PFT: Choice cut by 'Boys 6 days after start

Getty Images

We?re trying to look in-depth at every team during their bye week.

The Bears, Jets, Bucs, and Raiders got the treatment earlier this week. Now up: The Packers.

Better than the champs

The Packers offense is better than it was during their Super Bowl season. To put it more precisely: The Packers? 2010 playoff offense has carried over into the 2011 regular season.

Pete Doughtery of the Green Bay Press-Gazette?asked the question?of?the Packers season this week. Do Green Bay?s defense issues matter when the offense is this ridiculous? ?The answer so far is no.

Rodgers easily the MVP?

It?s early, but Aaron Rodgers has been the best player in the league. ?He?s throwing for 9.9 yards-per-attempt. That would tie Kurt Warner for the highest number since the 1950?s. ?Rodgers? accuracy, decision-making, and play-making under duress has been epic.

Yes, the schedule set up well for Green Bay early. Few teams faced an easier early slate. But Rodgers is having a historical season.

More weapons

Jermichael Finley is healthy and catching touchdowns. It says a lot about this offense that Rodgers doesn?t need Finley to be a huge factor each week. ?Jordy Nelson consolidated his playoff success; he?s on pace for 1,000 yards. Randall Cobb isn?t a consistent threat, but he brings a new dimension to the offense. ?Greg Jennings and James Jones are who they have always been.

This is simply a better group than a year ago. Only the Saints have scored more points. ?Almost all the receivers are in their prime and know Mike McCarthy?s system well. Donald Driver?s decline barely matters; he?s the fourth or fifth wideout.

Line has held up

There were concerns in the preseason about the offensive line, but it has held up fairly well despite tackle Chad Clifton?s injury. Marshall Newhouse played well on the left side until facing the Vikings. The interior is strong. There may not be a better guard-center combo in the league than Scott Wells and Josh Sitton. Bryan Bulaga has continued to develop at right tackle.

More of the same from run game

This is not a great running team, but they aren?t as bad as the numbers indicate. The Packers rank 26th in yards?per-carry at 3.8. They were 25th last year. ?But the two key runners are better than that.

James Starks is at 4.5 yards-per-carry and Ryan Grant is at 4.0. Grant isn?t quite his old self and Starks could be more consistent, but it?s not a terrible group. Starks impressively closed out the win over Minnesota.

Defense takes step back

Green Bay?s defense gives up a lot of yards, but they rank tenth in points allowed. Points matter, not yards. ?The Packers are a good red zone defense team. They could stand to get better play from some of their young core cuys.

Clay Matthews has been good so far, but not to his 2010 level. ?The same is true for B.J. Raji. Tramon Williams hasn?t been 100%. Get that trio playing at a higher level, and the Packers defense could surge late in the year like in 2010. So far they have been ordinary.

Schedule gets much tougher

The Packers have benefited from one of the easiest schedules in the league. It gets tougher with road dates against the Chargers, Chiefs, Lions, and Giants. ?The Packers only face one team the rest of the way that currently has a losing record.

An undefeated season is very unlikely, but something around 14-2 sounds about right. That would result in the No. 1 seed in the NFC, a great spot from which to try to win another championship.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/10/29/cowboys-cut-tashard-choice/related/

morgan freeman orlando brown orlando brown benjamin netanyahu prospect park no child left behind no child left behind

Royal girls to get equal shot at crown

LONDON?? If Will and Kate's first child is a girl, it's now clear that she'll probably become queen one day ? and not even getting a little brother can mess that up.

The Commonwealth countries agreed Friday to change centuries-old rules of succession that put sons on the throne ahead of any older sisters. So that hypothetical daughter of Prince William and Kate Middleton ? now known as Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge ? would have a prime place in history: the first princess to beat out any younger brothers and accede to the throne.

Had these rules been in place in the 1500s, Henry VIII would have just been a rather large historical footnote.

Slideshow: Fairytales do come true... (on this page)

1. Only on msnbc.com

   1. Facebook says 600,000 account logins compromised every day
   2. Sports fans play the Washington game
   3. Rock Center: Birth tourism becomes a global industry
   4. Michael Moore confesses: I am the 1 percent
   5. Sarajevo boy was 6 billionth baby born
   6. Rough week for Romney and Perry
   7. Students with private debt left out by Obama plan

The move is a baby step: Before taking effect, the changes still must be approved by the legislatures of the 16 nations where Queen Elizabeth II is head of state. Still, the agreement, which was reached at a meeting of Commonwealth nations in Perth, Australia, represents a triumph over practices now considered outdated and sexist in much of the world.

Nations including Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway have already taken similar steps.

Will and Kate's lavish April wedding renewed a decades-long debate over succession.

Middleton told a well-wisher in Canada this summer that she hopes to start a family. William has said the same.

Once their honeymoon was over, baby talk started, adding urgency to the dialogue, although officials insist that talk of a pregnancy is premature.

Historians think it's about time.

"You shouldn't muck around too much with the constitution, but it's a good idea to change this at this time," said royal expert Hugo Vickers. "It's much better to have it sorted out before any babies come along."

The new rules would only apply to future heirs and would have no impact on the current line of succession.

William is second in line to the throne after his father, Prince Charles, who is the queen's firstborn child. Charles' sister, Anne, is lower in the line of succession than her younger brothers Andrew and Edward by virtue of their male gender.

Charles had only sons, William and Prince Harry, so the issue of gender was never raised.

In 2009, the government of then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown considered a bill that would end the custom of putting males ahead of females in the succession line. It also would lift a ban on British monarchs marrying Roman Catholics. The government did not have time to pursue it before Brown left office.

The rule has kept women from succeeding to the throne in the past. Queen Victoria's first child was a daughter ? also called Victoria ? but it was her younger brother who became King Edward VII.

If Queen Victoria had been able to pass her crown to her firstborn, Britain's Princess Victoria would have had a brief reign before her death in 1901.

That would have made her son ? Wilhelm II, who at that time was the German Kaiser ? king. With Wilhelm II ruling both Germany and Britain, there may not have been two world wars.

Story: Hear ye, hear ye: UK royal heirs may wed Catholics

Earlier history might also have been drastically different if women had had equal rights to the throne.

Neither Henry VIII nor Charles I would have been king because both had older sisters who, under the new rules, would have been monarch.

As king, Henry VIII set in motion the creation of the Church of England. His six marriages left an insecure succession ? one sickly son and two princesses, according to the monarchy's official website. Charles I's reign in the 17th century led to a bloody civil war.

Prince William and his wife have been credited with freshening up a staid monarchy, and new succession rules seem to fit right in.

"In this day and age, why should a royal son be more important than a royal daughter?" said Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine.

The same goes for the decision Friday in Perth to lift a ban on monarchs marrying Roman Catholics. Critics had called the rule blatantly discriminatory since royals are free to wed Jews, Muslims, Hindus or members of any other religion."Britain is no longer the religious country that it once was," Little said. "While not denigrating the importance of religion, it plays much less of a role now then it did 60 years ago."

