States to decide this week on mortgage deal (Reuters)

WASHINGTON/CHARLOTTE (Reuters) ? State and federal officials are close to a settlement with the largest U.S. banks over mortgage abuses, with states facing an end-of-the-week deadline to decide whether they will sign on, people close to the talks said.

The final value of any settlement will depend on which states it includes, and could drop sharply if states like California, one of the hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis, do not join.

In another sign the deal is close, negotiators have overcome a sticking point and agreed on Joseph Smith, North Carolina's banking commissioner, as a monitor to ensure the banks comply with the terms of the settlement, these people said.

Talks have dragged on for more than one year but picked up steam last week as the Obama administration announced a new federal-state working group to investigate misconduct in the pooling and sale of risky home loans, a move that signaled the settlement would only allow banks to put behind them a small slice of misconduct.

The banks in the talks are Bank of America, Wells Fargo & Co, JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup and Ally Financial Inc.

The proposed settlement releases the banks only from civil claims of errors in servicing and originating the loans. Those details have been in place for months, but the launch of the working group, the Obama administration said, makes clear its commitment to continue to investigate misconduct that fueled the financial crisis.

In exchange for up to $25 billion, much in the form of cutting mortgage debt for distressed homeowners, the banks will resolve civil state and federal lawsuits about servicing misconduct and faulty foreclosures, and state lawsuits about how they made some of the loans.

President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union speech last week that he directed his attorney general to create the new working group to "help turn the page on an era of recklessness."

Left-leaning groups including MoveOn.org had decried the proposed settlement as a "sweetheart deal" and criticized the administration for what they said was a failure to bring big-ticket cases against Wall Street banks and individuals who played a role in the 2007-2009 collapse.

The new working group, designed to coordinate investigations into the residential mortgage-backed securities market, potentially gives the administration and dissident states political cover to join the settlement.

CALIFORNIA STILL IN QUESTION

In announcing the new working group, housed within an older financial fraud task force, federal and state officials made clear the settlement would cover misconduct that occurred in the aftermath of the crisis, while the group would focus on wrongdoing that fueled the crisis itself.

The attorney general in New York, Eric Schneiderman, who has been a holdout on the settlement, saying that it released the banks from too many claims, is helping to lead the new group.

In an interview with Reuters on Friday, he said the focus of the settlement had "become narrow enough" to allow a full investigation to go forward, even though he said he was "not yet" ready to sign on.

California has also been reluctant to sign on.

The state's attorney general, Kamala Harris, withdrew from the talks last year amid concerns that the proposed settlement was too lenient, and her spokesman said again last week she believed the settlement remained "inadequate."

But Harris did meet with federal officials last week to press her concerns, people familiar with the matter said, and has not yet officially said her state is out of any final deal.

Separately, Massachusetts filed its own lawsuit against the banks last month, a signal that state may also go its own way in resolving allegations of deceptive foreclosure practices.

States have one week to make a decision, and an announcement of a settlement could come as early as next week, people familiar with the talks said.

The appointment of Joseph Smith as the monitor is also likely to win plaudits.

President Barack Obama nominated Smith, who has long had the respect of both banking executives and consumer advocates, to become the chief regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2010, but he withdrew from consideration amid objections from Republicans in Congress.

A spokeswoman for Smith said he was unavailable for comment.

(Reporting By Aruna Viswanatha in Washington, D.C. and Rick Rothacker in Charlotte, additional reporting by Karen Freifeld and Margaret Chadbourn)

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

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Sacramento Train Crash: Police Struggle To Determine Cause Of Fatal Collision

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Investigators on Sunday were trying to determine what motivated the driver of a sport utility vehicle to ignore a downed crossing arm and flashing lights and pull the vehicle into the path of an oncoming commuter train in Sacramento.

Three died after the Saturday afternoon collision south of downtown, including Damian Williams, a 21-month-old boy, county coroner's officials said.

One of the four people inside the Nissan Pathfinder remained in the hospital Sunday at the University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento, where she was being treated for serious injuries.

Authorities also were trying to sort out the relationships of those involved and had not released the identities of the adults.

In addition to the toddler, the dead included a 25-year-old woman and a 62-year-old man, who was ejected from the Pathfinder when it was struck by the southbound light rail train traveling at 55 mph shortly after 4 p.m. The impact pushed the SUV about 30 yards down the track and flipped it.

Officer Laura Peck, a spokeswoman for the Sacramento Police Department, said the woman taken to the hospital was the man's wife.

Investigators and officials with the Sacramento Regional Transit District said video from cameras mounted on the intersection showed the SUV drive around the crossing arms just before impact. That video and other pictures captured by a camera mounted on the train are part of the investigation and were not being released publicly, Peck said.

Witness accounts appear to support the video evidence that the crossing arms were down and warning lights were flashing when the SUV tried to get across the tracks.

Davis resident Ravin Pratab, 42, was in a car that was waiting to cross the tracks when he said he heard a loud bang and then "saw a light-rail train heading south with a big truck smashed on it."

Authorities said six of the roughly 50 passengers on the light rail train were taken to local hospitals but had only minor injuries.

On Sunday, the tracks were cleared and the intersection was open, with no sign of the previous day's collision. A white teddy bear was placed at the base of the pole holding the crossing arm, on the same side of the tracks where the SUV had been before it attempted to cross.

Regional transit officials said trains were operating on their regular schedule after a section of track was repaired Saturday night.

One question investigators are trying to answer is the length of time the crossing arms were down. The light rail train passed through the intersection after two Union Pacific freight trains, going in opposite directions and using different tracks, had passed by.

Neither Peck nor a spokeswoman for the transit district said they knew the length of the interval between the time the freight trains cleared the intersection and the commuter line came through. The light rail system has its own dedicated tracks.

Drivers in Sacramento often can wait up to 10 minutes for a freight train to pass, then might have to wait several minutes more because of an approaching light rail train. The extended wait times can be a source of irritation ? and missed appointments ? in California's capital.

Alane Masui, a spokeswoman for the Sacramento Regional Transit District, said Sunday that determining the length of time the crossing arms were down and the interval between the trains was part of the ongoing investigation.

