After Scandal, Solar Industry Looks On Bright Side

Solar power's image has taken a hit lately with the bankruptcy of Solyndra. The California solar panel manufacturer received more than half a billion dollars in Energy Department loan guarantees before going belly up.

Enlarge Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images

A worker stands next to an array of Sharp solar cell modules at a power plant south of Tokyo in August. Sharp was one of 1,400 solar panel manufacturers in attendance at the Solar Power International conference, where industry optimism was high.

Toshifumi Kitamura/AFP/Getty Images

A worker stands next to an array of Sharp solar cell modules at a power plant south of Tokyo in August. Sharp was one of 1,400 solar panel manufacturers in attendance at the Solar Power International conference, where industry optimism was high.

But the industry is still optimistic ? that much was apparent at the Solar Power International conference held in Dallas in mid-October. Walking into the big hall of the Dallas Convention Center, it was impossible not to be impressed by the huge array of black solar panels hanging from the ceiling.

Those were the Japanese manufacturer Sharp's new state-of-the-art panels for residential customers, and right beside them were panels from its large Chinese competitor Suntech. Next to Suntech was the elite German glass manufacturer Schott.

A Gloom-Free Industry

Salesman Matthew Kraft has his pitch ready. Schott likes to think of its panels as the Mercedes-Benz of solar panels.

"What we're looking at here is a couple of our innovations modules," Kraft explains. "You know how at car shows they always have the concept cars of what's coming down the line, or what they could be making?"

In the U.S., Schott focuses its sales on commercial rooftops, customers who might be less interested in the cheapest price than the quality of the solar panel.

"Every step of the manufacturing process, every material choice including the encapsulate, the back sheet ? all have to work together well if they're going to survive 25 years and generate the electricity expected," says Tom Hecht, a top executive at Schott's U.S. division.

The displays at the conference were from China, Germany, Japan, Malaysia, Spain, Korea, Portugal ? in all, 1,400 panel manufactures from 125 different countries. If you were expecting a certain level of gloom and malaise because of the negative press surrounding the Solyndra bankruptcy, there's just not much of it to be found.

With a dramatic drop in silicon prices, solar panel prices have come down 50 percent and business is good.

The United States is the fastest growing market for solar energy in the world today. In fact, solar is the fastest growing industry in the United States. In the last year we've grown by more than 70 percent.

- Roan Resch, chief executive officer of the Solar Energy Industries Association

"The United States is the fastest growing market for solar energy in the world today," says Roan Resch, chief executive officer of the Solar Energy Industries Association. "In fact, solar is the fastest growing industry in the United States. In the last year we've grown by over 70 percent."

Concerns Over Chinese Subsidies

But not everything is coming up roses. Last week a group of seven U.S. solar panel manufacturers filed petitions with the Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission alleging that China is illegally subsidizing its solar industry and flooding the worldwide market with underpriced panels to drive weaker competitors bankrupt.

Resch wants an investigation. "I think the jury's still out, but this case at least will be a very transparent process in which the information will be gathered, and the courts will be able to decide whether the Chinese have been unfairly subsidizing their industry or not," he says.

But the manufacturers' petition has split the solar industry because the lower panel prices have been a boon to solar developers and installers. For them, lower prices mean more customers.

New Ideas In The Market

Still, in this economy, laying out $35,000 is asking a lot of a residential customer, so some in the industry are taking a page out of Dish Network's playbook and renting the necessary equipment to residential customers. That means there's no money down.

"Instead of what you would be paying to your electricity [company], you're going to make a lease payment to us," says Sherry Pittman, a vice president at Sungevity, based in Oakland, Calif. "That lease payment that you're paying to Sungevity is going to be less than what you were paying to your electricity company."

Sharp, on the other hand, is attacking the financing issue through technology. Its new residential panels each come with their own inverter. Sharp Senior Vice President Eric Hafter explains the significance of the development.

"The inverter is matched with the panel so each panel is actually producing AC power, which goes straight into the home. It's also set up so that you can install as [little] as one panel and then add to the system over years," Hafter says.

Hafter says there is no question that U.S. manufacturers can compete, and points out that the cheapest solar panel currently on the market is made by an American company, not a Chinese one.

Regardless, there's going to be a lot of product in the market going forward, prices are expected to remain fiercely competitive, and the industry predicts robust growth for this coming year at 60 percent.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/10/29/141808249/after-scandal-solar-industry-looks-on-bright-side?ft=1&f=1007

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Life in drought: Parched Texas town seeks emergency fix (Reuters)

ROBERT LEE, Texas (Reuters) ? No one drinks the tap water, which is unbearably briny as the lake dries up.

After one of the hottest summers on record, the lake that is the lone water supply and main recreational draw in this tiny West Texas town is more than 99 percent empty. Robert Lee, which is a two-hour drive east of Midland, has received only about six inches of rainfall this year, half the normal amount.

It is the worst water stitch the town has been in at least since the lake, E.V. Spence Reservoir, was created in the 1960s by damming a portion of the Colorado River.

More water is on the way, but it will only be enough to meet the basic needs of the town of 1,049 and will come at the expense of yet another sizable water rate increase.

Residents are looking forward to improved palatability and a more stable supply because Spence -- which is usually 21 times the size of the entire area of Robert Lee, but now not much bigger than a pond -- withers away.

"It tastes ugly and it stinks," said Delfino Navarro, a mechanic and handyman at a local car dealership, who stood on his browning front lawn on a recent afternoon with a bottle of water in hand. "You can't drink that water or you'll get sick."

Navarro, who has lived in Robert Lee for more than 30 years, said he does not have the means to skip town but he knows of people who are planning to leave or who have left.

After the driest year in state recorded history, most Texas municipalities still have plenty, if less, water. But the plight of Robert Lee has become a reminder of the havoc an extreme or prolonged drought can wreak, as well as how dependent many towns are on rainfall for drinking water and how precarious it is to maintain a healthy supply without it.

"I grew up here and we've always had water situations," said Robert Lee Mayor John Jacobs, 65. "You live in the desert, you're going to be short of water at times and always it would rain and you would get out of it."

Like other West Texas towns, many of which are dependent on surface water supplies that evaporate at a startling rate in hot, dry conditions, Robert Lee has seen its water supply fluctuate over the decades as droughts have come and gone.

"Spence seemed to be a limitless supply," said Kyle Long, who has lived in Robert Lee for more than 30 years. "Just goes to show you that drought can do a lot of things."

The town has suffered from some form of water restrictions for more than two years. Just before summer began, it banned all outdoor water use and asked residents to cut usage.

The lake's only remaining marina shut down this spring. All the boat ramps now lead to dry land -- a cracked-brown moonscape where a few dozen feet of water once stood. The steady stream of out-of-town lake-goers, many who still own upscale homes on the periphery of the reservoir, has dwindled, creating a lag on the town's sales tax revenue.

