WTO: China unfairly limits export of raw materials (AP)

GENEVA ? The World Trade Organization ruled Monday that China unfairly limited exports of nine raw materials to protect domestic manufacturers.

A WTO appeals body rejected China's appeal of an earlier ruling in July that concluded the Asian economic powerhouse had violated international trade rules. The appeals body largely sided with the United States, European and Mexico, which had taken issue with Chinese restrictions on its exports of nine materials used widely in the steel, aluminum and chemical industries.

They had complained that China drives up prices on overseas shipments of the materials by setting export duties, quotas and licensing requirements on them, giving the country's manufacturers an unfair edge over competitors. But China had argued that its export limits were needed to protect the environment.

The ruling affects China's exports of certain forms of bauxite, coke, fluorspar, magnesium, manganese, silicon carbide, silicon metal, yellow phosphorous and zinc. In it, the WTO appeals body says China must now "bring its export duty and export quota measures into conformity with its WTO obligations."

The issue has sparked tension with some of China's major trading partners. In a statement, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk called the ruling "a tremendous victory for the United States ? particularly its manufacturers and workers."

He called it a decision that "ensures that core manufacturing industries in this country can get the materials they need to produce and compete on a level playing field."

The European Commission said in a statement that while the case requires China to comply, the EU "continues to be deeply troubled by China's use of export restrictions" for other rare earth and industrial raw materials.

China's WTO mission in Geneva said it "deeply regrets" that the appeals body upheld major parts of the earlier panel's conclusions, but noted that some other aspects were reversed. It vowed to abide by the WTO findings.

But it explained that Chinese government had in recent years "reinforced its administration on certain resource products, especially the 'high-pollution, high-energy-consuming and resource-dependent' products" to protect the environment and conserve natural resources.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_wto_china_trade

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Philips CEO warns H1 2012 "won't be easy" (Reuters)

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) ? Dutch Electronics giant Philips will book further, unspecified, restructuring charges in the first half of 2012, Chief Executive Officer Frans van Houten said on Monday.

"The first half of 2012 will see the impact of these charges and overall we are cautious about the development of the first half of the year. It is not going to be an easy first half," said Van Houten.

Earlier on Monday, Philips reported a 45 percent fall in fourth-quarter core profit due to losses at both its health and lighting divisions, and said it was cautious about 2012 given uncertainty in the global economy, particularly in Europe.

Van Houten also said the firm is committed to achieving its 2013 financial targets.

(Reporting By Roberta B. Cowan, Editing by Mark Potter)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/bs_nm/us_philips

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GOP insiders rise up to cut Gingrich down to size (AP)

ORLANDO, Fla. ? Republican insiders are rising up to cut Newt Gingrich down to size, testament to the GOP establishment's fear that the mercurial candidate could lead the party to disaster this fall.

The gathering criticisms are bitingly sharp, as if edged by a touch of panic, a remarkable development considering the target once was speaker of the House and will go down in history as leader of the Republicans' 1994 return to power in Congress. The intended beneficiary is Mitt Romney, a once-moderate Massachusetts governor whom many rank-and-file Republicans view with suspicion.

"The Republican establishment might not be wild about Mitt Romney, but they're terrified by Newt Gingrich," said Dan Schnur, a former GOP campaign strategist who teaches politics at the University of Southern California.

The anti-Gingrich statements have come from conservative columnists, talk show hosts including Ann Coulter, former Reagan administration officials and others. One of the harshest was written by former Sen. Bob Dole, the party's 1996 presidential nominee.

"I have not been critical of Newt Gingrich but it is now time to take a stand before it is too late," Dole wrote in the conservative magazine National Review. "If Gingrich is the nominee it will have an adverse impact on Republican candidates running for county, state, and federal offices."

As speaker from 1995 through 1998, Gingrich "had a new idea every minute and most of them were off the wall," Dole wrote. He said he struggled against Democrats' TV attacks in his 1996 campaign, "and in every one of them, Newt was in the ad."

Gingrich has reacted unevenly to the accusations, sometimes denouncing them, other times wearing them like a badge of honor.

"The Republican establishment is just as much as an establishment as the Democratic establishment, and they are just as determined to stop us," he told a tea party rally Thursday in central Florida.

The crowd cheered. But lingering near the back was an example of how the Romney campaign is taking advantage of the whacks at Gingrich: GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah. Chaffetz is beloved by many conservatives, and he goes from one Gingrich event to another to tell reporters why he thinks Romney would be a stronger challenger against President Barack Obama in the fall.

Gingrich aide R.C. Hammond confronted Chaffetz on Friday at an event in Delray, Fla., noting that some Republican officials criticize such shadowing tactics. Chaffetz defended his presence, saying Gingrich has vowed to show up everywhere Obama campaigns this fall, if several hours later.

Romney has drawn other high-ranking surrogates, with mixed results. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley annoyed some of her tea party supporters when she campaigned throughout her state for Romney, who lost to Gingrich by 12 percentage points.

It's unclear whether the anti-Gingrich push is driving a new wedge between establishment Republicans and anti-establishment insurgents such as the tea partyers.

"We don't like the Republican establishment anyway," said Mark Meckler, a Californian and co-founder of Tea Party Patriots. He said tea partyers are heavily focused on state and local races, and are wary of getting drawn into the presidential quarrels.

After all, Meckler said, "it's not as though Newt Gingrich hasn't been part of the Republican establishment."

Many other conservative activists also noted Gingrich's long history as a Washington insider, including 20 years in Congress and 13 as a well-paid consultant, writer and Fox News commentator. His history complicates his efforts to rally angry, working-class Republicans who feel that an "elite" cadre of officials, journalists and others look down on them.

"He's in one sense attacking the establishment he says he helped lead," said John Feehery, a former top House GOP aide who contends the tea party's influence is often overstated. The chief complaints about Gingrich focus more on his personality than his politics, which are hard to nail down, Feehery said.

The most damaging criticisms have come from former friends and colleagues who worked closely with him in Congress. It's Gingrich's egotistic behavior, more than ideology, that is driving the attacks, Feehery said.

Among those defending Gingrich are Sarah Palin, the 2008 vice presidential nominee who is admired by many tea partyers.

"Look at Newt Gingrich, what's going on with him via the establishment's attacks," Palin said this week on Fox Business Network. "They're trying to crucify this man and rewrite history and rewrite what it is that he has stood for all these years."

Palin and Rep. Michele Bachmann, who dropped out of the presidential race, are tea party favorites with minimal experience in Washington and in top GOP circles. Gingrich is trying to tap the sense of resentment among their followers. But his long and complicated Washington record and reputation for intra-party quarrels seem to leave some tea partyers unimpressed.

"It's truly a shame that this is where the Republican establishment has chosen to focus their energy," said Marianne Gasiecki, a tea party activist in Ohio. She added, however, that political activists should focus on congressional races. "If we have a conservative House and Senate," she said, "the power of the president is really insignificant."

As Gingrich's broadcast ads in Florida become more pointed, prominent Republicans are chiding him without endorsing Romney or any other candidates. Gingrich stopped running a radio ad that called Romney anti-immigrant after Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said it was unfair and damaging to the party.

So long as party insiders' complaints about Gingrich focus on his personality and quirks, the GOP can postpone a more wrenching debate about ideology, which may be in store if the once-moderate Romney is nominated. For now, conservative stalwarts seem determined to depict Gingrich as too erratic to be the party's standard bearer, let alone president.