Video: Royal daughters win equal right to throne (on this page)

Still, some Britons are wary of a Catholic monarch.

"The pope is responsible for some horrors," said Anna Marsh, 73, who was cycling in London.

Her biking buddy Jill Gregory, 71, was fine with the idea ? and also fully in favor of giving firstborn girls an equal right to the throne.

"In terms of ability, I don't think women are any different than men," Gregory said, pointing to the queen and her late mother.

Elizabeth II succeeded her father, King George VI, because he had no sons. If she had had a younger brother, he would have jumped above her in the line of succession.

Prime Minister David Cameron had pushed for the changes, calling it a matter of equality.

New Zealand will now chair a working group of Commonwealth countries to discuss how to accomplish the reforms. It's not a simple process. Getting all 16 countries to begin the legislative changes is what has held them up for decades.

However long it takes, Patricia Wager of London said it would clear up something that should not be an issue in the modern world.

"It's a good idea, and a long time coming," she said.

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

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45073553/ns/world_news-europe/

the island the island mcdonalds beating dreamcatcher georgia tech big east expansion big east expansion

Seaweed Wages Chemical Warfare Against Corals (LiveScience.com)

Seaweed and coral reefs may seem to be happy partners in our planet?s oceans, but an ongoing battle ? complete with chemical warfare ? appears to be brewing beneath the sea surface.

That's the conclusion of a new study that finds the seaweed (a type of algae) is actually killing corals and preventing them from returning to damaged areas to create new reefs.

Coral reefs around the world are being attacked from all sides, with climate change, overfishing, disease and excess nutrients from fertilizer runoff all taking their toll. The factors add up to a situation where seaweed has an easier job taking hold than coral.

"Corals are under an onslaught from lots of things ? climate change, overfishing and others. They have declined due to all of these things, but they actually can recover in many parts of the world, as long as seaweed doesn't get in the way and create a layer of toxic stuff,? said Mark Hay, a marine ecologist at Georgia Tech in Atlanta who co-authored the new study, published Oct. 17 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Attack of the killer seaweed

Typically, corals rule the underwater kingdom. But when overfishing takes away the fish that munch on algae and seaweed, big swaths of green and brown stuff can enter the picture and blanket the coral. Seaweed can cover close to 60 percent of the ocean bottom, the researchers said.

When the seaweed and corals come into contact, the algae attacks with special organic compounds known as terpenes, which probably originally gave the plants toxic protection against infectious microbes, or fish looking for a quick meal. But they're bad news for the reefs.

"These molecules cause coral bleaching.? We don't know the nitty-gritty of the mechanism behind this, but preliminary studies show that the coral being damaged by up-regulating genes responsible for fighting cytotoxins, reducing free radicals, and initiating cell repair,? said Douglas Rasher, a graduate student at Georgia Tech, the other study co-author. That means that the corals aren't able to fight off the attacking toxins. One way to fix this, Hay said, could be to give the coral small doses of the seaweed's toxins over time to make them build up a response, working like a vaccine to inoculate the coral.

Better protection

To examine how the seaweed and the coral were interacting, Hay and Rasher worked in Fiji testing the competition between three species of coral and eight seaweed species. They found that most of the types of algae started to kill the coral within two weeks through direct contact, changing the coral's color and, in some cases, killing it quickly. The team also created extracts of the seaweed and applied it to the corals, with similar effects. There were some differences in the level of toxicity, though, with some seaweed being deadlier than the rest.

Using this information, people can create coral management plans, Rasher told OurAmazingPlanet. For example, Fiji has a unique system of marine-protected areas that are governed by local elders. If they can apply the science and eat fewer of the fish that eat the toxic seaweed, the corals have a better chance of surviving.

"While local managers can do little about the global reasons for coral decline, they can do something about local stresses, using data-driven management methods,? Rasher said.

This story was provided by OurAmazingPlanet, a sister site to LiveScience.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20111028/sc_livescience/seaweedwageschemicalwarfareagainstcorals

jonah hill neutrinos neutrinos autumnal equinox rob bell jaycee dugard meg whitman

Russia's Bolshoi reopens after reconstruction (AP)

MOSCOW ? Russia's Bolshoi Theater has reopened after a massive reconstruction effort to restore it to its original imperial splendor.

The $700 million, six-year effort meticulously recreated the opulent 19th century decor, many elements of which were simplified or removed during communist rule. The renovation also added state-of-the art stage gear and created an additional underground hall.

The most challenging part of the reconstruction effort was reinforcing the building's foundation and the walls weakened by erosion.

Russian and international celebrities, including former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, opera diva Galina Vishnevskaya, ballerina Maya Plisetskaya and Italian actress Monica Bellucci, filled the grand gold-and-red 1,743-seat hall in Moscow for Friday's gala opening led by Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111028/ap_en_ce/eu_russia_bolshoi

zachary quinto zachary quinto koch brothers ashley judd brewers harbaugh the walking dead season 2

Now showing: Anatomy of a disaster in 3-D

In the chaotic aftermath of a natural disaster, recording the devastation in minute detail might seem like a macabre pursuit. But researchers are increasingly doing just that with laser technology that, they say, can help them better understand the colossal forces at work, and can help better prepare communities for the next catastrophe.

Research teams are documenting the effects, both large and small, of natural disasters from earthquakes to tsunamis to wildfires with astonishing precision ? and producing some impressive visuals along the way.

LiDAR, which stands for Light Detection And Ranging, allows researchers to move into the field right after a calamity and, in the space of a few hours, gather data that reveal a disaster's footprint ? much like detectives photographing a crime scene, but in 3-D and with centimeter-level detail.

After returning to the safety of a computer lab, researchers process their data and can produce an animated reconstruction of the disaster site.

"The idea is that it's a virtual world you can explore without being physically present in that dangerous environment. You can move through it in the software," said Oregon State University assistant professor Michael Olsen, an engineer who presented work on the use of LiDAR in disaster areas at the recent Geological Society of America meeting in Minneapolis.

Laser beams, in 3-D!
Instead of relying on light in the environment to reflect off a surface, like a traditional camera, a LiDAR scanner sends out its own "light" ? a laser ? and, by measuring the time it takes for the laser to bounce back to the device, it can layer distance into an image.

Olsen said the ground-based LiDAR systems he uses, which take roughly 100,000 data points per second, scan up and down and rotate 360 degrees. Once the system is set up on its tripod, a single scan takes about two minutes.

"It's line of sight, so whatever you see is what you get," he explained. Imaging a large area requires multiples scans, Olsen told OurAmazingPlanet.

Olsen led a team from OSU and the University of Hawaii that went to Chile to survey damage from the massive earthquake that struck in February 2010. The magnitude 8.8 quake sent a devastating tsunami crashing ashore, and Olsen's group visited some of the most-affected towns and villages along the coast.

The team arrived about two months after the catastrophe. "The ideal is to be there about a week after," Olsen said. "If you go too soon, search and rescue is going on and you don't want to be in the way," but if you go too late, cleanup efforts will have washed away some of the disaster's fingerprints, he said.