Herds of feral hogs are beginning to encroach on the lake, which sits a few miles west of town, as all surrounding streams have dried up and there are few people to scare them away. Area ranchers are selling off their herds of cattle. The only thriving grass in town is at the golf course, which uses treated wastewater to irrigate its greens.

The town is planning to build a 12-mile emergency pipeline to the neighboring town of Bronte, which has a healthier reservoir and several wells that produce decent quality water.

But the project is hanging in the balance as the town waits to see whether it will receive millions in financial assistance from the state to cover the bulk of a $9 million project that also includes extensive improvements to the municipal water treatment plant.

The Texas Water Development Board, the state's water planning agency, has until January to approve Robert Lee's application.

Jacobs said the city should have enough water to last through at least January without any rain. But the pipeline project is expected to take 60 days to complete, so he hopes the application is approved before then.

"It's got to come through," Jacobs said of the loan.

Jacobs said the project is only a bare-bones fix. The town also needs to continue searching for the closest and cleanest source of underground water, he said.

Robert Lee is perhaps the most water-strapped municipality in the state. But the situation is not much better elsewhere, mainly in small towns with less diverse or plentiful sources of water and little money in the bank to get new ones.

San Angelo, a town of 93,000, located 30 miles south of Robert Lee, has 22 months of water left. Its main supply, O.H. Ivie Reservoir, which it shares with Midland and Abilene, could go dry by the end of next year if drought persists.

With grim drought predictions, residents in the region are worried. State Climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon has said Texas will likely be stuck in the holds of drought for another year or longer as La Nina, a periodic weather pattern that causes abnormally dry winters in Texas, has returned.

Ben LaRue, assistant manager at Allsup's, one of two convenience stores in Robert Lee, said if the drought persists, he worries what will happen to local business next year.

Then, LaRue said, "it's really going to hit home."

(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Greg McCune)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111029/us_nm/us_weather_drought_texas

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Park honors fallen soldier, beloved canine comrade (AP)

DENVER ? Cpl. Kory Wiens was so fond of Cooper, the military dog he worked with, that he planned to stay in the Army long enough to adopt him when the Labrador retriever's bomb-sniffing career was over.

Even though their time was cut short when Wiens and Cooper were killed by an improvised bomb while patrolling in Iraq in 2007, they remain together in death and in memory: their ashes were buried together in Wiens' hometown of Dallas, Ore. And on Friday, an infantry post in Colorado dedicated a dog park in their honor.

"We're overwhelmed," Pat McAlister, Wiens' grandmother, said in a telephone interview. "We're touched, we really are."

Wiens' father, Kevin Wiens Sr., along with his brother Kevin Jr. and sister Lindsay watched as the Cpl. Wiens and Cooper Dog Park was dedicated at Fort Carson, an infantry post just outside Colorado Springs. Wiens had no formal tie to Fort Carson, but officials there wanted to honor his memory, a spokesman said.

McAlister said she didn't know what drew her 20-year-old grandson to become a dog handler but he grew close to Cooper.

"When he would come home on leave, he actually was more concerned (about Cooper) ? he couldn't bring Cooper home and he would always say, `He's like my kid.'"

Wiens signed up for three years in the Army but planned to re-enlist in hopes of remaining Cooper's handler and then adopting him when Cooper was retired, his father and grandmother said.

Wiens and Cooper shared a room in Iraq, with each getting his own cot. "And when the Army sent back his things, there were so many dog toys," McAlister said.

Her late husband, Duane, also was a military dog handler in Korea in the 1950s, she said. The family displays side-by-side photos of grandfather and grandson with their dogs.

Wiens and his dog were assigned to a mine dog detachment based at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. A kennel and veterinary facility there have also been named in Wiens' honor.

Kevin Wiens Sr. said the Fort Carson dog park will keep his son's memory alive.

"... A hundred years from now this may still be here, and people may say, `I wonder who Kory Wiens was,' and be able to look it up on the computer," he said.

___

Follow Dan Elliott at http://twitter.com/DanElliottAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iraq/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111028/ap_on_re_us/us_soldier_and_dog_honored

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Niger faces local anger if it delivers Gaddafi son (Reuters)

NIAMEY (Reuters) ? Niger, the West African nation where Libya's fugitive Saif al-Islam Gaddafi may be headed, risks a backlash from nomad Tuaregs in its north if it follows through on its obligation to hand him over to the International Criminal Court.

Libya's aid-reliant southern neighbor has vowed to respect commitments to the ICC, but knows that could spark unrest in Saharan areas where a string of past rebellions against the capital were nurtured by Muammar Gaddafi, feted by many in the desert as a hero.

The Hague-based ICC said Gaddafi's 39-year-old son Saif al-Islam was in contact via intermediaries about surrendering for trial, but it also had information that mercenaries were trying to spirit him to a friendly African nation.

Libyan officials and others involved in the situation have said Saif al-Islam was apparently anxious not to be captured by Libyan interim government forces in whose hands his father Muammar Gaddafi was killed more than a week ago.

Niger has declined to comment on statements this past week from local leaders in its remote north that Saif al-Islam was most likely already on its side of the mountain range that straddles its porous border with Algeria and Mali.

A senior official for the northern region of Agadez, which has been a way station for Libyan fugitives including another Gaddafi son Saadi, said on Saturday it had hosted U.S. military representatives for talks on security.

The official, who requested anonymity, declined to say what the talks with the Americans were specifically about, but spoke of escape plans by Saif al-Islam and former Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, both wanted by the ICC for war crimes.

"Senussi is being extricated from Mali toward a country that is a non-signatory to the (ICC) convention. I am certain that they will both (Senussi and Saif al-Islam) be extricated by plane, one from Mali, the other from Niger," said the official.

He said there were at least 10 airstrips in the north of Niger near the Libyan border that could be used to whisk Saif al-Islam out of the country.

A member of parliament from northern Mali, Ibrahim Assaleh Ag Mohamed, denied Senussi was in his country and said neither he nor Saif al-Islam would be accepted if they tried to enter.

HELP FROM MERCENARIES

Niger like Mali has signed up to the ICC's statute, but handing over Saif al-Islam would spark anger among northerners who feel remote from the capital Niamey and have long espoused Gaddafi's vision of a cross-border Saharan people.

"We are ready to hide him wherever needed," Mouddour Barka, a resident of Agadez town, told Reuters.

"We are telling the international community to stay out of this business and our own authorities not to hand him over -- otherwise we are ready to go out onto the streets and they will have us to deal with," he added.

ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo told Reuters in an interview that communication with Saif al-Islam was being made possible by "intermediaries," despite his remote location.

"There are some people connected with him that are in touch with people connected with us," he said on a visit to Beijing.

"We have some information that there is a mercenary group trying to help him to move to a different country, so we are trying to prevent this activity," said Moreno-Ocampo, adding: "Some of them are South Africans allegedly."

