housing.

Archer notes that on a personal level, the reduction in future disability payments would also be accompanied down the road by a smaller Social Security check when he retires. That means he would take a double hit to his income.

"We all volunteered to serve, so we all volunteered to sacrifice," he said. "I don't believe that you should ever ask those who have already volunteered to sacrifice to then sacrifice again."

That said, Archer indicated he would be willing to "chip in" if he believes that everyone is required to give as well.

He said he's more worried about the veterans he's trying to help find a place to sleep. About a third of his clients rely on VA pension payments averaging just over $1,000 a month. He said their VA pension allows them to pay rent, heat their home and buy groceries, but that's about it.

"This policy, if it ever went into effect, would actually place those already in poverty in even more poverty," Archer said.

The changes that would occur by using the slower inflation calculation seem modest at first. For a veteran with no dependents who has a 60 percent disability rating, the use of chained CPI this year would have lowered the veteran's monthly payments by $3 a month. Instead of getting $1,026 a month, the veteran would have received $1,023.

Raymond Kelly, legislative director for Veterans of Foreign Wars, acknowledged that veterans would see little change in their income during the first few years of the change. But even a $36 hit over the course of a year is "huge" for many of the disabled veterans living on the edge, he said.

The amount lost over time becomes more substantial as the years go by. Sanders said that a veteran with a 100 percent disability rating who begins getting payments at age 30 would see their annual payments trimmed by more than $2,300 a year when they turn 55.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-30-US-Budget-Battle-Veterans/id-05819c3ebd0c4cbf8ae5701f9cf62fc5

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8 Ways to Outsmart Your Allergies

Think allergies end in April or May? Guess again.

Those sneezy, itchy-eyed, congested months can last well into late fall, as different trees, then grasses and, finally, weeds bombard the air with pollen. If that weren't irritating enough, outdoor mold starts to release airborne spores starting in summer and continuing through fall, which can cause further irritation. In fact, reactions to mold (fungi that thrive in warm, moist, humid climates both outdoors and in) as well as ragweed may be even more of a problem in certain parts of the country this summer because of heavier-than-usual rainfall.

If you're sneezing like crazy, don't just wait for a drop in the temperature to stamp out your allergy misery. Here's how to stay outside, active, and virtually symptom free?all allergy season long.

6 Surprising Allergy Triggers

Ways to Outsmart Your Allergies

Rethink Your Exercise Plan

You breathe harder and suck in more air when you're exercising than when you're, say, watching TV. The more air you inhale, the more airborne pollen and mold spores you suck in too. That's why it's important to take your workout indoors when your allergies are acting up or on days with very high pollen or mold counts. Check here for daily local levels.

Love walking or running outside? You don't have to give it up entirely, but try to minimize your exposure. To help ease symptoms, take a nondrowsy antihistamine before you exercise or plan to spend significant time outdoors. Pick a path that's less likely to expose you to allergens?walk on a school track, for example, instead of through your tree-lined neighborhood. And steer clear of major roads and highways. Chemical irritants from exhaust can worsen allergy symptoms, says Dr. Malcolm N. Blumenthal, director of the Asthma and Allergy Program at the University of Minnesota Medical School in Minneapolis.

Top US Cities For Outdoor Exercise>

Ways to Outsmart Your Allergies

Watch for Nonseasonal Allergies

The more allergens you're exposed to at a given time, the higher your allergenic load and the worse your symptoms.

If you're allergic to cats and dust mites in addition to pollen and mold, for example, visiting a cat-owning friend on a summer evening can make that load virtually unbearable. Here are some tips to help you limit your exposure to these top offenders:

Dust mites: Cover flooring with washable throw rugs instead of carpets, which, like blankets, down comforters, and curtains, are favorite mite habitats. Launder rugs, bed linens and curtains in hot water (more than 130?F) to kill mites. Dust often with a damp cloth. Get zippered, allergyproof covers for your mattress and pillows.

Dog and cat dander: If pet owners come to visit, be sure to vacuum couches or chairs they've used after they leave. Their clothes may carry their furry friends' dander, which can be deposited in your home and aggravate symptoms.

