Jamaica's youngest leader in tough re-election bid

Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness shows his inked finger after casting a ballot in parliamentary elections in Kingston, Jamaica, Thursday Dec. 29, 2011. Jamaica is holding 63 parliamentary races where Holness' Jamaica Labour Party is in a tight race against the People's National Party, headed by former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, to win control of the government for the next five years. (AP Photo/Collin Reid)

Jamaica's Prime Minister Andrew Holness shows his inked finger after casting a ballot in parliamentary elections in Kingston, Jamaica, Thursday Dec. 29, 2011. Jamaica is holding 63 parliamentary races where Holness' Jamaica Labour Party is in a tight race against the People's National Party, headed by former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, to win control of the government for the next five years. (AP Photo/Collin Reid)

Electoral workers review voter lists outside a polling station during parliamentary elections in Kingston, Jamaica, Thursday Dec. 29, 2011. Jamaica is holding 63 parliamentary races where Prime Minister Andrew Holness' Jamaica Labour Party is in a tight race against the People's National Party, headed by former Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, to win control of the government for the next five years. (AP Photo/Collin Reid)

FILE - This combo image of two file photographs shows Jamaica's former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition People's National Party, Portia Simpson Miller, left, speaking during his swearing-in ceremony in Kingston on March 30, 2006 and current Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party, Andrew Holness, during his inauguration speech in Kingston on Oct. 23, 2011. Jamaica's two main political parties are in a neck-and-neck race to capture a majority of the country's 63 parliamentary seats in the Thursday Dec. 29, 2011 general elections. With most opinion polls puting the two parties in a virtual dead heat, candidates have scrambled for traction with undecided voters across the Caribbean island known as the birthplace of reggae and a hothouse for big-time sprinters. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa (left), Collin Reid (right), Files)

FILE - In this Oct. 23, 2011 file photo, Andrew Holness delivers a speech after being sworn in as Jamaica's ninth prime minister in Kingston. Jamaica's two main political parties are in a neck-and-neck race to capture a majority of the country's 63 parliamentary seats in the Thursday Dec.. 29, 2011 general elections. Holness, a 39-year-old lawmaker who was unanimously chosen to be prime minister by his party when predecessor Bruce Golding resigned, has tried to woo swing voters by promising new jobs in a debt-wracked nation with roughly 13 percent unemployment. (AP Photo/Collin Reid, File)

FILE - In this March 30, 2006 file photo, Jamaica's former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition People's National Party, Portia Simpson Miller, speaks during her swearing in ceremony in Kingston. Jamaica's two main political parties are in a neck-and-neck race to capture a majority of the country's 63 parliamentary seats in the Thursday Dec. 29, 2011 general elections. Detractors say Simpson Miller's political style is largely superficial and that she was out of her depth during her brief tenure as Jamaica's first female prime minister. Known for her plain speaking style and warm interactions, supporters refer to her as "Sista P" and "Comrade Leader." (AP Photos/Ramon Espinosa, File)

KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) ? From beach resort towns to mountain villages, Jamaicans braved bottlenecks for as long as four hours Thursday to cast ballots in fiercely contested national elections.

Previous votes have been marred by bloodshed, but there were few reports of trouble at polling centers for the 63 parliamentary races contested by the center-right Jamaica Labor Party and the slightly left-leaning opposition People's National Party.

The vote hit some snags as fingerprint scanners meant to stop people from voting more than once worked intermittently, leading to lengthy lines at some of the roughly 6,600 polling centers in the island country.

The breakdown spurred confusion and frustration among voters and election workers. At one polling center in the volatile Tower Hill area of Kingston, exasperated people who had waited in line for hours chanted: "The machines don't work!"

The People's National Party has tried tapping into voter disillusionment, especially among Jamaica's many poor inhabitants, and complained of the slow voting process Thursday. The party also alleged that some ruling party candidates violated rules by campaigning on election day.

Lisa Shoman, the Belizean chief of the observer mission for the Organization of American States, said her 25-member team has not observed "any disturbances or any issues that would cause us any serious concern."

Military helicopters flew over the capital of Kingston as part of a nationwide security operation involving thousands of soldiers, police and national reserve forces. Soldiers with automatic weapons kept watch over the two polling stations where Prime Minister Andrew Holness and opposition leader Portia Simpson Miller cast their ballots.

The two top candidates' different styles were clear while they cast their votes.

Holness, who's the country's youngest ever leader at age 39, is largely seen as unexciting, but bright and pragmatic. He whisked into the voting center in the middle class area of Mona, barely interacting with voters. After being heckled by an opposition partisan, he said he was "very confident" of a Labor victory and departed after quickly taking three questions from reporters.

By contrast, the 66-year-old Simpson Miller, who had been the country's first female prime minister, hugged and chatted with supporters at a school in Whitfield Town, most of them clad in the party's orange.