Columnist Charles Krauthammer told Fox News: "Gingrich isn't after victory, he's after vengeance." He added: "This is Captain Ahab on the loose."

Some Republican voters are pushing back. "I want so badly to be for Gingrich, and I'm not going to be bullied out of my vote," said Barb Johnson, 52, who attended the tea party rally in Mount Dora, Fla., on Thursday. "I like his strong presence."

Florida's primary is Tuesday.

___

Associated Press writer Brian Bakst contributed to this report from Delray, Fla.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_el_pr/us_gop_campaign_establishment

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AT&T posts 4Q loss on charges; revenue increases (AP)

NEW YORK ? AT&T Inc. is still the home of the iPhone. It activated 7.6 million of them in the latest quarter, accounting for one out of every five iPhones sold globally.

And AT&T remains heavily dependent on the iPhone to gain and keep customers, despite a vow by CEO Randall Stephenson a year ago to "very aggressively" market competing smartphones in 2011. That vow came in the wake of AT&T's loss of an exclusive right to sell the iPhone in the U.S.

The iPhone accounted for about 80 percent of the smartphones AT&T activated in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 70 percent just before Stephenson made his vow.

The figures are somewhat skewed because the fourth quarter of 2011 saw the launch of a new iPhone model, the iPhone 4S, whereas the fourth quarter of 2010 didn't. Looking at annual sales instead, there's a decline in the iPhone's percentage of AT&T smartphones ? to 69 percent last year, from 79 percent in 2010.

The Dallas-based company has also retained its position as the premier U.S. iPhone carrier, beating Verizon Wireless' 4.3 million iPhone activations handily.

AT&T's iPhone dependency comes at a heavy cost. The phone is more expensive than many other smartphones, and AT&T needs to subsidize each iPhone with hundreds of dollars to put it in customers' hands for as little as $1.

That, together with massive charges for adjustments in the value of the company's pension plans, the breakup of a deal to buy T-Mobile USA and a writedown of the value of its phone-directory business, forced AT&T to report a massive loss on Thursday of $6.68 billion, or $1.12 per share, for the fourth quarter.

It was the first quarterly loss for AT&T in three years. An adjustment of pension-plan obligations was also the main culprit behind the previous loss, in the fourth quarter of 2008.

AT&T took a charge of $4.2 billion for the compensation it's paying T-Mobile USA. When AT&T made the $39 billion bid in March, it promised T-Mobile cash and wireless licenses if the deal fell through. The deal was squelched by federal regulators, who saw reason to believe that the No. 2 wireless carrier buying No. 4 would reduce competition.

On Thursday, Stephenson said the company's Plan B consists of trying to buy more wireless spectrum in smaller deals, selling low-performing units and instituting a share-buyback program.

AT&T said it has board authorization to buy back 300 million shares, worth about $9 billion, and will start doing so immediately.

Excluding charges, net income was 42 cents per share in the latest quarter, a penny shy of Wall Street expectations, according to a survey by FactSet.

The loss compares with net income of $1.09 billion, or 18 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue rose 3.6 percent to $32.5 billion, helped by the smartphone sales. Analysts were expecting revenue of $31.99 billion, on average.

After stripping out the jump in smartphone sales, which constitute an immediate loss for the company, revenue grew 0.6 percent from last year. Wireless service fees are growing slower than before, barely making up for the decline of AT&T's traditional-phone business.

AT&T said it expects earnings per share to grow by a mid-single-digit percentage in 2012, a bit lower than analysts had expected.

In afternoon trading Thursday, shares of AT&T Inc. fell 68 cents, or 2.3 percent, to $29.53.

Most of the iPhone activations were upgrades for people who were already AT&T subscribers. The carrier gained a net 717,000 subscribers on contract plans in the quarter. That was the best result all year, but didn't match Verizon's 1.2 million. AT&T has been lagging Verizon in this important measure for more than a year.

For all of 2011, AT&T earned $3.9 billion, or 66 cents per share, on $126.7 billion in revenue. That compares with $19.9 billion, or $3.35 per share, on $124.3 billion in revenue in 2010.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_hi_te/us_earns_at_t

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After Penn State, states reconsider sex abuse laws (AP)

HARTFORD, Conn. ? The child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State University has prompted state lawmakers across the nation to take another look at laws designed to protect children and punish child predators.

Thirty-eight legislatures are back in session this month, most for the first time since retired assistant Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky was charged in November with child sex abuse and two school officials were charged with failing to properly report abuse allegations. At least 12 states are considering mandatory reporting legislation this year, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, and more are expected to craft bills as their sessions get into full swing.

In addition to measures to improve the reporting of suspected child sex abuse, bills have been drafted across the country that would increase or even eliminate the statutes of limitations for bringing criminal or civil cases against alleged abusers.

"The alleged incidents at Penn State I think awakened something in our national consciousness about protecting our kids," said Mike Feuer, a California assemblyman and chairman of that legislature's Judiciary Committee.

Feuer, a Los Angeles Democrat, is sponsoring a bill that would have employees at universities added to the list of mandated reporters in his state, which already includes teachers, doctors and others.

"If we were to fail to pass a bill like the one I have introduced in California only to have subsequent abuse occur, we will look back on this moment as a wasted opportunity to protect a child who will never get that moment back," he said.

Forty-eight states currently require at least some professionals to immediately report knowledge or suspicion of child sexual abuse to some authority, according to the NCSL. Eighteen of those states require every adult to be a mandated reporter.

New Jersey is another state looking to expand its mandated reporter law, and is also considering legislation that would remove a two-year time limit for bringing civil lawsuits against alleged abusers.

Assemblyman Peter J. Barnes III, D-Middlesex, the chairman of his chamber's Judiciary Committee, said he and others have been trying to get the legislation passed for years. He said now seems to be the perfect time.

"I think Penn State will be the watershed moment," he said. "Many states are going to be prompted to strengthen not only their criminal laws, but their civil laws as well, which is what we're doing."

States, including Pennsylvania, are setting up task forces or holding informational public hearings in an attempt to draft comprehensive legislative packages that might address several concerns.

Connecticut lawmakers held a hearing this week as mourners gathered at Penn State for a series of public memorial events honoring former football coach Joe Paterno, who died Sunday of lung cancer. Penn State's board of trustees fired Paterno after he was criticized over his handling of the child sex abuse allegations against Sandusky.

As the Connecticut legislature considers how to move forward, it will consider mandated reporting, setting standards for youth camps and programs at the state's public college, said state Rep. Diana Urban, co-chairwoman of the Select Committee on Children.

She said the key is making sure the proper authorities have all the information they need.

"We don't want information to go awry and to have children exposed to situations that will impact them for the rest of their lives."

Sandusky, 67, is accused of sexually abusing 10 boys over a 15-year period. He and the two school officials maintain their innocence.

Advocates for abuse victims are pushing hard for legislation to be passed this year, recognizing that the Penn State scandal presents an opportunity to cut through the government's red tape.

"It is a mobilization time. But just as important, it is a public information time," said Jim Hmurovich, chief executive of Prevent Child Abuse America. "We need to get the message out that sex offender registries and treatment services for victims and mandatory reporting requirements are important, but they're not the whole picture. Let's think about way up the river so the child never gets hurt in the first place."

