Wall St down, MF Global falls victim to Europe (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Wall Street closed its best month in 20 years on a down note on Monday as the failure of trading firm MF Global Holdings Ltd and new worries about Europe's debt crisis hammered financial shares.

In a sign that Europe's woes were far from over, Italian and Spanish bond yields soared, prompting the European Central Bank to buy the debt, while shares of European banks came under heavy selling pressure.

MF Global Holdings Ltd, the futures broker that made big bets on European sovereign debt, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, making it the biggest U.S. casualty of the euro zone crisis. Trading in MF Global shares was halted.

Financial shares fell sharply. Morgan Stanley, which has tended to do poorly when fears over Europe rise, dropped nearly 9 percent to $17.64. Monday's losses marked a reversal of last week's euphoria over European leaders' deal aimed at containing the debt crisis.

"We started the day with more questions about the European Union," said Mark Grant, Southwest Securities managing director in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

"Serious questions were raised, and then MF Global came along. MF is involved in all kinds of markets, and the fallout from them going bankrupt is unknown."

As the selloff accelerated at the market's close, the CBOE volatility index jumped over 22 percent, its biggest daily gain since mid-August.

Contributing to the downward pressure, the U.S. dollar shot up to a three-month high against the yen as the government of Japan intervened to curb its currency's appreciation, which hurt the export-based economy.

The jump in the dollar caused shares in energy and natural resources companies to fall sharply. The S&P energy index fell 4.4 percent and was the worst hit sector.

Despite the declines, the benchmark S&P 500 index was up nearly 11 percent for the month and posted its best monthly percentage gain since December 1991.

Most of that run came as European leaders moved to beef up the region's bailout fund and recapitalize its banks. But despite October's gains the S&P 500 index is flat for the year so far.

Still, many analysts believe that with a worst case scenario in Europe seemingly off the cards -- at least for the time being -- stocks could gain further as investors turn their attention to stronger-than-expected economic data in the United States and China.

The Dow Jones industrial average dropped 276.10 points, or 2.26 percent, to 11,955.01. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 31.79 points, or 2.47 percent, to 1,253.30. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 52.74 points, or 1.93 percent, to 2,684.41.

Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Robert W. Baird & Co in Nashville, said the market's strong advance over the past month was leading to some selling but said the market would likely rise further, provided the S&P 500 held the top end of its recent trading range at around 1,250.

"The market had a huge run in October, so the market was overbought coming into today," he said.

Banks stocks were among the worst performing, with the KBW bank index down 4 percent, although analysts said MF Global was unlikely to be big enough to spark a systemic failure in the banking sector.

JP Morgan Chase, which, according to an MF Global court filing, has about $1.2 billion worth of claims on the brokerage, fell 5.2 percent to $34.76.

The higher greenback pressured commodity prices, with copper off 2 percent and Brent crude 0.3 percent lower. Many commodities are priced in the greenback, making a spike in dollar prices more expensive for traders in other currencies and sapping demand.

The S&P materials sector dropped 4.2 percent. Shares of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc lost 5.9 percent to $40.26. Aluminum company Alcoa Inc dropped 7 percent to $10.76.

"After a solid month of gains, the (higher) dollar is giving traders a reason to shy from the risk trade and take some profits," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.

Volume was moderate, with about 7.5 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, NYSE Amex and Nasdaq. Declining stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the NYSE and the Nasdaq by about four-to-one.

(Reporting by Edward Krudy; Editing by Kenneth Barry)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111031/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

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Planets smashed into dust near supermassive black holes

Friday, October 28, 2011

Fat doughnut-shaped dust shrouds that obscure about half of supermassive black holes could be the result of high speed crashes between planets and asteroids, according to a new theory from an international team of astronomers. The scientists, led by Dr. Sergei Nayakshin of the University of Leicester, publish their results in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Supermassive black holes reside in the central parts of most galaxies. Observations indicate that about 50% of them are hidden from view by mysterious clouds of dust, the origin of which is not completely understood. The new theory is inspired by our own Solar System, where the so-called zodiacal dust is known to originate from collisions between solid bodies such as asteroids and comets. The scientists propose that the central regions of galaxies contain not only black holes and stars but also planets and asteroids.

Collisions between these rocky objects would occur at colossal speeds as large as 1000 km per second, continuously shattering and fragmenting the objects, until eventually they end up as microscopic dust. Dr. Nayakshin points out that this harsh environment - radiation and frequent collisions - would make the planets orbiting supermassive black holes sterile, even before they are destroyed. "Too bad for life on these planets", he says, "but on the other hand the dust created in this way blocks much of the harmful radiation from reaching the rest of the host galaxy. This in turn may make it easier for life to prosper elsewhere in the rest of the central region of the galaxy."

He also believes that understanding the origin of the dust near black holes is important in our models of how these monsters grow and how exactly they affect their host galaxies. "We suspect that the supermassive black hole in our own Galaxy, the Milky Way, expelled most of the gas that would otherwise turn into more stars and planets", he continues, "Understanding the origin of the dust in the inner regions of galaxies would take us one step closer to solving the mystery of the supermassive black holes".

###

University of Leicester: http://www.leicester.ac.uk

Thanks to University of Leicester for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/114735/Planets_smashed_into_dust_near_supermassive_black_holes

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Eagles-Cowboys a tough call

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Last week, Rosenthal and I disagreed on three games.? He was right on two of them, and I now trail by seven for the season.

To make matters worse, I was a pathetic 7-6.? He was 8-5.

To make matters even worse, there?s a chance it gets worse this weekend, with another 13 games.? At least he can only increase his lead to nine games, since we disagree on only two of them:? Bengals-Seahawks and Cowboys-Eagles.

For the year, he?s 71-32 and I?m 64-39.

Read on to see who we?ve picked and specifically how we disagree.? Given the choice of photo for this item, it?s safe to say I?ll be singing Fly, Eagles! Fly! on Sunday night.

Cardinals at Ravens

Florio?s take:? The Ravens play well at home.? The Ravens don?t play well against bad teams.? The Ravens are playing at home.? The Ravens are playing a bad team.? But the Cardinals are really bad, and the Ravens have gotten a kick in the pants after losing to the Jaguars.

Florio?s pick:? Ravens 31, Cardinals 17.

Rosenthal?s take: The Steelers struggled in the second half against the Jaguars two weeks ago, and took out their aggression on the Cardinals in Arizona. The Ravens lost to the Jaguars Monday night, and can take it out on the Cardinals in Baltimore. Passing game problems magically disappear when teams play Arizona.

Rosenthal?s pick: Ravens 31, Cardinals 13.