The research team also used LiDAR to document the aftermath of Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

"We want to capture the perishable data," Olsen said. Seemingly minute details such as cracks in a building, or the way rivers of mud flow around a foundation, offer clues for earth scientists who are piecing together the anatomy of a tsunami wave or an earthquake.

In addition, those details help engineers and architects figure out how various parts of a building hold up during and immediately after a natural disaster.

"Ultimately, it translates back to better building codes," Olsen said. "The thing we always learn after these reconnaissance efforts is where we're overdesigning ? spending too much money or too much material in a certain spot that isn't really making a difference ? (compared) to areas where we're underdesigning."

One animation Olsen's team put together takes a viewer through the tsunami-battered town of Dichato, Chile. It took three or four hours and 20 different scan positions to gather the data, then two weeks back in the lab, running the scans, along with digital photographs and GPS data, through computer programs, to produce the sequence, which has the look of a post-apocalyptic video game.

Before disaster strikes
Although post-disaster LiDAR scans are helpful, before-and-after disaster images are even more helpful, researchers said, because the scans can mathematically alert an observer to minute changes.

Federal entities such as the U.S. Geological Survey and the Federal Emergency Management Agency and various state agencies have begun to use aircraft-mounted LiDAR to map everything from flood plains to earthquake-prone regions to provide baseline pictures that can be used for comparison when an emergency does hit.

"In a flood, you can see, 'Oh, this channel eroded 1 centimeter.' You can make that measurement from these data, literally at the centimeter level. That's why earth scientists are so excited about it," said geologist Stephen DeLong, an assistant research professor at the University of Arizona who uses LiDAR.

DeLong uses ground-based LiDAR to look at the after-effects of wildfires ? specifically, how fairly minor rainstorms can lead to major flooding when they hit a burned-out landscape. He presented research at the GSA meeting on this year's infamous Horseshoe Two wildfire in Arizona, based on LiDAR scans of mountainous regions before and after the disaster.

"There have been fires this year and last year in Arizona where the floods after the fires were more destructive than the fires themselves, to humans and to property," DeLong told OurAmazingPlanet.

1. More science news from MSNBC Tech & Science

   1. 7 billion people? How do they know?

      Science editor Alan Boyle's Weblog: The United Nations is set to mark the 7 billionth click of the population counter, but in reality, no one knows when that click will actually come. We may well have already passed the 7 billion mark, or it may be months away.

   2. Do science and politics mix?
   3. This robot is all downhill
   4. Now showing: Anatomy of a disaster in 3-D

DeLong said LiDAR mapping can help land-management agencies predict where floods and debris flows will land after wildfires.

"Last year in Flagstaff, Ariz., all these people who lived downstream of the fires had their homes destroyed by floods and sediment, so the public needs to know about these things," DeLong said.

As a fairly new tool for the earth science community, LiDAR presents some challenges, DeLong said. The technology was developed more for civil engineers, and has been used more frequently to image the sharp-angled constructions made by humans, as opposed to the undulating profile of a cliff wall or a hilly forest.

But LiDAR scanning means that even the most subtle effects of a natural disaster can no longer escape notice.

"We're making these very detailed maps of how landscapes are changing as a result of floods or landslides or earthquakes," DeLong said. "This allows you to work in three dimensions. You need a three-dimensional method to look at how three-dimensional landforms change."

You can follow OurAmazingPlanet staff writer Andrea Mustain on Twitter:@andreamustain. Follow OurAmazingPlanet for the latest in Earth science and exploration news on Twitter @OAPlanet and on Facebook.

? 2011 OurAmazingPlanet. All rights reserved. More from OurAmazingPlanet.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45081755/ns/technology_and_science-science/

tony stewart mixology sarah shourd sensa sister wives season 2 kerry collins kerry collins

Sensex gains 516 pts; posts best weekly gain in almost 2 mths (Reuters)

MUMBAI (Reuters) ? The BSE Sensex logged its biggest weekly gain in nearly two months on Friday, bolstered by gains in financials as hopes of an end to the monetary policy tightening cycle in Asia's third-largest economy drew investors back into beaten down stocks.

The gains in the domestic market were also underpinned by a rally in global stocks, which headed for their best week in over two years following EU leaders' efforts to contain the euro zone debt crisis.

Shares in ICICI Bank, the country's No. 2 lender, led the gains, rising 7.1 percent to 933.35 rupees ($18.85), as hopes of a pause in interest rate hikes boosted credit growth outlook. Still, the stock is down 18.5 percent so far this year.

The bank is also expected to report nearly 16 percent rise in its fiscal second-quarter profit on Monday.

The main 30-share BSE index ended up 2.98 percent at 17,804.80 points, after having risen as much as 3.6 percent in early deals to its highest level since Aug. 4, with all but three of the index components closing in the positive territory.

The benchmark, which is down 13.2 percent in 2011, surged 6.1 percent in this holiday truncated week -- its best weekly percentage gain since the week ended Sept. 2. The market was closed on Thursday after a brief special session on Wednesday.

"Interest rate hikes were a big overhang on the market and the investors were concerned about its impact on the corporate profitability," said Dipen Shah, head of research for private client group at Kotak Securities.

"The fact that the RBI has said there could be a pause now has come as a big relief to the market," he said.

The RBI raised interest rates on Tuesday for the 13th and possibly final time in a tightening cycle that began in early 2010, on expectations that persistently high inflation will finally begin to ease starting in December.

However, its governor said on Wednesday that the Reserve Bank of India will only consider easing monetary policy if inflation falls below 7 percent.

Indian shares have been battered this year as surging inflation and interest rates dimmed the growth outlook for the economy and corporate earnings. The global economic uncertainty has also pushed investors away from risky assets.

Shares in other financials such as top lender State Bank of India rose 2.3 percent to 1,909.80 rupees, No. 3 lender HDFC Bank gained 2.3 percent and top mortgage lender HDFC surged 3.2 percent.

Citigroup said on Tuesday it did not expect retail deposit rates or lending rates to be increased in the near term and that Indian banks would likely absorb the impact of the latest interest rate increase on their net interest margins.

Some analysts sounded caution on the sustainability of the stock market rally, citing lingering worries about the health of the global as well as the domestic economy.

"It's too early to say whether things will be all rosy from now on as there are still some concerns on the global macro as well as domestic fronts," said Kaushik Dani, a fund manager with Peerless Mutual Fund.

Morgan Stanley said in a report earlier this week domestic demand drivers such as private consumption, government spending and investment were all moderating, and export growth will also decelerate significantly as developed world growth weakens.

"We are thus increasingly concerned about the potential duration of the growth slowdown cycle," it said.

Infosys ended up 1 percent at 2,858.65 rupees, after rising 4.7 percent during trade to its highest level in more than three months, after the plan to resolve the European debt crisis boosted the business outlook in its No. 2 market.

Also, Infosys co-chairman said in Shanghai the country's No. 2 software services exporter was looking for acquisitions worth up to $700 million.

Infosys' bigger rival Tata Consultancy Services gained 2.3 percent to 1,121.50 rupees and No. 3 Wipro closed 5.4 percent higher at 374.05 rupees. Both the firms also count Europe as their second biggest export market.