Indoor mold: Get a dehumidifier to dry out your basement, and use exhaust fans in other areas prone to dampness and mold, such as the kitchen and bathroom. Wash bath mats often, and keep houseplants to a minimum (mold loves potting soil).

Is The Air In Your Home Making You Sick?

Ways to Outsmart Your Allergies

Shun synthetic materials for natural ones like cotton?your nose and eyes will thank you. Who knew? When synthetic fabrics rub against one another, they create an electrical charge that attracts pollen, which, as it turns out, is also electrically charged, says Dr. Gailen D. Marshall, director of clinical immunology and the division of allergy at the University of Mississippi. Natural fibers such as cotton also breathe better, so they stay drier and less hospitable to moisture-loving mold.

Toss just-washed clothes and bedding in the dryer?don't hang them outside on a clothing line. Avoid contacts when your eyes feel itchy, and feel free to splurge on a pair of jumbo sunglasses?they'll help shield your peepers from airborne irritants.

Make This Your Healthiest Spring Ever!

Ways to Outsmart Your Allergies

Get Smart About Gardening

Got killer allergies? The best way to deal with yard work is to have someone else do it. Failing that... Take an antihistamine or cromolyn sodium about half an hour before you head outdoors, and wear a pollen mask whenever you dig around in dirt, rake leaves, or mow the lawn?activities is all but guaranteed to stir up pollen and mold. Keep your lawn cut short, so it's less likely to sprout pollen-producing flowers or weeds. If you have a compost heap?a major mold breeding ground?consider getting rid of it or moving it far away from the house.

Finally, consider replacing plants that produce lots of offending pollen with more benign varieties. Rules of green thumb: Choose showy, flowering trees and shrubs such as apple and cherry trees and azaleas; they produce waxy pollen that's too heavy to ride the breeze. On the lawn, opt for nonpollinating ground cover such as myrtle or ivy rather than grass.

How To Allergy-Proof Your Backyard

Ways to Outsmart Your Allergies

Give Yourself a Good Scrubbing

Showering more often may keep allergy invasions at bay.

While you're outside, pollen and mold spores can parachute onto your hair, eyebrows, eyelashes, and skin. To give them the boot and minimize your exposure, do the following once you cross the threshold: Wash your hands, rinse your eyes, and shower (before bed, or right away if you've done yard work).

Same goes for your pet. Even if you're not allergic to your pup, he can become an allergy magnet after running around outdoors. Brush off his fur before you give him free reign of the house again.

Keep The Pet, Lose The Allergies

Ways to Outsmart Your Allergies

Consider a Stronger Treatment

OTC meds like antihistamines and decongestants can significantly relieve symptoms, but if your nose is still running, it may be time for an upgrade.

If you've got a faucet for a nose and are constantly congested, ask your doctor about a steroid nasal spray, which relieves these symptoms better than an antihistamine, says Dr. David Shulan, FAAAI, vice president of Certified Allergy & Asthma Consultants, a practice in Albany, NY. The catch: You need to use it on a regular basis, and it can take up to 2 weeks to have an effect. A spritz every once in a while is useless, Shulan says.

If pollen, ragweed, or dust mites are your main problem, think about getting allergy shots (immunotherapy). Injections of very small, safe amounts of the chemicals you're allergic to will help your immune system become resistant to the allergens, so your body doesn't launch a full-out attack every time you inhale a pollen particle. You get shots once or twice a week for several months in gradually increasing doses, and periodic maintenance shots after that for 3 to 5 years.

"Not enough people who could benefit from allergy shots consider them," says Dr. John R. Cohn, chief of the adult allergy section at Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University. "They may help if you don't respond to usual treatments because they reduce your sensitivity to allergens instead of only treating symptoms. I find that about 80% of patients see an 80 percent improvement." Unfortunately, the shots are not as effective for most mold allergies, said Shulan"

Is Your Medication Making You Sick?

