Internet Marketing Ideas To Grow Your Business * VVSEOCO ...

Don?t forget the bad with the good. To gain the trust of your consumers, always remember to tell them anything negative about your product. Selling a consumer something without telling them about the flaws is a quick way to get complaints and returned product. To keep your sales final, tell the truth.

If your advertising is not thoroughly successful in encouraging people to buy your product, maybe a free sample will. Consider adding a promotional trial or sample of your product to the end of your advertising on your homepage. It might just be the thing reluctant customers need to sway their opinion.

Internet marketing campaigns can be much more effective if you use a recognizable logo or catch phrase. These slogans and visuals are much more memorable to potential customers than any of the other content on your site. Logos stand out and slogans are concise and witty. You want people to think of your business the next time they are in the market for what you sell.

Users like to feel like they are not being ignored and that they are very important to you, which is why it is important that you respond to any emails, comments, or message board posts in a timely manner. If you ignore your customers it is a sure way to lose business.

The details of your website are as important as the big picture. If your customers arrive at your website and cannot immediately identify what your website is about, they are likely to leave without reading any of your advertising materials. Make sure your website is clear and accessible to a wide audience to make a maximum impact.

Maintaining a popular business is about more than getting visitors to your site; you need to have them return again and again. So whatever type of web business you?re in, you need to be sure that you are constantly updating your content, even if it?s only a page or two on your website. Give people something to come back for.

A good segment in any internet marketing advertisement is the testimonial segment. It is important to include this section, in order for people to have the assurance that the product works. As the consumer hears that regular people have tried the product and it worked great for them, the consumer will be encouraged to purchase the product.

Customers love seeing the words ?discount? or ?sale? on a product on your site. Try using these around your products here and there for a certain amount of time and watch an increase in sales. Many people will not be able to resist trying to get a good discount by buying more than one of an item that is marked down from full price.

Nothing will make a visitor leave faster than a slow loading website. Cut down on banner ads and use button ads instead. Banners are largely ignored these days anyway, because they are perceived as having little to no value. Simple text links also work better than banners and will not slow your site down.

One idea that may seem a bit far fetched, is allowing users to have the product now and allowing them to pay for it later. You just have to keep track of all the sales that you allow this way and remember to send out bills to all of these people.

Remember that press releases can be your friends. If you are talking about a new event or product, throw the idea to the media. All forms of media are constantly looking for new things to talk about, and you may just get a huge promotion from simply telling them what you will be doing.

To build relationships with your potential customers, it?s important to get involved with social media. Sites like Twitter and Facebook, along with community forums, offer you unique ways to engage directly with your consumers. Social media may not lead to immediate sales, but it certainly will help you build brand awareness and long-term growth potential.

Choosing Google to handle your ads is always the best bet, so try whatever you can to ensure you?re using Google. You can use other ad services alongside Google, but remember that Google is the king and the rest of the services are just pretenders to the throne. Follow Google?s guidelines for acceptance and remember that this is a make-or-break factor of your business.

Make sure you use the word ?guarantee? as a part of your internet marketing strategy. People want to be assured that your product will work as advertised and that they are not just wasting their money. You want to convince potential customers that they are not making a mistake when they purchase your product.

To help you with internet marketing methods, keep a pen and paper handy. While it may sound counterintuitive when discussing online marketing, keeping something nearby to jot down ideas helps. If your site focuses on unique content such as a blog, writing down those spur of the moment ideas may trigger a great post later that really drives visits to your site.

Internet marketing can be very rewarding, but it can also be a lot of work. Regardless, if you know what to do and how to market smarter, you can help promote your website. So, do yourself a favor by doing your research and applying the above tips to your internet marketing strategy.

VVSEOCO?

Source: http://www.brazosvalleybucks.com/2013/01/25/internet-marketing-ideas-to-grow-your-business-vvseoco/

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National Secular Society - NSS to challenge Catholic Church's new ...

The Catholic Church in England and Wales has issued a new booklet warning teachers and governors at Catholic schools that they risk dismissal if they enter a relationship that is not approved by the Church.

The warning comes in a booklet by written by Monsignor Marcus Stock, general secretary of the Catholic Bishops' conference of England and Wales and co-published by the Catholic Education Service.

British Catholic weekly newspaper, The Tablet, reports:

"Under the heading of "substantive life choices", Mgr Stock includes marriage in a non-Catholic church or register office without canonical dispensation, remarriage after divorce and "maintaining a partnership of intimacy with another person, outside a form of marriage approved by the Church and which would, at least in the public forum, carry the presumption from their public behaviour of this being a non-chaste relationship". This also applies to all staff in a Catholic school."

Other "substantive life choices" he rules unacceptable include "maintaining the publication or distribution of, or by any other means of social communication or technology, material content which is contrary to gospel values".

Many 'faith' schools are granted special legal privileges enabling them to discriminate in employment on religious grounds. Many teachers can find themselves blocked from certain positions because they are non-believers or of the 'wrong' faith. In addition, teachers can be disciplined or dismissed for conduct which is 'incompatible with the precepts of the school's religion.

The National Secular Society has described the Catholic Church's restrictions on its employees personal relationships as "prurient and tyrannical."

Stephen Evans, campaigns manager at the National Secular Society, said:

"It is scandalous that the Catholic Church is able to use taxpayers' money to practise this sort of crude discrimination. The document is completely unacceptable. The way a person arranges their private life, so long as it is within the law, should be of no concern to an employer.

"We will be writing to the Secretary of State for Education, Michael Gove, asking how he can justify a law that permits teachers in faith schools to be disciplined or dismissed for conduct which is 'incompatible with the precepts of the school's religion. Such a harsh and unfair law drives a coach and horses through equality legislation and leaves teachers, paid using public money, uniquely vulnerable to religious discrimination."

The level of discrimination permitted in 'faith' schools is currently the subject of an investigation at the European Commission following a complaint by the National Secular Society concerning whether UK legislation relating to state funded 'faith' schools breaches European employment laws.

The NSS has made clear that if it comes across anyone who has been fired from a Catholic school simply because they are living in a relationship that the Church does not approve of, it would be happy to assist them in a legal challenge.

Source: http://www.secularism.org.uk/news/2013/01/nss-to-challenge-catholic-churchs-new-restrictions-on-teachers

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Eyeing rich bounty, China in line for Afghan role

KABUL (AP) ? China, long a bystander to the conflict in Afghanistan, is stepping up its involvement as U.S.-led forces prepare to withdraw, attracted by the country's vast mineral resources but concerned that any post-2014 chaos could embolden Islamist insurgents in its own territory.

Cheered on by the U.S. and other Western governments, which see Asia's giant as a potentially stabilizing force, China could prove the ultimate winner in Afghanistan ? having shed no blood and not much aid.

Security ? or the lack of it ? remains the key challenge: Chinese enterprises have already bagged three multibillion dollar investment projects, but they won't be able to go forward unless conditions get safer. While the Chinese do not appear ready to rush into any vacuum left by the withdrawal of foreign troops, a definite shift toward a more hands-on approach to Afghanistan is under way.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? This story is part of "China's Reach," a project tracking China's influence on its trading partners over three decades and exploring how that is changing business, politics and daily life. Keep up with AP's reporting on China's Reach, and join the conversation about it, using the hashtag (hash)APChinaReach on Twitter.