Vikings at Panthers

Florio?s take:? The Panthers have made it through a rough stretch of their schedule, and they have a chance to enter the bye on a two-game winning streak.? The Vikings have never won in Charlotte, and it?s unlikely that they?ll change that on Sunday.

Florio?s pick:? Panthers 28, Vikings 20.

Rosenthal?s take: It?s not really fair to Andy Dalton, Christian Ponder, and Blaine Gabbert to be rookies the same year as Cam Newton. The Panthers quarterback is starting to mix better decisions with his weekly ?wow? plays. Newton just doesn?t play like a rookie. He really doesn?t play like anyone that came before him.

Rosenthal?s pick: Panthers 33, Vikings 23.

Jaguars at Texans

Florio?s take:? The best of a bad crop of early games, this one got much more interesting after the Jaguars stunned the Ravens on Monday night.? Tied 9-9 all-time, the Texans can put a stranglehold on the AFC South with a win, and the Jaguars can make it interesting with an upset.? The edge goes to the home team.

Florio?s pick:? Texans 27, Jaguars 20.

Rosenthal?s take: If defense really wins championships, the Jaguars could be contenders. But Jacksonville needs something more from Blaine Gabbert, and teams need more in the gameplan than not turning the ball over. The Texans have a pretty decent defense, not to mention a guy named Arian Foster and a great run-blocking line.

Rosenthal?s pick: Texans 23, Jaguars 13.

Dolphins at Giants

Florio?s take:? The Dolphins return to MetLife Stadium only 13 days after being steamrolled by the Jets.? It wouldn?t be a shock if the Giants stub their toe, given their performance against the Seahawks.? But, c?mon, they?re playing the Dolphins.? The Matt Moore/J.P. Losman-led Dolphins.? A Miami win would be an even bigger upset than Super Bowl XLII.

Florio?s pick:? Giants 24, Dolphins 7.

Rosenthal?s take: It sounds weird, but this is a ?must? win for the Giants. They can?t afford another bad home loss with the following schedule coming up: at Patriots, at 49ers, Eagles, at Saints, Packers, and at Cowboys.? Luckily, the Giants face a squad this week that seemingly approaches every game as a ?must? lose.

Rosenthal?s pick: Giants 28, Dolphins 10.

Saints at Rams

Florio?s take:? This week, Sean Payton will be able to eat a hot dog, some nachos, a soft pretzel, and a box of popcorn.

Florio?s pick:? Saints 42, Rams 14.

Rosenthal?s take: The Rams defense is most disappointing group in the league.? The pass rush vanished.? They are a mess at cornerback and special teamers starting at linebacker.? Free-agent pickup Quintin Mikell has struggled.? Only the Colts have given up more points than St. Louis, and that?s because of what the Saints just did to Indy.? The Rams will be last in points allowed after this one.

Rosenthal?s pick: Saints 41, Rams 20.

Colts at Titans

Florio?s take:? Four days ago, the Colts lost by 55 at New Orleans.? Two years ago, the Titans endured a 59-point blowout against the Patriots.? The Titans won their next game.? That?s where the similarities end.

Florio?s pick:? Titans 30, Colts 14.

Rosenthal?s take:? The Titans were outscored 79-14 the last two games.? The Colts were outscored 62-7 last week.? Something has to give here, so I?ll guess it?s the winless team staying winless.

Rosenthal?s pick: Titans 26, Colts 17.

Redskins at Bills

Florio?s take:? Another week, another Super Bowl rematch.? The last three (Bills-Giants, Steelers-Cardinals, Colts-Saints) resulted in the same outcome.? The trend will now be reversed, thanks to a rested Bills squad and a Redskins team that has been sliding back toward reality.

Florio?s pick:? Bills 34, Redskins 24.

Rosenthal?s take: The Bills defense may have finally found a passing attack they can stop.? Or perhaps John Beck found a defense he can make noise against.? Either way, the Bills are better equipped to win a shootout. Plus Ryan Fitzpatrick?s beard just belongs in Canada. (This is the hard-hitting analysis you come to PFT for.)

Rosenthal?s pick: Bills 31, Redskins 24.

Lions at Broncos

Florio?s take:? When a Christian is thrown to the Lions, sometimes the Christian wins.? But not yet.?? Though it?s tempting to predict an upset, the Lions can?t afford to run their losing streak to three, and the Broncos simply don?t have the horses to beat a team much better than the Dolphins.

Florio?s pick:? Lions 24, Broncos 14.

Rosenthal?s take:? The Lions offense hasn?t consistently sustained drives for weeks. The Broncos passing attack had two yards halfway through the fourth quarter last week before Tim Tebow recovered an onside kick and sacked Matt Moore in overtime, before Tebow kicked a 52-yard field goal.? In short:? Expect a defensive game, with Matthew Stafford providing the drama this time.

Rosenthal?s pick: Lions 17, Broncos 13.

Patriots at Steelers

Florio?s take:? Tom Brady, not Art Rooney, owns the Pittsburgh Steelers.? Yes, it?s that simple.

Florio?s pick:? Patriots 34, Steelers 20.

Rosenthal?s take: Is the Steelers defense dominant again or have they just fattened their stats on the Seahawks, Colts, Jaguars, and Cardinals? I?m not sure the answer makes a difference. Tom Brady has a habit of shredding the Steelers even when Pittsburgh?s defense is truly elite.

Rosenthal?s pick: Patriots 30, Steelers 24.

Bengals at Seahawks

Florio?s take:? It?s easy to write off the Seahawks in this one based on their performance (or whatever that thing should be called) in Cleveland.? But they?re a different team at home, and the Bengals? 4-2 start is a little deceiving.? So whether it?s Tarvaris Jackson or Charlie Whitehurst, the Seahawks and their 12th Man will continue their up-and-down season with a showing that will be enough to generate a win.

Florio?s pick:? Seahawks 20, Bengals 17.

Rosenthal?s take: If you liked Browns-Seahawks last week, you?re going to love this one.? Cedric Benson won?t be available.? Tarvaris Jackson might be, but Charlie Whitehurst?s effort last week guarantees the Seahawks crowd won?t be chanting for the backup anymore.? I?m picking the Bengals because I want to live in a world that Andy Dalton?s crew is in first place to start November.

Rosenthal?s pick: Bengals 10, Seahawks 7.

Browns at 49ers

Florio?s take:? Now that the 49ers have gotten through a difficult stretch to start the season with a 5-1 record and are emerging from a bye, it would be fitting to see them come up flat against the Browns, especially since it?s a homecoming game of sorts for team president Mike Holmgren.? Unlike the team led by Jim Harbaugh?s brother, John, the 49ers won?t play down to the level of the Browns, who while improving have a long way to go before they can be regarded as truly improved.

