Turns out that all those rumors that Johnny Depp and longtime love Vanessa Paradis have split might be just that -- rumors.
the league the ides of march yankees espn magazine espn magazine anywhere but here wall street protesters
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Romney talks housing, ends up defending banks
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, is licked by Napoleon the dog as he campaigns in Lehigh Acres, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, is licked by Napoleon the dog as he campaigns in Lehigh Acres, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney greets residents as he campaigns in front of a foreclosed home in Lehigh Acres, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, greets residents as he campaigns in Lehigh Acres, Fla., Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
LEHIGH ACRES, Fla. (AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney came to ground zero of the housing crisis Tuesday to assail rival Newt Gingrich over his ties to the government-backed mortgage companies that helped make it worse, a message Romney has been pushing since he landed in the state. But that meant he also had to talk about banks ? and he continued what's become a habit of comparing companies to people.
Romney was standing outside a Fannie Mae-foreclosed home in a struggling neighborhood telling a small crowd why they're having so much trouble. "In this case, it's because of the banks," he explained. "Well, the banks aren't bad people. They're just overwhelmed right now."
During a Monday roundtable with business owners struggling in Florida's hobbled housing market, the former Massachusetts governor told the group that their troubles with banks came because the lenders were worried about staying in business.
"The banks are scared to death, of course," he said. "They're feeling the same thing that you're feeling. And so they just want to pretend that all this is just going to get paid some day."
Both comments echoed the now-famous line Romney delivered from a hay bale at the Iowa state fair: "Corporations are people, my friend!"
They're also part of a string of comments Romney has made that his opponents have used to pummel him as wealthy and out of touch with average Americans. Ahead of the New Hampshire primary, he said he once feared being "pink-slipped" and later said "I like to fire people." He was referring to insurance companies, but both Democrats and his Republican rivals attacked him for it.
In calling corporations people, Romney was referring to laws that give companies some rights under the law that are also given to people. And in Florida, he's been trying to explain that banks are scared they'll go out of business because so many people have stopped paying their mortgages. He's also argued that regulations passed during the Obama administration give banks less flexibility if they're trying to help consumers renegotiate the terms of their mortgages.
He's focusing on the housing market because it's a critical issue in Florida, where the GOP primary will be held on Jan. 31. Gingrich, his chief rival, earned more than $1.6 million working as a consultant to Freddie Mac. The mortgage giant was heavily involved in the subprime lending business that helped drive the housing bubble.
"Housing has become a mess in large measure because the government got in the middle of it," Romney said. "I'm running against a guy, as you know, in this primary, who was out there working for one of those guys in the case of Freddie Mac."
Freddie Mac, a government-sponsored enterprise, was originally designed to help more people get access to mortgages to buy homes.
Romney himself hasn't outlined any specific proposals to help fix the housing market. He says improving the economy will allow Americans to regain their footing and keep their homes.
Since coming to Florida, though, he's softened his rhetoric. Last year, he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the government should let the foreclosure crisis "run its course and hit the bottom." Now, he's saying the housing market needs to be "reset" so that the American economy can "rebuild."
"The distress they're feeling here was heartbreaking," Romney told reporters after the Monday roundtable. "I want to do my very best to help people like that."
Associated Pressreno wildfire reno wildfire osu osu reno news syracuse shonn greene
Exclusive: Gates prods D.C. on aid (Politico)
Bill Gates, in his annual letter from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on Tuesday night will make a full-throated appeal to policy makers - and voters - to continue to support effective aid that can lead to better lives. He believes we must build on the incredible progress in health and development, and not let excuses keep governments from helping the world's poorest. Now, more than ever, he says, we have a real opportunity to help people build self-sufficiency and overcome the need for aid. Also, not surprisingly for a man who made his fortune through innovation, he touts innovation as the key to improving the world.
His letter describes innovations in health (vaccines, AIDS drugs) and in agriculture (disease-resistant seeds) that have transformed people's lives. The full letter will be posted here at 7 p.m.
Continue ReadingAn exclusive sneak peek for POLITICO readers:
?"Throughout my careers in software and philanthropy, . a recurring theme has been that innovation is the key to improving the world. . The world faces a clear choice.? If we invest relatively modest amounts, many more poor farmers will be able to feed their families.? If we don't, one in seven people will continue living needlessly on the edge of starvation. My annual letter this year is an argument for making the choice to keep on helping extremely poor people build self-sufficiency."
?"[S]o many partners share our vision of an equitable world and are willing to put money behind it, even in these tough times. When people know the kind of impact their generosity has, they are not only willing but eager to help."
?On the positive impact effective foreign aid has had on the world's poorest: "The relatively small amount of money invested in development has changed the future prospects of billions of people - and it can do the same for billions more - if we make the choice to continue investing in innovation. We will repeat that message over and over.because we are convinced that when people hear stories of the lives they've helped to improve, they want to do more, not less."
?"We can help poor farmers sustainably increase their productivity so they can feed themselves and their families. By doing so, they will contribute to global food security. But that will happen only if we prioritize agricultural innovation. . It is shocking, not to mention short-sighted and potentially dangerous - how little money is spent on agricultural research."
?On global health: "[T]he success of the polio eradication program in India and 90 other countries gives me confidence that we can triumph in these final challenging countries and end polio once and for all."
? "The cost of keeping a patient on AIDS drugs has been coming down, and it looks like getting it to $300 per patient per year should be achievable. That will mean every $300 that governments invest in the Global Fund will put another person on treatment for a year. Every $300 that's not forthcoming will represent a person taken off treatment. . I believe that if people understood the choice, they would ask their government to save more lives."
?
heavy d dead heavy d dead alaska weather alaska weather election results gop debate live gop debate live
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Equatorial Guinea gets $1M win over Libya
Co-host of African Cup of Nations earns bonus with 1-0 upset
By MARK WALSH
updated 4:57 p.m. ET Jan. 21, 2012
BATA, Equatorial Guinea - Equatorial Guinea made a dramatic and rich debut in the African Cup of Nations with a stunning 1-0 win over Libya in the tournament opener on Saturday.
Equatorial Guinea qualified for the first time only because it's the co-host with Gabon, but it gave Africa's showpiece event a terrific start despite police having to tear gas some of the thousands of fans who overcame the security at Bata Stadium to force their way in.
In a game in which Equatorial Guinea deserved to win, it threatened the upset throughout and finally delivered when Javier-Angel Balboa scored after racing onto a throughball and slotting past Libya goalkeeper Samir Aboud into the top corner in the 87th minute.
"We played a good game. We had trained so little time, but the tactical dedication of our players was great," said Equatorial Guinea coach Gilson Paulo.