Energy major Reliance Industries, which has the heaviest weightage in the BSE index, rose 3.0 percent to 900.00 rupees on institutional buying, dealers said. The stock is down just under 15 percent this year.

Drugmaker Dr Reddy's Labs rose 4.9 percent to 1,671.20 rupees after it posted a forecast-beating quarterly profit as robust sales growth in the U.S. offset a sluggish domestic business and higher operational costs.

The 50-share NSE index ended 3.1 percent higher at 5,360.70 points. In the broader market, around twice as many stocks gained as lost value on total volume of more than 728 million shares.

STOCKS THAT MOVED

* Top carmaker Maruti Suzuki fell 2.0 percent to 1,126 rupees after dropping as much as 3.3 percent. The firm, hit by slowing demand and labour unrest, is expected to report a 32 percent fall in quarterly profit on Saturday.

* Wind turbine maker Suzlon rose as much as percent 5.5 percent after the company announced the completion of REpower Systems AG "squeeze-out," giving it the full ownership of the German unit.

* Shares in sugar producer EID Parry (India) Ltd closed down 1.7 percent to 221.05 rupees after the company posted a 27 percent drop in its consolidated second-quarter net profit from a year ago.

* Chemicals maker BASF India rose as much as 3.4 percent after its board approved a proposal to develop and refine yield enhancing traits in rice on behalf of BASF Plant Science Company Gmbh, Germany.

MAIN TOP 3 BY VOLUME

* Hindalco on 31.9 million shares

* Edelweiss Capital on 30.3 million shares

* Jaiprakash Associates on 21.4 million shares

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/india/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111028/india_nm/india601746

robin williams blaine gabbert netflix stock baltimore ravens jacksonville jaguars jacksonville jaguars home affordable refinance program

Health Tip: Gaining Weight During Pregnancy (HealthDay)

(HealthDay News) -- It's healthy and normal to gain weight during pregnancy -- up to a point.

The womenshealth.gov website offers these guidelines for how many pounds you should expect to gain while you're pregnant:

• Women who were at a normal weight before pregnancy should expect to gain 25 to 30 pounds.
• Women who were underweight before pregnancy should gain 28 to 40 pounds.
• Women who were overweight before pregnancy should gain 15 to 25 pounds.
• Women who were obese before pregnancy should gain 11 to 20 pounds.

The site advises checking with your doctor to learn an amount of weight gain that's safe for you.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20111026/hl_hsn/healthtipgainingweightduringpregnancy

chris cook nest lindsay lohan williams syndrome grand theft auto 5 grand theft auto 5 jay leno

Obama adviser says president best for middle-class (AP)

WASHINGTON ? A presidential campaign adviser says that Barack Obama can tap into the frustrations typified by the Occupy Wall Street movement better than any Republican rival in 2012.

Former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs tells NBC's "Today" show Obama "is out there fighting for the middle class."

Gibbs says "we're seeing now a lot of anxiety and frustration" across the country because of income disparity.

Asked if this economic unrest will mostly likely benefit Obama in next year's election, Gibbs said Obama has a better record than the GOP in defending the middle class. Gibbs also said that "every one" of the Republican presidential candidates want to roll back Wall Street regulation.

He said the lack of sufficient rules to govern Wall Street is what "got us into this mess."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111027/ap_on_el_ge/democrats2012

reed hastings cujo weather denver weather denver hpv vaccine hurricane tracking hurricane tracking

Eurozone wins respite, but it could be brief

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during a media conference after an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011. A European Union official says the currency union's leaders have reached a deal with banks to take losses of 50 percent of their Greek bonds in a key move to solve the eurozone's debt crisis. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during a media conference after an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011. A European Union official says the currency union's leaders have reached a deal with banks to take losses of 50 percent of their Greek bonds in a key move to solve the eurozone's debt crisis. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

French President Nicolas Sarkozy speaks during a media conference after an EU summit in Brussels on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2011. A European Union official says the currency union's leaders have reached a deal with banks to take losses of 50 percent of their Greek bonds in a key move to solve the eurozone's debt crisis. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) ? With their late-night deal to cut Greece's debt and support other wobbly countries, European leaders bought time to work out more lasting solutions to the crisis plaguing the euro currency bloc. What they do with that time will determine whether this summit succeeds where many others have failed.

Thursday's three-pronged deal at long last appears to have met or beaten expectations for some kind of decisive action, judging by stock market rallies in Europe and around the world. It retools the eurozone's underpowered bailout fund, calls on banks to take 50 percent losses on Greek bonds and orders them to raise euro106 billion in new capital by June.

"The summit is likely to be the corner from where the odds start to change in the right direction," said Erik Nielsen, global chief economist at Unicredit.

But European leaders will have to work out the complex financial details quickly and skillfully. It's unclear whether the bailout fund changes will be enough to prop up Italian and Spanish banks, or whether the bond writedown will be enough to pull Greece from the brink.

Along with that, countries with sluggish economies, particularly Italy, will have to show that they are becoming better places to do business and improving growth ? the key to paying down debt in the long run.

So the debt crisis is still far from over. But with luck the eurozone's 17 governments might get a chance to work on it for a while without fear that a single misstep will take the shared currency over the edge.

The respite could be short if they return to the fudges and procrastination that have so far marked their response to the crisis, which broke out just over two years ago when Greece admitted to the EU statistics agency that its finances were much worse than reported.

Since then, more than a dozen late-night summits and carefully negotiated and crafted statements have failed to get ahead of market fears that Greece would default on its debts and sink the banking system and the wider economy. The crisis also took down Ireland and Portugal, which like Greece were forced to take a bailout because they couldn't borrow affordably and faced default on maturing bonds.

The hope now is that the trio of measures crafted in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday will give European countries some breathing space within which to focus on getting their economies growing again. That would help reduce debt and boost confidence in the region's financial markets and banking sectors, reversing what had threatened to be a downward spiral.

The most difficult part of the plan was persuading banks to take 50 percent losses on their Greek bonds to make the country's debt pile small enough for Greece to be capable of repaying it. But even that massive "haircut" might not be enough.

The deal will cut Greek debt to 120 percent of economic output by 2020, from 180 percent otherwise. Yet debt of more than 100 percent of GDP is still breathtakingly high.

European leaders agreed to push Europe's banks to raise euro106 billion in new capital by June, to protect against losses from the Greek debt writedown. The money will come from governments if it can't be raised from investors or by selling assets.

The euro440 billion ($610 billion) bailout fund ? the European Financial Stability Facility ? will be reworked to make its firepower equivalent to around euro1 trillion ($1.39 trillion), to make it better able to help large but wobbly countries such as Italy and Spain.

The EFSF will insure part of the potential losses on the debt of those countries, to relieve fears of default and lower the interest rate investors want. The spiraling cost of borrowing was what sank smaller Greece, Ireland and Portugal.

Eurozone finance ministers are to work out the terms of the scheme in November, but there are already doubts about how leveraging the bailout fund's limited resources will work.