Florio?s pick:? 49ers 27, Browns 17.

Rosenthal?s take: The Browns are the worst 3-3 team possible, with Colt McCoy regressing by the week. They play an ugly brand of football, but that?s the kind of game the 49ers like.? San Francisco runs better than the Browns, and they defend better too.? The 49ers are a legit 5-1 team.? Make it 6-1.

Rosenthal?s pick: 49ers 22, Browns 13.

Cowboys at Eagles

Florio?s take:? The rested Eagles can?t completely shake controversy, thanks to the comments of cornerback Asante Samuel.? But the Eagles surely sense the opportunity to seize the division, and they can?t do it without beating the Cowboys.? Though Dallas defensive coordinator Rob Ryan will have cooked up a good plan for containing Mike Vick, Andy Reid has had two weeks to come up with a way for generating offense, presumably with heavy doses of LeSean McCoy.

Florio?s pick:? Eagles 30, Cowboys 24.

Rosenthal?s take:? The Eagles are a team of extremes.? They lead the league in rushing.? They lead the league in interceptions and turnovers.? They outgain their opponents by 100 yards-per-week, and find a way to lose.? Dallas knows how to blow fourth-quarter chances too, but they have something Philly does not:? One of the best defenses in the league.

Rosenthal?s pick: Cowboys 27, Eagles 21.

Chargers at Chiefs

Florio?s take:? Suddenly, the Chiefs have become the hottest team in the AFC West.? Just as suddenly, the Chargers seem to be falling apart.? After losing 31-0 in San Diego last year, the Chiefs played the Chargers close on the road in Week Three.? Now that the rivalry returns to Arrowhead Stadium, it?s time for the Chiefs to tighten up the top of the division.

Florio?s pick:? Chiefs 27, Chargers 21.

Rosenthal?s take:? The Chiefs have quietly survived Jamaal Charles? injury, ranking seventh in rushing yards.? The Chargers have quietly stunk defending the run, giving up exactly 162 yards to the Broncos and Jets the last two games. Put them together in Arrowhead, and there might be a three-way tie for the AFC West lead.

Rosenthal?s pick: Chiefs 26, Chargers 21.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/10/27/pfts-week-eight-picks/related

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Perry to GOP: I could handle Obama in debate (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Rick Perry on Sunday sought to reassure GOP primary voters concerned about his wobbly presidential debate performances, saying he would draw sharp distinctions with the Democratic incumbent in televised showdowns next year.

"I'm not worried a bit that I'll be able to stand on the stage with Barack Obama and draw a very bright line," Perry said.

The Texas governor, driving for front-runner status as the most viable conservative in the wide-open field, offered up samples of the scathing rhetoric he uses against the president, from the economy to war policy and personal credibility.

Perry also defended his voluntary flat-tax proposal and the notion that it could bring in trillions of dollars less in revenue than the current tax code.

"There's nothing wrong with lower revenue," he said. "I don't want more revenue in Washington, D.C.'s hands. I want more revenue in the private sector job creators' hands."

The tough talk came as Perry manages the fallout from his debate performances and all of the GOP candidates fight to lead the pack in Iowa just two months before the first voting of 2012 begins there.

There is no clear leader in that contest. A Des Moines Register poll on Saturday showed former Godfather's Pizza CEO Herman Cain at the head of the pack, with the support of 23 percent of respondents. Ex-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was next with 22 percent.

Perry, who rated just 7 percent in that survey, has taken a particularly steep fall since announcing his candidacy in August, struggling through parts of five debates and dogged especially by Romney.

How, he was asked on "Fox News Sunday," would he perform against the erudite Obama in a general election next year?

What counts, Perry said, is how a candidate would govern.

"We got a great debater, a smooth politician in the White House right now, that's not working really good for America," Perry said.

Perry plans to attend of the debates now scheduled in November as well as a December one. "With as many debates as we got coming up, I may end up being a pretty good debater before it's all been said and done," he said.

On Iraq and Afghanistan, Perry accused Obama of pursuing an "aimless foreign policy" by making big decisions without adequately considering the advice of his commanders. He said the president has endangered Americans on the ground by announcing that U.S. troops would leave Iraq by year's end.

"He has lost his standing from the standpoint of being a commander in chief who has any idea about what's going on in those theaters," Perry said.

On the leading domestic issue, Perry said the president has "taken an experiment with the American economy and turned it into absolute Frankenstein experience."

Cain piled on the president, too.

"A responsible commander in chief" would have done more to seek out the counsel of the military's ground commanders before agreeing to pull all troops out of Iraq, Cain said. Doing that leaves a "power vacuum," he added.

"It also leaves it unclear as to how we are going to deal with other nations," Cain said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

The U.S. deadline to pull troops out by the end of 2011 was originally set by President George W. Bush. Obama decided to move ahead with the plan after Washington and Baghdad couldn't agree on the conditions for keeping a small contingent of U.S. troops behind to train Iraqi forces.

For his part, the president has mostly stayed out of the GOP nomination fight.

"I'm going to wait until everyone is voted off the island," he told "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno earlier in the week.

But a top adviser, David Plouffe, went after Romney, the early front-runner in the race. Plouffe, who managed Obama's 2008 campaign, said Romney has "moved all over the place" on issues from abortion to gay marriage over his career and might not have firm enough convictions to make the tough decisions as president.

"You get the sense with Mitt Romney that if he thought it was good to say the sky was green and the grass was blue, to win an election, he'd say it," Plouffe said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

It's not yet clear which of the Republicans might survive the nomination fight. While Cain "seems to have tapped into something," Plouffe said he found it interesting that "Romney continues to have 75, 80 percent of his party looking somewhere else, and so it'll be interesting to see if he can turn that around."

The Romney campaign shot back by saying Obama "can't run on his abysmal economic record and he is desperate to distract from the historic loss of middle-class jobs that has occurred on his watch. Americans won't be fooled by false and negative attacks."

Republicans in Iowa aren't leaning toward any one candidate, even though Romney's essentially been running for president since losing in the state in 2008.

Despite his showing in the Iowa poll, Cain trails both Romney and Perry in fundraising by the millions.

Perry is starting to focus on Iowa with a new ad, and on Sunday, he hit Romney for being on both sides of debates over gun control, abortion and gay rights.

"I have been a consistent conservative," Perry said. "I don't get confused with just telling the truth."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111030/ap_on_el_ge/us_perry

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Video: Teacher pleads insanity in student sex scandal

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45059096#45059096

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The Breast Cancer You May Not Know About (ContributorNetwork)

Inflammatory Breast Cancer is very rare, but very aggressive.

I am alive today because my doctors had an icon on their desktop to remind them to be alert to IBC. Unfortunately, the incidence of this aggressive breast cancer is increasing in the United States.