Paulo had only a few weeks to get to know his squad after replacing predecessor Henri Michel, who resigned just before the tournament.
This week, the team was promised a $1 million bonus from the son of the country's president if the team won the match.
"It's the famous $1 million," midfielder Juvenal Edjogo-Owono said a grin. "For us the money is not very important, the most important thing is to start the competition with a win.
"Now we will see the future more optimistically."
Edjogo-Owono missed a chance in the first half when his deflected shot rebounded off a post. Ivan Bolado put the rebound into the net, but the effort was disallowed for offside.Despite injured captain Rodolfo Bodipo managing only a 15-minute substitute role, Equatorial Guinea belied its billing as the tournament's lowest-ranked team by matching Libya and creating opportunities.
Libya controlled possession early on, the first half-chance falling to Walid al-Katroushi, who was tackled at full stretch by Rui Da Gracia just before shooting in the opening minutes.
Unexpectedly, the co-host then took control of the match, forcing Libya goalkeeper Samir Aboud into some nervous fumbles.
The game continued its surprise pattern into the second half. Thierry Fidjeu tried an acrobatic finish but hooked his volley wide in the 53rd.
Meanwhile, Libya's players looked sluggish and hesitant - overawed perhaps by the expectations of a nation hoping to cap a year that included the overthrow of Moammar Gadhafi with sporting success at the African Cup.
After the final whistle, the fans streamed outside blowing vuvuzelas and dancing with their hands in the air.
Libya coach Marcos Paqueta congratulated Equatorial Guinea.
"The conditions were very difficult facing the Equatorial Guinea team at home," he said.
"We started the game well, we kept the ball well, but the team started after that to get a bit nervous so we missed easy passes and lost control."
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
advertisement
More newsGetty ImagesFirst American EPL hat trick
Clint Dempsey became the first American to score a hat trick in England's Premier League, helping Fulham rally from a halftime deficit to rout Newcastle 5-2 Saturday.
Getty ImagesBest of the US
Abby Wambach and Clint Dempsey are voted top players by the U.S. Soccer Federation.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46084154/ns/sports-soccer/
zombie boy harvard yale joe paterno lung cancer joe paterno lung cancer john tucker must die uk basketball iowa state
Monday, January 23, 2012
Sudan seized oil worth $815 million, South Sudan says (Reuters)
JUBA (Reuters) ? South Sudan said Monday it started shutting down oil production and accused Sudan of seizing $815 million worth of crude, escalating an increasingly bitter row over oil revenues between the former civil war foes.
South Sudan seceded last July under a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war between north and south, but the two have remained locked in a dispute over how to untangle their oil industries.
The new landlocked nation needs to use a northern pipeline and the port of Port Sudan to export its crude but has failed to reach an agreement with Khartoum over a transit fee, prompting Sudan to start seizing oil as compensation.
South Sudan started shutting down oil output Sunday and expected to finish the process within two weeks, government spokesman Barnaba Marial Benjamin told Reuters by phone.
"The task force has been formed for the shutdown and they are already in the fields carrying out the instructions," he said, listing the Thar Jath field in Unity state as one field where the shutdown had begun.
Officials said in November South Sudan was producing about 350,000 barrels of oil per day.
China is the biggest buyer of oil from the two countries, some 12.99 million barrels last year. That amounted to five percent of last year's crude imports by China, which is also the top investor in South Sudan's oilfields.
South Sudan's President Salva Kiir accused Khartoum of having "looted" revenues amounting to roughly $815 million and building a tie-in pipeline to divert 120,000 barrels per day of southern production flowing through the north.
"Given our history with the administration of (Sudan's) President Bashir, we realize that, unfortunately, we must prepare for a disruption of revenue that could last many months," Kiir told parliament in Juba.
The justice ministry in South Sudan's capital Juba published a list of three vessels it said had been forced to load southern oil at Port Sudan on orders from Khartoum.
The MT Sea Sky loaded 605,784 barrels on January 13/14, the MT Al Nouf around 750,000 barrels on January 16/17 and the MT Ratna Shradha another 600,000 barrels on Jan 19/20, the ministry said.
Officials in Khartoum could not immediately be reached for comment. Foreign Minister Ali Ahmed Karti told Reuters last week that Khartoum was entitled to seize oil to compensate for transit fees.
South Sudanese officials have said they are planning to build a new pipeline to export oil through East Africa, but analysts have expressed skepticism because of the difficulty of carrying out such a project.
"The financial, technical, and political obstacles to the construction of an alternative pipeline are enormous," Jean-Baptiste Gallopin, an analyst at Control Risks, said.
"I have no doubt both Sudanese governments are under a lot of international pressure to reach an agreement, because the risks of conflict are real at this stage," Gallopin said.
NO END TO ROW
The two countries are expected to resume oil talks soon, sponsored by the African Union in Addis Ababa, after negotiations were suspended last week.
Sudan's President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said this month Khartoum would impose a fee since Juba had not paid anything for using northern export facilities since independence.
Khartoum is demanding $1 billion for fees since July and $36 a barrel as a transit fee, officials have said.
South Sudan's Kiir said his government was planning to reduce its dependence on oil revenues, which make up 98 percent of state income.
"We will need to find other sources of funding. In doing so I have instructed the ministry of finance to initiate contingency plans for revenue collection and allocation," he said.
Sudan's civil war devastated much of the south, leaving the new nation one of the least developed in the world.
The row with Sudan has stirred anger among some in South Sudan, where independence is often framed as the culmination of a long struggle against political and economic marginalization.
Underscoring those sentiments, around one thousand people marched to parliament Monday to support the government's decision to shut down oil production.
The crowd, mostly university students, cheered, waved their fists in the air and carried placards reading: "Looting our oil is a crime" and "We call on the international community to help the infant country."
(Reporting by Hereward Holland and Alexander Dziadosz; Writing by Ulf Laessing and Alexander Dziadosz, editing by Jane Baird and Jason Neely)
richard simmons war of 1812 war of 1812 jeffrey eugenides jeffrey eugenides volcker rule matthew stafford
[OOC]
Forum rules
This forum is for OOC discussion about existing roleplays.
Hey, i'm glad ya'll are posting so soon! I can already tell this is going to be a kick-ass RP :)
This forum is for OOC discussion about existing roleplays.
Please post all "Players Wanted" threads in the Roleplayers Wanted forum!
This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?--Dollhouse-->?. Anything posted here will also show up there.Topic Tags:
Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.Hey, i'm glad ya'll are posting so soon! I can already tell this is going to be a kick-ass RP :)
Oh, and SmileyCassandra, I got your message, but for some reason the site's not letting me respond.