The Gaddafis befriended desert tribes in Niger, Mali and other poor former French colonies in West Africa. Other African countries received Libyan largesse during the 42-year rule of Gaddafi, a self-styled African "king of kings."

France, a backer of February's revolt against Gaddafi, reminded African states of their obligations to hand Saif al-Islam over to the international court.

"We don't care whether he goes on foot, by plane, by boat, by car or on a camel, the only thing that matters is that he belongs in the ICC," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.

Niger, Mali, Chad and Burkina Faso, a swathe of arid states to the south of Libya, are all signatories to the treaty that set up the ICC. Algeria, which took in Saif al-Islam's mother, sister, brother Hannibal and half-brother Mohammed, is not a signatory. Nor is Sudan or Zimbabwe.

Saif al-Islam was once seen as a liberal reformer, architect of a rapprochement with Western states on whom his father waged proxy guerrilla wars for decades. But he responded with belligerent rhetoric after the revolt erupted in Libya.

The ICC accuses him of hiring mercenaries to carry out a plan, worked out with his father and Senussi, to kill unarmed protesters inspired by "Arab Spring" uprisings elsewhere.

(Additional reporting by Barry Malone in Tripoli, Chris Buckley in Beijing, Sara Webb and Aaron Gray-Block in Amsterdam, Samia Nakhoul in London, Ibrahim Diallo in Agadez; Editing by Ralph Gowling)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111030/ts_nm/us_libya

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Libyans want back property taken by Gadhafi

TRIPOLI, Libya?? Abdullah Ahmed Belal had all but given up on the sprawling seaside villa his family lost to squatters decades ago because of a provision in Moammar Gadhafi's Green Book saying anybody who lives in the house should own it.

Belal, a 48-year-old naval officer, is one of many Libyans who want their properties back now that the hated dictator is gone.

Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, head of the governing National Transitional Council, has called for such disputes to be settled legally. Belal is willing to be patient, but others have taken matters into their own hands ? a sign of the post-revolutionary fights that threaten to rattle Libya as it transitions from decades of autocratic rule to what its interim leaders say will be democracy.

Armed men have tried to force families out at gunpoint, and neighbors have been caught in the crossfire as they tried to intervene. Even original owners willing to wait have spray painted their names on the concrete walls surrounding the buildings.

"The NTC keeps asking people to postpone trying to get their rights back until a committee is formed and it can be done legally," said Abdullah Belal, a Tripoli contract lawyer and a nephew of Abdullah Ahmed Belal. "They say you've waited 42 years, you can wait another month or two, but some people don't want to wait."

He described one instance in which the original owners came back with machine guns to force a Palestinian family from their home in Souk al-Jumaa, giving them no time to pack more than the belongings they could gather that night.

"We desperately need to get our properties and rights back, but at the same time we don't want anybody to be hurt because in the end the only one to blame is Moammar Gadhafi," the lawyer said.

Quirky manifesto
The question of legality is murky in a country that was governed by the whims of one man for nearly 42 years.

The Green Book, the slain leader's quirky political manifesto that dictated the lives of Libyans, allowed people to occupy empty houses that had been purchased as rentals or vacated by landlords traveling abroad. High rises and other commercial buildings also were taken, often with no compensation.

It may be hard now to prove original ownership because the building holding property records burned down in 1982 under mysterious circumstances, and those who initially confiscated the property often resold it with new documents.

In some cases, gunmen laying claim to homes were not in fact the original owners.

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In 1977, a colonel in Gadhafi's army is said to have seized a house on a side street in Tripoli's affluent Hay al-Andalous neighborhood.

On Sept. 8, nearly 35 years later, a man armed with a machine gun showed up around midnight to reclaim what he said was his.

Witnesses told The Associated Press that neighbors rushed to the scene and tried to calm him down, saying he should wait until the issue could be resolved in a court of law, but the man was drunk and refused to listen. His friend got out of the car and they both opened fire.

One of the neighbors, Tarek Abu Aisha, 38, was shot and killed, and two others were wounded. Bullet holes still pockmark the pavement as well as the iron door of a four-story apartment building across the street.

Seif Saad al-Jarushi, 36-year-old school bus driver who lives down the street, said the gunmen fled as revolutionary forces arrived.

He said the man currently occupying the house took his family away and only comes home at night.

He and other neighbors said they learned that the colonel who seized the house in the late 1970s had sold it to three different people after the uprising against Gadhafi took root in mid-February. The armed man who came to claim it was one of them.

Al-Jarushi said neighbors are ready to fight if the man comes back to try again.

"Even if he has the right, he should not be trying to get his rights this way. He should do it through legal means," he said, swatting away flies during an interview on a corner near the house.

Verifying ownership
The nationalization of businesses and property was one of the most glaring examples of Gadhafi's efforts to force his version of socialism on the desert nation of 6 million people. With the introduction of the property law in the late 1970s, thousands of landlords lost homes when tenants claimed them as their own. People also were allowed to occupy empty buildings.

Apparently sensing public anger over the issue, the regime late last year offered compensation to Libyans who could prove that they had owned confiscated property ? part of purported reforms initiated by Gadhafi's son Seif al-Islam.

"This decision should have been taken many years ago," said Mustafa Bushaal, a member of the newly established Libyan Association for Justice and Development, which is discussing various ways to resolve the housing problem. He said the process was fraught with corruption.

Some solutions being floated include giving newly evicted families apartments being built by the government on Tripoli's outskirts or offering them compensation so they can find a new place to live.

Bushaal said the Tripoli city government already has asked claimants to present documentation for their property.

"The first thing is to convince the family that it's not their house, then find alternative housing for the other family," he said.

It is impossible to know just how many homes were confiscated by the Gadhafi regime, which destroyed many of the original documents.

Belal, the naval officer, said his father bought the seaside home in 1975 and eventually gave it to him.

Belal said he allowed a foreign company to rent it when he went abroad to study. When he returned to Libya in 1984 to start a family, he found that squatters had moved in after the company left.

He said the police told him the Green Book had given the family the right to move into the house.

Belal, who currently rents an apartment with his family, says he does not want to kick the family out of his original home until they have somewhere else to go. But he said a legal solution must come very soon.

"There are so many people with similar problems," he said. "The government should move very fast to solve this problem or there will be another civil war."

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45082061/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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Natural intestinal flora involved in the emergence of multiple sclerosis, study finds

ScienceDaily (Oct. 27, 2011) ? Multiple sclerosis is caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. For a long time, pathogens were believed to be such external influences. According to scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology in Martinsried, however, it is apparently not harmful bacteria that trigger multiple sclerosis, but beneficial ones -- specifically, the natural intestinal flora, which every human being needs for digestion. The researchers discovered that genetically modified mice develop an inflammation in the brain similar to the human disease if they have normal bacterial intestinal flora. The microorganisms begin by activating the immune system's T cells and, in a further step, the B immune cells.