Holness' party is considered more conservative and business friendly than the People's National Party, which experimented with democratic socialism in the 1970s and is still perceived as more focused on social programs for the poor. There are no longer stark ideological differences between the two clan-like factions that have dominated Jamaican politics since independence from Britain in 1962.

During the monthlong campaign in the thick of the crucial winter tourist season, both parties pledged to lift debt-wracked Jamaica out of poverty, secure foreign investment, work with international lenders and create jobs.

Most opinion polls put the two parties in a virtual dead heat, and candidates have scrambled for traction with undecided voters across the Caribbean island known as the birthplace of reggae and a hothouse for big-time sprinters.

Holness was chosen as prime minister by his party just two months ago when predecessor Bruce Golding resigned amid anemic public backing. Holness has promised new jobs in a nation with about 13 percent unemployment.

"Jamaicans are now safer, our economy is stable with a solid foundation for job creation," Holness said in a last-minute national address.

Holness said his party has started to reverse economic stagnation and has effectively battled criminal gangs that have long been a scourge. He has also pledged to modernize the bloated public sector without massive layoffs.

He argues that the now-opposition party mismanaged the economy over its 18-year-tenure until its 2007 election loss, and has warned that its win would scare away foreign investment and dash hopes of economic progress.

Simpson Miller, a People's National Party stalwart since its days as a democratic socialist faction, has dismissed Holness as indecisive and painted his party as hopelessly corrupt and unsympathetic to the plight of Jamaica's many poor inhabitants.

Simpson Miller, whose party's supporters refer to themselves as "comrades," was born in rural poverty and grew up in a Kingston ghetto, not far from the crumbling concrete jungle made famous by Bob Marley. Also referred to as "Sista P" and "Comrade Leader," she is known for her plain speaking style and warm interactions with supporters.

But detractors say she was out of her depth during her brief tenure as Jamaica's first female prime minister between March 2006 to September 2007, when her party was narrowly voted out of power.

The winner will face deep economic problems in this island of 2.8 million people, with a punishing debt of roughly $18.6 billion, or 130 per cent of gross domestic product. That's a rate about 10 percentage points higher than debt-troubled Italy's.

Jamaica's economy has been on a meager upswing, but roughly 60 percent of government spending still goes to debt payments and another 30 percent pays wages. That leaves just 10 percent for education, health, security and other parts of the budget.

Nonetheless, the monthlong campaign often had a festive feel as cheering, horn-honking caravans of partisans attended packed rallies, waving banners and dancing to reggae tunes pounding out of big speakers.

Political Ombudsman Bishop Herro Blair said the campaign was one of the "best we've ever had" in Jamaica, with just three deaths and about a half dozen injuries that he says investigators might determine were politically motivated.

In the lead-up to the 1980 elections, more than 800 people were killed in political clashes. Since then, large-scale political violence has dissipated and most killings are blamed on the drug and extortion trade.

Complaints about Labor were still flying Thursday among the hardcore opposition supporters in Bob Marley's gritty old neighborhood of Trench Town, where goats graze along tightly packed concrete homes.

"They won't do nothing for us cause they don't care. Labor isn't for the ghetto people," said Trishette Bond, a twenty-something resident who wore an orange shirt and a bright orange wig to show her allegiance to the People's National Party.

In a Labor-aligned slum in the East Kingston area of Mountain View, a 46-year-old man who only gave his name as Russ said the youthful Holness deserved a mandate to lead Jamaica in a better direction.

"The (People's National Party) mashed up this country for a long time. We can't go back to that," he said. "It's young people time now."

___

David McFadden on Twitter: http://twitter.com/dmcfadd

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-29-CB-Jamaica-Elections/id-1ffb5d6a8bc84ec1bd33fdf7df2305b2

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North Korea vows no softening under its new leader (AP)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

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

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111230/ap_on_re_as/as_kim_jong_il

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Gulp down a swig of New Year's Eve science

EPFL via YouTube

Scientists found that several factors were key to the fluid dynamics of wine swirling.

By Alan Boyle

I don't advise playing any drinking games on New Year's Eve, but when scientists play with their drinks, the results can make for interesting cocktail-party conversation.

Here's a recap of research relating to the physics and chemistry of liquids in a glass:

Tweak your twirl: Swirling red wine in the glass aerates the vintage and facilitates the release of all those wonderful aromas that distinguish a Rothschild from rotgut. The ideal is to have one smooth wave breaking around the bowl of the glass, and?this year physicists at the ?cole Polytechnique F?d?rale de Lausanne in Switzerland?figured out the fluid dynamics of the perfect swirl.

They used glasses of different shapes plus a healthy supply of cheap merlot to study the factors that determined the shape of the wave rolling around the glass. Three factors emerged, as described in this ScienceNOW summary: the ratio of the level of the wine poured in to the diameter of the glass; the ratio of the diameter of the glass to the width of the circular shaking; and the ratio of gravitational force pushing downward to the centrifugal force pushing outward.