So, to anyone who needs to tell me anything just write it on here. If it's private then send me a message and i'll find some way to respond :)
-
amyreinreaper - Member for 1 years
Post a reply
-
RolePlayGateway is a site built by a couple roleplayers who wanted to give a little something back to the roleplay community. The site has no intention of earning any profit, and is paid for out of their own pockets.
If you appreciate what they do, feel free to donate your spare change to help feed them on the weekends. After selecting the amount you want to donate from the menu, you can continue by clicking on PayPal logo.
Who is online
Registered users: Abraxas*, Agent*, AmiOfTheRain, AzricanRepublic*, Bashie L. Craft, BekaL101, Bionic00, blackwolf*, Breyerluv*, brigitteanncastro, Bromander Shepard, Brony Otaku, Calvazara, Chulance*, Cloasse, cmpuncle, CriminalMinds*, Cure, danm36*, deathrisesagain, DemiKara*, Doomshifter, Dr. Seuss*, Erlanis*, Ernest12, Forevveru, Google [Bot], Google Adsense [Bot], Google Feedfetcher, Hadespwr, Halfanelf, hayleymaee, HeroValour, Horseygirl, Iamdeadpool*, inara1917, jackrules158*, Jaybt9, Jimmeh1993, Kesteven, Kestrel, KethryMoondragon, kingjpc*, KuruLesperance, Light_of_the_Fallen, Lloyd999, LostInFantasy, Loxley, Lucaris*, Majestic-12 [Bot], Marionette*, MSN [Bot], MSNbot Media, mummydove, Myst5981*, Neon.lynxie, nightwolf, nltniko, Nocte*, Nyxeth*, OdiOdi, Otowar, Patcharoo*, PirateofPie*, Porecomesis*, Princess Awinita*, RainWish, ReiRyuusei, Rem?us*, Revolverhelden, Rill, Riverstyx777, RosexXxStarlight*, Rougeshadow, RubyBlue*, RydeDawg, ScarletRivers, Script*, SerenityMist, Smileybird*, StandardFiend, Starryskies*, SuperQ19, Sweet Angel Jocelyn, SynapticError*, The Angry Penguin, The Illusionist*, The Protagonist, The Vampire Mistress, TheFlag*, Tigeress, Tiko*, Tropicalpeacock, unmog, Usui*, Valkyrieknight*, Velvet_Harmony, wednesdaysun, Wing06Twilight, XavierDantius32, Xavirne, xoxMissClairexox, Zetta, ? ????????? ?
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/UqU2UpMlbjw/viewtopic.php
joe frazier dead joe frazier dead topamax lexapro trazodone voting sharon bialek
Sunday, January 22, 2012
Coordinated sect attack kills 143 in north Nigeria
A victim of Friday's bomb blast and gun attacks lies in Murtala Muhammad specialist hospital in Kano, Nigeria Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Coordinated attacks claimed by a radical Islamist sect killed at least 120 people in north Nigeria's largest city, hospital records seen Saturday show, as gunfire still echoed around some areas of the sprawling city. (AP Photo/Salisu Rabiu)
A victim of Friday's bomb blast and gun attacks lies in Murtala Muhammad specialist hospital in Kano, Nigeria Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Coordinated attacks claimed by a radical Islamist sect killed at least 120 people in north Nigeria's largest city, hospital records seen Saturday show, as gunfire still echoed around some areas of the sprawling city. (AP Photo/Salisu Rabiu)
A victim of Friday's bomb blast and gun attacks is transported in Murtala Muhammad specialist hospital in Kano, Nigeria Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Coordinated attacks claimed by a radical Islamist sect killed at least 120 people in north Nigeria's largest city, hospital records seen Saturday show, as gunfire still echoed around some areas of the sprawling city. (AP Photo/Salisu Rabiu)
A victim of Friday's bomb blast and gun attacks lies in Murtala Muhammad specialist hospital in Kano, Nigeria Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Coordinated attacks claimed by a radical Islamist sect killed at least 120 people in north Nigeria's largest city, hospital records seen Saturday show, as gunfire still echoed around some areas of the sprawling city. (AP Photo/Salisu Rabiu)
A victim of Friday's bomb blast and gun attacks lies in Murtala Muhammad specialist hospital in Kano, Nigeria Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Coordinated attacks claimed by a radical Islamist sect killed at least 120 people in north Nigeria's largest city, hospital records seen Saturday show, as gunfire still echoed around some areas of the sprawling city. (AP Photo/Salisu Rabiu)
A victim of Friday's bomb blast and gun attacks lies in Murtala Muhammad specialist hospital in Kano, Nigeria Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. Coordinated attacks claimed by a radical Islamist sect killed at least 120 people in north Nigeria's largest city, hospital records seen Saturday show, as gunfire still echoed around some areas of the sprawling city. (AP Photo/Salisu Rabiu)
KANO, Nigeria (AP) ? A coordinated attack by a radical Islamist sect in north Nigeria's largest city killed at least 143 people, a hospital official said Saturday, representing the extremist group's deadliest assault since beginning its campaign of terror in Africa's most populous nation.
Soldiers and police officers swarmed Kano's streets as Nigeria's president again promised the sect known as Boko Haram would "face the full wrath of the law." But the uniformed bodies of security agents that filled a Kano hospital mortuary again showed the sect can strike at will against the country's weak central government.
Friday's attacks hit police stations, immigration offices and the local headquarters of Nigeria's secret police in Kano, a city of more than 9 million people that remains an important political and religious center in the country's Muslim north. A suicide bomber detonated a car loaded with powerful explosives outside a regional police headquarters, tearing its roof away and blowing out windows in a blast felt miles away as its members escaped jail cells there.
Authorities largely refused to offer casualty statistics as mourners began claiming the bodies of their loved ones to bury before sundown, following Islamic tradition. However, a hospital official told The Associated Press at least 143 people were killed in the attack.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the death toll to journalists. The toll could still rise, since other bodies could be held at other clinics and hospitals in the sprawling city.
State authorities enforced a 24-hour curfew in the city, with many remaining home as soldiers and police patrolled the streets and setup roadblocks. Gunshots echoed through some areas of the city into Saturday morning.
Nwakpa O. Nwakpa, a spokesman for the Nigerian Red Cross, said volunteers offered first aid to the wounded, and evacuated those seriously injured to local hospitals. A survey of two hospitals by the Red Cross showed at least 50 people were injured in Friday's attack, he said.
A Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in a message to journalists Friday. He said the attack came because the state government refused to release Boko Haram members held by the police.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Saturday that he was "shocked and appalled" by the attacks in the former colony.