The findings, published in the journal Nature, suggest that in humans with the corresponding genetic predisposition, the essentially beneficial intestinal flora could act as a trigger for the development of multiple sclerosis.

The human intestine is a paradise for microorganisms: it is home to roughly 100 billion bacteria made up from 2,000 different bacterial species. The microorganisms of the intestine are not only indispensable for digestion, but also for the intestine's development. Altogether, this diverse community comprises between ten and one hundred times more genes than the entire human genome. Scientists therefore frequently refer to it as the "extended self." However, the intestinal bacteria can also play a role in diseases in which the immune system attacks the body itself. Intestinal bacteria can thus promote autoimmune disorders such as Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

On the one hand, the likelihood of developing multiple sclerosis, a disease in which proteins on the surface of the myelin layer in the brain activate the immune system, is influenced by genes. On the other, however, environmental factors have an even greater impact on the disease's development. Scientists have long suspected that it is caused by infectious agents. The Max Planck researchers now assume that multiple sclerosis is triggered by the natural intestinal flora.

This astonishing finding was made possible by newly developed genetically modified mice. In the absence of exposure to any external influences, inflammatory reactions arise in the brains of these animals which are similar to those associated with multiple sclerosis in humans -- however, this only occurs when the mice have intact intestinal flora. Mice without microorganisms in their intestines and held in a sterile environment remained healthy. When the scientists "vaccinated" the animals raised in sterile conditions with normal intestinal microorganisms, they also became ill.

According to the Martinsried-based researchers, the intestinal flora influence immune systems in the digestive tract; mice without intestinal flora have fewer T cells there. Moreover, these animals' spleen produces fewer inflammatory substances, like cytokines. In addition, their B cells produce few or no antibodies against myelin. When the researchers restored the intestinal flora to the mice, their T cells and B cells increased their cytokine and antibody production.

"It appears that the immune system is activated in two stages: to begin, the T cells in the lymph vessels of the intestinal tract become active and proliferate. Together with the surface proteins of the myelin layer, these then stimulate the B cells to form pathogenic antibodies. Both processes trigger inflammatory reactions in the brain which progressively destroy the myelin layer -- a process that is very similar to the way multiple sclerosis develops in humans," says Gurumoorthy Krishnamoorthy from the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology. Thus, the disease is caused by changes in the immune system and not by disturbances in the functioning of the nervous system. "Multiple sclerosis research has long been preoccupied with this question of cause and effect. Our findings would suggest that the immune system is the driving force here," says Hartmut Wekerle, Director at the Max Planck Institute in Martinsried.

The scientists are certain that the intestinal flora can also trigger an overreaction of the immune system against the myelin layer in persons with a genetic predisposition for multiple sclerosis. Therefore, nutrition may play a central role in the disease, as diet largely determines the bacteria that colonise the intestines. "Changing eating habits could explain, for example, why the incidence of multiple sclerosis has increased in Asian countries in recent years," explains Hartmut Wekerle.

Precisely which bacteria are involved in the emergence of multiple sclerosis remains unclear. Possible candidates are clostridiums, which can have direct contact with the intestinal wall. They are also a natural component of healthy intestinal flora but could possibly activate the T cells in persons with a genetic predisposition. The scientists would now like to analyse the entire microbial genome of patients with multiple sclerosis and thereby identify the differences in the intestinal flora of healthy people and multiple sclerosis patients.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Max-Planck-Gesellschaft.

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Journal Reference:

1. Kerstin Berer, Marsilius Mues, Michail Koutrolos, Zakeya Al Rasbi, Marina Boziki, Caroline Johner, Hartmut Wekerle, Gurumoorthy Krishnamoorthy. Commensal microbiota and myelin autoantigen cooperate to trigger autoimmune demyelination. Nature, 2011; DOI: 10.1038/nature10554

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/dS5Iw757CLc/111027112520.htm

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New Shakespeare film ruffles academic feathers (AP)

NEW YORK ? O, for a juicy literary dispute that would pit scholars against Hollywood, with charges of snobbery, materialism, elitism and opportunism flying around like so many slings and arrows ? not to mention the specter of young minds poisoned by the character assassination of a hero.

Heard about the new movie "Anonymous"?

The film by Roland Emmerich, a director better known for apocalyptic blockbusters than period dramas, opens on Friday. But already, its contention that Shakespeare was a simpleton, a fraud and perhaps a murderer who never wrote a word of those great plays has set off some epic sniping of which the Bard himself might be proud.

"A new low for Hollywood," says Columbia University professor James Shapiro. "Completely grotesque," says Stanley Wells, of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Britain.

Emmerich says he's been called names, and screenwriter John Orloff says one critic even suggested he be taken "to the tower" ? the Tower of London, that is. Orloff dismisses Shapiro's complaints as "frothing at the mouth."

Not that the authorship dispute is new, of course. It has been around since at least the mid-19th century (even that time is in dispute).

Nor is the film's main contention new, that the actual author was the Earl of Oxford, Edward de Vere: There's a whole "Oxfordian" school of thought, along with a "Baconian" school (Francis Bacon). Some think it was playwright Christopher Marlowe, or even Queen Elizabeth I herself.

But Emmerich's film goes further, pitting the story of Shakespeare in a political context involving a fight for succession using the plays as propaganda. As for Elizabeth: the Virgin Queen? Not so much. (The film suggests she had several children secretly, and one of them was born of incest.)

Also, some scholars are disturbed by the film's dismissal of complaints of factual errors with an "it's only a movie" explanation. "It's the best of both worlds for Emmerich," wrote Stephen Marche, a former Shakespeare professor, in The New York Times magazine. "He gets to question hundreds of years of legitimate scholarship ... because, after all, it's just a movie."

And then there's the educational push into schools. Sony, in concert with an educational company, has prepared study guides for educators on the authorship question, as with some previous films. "I don't have a problem with Roland Emmerich drinking the Kool-Aid," says Columbia's Shapiro. "But when he serves it to kids in paper cups, I do."

The acrimony is mystifying to some of the actors.

Rhys Ifans plays de Vere, and he feels like the authorship debate isn't even the central point of the film.

"It's a political thriller," Ifans says in an interview. "It's a historical piece, a visual banquet. And it shows the potency of the theater as a vital form of change."

Ifans particularly enjoyed shooting the scenes where, as de Vere, he sits in a recreated Globe theater and mouths his own words as the crowd becomes entranced. He is, of course, the author, but must keep that secret.

"I was really moved by the words," Ifans says. "We owe it to whoever wrote these plays ? him, her or a group of people ? to ask these questions."

The actor mimes pulling a text down from a high shelf, and blowing off the dust. "That's what Roland is doing," he says with a smile. "He's cleansing the plays, elevating them. It's really refreshing."

Joely Richardson plays the younger Elizabeth, and her mother, Vanessa Redgrave, plays the older queen. Richardson says the cast would sit and discuss the authorship debate during filming.