---

A smooth wave can be achieved in glasses of widely varying sizes, as long as the three ratios are preserved. To get a feel for the right level of slosh, study the video below. Be careful not to swirl too vigorously, though: The researchers found that when the merlot was accelerated at 40 percent of the force of gravity, the slosh turned into an unwelcome splash.

Baby your bubbly: French researchers reported last year that the best way to baby?that New Year's Eve champagne is to pour it gently down the side?of your glass. This is one kind of wine you don't want to slosh: If you do, a lot of the carbonated bubbles are released before you bring the glass to your lips. And it's the bubbles that make champagne so pleasurable.?The researchers found that?champagne is best served when it's cold (39 degrees Fahrenheit, or 3.8 degrees Celsius). Warmer temperatures cause faster CO2 loss. And besides, who wants to drink warm champagne?

When it comes to serving champagne, narrow-mouthed flutes are currently preferred to wide. saucer-shaped glasses for similar reasons. The greater surface area of the saucer bowl leads to faster CO2 dissipation.

The same research group found that smooth-walled flutes tend to tone down the bubbles in?poured champagne, while scratches in the glass promote bubble nucleation. Some glassmakers intentionally put microscratches in the?inner surface to?create showier special effects. If you want to do?something similar, try wiping the inside of the flute with a cloth towel; the?tiny fibers that are left behind produce a similar effect on nucleation. This video from the American Chemical Society tells you more about the chemistry of champagne:

Shaken or stirred? Physics and chemistry often determine whether an alcoholic drink takes flight or flops, as Harvard physicists Naveen Sinha and David Weitz explain this month in a report on cocktail physics for PhysicsWorld (free access with registration).

Straight shots of aquavit, vodka or other spirits are best served cold ? zero degrees F, or -18 degrees C ? because that reduces the burning sensation you get in the throat and chest when you toss the shot down the hatch. But?low temperatures also make it harder to savor the taste and aroma of other ingredients, which is why mixed drinks are usually served at higher temperatures.

A nice chill helps balance the taste of a gin martini, though. If it's anywhere close to room temperature, the gin?tends to?overwhelm the vermouth.

Speaking of martinis, The Straight Dope provides some words of wisdom about the "shaken-vs.-stirred" debate. The way Cecil's pals tell it, a gin martini is best stirred, not shaken???because shaking dissolves more air into the mix,?"bruising" the gin and?supposedly giving the martini more of a bitter taste.

On the other hand, a vodka martini (which some drinkers refuse to?recognize as a martini at all) is best served as cold as possible, and shaking?with?ice is a?more effective?way to cool down the drink. Also, shaking breaks down?the oils in the vermouth more completely.?In case you've forgotten,?Agent 007 James Bond preferred his martinis with vodka???and "shaken, not stirred." A decade ago, researchers found that shaking deactivates the hydrogen peroxide in?a martini?better than stirring does, producing more of an?antioxidant effect.?They?concluded that "007's profound state of health may be due, at least in part, to compliant bartenders."

If?you're making a manhattan, don't follow 007's lead. Sinha and Weitz observe that "a manhattan, which contains whisky, vermouth and bitters, can become cloudy when shaken."

"This results from small air bubbles introduced into the beverage while shaking, which are then stabilized by the bitters," they write. "A stirred manhattan, in contrast, is clear, which is why it is typically served stirred, not shaken, unlike James Bond's martinis."

For more about the physics of mixology, including a high-tech recipe for a hot and cold gin fizz, check out the full report from Physics World. Whatever you do, drink responsibly ... and have a happy and safe New Year's Eve.

More about the science of alcoholic drinks:

---

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/30/9839500-sip-some-science-on-new-years-eve

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We love jokes, but who still reads jokes? A joke isn't a joke until it's told, which is why we started Comic Wonder, a competitive arena for joke-tellers - the first forum where people can perform, rate and share audio jokes. Our mission is to scour the earth looking for the best joke-teller in the world and declare that person the Comic Wonder of the Year!

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Cloud storage sites by Amazon, Google, Apple, Carbonite compared

If you've ever had your laptop stolen, watched your toddler baptize your PC with Pepsi, or had your MacBook come to a cold, dead stop, you know that the digital memories we store on our home computers are anything but indelible.

But now there's a special place coalescing where data never dies: It's called the cloud.

Internet giants Google Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Facebook Inc. have relied for years on cloud computing, where information is split up and stored across large networks of remote servers, rather than all in one place. When storing a holiday dinner photo, for instance, Google slices it into many shreds of data that are then duplicated and sent to dozens of data centers all over the world. That way, if one data center melts down or has a long power outage, your family portrait can be reassembled from the pieces still stored in the center's surviving peers.