Ways to Outsmart Your Allergies

The wonder cup just got even more wonderful. Yep, heart-healthy, cancer-quashing green tea may battle allergies too.

Japanese researchers found that EGCG, the abundant antioxidant compound in green tea, may help stop your body from mounting an immune response to a wide range of allergens, including pollen, pet dander, and dust. Steeping two or three cups a day of green tea helps bolster the body's defenses, especially as you age, suggests Lester A. Mitscher, PhD, a professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of Kansas and author of The Green Tea Book: China's Fountain of Youth.

5 Steps To A Perfect Cup Of Tea

Ways to Outsmart Your Allergies

Weave yoga into your workout plan, and you can say namaste to your allergies.

"Stress promotes inflammation, which can heighten your body's allergic response," says Dr. Tina Sindwani, an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco. "Yoga is proven to reduce stress, so it may bring relief. Also, various yoga breathing techniques can help open your stuffed-up nasal passages, and certain poses can expand your lungs." Take a class or do a DVD up to 3 times a week during allergy season.

Yoga Tips For Beginners

***

More from Prevention:

4 Natural Allergy Remedies

6 Seasonal Allergy Solutions

How To Allergy-Proof Your Home

Is It A Cold?Or The Flu?

Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Allergies/ways-outsmart-allergies/story?id=18840620

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Christians mark Jesus' crucifixion on Good Friday

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Hundreds of Christians streamed through the cobblestone alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City on Friday, hoisting wooden crosses and chanting prayers to mark the crucifixion of Jesus.

Throngs of pilgrims walked a traditional Good Friday procession that retraces Jesus' steps along the Via Dolorosa, Latin for the "Way of Suffering." They followed his 14 stations, saying a prayer at each and ending at the ancient Holy Sepulcher church.

Along the route, Franciscan friars in brown robes chanted prayers in Latin and explained the different stations to crowds through a megaphone. Leonard Mary, a priest from Irondale, Alabama, was dressed as Jesus wearing a crown of thorns. He was flanked by men posing as Roman soldiers and had fake blood dripping down his chest as he lugged a giant cross down the street.

"The most perfect love that was ever seen in the world was when Jesus died for us. He showed us the perfection of love," said Mary.

Good Friday events began with a service earlier in the morning at the cavernous Holy Sepulcher, which was built on the place where tradition holds Jesus was crucified, briefly entombed and resurrected. Clergy dressed in colorful robes entered through the church's large wooden doors as worshippers prayed in the church courtyard.

Later Friday, a service was due in Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity, built atop the traditional site of Jesus' birth. Christians believe Jesus was crucified on Good Friday and resurrected on Easter Sunday.

Roman Catholic and Protestant congregations that observe the new, Gregorian calendar, are marking holy week. Orthodox Christians, who follow the old, Julian calendar, will mark Good Friday in May.

Less than 2 percent of the population of Israel and the Palestinian territories is Christian, mostly split between Catholicism and Orthodox streams of Christianity. Christians in the West Bank wanting to attend services in Jerusalem must obtain permission from Israeli authorities.

Israel's Tourism Ministry said it expects some 150,000 visitors in Israel during Easter week and the Jewish festival of Passover, which coincide this year.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/christians-mark-jesus-crucifixion-good-friday-101202836.html

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Should I Reaffirm My Mortgage After Filing For Bankruptcy?

White House Picture As a bankruptcy attorney, I get asked many questions each and every day about debt and mortgages. ? Should I reaffirm my mortgage after I file for bankruptcy???The answer is always ? NO. ?Now, this question has started coming in a different format? ?Clients who filed for bankruptcy protection years ago are asking: ?Why didn?t I sign a reaffirmation agreement? ?My mortgage company is telling me that you didn?t file the correct paperwork, and it goes on and on. ?This is where I usually have to take a few minutes to explain why I can give this advice without reservation.