Many were swayed, she says, by various points of Emmerich's argument: that Shakespeare was a country bumpkin with only a grammar-school education; that there's no physical evidence of his writing (even a letter); that his daughters were illiterate; that his will didn't refer to any plays or books.

"All of us started to get pretty convinced," she says, including her mother, "not necessarily that it was Oxford, but that it's definitely up for debate. There are just so many missing links."

Stratfordians argue the Oxfordian theory is simply impossible ? de Vere died in 1604, before a number of Shakespeare's most famous plays were written. Others say not so fast: Do we really know when the plays were written, or are we guessing? About the will, Shapiro argues that like other wills of the time, it had a separate inventory that hasn't been found.

One of the more eloquent cases against the Stratfordian view comes from the celebrated Shakespearean actor Mark Rylance, who was artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London for 10 years. He plays an actor in the film.

"This anger about the film is bizarre, because Shakespeare has always been a mystery," he says. "It's not like Emmerich is the first person to question this. Sigmund Freud, Mark Twain, many others have. And even if we knew the answer, it would still be a mystery how one person did this, how he had a greater vocabulary than anyone else."

"But once you really look at the man from Stratford, the mystery gets larger," Rylance said in a telephone interview from London. "Because, what we know of him just doesn't correspond to a writer's life."

Rylance is one of more than 2,000 people who've signed a 2007 "declaration of reasonable doubt" about the authorship. Among his co-signers: fellow actors Derek Jacobi (also in the film) and Jeremy Irons, and two U.S. Supreme Court justices.

Most important for Rylance, who believes the plays could have been a collaboration, is the idea that the whole inquiry is based on a deeply felt appreciation for the work. "It stems from great love," he says.

As for Emmerich himself, he doesn't share the long history with the material that his actors do, nor did he study much Shakespeare in school in Germany. But, he says, "I was always the kid who asked, `Why?'"

So when screenwriter Orloff pitched him a script he'd written years earlier, Emmerich became fascinated with the issue; he became convinced that the man from Stratford didn't write the plays.

"I'm 100 percent sure of that," he says. The rest of the film, he adds, is merely presenting hypotheses of how things might have happened ? including two fringe theories about Elizabeth and her supposed out-of-wedlock children.

"I really don't know what they're afraid about," says Emmerich of his critics, especially those worried about young people. "We have the greatest actors in this film, and they're doing Shakespeare's greatest hits. We're making Shakespeare cool!"

He jokes that no one is happy with him ? not the Stratfordians, and not the Oxfordians. On that, he is correct.

"We're a bit ambivalent about it," says Richard Malim, general secretary of the De Vere Society in Britain. "It will make a lot of people sit up, but the trouble is there's so much manifest rubbish in it that we're in fear and trembling. It's completely unnecessary," he says of the more lurid elements about Elizabeth, "the most utter nonsense."

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is not ambivalent ? it is furious. The charity, which promotes the playwright and his work, is running an online campaign to rebut the film's claims. It has also published an e-book, "Shakespeare Bites Back." And on Tuesday, it blacked out Shakespeare's name on road and pub signs in his home county of Warwickshire to highlight its campaign against the movie. It also covered a statue of the Bard with a sheet.

All of which puzzles the actors who are realizing Emmerich's vision.

"I don't see why people are threatened," says Joely Richardson. "At the end of the day, it's all celebrating Shakespeare."

That's how John McEneny feels. The drama teacher at Middle School 51 in Brooklyn, N.Y., is taking some 100 students to "Anonymous" next week. Why? "Both sides have some really good points," he says, noting there are disagreements even among his fellow teachers at school.

"If you believe the Stratfordians, you have to believe a dream ? that this man could come from this small town and become the greatest writer in the world. If you believe the Oxfordians, you have to believe a conspiracy."

McEneny himself actually believes the answer is somewhere in the middle ? a collaboration of some sort. Either way, he says, it's all good.

"It's a wonderful mystery," he says.

___

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111027/ap_en_mo/us_film_challenging_shakespeare

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iPhone 4S launches in 22 additional countries today

Apple is set to launch the iPhone 4S in 22 additional countries today, including Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Apple took over 1 million pre-orders in the first...

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/zPcB3Lr6m0k/

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Washington Post Offers Shabby Explanation For Photo Decision

As you've probably already heard, the Oakland Police Department went to war last night with the citizens participating in the Occupy Oakland demonstration, turning Frank Ogawa Plaza and its immediate environs into a terrifying zone of tear gas and rubber bullets. By the way, as Erik Oster of the Faster Times reports, the Oakland PD "initially denied the use of rubber bullets, only recently admitting to the use of 'non-lethal rounds' (now that there is evidence of it all over the Internet)."

Which brings me to my next point! On Tuesday night, as this conflict raged on the streets of Oakland, Calif., the Internet was very quickly swamped with images of the melee, especially on the Tumblr platform, which the Occupy activists have made good use of since these demonstrations began. Yet somehow, faced with all of the images that were available to them, the Washington Post made an odd decision to use this AP image to go along with their page A3 brief on what everyone knew last night to be a violent confrontation:

Because if there's one thing the members of the Oakland Police Department have demonstrated a strong affection for in the past 24 hours, it's kittens. (Coming in second: tear gas, obviously.)

The choice struck many observers as odd -- if by "odd" we mean "indicative of journalistic malpractice." And, indeed, beyond the wide variety of images that circulated on Tumblr Tuesday night, the AP itself had several photographs available that more accurately depicted the night's mayhem:

And, as the Washington City Paper's Shani Hilton points out, the Washington Post's online coverage didn't opt to sugarcoat what had happened.

Well, after taking heat from the public over its choice of photos, the Washington Post's editors bravely decided to pass the buck and get photo editor Carol McKay "to explain the thinking behind the image she chose." Her explanation reads as follows:

When I was looking at the Tuesday wire service photographs from the Oakland City Hall grounds, the violent protest images were not in the mix because that confrontation had not yet occurred. The late-night, violent protest was in response to the Tuesday eviction by the Oakland police.

Even though the story, written later in the evening, included information about the arrests and tear gas, no news images had moved by our production deadline, probably because Oakland is on Pacific time--a three-hour difference.

The photograph was chosen because it was a visual "moment" in time showing a police officer doing something interesting--not just walking through tents and trash. The wire service images that moved overnight and this morning offer a much different look at last night's protest.

As noted above, the inability to find "violent protest images" was more related to a dearth of willpower to actually obtain one and not, as McKay explains, a scarcity of material. But even if we lay that aside, if the story "included information about the arrests and tear gas," how is it possible to conclude that an image of a cop petting a kitten is appropriate? Faced with that story, what would lead a photo editor to surmise that the cat photo was the ideal example of a "police officer doing something interesting"? It would seem evident on its face that the police were doing a lot of things that were far more interesting Tuesday night.

Better no image at all, I'd say. Nevertheless, I suppose it is nice that the Washington Post at least recognized that this was a matter that required a public explanation. I was just looking for something more like: "We're sorry for doing such an embarrassingly terrible job in our news coverage, and we'll try to do better in the future."