Jetta Bernier agrees. A national child-abuse expert who runs Massachusetts Citizens for Children, she said the lessons learned from the recent scandal involving the Catholic church is that it doesn't help to have stiff penalties, if the warning signs of abuse are ignored or go unnoticed. She supports legislation like a bill being considered in West Virginia that would spend $1.1 million in public funds to increase child-abuse education and prevention efforts.

""It's good to begin strengthening reporting requirements, but if people don't know what to look for, the reporting just isn't going to cut it," she said. "People need to know how to identify and how to prevent. That's a piece that I have found missing in a lot of these attempts to push legislation forward."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_sp_ot/us_penn_state_legislation

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American hostage in Somalia freed in US Navy raid

Danish Refugee Council

Jessica Buchanan, an American national who was taken hostage in Somalia alongside Poul Hagen Thisted, a Danish national, in October 2011.

By Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News chief Pentagon correspondent

WASHINGTON -- In a daring nighttime raid Tuesday, U.S. Navy SEALs rescued two hostages, including one American, who were being held by kidnappers in Somalia, U.S. officials tell NBC News.

American Jessica Buchanan, 32,?and a 60-year-old Dane, Poul Thisted, were working for a Danish relief organization in northern Somalia when they were kidnapped last October.?U.S. officials described their kidnappers as heavily armed common criminals with no known ties to any organized militant group.

---

According to the U.S. officials, two teams of?Navy SEALs landed by helicopter near the compound where the two hostages were being held.?

As the SEALS approached the compound on foot gunfire broke out, the U.S. officials said, and several of the militants were reportedly killed. There is no word that any of the Americans were wounded.

The SEALs gathered up Buchanan and Thisted, loaded them onto the helicopters and flew them to safety at an undisclosed location. The two hostages were not injured during the rescue operation and are reported to be in relatively good condition.

The two had been working for the Danish Refugee Council on a demining project in northern Somalia. The humanitarian group has been providing relief to some 450,000 refugees in the Somalia-Kenya border region.

News reports at the time said the two were kidnapped Oct. 25?along with a Somali colleague when their three-car convoy was stopped on the way to an airport. A self-proclaimed Somali?pirate said they had been kidnapped?for ransom by?pirates?stymied by Western nations' efforts to stop the seizure of ships off the coast. The fate of the Somali colleague was unclear.????

Related: American kidnapped by gunmen in Somalia

The first indication of the rescue operation came Tuesday night in Washington from President Barack Obama himself.?

As the president entered the House chambers to give his State of the Union Speech, he pointed to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta standing in the crowd and said, "Leon. Good job tonight. Good job tonight."

The president made no mention of the hostage rescue, but finished his speech with a reference to the killing of Osama bin Laden last May in a similar operation to the one conducted by Navy SEALs Tuesday night.?

Updated at?5:57 a.m. ET: In a statement sent?to NBC News and other media, Obama says that he authorized the operation to rescue Buchanan.

"Thanks to the extraordinary courage and capabilities of our Special Operations Forces, yesterday Jessica Buchanan was rescued and she is on her way home," he says. "As Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission, and the dedicated professionals who supported their efforts."

Obama, who spoke to Buchanan's father Tuesday night,?says she?was "selflessly serving her fellow human beings when she was taken hostage by criminals and pirates who showed no regard for her health and well-being."

He says he told her father that "all Americans have Jessica in our thoughts and prayers, and give thanks that she will soon be reunited with her family."

"The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice,"?Obama adds.?"This is yet another message to the world that the United States of America will stand strongly against any threats to our people."

Updated at 6:50 a.m. ET: A statement from U.S. Africa Command says U.S. forces had received "actionable intelligence" about Buchanan and Thisted and decided to take action.

"During the course of the operation, the rescue force patrolled to the location and confirmed the presence of Mrs. Buchanan and Mr. Thisted guarded by nine captors," the statement says. "All nine captors were killed during the assault."

General Carter F. Ham, of U.S. Africa Command,?says in the statement that the raid, which took place?near Gadaado, was "boldly conducted by some of our nation's most courageous, competent, and committed special operations forces."

"Thanks to them a fellow American and her Danish co-worker are safe and will soon be home with their families," he adds.

Updated at 6:55 a.m. ET: A statement from Panetta?says?he is "grateful to report that there was no loss of life or injuries to our personnel."

He says the rescue --?"undertaken in a hostile environment" -- showed the "superb skills of courageous service members who risked their lives to save others."?

"They are heroes and continue to inspire all of us by their bravery and service to our nation," he says.

?More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

?

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/25/10229917-american-hostage-in-somalia-rescued-by-us-navy-seals-in-overnight-raid

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Mexico authorities unravel child trafficking ring (AP)

ZAPOPAN, Mexico ? Life seemed to give Karla Zepeda a break when a woman came to her dusty neighborhood of cinderblock homes and dirt roads looking for babies to photograph in an anti-abortion ad campaign.

The woman asked to use the 15-year-old's baby girl in a two-week photo shoot for $755 ($10,000 pesos), a small fortune for a teen mother who earns $180 a month at a sandwich stand and shares a cramped, one-story house with her disabled mother, stepfather, and three brothers.

But 9-month-old Camila wasn't just posing for photographs when she was taken away.

Jalisco state investigators say the child was left for weeks at a time in the care of an Irish couple who had come to Ajijic, a town of cobblestone streets and gated communities 37 miles (60 kilometers) away, thinking they were adopting her.

Prosecutors say the baby was apparently part of an illegal adoption ring that ensnared destitute young Mexican women trying to earn more for their children and childless Irish couples desperate to become parents.

Camila and nine other children have been turned over to state officials who suspect they were being groomed for illegal adoptions. And authorities hint that far more children could be involved: Lead investigator Blanca Barron told reporters the ring may have been operating for 20 years, though she gave no details. Prosecutors also say four of the children show signs of sexual abuse, though they gave no details on how or by whom.

Nine people have been detained, including two suspected leaders of the ring, but no one has yet been charged.

At least 15 Irish citizens have been questioned, the Jalisco state attorney general's office said, but officials have not released their names and their lawyer says all have returned to Ireland after spending weeks or months in Ajijic trying to meet requirements for adopting a child. None was detained.

For Karla Zepeda, the story began in August, when she was approached by Guadalupe Bosquez and agreed to lend her daughter for an anti-abortion advertising campaign, she told The Associated Press. Bosquez later returned with another woman, Silvia Soto, and gave her half the money as they picked the child up. She got the rest two weeks later when they brought Camila home.

"They showed me a poster that showed my girl with other babies and said 'No To Abortion, Yes To Life,'" said Karla, a petite girl cleaning her house to loud norteno music. "I thought it was legal because everything seemed very normal."

Before long, the message spread to her neighbors. Seven other women, most between the ages of 15 and 22, agreed to let their babies be part of the ad campaign. Some already had several children. Some are single mothers. One of them doesn't know how to read or write. Five of them told they AP that they did not even have birth certificates for their babies when they came across Bosquez and Soto.

One said she needed money to pay for her child's medical care, another to finish building an extra room on her house.

All deny agreeing to give their children up for adoption.

"We're going through a nightmare," said Fernanda Montes, an 18-year-old housewife who said she took part to pay a $670 hospital bill from the birth of her 3-month-old. "How could we have trusted someone so evil?"

The women say that Bosquez and Soto persuaded three of them to register their children as single mothers so they could participate in the anti-abortion campaign, even though they live with the children's fathers.

Children's rights activists say that also could have made it easier to release the child for adoption: only the mother's signature would be needed.