Joerg Kraemer, the chief economist at Commerzbank, said it was not at all clear that such a guarantee ? which essentially admits there are fears of default ? will appeal to government bond investors, who typically want safe investments.

And the "voluntary" Greek writedown pushed on banks might convince some potential bond buyers that if there's more trouble, they'll be asked to pony up instead of being compensated through the EFSF's insurance program.

If the EFSF plan isn't enough to magnify its power, wealthier governments such as Germany, France and the Netherlands may have to put more money into it. But with bailouts unpopular in the countries funding them, governments will resist unless the fate of the euro appears once again at stake ? meaning back to the brink.

"This alone suggests that the sovereign debt crisis will continue to become exacerbated before ebbing off," said Kraemer.

It's also not clear how long the European Central Bank will continue key purchases of government bonds, keeping borrowing costs down. The EFSF has the power to do that, but skimpy resources, economists say.

There is always the danger that governments will not properly implement the reforms they have promised. That has been a sticking point with Greece, which has been reluctant to cut jobs in the public sector, and promises to be an issue in other countries, like Italy, where labor unions are powerful.

Longer-term forces also are making recovery more difficult for the eurozone's weakest members. Large trade imbalances remain, meaning big surpluses in countries like Germany will create deficits in importing countries like Greece. Without the safety valve of shifting exchange rates, that is unlikely to change soon.

Despite the host of questions, markets cheered the European leaders' plan. Stocks surged 5 percent in France and 4.7 percent in Germany, the euro's core where banks are heavily exposed. Indexes in London and New York also rose substantially.

"Market participants in the U.S. and London are weary of eurozone problems," wrote Stephen Lewis at Monument Securities in London. "They would have been satisfied with any statement on debt that had enough substance to allow them to move on to fresh themes."

Lewis said Thursday's agreement "fits that bill and buys eurozone leaders more time."

How they use that time is now very much the question.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-10-27-EU-Europe-Buying-Time/id-713387d79c034d57b71e3a7c1047f339

unforgettable metta world peace fullerton police beating fullerton police beating ron artest name change david nelson david nelson

Supercommittee GOP, Democrats swap offers (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Republicans on Congress' deficit-reduction supercommittee outlined a plan Wednesday that includes spending cuts but none of the increases in tax revenue sought by Democrats, completing an initial exchange of offers that left the two sides far apart despite weeks of secret talks.

Officials also said a Democratic proposal on Tuesday and the GOP counter-proposal 24 hours later both included a provision to slow the annual cost-of-living increases in future Social Security benefits, suggesting it could become part of any compromise that might emerge.

The Republican offer calls for somewhat more than $2 trillion in deficit savings over a decade, according to officials in both parties. Less than half of that amount would come from increases in items such as Medicare premiums, the sale of public lands and airport fees ? measures that increase government revenue without changing personal or corporate taxes.

Spending cuts include about $500 billion from Medicare over a decade and another $185 billion from Medicaid, these officials said.

By contrast, Democrats want $1.3 trillion in higher tax revenue, a similar amount in spending cuts and enough other savings elsewhere in the budget to reduce deficits by more than $3 trillion over the coming decade while financing a $450 billion jobs bill along the lines that President Barack Obama is recommending.

The officials who described the rival approaches did so on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to provide details of the committee's confidential discussions. In private, each side also disparaged the other, providing yet another indication that the panel's deliberations have not shown significant progress.

Still, the exchange marked a quickening in the pace of activity by the committee after dozens of hours of closed-door meetings, and with time running out, senior leaders in both parties are becoming more involved. Another committee meeting was set for Thursday.

The panel of six Republicans and six Democrats has until Nov. 23 to recommend deficit savings of $1.2 trillion. But in fact, most if not all of the decisions must be made by early next month to give the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office time to render precise estimates on their costs on future deficits.

Whatever the committee recommends must be approved by both houses of Congress in December if lawmakers want to avoid automatic spending cuts of $1.2 trillion across a range of federal programs.

There were signs of Democratic dissension one day after Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., outlined a proposal on behalf of his party's negotiators that included changes in large government benefit programs.

According to several officials, he called for $1.3 trillion in increased tax revenue over a decade, and $1.3 trillion in spending cuts. Another $1 trillion in savings would come from the presumed reduction of Pentagon costs in Iraq and Afghanistan and $500 billion more from a reduction in interest costs resulting from declining deficits.

Those savings would be on top of cuts that Congress approved earlier in the year of nearly $1 trillion.

For Democrats on the committee, it appeared that the most contentious of the items would slow the growth of monthly checks to recipients of Social Security and other benefit programs, curtail Medicare spending by $400 billion over a decade and Medicaid by another $75 billion.

Several Democrats said during the day that the presentation had the support of a majority of the six Democrats on the panel, leaving the impression that at least one, and possibly two, of the party's lawmakers had not signed on. They also stressed that Obama has previously endorsed each of the proposals they made, including the one to adjust the government's calculation for inflation in a way that curtails the growth of benefit programs.

Others suggested that Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., a member of the party's leadership, and Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., had not agreed to support the recommendations.

Aides to the two men would not confirm the accounts.

By contrast, Republicans appeared to avoid any ideological pitfalls in their counter-offer, pulling well back from a position that House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, took earlier in the year in private talks with Obama.

In those discussions, Boehner and the president discussed legislation to enact tax reform that was assumed to result in economic expansion and increases in tax revenue of $800 billion over a decade.

After the collapse of those talks, Republicans have struggled in the ensuing months to avoid any conflict with Grover Norquist, a prominent conservative activist and author of a pledge not to raise taxes that many GOP lawmakers have signed.

In fact, tax reform has figured prominently in the deficit committee's private discussions, according to officials in both parties, and is viewed as a possible key to an agreement.

Under this theory, if Republicans are willing to agree that additional revenue that results from reform does not constitute a tax increase, it might entice Democrats to agree to savings from Medicare and other government benefit programs that account for much of the growth in federal spending in recent years.

Apart from the deficit committee's work, the official web site of the Republican-controlled House Ways and Means Committee sketches a plan to reduce the corporate tax from a current 35 percent to 25 percent, with unspecified provisions to broaden the tax base.

It also makes a favorable reference to a reform of the individual income tax system, without specifics.

___

Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111027/ap_on_bi_ge/us_supercommittee_debt

evan rachel wood i don t know how she does it katamari roatan new planet new planet lisa lampanelli

Why Jon Huntsman Makes Me Want to Vote Republican (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | I've always considered myself an independent voter -- not "Independent" with a capital "I" as in the American Independent Party, but independent as in I vote for the candidate I like the best regardless of party. I confess that lately I seem to be leaning more to the left. People who read my articles on a regular basis may even consider me liberal. It's just that the presence of so much right-wing extremism in politics today screams for a hard slam to the left -- a counter balance of sorts.

Since the Democratic candidate for president, incumbent Barack Obama, will likely go unopposed this time around, there are probably a lot of centrists, independents and even staunch Democrats who will choose to vote in the Republican primaries. Some may see it as an opportunity to throw a monkey wrench in the delicate workings of the Republican machine. They may try to advance a candidate who doesn't poll well against President Obama, like Texas Governor Rick Perry or Rep. Ron Paul.