Let?s start with what a reaffirmation agreement is and what it is not. ?My Colleague, Karen Oakes, answered this question in a prior post. ?Basically, the filing of a bankruptcy kills most contracts; including car purchases and home purchases. ?Once the contract is dead, the secured creditor may retrieve its collateral but cannot go after the debtor for any deficiency if the collateral was sold for less than what was owed. ?For example: ?let?s say you owed $10K on a car worth $5K at the time that you filed for bankruptcy protection. ?If you did not sign a reaffirmation agreement, you could surrender the car and pay nothing to the creditor. ?The creditor?s sole remedy was to retrieve their collateral. ?If you signed a reaffirmation agreement, you would breath life back into a dead contract, thereby giving your creditor additional rights under the contract. ?The most significant right or remedy available to the creditor was the ability to go after you for the additional money owed (in our example $5K).

Obviously, the same holds true for mortgage and promissory note on a home. ?If you fail to breathe life back into a dead mortgage and promissory note, the mortgage company is in a worse position than it would be had you signed a reaffirmation agreement. ?So, the mortgage companies want you to sign these agreements during your bankruptcy so that they maintain a superior advantage over you.

Recently, mortgage companies have been trying to coerce individuals into reaffirming debts on homes. ?The new trick is that they will no longer report to the credit reporting agencies that you are current on your monthly payments. ?The mortgage companies want homeowners to reaffirm mortgages that are sometimes 100K upside down.

Likewise, these same companies are telling individuals who filed bankruptcy in the past that they will not report all of the past monthly payments to the credit reporting agencies. ?So, several past clients have called with their concerns. ?Here is how you remedy the situation. ?First, you make all of your regular monthly mortgage payments post-bankruptcy. ?You keep track of when you sent the payment and when the money was withdrawn from your bank. ?This way, you have a current pay history. ?If you have filed bankruptcy in the past, you can always request a payment history from the lender.

Again, these agreements are in the best interest of the creditor, not the debtor. ?This is why it is so easy for me to advise clients not to sign them ?However, some clients are still concerned whether they will be able to keep their homes if they do not sign a reaffirmation agreement. ?In Florida the answer is yes. ?As long as you are current on your monthly payments, you can keep your home. ?I do not let my clients sign reaffirmation agreements on homes that are upside down.

If a client wants to sign a reaffirmation agreement on a home mortgage, they can do so, but I will not sign it.

Source: http://www.bankruptcylawnetwork.com/should-i-reaffirm-my-mortgage-after-filing-for-bankruptcy/

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Children?s Specialized Hospital President Inducted into the New Jersey Women?s Hall of Fame

Amy Mansue, of Hightstown New Jersey, president of the nation's largest pediatric rehabilitation hospital inducted into the New Jersey Women's Hall of Fame by the YWCA of Trenton.

New Brunswick and Hightstown, New Jersey (PRWEB) March 28, 2013

Children?s Specialized Hospital is proud to announce the recent induction of Amy Mansue, president and chief executive officer, Children?s Specialized Hospital and resident of Hightstown into the 2013 New Jersey Women?s Hall of Fame presented by YWCA in Trenton. New Jersey Women?s Hall of Fame inductees are women who have made invaluable contributions to their career fields, and have exemplified the YWCA?s goal of eradicating racism and empowering women to better the lives of those living in their community.

Ms. Mansue?s induction into the New Jersey Women?s Hall of Fame is a reflection of the accomplishments she has achieved throughout her career. Since 2003, she has been responsible for the operations and management of Children?s Specialized Hospital, the largest provider of pediatric rehabilitation services in the country. Previously, she served as deputy chief of staff for former New Jersey Governors? Jim Florio and James McGreevey. In 1993, Ms. Mansue oversaw programs for children, people with developmental disabilities, and Medicaid as deputy commissioner in the New Jersey Department of Human Services. Ms. Mansue also served as vice president of Cablevision, senior vice president of strategic development for the Health Insurance Plan of New York, and president of the Health Insurance Plan of New Jersey.

?Amy's excellent leadership at Children's Specialized Hospital is invaluable to the success of our mission and health of our patients. Amy has spent her career growing professionals and community advocates,? said Robin Walton, director of Community and Government Affairs at Thomas Edison State College and chairwoman of the board of trustees of Children?s Specialized Hospital. ?She continues to inspire others by her example of empowering women to succeed, and children and their families. Children?s Specialized Hospital congratulates Amy on her well deserved recognition by YWCA of Trenton.?