___

Beijing signed a strategic partnership last summer with the war-torn country. This was followed in September with a trip to Kabul by its top security official, the first by a leading Chinese government figure in 46 years, and the announcement that China would train 300 Afghan police officers. China is also showing signs of willingness to help negotiate a peace agreement as NATO prepares to pull out in two years.

It's a new role for China, as its growing economic might gives it a bigger stake in global affairs. Success, though far from guaranteed, could mean a big payoff for a country hungry for resources to sustain its economic growth and eager to maintain stability in Xinjiang.

"If you are able to see a more or less stable situation in Afghanistan, if it becomes another relatively normal Central Asian state, China will be the natural beneficiary," says Andrew Small, a China expert at The German Marshall Fund of the United States, an American research institute. "If you look across Central Asia, that is what has already happened. ... China is the only actor who can foot the level of investment needed in Afghanistan to make it succeed and stick it out."

Over the past decade, China's trade has boomed with Afghanistan's resource-rich neighbors in Central Asia. For Turkmenistan, China trade reached 21 percent of GDP in 2011, up from 1 percent five years earlier, according to an Associated Press analysis of International Monetary Fund data. The equivalent figure for Tajikistan is 32 percent of GDP, versus 12 percent in 2006. China's trade with Afghanistan stood at a modest 1.3 percent of GDP in 2011.

Eyeing Afghanistan's estimated $1 trillion worth of unexploited minerals, Chinese companies have acquired rights to extract vast quantities of copper and coal and snapped up the first oil exploration concessions granted to foreigners in decades. China is also eyeing extensive deposits of lithium, uses of which range from batteries to nuclear components.

The Chinese are also showing interest in investing in hydropower, agriculture and construction. Preliminary talks have been held about a direct road link to China across the remote 76-kilometer (47-mile) border between the two countries, according to Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry.

Wang Lian, a Central Asia expert at Beijing University, notes that superpowers have historically been involved in Afghanistan because it is an Asian crossroads ? and China would be no exception.

"It's unquestionable that China bears the responsibility to participate in the political and economic reconstruction of Afghanistan," he says. "A stable Afghanistan is of vital importance to (China). China can't afford to stand aside following the U.S. troop withdrawal and in the process of political transition."

A stable Afghanistan, Wang says, is vital to the security of Xinjiang, China's far west where Islamic militants are seeking independence. Some have gained sanctuary and training in Pakistan and along the Pakistan-Afghan border. Beijing fears chaos, or victory by the Taliban, would allow these groups greater leeway.

The U.S. is encouraging Beijing to boost its investment and aid in Afghanistan and backs its participation in various peace-seeking initiatives, including a Pakistan-Afghanistan-China forum that met last month for the second time.

Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai says there has been a greater sharing of intelligence between his country and China, and a joint U.S.-Chinese program to mentor junior Afghan diplomats. In one of the only cases of such cooperation in the world, the U.S. brought 15 diplomats to Washington, D.C., last month, after they had received similar training in China. Similar three-way programs are being developed in health and agriculture.

"Recently, China has taken a keener interest in the security situation and the transition process, and we are more than happy that this is increasing," Mosazai says. "It's certainly a change, a welcome change."

He adds that Beijing could play a crucial role in forging peace in Afghanistan because of its close relations to Pakistan, which has long-standing links to the Taliban, whose leadership is widely believed to operate from the country.

Davood Moradian, who heads the Afghan Institute for Strategic Studies in Kabul, says the Chinese are treading carefully, realizing they lack expertise in a complex political landscape that has tripped up other great powers.

"The Chinese are ambiguous. They don't want the Taliban to return to power and are concerned about a vacuum after 2014 that the Taliban could fill, but they also don't like having U.S. troops in their neighborhood," he says.

Should the Chinese step into the peace process, either as a principal intermediary or through Pakistan, they could carry considerable weight.

"They are rare among the actors in Afghanistan in that they are not seen as having been too close to any side of the conflict. All sides are happy to see China's expanded role," Small says.

Though China doesn't want a Taliban takeover, Beijing regards the group as a "legitimate political force," says Small. Beijing was on its way to recognizing the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan before the 9/11 attacks that led to the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan.

The Afghan government has backed off from earlier criticism that the Chinese were not contributing their share to security and reconstruction of the country.

"There was an attitude that the Chinese were just interested in profiting from other people's loss, the blood and sweat of American and other troops," says Moradian. "But that is changing."

___

Associated Press reporters Yu Bing in Beijing and Amir Shah in Kabul contributed to this story.

EDITOR'S NOTE _ This story is part of "China's Reach," a project tracking China's influence on its trading partners over three decades and exploring how that is changing business, politics and daily life. Keep up with AP's reporting on China's Reach, and join the conversation about it, using the hashtag (hash)APChinaReach on Twitter.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/eyeing-rich-bounty-china-line-afghan-role-130247113.html

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Elusive giant squid is still a deep mystery

The recent unprecedented video footage of a giant squid filmed in its deep ocean habitat has renewed interest in the enormous ? and yet still mysterious ? species.

It's believed that giant squid (genus Architeuthis) can grow up to 55 feet long. The individual captured on video via a small submarine located in the North Pacific Ocean was about 30 feet long and silver and gold in color, marine biologist Edie Widder, who helped to shoot the footage, said. Her colleague Tsunemi Kubodera added that the squid was missing its two longest tentacles.

Cephalopod experts are intrigued by the world record footage.

PHOTOS: Sea Monsters Real and Imagined

"It was really thrilling to see the press releases concerning the filming of a living giant squid with a manned submersible," William Gilly, a professor of biology at Stanford University and the Hopkins Marine Station, told Discovery News.

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Gilly previously examined a 7-foot-long giant squid that weighed 300 pounds. It was found floating dead in Monterey Bay, Calif.

"It was missing the tentacles and its stomach had been removed through a hole in its body," he said. "Something strange must like to eat those parts, I guess!"

He also noted that the color-changing system, which functions using organelles called chromatophores that contain pigment and reflect light, was present very deep inside the giant squid's body cavity. In smaller species, this system is arranged only on the body?s outer surface.

In recent months, researchers have also learned more about giant squid eyes. The diameter of these eyes measures two to three times that of any other animal.

Dan-Eric Nilsson of Lund University determined that giant squid eyes measure 10 inches, making them about the same size as a large dinner plate. Big is optimal for sight in deep-water environments.

"For seeing in dim light, a large eye is better than a small eye, simply because it picks up more light," Nilsson said, explaining that the light isn?t from the sun, but rather from bioluminescence emitted by other deep sea species, such as huge and hungry sperm whales.

This bioluminescence, he explained, is ?light produced by small gelatinous animals when they are disturbed by the whale moving through the water. It is well known that bioluminescence can reveal submarines at night, and diving sperm whales will become visible for the same reason."

Bioluminescence even played a key role during the recent filming in about 3,000 feet of water near Japan. Widder, Kubodera and their crew used a lure that mimicked the bioluminescent display of jellyfish in order to attract the giant squid?s attention.

News: Giant squid filmed in Pacific depths

Despite the footage and other recent research, there are still more questions than answers about giant squid.

Gilly, for example, mentioned that the following questions remain: What are their daily behavior patterns? Do they rise toward the surface at night like many other large oceanic squid, or do they remain deep all the time? How can they tolerate the very low oxygen levels at great depths? How rapidly can they swim? What do they eat, and how do they catch prey with their very long tentacles? How many of them are there in any one place? Do they travel in groups like other squid? If so, do they show group behaviors associated with hunting, mating or defense? How big and old can they get?