You don't have to have a lump to have breast cancer.

Most of what we are taught about breast cancer does not apply to Inflammatory Breast Cancer. It does not make a lump. It nests inside dense breast tissue and does not typically show up on a mammogram. We are taught that breast cancer doesn't hurt, but Inflammatory Breast Cancer usually does. A heavy, swollen breast that feels warm and sore could be IBC. Many Inflammatory Breast Cancer cases are missed because the symptoms are mistaken for mastitis. Know all the symptoms of IBC, and if you have even one, make sure your doctor screens for Inflammatory Breast Cancer.

Inflammatory Breast Cancer strikes women and men of all ages, most often younger women.

The median age for an IBC diagnosis is between 45 and 55. It has been diagnosed in men and in pregnant and lactating women. The youngest woman on record to be diagnosed with the disease was 12. It is vitally important for parents to encourage our sons and daughters to be aware of their bodies, and to talk to us if anything seems amiss. It is never too early to teach our children to take care of themselves.

Inaccurate diagnosis results in lethal treatment delays.

Inflammatory Breast Cancer spreads quickly, because unlike other breast cancers is originates in the lymph tissue. Lactating women often assume that their symptoms are mastitis, and miss the opportunity to fight the disease before it spreads. Inflammatory Breast Cancer is always diagnosed at Stage III or Stage IV, because by the time it shows symptoms it has progressed. Timely diagnosis and treatment is key to survival.

You don't need to be frightened, just aware. Knowledge is power.

Know your body, know your breasts, and teach your children to do the same. If you go to the hospital with chest pain, a responsible doctor will screen for a cardiac event. If you notice anything unusual happening to your breast, make sure that Inflammatory Breast Cancer is ruled out.

Share this information with every woman you know. You may save a life. I personally know of more than one Inflammatory Breast Cancer survivor who is alive today because someone in her life was aware.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/cancer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111027/us_ac/9150251_the_breast_cancer_you_may_not_know_about

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A Night to Honor Shawn Tompkins: Hominick and Stout talk about mentor, trainer and friend

It's been a horrendous last few months for UFC fighters Sam Stout and Mark Hominick. They lost their trainer and mentor Shawn Tompkins back on Aug. 14. Stout is married to Tompkins' sister and the trainer was also the best man at Hominick's best man. So the bond between the guys was incredibly deep.

The Las Vegas and fight community can celebrate the life and legacy of Shawn Tompkins this Friday at the TapouT Training Center (4040 W. Hacienda) from 6-8 p.m. PT. Stout, Hominick, Bas Rutten and Mike Straka along with many other stars of MMA will be attendance to this event open to all fans.

We spoke with both fighters about their friend's impact in and out of the cage.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/A-Night-to-Honor-Shawn-Tompkins-Hominick-and-St?urn=mma-wp8612

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'Big Bang Theory's' Kaley Cuoco engaged

Physics can be a blast, but you can't beat chemistry.

"The Big Bang Theory's" Kaley Cuoco is engaged to boyfriend Josh "Lazie" Resnik, her publicist confirmed Tuesday to E! News.

We hope her ex-fianc? isn't too jealous...

READ: Good Nudes for "Two and a Half Men" and Ashton Kutcher

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"I'd like you to know who I'm engaged to ? Chopard, the jewelry designer," Cuoco joked on the red carpet at the Golden Globes in January, where she flashed a borrowed piece of bling on her finger.

Story: Fall TV premiere week:? The winners and losers

Maybe the big ring theory was bogus at the time, but now....

Cuoco's rep confirms that the actress and Resnik, an addiction specialist, are planning to tie the knot but have not set a date yet.

GALLERY: Celeb Weddings We Can't Wait For

And while Chopard will just have to grin and bear it, we hope Cuoco's happy news doesn't cause any hard feelings on "The Big Bang Theory" set. She revealed in September 2010 that she and costar Johnny Galecki quietly dated for two years before the relationship ran its course.

Story: 'Roseanne's' Laurie Metcalf files for divorce

"We were so protective of ourselves and the show and didn't want anything to ruin that. But that also made it sad, too," Cuoco said. "That's not the kind of relationship I want ? I don't want to be hiding."

? 2011 E! Entertainment Television, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45043900/ns/today-entertainment/

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Weapon of Ice Destruction: A Snowball Launching Crossbow [Tools]

There was a time when all a man needed for a good snowball fight was dry gloves and some fresh powder. These days you need to step up your game, with weapons specifically engineered for winter warfare like this crossbow designed to hurl balls of snow instead of arrows. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/kje0yLnsbys/weapon-of-ice-destruction-a-snowball-launching-crossbow

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Nokia unveils Windows smartphones to catch rivals (AP)

HELSINKI ? Nokia Corp. on Wednesday launched its long-awaited first Windows cellphones, hoping to claw back market share it has lost in the tough, top-end smartphone race to chief rivals, Apple Inc.'s iPhone, Samsung and Google's Android software.

But some analysts say it may be too little, too late, for the world's top mobile phone maker.

With price tags of euro420 ($580) and euro270, the Lumia 800 and 710 are based on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 7 software and come eight months after Nokia and the computing giant said they were hitching up.

"Lumia is reasonably good ... but it's not an iPhone killer or a Samsung killer," Neil Mawston from Strategy Analytics said. "But where Nokia does stand out is on their price ? it looks like they are going to be very competitive."

Lumia 800, with Carl Zeiss optics and 16GB of internal memory, will be available in selected European countries in November, including France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain and Britain. It will be sold in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan before the year-end.

Lumia 710, with a 1.4 GHz processor, navigational applications and Nokia Music ? a free, mobile music-streaming app ? will first be available in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan toward the end of the year.

The company's share price jumped almost 3 percent in an otherwise depressed market on the Helsinki Stock Exchange but settled, closing almost unchanged at euro4.80 ($6.68).

Nokia also unveiled four cheaper smartphones aimed at emerging markets ? the Asha range priced euro60 to euro115 ? with cameras, navigation applications and fast downloads ? in a bid to help "the next billion" users connect to the Internet, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said at the Nokia presentation in London.

Equipped with QWERTY keyboards and some with the popular dual SIM cards, the Asha handsets will be shipped globally in the fourth quarter or early 2012.

Nokia, which claims 1.3 billion daily users, has been the world's biggest handset maker since 1998, selling 432 million devices last year ? more than its three closest rivals combined. But after reaching its announced global goal of 40 percent market share in 2008, it has struggled against rivals making cheaper handsets in Asia, and its share has shrunk to 24 percent earlier this year.