Ms. Mansue has also been selected as one of the 100 most powerful people in New Jersey business by NJBiz, and one of the top 40 executives under the age of 40 by Modern Healthcare. Ms. Mansue has also been formally recognized by numerous non-profit organizations for her work on health care reform and for helping improve the lives of people with disabilities.

The Class of 2013 of the New Jersey Women?s Hall of Fame was inducted on March 21, 2013 at The Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village in Princeton. Honoraries also include Lisa P. Jackson, former administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency; General Becky Halstead of the United States Army and first female commanding general in Iraq; Eleanor V. Horne, Community activist and former vice president of ETS; June Ballinger, executive director of the Passage Theatre Company; Dr. Gloria Santiago, Board of governors member and professor at Rutgers University and given posthumously, Mary G. Roebling, chairwoman of National State Bank.

The YWCA, host of the New Jersey Women?s Hall of Fame inauguration, is the oldest and largest multicultural women?s organization in the world. The organization has over 25 million members in 122 countries, including 2.6 million members and participants in 300 local associations in the United States. The YWCA focuses on building dedicated female leaders, providing safe environments for women in need, and promotes women?s civil rights.

Children?s Specialized Hospital is the preeminent provider of rehabilitation services for children with special needs. The hospital serves children affected by brain injury, spinal cord injury, premature birth, autism, developmental delays, and life-changing illnesses. Children?s Specialized Hospital has nine sites in New Jersey and treats 20,000 children each year, making it the largest pediatric rehabilitation system of its kind in the nation. Services include outpatient services, acute rehabilitation, and long-term care through its sites in Bayonne, Clifton, Egg Harbor Township, Mountainside, Toms River, Fanwood, Hamilton, New Brunswick and Roselle Park as well as outreach programs in many communities. Children's Specialized Hospital is a proud member of the Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. Children?s Specialized Hospital Foundation supports the programs and services of the hospital. The Foundation is ranked among the top six pediatric hospital foundations in the country. To help, or find more information: visit http://www.childrens-specialized.org; join us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/childrensspecialized, or follow us on Twitter @ChildrensSpecNJ.

Rebecca Mazzarella
Childrens Specialized Hospital
908-447-8126
Email Information

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/children-specialized-hospital-president-inducted-jersey-women-hall-140029372.html

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Verlander, Tigers agree to $180M, 7-year deal

Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, right, shakes hands with team president, CEO and general manager Dave Dombrowski during a news conference after a spring baseball exhibition game on Friday, March 29, 2013, in Lakeland, Fla., where Verlander talked about his new seven-year, $180-million contract. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander throws during the first inning of an exhibition spring training baseball game against the New York Mets, Monday, March 11, 2013, in Lakeland, Fla. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, right, looks at team president, CEO and general manager Dave Dombrowski during a news conference after a spring baseball exhibition game on Friday, March 29, 2013, in Lakeland, Fla., where Verlander talked about his new seven-year, $180-million contract. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander, second from left, is seen in the dugout with teammate Doug Fister, right, during the first inning of an exhibition spring training baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays, Friday, March 29, 2013 in Lakeland, Fla.Verlander agreed Friday to a $180 million, seven-year contract, topping Felix Hernandez for the richest deal for a pitcher in baseball history. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

FILE - In this Feb. 15, 2013 file photo, Detroit Tigers starting pitcher Justin Verlander throws the ball during a baseball spring training workout in Lakeland, Fla. Verlander has agreed to a five-year contract covering 2015-19. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) ? For Justin Verlander, $180 million was enough. No need to wait two seasons, become a free agent and find out how much baseball's biggest spenders would offer.

"I wondered what it would be like to test free agency, but the pull of Detroit was too much," the Tigers' ace said Friday after agreeing to a seven-year contract, the richest deal for a pitcher in baseball history. "Once spring training started I knew I wanted to stay."