[Would you like to follow me on Twitter? Because why not? Also, please send tips to tv@huffingtonpost.com -- learn more about our media monitoring project here.]

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/26/washington-post-photo-decision_n_1033915.html

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Potential new drug target could stop debilitating effects of multiple sclerosis

ScienceDaily (Oct. 26, 2011) ? Medical researchers at the University of Alberta have discovered a potential new drug target for multiple sclerosis that could prevent the physical disability associated with the disease.

In the first phase of MS, those with the condition have inflammation of their brain cells, resulting in continuous cycles of inflammation attacks and recovery periods. In the second phase of the disease, the inflammation isn't as severe, but this is the stage where physical disability sets in due to the effects of substantial brain cells being killed in the first phase of the disease.

When immune cells become active due to inflammation, they can pass the blood brain barrier and enter the central nervous system. Some of these activated immune cells secrete a molecule, known as granzyme B, which can get inside neurons and wreak havoc, ultimately causing brain cell death. Granzyme B is found in MS brain lesions, especially in the early stages of inflammation. This molecule can get into brain cells through a "gatekeeper," known as receptor M6PR.

Researchers with the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry discovered in lab experiments that if they prevent this granzyme B from entering neurons, "we can also prevent the killing of neurons," says principal investigator Fabrizio Giuliani, whose work was recently published in the peer-reviewed publication The Journal of Immunology.

"It is this loss of brain cells in the long term which induces disability in those with MS," he says. "This is a new drug target for MS that is specific for the neurodegenerative processes following inflammation. A new drug treatment should address this long-term loss of brain cells."

Giuliani, a researcher in the Division of Neurology and a practising neurologist, noted this latest research builds on previous findings by his colleagues within the faculty. Medical researcher and co-author Chris Bleackley made an earlier discovery about how granzyme B enters target cells through the receptor M6PR, while another faculty researcher discovered that the M6PR receptor is found mostly in neurons.

"We were just connecting the dots and said, 'OK, if this receptor is expressed in neurons specifically and not expressed in other cells, is it possible that this is the mechanism that allows this granzyme B to get into human neurons and start killing brain cells?' What we found is yes, this 'death' receptor allows this specific molecule to get in and that if you block the receptor, you also block the neurotoxic effect in neurons. This is an excellent example about collaboration with other researchers and translational research."

Many existing MS treatments primarily target brain inflammation, which is very effective in the first phase of the disease but not as helpful once patients reach the second phase. Giuliani says what is needed are new medications that can either repair inflamed brain cells or prevent brain degeneration in the first place. He says this new drug target could do just that, by preventing brain cell death in the early stages of the disease.

With this new drug target, Giuliani adds that only a specific function of a cell would be blocked, not multiple functions of a cell. Many medications on the market block multiple functions of a specific type of cell. "We are blocking a specific function, not multiple pathways and eventually this strategy could reduce the side effects of new drugs."

Giuliani and his fellow researchers are continuing their research in this area.

This research was supported through funding by the MS Society of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Alberta Innovates-Health Solutions and the University of Alberta Hospital Foundation.

Julia Daniluck, an Edmontonian who has MS, said the research findings were encouraging. Daniluk was diagnosed with MS nine years ago when she was just 19-years-old. She was having mobility issues after returning home from her job as a dancer on a cruise ship. When she went to the doctor and underwent various tests, she was diagnosed with MS. She is now studying marketing through the University of Lethbridge and is engaged to be married. Just this last weekend, a fundraising team she organized raised $100,000 for the MS Society.

"To me, I know that there's still so many unknowns about MS and this is just one more piece of the puzzle for us to truly gain an understanding about the cause of MS and the progression and why things happen the way they do?

"For the future, you have to start somewhere to make these discoveries. The amount of work these researchers put into making these discoveries is just amazing."

Darrel Gregory, a spokesperson for the MS Society of Canada -- Alberta & NWT Division -- said the organization was excited about Giuliani's discovery. In Alberta, more than 11,000 people have MS. Across the country, between 55,000 -- 75,000 people live with the disease.

"It means a great deal to us because I think it offers hope to everybody who lives with MS; hope for a potential treatment and possibly a cure at one point. I think that if we can lessen the physical disability that people live with, it will go a long way to helping improve quality of life for people who live with MS."

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---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Alberta Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry. The original article was written by Raquel Maurier.

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

---

Journal Reference:

1. Y. Haile, K. C. Simmen, D. Pasichnyk, N. Touret, T. Simmen, J.-Q. Lu, R. C. Bleackley, F. Giuliani. Granule-Derived Granzyme B Mediates the Vulnerability of Human Neurons to T Cell-Induced Neurotoxicity. The Journal of Immunology, 2011; 187 (9): 4861 DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1100943

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/As7F2zVAN2I/111026162705.htm

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Reader: Give Gisele's son a big cookie

Our readers continue to contribute some funny, smart and incisive comments to our Today Entertainment Facebook page. Every Friday, we'll highlight those that really stood out. If you see a great comment throughout the week, click the ?Like? button underneath it to draw it to our attention.

1. On "Gisele: My toddler thinks broccoli is dessert"
Juanita Cross: " Didn't she also say her labor was completely pain and drug free? Yeah, I am not taking advice from her and if I ever see her son I am giving him a big cookie."

2. On "Steven Tyler talks tooth and consequences from his bathroom fall"
Peg Marston Trimper:? "OK, maybe now, Steven Tyler, you will think you're getting a little too old for concerts. Gee, you're my mom's age."

3. On 'Hours after release, Michael Lohan back in jail"
Daiv Ericksen:? "So this is the new father-daughter project. Hmm...nah, I pass. I would rather train her to play soccer."

4. On "Teenage Frances Bean Cobain is engaged"
Ripleigh Degenhardt: "I got married at 19 and 6 years later we're doing great! She doesn't have her mom in her life, a big bonus! If you take divorce off the table from the word go and you force yourself to work it out, then you can survive anything."

Story: Reader: Americans are violent prudes

5. On "Miley Cyrus to cover Bob Dylan on tribute album"
Teddy Quinn: "I love the fascist Dylan fans, 'she shouldn't be allowed to sing...' Really? Wow, what a bunch of uptight jerks. Of course Dylan knows who she is. He is extremely up on pop culture. He probably loves that she's covering him, as any songwriter would be. Leave the little girl alone, meanies."

Join the discussion, and help us find next week's Comment of the Week, on our Facebook page.

? 2011 MSNBC Interactive.? Reprints

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45075976/ns/today-entertainment/

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Eurozone aims to ramp up rescue fund, details deferred (Reuters)

BRUSSELS/ROME (Reuters) ? Euro zone leaders intend to multiply the capacity of their rescue fund around fourfold to one trillion euros but details of how they plan to draw a line under Europe's worsening debt crisis will not be nailed until next month, sources said.