I may vote in the Republican primary. too, but for a different reason. See there's one candidate I really like, a quiet man who believes in co-operative problem solving, a man who has proven without a doubt that he is willing to work with Democrats to further the best interests of the country.

My pick is Jon Huntsman, and I want to vote for him in the Republican primary, because it feels right to vote for the person I believe is truly the best candidate.

Chris Moody at Yahoo! News just wrote a fantastic story based on an interview with Huntsman. Did you know that Huntsman has a tax reform plan that the Wall Street Journal calls "better than anything so far from the GOP presidential field"?

Huntsman checks all the major boxes. As a former ambassador to China he is the strongest candidate on foreign policy. He also served as governor of Utah giving him executive leadership experience. He started off as a businessman, and understands the private sector. While the other candidates have one or two of these qualifications, Huntsman is the only candidate to boast all three.

Republicans and independents alike should give Huntsman a second look.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111027/us_ac/10302997_why_jon_huntsman_makes_me_want_to_vote_republican

sarah palin espn body issue ijustine visionary guy kawasaki jani lane the exorcism of emily rose

Chaz Bono returns to OWN, blasts "penguin" jibes (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Chaz Bono may have been booted off "Dancing With the Stars" this week, but he will be back on television next month in a second documentary on the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) about his life as a transgender man.

Bono, the only child of actress and singer Cher, is the subject of a one-hour special called "Being Chaz", which looks at his life with girlfriend Jennifer Elia following his female-to-male sex change, OWN said on Wednesday.

The November 27 documentary, a follow-up to the 2011 film "Becoming Chaz", will also chronicle Bono's preparation for his controversial debut as the first transgender celebrity on the TV ballroom contest "Dancing with the Stars".

Viewers voted Bono off the TV show on Tuesday after six weeks following a bashing by judges of his "Phantom of the Opera" tango. Judge Bruno Tonioli called Bono "a cute penguin."

Bono, 42, whose inclusion on the dance show triggered a call for a boycott by a conservative Christian group, fired back on Wednesday.

"I got a lot of references from him (Tonioli) about things that would indicate the fact that I'm overweight, you know, a roundness. I was called a basketball, a penguin, an Ewok, and I just didn't appreciate it," Bono said on TV talk show "Good Morning America."

"If you want to critique my dancing and give me some constructive advice so I can try to improve the next time that I'm there, that would be great. But I don't really know how to be less penguinish, and so I kind of took offense to that," he said.

Gay and lesbian rights group GLAAD said in a statement that Bono "has helped countless people better understand what it means to be transgender. He should be commended for both his courage and determination."

When "Becoming Chaz" was first broadcast on OWN in May, it was watched by more than 705,000 viewers, giving the fledgling cable channel one of its biggest audiences since its January launch.

OWN said that it would also broadcast "I am Jazz: A Family in Transition" -- about an 11 year-old transgender girl and her family on November 27.

(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111026/en_nm/us_chazbono

iraq war loma prieta loma prieta harold camping ucla football kim kardashian and kris humphries kim kardashian and kris humphries

Supercommittee Democrats offer plan for $3 trillion 'grand bargain' (Star Tribune)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/153992780?client_source=feed&format=rss

chia seeds kim zolciak kim zolciak aziz ansari aziz ansari corn maze icloud

Official: Accord at Wednesday EU summit in doubt

BRUSSELS (AP) ? A European official says there is now serious doubt that EU heads of government will agree on a broad package of financial measures at a summit meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.

The official says the 10 EU members who don't use the euro do not want to agree to a bank recapitalization plan unless there's also agreement on increasing the firepower of the EFSF, the EU's bailout fund.

The person, speaking on condition of anonymity because the negotiations were confidential, says there are doubts that the EFSF changes can be agreed.

"It's a real mess once again," the official said.

There will be no finance ministers' meeting before the leaders' summit Wednesday evening, the official said, a sign that there are doubts that an agreement can be reached.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-10-25-Europe-Financial%20Crisis/id-60a41a591af84b49a45f7f59f3b2d4d4

espn magazine espn magazine anywhere but here wall street protesters att new york yankees pittsburgh penguins

Amazon.com shares slump as costs weigh on outlook (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Shares of Amazon.com Inc fell 13 percent in pre-market trade on Wednesday, a day after the company forecast a disappointing outlook for the current quarter on costs related to Kindle and other investments to grow the company.

Analysts with at least four brokerages, including BofA Merrill Lynch and J.P. Morgan Securities, lowered their price targets on Amazon's stock, as third-quarter results came in below market expectations.

The world's largest Internet retailer had launched its Kindle Fire tablet in September, which is likely to weigh on the fourth-quarter profit, Analyst Ken Sena of Evercore Partners said in a note to clients.

"Fulfillment spending was higher than expected as the company works to expand the number of fulfillment centers and adds selection," Sena added and cut the price target on the stock to $260 from $290.

The company has been spending on support growth, primarily to handle the growth of its main online retail business, and plans to build 17 new fulfillment centers this year.

"Amazon continues to invest in high-growth opportunities at the expense of near-term profits," brokerage Stifel Nicolaus said in a note, while cutting its rating on the stock to $265 from $280.

Shares of Amazon slumped to $197.91 in pre-market trading on Wednesday. They had closed at $227.15 on Tuesday on Nasdaq.

(Reporting by Arpita Mukherjee in Bangalore; Editing by Joyjeet Das)

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

facebook music daphne guinness daphne guinness mortgage rates mortgage rates kirstie alley r.e.m.

Yoga eases back pain in largest U.S. yoga study to date

ScienceDaily (Oct. 24, 2011) ? Yoga classes were linked to better back-related function and diminished symptoms from chronic low back pain in the largest U.S. randomized controlled trial of yoga to date, published by the Archives of Internal Medicine as an "Online First" article on October 24. But so were intensive stretching classes.

"We found yoga classes more effective than a self-care book -- but no more effective than stretching classes," said study leader Karen J. Sherman, PhD, MPH, a senior investigator at Group Health Research Institute. Back-related function was better and symptoms were diminished with yoga at 12 weeks; and clinically important benefits, including less use of pain medications, lasted at least six months for both yoga and stretching, with thorough follow-up of more than nine in 10 participants.

In the trial, 228 adults in six cities in western Washington state were randomly assigned to 12 weekly 75-minute classes of either yoga or stretching exercises or a comprehensive self-care book called The Back Pain Helpbook. Nine in 10 of them were primary-care patients at Group Health Cooperative. Participants in the trial typically had moderate -- not severe -- back pain and relatively good mental health, and most had been at least somewhat active before the trial started.

The class participants received instructional videos and were encouraged to practice at home for 20 minutes a day between their weekly classes. Interviewers who didn't know the patients' treatment assignments assessed their back-related function and pain symptoms at six weeks, 12 weeks, and six months.