"The full horror of last night's events is still unfolding, but we know that a great many people have died and many more have been injured," Hague said in a statement. "The nature of these attacks has sickened people around the world and I send my deepest condolences and sympathies to the families of those killed and to those injured."
President Goodluck Jonathan also condemned an attack he said saw innocent people "brutally and recklessly cut down by agents of terror."
"As a responsible government, we will not fold our hands and watch enemies of democracy, for that is what these mindless killers are, perpetrate unprecedented evil in our land," Jonathan said in a statement. "I want to reassure Nigerians ... that all those involved in that dastardly act would be made to face the full wrath of the law."
But Jonathan's government has repeatedly been unable to stop attacks by Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the Hausa language of Nigeria's north. The group has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law and avenge the deaths of Muslims in communal violence across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people.
Authorities blamed Boko Haram for at least 510 killings last year alone, according to an AP count, including an August suicide bombing on the U.N. headquarters in the country's capital Abuja. So far this year, the group has been blamed for at least 219 killings, according to an AP count.
Boko Haram recently said it specifically would target Christians living in Nigeria's north, but Friday's attack saw its gunmen kill many Muslims. In a recent video posted to the Internet, Imam Abubakar Shekau, a Boko Harm leader, warned it would kill anyone who "betrays the religion" by being part of or sympathizing with Nigeria's government.
"I swear by Allah we will kill them and their killing will be nothing to us," Shekau said. "It will be like going to prayers at 5 a.m."
Friday's attacks also could cause more unrest, as violence in Kano has set off attacks throughout the north in the past, including postelection violence in April that saw 800 people killed. Kano, an ancient city, remains important in the history of Islam in Nigeria and has important religious figures there today.
Amid the recent unrest and attacks, at least two journalists have been killed in Nigeria. Journalist Enenche Akogwu, who worked as a correspondent in Kano for private news station Channels Television, was shot Friday while reporting on the attacks, colleagues said. In central Nigeria's city of Jos, Nansok Sallah, a news editor for a government-owned radio station called Highland FM, was found dead in a shallow stream Thursday, the victim of an apparent murder, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.
___
Salisu Rabiu in Kano, Nigeria, and Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.
___
Jon Gambrell reported from Lagos, Nigeria and can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
Associated Pressuekman music awards music awards giants eagles bcs rankings week 13 bcs rankings week 13 philadelphia marathon
Ship search finds 12th body, captain's documents
An Italian fireman descends from an helicopter to the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. The cruise captain who grounded the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast with 4,200 people on board did not relay correct information either to the company or crew after the ship hit rocks, the cruise ship owner's CEO said as the search resumed for 21 missing passengers. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
An Italian fireman descends from an helicopter to the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. The cruise captain who grounded the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast with 4,200 people on board did not relay correct information either to the company or crew after the ship hit rocks, the cruise ship owner's CEO said as the search resumed for 21 missing passengers. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
A woman checks if her clothes are dry as the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia is seen in background, off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. The cruise captain, Capt. Francesco Schettino, who grounded the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast with 4,200 people on board did not relay correct information either to the company or crew after the ship hit rocks, the cruise ship owner's CEO said as the search resumed for 21 missing passengers. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
The grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia lays off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. The cruise captain who grounded the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast with 4,200 people on board did not relay correct information either to the company or crew after the ship hit rocks, the cruise ship owner's CEO said as the search resumed for 21 missing passengers. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
An Italian Coast Guard boat patrols the area around the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. The cruise captain who grounded the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast with 4,200 people on board did not relay correct information either to the company or crew after the ship hit rocks, the cruise ship owner's CEO said as the search resumed for 21 missing passengers. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
Fuel spilling experts work on the grounded cruise ship Costa Concordia off the Tuscan island of Giglio, Italy, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. The cruise captain who grounded the Costa Concordia off the Tuscan coast with 4,200 people on board did not relay correct information either to the company or crew after the ship hit rocks, the cruise ship owner's CEO said as the search resumed for 21 missing passengers. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
GIGLIO, Italy (AP) ? Divers plumbing the capsized Costa Concordia's murky depths pulled out the body of a woman in a life vest Saturday, while scuba-diving police swam through the captain's cabin to retrieve a safe and documents belonging to the man who abandoned the cruise liner after it was gashed by a rocky reef on the Tuscan coast.
Hoping for a miracle ? or at least for the recovery of bodies from the ship that has become an underwater tomb ? relatives of some of the 20 missing appealed to survivors of the Jan. 13 shipwreck to offer details that could help divers reach loved ones while it is still possible to search the luxury liner. The clock is ticking because the craft is perched precariously on a rocky ledge of seabed near Giglio island.
"We are asking the 4,000 persons who were on board to give any information they can about any of the persons still missing," said Alain Litzler, a Frenchman who is the father of missing passenger Mylene Litzler. "We need precise information to help the search and rescue teams find them."
Early Sunday, instruments monitoring any movement of the Concordia indicated that vessel had shifted slightly, so search efforts were suspended for the night, Italian state radio reported.
The death toll rose to at least 12 Saturday after a water-logged body was extracted from a passageway near a gathering point for evacuation by lifeboats in the rear of the vessel, Coast Guard Cmdr. Filippo Marini said. It was not immediately clear if the woman was a passenger or crew member. A female Peruvian bartender and several adult female passengers were among the 21 people listed as missing before the latest corpse was found.
Relatives of the bartender and of an Indian crewman, along with two children of an elderly couple from Minnesota who are among the missing, boarded a boat Saturday to view the wrecked Concordia Saturday, said a maritime official, Fabrizio Palombo.
Family members tossed flowers near the site while islanders standing on the rocky edge of the island also strew bouquets on the water in a tribute to the victims.
Another Coast Guard official, Cosimo Nicastro, said the woman's body was found during a particularly risky inspection.
"The corridor was very narrow, and the divers' lines risked snagging" on furniture and objects floating in the passageway, Nicastro said. To help the coast guard divers reach the area, Italian navy divers had preceded them, setting off charges to blast holes for easier entrance and exit.
Meanwhile, police divers, carrying out orders from prosecutors investigating Captain Francesco Schettino for suspected manslaughter and abandoning the ship, swam through the cold, dark waters to reach his cabin. State TV and the Italian news agency ANSA reported that the divers located and remove his safe and two suitcases. His passport and several documents were also pulled out, state media said.
Searchers inspecting the bridge Saturday also found a hard disk containing data of the voyage, Sky TG24 TV reported.