"These questions can, at least in theory, be answered by existing technologies, including manned and remotely-operated submersibles for filming," he said.

He added that another important tool could be video and archival electronic tags for filming interactions with other animals, monitoring swimming activity, recording migration patterns, and documenting environmental parameters ? such as temperature, depth, light and oxygen ? as the squid moves up and down in the water column.

Such tags are programmed to release at a certain time, permitting researchers to non-invasively study the collected data. Gilly and his colleagues are using these techniques to monitor large Humboldt squid in the Gulf of California and off the Pacific coast from Baja California to Canada. No one, though, has yet been able to successfully capture and tag a giant squid for release back into its habitat.

Gilly said Kubodera might be the one, in the future, to solve this problem. In the meantime, Gilly plans "to wait until Jan. 27 like everyone else" to see the rare giant squid footage.

Discovery Channel's Monster Squid: The Giant Is Real, premieres on Sunday, Jan. 27 at 10/9c as the season finale of Curiosity.

? 2012 Discovery Channel

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50588848/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Translator App Waygo Reads Chinese Menus For Hungry Travelers

As anyone who has ever studied Chinese knows, it's an onerous language to learn--especially on an empty stomach. That's where Waygo comes in. The translation iOS app makes life easier for travelers by using?optical character recognition to read menu items written in Chinese characters.

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

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Facebook responds to recent app blocking criticism with policy 'clarification'

After the whole Vine kerfuffle and Yandex situation, Facebook clearly feels it has some explaining to do. Over at the site's Developer Blog, director, platform partnerships and operations Justin Osofsky would like to clear up a few things about the social network's platform policies. He begins by assuring developers that most can just keep on keeping on.

Osofky adds, however,

For a much smaller number of apps that are using Facebook to either replicate our functionality or bootstrap their growth in a way that creates little value for people on Facebook, such as not providing users an easy way to share back to Facebook, we've had policies against this that we are further clarifying today

Those developers (and interested civilians) who'd like to drill down a bit further into those newly clarified policies can check the fine print in the source link below.

Filed under: Facebook

Comments

Source: Facebook Blog, Facebook Platform Policy

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/Ebz-GA6PhNE/

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Gretzky's Mansion For Sale, Paulina Not Included

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/gretzkys-mansion-for-sale-paulina-not-included/

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Apple steps up labor audits, finds underage workers

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Apple Inc stepped up audits of working conditions at major suppliers last year, discovering multiple cases of underage workers, discrimination and wage problems.

The iPhone and iPad maker, which relies heavily on Asian-based partners like China's Foxconn Technology Group to assemble the vast majority of its iPhones and iPads, said on Thursday it conducted 393 audits, up 72 percent from 2011, reviewing sites where over 1.5 million workers make its gadgets.

Apple in recent years has faced accusations of building its profits on the backs of poorly treated and severely underpaid workers in China.

That criticism came to the fore around 2010, after reports of suicides at Foxconn drew attention to the long hours that migrant laborers frequently endure, often for a pittance in wages and in severely cramped living conditions.

Foxconn is the trading name of Hon Hai Precision Industry and employs 1.2 million workers across China.

Under Chief Executive Tim Cook, who took over from Steve Jobs in 2011, Apple has taken new steps to improve its record and boost transparency, including the extensive audits of its sprawling supply chain. Last year, it agreed to separate audits by the independent Fair Labor Association.

In an interview on Thursday, Apple senior vice president of operations Jeff Williams said the company has increased its efforts to solve two of the most challenging issues -- ensuring there are no under aged workers in its supply chain and limiting working hours to 60 hours a week.

While child labor reflected a small percentage of the workforce, Apple is now investigating its smaller suppliers -- which typically supply parts to larger suppliers and hence face less oversight on such issues -- to bring them into compliance, sometimes even firing them.

"We go deep in the supply chain to find it," Williams said. "And when we do find it, we ensure that the underage workers are taken care of, the suppliers are dealt with."

In one case, Apple terminated its relationship with a component maker after discovering 74 cases of underage workers. Apple also discovered an employment agency that was forging documents to allow children to illegally work at the supplier.

Apple reported both the supplier and the employment agency to local authorities, the company said in its latest annual report on the conditions in its supply chain.

Apple has audited both small and ancillary suppliers, as well as large ones such as Korea's Samsung Electronics Co, for working conditions. It found 95 percent of sites audited complied with avoiding underage labor.

Child labor is an issue that is part of the larger supply industry as the component maker that Apple found violated child labor laws supplied parts to more than a hundred different companies, including automotive companies, Williams said, vowing to eradicate under aged labor from the industry.

"I don't know how long it will take to get there but that's our goal," said Williams, who has spent a significant amount of his 14 years at Apple in Asia managing the supply chain.

FOCUS ON STUDENT INTERNS

For 2013, Williams said a key focus for Apple will be student interns and ensuring that suppliers do not abuse the internship system, especially in China where many colleges require students to complete internships as part of their curriculum.

Some companies in China are solving labor shortages by employing students. Last September, city officials of the northeastern Chinese coastal city of Yantai ordered vocational high schools to send students to a large plant run by Foxconn -- a key contract manufacture for Apple and other large electronics companies like Hewlett Packard -- to overcome a shortage of workers.

Another focus areas has been "bonded labor", where agencies who help immigrant workers find jobs take a substantial portion of the worker's pay.

Apple said in the report that it asked suppliers to reimburse $6.4 million in excess foreign contract worker fees in 2012, according to the report.

The company said it achieved 92 percent compliance with a maximum 60-hour work week in its supply chain. Where violations were discovered, Apple took action, it said in its report.

Apple also found and stopped discriminatory practices against women workers in 34 supplier facilities that required pregnancy testing and 25 facilities that tested employees for certain medical conditions, the report said.

(Reporting By Poornima Gupta and Noel Randewich; Editing by Richard Pullin)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/apple-steps-labor-audits-finds-underage-workers-063934909--finance.html

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NTSB: 787 probe far from complete

5 hrs.

Andrea Shalal-Esa and Jim Wolf , Reuters

U.S. safety regulators are nowhere near finishing an investigation into a battery fire on the Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner, a top official said on Thursday, raising the prospect of a prolonged grounding for the plane.?

Deborah Hersman, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, made clear that investigators have found a series of "symptoms" in the battery damaged in a Jan. 7 fire in Boston, but not the underlying cause of the problem.?

"We are early in our investigation, we have a lot of activities to undertake," Hersman told a news conference.?

"This is an unprecedented event. We are very concerned. We do not expect to see fire events on board aircraft. This is a very serious air safety concern."?

She rebuffed multiple questions on how long the investigation would take, making clear it could be weeks or more. She also would not say when the 787 would fly again, which is in the hands of the Federal Aviation Administration.?

The Dreamliner?has been grounded worldwide since a plane by All Nippon Airways made an emergency landing in Japan on Jan. 16 after a battery incident, which Hersman said may or may not have been a fire.?

That emergency landing came after a fire occurred on a Japan Airlines Co Ltd 787 on the tarmac in Boston.?

Boeing said it welcomed Thursday's briefing on the 787 investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board and said it continued to assist the NTSB and the other government agencies investigating two recent 787 incidents.