The good news is that as the Internet has gotten faster and data centers have multiplied, the price of storing files in the cloud has dropped. For many consumers, storing copies of all of your music, photos and documents in the cloud is now an affordable option ? and one that will protect you from waking up with your memories erased.

Take Carbonite, a cloud backup product that for $59 a year will create a complete online copy of your computer, so that if you lose any file ? or all your files ? you can restore it through a Web browser. Once you install the automatic backup application on your computer, Carbonite will make sure to copy every new file to its servers, so you never have to upload anything manually. If you accidentally delete a file from your computer, you have 30 days to access the backup before Carbonite deletes the file too.

Amazon also has a set of cloud storage services. Its Cloud Player will let you upload your music collection to the Internet so that you can access it from any of your computers or mobile devices. The software automatically searches your computer for music files and uploads them all into nice, organized categories.

Amazon has a more general storage service called Cloud Drive, which allows you to upload and store videos, photos, documents and other files. The service is free for the first 5 gigabytes of storage. That's enough to fit about 1,000 MP3 music files and 1,000 photos ? a good start, but probably not enough to hold your entire collections. For a monthly fee, you can upgrade to larger accounts, from 20 gigabytes ($20 a year) to 1,000 gigabytes ($1,000 a year). For most people, the latter would be enough for complete collections of your photos, music and documents, as well as a few shelves of full-length movies.

The Cloud Drive has a bothersome limitation, though: Instead of an automatic upload feature like the one Carbonite has, you have to manually upload files, which makes loading hundreds or thousands of files extremely time-consuming. At this point, it's best for a limited number of files, perhaps the ones you'd most like to have copies of.

Google offers a similar service through its Google Docs feature. You can upload most kinds of files to your Google Docs list, up to 1 gigabyte for free. Its prices for more space are lower than Amazon's: $5 a year for 20 gigabytes and $100 a year for 400 gigabytes. You can go up to 16 terabytes for $4,100, but that's more than you'll need unless you store a lot of high-quality video.

Apple has a somewhat more limited system called iCloud, which tends to store only documents or music files that you create or purchase through Apple. Unlike with Amazon or Google, you can't upload music files that you didn't purchase in Apple's store, nor can you back up your work documents if they weren't created on Apple's word processing tools. ICloud does have an interesting tool called iTunes Match, however, which will scan your music collection and, if the songs are available on iTunes, it will create a virtual copy of your music collection in the cloud that you can access from any of your Apple devices.

A caveat to prospective cloud users: Although your data will be safer from accidental deletion in the cloud, other concerns about this new technology remain.

Companies like Amazon and Google are sometimes vulnerable to outages, during which large swaths of their cloud servers go off line, sometimes for hours or days, rendering huge amounts of data inaccessible.

Those storing highly sensitive data ? business plans, invention blueprints, compromising photos ? may want to hold off for now: The cloud is secure, but it's no Ft. Knox. Unlike in a locked safety deposit box at a bank, your cloud data will often be accessible to some employees at the company storing your data. Moreover, the cloud can be hacked just like any other computer system, and security researchers believe that cyber criminals are likely to ramp up cloud attacks in the coming year.

But for regular old family snapshots, music files and writing drafts, the cloud is providing an affordable and convenient way to keep your digital stuff safe.

david.sarno@latimes.com

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/business/~3/xaPylWa4ckw/la-fi-tech-savvy-cloud-20111229,0,5265913.story

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Asian stocks down on mixed US, Japan economic news (AP)

BANGKOK ? Asian stocks markets fell Wednesday, with trading thinned by year-end holidays and mixed economic news out of the U.S. and Japan.

Benchmark oil remained above $101 per barrel while the dollar strengthened against the euro but fell against the yen.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell marginally to 8,430.32. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index fell 0.7 percent to 18,503.67, while South Korea's Kospi lost 1.1 percent to 1,822.73. Australia's S&P ASX 200 lost 1.2 percent to 4,091.30. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia were also lower.

Bucking the trend was the New Zealand NZX 50, which rose 0.7 percent to 3,236.90. Falling between the Christmas holiday and New Year's, trading throughout the region was generally light.

Japan's industrial output dropped a seasonally adjusted 2.6 percent last month ? the first decline in two months. But the negative news was mitigated by expectations of rebounding manufacturing and production this month and next, which helped to keep stock market losses minimal.

In mainland China, investors were "dumping shares" because Beijing has failed to take steps they expected to stimulate slowing economic growth, said Peter Lai, investment manager for DBS Vickers in Hong Kong.

"Some investors believed there would be a reduction in interest rates or the bank reserve ratio. But this hasn't happened. That is why people are dumping shares," Lai said.

Lai said some investors are moving money from China to the United States or Europe on hopes for better economic conditions and bigger returns.

The Shanghai Composite Index shed 0.7 percent to 2,151.97. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index sank 1.8 percent 838.25.