Worse still, Nokia's sales in the more lucrative smartphone market crashed 39 percent in the third quarter as it continued to be squeezed in the low end by Asian manufacturers like ZTE and in the high end by the iPhone, Research in Motion's Blackberry, Korea's Samsung Electronics and Taiwan-based HTC Corp.

The iPhone has set the standard for smartphones among many design-conscious consumers, the Blackberry has been the favorite of the corporate set and increasingly Google Inc.'s Android software has emerged as the choice for phone makers that want to challenge the iPhone.

Samsung and HTC ? snapping at Nokia's heels for third place in topend smartphones behind the iPhone and Samsung ? are the biggest users of the Android platform.

Nokia is still operating Symbian software, older than Apple's software and considered clumsy by many, although it has been upgraded. Nokia also introduced the MeeGo platform in its flagship N9 model launched last month.

Elop has said Windows software will become the main platform for Nokia smartphones but that it won't stop developing Symbian or MeeGo.

Mawston says Nokia has been pushed into a corner as Symbian was unable to compete with other operating systems and MeeGo took too long to develop.

"It's a risk that they may be juggling too many balls at once," Mawston said. "They were pushed into a multi-platform strategy for at least the short-term, but given the competitive situation with Symbian and MeeGo they really had no choice but to develop a third (platform) and juggle all three at once."

Elop described the Lumia phones as a "new dawn" for Nokia.

"Lumia is light ... Lumia is the first real Windows Phone," Elop declared to the London audience.

He acknowledged that since he took over the Nokia leadership a year ago there had been "some difficult moments and some tough decisions to make," including more than 12,000 layoffs, but was upbeat about the future.

"Eight months ago, here in London we outlined a new direction for Nokia," Elop said. "Since then we've gone through a significant transition and we are playing to win ? no holding back, no hesitation, no second guessing."

Ovum analyst Nick Dillon said the success of the new Windows devices will be critical.

"The challenges which Nokia faces are significant ? many potential Windows Phone customers will have already bought an Android or iPhone and will have some form of attachment to those platforms," Dillon said. "Nokia will have a challenge to convince them to switch to what is a largely unknown, and therefore risky, alternative."

Nokia, which according to Strategy Analytics, is the world's top seller of dual SIM card handsets, sold 18 million such devices in the third quarter.

"Dual SIM is really something Nokia should have been doing in 2007 and 2008 when the market really started rocketing quite aggressively," Mawston said. "Like with smartphones really, they're two or three years behind and are gradually playing catch-up."

The Espoo-based company, near Helsinki, employs 136,000 people ? up from 132,000 a year ago.

____

Online:

Nokia: http://www.nokia.com.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/software/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111026/ap_on_hi_te/eu_finland_nokia

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Deliberate practice: Necessary but not sufficient

Public release date: 24-Oct-2011
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Contact: Divya Menon
dmenon@psychologicalscience.org
202-293-9300
Association for Psychological Science

Psychological scientist Guillermo Campitelli is a good chess player, but not a great one. "I'm not as good as I wanted," he says. He had an international rating but not any of the titles that chess players get, like Grandmaster and International Master. "A lot of people that practiced much less than me achieved much higher levels." Some of the players he coached became some of the best players in Argentina. "I always wondered: What's going on? Why did this happen?"

Now a researcher at Edith Cowan University in Joondalup, Australia, Campitelli studies practicing. He's written an article with Fernand Gobet of Brunel University in the United Kingdom on their and other people's research on chess for Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

In one survey of chess players in Argentina, Campitelli and Gobet found that, indeed, practice is important. All of the players that became masters had practice at least 3,000 hours. "That was not surprising," he says. There is a theory in psychology that the more you practice, the better you'll do in areas like sports, music, and chess. "But the thing is, of the people that achieved the master level, there are people that achieved it in 3,000 hours. Other people did, like, 30,000 hours and achieved the same level. And there are even people that practiced more than 30,000 hours and didn't achieve this."

Campitelli and Gobet concluded that practice is necessary to get to the master levelbut it's not enough. There has to be something else that sets apart the people who get really good at chess.

Similar results on practice have been found for music. A study published in Psychological Science last year found that musicians need a lot of practice, but that practice isn't enough. The researchers identified one additional factor: musicians who are better at sight-reading have better working memory, the ability to keep relevant pieces of information active in your mind.

But, for chess, that factor has not been pinned down. One possibility is intelligence. A lot of studies have found that children who play chess have a higher IQ than the general population. (Because of the ongoing debate on whether IQ really shows intelligence, Campitelli prefers to be conservative and call it "IQ.") But studies have found mixed results on whether adults who play chess have higher IQs than adults who don't play chess. And only one studyof several that have been performedfound that adults with higher IQs are better at chess.

Campitelli and Gobet suggest that more intelligent children may be attracted to chess, and use their good reasoning skills to play well, but later they need to practice hard to learn all the strategies and plans that make a good chess playerand intelligence isn't much help.

Other things that set apart chess players are handednesswhile about 90 percent of the general population is right-handed, only about 82 percent of adult chess players are right-handed. This could indicate some difference in brain development that makes people better at the spatial skills you need to be good at chess. But it still doesn't explain what makes some people better at chess than others.

Campitelli was disappointed that he didn't get to be a better chess player, despite all his practice. "But actually, when I started studying these things, I was happy, because I don't play chess as well as I want, but I can do scientific research and I can coach other people."

###

For more information about this study, please contact: Guillermo Campitelli at g.campitelli@ecu.edu.au.

Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, publishes concise reviews on the latest advances in theory and research spanning all of scientific psychology and its applications. For a copy of "Deliberate Practice: Necessary But Not Sufficient" and access to other Current Directions in Psychological Science research findings, please contact Divya Menon at 202-293-9300 or dmenon@psychologicalscience.org.

---

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 24-Oct-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Divya Menon
dmenon@psychologicalscience.org
202-293-9300
Association for Psychological Science

Psychological scientist Guillermo Campitelli is a good chess player, but not a great one. "I'm not as good as I wanted," he says. He had an international rating but not any of the titles that chess players get, like Grandmaster and International Master. "A lot of people that practiced much less than me achieved much higher levels." Some of the players he coached became some of the best players in Argentina. "I always wondered: What's going on? Why did this happen?"

Now a researcher at Edith Cowan University in Joondalup, Australia, Campitelli studies practicing. He's written an article with Fernand Gobet of Brunel University in the United Kingdom on their and other people's research on chess for Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science.

In one survey of chess players in Argentina, Campitelli and Gobet found that, indeed, practice is important. All of the players that became masters had practice at least 3,000 hours. "That was not surprising," he says. There is a theory in psychology that the more you practice, the better you'll do in areas like sports, music, and chess. "But the thing is, of the people that achieved the master level, there are people that achieved it in 3,000 hours. Other people did, like, 30,000 hours and achieved the same level. And there are even people that practiced more than 30,000 hours and didn't achieve this."