In 2005, Dr. Sherman and her colleagues conducted a smaller study that found yoga effective for easing chronic low back pain. "In our new trial," she said, "we wanted both to confirm those results in a larger group and to see how yoga compared to a different form of exercise of comparable physical exertion: stretching.

Both the yoga and stretching classes emphasized the torso and legs:

• The type of yoga used in the trial, called viniyoga, adapts the principles of yoga for each individual and physical condition, with modifications for people with physical limitations. The yoga classes also used breathing exercises, with a deep relaxation at the end.
• The stretching classes used 15 different stretching exercises, including stretches of the hamstrings and hip flexors and rotators. Each was held for a minute and repeated once, for a total of 52 minutes of stretching. Strengthening exercises were also included.

"We expected back pain to ease more with yoga than with stretching, so our findings surprised us," Dr. Sherman said. "The most straightforward interpretation of our findings would be that yoga's benefits on back function and symptoms were largely physical, due to the stretching and strengthening of muscles."

But the stretching classes included a lot more stretching than in most such classes, with each stretch held for a relatively long time. "People may have actually begun to relax more in the stretching classes than they would in a typical exercise class," she added. "In retrospect, we realized that these stretching classes were a bit more like yoga than a more typical exercise program would be." So the trial might have compared rather similar programs with each other.

"Our results suggest that both yoga and stretching can be good, safe options for people who are willing to try physical activity to relieve their moderate low back pain," Dr. Sherman concluded. "But it's important for the classes to be therapeutically oriented, geared for beginners, and taught by instructors who can modify postures for participants' individual physical limitations."

In an invited commentary, Timothy S. Carey, MD, MPH, of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, called Dr. Sherman's study "an excellent example of a pragmatic comparative effectiveness trial," noting that the Institute of Medicine has identified chronic back pain as a priority condition for such studies.

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health, funded the trial.

Dr. Sherman's coauthors were Daniel C. Cherkin, PhD, Robert D. Wellman, MS, Andrea J. Cook, PhD, Rene J. Hawkes, and Kristin Delaney, MPH, of Group Health Institute; and Richard A. Deyo, MD, MPH, of Oregon Health and Science University in Portland. Drs. Sherman, Cherkin, and Cook are also on the faculty of the University of Washington School of Public Health.

Recommend this story on Facebook, Twitter,
and Google +1:

Other bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Group Health Research Institute.

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

---

Journal References:

1. Karen J. Sherman; Daniel C. Cherkin; Robert D. Wellman; Andrea J. Cook; Rene J. Hawkes; Kristin Delaney; Richard A. Deyo. A Randomized Trial Comparing Yoga, Stretching, and a Self-care Book for Chronic Low Back Pain. Archives of Internal Medicine, 2011; DOI: 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.524
2. Timothy S. Carey. Comparative Effectiveness Studies in Chronic Low Back Pain: Comment on 'A Randomized Trial Comparing Yoga, Stretching, and a Self-care Book for Chronic Low Back Pain'. Archives of Internal Medicine, 2011; DOI: 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.519

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

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

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111024164708.htm

anagram fergie rafael nadal bradley cooper ellen acl doc martin

How Occupy Wall Street is testing the next US president

While it?s too early to predict how Occupy Wall Street will affect local elections, presidential candidates have begun to recalibrate their campaigns to address the movement's challenges.

As buzz grows and poll numbers rise for Occupy Wall Street, the now-global movement that launched in New York City on Sept. 17 may yet become the unexpected, outside player that forces the 2012 election field to adjust its course.

Skip to next paragraph

A new AP-GfK poll shows that 37 percent of the American public supports OWS, while research firm Chitika shows that online interest in the movement has swelled 150 percent over the past month.

?This will have major implications on the upcoming elections,? says Gabriel Donnini, analyst at the Westborough, Mass.-based Chitika . ?The movement is not dying out or going quietly and candidates will need to address the concerns and demands voiced by those on the streets and making a buzz on the Internet,? he adds.

While it?s too early to predict the impact Occupy Wall Street will have on local elections, presidential candidates have begun to recalibrate their responses, say political observers.

GOP hopeful Mitt Romney, for instance, has already shifted from using class warfare rhetoric, says Sarah Sobieraj, assistant professor of sociology at Tufts University in Massachusetts and author of "Sound-bitten: The Perils of Media-Centered Political Activism."

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/yhOKZ_3dPH4/How-Occupy-Wall-Street-is-testing-the-next-US-president

listeria kendall hunter alabama football 50 50 50 50 gene simmons family jewels dream house

Calif. officer critically wounded in shooting (Providence Journal)

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

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/152138905?client_source=feed&format=rss

catherine the great dark shadows ted haggard ted haggard neutrino carly fiorina girl with the dragon tattoo trailer

Judge blocks Fla.'s new welfare drug testing law (AP)

ORLANDO, Fla. ? A federal judge temporarily blocked Florida's new law that requires welfare applicants to pass a drug test before receiving benefits on Monday, saying it may violate the Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches and seizures.

Judge Mary Scriven ruled in response to a lawsuit filed on behalf of a 35-year-old Navy veteran and single father who sought the benefits while finishing his college degree, but refused to take the test. The judge said there was a good chance plaintiff Luis Lebron would succeed in his challenge to the law based on the Fourth Amendment, which protects individuals from being unfairly searched.

The drug test can reveal a host of private medical facts about the individual, Scriven wrote, adding that she found it "troubling" that the drug tests are not kept confidential like medical records. The results can also be shared with law enforcement officers and a drug abuse hotline.

"This potential interception of positive drug tests by law enforcement implicates a `far more substantial' invasion of privacy than in ordinary civil drug testing cases," said Scriven, who was appointed by President George W. Bush.

The judge also said Florida didn't show that the drug testing program meets criteria for exceptions to the Fourth Amendment.

The injunction will stay in place until the judge can hold a full hearing on the matter. She didn't say when that hearing will be scheduled.

More than two-dozen states have also proposed drug-testing recipients of welfare or other government assistance, but Florida was the first state to enact such a law in more than a decade. Should any of those states pass a law and face a court challenge, Scriven's ultimate ruling would likely serve as a legal precedent.

The law's proponents include Gov. Rick Scott, who said during his campaign the measure would save $77 million. It's unclear how he arrived at those figures. A spokesman for the Florida Department of Children and Families deferred all comments to the governor's office.

"Drug testing welfare recipients is just a common-sense way to ensure that welfare dollars are used to help children and get parents back to work," said Jackie Schutz, a spokeswoman for Scott. "The governor obviously disagrees with the decision and he will evaluate his options regarding when to appeal."

Earlier this year, Scott also ordered drug testing of new state workers and spot checks of existing state employees under him. But testing was suspended after the American Civil Liberties Union also challenged that policy in a separate lawsuit.

Nearly 1,600 applicants have refused to take the test since testing began in mid-July, but they aren't required to say why. Thirty-two applicants failed the test and more than 7,000 have passed, according to the Department of Children and Families. The majority of positives were for marijuana.

State officials said Monday that applicants previously denied benefits for testing positive or refusing the test could reapply immediately. The Department of Children and Families will also approve all pending applications that await drug test results.