Tokyo Electric Power dropped 12.3 percent, a day after Japanese Industry Minister Yukio Edano suggested that the embattled utility be put under temporary state control and warned the company against resorting to electricity bill hikes.

TEPCO operates the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, which was heavily damaged in the March earthquake and tsunami, and owes massive compensation payments to people and companies harmed by a nuclear disaster at the plant.

Hong Kong-listed property shares also slumped. China Vanke Co. fell 2 percent and China Overseas Land & Investment slid 3 percent.

China Mengniu Dairy, the country's biggest dairy company, plummeted 22.6 percent in Hong Kong after acknowledging that a cancer-causing toxin had been found in milk produced by the company. Mengniu apologized and said no tainted milk had made it to the market. The government blamed the problem on bad feed given to cows.

On Wall Street on Tuesday, the Dow Jones lost less than 0.1 percent to close at 12,291.35. The S&P 500 was up marginally to 1,265.43. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.3 percent to 2,625.20.

U.S. consumer confidence surged to an eight-month high, but home prices fell in 19 of the 20 cities tracked by the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller index. That report dampened investors' enthusiasm about a jump in consumer confidence to the highest level since April.

Benchmark crude oil rose 2 cents to $101.36 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.66 to finish at $101.34 per barrel on the Nymex on Tuesday.

In currency trading, the euro fell to $1.3062 from $1.3069 late Tuesday in New York. The euro has been weak because of worries about Europe's government debt crisis. It is still trading just above an 11-month low of $1.2943 reached on Dec. 14.

The dollar fell to 77.76 yen from 77.85 yen.

___

AP Business Writer Joe McDonald contributed from Beijing.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

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200 Canadian Camp Lejeune troops to celebrate New Year's in Wilmington

Updated?12/29/2011 08:43 PM

By:?News 14 Carolina Staff

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WILMINGTON ? About 200 Canadian troops will get a break from military training to spend New Year's Eve in Wilmington.

The troops are currently training at Camp Lejeune, but will take a bus on New Year's Eve to Wilmington for festivities there. The Wilmington Police Department and other city officials have held meetings with Canadian military officials ahead of the visit.

Wilmington police said they treat New Year's Eve just like other big holiday weekends such as Halloween or Independence Day.

Authorities map out a logistics plan and bring on additional staff.

"Numbers of officers, we re-do schedules. We have the downtown unit, half works one shift and the other half is opposite them normally during the week, they'll all be out there Saturday night. You will see double the amount of officers at a minimum," said Capt. Jeff Allsbrook of the Wilmington Police Dept.

The Wilmington Police Department plans to have 15 dedicated units downtown and another 30 throughout the city. Those will be on standby if more help is needed downtown.

Source: http://coastal.news14.com/content/top_stories/651788/200-canadian-camp-lejeune-troops-to-celebrate-new-year-s-in-wilmington

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Mark Zuckerberg's Amazing Race Luxury Vacation Revealed [Mark Zuckerberg]

What do you when you have more money than Christ and an appetite for fried foods? You head to Red Vietnam for a getaway replete with lavish meals, private yachts, helicopters, and goat-catching. We have Mark Zuckerberg's exclusive holiday itinerary. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/QUtPuZU8uyw/mark-zuckerbergs-amazing-race-luxury-vacation-revealed

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Video: Perry?s comeback secret

Arc: Big East loaded with good, not great, teams

Beyond the Arc: Georgetown's win over Louisville on Wednesday is the sort of thing we'll be seeing a lot of this season in the Big East, a league stocked with good teams, but no great ones beyond Syracuse.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45809260#45809260

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New way to ensure effectiveness of TB treatment?

ScienceDaily (Dec. 28, 2011) ? A UT Southwestern Medical Center study using a sophisticated "glass mouse" research model has found that multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is more likely caused in patients by speedy drug metabolism rather than inconsistent doses, as is widely believed.

If the study published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases is borne out in future investigations, it may lead to better ways to treat one of the world's major infectious diseases. Health workers worldwide currently are required to witness each administration of the combination of drugs during months of therapy.

"Tuberculosis is a common ailment, accounting for up to 3 percent of all deaths in many countries. Although effective therapy exists, there are still cases of treatment failure and drug resistance remains a threat," said Dr. Tawanda Gumbo, associate professor of internal medicine and senior author of the study.

The results seem to challenge the current approach endorsed by the World Health Organization.

Under that method, directly observed therapy-short-course strategy (DOTS), TB that responds to medication is treated with a cocktail of drugs under the supervision of health care workers, who in many countries must travel to isolated villages -- a costly and time-consuming process.

"Every TB patient is supposed to be watched as they swallow their pills in order to increase adherence and decrease emergence of drug resistance. This is the most expensive part of the program, but has been felt to be cost-effective since it improves compliance," said Dr. Gumbo, administrative director of research programs for the Office of Global Health at UT Southwestern.