Campitelli and Gobet concluded that practice is necessary to get to the master levelbut it's not enough. There has to be something else that sets apart the people who get really good at chess.

Similar results on practice have been found for music. A study published in Psychological Science last year found that musicians need a lot of practice, but that practice isn't enough. The researchers identified one additional factor: musicians who are better at sight-reading have better working memory, the ability to keep relevant pieces of information active in your mind.

But, for chess, that factor has not been pinned down. One possibility is intelligence. A lot of studies have found that children who play chess have a higher IQ than the general population. (Because of the ongoing debate on whether IQ really shows intelligence, Campitelli prefers to be conservative and call it "IQ.") But studies have found mixed results on whether adults who play chess have higher IQs than adults who don't play chess. And only one studyof several that have been performedfound that adults with higher IQs are better at chess.

Campitelli and Gobet suggest that more intelligent children may be attracted to chess, and use their good reasoning skills to play well, but later they need to practice hard to learn all the strategies and plans that make a good chess playerand intelligence isn't much help.

Other things that set apart chess players are handednesswhile about 90 percent of the general population is right-handed, only about 82 percent of adult chess players are right-handed. This could indicate some difference in brain development that makes people better at the spatial skills you need to be good at chess. But it still doesn't explain what makes some people better at chess than others.

Campitelli was disappointed that he didn't get to be a better chess player, despite all his practice. "But actually, when I started studying these things, I was happy, because I don't play chess as well as I want, but I can do scientific research and I can coach other people."

###

For more information about this study, please contact: Guillermo Campitelli at g.campitelli@ecu.edu.au.

Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, publishes concise reviews on the latest advances in theory and research spanning all of scientific psychology and its applications. For a copy of "Deliberate Practice: Necessary But Not Sufficient" and access to other Current Directions in Psychological Science research findings, please contact Divya Menon at 202-293-9300 or dmenon@psychologicalscience.org.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-10/afps-dpn102411.php

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Canon EOS-1D X first hands-on (video)

Professional photographers know the drill: every few years, Canon or Nikon announces a game-changing DSLR, often prompting top photogs to unload their complete kits and switch to another system in a never-ending attempt to shoot with the best. This time, Canon is first out of the gate, with its flagship EOS-1D X -- the latest in a series that dates back to 2001 with the EOS-1D. As you've probably noticed, the company's new top model looks virtually identical to its decade-old ancestor, but is otherwise a far cry from that four megapixel CCD sensor-sporting dinosaur. We've been anxiously awaiting an opportunity to check out Canon's new $6,800 18.1 megapixel full-frame model since first getting word of the beastly camera last week, and just had a chance to go hands-on during the company's Pro Solutions event in London. Jump past the break for our impressions and a video walkthrough.

Gallery: Canon EOS-1D X hands-on

Continue reading Canon EOS-1D X first hands-on (video)

Canon EOS-1D X first hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Oct 2011 07:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/10/25/canon-eos-1d-x-hands-on-video/

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Republicans plot early strategy to win back Ind.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) ? Indiana Republicans took their first presidential loss in 40 years when Barack Obama carried the rock-ribbed GOP state. They're not about to let it happen again.

To return the state to the GOP column and nail it there, national Republicans say they plan to treat Indiana as if it were a long-standing battleground state. State Republicans hope to recreate the excitement that fired up underdog Indiana Democrats in 2008, when Hillary Clinton and Obama campaigned extensively throughout the state in a lengthy primary battle that dragged through May, creating a buzz that lasted until the general election.

By contrast, GOP nominee John McCain largely took Indiana for granted, focusing his energy on actual battleground states. Obama won the state in November by a little more than 30,000 votes.

Now the state is fairly crawling with GOP candidates.

The state party has sponsored four presidential forums since August. Those events brought Republican candidates like pizza magnate Herman Cain, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former U.S. Ambassador to China John Huntsman to Indiana and helped add 1,000 names to the party's e-mail list, party spokesman Pete Seat said.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, whose YouTube videos about the budget crisis have given him a high profile, headlined the state party's fall fundraiser with Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Preibus last Friday. Cain visited the exclusive Columbia Club in downtown Indianapolis at the same time.

"It's nice that we're getting this kind of attention, it's creating interest in the election," Garry Petersen said last week, before listening to Perry speak to roughly 300 Republicans at the Columbia Club. Petersen and his wife, Terri, have long been active in Indiana Republican politics and said this is the most attention the state has gotten from Republican presidential candidates since the early 1980s.

"Our responsibility is to take care of our backyard here and to make sure that Indiana is fired up. We have a network of folks that are willing to sacrifice their time and just make sure that Barack Obama is one and done," Indiana Republican Party Chairman Eric Holcomb said.

Obama was the first Democrat to win Indiana since Lyndon Johnson in 1964. And even though they voted three separate Democratic governors into office in the intervening years, Hoosiers voters so reliably went for whomever the Republicans offered nationally for 44 years.

That near-certainty that any Republican presidential nominee would carry the state made both sides complacent until Obama's win in 2008. It has sent some of the most conservative representatives to Congress, including Dan Burton, Dan Coats and Dan Quayle, who was vice president under President George H.W. Bush.

To keep Indiana's reputation for producing conservative wins, the RNC plans to begin sending staffers and money to Indiana in the spring, said Rick Wiley, RNC political director. Republicans learned a hard lesson in Indiana in 2008 when they waited until after McCain's nomination had been locked up to begin organizing their campaign, he said.

"We're going to treat it as a battleground state. We're going to treat as though we're running behind in the state," Wiley said Tuesday. He would not say how much the national party plans to spend in the state or how many full-time staff they will pay for here.

For its part, the Obama campaign is touting a continued staff presence in Indiana that has been maintained since Obama took office. The re-election effort has maintained between two and four fulltime staffers in Indiana since 2008, according to an Indiana Democratic source who spoke on condition of anonymity because the Obama campaign does not want to release campaign staff numbers.

Those staffers have been running phone banks and helping the state's Democratic mayoral candidates, the source said. The Obama campaign is running weekly phone banks from the state Democratic party headquarters every Tuesday, according to the campaign website.

Obama's Indiana supporters say even if the president loses Indiana next year they are optimistic the network they built in 2008 has scared Republicans enough to at least draw away resources from other battleground states.

"I think they better" campaign hard in Indiana, said Kip Tew, a former Indiana Democratic Party chairman who led Obama's Indiana efforts in 2008. "They didn't the last time and they lost, so they probably learned a lesson."