Three bodies were found in waters around the ship in the first hours after the accident. Since then, divers have gone inside the Concordia to recover all the remaining victims, who were apparently unable to escape the lurching ship during a chaotic evacuation launched almost an hour after the liner hit a reef.
Some survivors who couldn't board lifeboats waited for hours aboard the capsizing craft for rescue by helicopters while others jumped into the water and swam to safety.
The last survivor, found aboard 36 hours after the crash, was an Italian crewman who broke his leg in the confusion and couldn't leave the ship.
The Concordia hit the reef, well-marked on maritime and even tourist maps, while most of the passengers sat down to dinner in the main restaurant, about two hours after the ship had set sail from the port of Civitavecchia on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Costa Crociere, the ship's operator and subsidiary of U.S.-based Carnival Cruise Lines, has said the captain had deviated without permission from the vessel's route in an apparent maneuver to sail close to the island of Giglio and impress passengers.
Schettino, despite audiotapes of his defying Coast Guard orders to scramble back aboard, has denied he abandoned ship while hundreds of passengers were desperately trying to get off the capsizing vessel. He has said he coordinated the rescue from aboard a lifeboat and then from the shore.
The effort to find survivors and bodies has postponed an operation to remove heavy fuel in the Concordia's tanks; specialized equipment has been standing by for days.
Light fuel, apparently from machinery aboard the capsized ship, was spotted in nearby waters, authorities said Saturday.
But Nicastro said there was no indication that any of the nearly 500,000 gallons (2,200 metric tons) of heavy fuel oil has leaked from the ship's double-bottomed tanks, seen as a risk if the ship's position changes. He said the leaked substance appears to be diesel, which is used to fuel rescue boats and dinghies and as a lubricant for ship machinery.
There are 185 tons of diesel and lubricants on board the crippled vessel, which is lying on its side just outside Giglio's port. Nicastro described the fuel in the sea as "very light, very superficial" and appearing to be under control.
But an official leading rescue, search and anti-pollution efforts for the ship suggested that the luxury liner would have leaked contaminants on board when it tipped over.
"We must not forget that on that ship there are oils, solvents, detergents, everything that a city of 4,000 people needs," Franco Gabrielli, the head of Italy's civil protection agency, told reporters in Giglio.
Gabrielli was referring to the roughly 3,200 passengers and 1,000 crew who were aboard the cruise liner when it ran into the reef and, with seawater rushing into a 230-foot (70-meter) gash in its hull, listed and fell onto its side. "Contamination of the environment, ladies and gentlemen, already occurred" when the liner capsized, Gabrelli said.
Vessels equipped with machinery to suck out the light fuel oil were in the area. Earlier on Saturday, crews removed oil-absorbing booms used to prevent environmental damage in case of a leak. Originally white, the booms were grayish.
Schettino, is under house arrest for investigation of alleged manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning the ship before all were evacuated.
The search had been suspended Friday after the Concordia shifted, prompting fears the ship could roll off a rocky ledge of sea bed and plunge deeper into the pristine waters around Giglio, part of a seven-island Tuscan archipelago.
___
D'Emilio reported from Rome. Colleen Barry contributed from Milan and Andrea Foa from Giglio.
Associated Presstonga irb super bowl 2011 super bowl 2011 iceland jordin sparks kid rock
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Deal of the Day ? 14? Dell XPS 14z Intel 2nd Gen Core i7 2.8GHz Ultra-thin Laptop with 8GB RAM and 750GB HDD
Today’s LogicBUY Deal is the 14″ Dell XPS 14z Core i7-2640M 2.8GHz ultra-thin laptop for $1099.99.? Features:? 8GB memory, 750GB hard drive, 1GB GeForce GT 520M graphics, 8-cell battery, 36-months McAfee SecurityCenter, and more. $1588.99 – $489 off = $1099.99 with free shipping. This deal expires January 24, 2012 or sooner. Check the above link [...]
ben roethlisberger downton abbey season 2 2013 dodge dart kwame brown shameless martin luther king day blue ivy
Stephen Hawking's cosmic curios explained
Sarah Lee / The Science Museum via Reuters
Physicist Stephen Hawking is seen in his office at the University of Cambridge in this photo taken for London's Science Museum in December. The picture is part of a series of photographic portraits commissioned by the Science Museum to celebrate Hawking's 70th birthday on Jan. 8. The pictures are part of an exhibit at the musem celebrating Hawking's life and achievements.
By Alan Boyle
The cosmic curios of the world's best-known physicist went on display today at a London science museum, chronicling the amazing 70 years of Stephen Hawking's life. Over the decades,?the quadriplegic genius has?popped up in so many pop-culture settings that some of those curios require a little explanation.
That's what we found when we?ran?a picture of the professor?in his Cambridge office as the first installment of a "Where in the Cosmos"?series on the Cosmic Log Facebook page. There's such a generous assortment of gewgaws that it's a wonder?Hawking gets anything done.
Stephen Hawking sets the tone for a Science Museum exhibit reviewing his life.
It turns out that the scene was arranged to show off Hawking's stuff for the exhibit at the Science Museum in London. Take the bronze statue on the desk, for example. I was particularly intrigued by the out-of-focus statue because it seemed to hold such a prominent place in the picture.
"I believe the statue is of the pope," Tracey Walters wrote. "But the picture is kinda fuzzy, so?who knows which one?" Others wondered if it was the?theologian Erasmus, or maybe King Midas.
Hawking's longtime executive assistant, Judith Croasdell, straightened out the mystery in an email.
"The statue is the Fonseca Prize which Professor Hawking received in Santiago de Compestela, in 2008," she wrote.?"It normally sits not on Stephen's desk but on the window shelf because it is heavy ? 2 kilograms worth of bronze. Obviously it was put on the desk for the photographers."
A?less weighty?curio is far easier to recognize: It's?a plastic action figure of Hawking as he appeared in an episode of "The Simpsons,"?the animated show that the physicist has called the best thing American television has to offer. The figurine is festooned with the helicopter top and the spring-loaded boxing glove that played their part in the "Simpsons" plot. In the distance, you can just make out a picture on the wall that shows Hawking encountering Maggie Simpson and other characters from the show. Watch this YouTube clip to learn more about Hawking's "Simpsons" connection.
Other items include a little toy computer with sticky notes, a space shuttle model, and a crystal globe. "The crystal globe is a present given by Discovery and shows a map of the world," Croasdell says.?"Carved on the globe are the words 'What is essential is invisible to the eye,' [from]?Saint-Exupery."
There's a?humidifier on his desk that?holds an assortment of seashells. The blackboard you see in the picture above is covered with equations scribbled by his students. Another blackboard in the room, not seen here, that has mathematical in-jokes written on it.