A draft statement from an emergency summit Wednesday, obtained by Reuters, said two options were being considered to leverage the 440 billion euro ($600 billion) fund designed to shore up heavily indebted states and thwart market attacks.

If the draft is adopted with little change, the second euro zone summit in four days will have sketched broad intentions but failed to produce a detailed masterplan to scale up the fund, recapitalize banks and reduce Greek debt to a sustainable level, despite Franco-German assurances a "comprehensive solution" would be found.

One proposal involves creating a special purpose investment vehicle (SPIV) to tap foreign sovereign and private investors, such as Chinese and Middle Eastern wealth funds, to buy bonds of troubled euro zone countries.

The other method for scaling up the European Financial Stability Facility involves using it to offer partial guarantees to purchasers of new euro zone debt. The two options could be used simultaneously and the International Monetary Fund could also help.

Euro zone finance ministers will be asked to finalize the terms and conditions in November, the statement said. An EU source said the EFSF was expected to be leveraged by something like a factor of four giving it scope of around 1 trillion euros.

"It's moving in the right direction but it is going to disappoint the market, particularly given the emphasis policy makers put on this meeting," said Jessica Hoversen, foreign exchange analyst at MF Global in New York.

Aside from the EFSF, specifics of a Greek debt write-down may also be left for later negotiation among finance ministers.

While there is consensus on the need for European banks to raise around 110 billion euros ($150 billion) in extra capital to withstand a potential Greek debt default and wider financial contagion, governments and banks are still haggling over the scale of write-offs private bondholders will have to take on their Greek debt holdings, sources said.

EU leaders agreed the outlines of a package on bank recapitalization, including raising the core capital ratios of European banks to 9 percent by the end of June 2012, but they did not provide a headline figure, which will depend in part on negotiations over Greece and its second package.

"There will be give and take with the banks until the last minute," a Greek government source involved in the Brussels negotiations said. "As far as now, the talks are going on."

European leaders' pattern of responding too little, too late has spawned a wider economic and political crisis that threatens to undermine the euro single currency and the European Union project.

ECB LIFELINE

Mario Draghi, the incoming head of the European Central Bank threw the euro zone a lifeline hours before the summit, signaling the ECB would go on buying troubled states' bonds as leaders of the 17-nation single currency area struggled to agree a convincing set of measures.

"The Eurosystem (of central banks) is determined, with its non-conventional measures, to prevent malfunctioning in the money and financial markets creating an obstacle to monetary transmission," he said in typically coded ECB language in a speech text released in Rome.

Draghi, who will succeed Jean-Claude Trichet on November 1, made clear that measures could only be a temporary expedient and said it was up to governments to tackle the roots of the debt crisis that began in Greece two years ago.

However, his statement appeared to rebuff pressure from Germany's powerful Bundesbank for the ECB to end the bond-buying program which prompted the resignation of the two most senior German ECB policymakers this year.

It also appeared to supersede a dispute between Germany and France over how the ECB, the ultimate defender of the euro, should be involved in trying to resolve the crisis.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel won a parliamentary vote of support for strengthening the rescue fund after warning in a dramatic speech that Europe was facing its most difficult situation since the end of World War Two.

"If the euro fails, then Europe fails," she declared, saying there was no certainty that the continent would then enjoy another 60 years of peace.

Merkel earlier told parliament that private bondholders would have to take a substantial write-down so that Greece's debt could be reduced to 120 percent of gross domestic product by 2020 from 160 percent this year.

Experts say that implies a 50 percent "haircut" for private investors, which Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos was reported to have told Greek banks was the most likely outcome.

Jean-Claude Juncker, the chairman of euro zone finance ministers, forecast an eventual deal on a 50 percent write-off.

ITALIAN INTENT

Also weighing on the summit was deep concern about Italy, which is now in the bond market firing line.

Under huge pressure from its euro zone partners, Rome promised a package of reform steps to boost growth and control its public debt, including labor and pensions reforms and additional revenues from property divestments.

In a letter sent to the summit in Brussels, the government said it would produce a plan of action to boost growth by November 15, promising to raise the retirement age to 67, cut red tape and modernize state administration to improve conditions for business and raise 5 billion euros a year from divestments and improved returns from state property.

Rome's inability to deliver a substantive plan for reforming its pensions system has raised doubts about Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's seriousness in tackling a crisis that threatens the euro zone's third largest economy.

Italy has the euro zone's largest sovereign bond market, with a public debt of 1.8 trillion euros, 120 percent of GDP. If it went the same way as Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the rescue fund does not have enough money to bail Rome out.

(Additional reporting by Julien Toyer, Jan Strupczewski and John O'Donnell in Brussels, Annika Breidthardt and Sarah Marsh in Berlin, Daniel Flynn and Harry Papachristou in Athens, Barry Moody in Rome; Writing by Luke Baker and Mike Peacock; editing by Janet McBride)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111026/bs_nm/us_eurozone

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Democrats offer $3 trillion deal to slash deficit (Los Angeles Times)

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

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Hisense Series XT710 TV helps you exercise your La-Z-Boy sans remote

You might feel like the king of the couch, but let's face it -- picking up the remote can be exhausting. Hisense is hoping to lighten your load with the launch of its new Android-based Smart TV with hands-free eyeSight gesture recognition technology -- the Series XT710. Slated to launch in China, the TV features a 2D sensor, designed to understand your hand movements and interpret your every channel changing whim. Besides flipping between reruns of Law and Order and Jersey Shore, couch potatoes will also be able to play games and access Android applications through the intelligent tube. Now, if it could only help us pop our popcorn. Jump past the break to check out the full PR.

Continue reading Hisense Series XT710 TV helps you exercise your La-Z-Boy sans remote

Hisense Series XT710 TV helps you exercise your La-Z-Boy sans remote originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Oct 2011 12:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/26/hisense-series-xt710-tv-helps-you-exercise-your-la-z-boy-sans-re/

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Pressed by EU, Berlusconi reaches pension deal (AP)

MILAN ? Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi averted a government collapse and reached a deal with allies on emergency growth measures in time for an EU summit on saving the euro before political tensions erupted in a fist fight in parliament.

Berlusconi and Northern League leader Umberto Bossi reached a compromise on raising Italy's retirement age in late-night parliament talks Tuesday ? a point of disagreement that had threatened Berlusconi's leadership. His majority in parliament needs the support of the Northern League.

A fist fight in the Chamber of Deputies on Wednesday when League lawmakers briefly came to blows with colleagues loyal to a former Berlusconi ally Gianfranco Fini, the Chamber president who broke with the governing coalition early in its term. Scuffles are not rare in Italy's parliament.

League deputies were incensed when Fini, on a TV talk show, mentioned that Bossi's wife, took early retirement from a teaching job when she was 39.