In the meantime, both parties are using Indiana's statewide municipal elections as training ahead of next year's battle. Indiana Republicans have held four training sessions with mayoral candidates and volunteers, sending out executive director Justin Garrett to lead the events throughout the state.

"It's a long road ahead of us," GOP state chairman Holcomb said. "We need to take nothing for granted and make sure that Indiana turns red."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-10-24-Indiana-Thwarting%20Obama/id-be56cda2e1f94f61b85c3b50181296df

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Conflicted Iraqis face future without US troops

Umm Mohammed, 55, left, distributes sweets and juice as she celebrates the announcement of the U.S. Army's withdrawal in central Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011. Iraq's prime minister said Saturday that U.S. troops are leaving Iraq after nearly nine years of war because Baghdad rejected American demands that any U.S. military forces to stay would have to be shielded from prosecution or lawsuits. A day earlier, President Barack Obama had hailed the troops' withdrawal as the result of his commitment _ promised shortly after taking office in 2009 _ to end the war that he once described as "dumb." (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Umm Mohammed, 55, left, distributes sweets and juice as she celebrates the announcement of the U.S. Army's withdrawal in central Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011. Iraq's prime minister said Saturday that U.S. troops are leaving Iraq after nearly nine years of war because Baghdad rejected American demands that any U.S. military forces to stay would have to be shielded from prosecution or lawsuits. A day earlier, President Barack Obama had hailed the troops' withdrawal as the result of his commitment _ promised shortly after taking office in 2009 _ to end the war that he once described as "dumb." (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraqis watch a broadcast of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011. Iraq's prime minister said Saturday that U.S. troops are leaving Iraq after nearly nine years of war because Baghdad rejected American demands that any U.S. military forces to stay would have to be shielded from prosecution or lawsuits. A day earlier, President Barack Obama had hailed the troops' withdrawal as the result of his commitment _ promised shortly after taking office in 2009 _ to end the war that he once described as "dumb."(AP Photo/Karim Kadim)

Iraqi men watch U.S. President Barack Obama's speech on television at a coffee shop in Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011. Iraq's prime minister says disagreements about legal protection for U.S. soldiers scuttled months of negotiations to keep American troops in Iraq beyond this year. Nouri al-Maliki told reporters Saturday that he still wants American help in training Iraqi forces to use military equipment Baghdad is buying from the United States. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraqi police officers stand guard at a checkpoint in central Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011. Iraq's prime minister says disagreements about legal protection for U.S. soldiers scuttled months of negotiations to keep American troops in Iraq beyond this year. Nouri al-Maliki told reporters Saturday that he still wants American help in training Iraqi forces to use military equipment Baghdad is buying from the United States. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

FILE - In this Friday, March 20, 2009 file photo, U.S. Army soldiers stroll past two bronze busts of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in the Green Zone in Baghdad on the sixth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Iraq's prime minister said Saturday that U.S. troops are leaving Iraq after nearly nine years of war because Baghdad rejected American demands that any U.S. military forces to stay would have to be shielded from prosecution or lawsuits. A day earlier, President Barack Obama had hailed the troops' withdrawal as the result of his commitment _ promised shortly after taking office in 2009 _ to end the war that he once described as "dumb."(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban, File)

BAGHDAD (AP) ? For the first time in decades, Iraqis face a future on their own, with neither Saddam Hussein's iron fist nor the United States' military might to hold them together. This has been both their dream and nightmare: They wanted American troops (the occupiers) to go, but they wanted American troops (the protectors) to stay.

Now many fear an increase in violence, growing Iranian influence and political turmoil after President Barack Obama's definitive announcement that all U.S. forces will leave by the end of the year.

In conversations with The Associated Press, Iraqis across the political, religious and geographic spectrum on Saturday questioned what more than eight years of war and tens of thousands of Iraqi and U.S. lives lost had wrought on their country. They wondered how their still struggling democracy could face the challenges ahead.

"Neither the Iraqis nor the Americans have won here," said Adnan Omar, a Sunni from the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk.

Rifaat Khazim, a Shiite from the southern city of Basra, said, "I do not think that this withdrawal will bring anything better to Iraq or that Iraqi leaders will be able to achieve stability and security in this country. Most of the Iraqis yearn now for Saddam's time. Now, Iraq is defenseless in the face of the threats by the neighboring countries."

Across the country there was a strong sense of disbelief. The Americans, having spent hundreds of billions of dollars, lost nearly 4,500 troops' lives and built up sprawling bases as big as many Iraqi cities, would never really leave, many Iraqis thought. Some celebrated the exit of foreign occupiers and the emergence of real sovereignty. But there was also an apprehension, almost a sense of resignation, that things will get worse.

Though greatly reduced from the depths of near civil war from 2006 to 2008, shooting and bombings rattle Iraqis daily. Significantly all the elements from those darkest days remain: al-Qaida militants, Shiite militias, Sunni insurgents. Resentment still simmers among the Sunni Muslim minority over domination by the Shiite majority, Kurds in the north still hold aspirations of breaking away. Despite years of promises of better government services, most of the country gets by on a few hours of electricity a day.

In the eyes of Iraqis, the Americans were both the cause of those woes and the bulwark against them exploding. Many blame the 2003 U.S.-led invasion for unleashing all the demons kept bottled up by Saddam's dictatorship, and allowing new ones ? like al-Qaida ? to slip in.

Yet at the same time, U.S. troop reinforcements helped rein them in by 2008. Many feel the powerful American presence prevents Iraqi politicians from dragging the country into the worst of sectarian reprisals and hatreds. Few believe Iraqi forces are up to keeping security or can avoid falling into the same sectarian splits.

"After the American withdrawal, the security in Iraq will definitely deteriorate. More attacks by al-Qaida are likely to happen," said Dhia Abdullah, a Shiite from eastern Baghdad. "The security elements are not loyal to Iraq but to parties and militias therefore the security situation will be very bad after the withdrawal."

Nearly 40,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq, all of whom will withdraw by Dec. 31, a deadline set in a 2008 security agreement between Baghdad and the administration of then-President George W. Bush.

The Obama administration, concerned over continued violence and growing Iranian influence, for much of this year pushed to keep thousands of U.S. troops here in a significant-sized training mission. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other Iraqi officials expressed support of the idea, and they negotiated for months.

It was politically delicate for both Obama and al-Maliki, who each faced widespread opposition from their respective publics to continue a war that was never popular in either nation.

But talks ran aground over Iraqi opposition to giving American troops legal immunity that would shield them from Iraqi prosecution. Legal protection for U.S. troops has always angered everyday Iraqis who saw it as simply a way for the Americans to run roughshod over the country. Many Iraqi lawmakers were hesitant to grant immunity for fear of a backlash from constituents.