In this study, UT Southwestern researchers created a sophisticated system of high-tech test tubes, which they called a "glass mouse," that mimicked standard therapy being given daily for 28 to 56 days, with dosing adherence varying between 0 percent and 100 percent. The threshold for defined non-adherence (failure to take a required dose of medication) was reached at 60 percent of the time or more.

"The first main finding in our laboratory model was that in fact non-adherence did not lead to multidrug resistance or emergence of any drug resistance in repeated studies, even when therapy failed. In fact, even when we started with a bacterial population that had been spiked with drug-resistant bacteria, non-adherence still did not lead to drug resistance," he said.

In fact, using computer simulations based on 10,000 TB patients in Cape Town, South Africa, the researchers discovered that approximately 1 percent of all TB patients with perfect adherence still developed drug resistance because they cleared the drugs from their bodies more quickly.

The body sees drugs as foreign chemicals and tries to rid itself of them, Dr. Gumbo said. A population of individuals with a genetic trait that speeds the process has been found in one area of South Africa that has a high rate of multidrug-resistant TB. In that population, patients who receive standard doses of drugs end up with concentrations in their bodies that are too low to kill the TB bacillus and drug resistance develops, he said.

A Journal of Infectious Diseases editorial that accompanies the study suggests that monitoring the levels of TB drugs in a patient's blood could be as important as monitoring compliance with therapy -- in contrast to current WHO guidelines.

"These data, based on our preclinical model, show that non-adherence alone is insufficient for the emergence of multidrug-resistant TB," Dr. Gumbo said. "It might be more cost-effective to measure patients' drug concentrations during treatment and intervene with dosage increases in those who quickly clear the drugs from their systems."

The work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by UT Southwestern Medical Center.

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Journal Reference:

1. S. Srivastava, J. G. Pasipanodya, C. Meek, R. Leff, T. Gumbo. Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Not Due to Noncompliance but to Between-Patient Pharmacokinetic Variability. Journal of Infectious Diseases, 2011; 204 (12): 1951 DOI: 10.1093/infdis/jir658

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

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/lC00fJCxY78/111228111724.htm

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Samsung Galaxy S II, Galaxy Tab 10.1 appear poised for US Cellular

It's long been rumored that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 would be headed to US Cellular. And now, thanks to USCC's ESN system, it looks like the Galaxy S II is headed that way as well. Neither device has been officially announced by the regional carrier. But given the depth of its current roster of Android smartphones and tablets, it's probably just a matter of time.

Thanks, anon!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/KtRRVMbknYc/story01.htm

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Deal of the Day: Mobi Products Hard Shell Case for Motorola Droid RAZR

The Dec. 26 ShopAndroid.com Deal of the Day brings us the Mobi Products Hard Shell Case for Motorola Droid RAZR. Just like the Droid RAZR itself, the case has a slim, low-profile design, that snaps together in two pieces. It leaves the screen unocovered and has cutouts for all the ports and buttons. And it's available today only for an amazingly low $5.95 -- that's 70 percent off! Get it in black, blue, red, purple or pink, while supplies last! Order yours today!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/RhTxTQBSg-Y/story01.htm

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NBA Commissioner David Stern opens season hearing boos from fans in Dallas

DALLAS - NBA Commissioner David Stern opened his lockout-delayed season by hearing boos from fans.

Stern was in Dallas for the NBA finals rematch between the Mavericks and Heat, and he was on the court for the start of the Mavs' banner-raising ceremony honoring their first championship. The jeers came as soon as he started speaking, but he quickly turned them into cheers by offering his congratulations to team owner Mark Cuban.

Cuban's often contentious relationship with Stern could've been as much of a reason for the boos as the lockout, which pushed the opener from Nov. 1 to Christmas and cut the season by 16 games.

Cuban and Miami's Mickey Arison were among five owners who voted against the labor deal. Stern downplayed that, hailing the agreement as beneficial to everyone.

Source: http://www.startribune.com/sports/wolves/136207923.html

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[OOC] Sunset Bar and Grill

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What to know about Texas Poker

Posted On Saturday, December 24th, 2011 By admin

Nowadays, both young and middle aged people find a pleasure in spending their free time playing card games. One of the most widely used card games, played online and live in the casinos, is the Texas Poker. Though the apparition of Holdem Poker continues to be unknown, it?s considered to have begun in the early 1900?s somewhere in Texas. The Poker Holdem is part of the horse tournaments of card games regarding poker, being the ?H? game, also the first round of the tourney. Other card games, related to poker as well, are the omaha, razz, sever card stud and eight or better.