"The company has formed teams consisting of hundreds of engineering and technical experts who are working around the clock with the sole focus of resolving the issue and returning the 787 fleet to flight status," said Boeing spokesman John Dern.

"The safety of passengers and crew members who fly aboard Boeing airplanes is our highest priority," Dern said.

France's Thales, which makes the 787 battery system, declined to comment.?

The NTSB and its Japanese equivalent are working together on their probes, though Hersman again insisted the work was still in the early stages.?

"It is really very hard to tell at this point how long this investigation will take. We have all hands on deck," Hersman said. "We're working as hard as we can to identify what the failure mode is here and what corrective actions need to be taken."?

Series of delays
The 787 program was already years behind schedule before last week's grounding, which means Boeing cannot deliver newly manufactured planes to customers.?

That means customers like United Continental Holdings Inc.?may have to wait even longer for planes on order. The company's United Airlines already flies six Dreamliners.?

"History teaches us that all new aircraft types have issues and the 787 is no different," United Continental Chairman and Chief Executive Jeff Smisek said during the carrier's earnings conference call. "We continue to have confidence in the aircraft and in Boeing's ability to fix the issues, just as they have done on every other new aircraft model they've produced."?

Smisek said Thursday the carrier still expects to take delivery of two more 787s in the second half of the year.?

Boeing has already delivered 50 of the 787s. Around half have been in operation in Japan, but airlines in India, South America, Poland, Qatar and Ethiopia are also flying the planes, as is U.S. carrier United.?

The grounding of the Dreamliner, an advanced carbon-composite plane with a list price of $207 million, has already forced hundreds of flight cancellations worldwide.?

Competition from Airbus
The head of Boeing's European rival Airbus said it would study the 787 Dreamliner design review and make any changes to its future A350 jetliner that may be needed as a result of the U.S. findings.?

"We believe so far we have a robust design, however we will draw the lessons from the 787," Airbus Chief Executive Fabrice Bregier told Reuters Television at the World Economic Forum in Davos.?

"We will look at the recommendations and guidelines of the FAA and if by chance we need to change it we have plenty of time because this aircraft, the 350, will be delivered to our first customers not before the second half of 2014 ? so it is not a challenge and it is not a burden for us."?

Billed as Europe's response to the Dreamliner, the A350 is due to enter service next year using lithium-ion batteries but without the same reliance on electrical systems as the 787, something Airbus says will put less burden on the batteries.?

However, Airbus has so far declined to comment on how it would tackle a battery fire if one did break out on board.?

Additional reporting by Karen Jacobs in Atlanta, Tim Hepher in Paris and Axel Threlfall in Davos.

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/ntsb-787-probe-far-complete-1C8104258

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Ghana beats Mali as Congo slips up

By GERALD IMRAY

AP Sports Writer

Associated Press Sports

updated 10:33 p.m. ET Jan. 24, 2013

PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa (AP) -Ghana's Mubarak Wakaso scored, was suspended and then carried off on a stretcher yet ultimately put the revived title contender in control of Group B at the African Cup of Nations on Thursday.

Wakaso buried a 38th-minute spot kick to beat Mali 1-0, lifting Ghana to the brink of the quarterfinals when the group's two big teams were let off the hook by a 0-0 draw between Congo and Niger at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.

Young winger Wakaso was shown his second yellow of the group stage after lifting his shirt to reveal a religious slogan in his goal celebration, ruling him out of the final group game.

But by the time he was carried off with what didn't appear to be a serious injury, Ghana had done enough to lead Mali by a point ahead of the final group games.

"There's much more to offer," Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah said as the Black Stars began to show their potential.

Congo missed the chance to put pressure on the top teams after its goalless draw with stubborn Niger, which was saved by goalkeeper Kassaly Daouda, who redeemed himself against Congo after his glaring error gifted Mali victory when the teams met in the first round.

Ghana's relief contrasted with Congo's frustration at not being able to take advantage of a defensive Niger approach despite two glorious chances for striker Dieumerci Mbokani.

"We didn't play well. We have to be honest," Congo coach Claude Le Roy said.

After seven draws in the opening 12 games of the African Cup, the tournament finally began to take shape with Ghana joining South Africa as the likely teams to qualify top of the first two groups for a place in the quarterfinals.

Defending champion Zambia will meet Nigeria on Friday to determine who will put itself in position from Group C.

Ethiopia plays Burkina Faso in the day's other match, with Ethiopia coach Sewnet Bishaw holding out hope that his underdog team may still be able to influence the tournament beyond the group stage after a morale-boosting draw with defending champion Zambia to start.

"Even though we are new, we are here to challenge every team. As long as we are here as a strong team, why can't we go to the cup final?" Sewnet said.

With Ghana captain Asamoah Gyan choosing not to take penalties at this tournament following his string of painful misses, the 22-year-old Wakaso stepped up to sweep home for the only goal of the first game in Port Elizabeth. His celebration, when he lifted his jersey over his head to reveal the words "Allah is Great!" on a t-shirt, may still have negative repercussions for Ghana, however, because FIFA does not allow religious or political statements on the field.

The Ghanaians still had enough to hold off Mali and banish memories of their slump against Congo, when they threw away a two-goal lead.

"There was no loss of concentration during this game," Appiah said.

On Friday, 2012-winning coach Herve Renard leads his Zambia team against Nigeria after both let in late equalizers in their first games. With both under significant pressure to win, Renard still welcomed the challenge of being an international manager.

"This is why we are doing our job - because we need a challenge, we need adrenaline," Renard said.

With the host nation deliriously happy on Wednesday after its win over Angola, South Africa's joy was tempered on Thursday by more injury problems. Striker Lehlohonolo Majoro had a deep gash to his left leg to likely rule him out of Bafana Bafana's final and crucial Group A game against Morocco.

Elsewhere, Tunisia forward Issam Jemaa was out for the remainder of the tournament with a knee injury that would probably sideline him for six weeks.

---

Follow Gerald Imray at http://twitter.com/GeraldImrayAP

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Check raise: Owner helped MLS

PST: Dave Checketts recently sold his stake in Real Salt Lake, but his ownership tenure was good not just for the club, but for all of MLS.

Mike Stobe / Getty Images file

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/44828074/ns/sports-soccer/

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Angela Davis Celebrates Sixty-Ninth Birthday: 11 Memorable Quotes From An American Icon

On this day, 69 years ago, the activist, scholar, and revolutionary Angela Davis was born in Birmingham, Alabama.

Davis has spent much of her life fighting for and defending forgotten or marginalized groups in America and abroad. Known for her political activism during the turbulent 1960's, she became a household name when on August 18, 1970 J. Edgar Hoover made her the third woman ever placed on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List.

After a nationwide manhunt, Davis was arrested on October 13, 1970 for her alleged connection to the kidnappings and murders that occurred during Jonathan Jackson's attempt to free the imprisoned Soledad Brothers. Davis had purchased the guns used by Jackson. Upon her arrest, then President Richard M. Nixon congratulated the FBI for capturing Davis, describing her as a "dangerous terrorist."

Her subsequent trial was covered widely across the world. Stars such as John Lennon and Yoko Ono (with their song Angela) and The Rolling Stones (with their song Sweet Black Angel) showed their support for Davis. On June 4, 1972, after 13 hours of deliberation, an all-white jury acquitted Davis of murder, kidnapping and conspiracy charges. Davis was 28-years-old at the time.