Verlander's deal broke the record for pitchers set just a month earlier when Seattle's Felix Hernandez agreed to a $175 million, seven-year contract.

"It's a very exciting day," Tigers President Dave Dombrowski said. "It's a big day for us. He's as fine a pitcher as there is in baseball. His record speaks for itself. He can be one of the greatest, if not the greatest pitcher in Tiger history."

The 2011 AL MVP and Cy Young Award winner had been signed through 2014 under an $80 million, five-year contract paying him $20 million in each of the next two seasons.

The new deal keeps those salaries and adds $140 million in guaranteed money: $28 million each season from 2015-19. It includes a $22 million option for 2020 that would become guaranteed if he finishes among the top five in 2019 Cy Young voting. The deal could be worth $202 million over eight seasons.

"The city of Detroit is committed to winning," he said. "I'm so excited to be playing in Detroit. I was never shy about saying I wanted to stay in Detroit. It's tough to put into words how much I love Detroit. We have the best fans in baseball."

Considered an elite pitcher since winning the 2006 AL Rookie of the Year award, the 30-year-old right-hander is 124-65 with a 3.40 ERA in eight major league seasons with two no-hitters. He was 24-5 two years ago, becoming the first starting pitcher to sweep Cy Young and MVP since Boston's Roger Clemens in 1986.

Verlander also has compiled a 19-win season and two each of 18 and 17. He led the big leagues in strikeouts and innings in 2009, 2011 and 2012.

"He is never going to be content," Dombrowski said. "He wants a World Series, and he wants the Hall of Fame."

Verlander's teammates were pleased for their star pitcher.

"First, he deserves it because it means a lot for all of us," pitcher Max Scherzer said. "From now on, every time we go out to dinner, I am not even going to make a token effort to pull out my credit card. Every dinner this year is on him."

___

AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2013-03-29-BBA-Tigers-Verlander/id-186b4f95529948d18c94510eb74bffa7

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An app that can help you plan ? Business Management Daily: Free ...

Weotta is an application that offers users suggestions for places to eat and things to do im??mediately or up to 30 days in the future, says TechCrunch writer Anthony Ha. It learns about your preferences as you save suggestions you like and pass on ones that don?t interest you.

All of that learning comes in handy when you need to plan something in a specific place, at a specific time. You just enter in your needs, and the app makes suggestions. It can also give you new ideas to expand your list of options, and its suggestions come with reviews pulled from the Internet as well as those contributed by its own users.

? Adapted from ?Weotta Improves Its Activity-Planning App With Time And Place Filters, Plus Facebook Integration,? Anthony Ha, TechCrunch.

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Source: http://www.businessmanagementdaily.com/34906/an-app-that-can-help-you-plan

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How To Put SEO To Work For Your Business | Content for Reprint

Author: Mishel Roserberg | Total views: 84 Comments: 0
Word Count: 850 Date: Fri, 29 Mar 2013 3:53 PM

With the right amount of knowledge, you will be able to efficiently increase web traffic through optimization of your website. Read on for more useful SEO tips.

Strive to design each page of your website in a way that makes it stand out from every other. Pay particular attention to the titles you use. These are extremely important for search engine optimization purposes. Including your keyword or phrase in the titles on your pages is important towards ranking highly on search engines.

If you have a site that is written in a non-english language, use the language meta tag. That's because search engines will rank you higher when people do a search for your content in that language.

Research any outside SEO company before signing over the work to them. Lots of SEO companies will charge too much for sub-standard work. Read online reviews and testimonials from previous companies to make sure that the company you're looking to hire is the real deal. Your wallet will thank you later.

Once you have discovered the right key phrases for your website, you should put that key phrase in your title. The first impression of your site is generated by the title, so choose it with care. This way, your site will be clicked because it most fits the search results the user typed in.

Ask yourself the question "how would somebody find my site if they were searching for it?" Then ensure that you have multiple uses of these keywords scattered through your site. Include your keywords in the titles of your pages and throughout your content, but don't overuse them. Stuffing your pages full of keywords will cause the search engines to lower your search ranking.