Sacramento's light rail system, started in 1987, carries an average of 50,000 passengers a day. On weekdays, it's packed with those commuting between the suburbs and state government jobs downtown.

Masui could not immediately say whether Saturday's collision was the deadliest in the system's history or how many collisions between light rail trains and vehicles had occurred in the past.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/30/sacramento-train-crash_n_1241842.html

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Dear Prudence: My Mom Won?t Shut Up!

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On selfish genes and human behaviour

I?m safely back from my honeymoon, and I was catching up on the Scientific American articles when I found one that quite disturbed me. I don?t usually use this blog as a forum for thoughts about things that aren?t bacteria, but this is something I found important, particularly as I?ve spent most of the holiday reading Mary?Midgely books.

The article is by Michael Shermer, and you can read it here. It?s about human deception and deception-deception (the process by which we?deceive?ourselves into believing our deceptions). Called ?the lies we tell ourselves? I?ll do a quick summary here:

It starts off the main argument with the quote: ?A selfish gene model of evolution dictates that we should maximise our reproductive success through cunning and deceit?. It then points out that due to game theory we are aware that everyone else is also using cunning and deceit, which means the best way to go is to ?feign transparency and honesty and lure them into complacency before ?you defect and grab the spoils?. He finishes off with the idea that this is where morality comes from: ?It is not enough to fake being a good person ? you actually have to be a good person by believing it yourself and acting accordingly.?

So that is how human?behaviour?works. If you?re a cunning, sneaky, nasty person it?s because that?s how your genes tell you to be. If you?re a good, honest and truthful person it?s because you?ve successfully managed to buy your ?own con.

Is this way of thinking justified?

No.

Starting at the beginning then with that wonderful ?selfish-gene model of evolution?. The ?selfish gene? was a?metaphor?used by Dawkins to explain gene-based evolution. Genes are not literally selfish any more than rocks are. And selfish was just one word, ?opportunistic? might have been a better one, because genes don?t work alone. Many of them need other genes, or entire gene clusters in order to function. They need proteins, and the study of protein evolution and epigenetics is an exciting subject in its own right. There?s been some interesting work as well into lipid evolution and how the composition of the cell membrane when cells divide can determine their fate. No gene is an island.

And even if ?selfish? is a useful metaphor to explain genetic behavour, why on earth is it a sensible idea to abstract that up to human behaviour? Sure our genes help to determine our behavour, but so do our proteins, our neurons, our cells, our social surroundings and a whole host of other factors. Individual cells in the human body are not selfish, they are in fact highly cooperative and communist. Each cell must obey orders exactly, and if it doesn?t it must commit suicide instantly. There are some cells that break away into an individualist life of freedom but these are cancer cells.

Why must the selfish-gene model predict human behavour, why not the communist-cell one?

In fact, why not go further down? Why not look at the way atoms, or quarks behave, and then say that humans must behave like that!

Two glances around in any human society will tell you that humans are manifestly not selfish individuals all waiting for a change to ?defect and grab the spoils?. Human society doesn?t work like that. If you break down society, people don?t just scatter to the selfish winds, they form new little societies to survive within. Look at the internet ? a great anarchic gathering of people from all societies, with no rules thrust upon them, and what are the most popular sites (disregarding pornography)? Social networks, social forums and online communities. People like being social, they like being with others. Sure they exhibit selfish?behaviour?within those societies, but they also show?behaviour?which is loving, altruistic, angry, excited, and a whole range of emotions that the ?selfish-gene? model does not abstract too. There is no reason to?arbitrarily?decide that any?conventionally??Good? emotion is a deception-deception.

Human societies evolve by human cooperation. By the sharing of knowledge and resources, by the protecting of those more vulnerable, and the slow and shaky development of general morals. These morals are decisions made by the society (or occasionally by the one tyrant in charge of the society, but nothing is perfect) about what?behaviours?are?acceptable. Looking at society this way isn?t it just as justifiable that cooperation and sharing are the ?natural? human?behaviours? That people who cheat are somehow?deceiving?themselves into believing that they don?t need society, and have?deceived?themselves so well that they believe it?

These ?aren?t identical to the way our genes behave because people are not genes.?Behaviours?are?emergent?properties of humanity, not dictated attributes of our component parts. People are largely made up of water, yet no-one suggests that lying down and sort of sloshing around is natural human?behaviour.

If you want to study human morality, you really need to start asking philosophers. That?s what they?re there for. Historians, anthropologists, even literature students and?theologians?are?equipped?with the understanding and the tools used to discuss human society, emotions and?behaviour. This is an area that scientists can find interesting, and even contribute too, but in studies of?behaviour?and morality science is simply not the major player.

I?m sure there are great ways to build a secular civil society. But basing your foundations on the unjustified abstraction of a dodgy metaphor is not a good way to go about it.

?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=a40d9f89a12e91172dc733a16cebdf08

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Mitt Romney picks up Jon Voight?s endorsement?and jokes about Angelina Jolie (The Ticket)

(Charles Dharapak/AP)

PENSACOLA, Fla.?The run-up to Florida's Republican presidential primary has already been weird, thanks in part to an extended debate over whether there should be a colony on the Moon. And on Saturday, it got a little weirder.

Stumping at a seafood restaurant here along the Gulf coast, Mitt Romney picked up the endorsement of actor Jon Voight, the star of "Midnight Cowboy" who is perhaps best known these days as the father of actress Angelina Jolie. The actor has long been active in Republican politics, stumping for Rudy Giuliani's presidential campaign in 2008 and traveling with Mike Huckabee to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year.

Voight told the crowd he was backing Romney because he was "strong" and "honest." He declared President Obama had "decided to follow his father's footsteps and take us to socialism."

The actor said Newt Gingrich "fell short" of being able to take on Obama. "We cannot afford another four years of rhetoric," Voight said.

While Jolie's name wasn't mentioned on the stump, Romney did manage to sneak in a reference to the actress's wild child reputation.

Explaining to the audience that he wasn't sure how to "chit chat with a famous actor" when he phoned Voight to ask for his support, Romney said he decided to talk about his kids.