"When the Americans asked for immunity, the Iraqi side answered that it was not possible," al-Maliki told a news conference Saturday. "The discussions over the number of trainers and the place of training stopped. Now that the issue of immunity was decided and that no immunity to be given, the withdrawal has started."

When Obama announced Friday that all American forces would leave Iraq by the end of the year, he did not mention the immunity issue, portraying the decision as the fulfillment of one of his main campaign promises to end the conflict.

The impression of the U.S. as all-powerful has always permeated Iraqi society, leaving many Iraqis assuming that the decision was purely an American one instead of an Iraqi choice.

Many, both Sunnis and Shiites, were sure the departure of American forces inevitably will lead to a rise in Iranian influence.

"The withdrawal announcement is a message to the Iranians to come and take over Iraq. The Iraqis are the real losers here because they have replaced the U.S. occupation with Iranian occupation," said Adel al-Dulaimi, a Sunni from northern Baghdad.

In an interview released Saturday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Tehran has "a very good relationship" with Iraq's government that will continue to grow.

"We have deepened our ties day by day," Ahmadinejad said in an interview Saturday with CNN.

To be sure, many Iraqis were happy. Iraqis resented years of having to pull to the side of the road when American troops drove by or putting up with raids of their homes in the middle of the night.

"The Iraqi people are the winner because a few months from now, we will walk in the streets without seeing U.S. troops and this is a source of joy to us because Iraq has restored its full sovereignty," said Saif Qassim, a Sunni from the northern city of Mosul.

Others suspicious of the U.S. questioned whether the American military would ever give up its toehold here.

"I believe that the full withdrawal will be only in the media but there must be secret deals with the Americans to keep some American forces or members of the American intelligence," said Raja Haidr, a Shiite from eastern Baghdad. "They won't leave."

Al-Maliki told reporters he still wants American help in training Iraqi forces to use billions of dollars worth of military equipment that Baghdad is buying from the United States. About 160 U.S. troops will remain at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad to help oversee training plans ? a duty that is common at most American diplomatic posts worldwide.

U.S. officials, from Obama to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, stressed that Washington will continue to have a strong diplomatic relationship with Baghdad.

Michael O'Hanlon, an expert at the Brookings Institution in Washington said continued violence in Iraq was a threat whether or not U.S. troops remain.

"But it's true that their frequency may increase absent U.S. help in areas of intelligence and special operations," said O'Hanlon, who had been lobbying for a larger U.S. force to remain behind. "In addition, I do fear the residual risk of civil war goes up with this decision."

__

Rebecca Santana can be reached at http://twitter.com/@ruskygal

Lara Jakes can be reached at http://twitter.com/@larajakesAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-10-22-ML-Iraq/id-bf80d06555854a17926b8f48cf43ef25

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EU to launch first two Galileo satellites today, as sat-nav system lurches forward

The EU's Galileo satellite navigation system has been beset by delays and budget overruns in recent months, but its future is looking slightly brighter, now that its first two satellites are primed for launch. The European Space Agency is expected to send the satellites into space today, as part of a long-term project that will cost an estimated €7 billion (around $9.6 billion). Slated to take off from Kourou, French Guiana, the pair of satellites will ride on the back of a Russian rocket to an altitude of nearly 15,000 miles, where they'll test system functions both in space and on Earth. If all goes according to plan, they'll also become Galileo's first operational satellites, paving the way, officials hope, for many more to follow. In fact, the European Commission is looking to complete the 30-satellite constellation by the year 2019, with two scheduled to launch during every quarter, beginning in 2012. The idea, of course, is to offer Europeans an alternative to US-operated GPS, with a free consumer service scheduled to launch in 2014, followed by a more precise, paid service in 2020. Nevertheless, budgetary concerns loom large over the project, which, according to the EC, has already racked up a development and deployment bill of over €5 billion ($6.8 billion), since 2003. The commission will present a finalized proposal to EU member governments by the end of the year, in the hopes of obtaining that extra €7 billion, though it may face more acute criticism, considering today's dour economic climate. It remains unlikely, however, that Galileo will be totally shut down, as the EU says it could bring in an extra €90 billion in annual revenue, once completed.

EU to launch first two Galileo satellites today, as sat-nav system lurches forward originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Oct 2011 04:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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'Misery index' in decline

The level of misery declined in August, dropping 0.05 percent from July. But it's still at the highest level in nearly 30 years.

Today's release of the Household Misery Index showed that the level of misery declined in August dropping 0.05% from July but still remained near the peak for this cycle and nearly the highest level seen in 30 years while on a year-over-year basis, misery declined 0.42%.

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'SoldAtTheTop' is not a pessimist by nature but a true skeptic and realist who prefers solid and sustained evidence of fundamental economic recovery to 'Goldilocks,' 'Green Shoots,' 'Mustard Seeds,' and wholesale speculation.

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Back in the 1970s and 80s the ?Misery Index? was popularized as a measure that accurately captured the misery and malaise of the time.

The original Misery Index was a bit too simplistic as it only captured the severity of the two main vexing issues of the time, unemployment and inflation.
Today, inflation, as measured by the annual rate of change of the CPI-U, is not a significant source of financial misery.

Of course, households on fixed income may dispute that fact and many have argued that CPI itself does not accurately capture ?real? inflation as it has never accounted for the ridiculous increasing costs of housing and other essentials so for the sake of formulating a new misery index, inflation will factored out.

Another key to formulating a new misery index is to specifically target ?household? misery as opposed to including data that might target the miserable state of affairs of the federal government or corporate misery.

The Household Misery Index captures the following trends and weights them equally:

1. The U-3 unemployment rate
2. YOY percent change of the 10-Year moving average of total nonfarm payrolls
3. YOY percent change of the 10-Year moving average of ?real? personal income
4. YOY percent change of the 10-year moving average of ?real? S&P 500

The unemployment rate captures the misery associated to the threat and severity of a potential bout of unemployment while the annual change of the 10 year moving average of non-farm payrolls captures a more fundamental sense of the overall job market.

The annual change to the 10 year moving average of ?real? (adjusted with CPI-U) personal income captures a household?s long term sense of income prospects.

The annual change to the 10 year moving average of ?real? (adjusted with CPI-U) S&P 500 captures a household?s long term sense of typical investment prospects.

Unfortunately, all home price series are simply not long enough to include in the formulation but there may be alternative measures that can be included in the future.

This is a notable improvement for misery and if the past is to be taken to be even just a crude guide, the level of household misery should continue to steadily improve in the coming months.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here.To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on paper-money.blogspot.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/sGEvzqt_7Pk/Misery-index-in-decline

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