From her radical work during the 1960's, through her trial and subsequent acquittal, to her work as an educator (Davis has served as a professor and department head at the University of California at Santa Cruz and as visiting scholar at other colleges and universities) Davis' name holds a secure space among the ranks of legendary Americans.

As she celebrates her 69th birthday, let's take a look back at some of her most memorable quotes.

• "Art on the Frontline," Women, Culture, and Politics (written 1984).

  "The work of the political activist inevitably involves a certain tension between the requirement that position be taken on current issues as they arise and the desire that one's contributions will somehow survive the ravages of time."

• Address, June 25, 1987, Spellman College. Let Us All Rise Together, Women, Culture and Politics (1989).

  "Radical simply means 'grasping things at the root.'" --- NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 15: Activist Angela Davis attends Black Girls Rock! 2011 at the Paradise Theater on October 15, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by John W. Ferguson/Getty Images)

• Women, Culture and Politics, introduction (1989).

  "The work of the political activist inevitably involves a certain tension between the requirement that positions be taken on curren t issues as they arise and the desire that one's contributions will somehow survive the ravages of time."

• "Art on the Frontline," Women, Culture, and Politics (written 1984)

  "Progressive art can assist people to learn not only about the objective forces at work in the society in which they live, but also about the intensely social character of their interior lives. Ultimately, it can propel people toward social emancipation." --- TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 09: Director Shola Lynch, producer Will Smith, Angela Davis and actor Jada Pinkett Smith attend the 'Free Angela & All Political Prisoners' premiere during the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival at Roy Thomson Hall on September 9, 2012 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

• June 4, 1972 After Being Acquitted On Murder, Kidnapping and Conspiracy Charges

  "A fair trial would have been no trial at all."

• Address, November 15, 1987. "Facing Our Common Foe,"

  "Media mystifications should not obfuscate a simple, perceivable fact; Black teenage girls do not create poverty by having babies. Quite the contrary, they have babies at such a young age precisely because they are poor--because they do not have the opportunity to acquire an education, because meaningful, well-paying jobs and creative forms of recreation are not accessible to them ... because safe, effective forms of contraception are not available to them." ---- TORONTO, ON - SEPTEMBER 09: Willow Smith and Angela Davis attend the 'Free Angela & All Political Prisoners' premiere during the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival at Roy Thomson Hall on September 9, 2012 in Toronto, Canada. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images)

• Chapter 13 Women, Race and Class, Angela Davis 1981

  "One of the most closely guarded secrets of advanced capitalist societies involves the possibility ? the real possibility ? of radically transforming the nature of housework." Description 1 Angela Davis speaking at an event sponsored by the Left Labor Project (LLP). Location: 1199SEIU Martin Luther King, Jr. ...

• Are Prisons Obsolete, 2003

  "Because it would be too agonizing to cope with the possibility that anyone, including our? selves, could become a prisoner, we tend to think of the prison as disconnected from our own lives. This is even true for some of us, women as well as men, who have already experienced imprisonment."

• Are Prisons Obsolete 2003

  "The prison is not the only institution that has posed complex challenges to the people who have lived with it and have become so inured to its presence that they could not con?ceive of society without it. Within the history of the United States the system of slavery immediately comes to mind."

• Lessons: From Attica to Soledad (1971)

  "Yet human beings cannot be willed and molded into nonexistence."

• Lessons: From Attica to Soledad (1971)

  "Scores of men are dead; and unknown numbers are wounded. By now, it would seem, more people should realize that such explosive acts of repression are not minor aberrations in a society not terribly disturbing in other aspects."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/26/angela-davis-birthday_n_2557842.html

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Two calls for submissions

Weld is looking for reflections on 1963 as well as creative writing.

What does 1963 mean to you?

Weld invites essays on the significance of Birmingham?s critical moment of 50 years ago.

by Nick Patterson

In 1963, Birmingham arrived, with the rest of the nation, upon the 100^th anniversary of the day Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the end of slavery in most, although not all, of America. On that occasion, the 16^th president had invoked ?the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God? in his attempt to give freedom to those who had been oppressed by law and custom, owing entirely to the color of their skin.

One hundred years later, the descendants of those freedmen continued to fight for the civil rights accorded to other men whose ancestors had always been free in America. That fight would have many beachheads over long decades of struggle, but none would become more violent, or more deadly, than Birmingham.

The Birmingham Movement would bring together the forces of civil rights demonstrators under the leadership of such men as Martin Luther King, Jr. and Fred Shuttlesworth, arraying them against the machinery of entrenched segregation championed by Alabama Governor George Wallace and brutally enforced by Birmingham Public Safety Commissioner Eugene ?Bull? Connor. The year 1963 would be one of important confrontations, dramatic political changes, and unspeakable violence against innocent children. It was a year, 50 years ago, which left a mark upon the face of a nation.

As Birmingham remembers the events of 50 years through an ever-unfolding series of tributes and commemorations springing up throughout the community, Weld invites you to speak through our pages ? to tell the community what 1963, and the half century that followed, have meant to you.

Beginning next month, we will select essays, some written by writers of note, others by members of the community who can articulate what the year 1963 meant and means to them.? All essays will be subject to editorial review. But we hope this will give the diverse members of the Birmingham community a voice so we can all share in the myriad of ways the watershed moment in our history 50 years ago touched and shaped who we are collectively today.

Please send your submissions to editor@weldbham.com, with ?1963? and your name? in the subject line.

?

Calling all superheroes of synonym

Weld?will publish locally crafted creative works.

by Katherine Webb

Weld has this theory: writers are among us. Disguised as bus drivers and waiters, physicians and plumbers, teachers and statisticians, the literary citizens of Birmingham are crafting painstakingly away, word by careful word.

Consider these words a private letter from a lowly editor ? a personalized invitation from a Birmingham publication, sympathetic to the creative writer.

If by day, you are a loyal office worker and by night, a superhero of synonym, we want to hear from you. If your alter ego is Emily Dickinson or Cormac McCarthy, Weld wants to know.

And Weld wants to share your work with its readers. Beginning February, Weld?will publish, monthly, a piece of creative writing ? poetry, fiction, or creative nonfiction.

This addition of prose or poem to a newspaper is certainly not groundbreaking. The Victorians made trendy the inclusion of creative works to a magazine or newspaper?s editorial mass.

Remember, Charles Dickens? work first appeared serialized. And Ted Kooser, former United States Poet Laureate, created the American Life in Poetry to publish poets and journalists side by side.

However, instead of sharing syndicated works of well-established authors, Weld hopes to showcase the creative works of Birmingham?s own.

This effort might alleviate the woes of modern literary hopefuls, who are forced to publish in literary magazines ? a subculture of publications, often reserved for the academic or literary elite. How wonderful, then, to put local creative works in a free paper, found on street corners, caf?s, and convenience stores?

With your help, Weld will fashion just this ? an easily accessed forum for Birmingham?s creative writers.

Guidelines: Please submit only one story, essay, or poem at a time. Only previously unpublished work will be considered. Include a word count and indicate whether the submission is fiction, nonfiction, or poetry. Inquiries regarding serialized long pieces will be considered. If selected, prepare to submit a brief bio and high-definition author photo. Weld will respond to submissions within six weeks. Online submissions only. All submissions must be emailed as an attachment.? Send work to Katherine Webb at local@weldbham.com.