"I started talking about my five boys," the candidate explained. "I said, you know, it's easier to raise boys than girls. Well, after a long pause, he says, 'Tell me about it.'"

The line got a huge laugh from the? crowd of several hundred people who turned out to see Romney stump with Voight, as well as Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Sen. John McCain, who entertained the crowd with his own stand-up routine while introducing Romney.

The Arizona senator, who trained as a pilot at the naval base in Pensacola, joked that the money he spent as a young bachelor in the city had single-handedly kept the city's economy alive. And, in a repeat of a line he often repeated on the presidential campaign trail here four years ago, McCain joked about Zsa Zsa Gabor's sex life.

Noting the other dignitaries on hand, McCain said, "I feel a bit like Zsa Zsa Gabor's fifth husband. I know what I'm supposed to do, but I don't know how to make it interesting."

A few feet away, Romney let out an awkward giggle.

"I thought we only brought one actor and comedian here today," Romney told McCain when it was his turn at the mic. "Gosh, that was quite a repartee there, senator. That was fabulous."

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IT?S TIME FOR THE BIG ARRIVAL! JOIN TORI AND DEAN AS THEY WELCOME BABY HATTIE TO THE FAMILY IN THE SEASON FINALE OF OXYGEN?S ?TORI & DEAN: HOME SWEET HOLLYWOOD? ON 1/31 @ 10PM

In the season finale of ?Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood,? the Spelling-McDermotts come together to welcome another member of their family to the world. Follow the show @ToriandDean_HSH on Twitter and tweet live with fans during the show using #ToriandDean. ?Tori and Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood?- Tuesday, January 31 at 10pm ET/PT (Season Finale) [...]

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Sony reveals new 3G/WiFi PS Vita bundles: free data, PSN games and memory cards for everyone

Sony's PlayStation Vita hasn't exactly sold like hotcakes over in Japan, so the company has sweetened the pot for the portable's potential Stateside buyers. Those who placed pre-orders will get a couple of extra goodies for their $350. To go with the previously promised limited edition case, 4GB memory card and copy of Little Deviants, you'll also receive 250MB of data from AT&T and a PlayStation Network game gratis as soon as you activate 3G on the device. Furthermore, folks buying a Vita on launch day can look forward to the same free data and PSN game, plus an 8GB memory card in exchange for their $300. So, that enough to get you on the handheld's bandwagon? Sound off in the comments below.

Sony reveals new 3G/WiFi PS Vita bundles: free data, PSN games and memory cards for everyone originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Disaster Relief: Climate Change And Urbanization Will Impact Humanitarian Aid, Poll Shows

* Expert poll shows changing face of humanitarian aid
* Role of climate change and urbanisation to grow
* Investment in risk reduction encouraged
* Aid system urged to operate more like big business
* Experts recommend slashing UN costs and bureaucracy
By Katie Nguyen and Megan Rowling
LONDON, Jan 26 (AlertNet) - Picture this: a terrible drought forces you to abandon your meagre plot of farmland, so you migrate to a city where the jobs are, only to end up living in a slum regularly submerged by floods.
It's a scenario that's going to become more and more familiar in coming years as climate change and rapid urbanisation play an ever-greater role in shaping humanitarian crises, according to an AlertNet poll of the world's biggest aid organisations.
To adapt to the new reality, aid agencies will need to invest more in disaster prevention and learn a trick or two from the private sector about how to make more efficient use of limited resources, the survey of 41 relief organisations shows.
"The rising trend in the number of disasters over the past five years shows no sign of slowing down," said Gareth Owen, humanitarian director at Save the Children UK.
"Year on year, we are responding more frequently and on a larger scale to increasing numbers of disasters."
Asked to rank the factors most likely to intensify humanitarian needs, 28 of 41 aid agencies put the risk of more frequent and destructive climate-related floods, droughts and storms at the top.
This was followed by mass displacement due to climate change and environmental damage, urbanisation, high and volatile food prices, and the expectation of more failing states.

With needs expected to grow and national budgets squeezed by the global financial crisis, some rich donor states are pressing the charities they fund to boost value for money in relief efforts.
One way to do that is to slash the overheads, bureaucracy and transaction costs of U.N. agencies that often lead aid operations, many of those polled said.
Other suggestions included investing in disaster-prone communities to make them more resilient and adopting the bottom-line approach of big business.
"We need to increase competition and create an aid 'market', where donors don't need a budget breakdown but rather a set of outcomes they will pay for based on how many are achieved," said Francesco Paganini, director of disaster response for World Relief.
Another U.S.-based agency echoed the need for a hard-nosed, performance-based approach.
"If our industry could find a way to create a compensation system that provides personal financial reward for results -- as is found in for-profit businesses -- it could radically alter the approach to delivering value to beneficiaries," said one programme manager, who declined to be identified.
The survey by AlertNet (www.trust.org/alertnet), a global humanitarian news service run by Thomson Reuters Foundation, targeted the world's biggest aid groups by spending and operational scope, excluding U.N. agencies.
The agencies included Oxfam, Save the Children, CARE, Danish Refugee Council, Medecins Sans Frontieres, Muslim Aid and World Vision, as well as the global Red Cross movement.
AlertNet asked experts to assess the future of humanitarian need, the challenges of delivering relief, spending and funding trends, and value for money in the international aid system.
IT HAS TO BE SEXY
More than half the agencies said focusing more on disaster risk reduction (DRR) -- everything from building more durable houses and schools in safer places to teaching children to swim -- would help the sector cope better in the long run.
Experts have long argued that it makes more economic sense to pour money into helping local governments and communities minimise their exposure to disasters than mopping up afterwards.
In its 2009 yearly "World Disasters Report", the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) said $1 spent on prevention saves $4 on emergency response.
But rallying donor interest is hard, some aid groups said.
"Funding for disaster risk reduction and disaster preparedness is not very 'sexy' for donors -- global, domestic and private," said Jouni Hemberg, director of international cooperation for FinnChurchAid.
For many donors, installing a city drainage system or devising a programme to help coastal villagers cope with rising sea levels just doesn't sound as appealing as distributing food rations to 100,000 earthquake survivors or vaccinating 20,000 children in a refugee camp.
Lack of donor interest in risk reduction was reflected in the poll. Of the 23 agencies that disclosed what proportion of their annual spending goes to this activity, 16 said it was 10 percent or less.
However, 25 of the 41 said they planned to increase this kind of spending or would like to if the money could be found.
WHERE IS THE MONEY?
In 2010, governments gave $12.4 billion in humanitarian aid, almost three times as much as private contributions, which amounted to $4.3 billion, according to estimates from Global Humanitarian Assistance, a British-based aid monitoring group.
But 22 agencies forecast a drop in government funding for humanitarian aid over the next five years.
Of those, 10 expected private contributions would also decrease while 12 thought donations from individuals and companies would make up the shortfall.
The remaining 19 agencies predicted that governments would still provide the bulk of humanitarian funding as they do today.
Asked about the main challenges to effective delivery of aid, many agencies cited the exploitation of aid for political ends, increasingly complex disasters, squeezed government budgets and violence against aid workers.
Tackling these problems means raising public awareness about delivering aid according to the key humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality, and giving local communities more say in managing aid, some experts said.
Others argued the sector should rely less on government donors, and seek longer-term, more flexible funding.
But according to IFRC's Matthias Schmale, the best way to increase value for money was simple: "Provide more credible leadership through less marketing and spinning, and ensure actions match words." (AlertNet is a humanitarian news service run by Thomson Reuters Foundation. Visit http://www.trust.org/alertnet) (For more on the future of humanitarian aid, including info-graphics, videos, stories, blogs and full poll results, visit http://futureofaid.trust.org) (Editing by Tim Large and Sonya Hepinstall)