Sarah Lee / Science Museum via Reuters
Another picture commissioned by the Science Museum shows Stephen Hawking with a picture of Marilyn Monroe looming over him.
Another photo of Hawking's office, taken from a different perspective, gives prominent play to?his picture of Marilyn Monroe,?who is one of?the professor's favorite personages from the past. "If I had a time machine, I'd drop in on Marilyn Monroe in her prime," he once mused. The room's walls are covered with flyers as well as photos from Hawking's trips around the world.
To find out more about these items and others in Hawking's office, check out Roger Highfield's profile of the professor in The Telegraph.
The photos are just one little piece of the Science Museum's one-room exhibition: Museumgoers can also see?pictures of?Hawking before his struggle with motor neuron disease, as well as mementos that touch upon the highlights of his long career. The Science Museum's inventor in residence, Mark Champkins, created a "Black Hole Light" in Hawking's honor that?uses a swirl of?neon tubing to evoke the path photons would take as they fell into a black hole.
Here's a sampling of the sights:
AP
The Science Museum displays a selection of books and papers by British physicist Stephen Hawking. His best-known work, "A Brief History of Time," has been translated into more than 30 languages. The object at right that looks like a model of Saturn is actually the 2010 Cosmos Award, which Hawking received from the Planetary Society. Hawking's Fonseca Prize and Prince of Asturias Award are also on display.
Alastair Grant / AP
A diagram by British physicist Stephen Hawking, titled "Black Hole and Unpredictability," is one of the papers on display at the Science Museum.
Alastair Grant / AP
A marked script from a "Simpsons" episode that aired in 1999 highlights Stephen Hawking's lines, including this one: "Silence! I don't need anyone to talk for me except this voicebox." The Stephen Hawking action figure has a helicopter-style wheelchair and a boxing glove, just like the character on the show.
Update for 12:45 a.m. ET Jan. 21: When the Planetary Society's Charlene Anderson took a look at the pictures above, she saw a familiar sight ? the planet-shaped Cosmos Award that Hawking received from the society in 2010. Check out her posting to the Planetary Society's blog, in which she expresses her surprise and pleasure at seeing the society's award in such a place of honor.
Next on 'Where in the Cosmos': Today's picture puzzle focuses on a far-out subject that's been the subject of research recently. I haven't written anything about it yet, but next week I'll fill you in on why it's significant. One of our Cosmic Log friends has already figured out what the picture shows, and as a reward I'll be sending her a copy of John Gribbin's latest book, "Alone in the Universe." To join the conversation, check out the "Where in the Cosmos" posting on the Cosmic Log Facebook page.
More about Stephen Hawking's life and work:
The exhibit celebrating Stephen Hawking's 70th birthday runs through April 9 at the Science Museum in London.
Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.
Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/20/10201173-stephen-hawkings-curios-explained
idaho potato bowl cagayan de oro cagayan de oro bowl schedule 2011 barefoot bandit bowl schedule barry bonds
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Billionaire donates for Washington Monument repairs
WASHINGTON?? A billionaire history buff has stepped forward to donate the $7.5 million matching gift that's needed to start repairing cracks near the top of the Washington Monument from last summer's East Coast earthquake.
Businessman David Rubenstein told The Associated Press he was inspired to help fund the repairs to the 555-foot obelisk when it became clear how severely damaged it was by a 5.8-magnitude quake on Aug. 23. The monument received about 1 million visitors a year before the famous landmark was closed to the public after the quake.
The Park Service hopes to have a contractor begin work by the end of August. The repair work is expected to take a year to complete, likely keeping the monument closed for two years.
Largest gift
Congress allocated $7.5 million in December on the condition that private donations would match that amount. The National Park Service and nonprofit Trust for the National Mall are expected to announce Rubenstein's gift Thursday morning. It will be the largest gift to the nonprofit group, which aims to raise $350 million to restore the mall's grounds and facilities.
The combined $15 million in public and private funds is expected to cover the cost of repairing damage directly caused by the quake, said National Park Service spokeswoman Carol Johnson. Repairing water damage will cost more, as would a seismic study or reinforcements to strengthen the obelisk against future earthquakes, she said.
Rubenstein, a co-founder of The Carlyle Group, began building the private equity firm's business in Washington and said he wanted to restore a symbol of the nation and hasten repairs to reopen the landmark.
"This Washington Monument is probably one of the most recognizable buildings in the United States next to the Capitol and the Empire State Building," he said. "It could use a little repair work, and I wanted people to get to see it as soon as possible."
Experts have noted the monument needs more than just a little repair work, though it has been deemed structurally sound.
Extensive repairs needed
The August quake was centered some 40 miles west of Richmond, Va., and felt from Canada to Georgia. It damaged the Washington National Cathedral, where pieces of mortar rained down from its vaulted ceiling. At the Washington Monument, panicked visitors fled down flights of stairs on the day of the big shake, but there were no known deaths or serious injuries in the region.
The earthquake caused numerous cracks to form in the obelisk, which was the tallest man-made structure in the world when it was completed in 1884.
Surveillance video taken the day of the quake and later released by the park service showed the spire shaking violently. Daylight could be seen through some of the cracks, the largest of which was reported to be at least 4 feet long and about an inch wide.
-
Only on msnbc.com
- Romney launches offensive against Gingrich
- Stop pirating my stories about SOPA, or I'll have to support it
- Romney's tax rate rekindles fairness debate
- Slow response to East African famine costs lives
- Wikipedia goes dark on piracy bill protest day
- Homeless numbers down, but risks rise
- Brother keeps hope alive as cruise search is halted
A report in December recommended extensive repairs and reinforcements to preserve the spire. It said some marble panels were cracked all the way through near the top portion of the monument. Cracks near its peak also have left the monument vulnerable to water damage from rain, engineers noted.
Last fall, daredevil engineers on a "difficult access team" rappelled from the top to conduct a visual inspection of the exterior of the obelisk.
Officials said it's unclear whether the work will require scaffolding to be built around the monument, similar to what was erected during a restoration project from 1999 to 2001.
'A true patriot'
Caroline Cunningham, president of the Trust for the National Mall, called Rubenstein "a true patriot" and said his gift "demonstrates how much people care about this space." She said it should serve as an example for other philanthropists.
There has long been talk of sprucing up the mall at the heart of the nation's capital.
A design competition is under way to develop ways to improve the mall, including the Washington Monument grounds. Finalists will be chosen in May, and the group will seek funding for each project. The nonprofit group has targeted parts of the mall that are run down from over use and neglect as a focus for its restoration efforts.