Source: http://weldbham.com/blog/2013/01/24/two-calls-for-submissions/

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Jet fuel, plastics exposures cause disease in later generations; Reproductive diseases, obesity

Jan. 24, 2013 ? Washington State University researchers have lengthened their list of environmental toxicants that can negatively affect as many as three generations of an exposed animal's offspring.

Writing in the online journal PLOS ONE, scientists led by molecular biologist Michael Skinner document reproductive disease and obesity in the descendants of rats exposed to the plasticizer bisephenol-A, or BPA, as well DEHP and DBP, plastic compounds known as phthalates.

In a separate article in the journal Reproductive Toxicology, they report the first observation of cross-generation disease from a widely used hydrocarbon mixture the military refers to as JP8.

Both studies are the first of their kind to see obesity stemming from the process of "epigenetic transgenerational inheritance." While the animals are inheriting traits conveyed by their parents' DNA sequences, they are also having epigenetic inheritance with some genes turned on and off. Skinner's lab in the past year has documented these epigenetic effects from a host of environmental toxicants, including plastics, pesticides, fungicide, dioxin and hydrocarbons.

The recent PLOS ONE study found "significant increases" in disease and abnormalities in the first and third generations of both male and female descendants of animals exposed to plastics. The first generation, whose mother had been directly exposed during gestation, had increased kidney and prostate diseases. The third generation had pubertal abnormalities, testis disease, ovarian disease and obesity.

The study also identified nearly 200 epigenetic molecular markers for exposure and transgenerational disease. The markers could lead to the development of a diagnostic tool and new therapies.

The Reproductive Toxicology study exposed female rats to the hydrocarbon mixture as their fetuses' gonads were developing. The first generation of offspring had increased kidney and prostate abnormalities and ovarian disease. The third generation had increased losses of primordial follicles, the precursors to eggs, polycystic ovarian disease and obesity.

The study, said Skinner, "provides additional support for the possibility that environmental toxicants can promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease."

"Your great-grandmothers exposures during pregnancy may cause disease in you, while you had no exposure," he said. "This is a non-genetic form of inheritance not involving DNA sequence, but environmental impacts on DNA chemical modifications. This is the first set of studies to show the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease such as obesity, which suggests ancestral exposures may be a component of the disease development."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Washington State University. The original article was written by Eric Sorensen.

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

---

Journal References:

1. Mohan Manikkam, Rebecca Tracey, Carlos Guerrero-Bosagna, Michael K. Skinner. Plastics Derived Endocrine Disruptors (BPA, DEHP and DBP) Induce Epigenetic Transgenerational Inheritance of Obesity, Reproductive Disease and Sperm Epimutations. PLoS ONE, 2013; 8 (1): e55387 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0055387
2. Carlos Guerrero-Bosagna, Trevor R. Covert, Md. M. Haque, Matthew Settles, Eric E. Nilsson, Matthew D. Anway, Michael K. Skinner. Epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of vinclozolin induced mouse adult onset disease and associated sperm epigenome biomarkers. Reproductive Toxicology, 2012; 34 (4): 694 DOI: 10.1016/j.reprotox.2012.09.005

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

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

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/nhS_5chaCz8/130124183630.htm

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Blog: Going Beyond Dead Presidents? and Benjamin Franklin

January 24, 2013

By Pratik Butala

Negotiations are some of the most challenging business conversations to have because the two parties at the table often act as adversaries looking to get the largest ?share of the pie.? In our first semester?s Management and Organizations class, we were taught to expand the pie, involve multiple issues in the negotiation, and in the end, create value through the exchange. Business strategy and decision-making is all about value capture among two negotiating parties (business and consumer) and value is not necessarily defined as monetary. So why then are most business decisions (and therefore, negotiations) in the ?real-world? hinged upon the single issue of money?

Within my four years of experience at a top-consulting firm, it is impossibly hard for me to remember a business conversation that did not hinge upon the flow of dollars related to a particular decision. Even as an undergraduate at one of the top business schools, I cannot remember a significant discussion that went beyond business ethics and focused on something other than the amount of dollars generated or saved. While I wholeheartedly agree with the merits of capitalism, I feared from my past experience that the scope of business decision-making was limited to the money that was created or retained by an organization.

After joining the Social Venture Fund at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, I?ve come to realize that it is possible to look beyond the greenback. Having gained exposure to social entrepreneurs focused on solving some of societies greatest issues using self-sustaining business models that concurrently generate profits and social good, I?ve begun to ask myself why larger corporations have not started to adopt this framework of thinking to increase the value of the pie, instead of merely distributing it. For example, Google, a company I greatly admire, states in its classic ?10 Things?, ?you can make money without doing evil?; what if instead, Google had stated ?you can make money by doing good?? While the literal meaning has changed only subtly, the implications of the change are far greater. If Google began to approach its business with a focus on making money by doing good, its decision-making framework would have to expand beyond dollars, establishing a second issue for negotiations with its customers. Based on negotiation strategies taught in business school, would this not be preferable to a distributive negotiation in which each party fights for their own ?share of the pie??

Something to think about, but that?s just my two copper Abraham Lincoln?s?

Source: http://www.umsocialventure.com/blog1

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3 Ways To Personalize Your Online Business To Drive More Traffic ...

In the three short years I?ve been building my business online the Internet had changed so much. Just imagine how much different it was 5, 10, 15 years ago when there was no such thing as social media, blogs, or videos. Makes us wonder how home based business owners actually built successful businesses!!? Well with all the awesome ways we can connect online with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, InstaGram, Pinterest, WordPress, Email and more, there should be no reason WHY you can not be as successful as you want to be!?

The personal side of business (something many modern marketers have forgotten) is a critical to creating viral success online. No matter what you are writing about, promoting or selling online, adding a PERSONAL touch to every piece of content you put I front of your target audience should be a priority.

People want to connect with, learn and buy from people they know, like and trust. The only way to create this type of relationship with your audience is to get personal with them!

Let me share with you 3 ways you can drive traffic to your blog and social media sites, build a bigger email list and?make more money STARTING TODAY!

1. Can you relate!

All people are looking is someone to relate to, someone just like them who can show them building a successful business online is possible. One of the BIGGEST keys to successfully building a business on the Internet is to connect with your audience and give them every opportunity to connect with you.

No one wants to do business with someone they don?t feel comfortable with. We live in an ?all access? type of culture and we are marketing to people who love (and expect) to connect in a certain way. The Internet gives you immediate access everyone ? from email, to Facebook pages and blogs. No one is a stranger on the Internet. Remember when your parents told you ?Don?t talk to strangers?? Well if you are NOT talking to strangers online and building new relationships daily through social media you will be on the fast track to staying broke.

Connecting Online is Easy

Making connections on the Internet is not hard. To increase engagement and buzz around your brand follow these simple steps:

• ?Check in every hour from 8 am- 8 pm for just 5 minutes.
• Reply to comments,? answer questions, give encouragement and direct people to solutions that solve their problems.

Over the course of the day you will have spent only 1 hour actually doing ?work? but the results can be life-changing and will skyrocket your results! That?s all it takes ? one hour.

When you start getting PERSONAL with people, sharing your experiences, sharing your journey of creating her own business from home, sharing your skills, expertise and knowledge things will began to gain steam! Remember it?s all about being transparent and personal.