Also on HuffPost:

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[OOC] Need For Speed: World Race

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USDA sets guidelines for healthier school meals (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? School meals for millions of children will be healthier under obesity-fighting U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) standards unveiled on Wednesday that double the amount of fruits and vegetables in cafeteria lunches - but won't pull French fries from the menu.

In the first major changes to school meals in more than 15 years, the new USDA guidelines will affect nearly 32 million children who eat at school. They will cost about $3.2 billion to implement over the next five years.

"Improving the quality of the school meals is a critical step to building a healthy future for our kids," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.

The new meal requirements are part of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act championed by first lady Michelle Obama. President Barack Obama approved the measure in late 2010.

The guidelines double the amounts of fruits and vegetables in school lunches and boost offerings of whole grain-rich foods. The new standards set maximums for calories and cut sodium and trans fat, a contributor to high cholesterol levels.

Schools may offer only fat-free or low-fat milk varieties and must assure that children are getting proper portion sizes, the USDA said.

The new standards will be largely phased in over a three-year period, starting in the 2012-13 school year.

About 17 percent of U.S. children and teenagers are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About one-third of U.S. adults are obese.

FRIES WITH THAT?

Lawmakers altered the guidelines in November. They barred the USDA from limiting French fries and ensured that pizza counted as a vegetable because of its tomato paste.

Trade associations representing frozen pizza sellers like ConAgra Foods Inc and Schwan Food Co as well as French fry sellers McCain Foods Ltd and J.R. Simplot Co were instrumental in blocking changes to rules affecting those items.

Margo Wootan, nutrition policy director for the non-profit Center For Science in the Public Interest, said that the new standards were a big improvement despite food industry lobbying and the congressional revamp.

"The new school meal standards are one of the most important advances in nutrition in decades," she said in a statement.

The Environmental Working Group said the changes could pack a financial punch since they may help reduce medical bills related to diabetes and other obesity-related chronic diseases.

"A healthier population will save billions of dollars in future health care costs," said Dawn Undurraga, EWG's staff nutritionist.

As an example of a new meal, the USDA said an elementary school lunch could be whole wheat spaghetti with meat sauce and a whole wheat roll, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, kiwi, low-fat milk, low-fat ranch dip and soft margarine.

That lunch would replace a meal of a hot dog on a bun with ketchup, canned pears, raw celery and carrots with ranch dressing, and low-fat chocolate milk.

As part of the new standards, schools will receive another 6 cents a meal. The USDA also will increase the number of inspections of school menus.

Food and beverages sold in vending machines and other school sites "will also contribute to a healthy diet," the USDA statement said.

The USDA gives school districts funds for meals through its National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/hl_nm/us_usda_meals

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Poles protest ACTA online and on the streets (AP)

WARSAW, Poland ? Hundreds of people waged a street protest in Warsaw on Tuesday to protest the government's plan to sign an international copyright treaty, while several popular websites also shut down for an hour over the issue.

Poland's support for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA, has sparked days of protest, including attacks on government sites, by groups who fear it could lead to online censorship.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk insisted Tuesday that his government will not give in to the protesters. He vowed that Poland will sign the international agreement, which is aimed at protecting intellectual property ? like music and books ? and products including pharmaceuticals and designer items. ACTA enjoys widespread support from the producers of music, movies and a range of goods enjoying copyright protections.

"There will be no concessions to brutal blackmail," Tusk said at a news conference.

Several popular websites replaced their normal content with a statement about ACTA, including several that are popular with young people and carry a mix of celebrity news, jokes, funny photographs and other entertaining material.

One site, http://www.wykop.pl, said that "under the banner of fighting piracy and concerns about intellectual property, ACTA will limit the rights of each of us."

At the street protest, held in front of a European Union office, people carried banners that said "Stop ACTA," while some put tape over their mouths to signify their fears that ACTA will infringe on freedom of expression online.

An extremist right-wing group is planning a separate protest Wednesday to oppose ACTA.

However, an influential group representing authors and composers ? known by its Polish acronym ZAiKS ? has thrown its support behind ACTA. ZAiKS argued that ACTA will not hurt Internet freedom but protect the rights of creators. It said that Internet piracy is now robbing artists and the state treasury of hundreds of millions of zlotys (many millions of dollars) in income.

ACTA shares some similarities with the hotly debated Stop Online Piracy Act in the U.S., which was shelved by lawmakers last week after Wikipedia and Google blacked out or partially obscured their websites for a day in protest.