Rubenstein has made large gifts in recent years to Washington's cultural institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center.
The monument, which he visited recently, was built with private $1 donations eventually totaling over $1 million, Rubenstein said. Construction began in 1848, but funds ran out during the Civil War when the monument was left as an embarrassing stump for years. It was finally completed in 1884 and was the world's tallest man-made structure until it was eclipsed by the Eiffel Tower. It remains the tallest structure in Washington.
Rubenstein owns a copy of the Magna Carta, among other historical documents, and reveres George Washington.
"I like to remind people about American history," Rubenstein said. "George Washington is an incredible figure. When he was the head of the Revolutionary War Army, he could have stayed on as really the head of the government when we won the Revolutionary War, but he put down his arms."
___
Trust for the National Mall: http://www.nationalmall.org
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46050494/ns/us_news-giving/
brady hoke brady hoke ali lohan new york election new york election americas got talent tyler perry
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Japan independent panel contends govt nuke probe (AP)
TOKYO ? The leader of an investigation panel of Japan's nuclear disaster is vowing it will cut deeper into the case than its government-appointed counterpart.
Panel chairman Kiyoshi Kurokawa said Monday he wants to provide socially and globally significant insights. The 10-member team was appointed by Parliament and is bipartisan.
Its investigators are the first with the power to subpeona witnesses.
The government's own investigation said in preliminary findings last month that Japan's nuclear crisis management was marred by erroneous assumptions about equipment, delayed disclosure of radiation leaks and other problems.
The Fukushima nuclear power plant that was damaged by last March's earthquake and tsunami has been declared stable.
day light savings day light savings us geological survey us geological survey oklahoma fall back time change
Judge says Lindsay Lohan doing well on probation (AP)
LOS ANGELES ? Lindsay Lohan received her second favorable probation report in a row and a judge told the actress that she appears to be on track to complete a strict program by the end of March.
Lohan appeared in court for less than five minutes Tuesday to update the judge on her progress in completing strict probation terms that were imposed in November after a series of missteps by the actress.
By all accounts, the rigid program has benefited Lohan, with Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner telling Lohan that she received favorable reports from probation officials and her community service program. Lohan is doing mandatory cleanup duty at the county morgue and attending frequent psychotherapy sessions, with Sautner requiring Lohan to appear in court monthly for updates.
"Just keep doing what you're doing, you appear to be doing it well," Sautner told Lohan.
The model and actress arrived early for Tuesday's hearing, wearing black slacks, a blue blouse and matching sweater.
The "Mean Girls" star will have to work at the morgue 15 times before she returns to court on Feb. 22.
Sautner said Lohan appears to be on track to complete morgue duty and court-mandated therapy by March 29, just shy of five years after the actress' problems began with a drunken driving arrest on Memorial Day weekend in 2007. After that, she will probably be placed on informal probation that won't require court appearances.
She has struggled with the terms of her sentence since then, prompting judges to send Lohan to jail and rehab repeatedly. Tuesday's hearing marked the second straight hearing in which the actress wasn't on the receiving end of threats of further punishment.
Lohan's spokesman, Steve Honig, said before the hearing that his client has made her morgue service her "primary focus."
The actress remains on probation for both the drunken driving case and a misdemeanor grand theft case filed after she took a necklace without permission in January 2010. She pleaded no contest to taking the $2,500 necklace and served 35 days on house arrest last summer.
___
Follow Anthony McCartney at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP
suh suh lindsey vonn lindsey vonn josef stalin kourtney and kim take new york anne hathaway
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Panel clears audit firms of Olympus scandal blame (Reuters)
TOKYO (Reuters) ? An unofficial panel of experts cleared global accounting groups KPMG and Ernst & Young of any responsibility for a $1.7 billion accounting fraud at Japan's Olympus Corp, though the role of the firms remained under official review.
The scandal, one of corporate Japan's worst, had raised questions over the role of the two audit firms, which signed off on the accounts of the maker of medical equipment and cameras before the 13-year fraud finally surfaced in October.
But the panel of lawyers set up by Olympus to look at the role of auditors said in a report on Tuesday that five individual auditors were responsible for 8.4 billion yen ($109 million) in damages.
Olympus said later it was suing the five former and current individuals, seeking up to 1 billion yen in damages.
The panel effectively found the fraud, identified by a separate investigation as having being hatched by two former top executives in the 1990s to conceal losses, had been too well covered up for the external audit firms to have unraveled it.
"The masterminds of this case were hiding the illegal acts by artfully manipulating experts' opinions," the report said.
Neither KPMG's Japanese unit, KPMG AZSA LLC, which was the firm's external auditor until 2009, nor Olympus' current auditor, Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC, was found to have violated its legal duties, the panel said.
Ernst & Young and KPMG, however, still face possible sanctions by the country's accounting industry body and financial regulator, which have launched probes into the matter.
The company is already suing its president and 18 other executives, past and present, for up to 3.6 billion yen in compensation for the accounting scam, which has halved Olympus' share price and put it under pressure to raise capital.
Fresh lawsuits against individual auditors would only add to what is already an extraordinary chapter in Japanese corporate governance, with Olympus being mostly run and internally audited by people it is suing for mismanagement or a failure of duty.
Olympus said last week that all board members subject to the lawsuit would quit at an emergency shareholders meeting to be held in March or April.
OLYMPUS LIKELY TO KEEP LISTING
A decision, however, to clear the auditing firms could bolster Olympus' chances of keeping its Tokyo Stock Exchange listing, a critical prerequisite for its campaign to remain an independent company with access to fresh equity capital.
Suing Ernst & Young ShinNihon would likely leave it without an auditor and make it hard to meet exchange requirements. But Japan's Financial Services Agency (FSA) is still looking into the auditors' roles.
"We believe KPMG hasn't done anything wrong and will be cleared by Japanese regulators," Hideyo Uchiyama, chairman of KPMG Asia Pacific, told Reuters on the sidelines of a presentation in Taipei.
"At this point, KPMG has not made changes in the way it supervises its local unit, as it is waiting for the regulators' ruling," he added, speaking through an interpreter.
The Tokyo exchange has yet to conclude whether Olympus should remain listed.
Olympus has admitted to having used improper accounting tricks to conceal massive investment losses under a scheme that began in the 1990s, when Japanese stock markets had fallen heavily and the yen strengthened markedly.
The scandal came to light after Olympus fired its British chief executive, Michael Woodford, in October, prompting him to blow the whistle on the firm's dubious bookkeeping.
Woodford later launched a campaign to be reinstated but withdrew after failing to win support from Japanese institutional investors.