The mothers were assured that the babies were being taken care of by several nannies and checked by doctors. The babies often returned home wearing new clothes.

Some of the mothers said they began having second thoughts. But when they declined to send their children back, they say, Bosquez and Soto insisted they would have to pay for the strollers, car seats, diaper bags and everything else they had bought for the babies.

Investigators say that Bosquez and Soto were taking the children to a hotel in Guadalajara, where they met with Irish couples who believed they were going to adopt them.

The plan began to unravel on Jan. 9, when local police detained 21-year-old Laura Carranza and accused her of trying to sell her 2-year-old daughter.

Investigators said Carranza denied that allegation, but acknowledged she was "renting" her 8-month-old son. She then led authorities to Bosquez and Soto.

Both are now being held on suspicion they ran the alleged anti-abortion ad campaign as a front for an illegal adoption ring. It was not clear if they have attorneys and they have not yet been brought before a judge to say if they accept or reject the allegations.

Carranza is also being held, as is Karla's mother, Cecilia Velazquez, who hasn't worked since she lost both legs in a traffic accident in 2010. Karla says her mother's only fault was agreeing to the ad campaign.

Seven of the mothers interviewed told the AP that the children had most recently been picked up by Bosquez and Soto between Dec. 27 and Dec. 30 for an alleged photo shoot. They returned the babies on Jan. 9 and 10, saying "there had been problems." The mothers said they didn't notice anything wrong with the babies or any signs of abuse.

Then state police investigators showed up at their homes and drove them and their children to the police department for questioning. The babies were taken from them and put into state protective custody. The women complained that only four of them have been allowed to see their babies since, and only once.

A statement from Jalisco state prosecutors' said authorities seized Carranza's two children from her and the other seven while they were with Irish couples. Prosecutors didn't respond to requests by the AP to clarify the discrepancy.

Residents of Ajijic, a town on the shore of Lake Chapala favored by American and Canadian retirees, say Irish citizens looking to adopt Mexican children began appearing there at least four years ago.

Jalisco state prosecutors' spokesman Lino Gonzalez wouldn't confirm the Irish had left, but said none had been charged with a crime.

Even if they had adopted the children, Ireland might not have accepted them because the adoptions were handled privately, said Frances FitzGerald, Ireland's minister for children.

"Obviously, for any couple caught up in this, it's a nightmare scenario," she said.

"What you can't have in Mexico is people going to local agencies or individuals doing private adoptions because when they come back, there is going to be a difficulty."

Prosecutors say they have been trying without success to reach the attorneys who were handling the adoption paperwork in the neighboring state of Colima.

Custody release statements signed by all of the mothers carry the logo of Lopez y Lopez Asociados, a firm owned by Carlos Lopez Valenzuela and his son, Carlos Lopez Castellanos. Authorities raided their home last week.

The release statements were shown to the AP by a local advocate for missing and stolen children, Juan Manuel Estrada of Fundacion FIND, who said they had been leaked to him by a state official. He said Lopez Valenzuela had separately sent him a lengthy statement by email declaring that he too may have been duped in the case and denying wrongdoing.

The 15 Irish citizens told authorities they found Lopez Valenzuela through a website advertising his services, according to their lawyer, Carlos Montoya.

He said that the Irish were charged $6,000 for the search for a baby, $13,600 to gain final custody and $5,000 in legal fees, as well as the biological mother's supposed prenatal care, hospital care and nanny services.

Montoya said the babies were living with the couples in Ajijic until what they thought would be the end of the roughly four-month legal process. Several of the couples had adopted Mexican children in the past with Lopez Valenzuela and hadn't had any problems, he said.

"They are innocent people who were swindled by the lawyer managing the adoptions," he said.

They all returned to Ireland last week on his advice, he said.

Lopez Valenzuela didn't respond to emailed interview requests from the AP.

Prosecutors wouldn't confirm the authenticity of his statement to Fundacion FIND, but it mirrors the stories of seven mothers who were interviewed by the AP.

According to the statement Lopez said he had handled adoptions in Colima state for 63 Irish couples since 2004. He said he first met Bosquez when she approached him in 2009 about giving her own unborn child up for adoption to an Irish couple, a process, he wrote, that was completed legally.

The statement said that Bosquez also introduced Lopez to a social worker and together they brought him the current case involving Zepeda and the other women from Zapopan, apparently hoping he could match the children to adopting couples.

It says Lopez was told the mothers wanted only to deal with the two women, and he agreed. The young mothers confirmed they never met Lopez.

Lopez didn't respond to emailed interview requests from the AP.

According to the statement, Lopez said he follows the stringent adoption laws set by the Hague Adoption Convention, which Mexico has signed.

Unlike Guatemala or China, Mexico has not been a popular destination for foreigners looking to adopt, perhaps because the process, done by law, is complicated.

"The legal adoption process in Mexico is difficult, but cheating in Mexico is very easy," Estrada said.

___

Associated Press writer Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_child_trafficking

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Factbox: Reactions from leading Oscar nominees (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced nominations for the 2012 Academy Awards on Tuesday. The winners will be named at the annual Oscars ceremony in Hollywood on February 26.

Following is a list of reactions from nominees, received by Reuters in statements via e-mail, except as noted below.

-- "It's an honor to be nominated a second time, it is a personal accomplishment and triumph for women and women of color. I'm so glad the film has been recognized, it was a labor of love from the moment it was conceived and it is rewarding to see the impact it is having." -- Viola Davis, best actress nominee for "The Help."

-- "I am thrilled and shocked." -- Gary Oldman, best actor nominee for "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy." (By phone to Reuters)

-- "I am honored to be in company with such beautiful artists, and touched deeply by my fellow actors for their generosity in giving me this acknowledgment." -- Meryl Streep, best actress nominee for "The Iron Lady."

-- "This is an extraordinary honor. I am dizzy with joy... and caffeine. Considering both films, Moneyball and The Tree of Life, nearly didn't make it to the screen, this is especially sweet. And I'd like to thank all the artisans and craftsmen who gave their best to each film. I am especially over the moon for Jonah (and the other Moneyballers acknowledged today), Terry Malick and the tribute this is to Billy Beane and the Oakland A's organization. My congratulations to all the nominees ... pancakes for everyone." -- Brad Pitt, best actor nominee for "Moneyball."

-- "I am so grateful to be acknowledged by the Academy for my work, which was made possible by the support of our director Simon Curtis and the camaraderie of a terrific ensemble of actors - a special congratulations to Kenneth Branagh - and the fearless Harvey Weinstein. This role has been the challenge and privilege of a lifetime. I would like to think that the recognition our film has received by the Academy is a testament to Marilyn's legacy." -- Michelle Williams, best actress in a lead role nominee for "My Week With Marilyn."

-- "I am thrilled for Janet, I am thrilled for our incomparable hair and makeup team. It might be my sixth (nomination) but it feels like my first. Bravo team Nobbs." -- Glenn Close, best actress nominee for "Albert Nobbs."

-- "It's very hard to articulate what I'm feeling right now. I'm a little dazed, confused, excited, elated, all of the above...Minny is a woman of her era and I'm certainly a woman of my era. I learned a lot from her. I never thought that I was materialistic or ungrateful, but I realized in playing a character that has so little but who has such a great impact on her environment, which is huge, when you can have an impact on the microcosm of your world, that is huge, I realized that I needed to do a lot more." -- Octavia Spencer, best supporting actress nominee for "The Help." (Interview with Reuters TV)

-- "I'm overjoyed and filled with happiness. I can't believe that a year ago I was learning how to tap dance and today I am nominated for an Academy Award. It was a thrill to work on a project as ambitious as 'The Artist' and I am happy to share this moment with our visionary director, Michel Hazanavicius and our talented team of actors." Berenice Bejo, best supporting actress nominee for "The Artist."