Texas Poker is mainly played online, by downloading a poker platform and setting it up into the pc. If you possess some free time, you can just log into your account and start betting. It?s way a lot better than starting a casino and spending $ 100 just to get access to a table. Online Holdem Poker also has freeroll tournaments where you can register without making a deposit first. So you can win actual money without investing a single penny. It?s considered to be a game of luck, but there has been developed a few strategies to assist you to win constant hands at a virtual table. There are many popular sites that constantly offer promotions and bonuses for their customers and other benefits for example free entrance to the most significant world ? wide live tournaments.

By downloading a Poker Holdem software, you are able to choose to play for pleasure with virtual money, or you are able to go for the real cash tables. You can also play the game with the multi ? table feature, or go at a single table and focus on gathering all the chips from the other players. All the money is transformed into chips when you enter a table, for they are the used items when betting. As a main idea, Texas Poker is used two cards dealt to every player from a table and then the dealer places three cards in the middle, representing the flop. In the end the bets are placed, another card in the middle is turned faced up, representing the turn. The participants placed their bets again, consisting in one of the following actions: check, fold, raise, call, re-raise. The last card turned in the middle of the table is called the river and most of the time that it is the decisive one when it comes to winning the pot or loosing all the betting chips.

Holdem Poker is actually very easy to learn. You?ve to understand that the two cards you?ve connect a lot with the flop and form different pairs. The winner is the person having one of the mentioned combinations of card, stated in the exact order: high card, one pair, two pairs, three of a kind, straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush and royal flush. It?s very hard to obtain a royal flush in Poker Holdem, for you have to have the highest possible cards, all of the same color. Another think good to learn about poker, whether you listen to it live or online, is the proven fact that you can adopt a hostile style, by betting before the flop is shown and on the flop, turn and river. By doing this, other players are intimidated and they fold, though they?ve good cards, providing you with the possibility to take the chips from the pot. There is no need to have good cards in you hand, for you can make a good bluff, if you?re proficient at hiding your emotions.

All in all, poker is a fine way of expending free time and winning some pocket money. Others have made a living with the incomes gained from poker and farmville quickly became their fulltime job. On the internet, they are also called the VIP players, for they?re constantly playing their favorite game.

Source: http://www.cavitations.info/games/what-to-know-about-texas-poker/

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Aircraft wreck found off Florida's Atlantic coast

JUPITER, Fla. -- A scuba diver in Florida says he's found the remains of a WWII-era aircraft on the ocean floor.

Randy Jordan of Emerald Charters tells The Palm Beach Post ( http://bit.ly/s1iacg) that he was diving at a depth of around 200 feet four miles off Jupiter last week when he spotted the remains of an aircraft. The plane was upside down but still mostly intact.

Jordan says he believes the plane is a Curtiss Helldiver SB2C.

If he's right, it would be the second Helldiver wreck found underwater in two years. One of the planes was found off Hawaii in January 2010.

Jordan says he has plans to take more divers to the site, but they have to proceed cautiously because the plane still could contain live ammunition or human remains.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/25/2561401/aircraft-wreck-found-off-floridas.html

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Kia's Ray EV hasn't heard about aerodynamics, sets out to defy naysayers in Korea

That boxy thing up there? That's Kia's Ray EV, and apparently Korea's first mass produced electric vehicle. Looks-wise it's probably not the Hyundai i10 re-badge you were expecting, but that doesn't mean you should count the rectangular Soul-inspired city dweller out. With a range of 86 miles from its 16.4 kWh lithium-ion pack, it'll take six hours to charge over 220 volts or alternatively 25 minutes with an undisclosed fast-charger. Kia also says its electric motor has a "best in segment" efficiency rating, which at 93 percent sounds plausible. What isn't however, is the claim it's also "brisk," which is at odds with the lethargic 15.9 seconds it'll take to go from 0-62MPH. Undeterred by its languid persona and unconventional looks? Better start packing those bags, as the first 2,500 are going to the South Korean government. More shots await at the source.

Continue reading Kia's Ray EV hasn't heard about aerodynamics, sets out to defy naysayers in Korea

Kia's Ray EV hasn't heard about aerodynamics, sets out to defy naysayers in Korea originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 22 Dec 2011 22:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A Very Merry Giveaway: Galaxy Nexus #TechCrunch

You spoke and we listened. The holidays are upon us and yesterday we asked all of you what you would want as a gift out of six different options. Those options were: iPad 2, Canon S100, Kindle Fire, Galaxy Nexus, Boxee Box, and last but not least, a Kinect for Xbox 360. At first, all of you wanted an iPad 2. Then we asked one more time, and you all chose a Galaxy Nexus for your most wanted gift. So, with it being that time of the year and all, we are giving away.. a Galaxy Nexus to one lucky reader!