2. Connecting Through Technology

More than any other time in history, technology is being embraced by more and more people. Millions of people leave the house each day with a mobile phone attached to them. Why not connect with people through the technology they can?t live without! How often do you check your Facebook, Twitter, favorite websites and email through your smartphone or iPad. Facebook reports more than 600 MILLION MOBILE USERS and it?s critical for you, as a blogger and online business owner, to understand how to capitalize on this usage. People are not opening up newspapers and magazines to get their information, they are using their personal devices to get the information they need online.

People want information and solutions on the go and by building a personal connection with your audience through social networks, blogging and email your have the ability to FUEL a marketing message that produces the kind of monetary results you want. If your content provides value to their lives, they will come back, they will check in daily, they will become subscribers, they will purchase from you and refer others as well.

3. Set yourself apart by ?Getting REAL?

Getting personal sets you apart

There are thousands (if not millions) of people competing for your audience?s time and attention. What is going to set you apart? What is going to get you noticed?

Getting personal and doing it in a very authentic, REAL way is the answer. People don?t want to be bombarded with product pitches all day long. You don?t go online because you want to read sales letters, you go online to connect with the people who can put a face on the solutions you want and need. You are looking for personal connections, for real life experiences and testimonies. You are looking for support and guidance.

So how do you make money if you are always giving encouragement, support and guidance. Well this is still a business and you will want to market your products and services, but do so with tact and moderation. As you promote your business online mention your product or service only about 10-20% of the time. That?s 1-2 mentions for every 10 pieces of content you post.

People will pay attention to what you?re selling if you pay attention to who they are and what they need! ?Getting personal, engaging, and connecting on a daily basis will do WAY MORE for your business than any advertisement you can publish online. The Internet is the gateway to getting up-close and personal with people who are searching for what you have to offer. You can connect with people from all over the world in an instant!

So if all the technical know-how is not getting you the income you want, try injecting a little personality into your business and opening up the doors to engagement. That is the best way to increase traffic, build a bigger more responsive email list and make more money online!

Helping You Win Online,

Andrea Bolder
Gold Medal Olympian & World Class Online Marketing Trainer
PS. I?m personally interested in YOU- please stop by my Facebook page right now and introduce yourself! I?d love to get to know you!

PPS. If you want to learn how bloggers are earning 6 figures a year in affiliate sales from video traffic, then check out this viral blogging system!

Source: http://andreabolder.com/2013/3-ways-to-personalize-your-online-business/

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Opinion: Workplace-Giving Campaign's Shift to E-Giving Is Risky ...

January 24, 2013, 10:57 am

A proposed overhaul of the Combined Federal Campaign, the U.S. government?s workplace charity drive, could significantly reduce contributions by over-emphasizing new technology, a Washington Post columnist writes.

The Office of Personnel Management plan, now under review by the Obama administration, calls for eliminating cash, check, and money-order contributions in favor of giving by electronic means.

Joe Davidson, who writes the Post?s Federal Diary column, says the proposal is aimed at streamlining CFC operations, but he notes that in 2011, only 22 percent of the $272-million pledged came from electronic giving. Mr. Davidson quotes charity leaders who are concerned about the impact of shifting to exclusively electronic giving.

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Source: http://philanthropy.com/blogs/philanthropytoday/opinion-workplace-giving-campaigns-shift-to-e-giving-is-risky/61511

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Reports: JJ Abrams to direct next 'Star Wars'

FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2013 file photo, J.J. Abrams arrives at the Winter TCA Fox All-Star Party at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, Calif. According to multiple reports, Abrams is set to direct the next installment of ?Star Wars,? which Disney has said will be ?Episode 7? and due out in 2015. Disney bought ?Star Wars? maker Lucasfilm last month for $4.06 billion. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2013 file photo, J.J. Abrams arrives at the Winter TCA Fox All-Star Party at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena, Calif. According to multiple reports, Abrams is set to direct the next installment of ?Star Wars,? which Disney has said will be ?Episode 7? and due out in 2015. Disney bought ?Star Wars? maker Lucasfilm last month for $4.06 billion. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Another universe of sci-fi fans has been put in the hands of J.J. Abrams.

According to multiple trade reports, Abrams, 46, is set to direct the next installment of "Star Wars," which Disney has said will be "Episode 7" and due out in 2015. Disney bought "Star Wars" maker Lucasfilm last month for $4.06 billion.

The Emmy-award-winning director of the TV show "Lost" also captained the reboot of "Star Trek" for rival studio Paramount Pictures, with the next installment in that series, "Star Trek: Into Darkness," set to hit theaters May 17.

Citing unnamed sources, the news was reported earlier by Hollywood trade outlets The Wrap, Deadline, The Hollywood Reporter and Daily Variety.

Messages left by The Associated Press for Abrams' representatives as well as Disney and Lucasfilm were not immediately returned.

Soon after the news broke Thursday afternoon, websites were flush with chatter. On Twitter, "J.J. Abrams," ''Star Wars" and "(hash)Star Trek" were all trending topics.

Roberto Orci, a producer and writer who has worked with Abrams on "Star Trek," ''Star Trek: Into Darkness," and "Mission: Impossible III," appeared to confirm the reports on Twitter. In response to a question about Abrams' involvement, Orci tweeted back "True!" He also responded to a Spanish-speaking questioner, "Creo que si!" ("I think so.")

Despite denying his interest in directing the next "Star Wars" following The Walt Disney Co.'s October announcement, many people pegged Abrams as the most obvious choice.

Abrams spoke about the plot of the original "Star Wars" in the lecture series "TED Talks" in March 2007, and reportedly became enamored of "Lost" co-creator Damon Lindelof partly because Lindelof was wearing a "Star Wars" T-shirt when they first met.

In 2009, Abrams told the Los Angeles Times: "As a kid, 'Star Wars' was much more my thing than 'Star Trek' was."

Abrams also worked with Lucasfilm's Industrial Light and Magic special effects division for "Mission: Impossible III."

He is the second big name associated with the new "Star Wars" films to be launched under the Disney umbrella. Late last year, Lucasfilm confirmed that Michael Arndt, who wrote "Little Miss Sunshine" and "Toy Story 3" would pen the screenplay for "Episode 7."

Adam Frazier, a staff writer for the entertainment website GeeksofDoom.com, said Abrams should be able to make the next "Star Wars" original but at the same time appease longtime fans.

"He took the 'Star Trek' franchise, which was just drowning in misery, and he was able to bring that back to life," Frazier said. "If there's anyone that can do it with 'Star Wars' I think it's him."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-01-24-Star%20Wars-JJ%20Abrams/id-fd62ab6934984eaf91ff98caac967969

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Arctic air invasion captured in animation

Arctic air has driven down temperatures in most of the continental US. A new animation from NOAA shows the arctic air swirling into the country and predicts its path.

By Andrea Thompson,?Our Amazing Planet / January 24, 2013

A commuter bundles up against extreme cold conditions Tuesday, Jan. 22, in Chicago. Temperatures in the area were hovering around zero with wind chill pushing the apparent temperature to 10 below. Forecasters say waves of frigid Arctic air began moving into the region Saturday night.