In recent days, a group calling itself Anonymous attacked Polish government websites, leaving several paralyzed on Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday, most appeared to be working again, though the prime minister's site was unreachable.

Still, Polish leaders are vowing to stick to plans to sign ACTA in Tokyo on Thursday.

ACTA has been negotiated by a number of industrialized countries that have been struggling for ways to fight counterfeiting and intellectual property theft ? crimes that cause huge losses to the movie and music industries and many other sectors.

The far-reaching agreement would cover everything from counterfeit pharmaceuticals to fake designer handbags to online piracy. The United States signed ACTA in October in Tokyo along with seven other countries: Australia, Canada, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Morocco and Singapore.

Critics of ACTA accuse the negotiating countries of hammering out the agreement in secret and failing to consult with the broader societies along the way.

(This version CORRECTS Updates with the websites going dark; corrects style on spelling of group ZAiKS. This story is part of AP's general news and financial services.)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_hi_te/eu_poland_websites_attacked

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Simon Cowell and Mezhgan Hussainy: It's Sort of Over!

When it comes to potential professional artists, Simon Cowell has a very clear idea of what he wants. When it comes to love? Not so much.

The singer tells UK's The Daily Mirror that he and Mezhgan Hussainy - a makeup artist he met behind the scenes of American Idol in 2003 - are no longer engaged. But are they still dating? We'll let Simon explain:

"It's quite a complicated relationship. We have had a break from each other, and we are still incredibly close," Cowell tells the newspaper. "I'm vulnerable. It's not on, it's not off, it's somewhere in the middle. I don't know if I will ever get married, but I am happy."

Hussainy has reportedly moved out of the Los Angeles mansion she shared with the music mogul - and into another home nearby where Simon's other famous ex, Teri Seymour, also stayed after she split from Cowell. Friends allegedly refer to this residence as the "girlfriends graveyard."

“I don’t pay them off," Cowell says of his history with women. "But if you have been with someone long enough, there is a ­responsibility. You can’t say one minute you can live this type of life and then the light goes off.”

[Photo: WENN.com]

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/simon-cowell-and-mezhgan-hussainy-its-sort-of-over/

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Obama to take on economy in State of the Union

FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2012, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama commands center stage in a political year so far dominated by Republican infighting, preparing to deliver a State of the Union address that will go right to the heart of Americans' economic anxiety and try to sway voters to give him four more years in office. He is expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose steps to make college more affordable and offer new remedies for the still worrisome housing crisis. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2012, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama commands center stage in a political year so far dominated by Republican infighting, preparing to deliver a State of the Union address that will go right to the heart of Americans' economic anxiety and try to sway voters to give him four more years in office. He is expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose steps to make college more affordable and offer new remedies for the still worrisome housing crisis. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama is ready to reclaim the spotlight with a plea for economic fairness in a State of Union address that opposition Republicans panned in advance as a rehash of old ideas.

Obama delivers his third State of the Union address Tuesday in a capital and country shot through with politics, with his re-election campaign well under way and his potential GOP opponents lobbing attacks against him daily as they scrap for the right to take him on.

Obama's 9 p.m. EST address to a joint session of Congress and millions of television viewers will be as much as anything an argument for his re-election, the president's biggest, best chance so far to offer a vision for a second term.

Senior political adviser David Plouffe said Tuesday morning the president is "happy to have a debate" about his performance.

Bill Galston, a former Clinton administration domestic policy adviser now at the Brookings Institution, said, "Almost by definition it's going to be at least as much a political speech as a governing speech."

"The president must run on his record," Galston said, "and that means talking candidly and persuasively with the country about the very distinctive nature of the challenges the American economy faced when he took office and what has gone right for the past three years, and what needs to be done in addition."

With economic anxiety showing through everywhere, the speech will focus on a vision for restoring the middle class, with Obama facing the tricky task of persuading voters to stick with him even as joblessness remains high at 8.5 percent. Obama can point to positive signs, including continued if sluggish growth; his argument will be that he is the one to restore economic equality for middle-class voters.

Implicit in the argument, even if he never names frontrunners Gingrich and Mitt Romney, is that they are on the other side.

Obama's speech will come as Gingrich and Romney have transformed the Republican campaign into a real contest ahead of Florida's crucial primary next week. And he'll be speaking on the same day that Romney, a multimillionaire, released his tax returns, offering a vivid illustration of wealth that could play into Obama's argument about the growing divide between rich and poor.

Asked in an interview Tuesday about Romney's relatively modest tax rate in the range of 15 percent, given that he's a multi-millionaire, Plouffe said, "We need to change our tax system. We need to change our tax code so that everybody is doing their fair share."

Obama will frame the campaign to come as a fight for fairness for those who are struggling to keep a job, a home or college savings and losing faith in how the country works.

The speech will feature the themes of manufacturing, clean energy, education and American values. The president is expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose ways to make college more affordable, offer new steps to tackle a debilitating housing crisis and push to help U.S. manufacturers expand hiring.

Aides said the president would also outline more specifics about the so-called "Buffett Rule", which Obama has previously said would establish a minimum tax on people making $1 million or more in income. The rule was named after billionaire Warren Buffett, who has said it is unfair that his secretary pays a higher tax rate than he does.

White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer said on Twitter Tuesday that Buffett's secretary, Debbie Bosanek, would attend the State of the Union in the first lady's box.

Even before Obama delivered his speech, Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, said he already felt "a sense of disappointment."

"While we don't yet know all of the specifics, we do know the goal," he said. "Based on what the president's aides have been telling reporters, the goal isn't to conquer the nation's problems. It's to conquer Republicans. The goal isn't to prevent gridlock, but to guarantee it."

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has called the themes of Obama's speech a "pathetic" rehash of unhelpful policies. But he said Tuesday he hoped Obama would "extend somewhat of an olive branch" to work with Republicans on the economy during his prime-time address.