Berlusconi will deliver a letter detailing the emergency measures to an EU summit. A spokesman said the contents are reserved for summit leaders, but Italian media reported the measures include new infrastructure spending, with a push for more private investment for strategic projects, the privatization of public entities and property and simplifying rules for companies.

Changes to Italy's pension scheme had become a major sticking point, with Bossi's party refusing to risk alienating its constituency of workers from the productive north.

Under the overnight deal, Italy will gradually raise the pension age for all workers to 67 by 2025, bringing it in line with European trends. Currently, Italian men retire at 65 along with women in the public sector but some women in the private sector retire earlier.

The 15-page letter also reportedly contains details of the euro54 billion ($75 billion) in austerity measures passed by lawmakers last month to balance Italy's budget by 2013.

The European Union had asked for measures, with a clear calendar for implementation, to promote growth, raise the pension age and simplify civil legal proceedings to encourage foreign investment

Outgoing Bank of Italy governor Mario Draghi called the letter of intent "an important step ... but now it's time to implement the measures swiftly and concretely." Draghi, who takes over helm of the European Central Bank on Nov. 1, also urged Berlusconi's government to quickly activate the spending cuts and new taxes approved last month.

In Brussels, a spokesman for the European commission, Olivier Bailly, said the EU was "confident" it would have the letter by the end of the day.

Italy is seen as the next country at risk in the widening sovereign debt crisis, but with euro1.9 trillion ($2.6 trillion) in public debt, an Italian default would be disastrous for the global economy. The European Central Bank for months has been buying billions in Italian bonds to help keep borrowing costs down.

Nonetheless, Italy saw borrowing costs on short-term bonds spike Wednesday. The Italian Treasury sold euro8.5 billion ($11.83 billion) in six-month bonds at 3.53 percent, up sharply from last month's 3.071 percent, its highest level in three years. Yields on two-year bonds rose to 4.628 percent from 4.511.

A Berlusconi spokesman, meanwhile, brushed off reports that Berlusconi was preparing to resign. The left-leaning La Repubblica newspaper, one of Berlusconi's staunchest critics, reported that he had threatened to resign if no deal could be reached with the Northern League, which was persisting in its resistance to raising the retirement age.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111026/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_italy_financial_crisis

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Customer Support Solution Provider UserVoice Launches New Reporting Tools

UserVoice, makers of tools for managing customer support and feedback,?is today launching a new reporting tool for?businesses?using its "Instant Answers" service. The service, which is built into the UserVoice Full Service system, allows companies to automatically connect their help requests to available Knowledge Base entries in order to provide an immediate answer to incoming queries. With today's launch of the reporting tool, those companies will now be able to tell how effective their Knowledge Base is at providing those answers to their customers.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/ljkmcLH02o0/

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HBT: La Russa takes blame for bullpen mix-up

Tony La Russa tried to explain the bullpen phone mix-up following last night?s loss and failed miserably, seemingly throwing his bullpen coach Derek Lilliquist under the bus. Fortunately he sung a decidedly different tune in his comments to the press this afternoon at Busch Stadium.

According to the Associated Press, La Russa took full responsibility for the mix-up and said that he told Lilliquist ?10 times? that it wasn?t his fault. He also shed a bit more light on how the miscommunication may have happened in the first place.

While La Russa reiterated that he called the bullpen twice to get Jason Motte ready, he admitted that during the first call, he might have mentioned Motte?s name after?Lilliquist had already hung up the phone.

Plausible? I suppose. It works for a pretty good excuse, if anything. But it?s just as plausible to say that he was simply unprepared for the inning to get to Mike Napoli. Since nobody heard him, we?ll probably never know for sure.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/10/25/tony-la-russa-takes-responsibility-for-bullpen-mix-up/related/

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Nokia Launches Lumia 800, the ?First Real Windows Phone?

Nokia has announced “the first real Windows Phone” at a special event in London today. The Lumia 800 looks almost identical to the Nokia N9, apart from the fact that it’s running Windows Phone Mango and not the short-lived MeeGo OS.
The Finnish company also introduced the second, slightly lower-specced Lumia 710, also running Windows Phone, [...]

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/Emwbvx7H5qw/

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Netflix shares tank amid backlash and defections (AP)

NEW YORK ? Netflix shares plunged 35 percent Tuesday after the one-time Wall Street favorite revealed a massive departure of subscribers angered by price increases and other questionable changes at rental service that was created to make entertainment a snap.

Netflix revealed late Monday that it ended September with 23.8 million U.S. subscribers. That's down about 800,000 from June and worse than what the company had hinted at before. In September, the company predicted it will lose about 600,000 U.S. customers.

And it may get worse. Netflix said it expects more defections in coming months.

The exodus began after the company raised its prices by as much as 60 percent in July and split up its streaming and DVD rental services. Its website was flooded by comments from angry customers. Many people also canceled service, especially on the DVD-by-mail side. The company is betting that its future is in streaming video, and CEO Reed Hastings has said he expects Netflix's DVD subscriptions to steadily decline, much like what has happened to AOL Inc.'s dial-up Internet service.

But Netflix bungled a spin off its DVD-by-mail service, giving it the name Qwikster and creating separate accounts for people who wanted both DVDs and movie streaming. By doing so, the company created what many perceived to be a more complicated rental process at a company that began its meteoric rise with a new, easier way of searching for and finding entertainment effortlessly.

Netflix shares tumbled $41.34 to $77.50 in late morning trading Tuesday. The stock is down from more than $300 just 3 1/2 months ago. The last time the stock was trading so low was in April 2010, but that was during an extraordinarily steep ascent, after the company nearly erased the omnipresent blue and yellow storefronts of Blockbuster.

The revelations from Netflix prompted a downgrade to "Neutral" from "Buy" from Citi Investment Research analyst Mark Mahaney on Tuesday, who also slashed his target price on the stock to $95 from $220. The analyst called the price increase and the abandoned plan to separate Netflix's DVD business two "major execution errors."

Netflix Inc. did report better-than-expected financial results for the third quarter, but that was drowned out by the din of subscriber cancellations, expense controls and a one-time tax benefit, said Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter.

Pachter cut his target price to $82.50 from $110 on Netflix's stock and kept his rating at "Neutral."

Los Gatos, Calif.-based Netflix said it does not comment on stock movement or analyst reports.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111025/ap_on_hi_te/us_netflix_stock

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Vistaprint To Buy Dutch Photobook Software Company Albumprinter For Up To $90 Million

Vistaprint this morning announced that it is buying European photobook software solutions provider Albumprinter for ?60 million (~$83.3 million) in cash, with up to ?5 million (~$9 million) in earn-out, if certain performance-based requirements are met in 2012. Albumprinter, based in Amsterdam, with a manufacturing presence in the Hague, has generated roughly ?37 million (~$51.5 million) in revenue in the trailing twelve months ended September 30, 2011, according to a statement. Net income margin for the same period was about 8%, and EBITDA was approximately 16% (approximately ?6 million).

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

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