-- "It was a rare honor to play Sir Laurence Olivier. To be recognized by the Academy for doing so is overwhelming. I'm absolutely thrilled." -- Kenneth Branagh, best supporting actor nominee for "My Week With Marilyn."

-- "I am so humbled, appreciative and in shock about this incredible honor. I'd like to thank the Academy, Sony Pictures , the cast and crew of Moneyball, Brad Pitt, and, most of all, our brilliant director Bennett Miller." -- Jonah Hill, best supporting actor nominee for "Moneyball."

-- "My sincere thanks to my colleagues at the Academy. It is wonderful. I don?t know what to say ?I am dumbfounded." -- Max von Sydow, best supporting actor nominee for "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."

-- "I am thrilled with our multiple nominations for "The Help" and "War Horse". It is the first time that I have experienced two Best Picture nominations in the same year. One is a high honor. Two is humbling but very exciting. It is a tribute to all those who joined with Stacey Snider and our DreamWorks Studios team to develop and make these two films with stories that we passionately felt we had to make." -- Steven Spielberg, multiple nominations for "The Help" and "War Horse."

-- "I am deeply honored to have been nominated by the Academy for my work on Hugo. Every picture is a challenge, and this one -- where I was working with 3D, HD and Sacha Baron Cohen for the first time -- was no exception. It's a wonderful feeling to know that you've been recognized by the people in your industry. I congratulate my fellow nominees. It's an impressive list, and I'm in excellent company." -- Martin Scorsese, best director nominee for "Hugo."

-- "I am so honored by this nomination. Filming 'The Artist' in Los Angeles was a dream come true, and to receive this recognition today is far beyond what any of us could have ever imagined. I could not have done this film without the incredible ensemble of actors and exceptional crew whose heart and souls were poured into this project." -- Michel Hazanavicius, best director nominee for "The Artist."

-- "I am very humbled by this morning's nominations. This must be how my father felt back in 1965 when he received his first Oscar nomination. 'The Artist' was a labor of love from writer/director Michel Hazanavicius to pay homage to Hollywood, and to see all the love that the Academy has given it this morning is overwhelming." -- Thomas Langmann (producer), best picture nominee for "The Artist."

-- "There's no denying that Oscar nominations for one's film are exciting, if only for the joy they give to everyone who worked so hard on the film. I'm particularly happy for the recognition of my long-time editor Kevin Tent. He really deserves it." -- Alexander Payne (writer/director/producer), best director, best adapted screenplay and best picture nominee for "The Descendants."

-- "I must say I am pleasantly shocked and incredibly grateful to the Academy for this honor. We are all so proud of The Tree of Life, but we knew too it was a very challenging film that pushed the envelope. The nominations this morning are thrilling endorsements of the film, Terry's vision, the incredible work of Chivo, and the great contributions of everyone involved. Many thanks to the Academy!" -- Bill Pohlad (producer), best picture nominee for "The Tree of Life."

-- "It is an incredible honor to be nominated this morning. We set out to do something different with RANGO, and this distinction is a testament to everyone who tirelessly dedicated themselves to creating our neurotic lizard. Rango was looking for an audience who shared his love of cinema and I'm humbled that he found one. It has been a remarkable journey, and one that I am grateful to share with our entire creative team, Paramount, and all of the virtuosos at Industrial, Light and Magic." -- Gore Verbinski (writer/director/producer), best animated feature film nominee for "Rango."

-- "I'm deeply honored that the Academy recognized Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close as well as Max von Sydow. The entire team behind our film felt the enormous responsibility in taking on this project, and it is deeply humbling to have the Academy recognize it in this way." -- Stephen Daldry, best picture nominee for "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close."

-- "We are thrilled for the nominations War Horse has received and most of all thankful to have been working under the leadership of Steven Spielberg whose moral clarity, vision and sensitive handling of the Great War might serve in some small way to raise awareness of war's pointlessness." -- Kathleen Kennedy (producer), best picture nominee for "War Horse."

-- "It's an honor to be recognized in the company of such terrific writers. Moneyball is a true testament to teamwork -- it's the commitment of the entire cast and crew that got us to the final game of the season." -- Aaron Sorkin, best adapted screenplay nominee (with Steve Zaillian and Stan Chervin) for 'Moneyball."

-- "This is cheerful news for me and for the family of cinema in Iran, especially the nomination for the best original screenplay. It seems that although people speak different languages around the world but there is one common universal language which everyone understands: The Language of Cinema." --Asghar Farhadi (writer/director/producer), best foreign language film nominee for "A Separation."

-- "It's been an incredible eight year journey from the first draft of the play until this moment. Working with George and Grant has been one of the most rewarding collaborations of my career, and I couldn't be more thrilled that our film is getting this kind of recognition." -- Beau Willimon (co-writer of screenplay with George Clooney and Grant Heslov, based on Beau's play Farragut North), nominee for best adapted screenplay for "Ides of March."

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant and Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120124/en_nm/us_oscar_reactions

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Zack Ryder injury update

Zack Ryder remains hospitalized after being chokeslammed by Kane through the stage on Monday?s Raw SuperShow. According to early reports from medical personnel at a nearby Phoenix trauma center, the former United States Champion reportedly suffered a broken back as a result of the fall. (PHOTOS | WATCH)

The incident occurred during a brutal Falls Count Anywhere Match between the two Superstars. Kane spent much of the match pummeling Ryder at ringside before the action spilled up the ramp, where Kane shockingly launched Long Island Iced-Z through the stage floor with the chokeslam.

Following the vicious maneuver, WWE officials, as well as Eve and John Cena, rushed to the fallen Superstar?s side. Medical personnel assessed Ryder for several minutes before placing him onto a stretcher and transporting him into an ambulance backstage at the U.S. Airways Center.

During the program, Jerry Lawler, working off unconfirmed reports, informed the WWE Universe that Ryder had sustained a broken back. WWE officials have confirmed the chokeslam exacerbated previous injuries Ryder had already sustained as a result of a separate attack by Kane.

It is not yet known how long this injury will keep Ryder out of action. Stay tuned to WWE.com to get the latest updates on this story as it develops.

Source: http://www.wwe.com/shows/raw/2012-01-23/zack-ryder-injury

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Evidence found for oldest popcorn in South America

They may not have had television sets, but ancient Peruvians did share one part of our movie-watching culture: popcorn. Researchers have found evidence that societies living along the coast of Peru were eating the air-filled snack about 1,000 years earlier than previously estimated ? even predating the use of ceramic pottery.

Corn husks, stalks, cobs and tassels (pollen-producing flowers on corn) dating from 6,700 to 3,000 years ago were unearthed at Paredones and Huaca Prieta, two sites on Peru's northern coast, by American and Peruvian researchers.

"The evidence was unearthed during the past three years," study researcher Dolores Piperno, curator of New World archaeology at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History and emeritus staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, told LiveScience.

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The characteristics of the corncobs suggest that the sites' ancient inhabitants prepared and ate corn in several ways, including making corn flour and popcorn.