Supporters had argued applicants skipped the test because they knew they would have tested positive for drugs. Applicants must pay $25 to $35 for the test and are reimbursed by the state if they pass. It's unclear if the state has saved money.

Under the Temporary Assistance For Needy Families program, the state gives $180 a month for one person or $364 for a family of four.

Those who test positive for drugs are ineligible for the cash assistance for one year, though passing a drug course can cut that period in half. If they fail a second time, they are ineligible for three years.

Lebron, who is the sole caretaker of his 4-year-old son, said he's "happy that the judge stood up for me and my rights and said the state can't act without a reason or suspicion."

The ACLU says Florida was the first to enact such a law since Michigan tried more than a decade ago. Michigan's random drug testing program for welfare recipients lasted five weeks in 1999 before it was halted by a judge, kicking off a four-year legal battle that ended with an appeals court ruling it unconstitutional.

___

Kennedy reported from Miami.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111025/ap_on_re_us/us_welfare_drug_testing

jahvid best libya map libya map world series game 2 world series game 2 libya madoff

Bowyer beats Burton to give RCR 100th victory (AP)

TALLADEGA, Ala. ? Clint Bowyer pushed teammate Jeff Burton around and around Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday.

With the checkered flag in sight, he bailed.

Bowyer pulled around Burton as they closed in on the finish line, grabbing his first win of the season while giving Richard Childress Racing its 100th victory in the Sprint Cup Series.

"I knew he was going to make a move," Burton said. "He was supposed to make a move. He ain't expected to push me to the win."

It was redemption for Bowyer, too. He lost the spring race here when Dale Earnhardt Jr. pushed Jimmie Johnson past the Bowyer-Burton tandem and Bowyer settled for second. At New Hampshire last month, he led late but ran out of gas in the closing laps as Tony Stewart took the victory.

RCR grabbed the victory at NASCAR's biggest and fastest track roughly 30 minutes after a memorial service for two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon ended in Indianapolis. Wheldon was killed in the IndyCar season finale a week ago at Las Vegas, and NASCAR honored him with decals on all the cars and a moment of silence before the start of the race.

The Wheldon death made for some poignant moments during pre-race, as Kevin Harvick clung tightly to wife, Delana, and many drivers were seen giving long embraces to loved ones.

And as expected, the race heated up in the closing laps.

Drivers jockeyed for position and partners in the new two-car drafting system. Although the race was not marred by "the big one," there was a series of accidents, and the last, with eight laps remaining, was a hard hit by Regan Smith that required repairs to the SAFER barrier.

It made for a shake-up in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship standings. Harvick and Kyle Busch were both in accidents, and five-time defending series champion Johnson finished 26th as he and partner Earnhardt never made their charge to the front.

Carl Edwards, who came into the race up five points over Harvick, finished 11th and saw his lead swell to 14 points over Roush Fenway Racing teammate Matt Kenseth.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111023/ap_on_sp_au_ra_ra_su/car_nascar_talladega

hank baskett kody brown scrimshaw jacoby ellsbury jacoby ellsbury facebook charging pittsburgh steelers

China flash PMI rebounds to ease hard-landing fears (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? China's vast manufacturing sector expanded moderately in October to snap three months of contraction, reflecting the resilience of robust domestic demand that is likely to soothe fears of an abrupt slowdown in the world's second-largest economy.

HSBC's flash purchasing managers' index (PMI) also showed price pressures eased in China, underlining consumer price data that has shown a slight pullback in inflation from three-year peaks.

The flash PMI, designed to give an early snapshot of the month's factory activity, rose to 51.1 in October from September's final reading of 49.9 as new orders and new export orders expanded.

The reading surpassed the 50-point level demarcating expansion from contraction for the first time since June, when the PMI was 51.6.

"Thanks to the pick-up in new orders and output, the headline flash PMI rebounded back into expansionary territory during October, marking a steady start to manufacturing activities in the four quarter," said Qu Hongbin, China economist at HSBC.

"Meanwhile, inflation components within the PMI results confirmed stable output prices growth and slower input price inflation. All these data confirm our view that there is no risk of a hard landing in China," he said.

Qu expects annual industrial output growth to hover around 13 percent in October and the central bank to keep monetary policy stable in the coming months.

Both new orders and new export orders sub-indexes rose above the 50-point mark in October. Given the gloomy global outlook, however, it is too early to determine if the rebound in export orders can be sustained.

Still, the data provided support to financial markets, which were already firm on hopes that euro zone leaders were moving closer to stemming the debt crisis. Hong Kong stocks were up 4 percent.

China is vulnerable to fading demand from the United States and Europe, its two biggest export markets. China's trade surplus narrowed in September for the second straight month and annual exports growth to the European Union more than halved compared with August.

But robust domestic demand -- consumption and investment -- and solid export growth to emerging markets have provided some protection.

The worst for China's economy and the rest of the world could come if Europe fails to contain the sovereign debt crisis, said George Worthington, chief economist for the Asia Pacific at IFR Markets, a Thomson Reuters unit.

"But domestic demand conditions seem solid and enough to keep the economy growing by around 9 percent, judging from the rebound in the PMI from a low of 49.3 back in July," he said.

GRADUAL SLOWDOWN

China's annual economic growth slowed to 9.1 percent in the third quarter from 9.5 percent in the second quarter and 9.7 percent in the first.

Growth is expected to slow further. A Reuters poll showed analysts expect growth to weaken to 8.6 percent in 2012 from 9.3 percent this year.

Most analysts believe data points to an economic soft landing, rather than a crash for China. Many define a hard landing as a sudden dip in quarterly GDP growth below 8 percent, which they say could drive up unemployment.

However, the government has announced some measures to support the economy. In comments published on Sunday, Premier Wen Jiabao said the government will make job creation a more urgent priority.

Many of the country's small firms are breathing easier since the government took steps to expand financing support to small firms, said Zhu Jianfang, chief economist at CITIC Securities.

In addition, the central bank appears to be slowing down the appreciation of the yuan, partly to help Chinese exporters.

NO IMMINENT POLICY SHIFT SEEN

The HSBC data showed factory price pressures eased in October, offering some comfort to Chinese policymakers who have been trying to bring inflation under control.

The input price sub-index fell to 54.3 in October from 58.8 in September.

Annual consumer inflation eased to 6.1 percent in September, retreating further from three-year highs, although stubborn food price pressures will keep the central bank guarded about loosening policy prematurely.

Inflation could ease further in coming months but the full-year rate is almost certain to overshoot the government's 4 percent target.

The central bank has raised interest rates five times and lifted banks' reserve requirements nine times since last October. It last raised interest rates in July.

"We may have to wait until the end of the year to see a relaxation of monetary policy, although there could be some structural policy fine-tuning before that," Zhu said.

(Reporting by Kevin Yao; Editing by Ken Wills and Neil Fullick)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111024/bs_nm/us_china_economy_hsbc_pmi

niger chf temperature caroline wozniacki caroline wozniacki ua ua