An Olympus shareholder filed suit on Tuesday against 14 past and present directors for firing Woodford, asking them to pay damages of 1.34 billion yen ($17.5 million) to the company, lawyers for the shareholder - an individual residing in Nara, western Japan - said in a statement.
The fraud relied on complex transactions, many of them involving offshore vehicles, which were presented in Olympus' financial statements as legitimate acquisitions or investments.
It was only late last year that some of these deal payments were exposed as shams, especially a $687 million advisory fee paid to a boutique U.S. financial firm for the $2 billion acquisition of British medical equipment firm Gyrus in 2008. At a third of the purchase price, the fee was the world's largest.
Tuesday's report found former standing corporate auditors Minoru Ota and Katsuo Komatsu, current outside corporate auditors Makoto Shimada and Yasuo Nakamura, and current standing corporate auditor Tadao Imai had breached their fiduciary duty.
It also held Ota responsible for 3.7 billion yen in damages. He headed the accounting division in the 1990s.
The other four were collectively held responsible for about 4.7 billion yen in damages because they had overlooked Olympus directors' illegal activities, it added.
A panel set up by Ernst & Young ShinNihon LLC to review its auditing of Olympus said last month it had not found any problems, although a separate investigative committee appointed by Olympus had been critical of the auditors' role.
KPMG's chairman, Michael Andrew, said in November that his firm had done the right thing in its actions regarding Olympus.
Olympus President Shuichi Takayama will hold a news conference on Wednesday at 1 p.m. (0400 GMT), the company said, to discuss its response to the panel's report.
Olympus shares fell 2.1 percent to their lowest close since January 6, while the benchmark Nikkei average rose 1 percent.
($1 = 76.84 Japanese yen)
(Additional reporting by Mari Saito in Tokyo and Faith Hung in Taipei; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Mark Bendeich and Ian Geoghegan)
rumpelstiltskin occupy oakland occupy oakland yahoo.com/mail david nelson david nelson frank miller
Fuel tanker off Nome, gearing up delivery
ANCHORAGE, Alaska?? A Russian tanker with a cargo of much-needed fuel for Nome was moored less than a half mile from the Alaska town's iced-in harbor Sunday morning, holding for disturbed ice to refreeze before crews can finish work to deliver the fuel, the Coast Guard said.
-
Only on msnbc.com
- Evangelicals try to stop Romney
- Outsourced jobs coming back from China
- Recreating Afghanistan's soundtrack, one young musician at a time
- Gingrich booed over Romney jab
- A sanctuary for seals
- Woman loses arm to flesh-eating bacteria from bath salts
- Bachmann campaign: Stop playing Gingrich ad
Teams on the ground were preparing to deploy two small drones to survey the ice before laying down a fuel hose from the tanker to the shore.
"Today's unmanned flight operations will involve imaging the work to lay the hose and provide an aerial perspective the the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the industry team to support their spill response planning/preparations," Greg Walker, who runs the drone program at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks, told msnbc.com Sunday morning.
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Healy, which cleared a path through hundreds of miles of Bering Sea ice for the tanker, was nearby.
"We were able to successfully navigate that last bit of ice," Coast Guard spokesman Kip Wadlow said. "We were able to get it pretty much right on the money, in the position that the industry representatives wanted to start the fuel transfer process."
Coast Guard webcam: http://bit.ly/wEsemi
The crew of the 370-foot tanker Renda was working to ensure the safe transfer of the 1.3-million gallons of fuel through a segmented hose that will be laid on top of the ice to the harbor, located about 2,100 feet from the ship, Wadlow said in a telephone interview from Nome Saturday night.
Wadlow said he doesn't know how long it will be before fuel flows as crews must wait 12 hours, or until about 5 a.m. (6 a.m. PST) Sunday, to ensure that the disturbed ice has refrozen.
At that point, crews must build some sort of road or pathway over the ice for the hose to rest on. Then the hose's segments will have to be bolted together and inspected before the fuel can begin to flow.
Story: Tricky fuel transfer awaits tanker nearing NomeThere has been a lot of anxious waiting since the ship left Russia in mid-December. It picked up diesel fuel in South Korea before traveling to Dutch Harbor, Alaska, where it took on unleaded gasoline. Late Thursday, the vessels stopped offshore and began planning the transfer.
A fall storm prevented Nome from getting a fuel delivery by barge in November. Without the tanker delivery, supplies of diesel fuel, gasoline and home heating fuel Nome are expected to run out in March and April, well before a barge delivery again in late May or June.
Earlier Saturday, Sitnasuak Native Corp. board chairman Jason Evans provided details of the transfer process.
Once the hose is laid down, he said personnel will walk its entire length every 30 minutes to check it for leaks. Each segment of hose will have its own spill containment area, and extra absorbent boom will be on hand in case of a spill.
Story: Ultra-harsh winter prompts critical fuel shortages in AlaskaEvans said he hopes the crew will begin unloading Sunday.
The state is requiring that the fuel transfer be initiated only in daylight hours, but it can continue in darkness, Betty Schorr, industry preparedness program manager for the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, has said. Nome has just five hours of daylight this time of year.
The transfer could be finished within 36 hours if everything goes smoothly, but it could take as long as five days, Schorr said.
"It's kind of like a football game, we're on the five yard line and we just want to work into the goal line," said Evans, whose hometown is Nome.
Evans, however, cautioned that delivering the fuel is only half the mission.
"The ships need to transition back through 300 miles of ice," he said. "I say we're not done until the ships are safely back at their home ports (in Seattle and Russia)."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46004221/ns/weather/
ashton kutcher twitter sandusky barbados raiders chargers latin grammys latin grammys ogopogo
Monday, January 16, 2012
Ultrabook or tablet? Compal shows off hybrid reference design (video)
In our brief hands-on, we were stunned by how light the fiber glass device feels -- certainly, it's much less dense than the similarly sized Yoga. The dock itself is home to various ports, including Ethernet, dual USB 2.0 sockets, HDMI and a headphone jack. And though it's no Transformer Prime dock, it's still light enough that you shouldn't have problem stuffing it in your bag. No word on what, if any, OEMs will re-badge this, but no matter -- we've gotten video and photos for you to peruse even if this thing never makes it to market. And no, we didn't film this in the Batcave; Intel just loves it some blue mood lighting.
Continue reading Ultrabook or tablet? Compal shows off hybrid reference design (video)
Ultrabook or tablet? Compal shows off hybrid reference design (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 18:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | | Email this | Comments
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/xRung0sGiiU/
red solo cup xbox live update new planet new planet green bay packers stock jeff garcia jeff garcia
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)