The researchers also found corn microfossils containing starch grains and phytoliths, which are microscopic particles formed by plants and mainly composed of silicon dioxide. The Peruvian popcorn is the oldest macrofossil evidence for popcorn in South America. Despite the presence of these corn products, corn was still not an important part of the ancient people's diet, the researchers said.

"Corn was first domesticated in Mexico nearly 9,000 years ago from a wild grass called teosinte," Piperno said in a statement. "Our results show that only a few thousand years later, corn arrived in South America, where its evolution into different varieties that are now common in the Andean region began."

Piperno added, "This evidence further indicates that, in many areas, corn arrived before pots did, and that early experimentation with corn as a food was not dependent on the presence of pottery."

Studying the subtle changes and evolution of corn characteristics is challenging because corncobs and kernels don't preserve well in the humid, tropical forests between Central and South America, which held the primary dispersal routes for the crop after it first left Mexico about 8,000 years ago, according to the researchers.

"Because there is so little data available from other places for this time period, the wealth of morphological information about the cobs and other corn remains at this early date is very important for understanding how corn became the crop we know today," Piperno said.

"The oldest evidence anywhere for what is likely a popcorn comes from the region where maize was domesticated in southwest Mexico, and is based on microfossil ? phytolith and starch grain ? data," Piperno said.

The study was published Jan. 17 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

You can follow LiveScience writer Remy Melina on Twitter@remymelina. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter@livescience? and onFacebook.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46076352/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Viral Chicago video points to disturbing trend (AP)

CHICAGO ? It seems to defy the logic of committing crimes in a way to avoid getting caught: Ruffians intentionally recording themselves on video beating and robbing someone, then posting it on YouTube so anyone anywhere can see it, including police.

The latest example of this disturbing but increasingly common phenomenon comes from Chicago, where police Wednesday arrested seven teens who apparently did just that. Their video had gone viral and led to their arrest within just days of the Sunday afternoon attack.

The practice, some experts say, is a modern twist on the age-old human penchant for boasting about one's exploits to impress the community at large and to warn perceived rivals that their group is more powerful than others.

"Medieval warriors putting the heads of their enemies on sticks, scalping and even school yard brawls in the `50s ? they're all ways of displaying that dominance in public," said Pam Rutledge, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based psychologist who heads the Media Psychology Research Center. "These new tools ? the Internet, YouTube ? just let you spread the word much farther."

Throughout the more than three-minute video, the attackers ? many with sweat shirt hoods over their heads and some wearing masks ? are seen yelling at the visibly terrified victim, punching and kicking him in the face with apparent glee as he curled up on the snow-covered ground. Police believe the lone girl involved lured the victim to the alley on the city's South Side.

Posting incriminating material online might also reveal a shaky grasp of how cyberspace works.

"These guys are bragging online without understanding they just provided irrefutable evidence of a crime," she said. "It says something both about their naivete ? and their stupidity."

Speaking to reporters in Chicago Wednesday, Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy noted that episodes of youth violence ending up in online videos have become more frequent everywhere.

"This is a national epidemic," he said. "It's not something that's particular to Chicago."

The Chicago teens were charged in the beating and robbery of a 17-year-old high school student in an incident that stemmed from a previous dispute last October, police said. Police said the posted video helped to identify the alleged attackers.

One teen was charged as an adult. The rest ? a 15-year-old girl, two 16-year-old boys and three 15-year-old boys ? were cited in juvenile delinquency petitions. All face one count each of robbery and aggravated battery, including the teen who recorded the video.

A striking aspect of the video is just how at ease the attackers seem about being filmed. One even pauses from kicking and punching the victim's face to calmly instruct whoever is holding the camera how to compose the shot. He then walks back and resumes pummeling the boy.

Viewers who posted comments online identified the alleged attackers by name, including 17-year-old Raymond Palomino, who appeared in bond court Wednesday, his head bowed and looking ill-at ease. His bail was set at $100,000. Palomino's face is visible in the video.

Police said the attackers stole shoes, a wallet and $180 in cash from the victim, who was treated at a hospital for a laceration to his lip, bruises and abrasions.

Another website provided an outlet to fan the flames leading up to the attack.

Raymond Palomino's father claimed Sunday's beating followed an after-school attack on Raymond and another boy. Michael Palomino, a Cook County sheriff's deputy, said incendiary comments posted on Facebook after the alleged beating of his son contributed to the situation spiraling out of control.

"They're making it sound like he did everything," Palomino said, speaking to reporters following his son's initial appearance in court Wednesday. "It's just one side of the story."

The sheriff's deputy, who said he turned his son in after seeing the viral video, conceded what his son did was wrong. But he also accused prosecutors of exaggerating his son's role.

McCarthy, the city's top cop, shared the bewilderment of many officials and observers about why the teens saw fit to post the video, thereby incriminating themselves.

But while older Americans may express astonishment that someone behaving badly would take the added step of displaying that behavior online, it doesn't surprise teens who have never known a world without the Internet, said Tim Hwang, president of the 750,000-member National Youth Association.

"There's an impulse with youth today to put everything online, so the fact (this beating) was posted online doesn't itself make it more exceptional," said Hwang, 19.

Since always thinking in terms of cyberspace is second nature to today's youth, it wouldn't immediately strike them as odd that the alleged attackers thought in those terms, too, he added.

The video-recorded attack in Chicago isn't the first to attract attention on the Web. In 2009, footage of the fatal beating of a 16-year-old honor student was circulated worldwide.

In that video, captured by a cellphone camera, Derrion Albert is seen being punched, hit on the head with large boards and kicked in the head. The fight broke out after classes were dismissed at a high school on Chicago's South Side.

Four teens were sentenced to lengthy prison terms last year in that case, which sparked outrage around the country. A fifth suspect tried as a juvenile was ordered to remain imprisoned until he turns 21.

The most recent incident was different in that the attack was videotaped by someone apparently affiliated with the attackers. The Albert attack was recorded by a bystander.

That these latest attackers beat the victim and uploaded the video to YouTube not only illustrated their immaturity, it also suggests they are deeply insecure, somehow calculating that the stunt would boost their social standing, Rutledge said.

If that was their thinking, they badly miscalculated.

"They are getting the opposite reinforcement that they intended," Rutledge said, citing the arrests. "They put it up to show how cool and tough they were. Instead, it left people thinking, `You guys are complete idiots.'"

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_us/us_chicago_filmed_beating

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GOP leaders slow to embrace Romney _ or his rivals (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/188853351?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Video: Doctor: Teens? mystery symptoms are psychological

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46037808#46037808

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ChaCha Introduces Real-Time Q&A Map for iPhone and Android Apps

Top Q&A Service Adds Cutting-Edge Updates to iPhone and Android Apps

INDIANAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ChaCha, the #1 free, real-time Q&A service has updated its apps on iPhone and Android operating systems with a fresh look and feel and enhanced functionality, giving ChaChees the most accurate answers in the quickest way possible.

?At ChaCha, we are always looking to give our users the absolute best experience we can. With the new and upgraded features, our popular service is even easier and more entertaining to use.?

The highlight of the upgrade is the exciting all-new Real-Time Map feature, which allows users to see questions recently asked by others using the application. For the first time ever, ChaChees will visually see on a real-time map what questions are being asked where.

Unlike other Q&A services, ChaCha answers all of the questions asked by users in real time by trained Guides, allowing the service to act as a smart friend while ChaChees are on the go. The addition of the map enhances user experience by allowing ChaChees to connect to other users by viewing not only the questions and answers posed, but the location they are coming from.