For three days following his speech, Obama will promote his ideas in five states key to his re-election bid. On Wednesday he'll visit Iowa and Arizona to promote ideas to boost American manufacturing; on Thursday in Nevada and Colorado he'll discuss energy; and in Michigan Friday he'll talk about college affordability, education and training. Polling shows Americans are divided about Obama's overall job performance but unsatisfied with his handling of the economy.

The lines of argument between Obama and his rivals are already stark, with America's economic insecurity and the role of government at the center.

The president has offered signals about his speech, telling campaign supporters he wants an economy "that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few." Gingrich, on the other hand, calls Obama "the most effective food stamp president in history." Romney says Obama "wants to turn America into a European-style entitlement society."

Obama will make bipartisan overtures to lawmakers but will leave little doubt he will act without their help when it's necessary and possible, an approach his aides say has let him stay on offense.

The public is more concerned about domestic troubles over foreign policy than at any other time in the past 15 years, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. Some 81 percent want Obama to focus his speech on domestic affairs, not foreign ones; just five years ago, the view was evenly split.

On the day before Obama's speech, his campaign released a short Web ad showing monthly job losses during the end of the Bush administration and the beginning of the Obama administration, with positive job growth for nearly two Obama years. Republicans assail him for failing to achieve a lot more.

Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that Obama is not conceding the next 10 months to "campaigning alone" when people need economic help. On the goals of helping people get a fair shot, Carney said, "There's ample room within those boundaries for bipartisan cooperation and for getting this done."

Plouffe appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" and was interviewed on NBC's "Today" show and "CBS This Morning."

___

Associated Press writers Ben Feller, Julie Pace and Alan Fram contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-24-State%20of%20the%20Union/id-db2173feac0145b89503e5d0914c3446

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EU finance chiefs to meet as Greek talks stall

PARIS (AP) ? European finance ministers will try on Monday to give new momentum to talks on a Greek debt relief deal that is crucial to avoid a default, but a European diplomat warned that a final agreement may have to wait until a leaders' summit next week.

A deal would see Greece's private creditors ? banks and other investment firms ? swap their Greek bonds for ones with a 50 percent lower value, thereby cutting the country's debt pile by some euro100 billion ($129 billion). The new bonds will also have much longer maturities, pushing repayments decades into the future, and a much lower interest rate than Greece would currently have to pay on the market.

However, even though the Greek government and representatives for the private creditors are moving closer to a final deal, issues remain ? in particular over the interest rates on the new bonds.

If the interest rate is too high, a second, euro130 billion bailout for Greece may not be enough to put the country back on its feet. Several eurozone states and the International Monetary Fund would have to provide more loans, but they are reluctant to do so.

The talks with the private creditors will likely drag on until a summit of European Union leaders next Monday "even if technically speaking a deal is at hand," a European diplomat said Monday.

"This has to be fixed at the highest level," said the diplomat, who was speaking on condition of anonymity because the negotiations are confidential.

French finance chief Francois Baroin, who met German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble in Paris before heading to Brussels for a eurozone ministers' meeting, told reporters that a deal "seems to be emerging."

Investors appeared confident that a deal would be struck eventually, pushing the euro, stocks and bonds higher. The borrowing rates for fiscally weak countries like Italy and Spain continued to slide, suggesting growing confidence in their financial futures.

Greek officials say negotiations are continuing over the phone, while no appointment has been set yet for new face-to-face talks this week.

Last week, officials from the Institute of International Finance, which represents the private creditors, held three days of intensive talks with Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on the bond swap, which is officially called-Private Sector Involvement, or PSI.

The negotiations had been due to resume Saturday, according to Greek officials. But IIF chief Charles Dallara left for a "long-standing engagement" in Paris on Saturday.

Dallara told The Associated Press over the weekend that the talks are "coming together."

The IIF's legal and financial advisers are still in Athens working on several "outstanding issues" and Dallara will return "as needed," a spokesman said.

Greek government spokesman Pantelis Kapsis said there was "absolutely no" question of the talks failing.

"Tonight's eurogroup meeting is important, and we hope significant steps will be taken there towards an agreement," he told state NET radio Monday.

On Sunday, Dallara was quoted by private Antenna TV as saying he had presented Athens with "the best possible" proposal on the debt writedown.

"I believe the elements now are in place for a historic voluntary PSI deal. It is a question now really of the broader reaction of the European official sector and of course the IMF to this proposal," he said.

Having the creditors accept the deal voluntarily would avoid the payout of insurance on the restructured bonds. The EU and IMF are trying hard to keep it a voluntary deal, but Dallara suggested their demands were pushing the limits of what the private creditors could consider voluntary.

"Our offer that was delivered to the Prime Minister is the maximum offer consistent with a voluntary PSI deal," he added. "We are in a crossroads. Either we choose a voluntary debt restructuring (or) the alternative is to choose the path of default."

Dallara said he was "quite hopeful" that common ground can be reached "in the very, very, very short term."

The writedown is a key part of Greece's second international bailout, agreed in October but not yet finalized. Since May 2010, the country has been surviving on a first euro110 billion ($142 billion) batch of rescue loans agreed on condition of deep spending cuts and sweeping public sector reforms.

Debt inspectors from the EU, the European Central Bank and the IMF ? collectively known as the troika ? will be meeting government officials in Athens this week on the course of the austerity program. Without approval from the troika, Greece will be cut off from its rescue loan lifeline, which would force it into a messy default on its debts in late March and even possibly see it leave the euro.

___

Paphitis reported from Athens. Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-23-EU-Europe-Financial-Crisis/id-d81bea645f2d4403bbae062a669f89dd

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Your cellphone can now sing like Obama

By Rosa Golijan

barackobama.com

During a?campaign stop at the Apollo Theater in New York City last week,?President Obama surprised the audience by singing the opening lines of "Let's Stay Together,"?the classic tune by Rev. Al Green ??who was on site that evening. Now you can download Obama's rendition of the song as a ringtone for your cellphone.

Yes, you can now really hear the President sing "I'm so in love with you" every time your phone rings. All you have to do is head to the official Obama website and you'll find links to download the brief sound clip.

The ringtone appears to be a recording of Obama's Apollo performance ? audio of the audience cheering unfortunately distracts from the actual singing.