An important SEO tip is to keep an eye on your search rankings. It is crucial that you track your results to understand how your SEO is doing. One easy way to track your progress is by using the Google Analytics tool.

Retaining the visitors you get from search engines will not only increase your profits, but also your search engine rank. It is proven that spending more time working on a site increases the page rank. This trend has been established through metrics like Quantcast scores. When customers can chat, discuss, and interact with each other on your site, they are more likely to stay longer.

Keywords will help you improve the visibility of your sites. Coordinate your keywords with your article topics. This makes it easier for search engines to index your work. Therefore, it's easier for readers who may be trying to locate your articles. The keyword you want to focus on should appear several times in your article's text, as well as in its title and summary.

There are several options you can use to get inbound links to your website. Article writing, message forums, press releases, directory submissions and blogs can all provide your site with traffic. A great way to improve your SEO is to use good outbound links.

This will help increase your search engine rankings. The meta description appears right under the website link in many search engines, so use this text to grab a potential customer's attention. If you are using a popular CMS, you might be able to edit meta descriptions directly from the control panel.

The most important thing that you can do for your site is to make sure that you always keep the content on the site fresh and unique. People won't want to visit your website if you simply present the same old information indefinitely.

If you want to have successful SEO results, you need a site map. This will make it easier for spiders to crawl on your site. If your site is particularly large, you may need multiple maps. In general, try not to have more than 100 links on each map.

These descriptions will let your web site show up higher in search ratings. The meta description refers to the short description that appears in search results. Use important keywords and encourage your readers to take action and visit your site. Check to see if your content management software makes it easy for you to write a meta description on the same page you create your content on.

Meta tags should be as clear and descriptive as possible. Add a concise description to every meta tag on your site. This will increase click through rates.

Keyword density is vital when you optimize a web page for search engines. Focus on keeping each page's keyword content well under 20 percent.

You should now know that SEO is a very important part of internet marketing. By abiding by the advice in this article, you will be able to optimize your website. As long as your website is of high-quality, you will be more likely to receive a lot of traffic, which will lead to more profits.

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1: Understanding Online Business Success

Starting a home based business to earn income online takes a significant amount of time and energy upfront to get things going. Not seeing results immediately can be discouraging and cause people to give up too early. In this article, we look at the process of starting a home based business and working through the frustrations to be there when the sales come flowing in.

2: Why You Need To Build Multiple Streams of Income For Yourself

Being an entrepreneur and earning multiple streams of income is a dream that many have, but in reality it does take some initial hard work to achieve this. Earning multiple streams of income is the wave of the future, and here are some tips and advice for you when you are looking for ways in which to do this for yourself.

3: Article Marketing Strategy: Putting Together a "Class Schedule" For Your Article Topics

Businesses go to so much trouble when there is one sure-fire, simple, very inexpensive way to attract new clients to a business: Teach a free class. That is what article marketing is like. Your articles are just like free classes. You teach your target readers something helpful in your article. Your resource box then says, "If you enjoyed this article you can visit my website and apply what you have learned."

4: What is Cyber Marketing And Why It Is So Important For The Success Of Your Website

Cyber marketing has now become an indispensable segment of e-commerce as well as the internet and World Wide Web related topics. Cyber marketing simply refers to a technique of attracting potential customers by advertising your products or services through such means as websites, emails, and banners.

5: The Best Way To Optimise Your Website SEO For Google Panda

If you want your SEO to work you now need to concentrate on appeasing Google Panda, and to do this you need to know what Google Panda's spiders/bots will be looking for. Find out here how to search engine optimise your website for the latest Google Panda algorithm, and achieve the success you deserve.

Source: http://www.content4reprint.com/internet-marketing/how-to-put-seo-to-work-for-your-business.htm

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Friday, March 29, 2013

Lil Twist Hosted RAGER at Justin Bieber's Mansion in Singer's Absence: Report

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/03/lil-twist-hosted-rager-at-justin-biebers-mansion-in-singers-abse/

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Austrian police chase herd of cattle through town

VIENNA (AP) ? Austrian police and firefighters have taken on the role of urban cowboys in a two-day round-up of a herd of cattle that broke out of a fenced-off pasture and decided to go into town.