?Location-based functions are extremely popular and ours lets ChaChees zoom in to find out what is trending nearby, as well as all over the United States,? said Shawn Schwegman, CMO of ChaCha. ?At ChaCha, we are always looking to give our users the absolute best experience we can. With the new and upgraded features, our popular service is even easier and more entertaining to use.?

In addition to the crisp new look and feel, the app will contain the following features:

• Ask ChaCha ? Got a Q? Ask any question, any time, and get fun, fast answers.
• Near Me ? See what questions are being asked near you.
• Real Time Map ? View recently asked questions from all over the United States or zoom in to find out what people are asking around town.
• Live Stream Qs ? See what other questions people are asking right now in real time.
• Rate Answers ? Mark a bad answer or promote a great one.
• ChaCha Alerts ? Sign up for nearly 70 ChaCha text alerts on your favorite topics to be sent your phone on your schedule, including weather alerts, stock tips, and other great categories.
• Easy Sharing ? Get a great answer to your Q and share with friends via Facebook, text messages, and email.
• Multitasking support for iOS4.

About ChaCha

ChaCha?is the leading source for free real-time information and answers. Through its unique "ask-a-smart-friend" platform, ChaCha has answered nearly 2 billion questions since launch from more than 25 million unique users per month via online (ChaCha.com), mobile text (242-242), iPhone app, Android app, and voice (?1-800-2- ChaCha (TM)). ChaCha is one of the fastest growing mobile and online publishers according to Nielsen, comScore, and Quantcast and was recently named one of Forbes Most Promising Companies. Follow?ChaCha?on Twitter: @ChaCha

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50137378&lang=en

Source: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120118006293/en/ChaCha-Introduces-Real-Time-QA-Map-iPhone-Android

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Initial Sync Fail Outlook 2007 / Windows 7

Hi all, I have migrated quite a few people to Office 2k7 and win7 from office 2k3 and XP and have never had this issue before. Can someone please help?

Upon initial sync, signatures would fail (I am told this is expected) but it chugs along. It kept getting stuck on "Synchronizing folder: Tasks" 1.31 KB transferred. I let this run all day and it never completed. So i removed and reinstalled the Connector and Outlook, no dice. Then i figured it must be ticked off about one of her tasks, so i took a backup from her webmail account, and removed them all (I also removed the few that did come in to Outlook). I removed the account and then re-added it to Outlook. This time signatures fail again, along with a couple of "Unknown failures" and it finally gets stuck on "Synchronizing folder: trash" 1.31KB transferred.

I don't think that its an issue with her trash folder, mainly because they both were getting stuck on 1.31KB transferred, that can't be a coincidence?

Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

Vitals:

Windows 7 professional SP1
Outlook 2007 SP1
Outlook connector v. 7.1.1

Source: http://www.zimbra.com/forums/zimbra-connector-outlook/54629-initial-sync-fail-outlook-2007-windows-7-a.html

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Billionaire Ron Burkle buys Soho House chain (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) ? Billionaire Ron Burkle -- already a high-profile guy -- is significantly increasing his profile in the entertainment industry. After buying concert promoter Artist Group International and a stake in Relativity Media, Burkle has purchased one of Hollywood's favorite hang-outs, the Soho House.

Not just the posh club on Sunset Boulevard -- the entire chain of members-only clubs, restaurants and hotels.

Much of It seems to be about convenience for the billionaire who started his career as a bagboy.

Burkle, who has been a Soho House member for about 10 years, not only can walk to the West Hollywood location from the offices of his private equity firm The Yucaipa Companies -- he can walk to the London Soho House from his headquarters in that city.

West Hollywood Soho House membership costs $1,800 per year -- $2,400 per year for admission to all Soho House Clubs. For people under 27, the price is $900 per year for the single club, $1,200 for all.

The West Hollywood club opened in the spring of 2010. Despite -- or perhaps because of -- its no cell phone policy, it quickly became the entertainment industry's preferred spot for lunches, dinners and low-key meetings.

On the top two floors of the 14-story building at 9200 Sunset Boulevard, it includes a screening room, a roof garden, a bar and private dining areas. It is the second in the U.S., after the Manhattan club.

Soho House was founded in London in 1995 as a private club for people in the film, media and creative industries. There now are Soho House locations across Europe and North America, with others planned in Mumbai, Istanbul and Chicago.

That's where Burkle's capital comes in. His involvement provides an opportunity for the brand to build substantially. Founder Nick Jones remains CEO, and will keep 30 percent of the company. But Burkle, as owner, will become chairman. He also owns a stake of the boutique hospitality chain Morgans Hotel Group.

But his interest in the entertainment industry is longstanding.

The friend of former President Clinton nearly bought Miramax with Harvey Weinstein in 2010, and he finances movies with the Weinstein Company.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120117/people_nm/us_sohohouse

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Mexican leftist plans change on "monopolies", mining (Reuters)

TAPACHULA, Mexico (Reuters) ? Leftist presidential hopeful Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has pledged to break up Mexico's "monopolies" and press foreign mining firms for higher taxes and better wages if elected on July 1.

Lopez Obrador, often vilified by opponents as a threat to private enterprise, said wresting control of large sections of industry from just a few hands was vital to revitalizing the economy.

"This is all going to be corrected," Lopez Obrador, who narrowly lost the last presidential election in 2006, told Reuters in a weekend interview. "In comparative terms, you pay more here for construction materials, telecommunications, for interest on loans than in any other place."

Production of many goods and services, extending from bread and cement to Internet access and television, are dominated by just a few players in Mexico. Economists say the lack of competition has long been a drag on Latin America's second biggest economy.

Speaking in the southern city of Tapachula after a campaign rally, Lopez Obrador said his team had analyzed the data and found that Mexican consumers would save up to 10 percent of their income "if there were no monopolies in this country."

The former mayor of Mexico City came within a hair's breadth of taking office in 2006 and denounced the result as fraud, leading huge street protests in the capital when conservative Felipe Calderon was declared the victor.

Those protests damaged his popularity and recent polls have shown Lopez Obrador with support of between 15 and 25 percent, way behind front-runner Enrique Pena Nieto of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party. However, the gap is starting to close.

ENTRENCHED INTERESTS

Touring the country relentlessly for the past five years, Lopez Obrador has sought to temper his image as a left-wing firebrand by courting the business community, encouraging private investment and promising greater prosperity.

He is also ready to use some of Mexico's most powerful businessmen to try and break up the entrenched interests of others.

Chief among the moguls is the world's richest man, Carlos Slim, the dominant force in Mexico's telecoms sector, who worked with the Mexico City government to redevelop parts of the capital when Lopez Obrador was mayor in 2000-2005.

Calderon's government has so far denied Slim the chance to enter Mexico's television market, which is dominated by Emilio Azcarraga of Televisa and Ricardo Salinas Pliego of TV Azteca.

The tycoons have struggled to gain access into each others strongholds but Lopez Obrador said he would not stand in their way if it resulted in greater choice for the Mexican consumer.

"If Slim or any other citizen wants to become involved in the television business, they can. The same applies if Azcarraga or Salinas Pliego or anybody else wants to get involved in the telephone business," he 58-year-old said.

Fostering competition is a daunting task for Mexico.

The country has the highest monthly subscription costs for basic broadband Internet connections and the slowest advertised download speeds in the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), according to data from September 2010.