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/p1QqTmzSM7o/

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VanityFair: Around the World in Holiday Windows: http://t.co/sy3WjbMV

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Calexico Residents, lets take a jolly look back at your Downtown Christmas Parade! ivnewsday.com/index.asp?vide? Il y a environ 13 heures via TweetDeck Retweeted by 1 person

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Maine town holds candlelight vigil for missing tot

This undated photo obtained from a facebook page shows missing toddler Alya Reynolds. Police in Maine are appealing to the public for help in locating the 20-month-old girl who was last seen Friday night. Waterville Police Chief Joseph Massey held a news conference this afternoon to ask anyone with information about Ayla Reynolds to call police. Ayla's father called police yesterday morning to report that his daughter was not in her bed and couldn't be found. She was last seen sleeping at about 10 p.m. Friday by a family member. (AP Photo/obtained from Facebook)

This undated photo obtained from a facebook page shows missing toddler Alya Reynolds. Police in Maine are appealing to the public for help in locating the 20-month-old girl who was last seen Friday night. Waterville Police Chief Joseph Massey held a news conference this afternoon to ask anyone with information about Ayla Reynolds to call police. Ayla's father called police yesterday morning to report that his daughter was not in her bed and couldn't be found. She was last seen sleeping at about 10 p.m. Friday by a family member. (AP Photo/obtained from Facebook)

Maine Warden Service personnel aided by Waterville emergency crews search an ice covered drainage pond along First Rangeway Road in Waterville, Maine Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2011. Searchers still hope to find 20 month-old Ayla Reynolds who has been missing since Dec. 16. (AP Photo/Michael C. York)

Ken Brown , Hannah Letourneau and theri daughter Mackenzie Brown listen as prayers are offered at the First Congregational Church, for 20-month-girl, Ayla Reynolds Wednesday, Dec 21, 2011 in Waterville, Maine. The area being searched for a missing 20-month-old girl in Maine is being expanded to include trails and more waterways, and the number of tips from the public has grown to more than 160, police said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Michael C. York)

People attend a candle-light vigil held for missing 20 month-old Ayla Reynolds, Wednesday, Dec 21, 2011 in Waterville, Maine. The area being searched for a missing 20-month-old girl in Maine is being expanded to include trails and more waterways, and the number of tips from the public has grown to more than 160, police said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Michael C. York)

People attend a candle-light vigil held at the First Congregational Church for missing 20 month-old Ayla Reynolds, Wednesday, Dec 21, 2011 in Waterville, Maine. The area being searched for a missing 20-month-old girl in Maine is being expanded to include trails and more waterways, and the number of tips from the public has grown to more than 160, police said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Michael C. York)

WATERVILLE, Maine (AP) ? More than 60 people prayed for hope at a candlelight vigil for a missing 20-month-old girl in Maine, as tips poured in and the search was expanded Wednesday to include trails and more waterways.

Fifty trained volunteers from the Maine Search and Rescue Association joined 75 to 80 law enforcement officers already participating in the search for Ayla Reynolds, which entered its fifth day.

"I can tell you, they are working just as hard as if it was their own child," Waterville City Manager Mike Roy told the group at the vigil at the First Congregational Church, where a photo of a smiling Ayla, a few children's drawings and stuffed toys contributed by local families formed a centerpiece at the front of the pews.

Residents, many of them mothers with young children, prayed, sang hymns and offered one another support and hope during the service, which was moved indoors because of freezing rain and raw temperatures.

"I want to support the family," Cori Cote said as she held her 16-month-old daughter before the vigil. "I couldn't imagine losing my little girl. I want Ayla back safe."

Earlier, the police chief in the central Maine city, Joseph Massey, said more streams and ponds were lowered to aid searchers, and additional woods and open areas were checked as the search area grew outward from the girl's house. The Maine Marine Patrol searched the Kennebec River, which forms the edge of the city.

Searchers have looked through trash bins and lowered portions of Messalonskee Stream in the city, looking for signs of Ayla. The FBI continued Wednesday to go door-to-door in a "knock and talk" canvassing effort.

Massey said the number of leads offered by citizens grew by more than 60 in a day to 165, and each one was being checked out.

"That is keeping investigators very, very busy, as you can imagine," the chief said.

The toddler was last seen Friday night when her father, Justin DiPietro, said he put her to bed wearing a green one-piece pajama set with polka dots and the words "Daddy's Princess."

DiPietro called police the next morning to say she wasn't there. Several other adults were in the home at the time, but Massey declined to identify them.

Tuesday night, DiPietro addressed the public for the first time, saying in a statement he had "no idea what happened to Ayla, or who is responsible."

DiPietro released the statement through the Waterville police, saying his family and friends will do "everything we can to assist in this investigation and get Ayla back home."

Massey said DiPietro and the Ayla's mother, Trista Reynolds, continue to cooperate with police.

An Amber Alert, which lets the public know about an abducted child, wasn't declared, and no manhunt is under way. State police say the case didn't fit the criteria for an Amber Alert because Ayla was reported missing about 12 hours after being last seen, and there was no vehicle and no suspect.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-22-Missing%20Toddler/id-cc684ae3c2ca43f7ba4aaf131ba7a600

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