But?perhaps there's hope that someone will convince the President to record a new tune for those who want more. (And?based on a poll by TODAY.com, there are quite a few of those folks out there.)

After all, while Obama must've discussed his singing talents with members of his staff ? he points out that "they" didn't think he'd perform?? on the evening of his performance, many seemed unaware of just how gifted the President is.

Even White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer remarked that he didn't know that Obama could sing until the evening at the Apollo Theater,?says Reuters.

But now that the cat's out of the bag, someone's bound to use it as part of a campaign strategy.

Related stories:

Want more tech news, silly puns or amusing links? You'll get plenty of all three if you keep up with Rosa Golijan, the writer of this post, by following her on?Twitter, subscribing to her?Facebook?posts, or circling her?on?Google+.

Source: http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/23/10217172-your-cellphone-can-now-sing-like-obama

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Six U.S. Marines killed in Afghan helicopter crash (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) ? Six U.S. Marines were killed in a helicopter crash in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, a U.S. official said, but NATO said Taliban fighters were not active in the area at the time.

"The cause of the crash is under investigation, however initial reporting indicates there was no enemy activity in the area at the time of the crash", a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force said Friday, raising questions about a possible malfunction or pilot error.

The NATO spokesman declined to confirm the nationality of the victims but a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said all of the dead were U.S. Marines.

It is the worst crash since August last year when 30 American forces, including 22 elite Navy SEAL commandos, died when their helicopter came down in eastern Afghanistan.

An investigation into the incident confirmed that the Taliban fired a rocket-propelled grenade that hit one of the rotary blades and exploded, sending the helicopter plunging to the ground and bursting into flames within seconds.

All eight Afghans on board were also killed.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor; Additional reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/wl_nm/us_afghanistan_helicopter

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NZ police raid file-sharing site founder's mansion

Megaupload.com employees Bram van der Kolk, also known as Bramos, left, Finn Batato,second from left, Mathias Ortmann and founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.com Kim Dotcom (also known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor), right, appear in North Shore District Court in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The four appeared in court in relation to arrests made to Megaupload.com, which is linked to a U.S. investigation into international copyright infringement and money laundering. (AP Photo/Greg Bowker, New Zealand Herald) NEW ZEALAND OUT, AUSTRALIA OUT

Megaupload.com employees Bram van der Kolk, also known as Bramos, left, Finn Batato,second from left, Mathias Ortmann and founder, former CEO and current chief innovation officer of Megaupload.com Kim Dotcom (also known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor), right, appear in North Shore District Court in Auckland, New Zealand, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. The four appeared in court in relation to arrests made to Megaupload.com, which is linked to a U.S. investigation into international copyright infringement and money laundering. (AP Photo/Greg Bowker, New Zealand Herald) NEW ZEALAND OUT, AUSTRALIA OUT

This undated image obtained by The Associated Press shows the homepage of the website Megaupload.com. Federal prosecutors in Virginia have shut down one of the world's largest file-sharing sites, Megaupload.com, and charged its founder and others with violating piracy laws. (AP Photo)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) ? New Zealand police raided several homes and businesses linked to the founder of Megaupload.com, a giant Internet file-sharing site shut down by U.S. authorities, on Friday and seized guns, millions of dollars, and nearly $5 million in luxury cars, officials said.

Police arrested founder Kim Dotcom and three Megaupload employees on U.S. accusations that they facilitated millions of illegal downloads of films, music and other content costing copyright holders at least $500 million in lost revenue. Extradition proceedings against them could last a year or more.

With 150 million registered users, about 50 million hits daily and endorsements from music superstars, Megaupload.com was among the world's biggest file-sharing sites. According to a U.S. indictment, the site, which was shut down Thursday, earned Dotcom $42 million in 2010 alone.

Although the company is based in Hong Kong and Dotcom lives in New Zealand, some of the alleged pirated content was hosted on leased servers in Virginia, and that was enough for U.S. prosecutors to act.

New Zealand police served 10 search warrants at several businesses and homes around the city of Auckland.

Police spokesman Grant Ogilvie said the seized cars include a Rolls Royce Phantom Drophead Coupe worth more than $400,000 as well as several Mercedes. Two short-barreled shotguns and a number of valuable artworks were also confiscated, he added.

He said police seized more than $8 million, money that was invested in various New Zealand financial institutions and which has now been placed in a trust pending the outcome of the cases.

New Zealand's Fairfax Media reported that the four defendants stood together in an Auckland courtroom in the first step of the extradition proceedings.

Dotcom's lawyer raised objections to a media request to take photographs and video, but then Dotcom spoke out from the dock, saying he didn't mind photos or video "because we have nothing to hide." The judge granted the media access, and ruled that the four would remain in custody until a second hearing Monday.

Dotcom, Megaupload's former CEO and current chief innovation officer, is a resident of Hong Kong and New Zealand and a dual citizen of Finland and Germany who had his name legally changed. The 37-year-old was previously known as Kim Schmitz and Kim Tim Jim Vestor.

Two other German citizens and one Dutch citizen also were arrested and three other defendants ? another German, a Slovakian and an Estonian ? remain at large.

Megaupload has retained Washington power attorney Bob Bennett to defend it, according to a person inside the company. Bennett is best known for representing former President Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The person within Megaupload spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the company's plans.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which defends free speech and digital rights online, said in a statement that the arrests set "a terrifying precedent. If the United States can seize a Dutch citizen in New Zealand over a copyright claim, what is next?"

The indictment was unsealed one day after websites including Wikipedia and Craigslist shut down in protest of two congressional proposals intended to make it easier for authorities to go after sites with pirated material, especially those with overseas headquarters and servers.

Before Megaupload was taken down, the company posted a statement saying allegations that it facilitated massive breaches of copyright laws were "grotesquely overblown."

"The fact is that the vast majority of Mega's Internet traffic is legitimate, and we are here to stay. If the content industry would like to take advantage of our popularity, we are happy to enter into a dialogue. We have some good ideas. Please get in touch," the statement said.

Several sister sites were also shut down, including one dedicated to sharing pornography files.