And despite the fact that half of the country lives below the poverty line, Mexicans pay among the highest prices for bread and cereals in the 34-nation OECD.

Nevertheless, progress has been made and Slim's telecoms companies have been forced to make concessions under Calderon.

Last year, the telecoms regulator ordered Slim's mobile giant America Movil to make changes that resulted in a 71 percent drop in interconnection charges. Slim also cut charges on fixed line calls from January.

NO EXPROPRIATIONS

Lopez Obrador said foreign mining companies, among which Canadians predominate, had been treated too generously by previous governments, denying Mexicans their fair share of the benefits from the country's natural resources.

Pay was the first issue that needed addressing, he said.

"So that they pay Mexican miners - if not the same as what they pay a Canadian miner - in a way that takes into account that there is a great inequality," Lopez Obrador said.

Foreign mining firms would also be asked to clean up their environmental practices, which were destroying and contaminating the areas where they work, he added.

"And the third thing we want to convince them of is that they pay the same taxes as they pay in Canada. In Canada, they have to pay 12 percent for extracting minerals. Here, nothing. We're going to put these issues on the table. But we won't revoke concessions. We're not going to expropriate," he said.

Canadian mining firms operating in Mexico include Goldcorp and Pan American Silver.

Mining tax rates for projects in Canada are determined at the provincial level and are based on profits. They vary from 3 percent to 17 percent. Companies operating in Canada must also pay income tax on the provincial and federal level.

Lopez Obrador said his government would not revoke any concessions made to investors in state oil firm Pemex, which Calderon has begun to open up to outside investment.

"But we won't submit any more (concessions)," he said. If elected, he said his administration would build five new big oil refineries in three years so that Mexico could stop exporting crude oil and instead sell the finished product.

But Lopez Obrador stressed that foreign investment would be more than welcome under his presidency.

"We need it. I was mayor of Mexico City and that's when we had the most foreign investment coming to the city," he said.

(Additional reporting by Julie Gordon; Editing by Kieran Murray)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120116/wl_nm/us_mexico_election_lopezobrador

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Higher Gas Prices Could Benefit the U.S. Over Time (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | High gas prices are not something typically associated with the general definition of "a good thing." Even as a Forbes report is anticipating oil remaining in the $98 a barrel range for all of 2012, seeing gas prices remain higher than normal could work in the advantage of the United States. Adding more fuel to the fire is the potential for Nigeria to cut off oil shipments to the U.S. amid a labor dispute according to the Associated Press. Of course, smaller supply equals higher prices for gas.

Those higher fuel prices translate into just about everything costing more money, including get back and forth to work. Higher gas prices mean higher shipping prices, which means outsourcing jobs, particularly manufacturing jobs, is not as valuable to companies. A report from Rock Center speculates that by 2015 overseas manufacturing will only save companies 10 percent. The report also mentions that companies will begin to shift operations back to the United States to save money, which could be a corporate slogan by that time.

So higher fuel prices could actually be a good thing for the U.S. economy, albeit in the long-term. In addition, foreign labor is not as cheap as it once was because the shift of manufacturing caused a hiring boom in markets like China, which is also in the Rock Center report.

So while consumers might lament the high cost of fuel, those higher prices could eventually drive businesses and jobs back to America. Sure the effects will not be felt for a few years, but just to see the "Made in the USA" label regularly again might make the pain associated with higher gas prices bearable.

Everything is purely speculation. However, when it comes to the bottom line, corporations will do whatever is required to keep margins high, or at least higher. And that could be reassuring news for everyone.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oped/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120114/cm_ac/10829319_higher_gas_prices_could_benefit_the_us_over_time

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A DNA Sequencer Cheap Enough For (Some) Doctors' Offices

Half of what was happening in Gattaca. Not even the interesting half.

Messing with genes was the logical response to the first half, though, which was gene discrimination. Or did you not notice that the main character was smart enough and driven enough to become a rocket engineer, but because of a chance of a flaw in other areas was relegated to menial labor.

It's not just that they wouldn't let him be an astronaut, either. They wouldn't even hire him as an engineer at all, as a "bad risk." And his love-life was implied to have suffered as well, with the matchmaking sequencers on every street corner....

The movie was about the horrors of discrimination, and the virtue of overcoming them, not gene manipulation, which is not a necessary precondition to gene discrimination. Regardless, I think it was probably supposed to be an allegory to present-day race discrimination, but with a narrative trick to make the character white, so white people wouldn't have any preconceived notions getting in the way of the message, rather than a direct prediction of the future, however prescient it may appear to have been.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/BEdzi8FOdb0/a-dna-sequencer-cheap-enough-for-some-doctors-offices

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AdWatch: Romney's first ad defending Bain tenure

WASHINGTON (AP) ? TITLE: "Bright Future"

LENGTH: 30 seconds.

AIRING: In South Carolina.

KEY IMAGES: To the sound of stirring strings and electronic swooshing, the ad flashes grey-hued interior scenes shot at the Staples, Sports Authority and Steel Dynamics companies. Romney is shown touring the Madison Lumber Mill in Madison, N.H., during a Dec. 12 visit. Clad in a tan windbreaker, he is dressed informally like the workers he accompanies. A female narrator says the businesses Romney started created thousands of jobs, then swipes both at President Barack Obama (shown in a gray business suit, sternly pointing a finger) and at Romney's GOP rivals for attacking the free-market system.

"Mitt Romney helped create and ran a company that invested in struggling businesses, grew new ones, and rebuilt old ones, creating thousands of jobs," the narrator says. "Those are the facts. We expected the Obama administration to put free markets on trial, but as The Wall Street Journal said, "Mr. Romney's GOP opponents are embarrassing themselves by taking the Obama line." Romney and his wife, Ann, are then shown, smiling and wind-swept, in a black-and-white hilly landscape.

ANALYSIS: Despite racking up wins in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary in recent days, the Romney campaign was caught off guard by harsh attacks on his tenure running the Bain Capital private equity firm in the 1980s and 1990s. Branded a "vulture capitalist" by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and targeted by a recent TV ad issued by a super PAC supporting former House Speaker Newt Gingrich that savages Bain-induced layoffs, the Romney campaign is now striking back with its first ad on the subject.

The ad's claim of "thousands of jobs" created scales back from an earlier Romney claim that Bain's investments had grown 100,000 jobs ? a figure that has proven impossible to verify. Neither the Romney campaign nor Bain has produced a detailed rundown. The ultimate balance sheet may never be known because thousands of jobs were also lost at some of the firms Bain invested in during Romney's tenure. An Associated Press analysis of corporate reports and media coverage between 1984 and 1995 found at least 4,000 layoffs reported at Bain-controlled firms.

The ad, aimed at GOP primary voters, seeks to establish that GOP candidates who knock Romney's Bain experience are crossing a fault line by attacking the essence of the free-enterprise system ? a foundation of the Republican Party's economic ideology and the lifeblood of much of its political activity.

Even before the Romney ad was released, Gingrich and Perry both had appeared to throttle back on their Bain references, although the super PAC ad backing Gingrich is still airing. The more telling reaction came from business interests, which were quick to unload on Romney's rivals for questioning his corporate moves at Bain. Although the ad's ultimate aim is to inoculate Romney from more Bain attacks during the primary, its glancing reference to Obama also presages a likely general election line of attack ? that Obama has taken aim at the free enterprise system.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-13-Romney-AdWatch/id-e7b3856abc6e4e43aaee3ea2d339ec88

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