A police statement says the 43 steers defied attempts by police and volunteer firefighters to recapture them after wandering off Thursday and heading toward the Upper Austrian town of Freistadt. After being chased away from the railway station, they endangered motorists by stampeding onto a two-lane highway before running into a town suburb.

Two firefighters who tried to stop them were injured and needed hospital treatment.

The statement says 18 of the animals remain on the loose Friday. The rest have been corralled or tranquilized.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/austrian-police-chase-herd-cattle-town-120729765.html

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Hockey helps Canada's economy grow again in January

By Louise Egan

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada's economy bounced back from a year-end slump in January thanks to factories, mines and the return of professional ice hockey, but growth still looks too weak to match the central bank's upbeat outlook and interest rates are unlikely to budge until 2014.

Gross domestic product expanded by 0.2 percent in the month, Statistics Canada said on Thursday, following the weakest two quarters since the 2008-09 recession and a 0.2 percent contraction in December.

A comeback in the manufacturing sector helped spark the turnaround, along with strength in the mining and energy sectors and the delayed start of the country's beloved hockey season after National Hockey League players and owners settled a months-long labor dispute.

The data suggests the economy is starting the year on a more solid footing after disappointing 0.6 percent annualized growth in the fourth quarter.

But economists are betting the first quarter will fall far short of the central bank's projected 2.3 percent growth.

"Once the darling of advanced economies, Canadian economic growth is expected to converge to be more in line with its peers," said Mazen Issa, macro strategist at TD Securities.

Canada recovered much more quickly from the 2008-09 recession than did the United States and others but has been spinning its wheels for several months as exports and manufacturing sputtered.

That has forced the Bank of Canada to acknowledge there is more slack in the economy than it had anticipated. As a result, it has gradually softened its talk of an interest rate increase, and this month said rates will remain on hold "for a period of time".

Issa said the January report was in line with TD's forecast of 1.6 percent growth in the first three months of the year, "and the broader narrative of a gradual grind higher over the course of the year."

The central bank will publish updated forecasts alongside its next interest rate decision on April 17.

Manufacturing expanded 1.2 percent in January as gains in fabricated metals and wood products offset a decline in transportation equipment.

The mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction industry expanded 0.2 percent, while the arts and entertainment sector got a one-time boost of 4.1 percent as Canadians flocked to hockey arenas and sports pubs after the NHL labor dispute ended.

Players and owners reached a deal in January to end a four-month lockout of players. Canada has NHL teams in Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

Industries that shrank in January included agriculture and forestry, construction, and finance and insurance.

In a separate report, Statscan said Canadian industrial product prices increased 1.4 percent in February from January, the biggest jump since June 2008 as prices for petroleum, coal and other commodities charged higher.

The Canadian dollar hit its strongest level in more than a month - at C$1.0145 versus the U.S. dollar, or 98.57 U.S. cents - immediately after the release of data. It later retreated and was little changed from Wednesday's North American close of C$1.0165, or 98.38 U.S. cents.

The solid GDP report along with an inflation rate that is below the Bank of Canada's 2 percent target has confirmed market expectations that the bank will hold rates at the current 1.0 percent until 2014.

"We're looking at possible downward growth revisions from the BoC again ... alongside slightly higher spare capacity estimates. We continue to expect an incrementally more dovish Monetary Policy Report in a couple of weeks," said Derek Holt, economist at Scotiabank.

Global forecasters surveyed by Reuters in February predicted the next rate hike will be in the first quarter of 2014. However, traders are pricing in a slight bias towards a rate cut later this year, based on yields on overnight index swaps, which trade based on expectations for the policy rate.

(Editing by Jeffrey Hodgson; and Peter Galloway)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/canada-economy-bounces-back-january-factories-123938266--business.html

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