News of the shutdown seemed to bring retaliation from hackers who claimed credit for attacking the Justice Department's website. Federal officials confirmed it was down for hours Thursday evening and that the disruption was being "treated as a malicious act."

A loose affiliation of hackers known as "Anonymous" claimed credit for the attack. Also hacked was the site for the Motion Picture Association of America, which has campaigned for a crackdown on piracy.

According to the indictment, Megaupload was estimated at one point to be the 13th most frequently visited website on the Internet. Current estimates by companies that monitor Web traffic place it in the top 100.

Megaupload is considered a "cyberlocker," in which users can upload and transfer files that are too large to send by email. Such sites can have perfectly legitimate uses. But the Motion Picture Association of America estimated that the vast majority of content being shared on Megaupload was in violation of copyright laws.

The website allowed users to download some content for free, but made money by charging subscriptions to people who wanted access to faster download speeds or extra content. The website also sold advertising.

Megaupload was unique not only because of its massive size and the volume of downloaded content, but also because it had high-profile support from celebrities, musicians and other content producers who are most often the victims of copyright infringement and piracy. Before the website was taken down, it contained endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Alicia Keys and Kanye West, among others.

The company listed Swizz Beatz, a musician who married Keys in 2010, as its CEO. He was not named in the indictment and declined to comment through a representative.

The five-count indictment, which alleges copyright infringement as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering and racketeering, described a site designed specifically to reward users who uploaded pirated content for sharing, and turned a blind eye to requests from copyright holders to remove copyright-protected files.

For instance, users received cash bonuses if they uploaded content popular enough to generate massive numbers of downloads, according to the indictment. Such content was almost always copyright protected, the indictment said.

The Justice Department said it was illegal for anyone to download pirated content, but their investigation focused on the leaders of the company, not end users who may have downloaded a few movies for personal viewing.

A lawyer who represented the company in a lawsuit last year declined to comment Thursday. Efforts to reach an attorney representing Dotcom were unsuccessful.

Although Megaupload is based in Hong Kong, the size of its operation in the southern Chinese city was unclear. The administrative contact listed in its domain registration, Bonnie Lam, did not respond immediately for a request for comment sent to a fax number and email address listed.

The indictment was returned in the Eastern District of Virginia, which claimed jurisdiction in part because some of the alleged pirated materials were hosted on leased servers in Ashburn, Virginia. Prosecutors there have pursued multiple piracy investigations.

The Justice Department also was investigating the "significant increase in activity" that disrupted its website. It said in a statement that it was working to "investigate the origins of this activity, which is being treated as a malicious act until we can fully identify the root cause."

The site appeared to be working again late Thursday. A spokesman for the Motion Picture Association of America said in an emailed statement that the group's site also had been hacked, but it too appeared to be working later in the evening.

"The motion picture and television industry has always been a strong supporter of free speech," the spokesman said. "We strongly condemn any attempts to silence any groups or individuals."

____

Matthew Barakat reported from McLean, Virginia. AP Business Writer Daniel Wagner in Washington contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-20-Internet-Piracy-Indictment/id-a3e1c4fc88174248bed331b950650fe2

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Bangladesh military says it has foiled coup plot

[unable to retrieve full-text content]DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) ? The Bangladesh military said Thursday it foiled a plot by a group of hardline officers, their retired colleagues and Bangladeshi conspirators living abroad to overthrow Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-19-AS-Bangladesh-Coup-Plot/id-76977a52b324434fa2f9c5e10fc2fa42

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Seattle faces unusually strong snowfall (Reuters)

SEATTLE (Reuters) ? A Pacific storm blanketed Seattle in more than 4 inches of snow on Wednesday, forcing school closures and airline flight cancellations and snarling traffic throughout a city more accustomed to rain than severe winter weather.

But the storm, nicknamed "Snowmageddon" as it approached the Puget Sound region, proved less extreme than originally forecast, with the National Weather Service lowering its outlook for possible snow accumulations from up to 10 inches to around 6 inches, meteorologist Dustin Guy said.

The storm, which arrived on Tuesday evening, bore down more forefully on towns in the interior part of Washington state, where snowfall totals ranging from 10 inches to 20 inches were expected, the Weather Service said.

By midday Wednesday, 20 inches of snow already had fallen on the rural town of Rochester, just south of the state capital of Olympia, said Rob Harper, a spokesman for the state Emergency Operations Center.

Most schools in the Seattle area were closed on Wednesday due to the storm, said Lesley Rogers, a spokeswoman for the Seattle Public Schools district.

Children took advantage of the rare snow day to sled down hilly streets, especially the city's tallest incline, Queen Anne Hill, which towers 450 feet above nearby Elliott Bay.

Four inches of snow was measured at the city's Sea-Tac Airport by mid-morning, and the Seattle suburb of Bothell was blanketed with nearly 7 inches of snow, the Weather Service reported.

Alaska Airlines canceled over 40 flights departing from or arriving in Seattle as a result of the storm, the company said on its Facebook page. Southwest Airlines cancelled six flights into Seattle early in the day but resumed all flights by mid-morning, said company spokeswoman Ashley Dillon.

The snowstorm also slowed traffic on city streets and freeways.

"There's been tons of collisions, it's been really slick out there," said Julie Startup, a spokeswoman for the Washington State Patrol.

The State Patrol responded to reports of 75 collisions and spin-outs in King County alone, which includes Seattle, between 5 a.m. and 10 a.m., Startup said.

Normally temperate Seattle is more accustomed to steady rain than snow in winter, averaging just 6 to 7 inches of snow each year, said National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Colman.

The storm also was blamed for "scattered" power outages, mostly in southwestern Washington state, Harper said.

The snow was expected to taper off on Wednesday night, giving way to a mixture of rain and snow more typical for the region, Weather Service meteorologist Johnny Burg said.

But Harper said freezing rain could bring about additional problems in parts of Washington state.

"Freezing rain increases the chances that power lines will come down," he said.

He added the governor could later declare a state of emergency if conditions worsen.

(Additional reporting By Lauren Keiper Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Steve Gorman)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120118/us_nm/us_snowstorm_northwest

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