M. Spencer Green / AP

Enlarge

If you live anywhere within the northern two-thirds of the United States, you've probably noticed that it's pretty chilly outside. The plunge in temperatures over the past few days comes courtesy of an invasion of Arctic air that has been captured in a mesmerizing new animation from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

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The animation, made with weather data from the NOAA/NCEP Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis, begins on Saturday (Jan. 19) with very cold air seen only over the Rockies, Montana, North Dakota, the northern half of Minnesota and the northern portions of New England. Much of the eastern and central parts of the country saw weekend weather that was balmier than usual for mid-January.

Thanks to a kink in the jet stream that brought it dipping down, the cold air begins plunging southward on Sunday, mostly in the northern plains states and the Midwest. On Monday it begins to surge even farther to the south, covering the Plains, the Midwest, the Northeast and even extending into some of the southern states.

The cold surge retreats a bit later in the day, then makes another push on Tuesday, fully extending into the northern parts of Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia. The pattern repeats on Wednesday, with the cold receding much farther north later in the day, before making another southward push on Thursday.

All the back-and-forth is caused by diurnal cycle of heating and cooling, a NOAA statement explains, but "the pattern is clear: much of the U.S. is pretty cold," it notes.

The cold air is expected to retreat from the Midwest this weekend, letting warmer air force its way in, according to Accuweather.com. The collision of these air masses will bring an ice storm to the region, the site's meteorologists predict.

Snow and icy weather could hit the eastern United States starting tomorrow (Jan. 25), with temperatures finally rising above freezing over the weekend or early next week, depending on the location.

Reach Andrea Thompson at athompson@techmedianetwork.com and follow her on twitter @AndreaTOAP. Follow OurAmazingPlanet on Twitter?@OAPlanet. We're also on?Facebook?and Google+.

Copyright 2013 OurAmazingPlanet, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/tUdRBqouhGs/Arctic-air-invasion-captured-in-animation

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American Mumbai plotter sentenced to 35 years

FILE - In this May 23, 2011 file courtroom sketch, David Coleman Headley is shown in federal court in Chicago. Headley, who was convicted of charges related to a central role he played in the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Tom Gianni, File)

FILE - In this May 23, 2011 file courtroom sketch, David Coleman Headley is shown in federal court in Chicago. Headley, who was convicted of charges related to a central role he played in the 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Tom Gianni, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 11, 2009 file photo, Synchronicity Foundation member Kia Scherr, whose husband Alan and 13-year-old daughter Naomi were gunned during the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai, India, is seen in Charlottesville, Va. David Coleman Headley, 52, a small-time American drug dealer-turned-terrorist plotter who helped plan the attack is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, at federal court in Chicago. (AP Photo/Andrew Shurtleff, The Daily Progress, File)

CHICAGO (AP) ? An American drug dealer who had faced life in prison was sentenced instead to 35 years Thursday for helping plan the deadly 2008 attacks on Mumbai, India ? a punishment prosecutors said reflected his broad cooperation with U.S. investigators but that a victim's family member called "an appalling dishonor."

It was David Coleman Headley's meticulous scouting missions that facilitated the assault by 10 gunmen from a Pakistani-based militant group on multiple targets in Mumbai, including the landmark Taj Mahal Hotel. TV cameras captured much of the three-day rampage often called India's 9/11. More than 160 people, including children, were killed.

Glimpses of the horror came through the teary testimony of one of the victims who described the gory scene as she huddled under a restaurant table with her friends as gunmen sprayed the room with bullets, then walked around executing men, women and children one by one. Her own clothes soaked with blood.

"I know what a bullet can do to every part of the human body," said Linda Ragsdale, a Tennessee children's author, who was shot. "I know the sound of life leaving a 13-year-old child. These are things I never needed to know, never needed to experience."

Headley faced life in prison, and at 52 years old, even a 35-year term could mean he'll never walk free. But federal prosecutors had asked for a more lenient 30 to 35 years, citing his extraordinary cooperation including as the government's star witness at the 2011 trial of a Chicago businessman convicted in a failed attack on a Danish newspaper.

Former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald spoke in court calling Headley's cooperation within 30 minutes of his 2009 arrest "unusual".

However, Ragsdale and other victims called the 35 years unjust for the severity of the violence.

U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber said he considered the cooperation in imposing his sentence even though "the damage that was done was unfathomable." He cited a letter from Headley who vowed that he was a changed man, but Leinenweber said he didn't buy it.

"I don't have any faith in Mr. Headley when he says he's a changed person and believes in the American way of life," he said.

Headley, who did not address the court, showed no emotion when the sentence was announced. Security was tight at the packed hearing; dogs were walked through the lines of people waiting to get into the courtroom.

Prosecutors say Headley, who was born in the U.S. to a Pakistani father and American mother, was motivated in part by his hatred of India going back to his childhood. He changed his birth name from Daood Gilani in 2006 so he could travel to and from India more easily to do reconnaissance without raising suspicions.

He never pulled a trigger in the attack, but his contribution to the Pakistani-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, made the assault more deadly. He conducted meticulous scouting missions ? videotaping and mapping targets ? so the attackers who had never been to Mumbai adeptly found their way around.

One woman whose husband and daughter were killed in the attack said a lighter sentence would be "an appalling dishonor" to those killed.

"I feel that for the magnitude of the killings that took place, David Headley has lost his right to live as a free man," said Kia Scherr, who is currently in Mumbai. "This would be a moral outrage that is inexcusable."

Prosecutors also have praised Headley for testifying against Tahawwur Rana, the Chicago businessman convicted of providing aid to Lashkar and backing a failed plot to attack a Danish newspaper for publishing depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. Rana, sentenced last week to 14 years in prison, claimed his friend Headley duped him.

Testifying at Rana's trial in 2011, Headley spoke in a monotone voice, seemingly detached, even as he described one proposal for the never-carried-out Danish plot to behead newspaper staff and throw their heads onto a street.

In video excerpts of his interviews with the FBI after his arrest, Headley appears flippant, cool and calculating.

Prosecutors have recounted only in broad terms how Headley has shed light on the leadership, structure and possible targets of Lashkar-e-Taiba, which was believed to have ties to the Pakistani intelligence agency known as ISI. Headley has said his ISI contact was a "Major Iqbal," who was named in the indictment that charged Headley.

The attackers arrived by boat on Nov. 26, 2008, carrying grenades and automatic weapons, and fanned out to hit multiple targets, crowded train station, a Jewish center and the hotel.

The attack heightened the strain in a historically antagonistic relationship between India and Pakistan, which have fought three major wars. Indian officials accuse Pakistani intelligence of helping to plan the assault ? an allegation Pakistan denies.

For his cooperation and guilty plea, Headley secured both a promise that he would not face the death penalty and would not be extradited to India. Late last year, India secretly hanged the lone gunman who survived the Mumbai attack, Mohammed Ajmal Kasab.

The 12 counts Headley pleaded guilty to included conspiracy to commit murder in India and aiding and abetting in the murder of six Americans, who included Americans Alan Scherr and his 13-year-old daughter, Naomi.

The Scherr family members were in India for a two-week spiritual retreat and were staying at the Oberoi Trident Hotel, one of the sites that came under assault.

After the attack, Scherr helped start an organization called the One Life Alliance, which seeks to work against terrorism by promoting understanding and respect for the sacredness of life.

"This is how I am surviving this event, which erased life as I knew it," she wrote in an email from Mumbai, where she continues to travel to for charity work.

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Follow Michael Tarm at www.twitter.com/mtarm

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-24-Mumbai%20Attacks-Headley/id-02cea09b1a7d4fbc96a621681e6e513a

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